And we ended with a little trash!

NHS Juniors post ACT Testing pulling on the safety vests for a little area cleanup! 

 

 
 It is all about the team work!

Bags and bags of trash! A satisfied and tired crew! 

and a tired teacher! I had my own bag filled to throw away!

One of my main objectives to teaching is that I will not ask my students to do something and I not be willing to do it as well. I find that this makes the kids see me in a different light. Yes, it hurts my body to do the work, but I think the kids see that I am doing this with them and not making them do the work without getting a little dirty too. 

This idea carried into my classroom this week. I gave my sophomores some stories to read and create a poster with key elements. I had not done one in a long time for a sample. One of the stories was really a slow read, so I took that one on and created a poster to demonstrate the things that I expect my students to see. I believe this will make my students see eye to eye with me on many levels. 

The same happened with the MLA practice. I worked my worksheet on the board while the kids filled one in at their tables...I think seeing me write with them makes a huge difference in the expectations I set for them. 

I really feel like we have accomplished much this week. I taught complex materials with a large amount of success and was able to proctor the ACT where many of my students found me this morning along with an NHS activity....all in all, a good week. 

Eye-Opening Experiences

As I sat in my Differential Training this past week, my life as a teacher shifted- it shifted for the benefit of my students and myself. I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to share and discuss with teachers from across this state the challenges- and yes, I will say it- the frustrations I have had in the classroom this year.

I think I came in with all of these great ideas and expectations for my students, and while I loved my training at Great Expectations, I think my expectations were a little too far out there at times- like I would teach it and they will get it. That should be all they wrote, right? Not and let me explain.

Suzanne Maxwell is a teacher for WIDA- the ELL standards company for our diverse student population. She is brand new to the program. We were her second group of teachers that she has had the opportunity to train. She is from North Dakota, speaks French fluently and hosts a plethora of refugee families from Africa and other parts of the world on her personal time. She has worked for years with children and families who are learning the English language for the first time, and she taught a lesson in French. I have sat in Spanish classes before and have struggled through them, but I have a small high school background on the subject, so I kind of knew the language. This was totally new to me. In the lesson, she spoke totally in French, did not use any type of help or props or actions and she yelled when we started to discuss the ideas she gave us (what little we understood if any) and told us to speak only in French. We just looked at her like "What?!" Then she changed it. She added props to the story, pictures, and gestures. She repeated herself multiple times and pointed to things as she named them and she really did all she could think to do to help us understand the language as she spoke it. It hit me like a lightening bolt: not only are my ELL kiddos not completely understanding the requirements, my regular ed kids are struggling too.

I believe this to be true when I lose them in a lesson and when they start to act up or start to talk over me. I know realistically that I cannot always reach every student, but when I realized that all students are just that- they are students, it changed the way I have thought about the profession I am in and the way I have been approaching my classes. It reaffirmed why I am in my profession and how I need to approach each new day. My students are children and they are still learning and every student is not the same. I have found that I am feeling more compassion for their learning struggles and less agitated when they do not get the ideas I am teaching right away. I came in this morning revived and regenerated with same principles and same requirements, just a new way to look at the learning of my kids.

We are still pressing on with MLA in 11th grade. I checked what they did and did not do when they came in and moved on instead of getting on to them. I believe it held them more accountable and made them realize that I am paying attention and that they need to tow the line as well.

My 10th graders need refreshment of their activities as well, and I did some clean-up for them, with the exception of the one young lady 7th hour who told me that I teach really well, but I was too boring and I needed to do a song and dance for her to stay awake- "you know you could like juggle for me or something..am I right? You could even yell and I would pay more attention to you."
This was said by a young lady who is what the other kids call "salty." I just smiled and told her I had two more items and that I will be asking her to repeat the requirements of the task. This was also the same student who told me to not expect her to produce the poster I wanted from her because I was asking for too much...hmmmm...any thoughts?

Just a few thoughts in perspective and now looking forward to the next few weeks of school.

