Discipline Success In The UAE!

Last year one of my biggest frustrations with teaching in the UAE was discipline.  During my 20 years of teaching experience in the US I had success using many discipline strategies and thought they would easily fit into my classroom in Abu Dhabi.  That did not turn out to be the case.  I'm not saying the students were running wild and out of control, but I wasn't experiencing my usual level of success.  I realized it all came down to one very important missing component, parent communication.

Parent communication has been a huge challenge for me over the past year.  I work in a community off island where most parents speak little to no English and I speak little to no Arabic.  My campus is not equipped with a translator so phone calls home are nonexistent.  I needed a way to communicate with parents concerning the students daily behavior and how they could play an active role in the educational process.  This was the beginning of my English and Arabic Discipline System.

I have been using the new discipline system since school began and I cannot describe the difference in my classroom this year.  I began by creating the translated color poster and displaying it on a magnetic surface in my classroom.  I use magnets this year with each students' number but others on my campus are using clothespins with student names. I also sent home the translated parent note as that explains the discipline plan in both English and Arabic which is the first step in communicating with parents.

Students begin each day by placing their magnet on ready to learn (green).  As students progress through the day they earn moves up the chart for positive behavior such as working quietly, turning in homework, helping a friend, or any other behavior you would like to reinforce.  Each behavior earns 1 move up the color chart.  For negative behaviors students are required to move their magnet down one color level.  I love that students are able to turn their behavior around and move back up the chart with a change in behavior.  I find that my students will do just about anything to move those magnets up.

Each day 3-5 minutes before class ends students are asked to color the monthly discipline calendar included in the set.  As students color I walk the room and sticker or stamp any calendars who were initialed by parents the previous night.  This calendar has a translated color chart so it is clear what behavior their child had that day.  If students end the day on Parent Contact (red) I send home a translated parent letter that includes a list of negative classroom behaviors.  I am able to check the areas that students struggled with during the day.  Parents are asked to discuss this behavior at home with the child then sign and return the note to school.  This note is placed in the child's folder as documentation of parent contact.
                                                           
This Behavior Set includes English and Arabic translated introduction parent letter, 2013-2014 school year calendars, translated parent contact note, 7 Level Color Coded Behavior Chart.  I also have a document to track weekly behavior that accompanies this set available in my freebies.  If you are interested check it out.
http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/TeachingAbuDhabiStyle/english-and-arabic-behavior-management-set

Translation Nightmares!

I have finally managed to get all of the new English and Arabic products back up on the Teachers Notebook store site.  I was so excited when I opened the store on the first day back in August.  The excitement came to a sudden halt when a couple of customers contacted me the following day saying that Arabic teachers had pointed out many mistakes.  My joy turned into a nightmare!  I ended up quickly pulling all products from the store and emailing customers about the mistakes. Finding another translator took a bit of searching and time.  With school starting it was hard to find someone qualified to translate educational documents who wasn't already busy getting prepared for a new school year.  I am happy to say that this first glitch has been worked out and I have learned a huge lesson.  I have also managed to add some new freebies to the store as well as my paid products.  Hopefully we can continue to provide products that teachers can succesfully incorporate into their English and Arabic classrooms with little effort.

3 Lucky Winners!

Congratulations to the 3 lucky winners!  Gayle Avila, Tawnee Brilla, and Marsha will all receive a copy of the 6 products offered in my Teachers Notebook Shop.  I was so excited you would have thought I was the winner!  I hope you all enjoy your new items and please let me know how they are working out in your classroom.  For those of you who didn't win, I plan to host a giveaway each time I add another product to my shop.  Pssst!  I'm working on one now.  Thanks also to those who have already purchased some of the items for sale.  If you haven't visited my shop, hop on over using the Teachers Notebook button on my blog and grab a copy of my subject cards which are a freebie for everyone!

