Fresh Start to the School Year, Fresh Logo and Blog Look

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"What did you do on your summer vacation?" 

This famous question is ringing 'round the world as kiddos head back to start another school year. For me, besides spending time with my family, my big project was giving my logo and blog each a face lift. As of today, I have finally put all the finishing touches on them and am ready to roll them out!

When I first started my TpT store and blog, I was pretty proud of my homemade logo:

Thanks to the backgrounds, clip art, and fonts of talented artists who put their work on the web for free use, I was able to put together what I thought was a pretty unique look for my logo. If anything, I just liked how it looked aesthetically. It wasn't too "cute," and it was simple with a little bit of whimsy.

However, the more time I spent blogging and building my store, the more I wanted a logo that reflected what I want people to know about me as a teacher and blogger. 

• I wanted to incorporate my language arts and social studies background as well as all the colorful and rich experiences possible with learning (not to mention my trusty old wise and studious owl).
• I still wanted a little bit of whimsy but nothing too "cute." I like it elsewhere, but it's just not me, my style, or my message.
• I also wanted a design that appeals to upper elementary and middle school educators and the learning experiences of their students.

So I commissioned my very talented brother-in-law to create my new logo with all of these ideas wrapped up into one customized design.

Here's the result:

Be sure to "grab" my new button! 

I really admire graphic designers' ability to turn ideas into images. I had so many different thoughts that  I wanted to incorporate, and I think he really captured them in this new logo.

The next step of the project was to refresh my blog design. My original background and header was courtesy of The Cutest Blog on the Block, which has some very eye-catching designs...free of charge!

Here's my original header that I customized with my blog name and tag line:

While this design was very pleasing to the eye and fit the bill of being a bit more mature in look, I wanted something unique to Aspire to Inspire that would fit my brand and message. After pouring over hundreds of images from Dreamstime.com, I narrowed down my choices for header images. My favorites all shared a common theme, which I would describe as "trees of knowledge." I ended up picking a very cool tree of knowledge, which showed a boy reaching up to grab an apple from the tree. I thought this was such a great picture of what I want from my students as well as one of the messages I want to share in the content of my blog, which is to encourage students to be active in and responsible for their own learning.

We came up with this:

After several weeks of playing with the background to the blog, which never quite fit the header like we'd hoped, I opted to create my own background on a fun (and free) site, http://bgpatterns.com. I found a similar tree shape to the ones in my header and was able to create a background with the same colors as the header. Super simple, and I think it fits really well.

I opted to keep the actual layout of the blog as it had been originally. However, I did make a few changes. I ended up changing some of the fonts for titles and headings. I also changed the colors within the blog to match those in the new header and logo. On my original blog layout, I used the Pantone Tangerine set of social media icons courtesy of Craftiments. They were simple with a touch of razzle-dazzle, and the color was gorgeous.

I really liked the shades of those Pantone colors so I went back to Craftiments and picked another version of the icons, this time in Rhapsody. 

Using some detective skills and Google, I was able to find the exact hexidecimal and RGB (i.e. color) codes of Rhapsody so I could add it to my color options on my blog and then tied it into my Tabs background as well as several other spaces. (PS If you ever find a color that you'd love to have in a blog or a document but don't know the color's code so you can add it, try this Web site.) I ended up making my own BlogLovin' badge in Rhapsody as well as a TpT badge to match. To finish things up, I toyed around with darker shades of purple for titles and headings until I found what I liked. In the end, my blog design really confirmed my favorite color choices: purple, green, and blue!

You can find a complete list of credits for my blog design on the About page of my blog.

The Before and After

Here is a screenshot of the "before":

Here's the after: (Although, you could probably just look around the screen to see it!)

What I appreciated most about this experience was finally being able to express my message in a unique and personalized way. I have A LOT of ideas so the most challenging part of this project was identifying those and narrowing them down. Now that the new design is finished, I'm excited to cross that goal off my list and get back to creating more content that will "aspire to inspire"!

It'd be great to hear from you! What are the main messages you try to get across through your blog design? How did you come up with the design of your blog? Leave me a comment.

Rev Up Your Shopping Carts: It's the TpT Back-to-School Sale!

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Is there anyone else like me who can find a reason to shop-til-you-drop for just about any event? Back-to-School is always a fun one. I always enjoy it because it's so "fresh." New school supplies, new clothes, new shoes. My favorite B2S shopping is for school supplies. Hey, even if I don't have anything in particular to use them for, I can't pass up penny notebooks, nickel loose-leaf paper, and quarter crayons, and the shelving unit in my garage will vouch for that!

Speaking of fabulous deals, the huge site-wide Teachers Pay Teachers sale starts at midnight and runs through Monday (8/18-8/19). Using the code BTS13, you can get up to 28% off items throughout the site.

I'm joining the fun. Shop Aspire to Inspire at TpT and get 28% off my entire inventory of products!

I've got more than 80 language arts, social studies, classroom management, and seasonal products in my store. You can find a little bit of everything: PowerPoints, activities, printables, review games, projects, quizzes, and more.

My best-sellers lately are my First Days' Back-to-School Bonanza Bundles, which I've made for grades 3-6.

