The Wild Card Book Review

At the Phoenix airport waiting for my flight to New Orleans

I am a second year teacher and a huge fan of The Ron Clark Academy, so when I found out Hope and Wade King were writing a book, to say I was beyond ecstatic would be an understatement. On January 11th, The Wild Card was dropped off at my door- just days before I was going to attend the Get Your Teach On conference in Louisiana. Talk about perfect timing! I literally tore open the box, grabbed a highlighter and some post-it notes and turned to page one.

  

 I was HOOKED.

I consider myself a pretty creative person, but I was always struggling on how to push past my limits as an educator to reach my true full potential.

Until now.

The Wild Card opened my eyes to all the possibilities I can achieve as an educator. Let's face it, teachers have an abundant amount of challenges with the hand that we are dealt. I learned that mindset is everything and the deck is 'only stacked against you if you let it be'.

#BeTheWildCard

I absolutely love that the book gave specific and REALISTIC tips and tricks to use in your classroom. This book does not try to change you as a person... it helps to bring out and make you realize YOUR personal qualities that make YOU amazing. I've learned that self-growth is never ending and isn't always easy... but it is in fact, rewarding. What I love is that this book is not just a book to inspire you... it is literally a how-to on how to create your best self! I think that's was gives this book its magic... for people like me who are unsure and constantly full of self-doubt, it sets your mind to use what you have and find the best in every situation.

Chapter four encourages you to find your 'why', as in, what makes you get up in the morning, walk into a classroom of 25+ kids and t e a c h? Now, coincidentally on the page following the end of that chapter is a blank page... whether that was intentional or not I decided to use that page to write down my 'why'. I have honestly never taken the time to think about my 'why' until reading this book. Knowing your why is so important and I challenge you to consider what your 'why' is.

Here are just a few out of the hundred of quotes from the book that are my favorite:

"An excuse is just a defense mechanism. It's a justification for giving up."

"Enthusiasm spreads like wildfire."

"When you stop comparing yourself to others and only measure yourself against yourself, that's when you start improving."

"Creativity is not a plateau. It's not a destination you reach and settle into. If you ever start to feel comfortable, it's a sign you've stopped growing."

So lucky to have met Hope and Wade King!

It is impossible to write about all the incredible information this book has to offer! My review does not give it justice! I wish and hope for every educator to read this book at least once during their career, because I know they would feel as strongly about it as I do and be inspired to reach their best self. I can honestly say that I am a changed person because of this book. It has such a strong impact on me and I am so grateful for it! It is an important resource of mine when I need to be reminded to throw out self-doubt and negativity. Thank you Hope and Wade for sharing your magic and for giving me the confidence to help me find mine.💙

Got to chat with Hope and Wade at their book release party at the House of Blues!

Welcome To Camp Learn-A-Lot!

Camp Learn-A-Lot was my first classroom flip of the 2017-2018 school year! My students and I had a blast and I know this was a week they will never forget. If you are looking to create magic in your classroom, keep reading for tips on how to make Camp Learn-A-Lot a success for your students!

The focus and goal of this room transformation was to build student engagement. My goal as a teacher is to make my students believe that school is a place they WANT to be not HAVE to be. Their faces when they walked in made all the hard work completely worth it.

You are going to need a few things to make this happen. Below is a list of things I used. I strongly encourage you to ask parents/family/friends for donations! Majority of what I used I borrowed- creating magic does not mean burning all your cash!

- Tent
- Flashlights
- Checkered Table Covers
- Black Tarps (I used 10 ft x 24 ft)
- Fake Christmas Trees
- Butcher paper/paint for Camp Sign
- Camping Chairs
- Fake Campire (Amazon)
- Camping Gear (coolers, dishes, picnic basket, etc.)

Be sure to go all out to set the stage to engage! I came dressed each day as a camp counselor decked out in camo, sunglasses, whistle and walking stick. To really make it feel like we were in the great outdoors, I played nature sounds (YouTube) when they walked in each morning. 

I kept this transformation up for an entire week. Below are a few things we did as campers for the week:

- Reader's theatre using a camping play found on Teachers Pay Teachers

- Team building activities

- Camper's math (just our regular math plans but the practice problems were posted all around the room and campers had to 'walk the woods' to find the problems)

- Creative writing- my students used Miss 5th's Emoji Writing Prompts and shared their writing with their cabin teams

- Flashlight reading

- LOTS of read aloud time- I read them a different picture book each day in addition to our read aloud 

- Camp songs: we learned new songs for skip counting and grammar and performed them in our cabin teams 

- Smores and 'Where The Red Fern Grows' movie (we had just finished the book)

Basically anything that you would normally have planned for the week, just find a way to put a camping twist on it! Remember to keep it heavily academic- room transformations should enhance learning, not take away from it. 

What got my students most excited was being divided into cabins. If you know anything about the Ron Clark Academy, you know that they have a house system in which each student belongs to a different house that stands for a different value. I have always wanted to implement a house system in my classroom so I figured Camp Learn-A-Lot would be the perfect time to try it out! These cabins were their teams for the whole week, and I required them to do everything together- even sit by each other at lunch. My students successfully worked together to earn points for their cabin. It was incredible what new friendships I saw being created!

Below are a few more pictures of my transformation. Hopefully I have inspired you to create magic in your classroom! Happy camping!