The first week of December

Returning from a much needed break, and I spent much needed time with my family and crafting for Christmas. My tree is up and my home is ready for the season. I needed this break to focus on me and mine. Now I will hit the ground at a pace I can handle- after all this is not a sprint, but a marathon. 

In my 10th grade classroom, I have introduced non-fiction with the breakthroughs theme as it was focused on the fictional literature. The non-fiction came in the form of a New York Times news article about the truth behind accepting ugliness and how parents respond to their own children when they are not the idea of what is beauty in our society. The students are being graded on their ability to read closely using highlighters and pencils to annotate the article and their ability to predict, discuss graphics, summarize, talk about theme, main idea, and author's purpose, and discuss how the ideas from the article affect their own lives. This is the first step into writing for this group. We will transition into writing next spring. 

Our next move will be to complete this unit. I am going to choose several works of literature and have students create a poster project I came up with from the elements found within the Buckle Down series. They will draw for a story, read it closely with notes and predictions, and create a poster using new vocabulary, summary, quotes, photos, main idea, theme, author info and purpose, etc. I am looking forward to the completion of said projects to post in the halls. This will wrap up this incredibly long unit that I believe went an inch long but a mile deep. 

In my 11th grade classroom, we are moving into the tricky world of MLA and research. I have had them write an argumentative essay sans research. Once we learn about the formatting for MLA, students are performing their own research and implementing this research into their essays to strengthen them. I am not a writing teacher, but I think we have pulled through alright. I definitely prefer the literature side of my area of study, but they need to know how to do this process and how to do it well. I believe that once we pull through this side of things, I will be able to re-visit some writing for other purposes through the next weeks and re-visit again next semester, but the focus will shift to literature and writing about literature, as I believe that is what this class really needs to be about anyway. I do think I will teach this differently next year. I am always looking for new ideas and new ways to teach writing and have yet to find the perfect method. We will push forward, and I am going to do my best to embrace this particular class. It has been a particular challenge for me for sure- a little of me and a little of them...a challenge I am working on day by day...

It is a good day to have a good day

I watched a show this weekend, and the title to this post was the quote they had on their living room wall. I love it! It is all about attitude. 

Attitude is something I think we are all struggling with. It feels as if we are all under a cloud, and that little rain cloud on a sunny day has been extraordinarily large lately. I have dealt with both student attitude and my own, and I want the chance to make things bright again. 

To focus on the positive, I have kids in here on a regular basis both before and after school catching up on missing work, trying to make improvements on their already recorded grades, and getting help when they do not understand the concepts I have previously taught. I find the late afternoon study sessions to be almost more beneficial as the class sessions. I think the time that I enjoy teaching the most is the one-to-one lessons when kids are really here on their own time to learn from me. 

In the classroom-

My juniors: We are working with writing. The process is often difficult and muddy, but I feel that the kids are working hard, and I am making a bit of headway towards the next step. They do not often know how to put thoughts to words on a laptop or on paper. I want them to translate their ideas, move them to the state in which they can see their own mistakes, minimizing corrections that I have to make as I grade. 

I want them to know that they can write. They can make something from their own thoughts, and to know that their something is really fantastic. I don't always know where I should end for the next teacher to begin. I just teach until I can not longer ask them to improve. 

My sophomores: We are reading for content, idea, and insight. I believe I have mentioned that I have not taught as much as I think I probably should have, but what they are learning is to a greater degree than ever before. We are working with Saki's "The Storyteller," and I have not read any part of this story with them. They have had to read it all on their own and write questions about the story for the Socratic discussion that we will have this week. I am curious to see how this will turn out. It is new for me and for them.

We will move from there to a Reader Response News Article. I am excited to introduce this concept to them. I wish I would have done so last year, but I was new to the school and trying to stay on top of the lessons we had scheduled as a department. This year has led me to be a little more self-reliant and able to branch out a little more with my lessons- maybe this is why I second guess myself so much... anyway, we are going to look at a news article about beauty and what it really is. How do we actually deal with the appearances of others and what can we learn from this as a breakthrough in society? I think the ideas in the reader response guide will help the kids to maintain focus and see the  article from a different perspective than if they were just required to read it. 