These bundles include the following activities:

• Thriving in Third Grade; Figuring Out Fourth Grade; Fitting into Fifth Grade; or Settling into Sixth Grade Activities and Reflections (depending on the grade-level bundle)
• Editable Basic Back-to-School Parent Welcome Packet
• The Friendly Feud: Welcome to Class PowerPoint game

I invite you to stop by in the next few days to check out my store as well as the stores of many very talented educators at TpT. You'll find some pretty amazing products and great deals, too.

What product or activity--TpT or non-TpT--would you really like to have for your classroom this year? Leave a comment!

Wishing you a fantastic start to your new school year!

August Facebook Frenzy: Get 75 Back-to-School Freebies!

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**Update: While the August Facebook Frenzy is over, I can't resist sharing my Brain-Boosting Back-to-School Activities since so many teachers are headed back to school. These activities encourage students to think creatively about themselves and the back-to-school season and are designed for whole-group, small-group, and individual completion.

Included are the following: If I Was Game, in which students take turns completing "If I Was..." statements that reflect their personalities; If My Life was a Novel Activity, in which students reflect on their life experiences and assign them to a literary genre; and Back-to-School Categories Game in which students come up with creative answers for each back-to-school category in a Scattergories-inspired game. You can download this FREEBIE here. Hope you have a wonderful start to your new school year!

The August Facebook Frenzy hosted by Creation Castle starts tomorrow (Fri. 8/9) at 8AM (EST)! Fans of the participating pages can get 75 exclusive back-to-school freebies to help start the year off right.

Start here for grades 3-12 and clip art. For K-2, start here.  Look for the Facebook Frenzy tab on each of the pages. Then, simply become a fan of the page, and download your exclusive freebie. When you've gotten your freebie, move on to the next stop by clicking on the "Next Stop" image.

Look for this tab on Facebook fan pages!

I'm looking forward to giving away some pretty cool Brain-Boosting Back-to-School Activities to current fans and hopefully some new ones! 

Hope to see you there!

Dealing with Difficult Parents: Unexpected On-the-Job Training That I Never Learned in Teacher Ed

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I remember one of my first experiences with a parent who disagreed—strongly—with something I was doing in my class. I was caught off-guard and was unprepared to have the discussion. After stumbling through an essentially one-sided conversation that reduced me emotionally to the size of a stubby pencil, I was left sorting through shattered feelings. I was offended, angry and embarrassed. My pride was crushed. “Don’t they know that I am doing my best for their child?” I also had to face the devastating reality that I had some very naive assumptions about the way parents interact (or should interact) with teachers. Worst of all, I was overcome with doubt. In the many hours I spent dissecting and analyzing that short conversation, I spent most of my time wondering, “Was that parent right? Am I wrong? I am, after all, only a first -year teacher.” 

Thanks to the empathy and insights of my colleagues, I came to understand that these kinds of situations are not uncommon. Even with their support, however, the most resounding advice they gave seemed almost unachievable: Get thicker skin. I could accept that there would more confrontations of this nature in my future, but training myself to let it “roll off my back” seemed like trite encouragement masking a huge impossibility. As I have had more of these encounters, I have realized that I need to be careful not to let thicker skin be a substitute for avoiding the need to resolve real issues with students. It’s easy to say, “Oh, that parent has always been like that. Don’t sweat it. Just ignore her.” However, the reality is that behind every difficult parent is a student whom I am responsible for teaching and inspiring every day. I need to make sure that I am doing everything I can to create the best learning environment for him or her—even if Mom or Dad says mean things to me. 

I never learned about this in my teacher education classes, and I wouldn’t have known to comment on the need for it at the time I completed course evaluations. Instead, dealing with difficult parents has been more on-the-job training than anything else. 

Here is the most valuable knowledge I’ve gained (sometimes painfully) in pursuit of better relationships with parents: 

Set an appointment. Whenever possible, do not allow yourself to be ambushed by a parent. This is important for a couple of reasons: It gives you time to gather documentation, review notes, and carefully consider the comments and thoughts you’d like to share with a parent. Also, if you and the parent have time to thoughtfully prepare for a discussion, chances are that a lot of the negative emotions will be taken out of the meeting. More can get accomplished. 

This also includes a common happenstance when parents pull you aside either at the beginning or end of the day to ask to speak to you about something for “just a minute.” While you want to make yourself available to parents, chances are, the conversation will last more than a minute, and your lack of preparation and focus will result in an ineffective discussion. It’s important to provide the parent with your best information and attention. I’m a people-pleaser so it is difficult for me to deny these seemingly simple requests. Knowing this, I created a policy that goes home with students on the first day that spells out the procedure for meeting with me with an explanation of why I require appointments. Most parents appreciate and follow it. 

Get prepared. When setting up an appointment with a parent at his or her request, try to get an idea of the topic he or she wishes to discuss with you so you can do some preparation, such as pulling up grades, making copies of work, reviewing notes, etc. You can help to avoid a blindside by asking about the concerns and questions ahead of a scheduled conference. 

