Accounts, Accounts, and More Accounts!

I have been teaching and in education for 16 years, and it really affirms and makes my heart happy to know I am doing most things drastically different than what I did in year 1-3.  There are some great practices and strategies that I have held on to, of course, but it would be a scary thing if I was doing everything exactly like I did ‘back then’ (especially as being a newbie!).

I’ve compiled this top 7 list mainly because I think teachers are a community.  We should be a positive community of humans that consistently reaches up, down, and side to side, to help the next teacher.  Why? Well, because, we are all basically raising humans.  Why wouldn’t we share great ideas and thoughts with each other that could help the future generation (the ones that will be taking care of us when we are old and gray!)?

So, here are the top accounts that I feel like teachers need that would be beneficial to classroom teacher and instruction!

Top 7 Accounts Teachers Need 

1. A Teachers Pay Teachers Account.  I am blown away by the stuff these teachers can do!  I look at TPT as basically another source of curriculum.  MOST of the resources I see on TPT are absolutely jaw dropping and can rival any curriculum out there.  Get an account!

2. An Amazon Prime Account.  This may go without saying, but I have gotten one bajillion things from Amazon Prime for my classroom.  If you don’t have an Amazon Prime account, I strongly suggest getting one.  One example recently, is a lesson I planned, but needed the materials the next day.  Amazon to the rescue!  Honestly, if I had It’s helpful for not only teaching, but life too! Ha!

3. An Instagram Account.  You might already have one, but have you see the amazing teachers that are out there to follow?  There are thousands that have the most incredible ideas.  Even if you don’t use your IG account for other reasons, it’s worth getting one just to follow some inspirational and creative teachers. Here is snapshot of just an idea of what I’m talking about here.

4.  A YouTube Account.  I save video after video after video that I use for the classroom. It is an exceptional resource.  I say you need an account for YouTube rather than just search, because when I’m planning I save videos under a playlist and use them in my teaching later that week.   I have playlists that go from Main Idea to History to Class Management, Motivation, and the lists go on! Here is just an idea of some of the playlists I have going for the classroom.

 

5. A Remind101 Account.  I currently don’t use this in my classroom right now, because we have some great school-wide systems in place to communicate with parents. However, I have used this several times before! Basically it is a system that parents can sign in for, and I (the teacher) can send out reminders, updates, and classroom info in a text form! It’s a blanket text and there is no response feature.  Basically, you send out reminders and it goes straight to their phone in text form!

6. A Twitter Account.  Just like IG, I find Twitter to be another excellent resource for educational resources.  Twitter motivates me as well with quotes, exciting new educational accounts to follow, etc.  As a matter of fact, I look at Twitter as a form of professional development! See below for an example of some of my notifications.

7.  An Account for Subscription to Podcasts.  There are MANY podcast apps out there that you just must subscribe to.  Did you know how many incredible educational podcasts are out there?  I do a lot of listening to these while I am doing laundry, driving in the car, or at night when the littles are in bed. Below is an app I use, along with screenshots of podcast I subscribe to.

   

 

And there you have it! Accounts to set you up for success! None of these take away any time, but yet they ADD so much depth to your pursuit of teaching the next generation.