I am still debating on a major project for the end of the unit. I am leaning toward a poster project- book report type. I think that they would really like something like this once they are able to get into it. I am still in debate. 

All in all, attitude begins with me. I will work through some of the blahs and downs as I go. I recognize my impact on my classroom and on my students. I want them to be successful in all they do, and I only hope that I will have been an impact on the students who enter my classroom doors. 

A Little Late...but full of thought

I have long since known that I have always been called to be a teacher. I know it within my heart that I truly could do nothing else...this being said, I have days that I just want to run screaming from the halls.

Our students are full of mischief lately. I think they are figuring out the limits of tolerance in what they can do and how far they can push. I know that I have made at least three phone calls just in the past two days to parents of students who are doing all they can to upset the room, and I know that I will being calling more in the near future.

I think calling home has to be one of the most difficult things a teacher can do. Parents see the number from the school and they cringe. They just know something bad is coming and they are going to have to deal with a child who has not been on his or her best behavior. As I was walking to lunch today, the thought occurred to me, "Where is the line? How far, exactly, is too far for these kids to push?"

I don't tolerate swearing in my classroom. I cringe every time I hear the worst of the worst words all come flying out and I know they are more intelligent than to just allow their language to fly in all kinds of bad directions. Punishment for such profanity: warning, then call home and detention for 20 minutes, then 40 minutes, and so forth of copying from the dictionary by hand...the idea is to give them a broader vocabulary, and they eventually get to the point where they do not want to write like that any longer. Parents seem to love the idea and want to add days when I call home...go figure.

Disrespect- this is a no-no. I am here for them. I am here to guide them, and I believe every teacher to ever set foot into this building and other buildings in our district, every teacher that makes the choice to stay and work long hours, to place themselves, heart and soul on the line day in and day out deserves the respect of their students. I reflect on this idea and these feelings, and I know that I have to be a reasonable person about my expectations. I will never be able to fully control every eye roll, deep sigh, or the everyday complaints of "This is too much," or, "this is too hard." If I tried to control this, I would never get a lesson in otherwise. I had a class today where the kids were rather talkative, and I had told everyone to quiet down. Only a handful of students stopped and listened and waited for their classmates to calm themselves. Instead of getting angry at those who were rowdy, I told those that were waiting patiently and quietly thank you and that I apologize for their wait. An interesting thing happened...others wanted me to say that to them and they quieted down like a set of dominoes being knocked over. I am not sure that this will always work, but it sure did today and we were able to get to work. I will definitely do this more often.

I think when it comes to the disrespect, it is a personal level of tolerance. Out-right and blatant disrespect is going to be dealt with immediately....and after every warning, a write up and call home will follow.

For our failing students, I realize that I have a responsibility to my students and that I need to keep them busy, to teach them and keep them engaged. I work hard to do this and will always do so. I also believe my students have the responsibility to follow through with their work. If we coddle them, hold their hands through every assignment, begging and pleading with them to complete the assignments so they can pass the class, is not teaching them anything other than it is the fault of the teacher when they fail. That is not helping our almost grown students. The responsibility must be placed on their shoulders as well. If they are not passing and I have done all I can do to help them by taking late work, helping them in my plan hour or after school, it is their turn to make the full effort. I allow a grade check and will remind them often of their grades, but I will always move forward. I have generation of students to go.

Even when I feel like running from the halls, I know my true place is here. I know I am here to help guide and direct...teaching is my calling always.

A Week of Really Intense Learning

I have decided that it really is not all that wrong to stay with one story for an extended period of time. I usually would push forward and skim the material and not focus on the process of learning. Let me explain...

My English II class has been working on "Contents of a Dead Man's Pocket" for a week and a half now- it would have been faster without my absences last week- and I am trying something new with the story. I used the predictions I discussed in the last blog to help with the next process.