First Day Down

Well, I made it through the first day of school and everything went pretty smooth.  I will be teaching second grade this year and moving to a new room.  I love the thought of creating a new classroom from scratch.  I plan to do many things differently this year based on lessons I learned from my first year of teaching in the UAE.  My biggest change will be creating an English and Arabic print rich classroom. I have printed off all of the classroom labels, calendar, posters, and discipline set to hang tomorrow as I begin working on my classroom. If you have not had time to check out these resources hop on over to my Teachers Notebook shop and take a look http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/TeachingAbuDhabiStyle .
I am so excited to be giving away a complete set of all my translated products to 3 lucky winners.  If you have not signed up for the drawing using the rafflecopter on this page you still have a few hours to earn up to 11 entries for the drawing.  I will post the names of the winners on the blog page and FB.  Good Luck and welcome back to school!

Teacher Notebook Giveaway!

A Dream Come True!

I have been dreaming of a way to help my college kids with their educational expenses for the past several years.  I have worked diligently over the past summer to get my Teachers Notebook shop up and running with a selection of English and Arabic translated products.   Each product was designed to enable myself and other teachers working in the UAE to create print rich environments and communicate with Arabic speaking parents and students.  To celebrate,  I am offering up a chance to win 1 of 3 prizes.  Each winner will receive a copy of all 6 of my new Translated Products:

*English&Arabic Behavior Management Set

*English&Arabic Calendar Set
*English&Arabic Color Posters Set

*English&Arabic Classroom Supplies Label Set

*English&Arabic Classroom Furnishings Label Set

*English&Arabic Number Set 0-20 with Ten Frames
I would like to give a HUGE "thank you" to my friend, Majd, for all of his help with my translations. Please visit my Teachers Notebook shop to check out my products and grab a freebie!!

http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/TeachingAbuDhabiStyle

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New School Year Necessities

I grabbed a few treasures yesterday on my way home from Dallas so I am officially ready for back to school.  I am in love with chevron so my new rolling teacher bag is absolutely perfect!  Last year I carried a laptop bag but it was so heavy.  I found this rolling bag on clearance along with an insulated lunch bag.  I love the red monogram T!  My new insulated cup is super cute owls so I hope it will encourage me to get my water in each day.  Bealls clearance rack along with a 25% off coupon made for a fantastic deal!  Last year we were only able to bring necessities with us when we left our home state of Texas to head over for our first year in Abu Dhabi.  This year I have been able to pick up many things for our home and school that are what I would call simple pleasures.  It is going to be a great year!

Oh Sweet Summer!

I can't believe my summer vacation is disappearing so fast!  I have been visiting, lunching, and hanging out with family and friends for 5 weeks.  I have 2 1/2 more weeks to go and I really want time to slow down.  I am headed out of town to spend a few days with my daughter getting her new duplex set up and ready for the school year at Texas A&M. Then it's onto Dallas for a meet up with several high school friends I haven't seen in more years than I can count.  I am looking forward to another great week!

I Love School Supplies!

We are back in the US for 7 weeks!  I am spending lots of time with family and friends and loving every minute of it.  I am also Bargain Shopping!  Anyone who knows me will tell you I love a bargain. Don't all teachers?  I have been picking up tons of great deals to carry back to Abu Dhabi with me when we return September 1.  My absolutely favorite spot to shop is The Dollar Tree.  I have to stop at every location because they all seem to carry different products. I have picked up some great center games, fun foam letters, paint with water pictures, and large magnifiers for reading the room.  My second favorite spot is Walmart.  I am so excited about my new desk nameplates and all of the new Scentos products.  I know my girls will work really hard for smelly stamps!  My bulletin boards will be decked out with some of the cutest borders from Walmart along with clearance bin material for the backing.  I am planning a shopping trip with some of my great teaching partners from the states in two days and I hope to finish up the last of my classroom shopping.  Here is a preview of some of my recent Walmart purchases!

