In Praise of the Scotch TL901 Laminator

Oh, how I love my laminator!  Love, love, love it! 

I'm constantly needing to laminate things for work, and this little baby does the trick.  It's much more durable than the laminating machine at work (don't you just hate it when your laminating starts to peel of f and then the kiddos pick at it and make it worse and then you end up re-doing everything anyway?...but I digress...) and I can easily set it up at home and laminate and cut while watching a movie or favorite TV show.  It heats in only a few minutes and is pretty much foolproof to use.  You just select the size laminating pouch that you need (up to 8 1/2" X 11"), slide your document or items in, place it in the feeder sealed-side first, and voila!  Perfection!

I picked mine up at Target and purchase the laminating pouches (available in multiple sizes!) there as well.  Happy Laminating!

 

 

New Year's Resolutions 2013

Starting off the year 2013, I decided to categorize my New Year's Resolutions, and figured I'd post my professional resolutions here. 

1.  Make a lane change.  In my district, your lane and step on the pay scale are dependent on your graduate education and on your years of teaching experience.  Our vertical columns (or lanes) are BA, BA+15, BA+30, BA+45, MA, MA+15, MA+30, MA+45, and PhD.  Built into the lanes are pay steps, which are based on years of experience teaching.  My goal for 2013 is to make a move into my next lane--just 3 more grad credits to go!  Totally do-able this semester--too bad lane changes can only take effect in September and in January.  Ha! Oh, well, I can wait until fall :)

2.  Examine my unit and lesson designs and work through them/redesign them to go even deeper within the curriculum.  There are still certain areas where I feel like I'm only glossing over the topic, rather than digging deep and making sure my kiddos have a good grasp of the concept(s).  This seems to be a constant for me.--I always have to remind myself to slow down and make sure they're really learning the material.  I've gotten a lot better about formative assessments and letting them drive my instruction, but I always have to fight that little nagging feeling to "hurry up" and get through everything within the year.  

So, what are your professional resolutions for 2013?