Trying Something New in English Class

We're about to begin To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  One of my all time favorite novels to read and teach. Typically my students research the historical events that surround that time period i.e.. The Great Depression, The Dustbowl, Jim Crow Laws, Civil Rights, . . . and write a research paper. We do this prior to reading the story so the kids have an idea of the time period and events surrounding the author's life.

We're still going to complete the research, but in groups rather than individually. However, that isn't what this post is about. I wanted to come up with a different way to introduce the story.

So here's the something new. I'm going to have my students write a "Where I'm From" poem. I got the idea from George Ella Lyon's website. She wrote the poem. You can find her poem here.

First I'm going to read the poem aloud as students follow along. I believe students should see as well as hear the poem. But they shouldn't just hear the story from me, they should also hear the poet read her poem aloud. I found a video on youtube of George Ella Lyon reading her poem. You can find the video here. (The video gave me another idea. I'll get to that later.) Do you think the meaning of a poem can be affected when read by a stranger versus the poet herself? We're going to discuss that very thing in class.

Following our discussion we'll go over a template for the "Where I'm From" poem. I borrowed the template from here. Students will also receive a worksheet to help them brainstorm ideas to complete the template. (The worksheet is under construction. I'll post it soon.) Once students complete the brainstorming they will pair up and share what they come up with. Afterwards they will begin to write. I can't wait to see what they come up with. We'll spend some time revising and editing to reach our final piece of writing.

So here comes the something even newer . . . After students complete their "Where I'm From" poem they are going to add links. For each piece of writing they add to the template they will "link" it to an image, a video, another piece of personal writing, etc. For example, in George Ella Lyon's poem she wrote, "I am from the dirt under the back porch." If this were a line from a student's poem she would add a link. The link could be a photo of her back porch, or the dirt under the back porch. I hope this makes sense.

Since we're a one to one school we're supposed to include technology into our curriculum. The "linky poem" as I'm calling it helps fulfill that criteria in my English class. More importantly I'm hoping it will catch the interest of my students and more of them will WANT to complete the assignment.

I'm thinking we're going to write our poem with their links in google docs. In order for the links in the poem to work, the poem and the linked items must be located in a common folder. To that end each student will create a folder where she will include her poem and other linked items. The folder will be shared with everyone in the class including myself. If it works, we'll be able to open the poem, click on a link and the link will open. Keep your fingers crossed.

Finally the something even newer than newer . . . Students will create a video like George Ella Lyon's video on youtube. This is the idea I got from viewing George Ella Lyon's youtube video. Students will read their "Where I'm From" poem on the video while images move across the screen. Yea! Even more technology in my English class. Many of my kiddos enjoy making videos.

My kiddos are in regular ninth grade English and sadly many of them don't like school, well the part where they have to complete work. I hope my students will enjoy this project so that more will want to complete the assignment and actually enjoy it, for a school project anyway.

Has anyone else tried this before? If so please share your experience. If not, please let me know what you think.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

HopeAnn

Another Summer Comes to a Close

I can't believe I'm actually saying this. I'm happy to be back at school. This is the first time I can remember being ready for summer to be over and school to begin. Maybe it's because I had such an awesome time with my freshmen last year. What a fun and energetic group of kids. I will miss them. All though many have already come to visit me in my room. Several have asked if they can still check books out of my classroom library. YEAH!

Reading is so important to me. As you know last year I had my students keep a reading notebook. In the notebook they tracked all of the books that they read as well as wrote about their books. They read 10 minutes each day at the beginning of class. I tested the kids each nine weeks to see if they were growing as readers. I'm excited to say that the majority of reading scores went up, up, up. In fact the largest jump was four grade levels. YES!

Well this year I'm sticking with reading, but also adding more writing. Instead of just a reading notebook, students will be keeping a Reading and Writing Notebook. Here's how I changed things up a bit.

Students are still reading 10 minutes each day of a reading week. They also choose any book at their reading level that they want to read. They record their book on their reading log when they begin a new book and when they finish they write the date completed as well as E for easy, JR for just right, or C for challenging. They may still abandon a book if they don't like it. This is still a difficult concept for kids.