Ten Pin Linky Party

     I am a pinterest addict so when I found Ashley Reed's Ten Pin Linky Party I knew I had to participate.  I just began a new blog documenting my adventures teaching in Abu Dhabi, UAE so if you check out my blog you will see it's just getting off the ground.  I hope some of you will revisit my blog spot as I share my experiences!

1.

I absolutely love this center set up. The bed tray type containers would be perfect for small students and they keep everything so organized! I found this idea on tickledpinkmandy.blogspot.com

2.

I hope to sew some of these precious owls for small boo-boos next year. I found these on http://www.etsy.com/listing/78812407/lovely-plush-mini-owl-choose-any-color?ref=v1_other_2


 3.
I am in love with this lantern owl also. I may see a room theme in my future but I can't commit at this point until I get home to Texas to see what is cheap and light to bring back in my suitcases. I picked up this pin on http://pinterest.com/source/dollarstorecrafts.com/

4.

My husband is king of the zip ties. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. I can't wait to use this tip to create tables out of all those desks! I found this pin on http://schroederpage.blogspot.com/


 5.
With my tables zip tied together I am going to need to be able to move my desk tags easily. I have been using box tape for years and hated it. I was excited to grab this pin on http://www.elementaryorganization.blogspot.com/


 6.
Teaching a room full of second language learners led me to this pin. Most of my summer work will be across the world from my actual classroom. In the UAE teachers don't have the luxury of spending time in their classrooms over the summer so I will be working on bilingual labels for my classroom and I want to use actual pictures whenever possible. This link came from http://pinterest.com/source/adsit.net/

 7.
These ice trays and crayola markers are at the top of my list of things to bring back from the US.  I am hoping this storage idea will make it easy to check that all markers have a lid in place when we clean up.  I cried every time I lost a marker this year from drying up because I knew it would be months before I was able to get replacements.  I grabbed this link on pre-kpages.com

8.

I love the idea of using a lazy susan with containers attached for my tables next year. I need to find a source for cheap ones. If anyone has any tips on where to purchase them at a good price I would appreciate the help! I grabbed this pin on http://rowdyinroom300.blogspot.com/

9.

One of my biggest headaches this year teaching in a new culture is the number of interruptions I get from people opening the door to see which of my 2 classes are in the room or to ask where they are.  I plan to modify this idea to include 2 classes and of course have it translated into Arabic as well.  I hope it helps!  I picked up this idea on mrsfreshwatersclass.com.

10.

I have not tried this yet but it is another goal I have for the summer while I am limited to computer work and shopping.  I think this classroom management tool will be great for those girls who speak little to no English.  I know it will give them confidence in using classroom routines without having to ask another student what is being said.  Visual and auditory clues are high on my list this year!  If anyone has any tips or ideas for this goal I would love to hear them.  I grabbed this idea from http://classroomcollective.tumblr.com/tagged/Classroom+Organization/
I can't believe I'm already at the end of my first try with a linky party.  I had a blast and I hope you find something useful for yourself!  Have a wonderful week!!!

Let's Get It Started!

     As my first year of teaching in Abu Dhabi winds to a close I have made the decision to try my hand at blogging about this educational adventure.  I began blogging last year as my husband and I decided to make a move from Texas, USA all the way across the world to Abu Dhabi, UAE.
     I began teaching 21 years ago in Texas.  My husband and I became empty nesters last year when our youngest child headed to college at Texas A & M University.  Our oldest child had been at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas for 2 years when we decided to embark on this adventure. As a veteran teacher I never realized how much I would learn about teaching as well as myself as I spent my first year teaching overseas. The past year of teaching second and third grade girls in Abu Dhabi, UAE has been an incredible learning experience to say the least.
     I am ready to head home for the summer to spend time with family and friends.  I am also looking forward to another great year of teaching in the UAE.  As most teachers do, I am already thinking of things that I want to change or update for next year so I plan to document my summer planning and the next year of teaching in Abu Dhabi.