“Task cards are engaging; they’re effective they’re quick; they’re easy and they help your scholars practice standards. To me, if it helps my scholars practice standards, it’s quick, it’s easy, that’s a no brainer. And it just got easier because Boom takes that and makes it digital. No more printing, no more laminating, no more cutting.” -from Technology Tuesday (live on Facebook) with Mrs. Shipley’s Classroom.
Mrs. Shipley is a veteran teacher: six years serving in US Army, 13 years serving as an educator.
Unlike some, Mrs. Shipley didn’t plan to become a teacher when she entered college. On her way to becoming an attorney, Mrs. Shipley taught at a private school to pay for her undergraduate education. She graduated and decided against law school. Instead, she obtained her teaching certificate and considers it the best decision she ever made.
She has taught in Pre-K through 5th grade, but finds her home in 1st. She has a number of first grade phonics bundles available in her Boom Learning store. In the classroom, Mrs. Shipley’s passion is engaging her students. She loves creating stations and centers, along with games for reviewing standards. It is not a surprise that in addition to being a classroom resource author, she also is a professional development leader and campus engagement coordinator.
One of her best sellers at Teachers Pay Teachers and on Boom Learning is her Squares Your Brain game, a mental puzzler for students.
In Mrs. Shipley’s classroom, she uses Squares Your Brain games as early finisher work, stations or centers, and homework. Parents enjoy homework the whole family can play. Although her Boom products is for K-1, our fourth grader enjoyed playing: “It’s easy, but fun.”
Mrs. Shipley hasn’t let fear keep her from trying new things. Although she teaches professional development, she is terrified of public speaking: “I have been providing PD for over 10 years and I still throw up before every appearance!” In the spirit of being fearless, she and her husband just sold everything to travel the country for the next year. We are looking forward to her travels and invite her to visit the Northwest contingent when they come through here (hint: it is amazing in August and dreadful in October and November).
If you’ve decided to push past fear to start providing professional development or begin classroom resource authoring, Mrs. Shipley advises:
“Start small and be unique. Find your niche and BE PATIENT! Find a mentor. I have been a mentor teacher and one thing I made sure was that my mentee knew that no question was a dumb question. Find a good mentor and LISTEN TO THEM! Just make sure you find one that listens as well because this old dog can always learn new tricks.”
Schools and teachers today face many challenges: including balancing traditional skills acquisition, such as reading, with student interest in and fluency with 21st century technology. Boom Learning can be one part of the solution. Mrs. Shipley loves its portability: “I can carry over exactly what we are using in class with the home environment. I love that my scholars think they are ‘playing’ but they are actually learning!”
Mrs. Shipley is a nationally recognized Whole Brain Teacher, Retired National Presenter for WBT, Blogger, and Teacher-Author.