Skip to main content

#StopTalkingStartDoing

All too often, people talk about, even complain about, things at school. For us, the students did most of the complaining about the bathrooms in our school. You see, our school is 50 years old. It is old. Period. We are in the process of raising and lobbying for funds to build a new school. This is a great thing except that this also means that the higher ups really don't want to spend too much on fixing a building that will be torn down eventually. Don't get me wrong. They fix things as needed. But making the bathrooms more eye appealing is NOT on their list. We (teachers and students) tend to complain a lot about things in our building that just drive us crazy.

One of my goals this year is to stop talking and start doing. Complaining doesn't solve anything. Talking about changes we want to see doesn't do it. We need to #BeTheChange. Sooooo this summer I was reminded of an idea I had come across on Twitter a couple years ago. It was a bathroom beautification project some teachers were doing to inspire their students. I decided to #stoptalkingandstartdoing! I went to PTO with this idea and they happily got on board and agreed to fund it. I did some research, sketched a plan, and got some amazing teachers and PTO parents together. They helped me make the vision a reality. This was such an awesome team project, a total work of the heart.

Today our kiddos came back and I loved the buzz about the bathrooms. So proud to work with such amazing people! Thank you everyone!! Bathroom beautification = ✅

Before and Sketches

                                   

                                               



End Results

Girls' Bathroom






Boys' Bathroom



 








Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Another January Means Another FETC

For the last few Januarys, I have been lucky enough to attend the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC). This was my fourth year attending, and thanks to my colleague, Jenny O'Sullivan , who pushed me to submit proposals with her, it was my third year as a presenter. Each time I present it feels like the first time, yet I am getting more and more comfortable doing it. This year’s presentation was a big one for me. I was able to present my first 2-hour workshop. These sessions cost extra money for attendees to attend so the pressure was on. We presented our Green Screen + AR session, and this time we walked everyone through the process of duplicating our First Grade Garden project. Overall it went well, but I am looking forward to our next opportunity to present it. There are definitely things we will tweak to make the presentation better. I think my favorite part of presenting this topic is the reaction we get when we show the final "product." When we

Diving In

OK... I did it. After multiple "nudges" by friends, family, and colleagues, I have decided to take the plunge into blogging. I am nervous to say the least, but here I am. I guess I should begin with an introduction. My name is Cara Pavek. First and foremost, I am a wife and mother. My little girl is a super sassy six-year-old. She keeps my husband and I on our toes. I'm currently teaching first grade at Florida Atlantic University's lab school, A.D. Henderson University school. I am entering into my 18th year of teaching and find myself still trying to figure out what kind of teacher I want to be... this year. Yep. I am THAT teacher. You know - the one who is never content with the status quo. The one always trying new things. The one who would rather struggle and/or even fail sometimes rather than do the same thing year after year. I love what I do and over the last few years, I have found this new passion - using technology to increase student engagement and m

G-Suite + Seesaw = Visible Learning at its Best!

Visible Learning ... This buzzword has been front and center for a few years now. What does it mean to you?  For me, visible learning is being able to see what my kids are learning on their journey to mastery . 18 years ago when I started teaching, I struggled to REALLY see what my students were mastering in the classroom. Multiple choice tests, cut & paste worksheets, there weren't many options. The best way back then to know if your students were proficient in something was the one-on-one demonstration of mastery, but I finding the time to assess each student individually one at a time was extremely tough, especially with 36 students and no assistant. Then came the technology, and today, we almost have TOO many options to choose from to make kids' learning visible.  I wanted to share two of the tech tools that have transformed my classroom, especially when it comes to making learning visible. For the last few years, I have used Seesaw in my first grade classroom