Document everything. Make sure you have a system in place to document your students’ behaviors, actions, and work as well as parent communication. If you think that something could even remotely come back as a question or issue, document it. Make a note. Make a copy. Print e-mails. Keep a telephone log. As an idea, I keep a file folder for each student, and on the inside cover, I document the date, time, and parties involved in all meetings, calls, letters, and e-mail correspondence for quick reference. I then take detailed notes of each meeting and place those in the file as well. Depending on the preference of your principal, share communication with him or her, especially when a parent shares that he or she is taking the matter to the administration. 

Meet with a third party. Don’t ever meet alone with a difficult parent. If you are dealing with a difficult parent, consider bringing a third party to the meeting. I invited my principal because she has relationships with the parents and can often act as a mediator between parties. I have also asked other teachers who either have the student in class or have witnessed the student’s behavior to attend. I don’t consider that ganging up because it is sometimes apparent that another set of objective ears and eyes is needed to facilitate a productive discussion. 

Be calm. If a parent begins to show anger or frustration, stay calm. Show compassion by repeating phrases like, “I understand” or “I appreciate your concern.” Parents sometimes want to vent. You are like the customer service representative who must sometimes take the brunt of a frustrated customer—whether you like it or not. Your calm demeanor could help diffuse the emotion on the other side. 

Be confident. This is where documentation and being prepared pays off. When you have your ducks in a row, you will exude confidence. Remember that your relationship with a parent is a partnership, not of the employee-employer variety. You should be accommodating when necessary, but you are a trained teacher. Your principal, superintendent, and school board entrusted you with a classroom where you are making the most informed choices for your students. Be honest about what you see in the classroom, but do it in a respectful way that shows you care about that student. 

Be realistic. The truth is that not every parent is going to like you, regardless of how kind, rational, and helpful you are. This is a hard one for the people pleasers of the teaching world. This may be a controversial statement, but I think it’s good if hurtful words and actions of others affect you. It shows that you have a tender heart, which can help you reach students. While it hurts your feelings, you cannot change people. You can influence them, though, so continue to be kind, rational, and helpful. Furthermore, continue to model these traits to your students as well so that they see a good example of handling a difficult interaction. Students need to learn how to be respectful communicators and how to resolve conflict. 

Be willing to listen (and, if necessary, adjust). A difficult parent may not say it in the most diplomatic way, but he or she may provide you with some food for thought about some of the methods and procedures you have in your class. One of the main things I’ve learned from situations with difficult parents is that I do need to evaluate and adjust certain aspects of my teaching and management so that expectations are clear to everyone. Through these experiences, I have eliminated a lot of gray area in my teaching, classroom management, and evaluation of students. I have learned that it is important to spell out expectations clearly and to be consistent in applying them. 

Recruit help. Many of my encounters with difficult parents occurred at the end of the day as they were picking up their children. Knowing this, my colleagues would alert me if they knew a parent was headed my way so that I could be prepared to meet him or her at the door. I did this so that students would not witness a confrontation in the classroom. In extreme cases, another teacher or school employee covered my room so that a confrontation was avoided altogether. 

Knowing how to handle difficult interactions with parents is a skill that every teacher should have, though it most likely won’t be learned from a Teacher Ed textbook. (Hello, experiential learning!) Take heart in knowing that all teachers experience difficult parents to one degree or another so it will happen to you. With the right attitude and perspective, though, you will become a better teacher because of them, and better teachers beget better students. 

**This blog post is taken from my TpT freebie "Dealing with Difficult Parents: Unexpected On-the-Job Training That I Never Learned in Teacher Ed." Download it here!

What has worked for you when dealing with difficult parents? Leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Favorite Back-to-School Icebreakers Linky

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Icebreakers. For some, they are a fun way to share about themselves, and if they're truly listening, learn about others. For others, they are a tortuous exercise in introducing themselves to strangers by sharing banal facts about their lives. My husband loathes icebreakers. In an adult setting, I tolerate them and have learned to tailor my responses to each audience. 

As a teacher, I think icebreakers can be a fun way to break the anxiety and tension of the first days back and set the tone for a welcoming, warm classroom environment. It's a bit overwhelming to moderate a first-day icebreaker as a teacher simply because there are lots of a new faces and names, and it's challenging enough to have to do memorize those, let alone remember what 25 kids' favorite ice cream flavors are. 

If done purposefully, though, the information shared in icebreaker can be useful. For example, one of the best icebreakers I've ever participated in was one in which we simply focused on learning the names of other members in the group. At first, each person went around and said his or her first name. Our facilitator then divided us into two groups--peanut butter and jelly. The two groups were then separated by a sheet held by two people, one person on each end. One member from each group went up to the sheet, and the sheet was suddenly dropped. Whoever said the correct name of the person on the other side of the sheet first won a point for the team. We rotated in and out, all the while learning faces and names through repetition. It was great for so many reasons: (1) It was fun; (2) It was a low-pressure way to introduce ourselves to each other; and (3) I actually learned names through repeated exposure to faces.

Do you have a favorite icebreaker activity to share? Add the Favorite Back-to-School Icebreakers button to your blog post, and link up below!

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