Some new things that I'm trying are tracking how many pages students read rather than counting the numbers of books. This week I had students count how many pages they could read in 10 minutes. We then multiplied that number by 6 to see how many pages they could read in an hour. Then we doubled that number to see how many pages students could read in two hours. From there students created a simple book mark with the days of the week listed down the front. Each day they read they write their beginning page number for that day. At the end of the week, actually Monday in class, we'll calculate the pages they read for the week. If they read for two hours then they should easily reach their page goal for the week. I'm taking this as a homework grade. The only way a kid will receive a zero is if he/she didn't read at all. If they at least read one page, then they will receive half of the points.

I'm placing an enormous amount of trust on students' shoulders. I explained that I can't possibly sit with all 144 of them and watch them read every day. I also didn't want to have parents sign off each week saying that their child read. My students are freshmen now, young adults. I explained that I'm trusting them. It's common courtesy which is my number one rule in my classroom.

Students have a page tracker glued into their Reading Writing Notebook for the first nine weeks. On Mondays they simply transfer their page numbers from their bookmarks to their page tracker for each week. I send my classroom page tracker around the room each Monday and students transfer their page numbers read each day with their total for the week. This is what I will place in my grade book.

We're also placing all notes on reading like our short story unit in our Reading and Writing Notebooks. This week students will be working in their notebooks on character, setting, plot, tone, etc. It should be review. On the left hand side of the page they taped or glued the notes I gave them. On the right hand side of the page is where they will reflect on what they have learned. For example, on the right hand side of the page next to plot notes students will write major events from the story on post it notes and arrange them in a plot diagram. I got this idea from researching interactive notebooks. Learning on the left and reflection on the right. We'll see how this goes.

The idea is to alternate between reading and writing every week. So far we've spent a ton of time setting up our notebooks and reading. We'll finish our first short story this week and then we'll move into some writing. I'll keep you posted on how things go. Hopefully we settle into a routine soon.

Hugs,

HopeAnn

 

On a Wing and a Prayer: My Students WILL Get to Take Their Exam in the Blue Exam Booklets Like I Promised

I came home early from school today in the pouring down rain and boy did the temperature drop. Chilly and damp. I'm NOT complaining because my flowers so needed a drink and a break from the heat. But then so did I. My classroom can get quite stuffy and stinky with sweaty freshmen boys who just came from gym class. Eeeeewwww.

Anyway, I texted Michael to bring in the mail so it didn't get soaked by the rain. See, we haven't replaced the old mailbox yet (it's been almost two years since the siding was done on the house, and the mailbox was removed at that time) and when it rains the mail tends to drown to the point where I have to get out the blowdryer. You get the picture. My point is that I was expecting a package from Amazon, and I didn't want it to get wet.

Michael brought the mail in, and when I got home he brought the package to me. It was a thin tan envelope. I thought to myself: How in the world did Amazon fit 25 Blue Book Exam booklets in that thin little envelope. Well, they didn't. I opened the envelope to find not 25 booklets, but ONE. One. Booklet. I have 25 students in my Honors English class. 25. They cannot share ONE booklet.

This is the second time I have placed this order. The first time the booklets came the pages were grids. I donated them to the math teacher on my team. I figured he could always use graph paper. He kindly thanked me for my contribution.

Panic squeezed my throat. My kiddos have been preparing for the essay exam this whole week, and I told them they would be writing them in Blue Exam Books like students use at the college level. Their exam is TOMORROW. It was now 4 p.m. Where was I going to find Blue Books by tomorrow morning?

Google. I googled Blue Exam booklets and found them all over the internet, but I would have to order them and have them shipped. I needed a store. A place I could drive to and purchase exam booklets for tomorrow. Staples. No. Office Depot. No. Walmart. No. No. No. No. There wasn't one store that carried them. I had to order them from the online version of the store. I sat there staring at my computer screen wracking my brain for an answer.

Then it hit me. The bookstore at Bowling Green State University Fireland's campus that is located in Huron. Just 12 miles down the road. It was now 4:35. I called the bookstore before heading out. The young lady said yes they did have the Blue Exam booklets. I asked if she had 25 booklets. She said yes. I asked her what the hours were for today. She said the bookstore closed at 5 p.m. I told her I was leaving now from Vermilion and coming there to purchase 25 of the exam booklets. I thought I could make it.