The students folded a blank piece of paper (hot dog style) and titled the left half "My Predictions," and the right "What Really Happened?" We looked over the story, the new vocabulary, the photos, etc. I had them write about the first activity, the photos, and new vocabulary under My Predictions. Then we talked. I asked the students what they wrote and why. It was very interesting.

Then, I told them that I could not read aloud to them in the EOI Test or in any other exam like that, so we are going to practice reading silently for comprehension. I assigned a chunk of the story for them to read and told them once they finished reading, they needed to write a quick summary to explain what they read under the section "What Really Happened?" and then I told them to go for it.....amazingly, they did it! I have been so pleased with them! I was able to read along side them and write as well- once I finished mine, I walked around and looked at the work they were doing. Once everyone was finished, we talked about the reading, and kids who never really speak up had something to say! It was so cool to watch, and to be a part of  the experience. I was able to call on kids to share their thoughts and they all had something that they had written down to share. Once we shared all that we had, I had them predict what would happen next. We had a small discussion and those that didn't have much written down added to their papers and we read another chunk again. I have taken 3 days so far, and we are almost finished with the story. I hope to have it completed by Tuesday, but if it takes to Wednesday, that is alright. I believe that I am teaching them and experiencing with them a stronger process for comprehension- and gaining a tool that they will be able to use across curriculum.

I am looking at other forms of MAX teaching to give them another tool to use for the reading process. I really do not feel that much has gone wrong with the activities other than pacing, I really like this process and will continue to use it as often as possible with other readings.

English III is finally falling into place. I have reverted and reached back to their fifth grade inner child by using cartoons and manipulatives to help them understand writing dialogue. I have seen them grow this week, and everyday, they are working. I believe with the exception of a couple of students, they liked the activities I have assigned. The ideas are more challenging than they look, and I believe they will be able to effectively use dialogue in their narrative writings. I was asked this week why we haven't written a full essay yet. I told the student that I did not feel like ready long poorly written essays from unprepared students- that building one paragraph into something better was much more manageable. I think we are close, and we will start the actual essay next Friday.

As far as Thursday morning went, I guess I just lost my cool when the student fully disrespected me. I believe it did make a difference. Another student told those that caused the issues to not push me that hard again. We will see if this lasts and if something positive came out of the experience.

On another front, I have been at the school late every single night. I needed to catch up with grading and lesson planning and... I am looking forward to my weekend for relaxing- though I plan to spend time cleaning my home and preparing for next week....yeah me!

A very trying time

I feel as if I have been pulled through the ringer. I am fresh back today from my dad's farewell in Denver and I feel as if I am chasing my tail trying to catch up from a long absence. I really dislike being gone from school, and I think I have been gone far more this year already than I have ever expected. I have awesome kids though and know that with each new day, I will be given multiple opportunities to catch-up. I am emotionally stable. I feel at peace with his passing, though I am still sad. I will forever miss him and all that he is to me. I know he is still looking out for me in all I do and I am grateful for that.

Reflection of the past two weeks- really? Did I miss that many? Wow. Okay, so reflections of teaching the 11th grade English classroom- I feel like I have a great plan of attack for writing really crummy sentences and helping the kids develop solid paragraph structure. I believe we still have a ton of work to do, but the foundation is being laid and the work has been put in place. I will consistently refer back to my Sentence Prescriptions for writing and The Writing Guide by CASA. They need the information and they need to put it into practice. I have read through a few "corrected" paragraphs and we still have work, but at least I know where I need to move forward with them. We may spend a day going back through and making even more corrections than I had anticipated. All in due time. I hope to find that the smaller stuff will only support the bigger stuff as we move into dialogue and the Narrative Essay. I did not focus on the descriptive, so I will make sure to include small lessons on description this week. Writing my teaching thoughts is already helping to pull me back into my reality.

The not so good part of the lessons: the plan of attack for writing the prescriptions is to switch papers and allow multiple students to write on one piece of paper, different types of sentences about one topic. This worked really well with the exception that we ran out of time- future use for this day: we will not have bell work on that day and they will switch all hour. I had to break it up into two days, and that was a weak link in the process.

