Projects – Natalay G. Maria

My CalTPA1 Lesson!

I have been running this website for a few years, and it always bothered me that the only lesson plan I have here is one I wrote before I really became a full-time teacher!

Teachers are required to complete CalTPA 1 and 2 to earn their Clear Credential within the first 5 years of having their Preliminary Credential. Version 1 is about analyzing your student population and planning and filming a lesson that meets certain teaching criteria.

This slideshow is from my CalTPA1 lesson, which I did in year 2, which was *Distance Learning*!

It was thankfully easier to record the Zoom session than it would normally be to record myself in the classroom. There are a few things left off the slideshow that were said and discussed verbally.

This lesson teaches 6th graders about the concept of symbolism. We were reading “Look Both Ways” by Jason Reynolds, so I wove in references to the chapters we’d read and asked questions about the reading. Before this, the students had completed a Nearpod lesson that introduced the idea of basic or general symbols (like country flags, football jerseys, etc.) and went over some common literary symbols and what they normally stand for (the sun and moon, colors, animals, etc.) This lesson takes the discussion to the next level.

Symbolism in _Look Both Ways_Download

Also, in 2021, Google Jamboard was still a thing, so I have links to a Jamboard project embedded in the slideshow that don’t work anymore. Fortunately, I had to send everything in to the TPA as .pdf, so I’ve included the images that the students saw. I also saved student answers, so I’m including one class’ responses. They did good for their first try! Jamboard was a collaborative whiteboard of sorts. In this project, students could add their own boxes filled with their answers and ideas, kind of like a digital way of writing on post-it notes.

Formative Assessment: Jamboard Download

A3-Symbolism (1)Download

Last Year’s Classroom… finally!

I was complimented by many other teachers last year on the attractiveness and usefulness of my classroom. And, yes, I’m pretty proud of it! With a $200 budget, I managed to print a colorful Growth Mindset wall, some breathing posters, purchase all the border and background paper I needed, and fulfill all the other odds and ends that make a classroom run great!

Notice my Noise Levels chart (featured in a previous post). It’s in the last picture, attached between the whiteboard and the bulletin. I made it my first year as a teacher, and I’m still loving it!

Calming Technique Tournament for Mindfulness Elective

I was fortunate enough to choose my own electives at Everest Value School, one for each trimester. I taught film appreciation, study hall, and mindfulness, consecutively.

The mindfulness class was a really great way to bring my personal interests into the curriculum. I immediately found lessons and units from some great SEL websites. My personal favorite is this Calming Technique Tournament.

I researched different breathing techniques and filled in this chart to start the trimester. For every pair of techniques, students voted on which they liked better. We then narrowed these down with subsequent votes.

The winner? For this particular class, it was Five Finger Breathing. Learn to use the technique below!

Watch the same YouTube video we used in class here!

Last Year’s Classroom!

This is coming a whole year late, but still, I am very proud of the beautiful classroom I created for my 11th and 12th graders in the 2021-22 school year and I want to share it with you here! Stay tuned for images of this year’s classroom…coming soon!

Snapshots from Our 1 Month in Hybrid

We are only in the classroom for a month this year, so there are so few pictures to share! These are the decorations I was able to pull together for our May of hybrid learning. I’m pretty proud of the way it turned out. I’ve got student work from my three 7th-grade classes (those are the tiled posters in pink, blue, and white.) Then, I framed Post-Its that I did during distance learning with my five 6th-grade classes. I had asked them to name one thing they were successful at during the quarantine. I think it adds a nice touch of their accomplishment to the classroom environment!

Noise Levels Poster

“Secret Agent”

The secret agent is a student who I pick randomply at the beginning of the period to observe the classes behavior for the day (in secret.) That’s at least one student who I have behaving well that day! The rest of the class becomes almost giddy with excitement when I tell them there is a secret agent that day, and is usually eager to settle down and behave very well.

A few minutes before the bell rings, I say, “Will the secret agent please reveal themselves?” The agent raises their hand and everyone oohs and aahs at the surprise. I then ask the secret agent the three questions above. If they can answer positively to all three questions, the entire class gets a reward. This is usually either candy or a coveted yellow ticket. The yellow tickets are normally passed out only to students demonstrating exceptional behavior. They can be traded for small prizes at the end of the week, which is fun.

I would love to continue to develop this idea in my teaching practice. In the future, I will go with non-monetary prizes like 5 minute brain breaks at the end of the period. These can include things like music, mind puzzles, meditations… and other things that don’t necessarily start with the letter m. 🙂

My First Lesson Plan: Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story”

My lesson planning has come a long way from this first plan (I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF MY CURRENT LESSON PLANNING), but it can be fun to look back to the beginning and see what I was thinking about!