I grabbed my purse and keys and ran out the door yelling to Michael over my shoulder that I was heading to BGSU and would be right back. At 4:42 I pulled out of my driveway. Once I got to Route 2, I literally flew down the highway. I asked God to send an angel to make sure I made it there in time, safely, and without getting picked up. It was still pouring down rain as I frantically drove the 12 miles to Huron. I also asked God to send an angel to the bookstore to make sure it was open when I arrived.

At 4:58 I pulled into a parking place, shut off the car, popped open my umbrella, and made a mad dash in my red dress and white high heeled sandals for the bookstore. When I got to the main door I pulled it open and thrust my umbrella through. Right. I didn't even put the umbrella down.

The girl, a college student by the looks of her, stood just inside the doors of the bookstore speaking with someone. I ran to the doors finally putting my umbrella down. The young lady behind the counter said "Can I help you?" Huffing and puffing I told her I was the woman who called about the exam booklets. She said "Oh. Yes. They're right over here." She led me to the shelf and asked me if I wanted the smaller version or the larger. I chose the larger.

We walked back to the counter. My breathing began to quiet. She told me she hoped I hadn't rushed too much. She said, "After you called I decided to keep the store open for a few extra minutes to make sure you got the booklets you needed."

"Bless your heart!" I beamed at her.

God answered my prayer getting me safely to the bookstore in time and without getting a ticket. He also answered my prayers in the form of a lovely young lady who was kind enough to give me some extra time. Talk about wonderful customer service. I'm writing a letter to BGSU to thank whoever hired this young woman and sing her praises.

I walked out of the bookstore with my orange BGSU bag filled with 25 exam booklets in hand. Unlocking the car door, I placed the bag on the passenger seat, put my umbrella down, and sat behind the wheel. I thanked God over and over again. When I turned the key in the ignition the low fuel light came on. I hadn't even realized how low I was on gas. I couldn't tell you if it was on while I was driving to the bookstore or not. A sense of calm came over me, and I just sat and breathed in and out. Smiling from ear to ear.

Thanks to God and this young lady, my students will get to take their exam in the Blue Exam booklets I've been telling them about.

I just had to share this with all of you because usually you hear people complain about poor customer service. Not this time. What a nice surprise.

When's the last time you received great customer service? Please share.

Midweek Confessions

I'm linking up with Elizabeth for her midweek confessions on her blog E, Myself, and I.

As a mother and a teacher I can't get ANY grading done at home, so I stay after school sometimes for two to three hours depending on how big the pile of papers has grown on my desk. Yesterday I caught up with my grading early, but stayed in my classroom anyway and wrote a blog post while my husband and son patiently waited for me to come home for dinner.

My back was killing me at school today. Not sure why. Maybe it's the flip flops I've been wearing. Anyway during my planning time I laid on the floor in my classroom to stretch my back. While I laid there on the cool floor in front of my fan (it was extremely hot in my room today) I closed my eyes just for a minute. I forgot to close the door. Little did I know that students kept walking past my door peaking in at me. Finally one of my freshmen girls came in and asked if I was dead. 

I'm a carbohydrate junkie. My husband fixed spaghetti tonight for supper. Being the good girl I only took one helping. But, as I sit here in my back yard writing my confessions the pan of spaghetti sitting in my fridge is calling my name. I'll even eat it cold. 

Reader's Notebook Turned Blog - A Teaching Moment

Back at the beginning of the school year, I wrote about The Book Whisperer and The Reading Zone. Both books inspired me to incorporate more reading into my classroom. Reading books that students chose as opposed to teacher or curriculum selected books. If you recall, my students read for 10 minutes a day, five days a week which adds up to 50 minutes a week. Not bad for high school. Side note: their reading scores improved! YEAH! More on that later.

They also created Reader's Notebooks. You can see the post on Reader's Notebook here. In their notebooks they listed the books that they were reading or had finished, including the name of the author, date finished, genre, and if it was easy, just right, or challenging. They abandoned books that they didn't like. Yes. They didn't have to stick with a book that they hated. The notebook also contained a section for someday books where students listed books that sounded interesting. Another section contained notes on genres, and the final section housed the letters they wrote to me about their books. Now that I've summed that up, let's move on.