Reflections for teaching the 10th grade English classroom- I just have to say this and you will read this line over and over again- I love my Sophomores! They are bright, driven and totally into whatever it is I am teaching! It is a joy to not have the attitude and to see the interest as they accept the challenges I place before them.

We have been working on Ethos, Logos, and Pathos and have entered our next unity of Humanity. We are starting with "Contents of a Dead Man's Pocket" short 48 sec video. They had to use words to describe what they saw, what they heard and how it made them feel In 4 groups, we placed the word strips on the walls and determined the most common ideas. We then learned how to use one Google Doc cooperatively as we took the words from the walls and wrote them down every time they appeared. Once we finished this, I created a word cloud and we discussed the idea of theme: the life lessons taught in film, books, short stories. I believe they were amazed to see that they were able to pull multiple ideas from the video and all were applicable to the idea of theme. I am anxious for us to read the story and apply ethos, logos, and pathos to the literature as well as determine theme. We will then move into discussion circles and learn how to apply new thoughts and ideas to works of literature.

The not so great part of the lesson: I was not fully prepared to wrap the lesson up. I only came up with the idea for the word cloud and theme after talking the lesson over with Michele Charles, so really I don't have any regrets for this. I did find out that when using one doc, it helps to have kids write their names on the form to claim a spot for themselves. I loved this and will use it again in the future.

Plans for this class include a QR search for Author notes and a reading using Cornell Notes in order to have a deeper understanding of the story. I am excited to put this into action.

I hope I have fulfilled enough for the two week requirements. I am looking forward to my personal life calming down and hoping to see a growth with my students as we develop this year.

A harder week

I know many may be tired of seeing me in my sorrow, but it has totally affected me in everything I do. I have never in my entire life ever thought the death of my dad would have come so early and so totally unexpectedly. I know there are people out there that wonder why I did not take the time from work. I couldn't. I had to be where life is. I have to find my way and be brave. I cannot just stay home and cry....I am afraid of those emotions and I know that as I follow everyday, I will find my way out of this pain and the kids have totally helped me.

I have worn my heart on my face this week and they have felt my pain. They have offered me hugs, cards, flowers, candy, a place to just be and condolences in the multitude. They have given me something to smile about through the pain. I know I made the right choice to be here- even on the worst day, which happens to have been Thursday of all days....

I came in feeling off that day, and due to my own attitude and the kids feeling off, it just was not a great combination. Thursday so happens to be the day I chose to change it up and move kids around in the room. They do not do well with change, and I felt the rebuttal from such change, especially 6th hour. A handful would not stop talking, and would not allow others to complete their benchmark testing. The class as a whole was not happy with me, even though I made room for everyone and I was fairly excited about this idea. Today, however, I did not experience this as we had a pep assembly. I hope this gives us a re-boot next week. I hope next week will bring better things..

For the going-on's in the room, all classes took their benchmark. I did not go computerized due to grading issues with Renaissance, but I did pull the test from there, print it and gave them the test with a scan-tron. The mean of the classes were in the 60's, which was about where I had expected them to be after the summer. I did have a few higher and a few lower, but this seemed to be the average. I did grade them on a curve as they do not know all of the materials and we are just beginning to gain momentum, so this allowed for higher grades in the grade book. I know they will gain and I look forward to seeing such growth.

11th grade is working on improving their writing. I want them to learn how to organize a paragraph and how to stay on one topic. I want them to gather a thesis from this paragraph. They think it is an easy task, but I have a feeling they will find it challenging if they take the time to do it correctly. This will be due next Tuesday. Then we will discuss a poorly written paragraph and they will be allowed to change their own paragraphs, finding the mistakes and changing words to make their writings stronger. From here, they will move into short story and themes for different modes of writings.

10th grade is finishing up the Ethos, Pathos, Logos unit with persuasion posters. It will be interesting to see what the kids come up with. So far, they have some really great ideas and I look forward to seeing the completed projects. We will also move into short story and look for themes and ideas to write using the readings to support their work.

