Like Emily, I’ve changed a few things since last year’s posts on my teaching bag.The picture above shows what I’m planning to use this year.
* Color-coded folders I color code everything. These are the folders that I use to keep things I will be handing out in class. Each class has a color that is used on the folder where they turn in their work, the flags I talk about below, their Edmodo groups are color coded, and messages for them are written on the board in the corresponding color.
* iPad Like Emily, I use an iPad for a lot of the administrative things in my class. I’m a big fan of Attendance2.
* Quis the Owl This stuffed owl was a present from my mentor when I went off to teach at a different school. He lost an eye in storage one summer, so he now wears an eyepatch for formal occasions. I use him to act out stories (he played Europa to my bull) and explain grammatical concepts. If students are stressed out, I’ll let them hold Quis or Squi, the small squishy owl a student gave me.
* Roman Bridal Veil The orange fabric with a gold border is a Roman bridal veil. It’s useful for when we’re talking about Roman history or culture, and it finds itself being useful in a strange variety of ways. (Romulus and Remus? Thisbe’s veil? Mt. Vesuvius’s pyroclastic flow? All these and more!)
* Stamp I grade homework on an attempted- full credit, not attempted- no credit basis. I go around the class at the start of the period and stamp homework papers with this stamp, adjusted to show the day’s date. My students then have proof that I’ve checked off their homework and I have a marker so they can’t pass off the previous night’s work again.
* Latin Mallet It may look like a crab mallet, but there’s much more to it. I use this to keep time when we chant, as a pointer, to break open chemical ice packs for students who were injured at recess, and so much more.
* Imperfect Sheep Because imperfect verbs have a -ba- in them, I have a variety of little model sheep called the Imperfect Sheep. They also end up acting out stories. I think this one is named Ovis; there’s also an orange one named Hunter and a blue one named Bluebell. When I buy these at the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival every year, I carefully choose the ones that look the least sheepy, since they are imperfect.
* Flags I use these little translucent flags to keep track of where each class is in the reading. I move it along as I go, so I can quickly find where I stopped. They leave no marks and are more visible than little pencil marks.
* Pencil case My pencil case usually contains my fountain pens, a pair of scissors, the connector for the projector if I have access to a projector,
* Pens I have a Lamy Safari Vista filled with a purple Bulletproof Noodler’s Ink. The black Lamy Safari is filled with Noodler’s Bulletproof Black. Using a fountain pen helps me not clench the pen and press too hard, while the Bulletproof inks are more permanent than Sharpies. If water is spilled on one of my papers, nothing happens.
* Silent pencil sharpener It’s annoying when a quiet student is talking and is suddenly drowned out by the electric pencil sharpener. I have the silent (manual) pencil sharpener for my students to use if they need to sharpen a pencil in class.
