I am starting my second year as a curriculum coach so over the summer I was able to plan all the back to school things! I have had the mindset with this position that I want to treat my teachers just like I did my students. So I am always trying to build community, make professional development fun, and build my street cred! Ron Clark is my teacher idol and his house system is amazing. I thought having a house system would be a great way to create camaraderie with my teachers. We tend to stick with our grade level and/or our content area in the secondary world so I wanted to mix things up! And bring on the competition for motivation!
Look at that super fun wheel! It is not the Ron Clark 47' wheel but it was made with a lot of love. We {and by we I mean my husband} started with a trip to Lowe's for lumber and paint. But it was a day date and we were in my car so this is what that looked like!
I created the wheel in PowerPoint and printed it poster size. We found a piece of plywood already cut in a circle so I just had to measure. Then it was ModPodge for days! I love the way it turned out!
For the first day back, we rolled out the red carpet, played loud hype music, dressed up in house costumes, and got ready to greet the teachers! The House Sort started and each teacher took their turn spinning the wheel. My administration went wild when someone landed in their house and it was oh so much fun!
After everyone was sorted, we explained how the house system would work and what they could earn points for. Everyone sat with their house and enjoyed breakfast. Then, we sang the Welcome To My House {to the tune of Flo Rida's version} school-wide song to give them an example of what we would be doing at each faculty meeting.
The point system has been a little controversial because admin are our house leaders and some like to make it rain with the points! Also, we have two houses that are tiny, a medium sized, and a ginormous one. The luck of the wheel! Points are given to teachers for teacher-y things using Class Dojo and I keep house totals posted in the workroom.
The added competition has made it a lot of fun so far! We have had two faculty meetings and at those we have one person from each house spin the wheel for points and we all do our house chant or song.
I hope this continues to bring us together and gives us something fun to look forward to each month at faculty meetings! I also hope we can expand it to our students next year once the teachers feel comfortable with it. I love my teachers and how they go along with all my ideas. I am so lucky to have this dream job with these people!
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