Bell work will start up again next week. I had every intention of doing so this week and was able to only apply it to one day. I am also slacking the 3 g's- I need to make sure I pull that together again. I think it is important for the kids to see the good things of the world and to present these ideas to everyone else. I will have to come up with a system that works.

 I have to admit I only have a slight idea as to what I will have them do while I am gone for three days....I will ponder this next week.

I only pray this weekend will be much better than the last...

Week of ELP and the thesis

I have spent so much time at the school as we have started rolling through the year. I am seeing changes in my room, and I know that every little layer that I have put into place in the first days will eventually start to pay off. I am already seeing it in my sophomore classes. They are incredible students, so willing to try new things and learn. I am very fortunate to be called their teacher. We are currently working through methods of persuasion if you are curious about the ELP...this is an acronym for Ethos, Logos, Pathos: methods of persuasion. We have watched videos, looked at ads, and we will begin the poster project next week to wrap the unit into a pretty little package. We will use these throughout the year as they approach all types of literature and writing essays.

My juniors and I are working our way around in the classroom. A class of 33 students packed into my 6th hour classroom like a can of sardines is a bit of a challenge, especially when I have several that are the best of friends, and they cannot seem to catch up on life outside of the classroom :) I do enjoy them, and I know that what I am teaching them will eventually click and start to move them in the right direction :) We are practicing the writing of strong thesis statements, which tends to be the hardest part to learn about writing- well aside from using complete sentences. They will get it. Thankfully, a few already do practice using complete sentences :) I love the texting world for this. The challenge is before me, and I embrace it :) We are making our way into writing a full essay while we explore the different modes of writing an essay.

The one area of change I am going to make: I need to set only one morning aside during every week for the 3 g's- the good news, good words, and good fun. This is a wonderful idea and would work wonderfully if I could get everyone on the same page where they come prepared to present everyday. As of right now, this is not happening, and the process is taking far too long. One of my sophomores pointed this fact out to me today when I announced that we are not presenting the 3 g's today due to the assignment time requirements, though I had already started the process of moving this to just one day...I love the student who speaks up and does what she can to make our classroom an efficient one. For the moment, we will present the 3 g's on Friday where we can look forward to them.

Even though I have had a wonderful week, I would be insane to say that I am not looking forward to the long weekend. I plan to spend a lot of time in my pool and with my family. I hope all will have a fantastic weekend and be ready to move Tuesday!

First Full Week Back in the Classroom

I have had a wonderful first week back! I know that I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing! I really have not had any trouble with the exception of trying to figure out who the students are, and what they like and don't like. I am sure this process will go on for quite some time.

I think my greatest success has come from applying the things I have learned this past summer at Great Expectations into my classroom. I have helped guide my students through team work exercises (building a cup pyramid using only a rubber band and yarn as moving tools and creating classroom creeds that they are proud to call their own-see my page on this on my webpage for the school) to setting up their classrooms on the Chromebooks and learning the procedures. I think they have really enjoyed hearing music as I have played it when they are coming in and while they are discussing key ideas that I have asked them to discuss in small group. I feel like I am leaving my classroom today full of success.

Upon reflection, the area of improvement has to be the STAR reading test. I thought that due to the lack of Chromebooks for one of my classes, I should attempt to scaffold testing times. That particular class has 33 students in seats and it can get very noisy in here very quickly. I do not believe the scaffolding worked well for the students and testing will take place all at once in the future after this particular set of tests are completed. I will have a few test on Monday as the remainder of the class is reading silently.

I am currently working to weave MAX teaching into my lesson plans. I am reading the manual and determining which lessons I want to apply the concepts from the manual. I really want my students to be fully immersed into their learning. I do not want to hand feed them the material. They need to develop their own thought processes and stand up for themselves and other around them.

I feel more like a teacher than I have ever before. I feel confident in reaching out to parents, working with my students and the technology we have available. I am excited to see what the year will have to hold!