Teacher Tip 2: Colored Staples

In this quick one minute video I explain two different ways colored staples can make your life easier! 


For those of you who prefer reading here it is:

Pre-Step For some reason my stapler kept getting taken. I am not sure if other teachers or students thought it was theirs or if or custodial staff would toss it. However, once I covered my stapler in stickers, the disappearances stopped! In fact, the few times I have forgotten it in a classroom students have brought it back to me in my office! If any of your supplies are escaping I'd suggest decorating it, so that people know it is yours :)

Step 1
Load your stapler with two different colors. If you are on a budget, and colored staples are a luxury, then load the stapler mostly with the standard silver staples and put the colored staples at the very end. I used green here. This way when I am stapling and I hit the green staples, I know I need to, "go" and get more staples because I am about to run out.

That's it! With the use of colored staples you'll never end up staple-less again!
  
Alternative Use:
As I mentioned in this blog post about cheating, one way to cut down on students copying during tests is to pass out different versions. I've met many teachers mark their versions differently. They can use different colored paper, write different versions on the top of the test, have a different picture on the front page, etc. One way I like to differentiate tests is by using different colored staples. This way it is fast for me to see the difference between a blue stapled test and a green stapled test, but harder for students. If they aren't sure what test their neighbor has, they may be less inclined to lean over and look at their neighbor's answers.

There you are: two different ways that colored staples make my life as a teacher easier.

What about you? What office supply most simplifies your life as a teacher?

What's the one office supply that saves you time while preparing for classes?

Quick Key and Me! (Getting Set Up)

I briefly mentioned QuickKey in a past post about grading hacks. At that point it wasn't of much use to me because I didn't own an iPhone or iPad. However, for my birthday I received an iPhone! It is an older version, but it still works fine for QuickKey.

Now that I've been using it for a semester, I thought I'd write a quick post about my likes, dislikes and hopes. First off, keep in mind that this app is in Beta. That means it is constantly growing and changing!

To start: I do NOT think that every test should be multiple choice. However, I do teach TOEFL preparation and it would be irresponsible of me not to prepare them for the test format as well as the grammar. I also like using these for quick exit tickets. Simple questions that let me know what I need to reteach and what they understand.

OK, so to start I make a profile with QuickKeyApp super easy! This only requires my email and a password!

Once started create a new class; just give it a name and description (optional). To add students you can download the excel template and fill it out with students' names and emails (optional).  This is probably the longest part, but if you use something like engrade, then you probably already have a list to copy and paste.

From here you make your quiz. Depending on how long your quiz is this will take you a bit.
(Problem 1) You do not NEED to fill in the questions as you will NOT be printing a quiz from this site. That's actually one of the things I don't like :(

However, I usually have my quizzes in a Word document anyways, so this isn't a huge deal. Finally you print the answer sheets so that each student has one.

(Problem 2) They say that in the future you will be able to assign students numbers, but for now they are random. This is problematic because my students kept messing up their numbers. One test I even put their last name and then their number on a piece of paper and had them fill it in when they turned in their test. I still had some students make mistakes. Now I pre-fill in the answer sheets with the student numbers. This is time consuming, but mindless, so I can do it when I am listening to music or watching a movie. Because of this it isn't worth it for me to use QuickKey unless I am really going to save lots of time with the grading.

Later I'll have another post on how to grade and some tips on grading successfully.

What are your thoughts on QuickKey? Have you used it in your classes? Questions on how to use it? Leave a comment; I'd LOVE to hear from you!

The pleasant suprises a blackout brings

I hadn't seen my students in over a week (class was cancelled for a bit due to hurricane Manuel in this area).

The beautiful campus!

Their partial exam (originally scheduled for last Weds) got rescheduled to today! Worse still, they didn't tell the teachers until 8pm yesterday. Despite my e-mails and tweets, many of my students didn't know until they got to school their exam would be today.

Regardless once we got to class they dilligently started their exams.

The lovely lit class.

My school has a beautiful campus with mostly great classrooms. Awesome windows, green views, space to try out different chair layouts, etc. This class is held in one of my less favorite rooms. It's a big room with all the technology I could want, but very dull. It has no windows and those tables that are heavier and harder to move around. Since I am only in there three times I week I don't get to decorate it.

Picture of the dark room

Halfway into the exam the lights flickered and went out.

Well...shoot!

I ran to the lights and helplessly flicked them on, and off, and back on ignoring the fact this was doing nothing to the lighting in class.

I opened the door and asked a loitering student if he could get a maintenance man. In the meantime my students just kinda sat there. "You can move to the front row if you want to grab the light from the hall." I stated still standing at the door keeping it open.

The dark room with the door open

Eventually one of the maintenance men came and explained that there was a problem with the power of the whole school.

He helped me wedge a trashcan to keep the door open; then at least I was free to wander a bit. At this point a student asked, "Teacher, can I take out my cell phone and use the flashlight?"

Within minutes my class was filled with students holding their cell phones over their tests.

I was pleasantly shocked and surprised. Normally students will whine and beg whenever they can, but this time they persevered and kicked butt!

Within the next 15 minutes I asked our secretary if she could call my boss to see what the procedure was. She couldn't get a hold of him, but she did look in my class, "It's actually beautiful" she commented. I agreed, and am a bit sorry I didn't take a picture (but I didn't want to leave then unattended to grab a camera). It wasn't just the soothing glow throughout the class that was pretty. It was the fact that my students were doing what they needed to do!

We managed to cram my students into a teacher's lounge (with big windows letting the beautiful day's sunlight fill the room) to finish their exam, and the fact that they happily moved rather than moaning and groaning filled my heart as well.

Have your students ever reacted differently than you expected and surprised you (pleasantly)? I'd love to hear about it! Drop me a comment below.