Here at Perkins we're a pretty techie district. Students in grades six through twelve have their own laptops. Teachers are encouraged to incorporate technology into their curriculum maps. With that said, the Reader's Notebooks have been sitting in my classroom in their designated crates on top of my bookshelf, taking up much needed space. I decided to try blogging the Reader's Notebook. My honors English class was more than happy to play the guinea pigs if they received extra credit. Go figure.

Each student, voluntarily, created a personal blog through our school gmail account and blogger. They created a theme, personal profiles, cute animal widgets, number of hits, . . . - the whole nine yards. The home page was designated for posts like the letters they wrote to me about their books. They also created pages to house the Reader's Log, Someday Books, and Genre Notes. I gave them a week to create their blogs and write their final book review (letter) to post. Wow! . . . Wow!

Many of their blogs were something else! Plus their writing improved, immensely. You know why? Because anyone in the world could read their book review. Oh my gosh! How excited were they when they checked their stats and found out someone from Germany had visited their blog.

They decided that I just HAD to have next year's freshmen keep their Reader's Notebook on a blog. But not only that, they want me to have students write more of their assignments on the blog rather than turn them in the "old fashioned" way, typed. I was a little hesitant so they reassured me and suggested they post their final paper, a memoir, on their blog. Strictly voluntary, only those people who want to since writing a memoir is so personal.

We went back over the idea of how a blog is public.  We also spoke again about the power of words and that once we write them and send them out into the wide world of the internet, we can't get them back before someone reads them. No problem. We can handle it. And they did.

I'm so pleased with their enthusiasm for the blogs,  and the writing of their memoirs. With a "real" audience (I guess I'm chopped liver) they took extra care to make sure everything was perfect. You should have heard the conversations on revision and editing going on in this room. I wish I could share their blogs with you. Maybe some will say yes and I can post their links in the near future.

I'M THRILLED to say the least! Definitely a HAPPY teaching moment!

Have you used blogs in your classroom? If so please share what you've done and how it worked for you. Thanks! Have a blessed day.

Ups and Downs

This past year has been one of ups and downs, much like the BlueStreak at Cedar Point. To get back into my blog I'm going hi lite a few of the ups and downs.

Before leaving for Syracuse,
 I went to a stylist
 for my new professional haircut.

Up - In September I found myself training to be a coach for the Literacy Design Collaborative. This collaborative has been established by a grant from the Gate's Foundation. It's to help educators who teach in the common core, math, science, and social studies, to cover the literacy standards.  Basically taking the pressure off the English teachers to cover ALL of the literacy standards for EVERY core subject, plus all of our other standards. Not only does it help cover the literacy standards, but more importantly it benefits students to learn different content reading and writing. If students are reading and writing in ALL core subjects then their reading and writing will improve across the board. Being an LDC coach takes me to new places like Syracuse, New York to work with elementary and high school teachers. I must say I have an energetic group of teachers that I'm coaching. They are quite passionate about teaching and have tremendous ideas. I also work with other coaches from the Columbus, Ohio area. These teachers are a wealth of information and support. I've enjoyed sharing in their passion and enthusiasm for teaching. I was already a strong proponent of kids reading and writing, and now I can share that with my colleagues and teachers across states. This brings me to number two on the list of ups and downs.

PaPa heading into the press box to
keep time for the football game. The
pressbox was named in his honor;
between his father and him they have
100 years of keeping time for the school.

Down - Sadly PaPa became really ill just after Christmas. Actually, right around Thanksgiving he began eating less and less. PaPa told me he was afraid he'd choke. My family watched helplessly as he gradually became thinner. We told him every day that he needed to eat three meals a day at the very least, but there's no telling PaPa what to do. Since I'm more than an hour away from him, I wasn't able to be with him nearly as much as I wanted. My aunt spent time with him every day, helping by driving him to numerous appointments, cleaning the house, mowing the yard, trying to get him to eat, ... In January PaPa complained that his foot hurt him. The doctor said he had gout and prescribed gout medicine. It seemed to help temporarily. By February PaPa rode in the ambulance to the hospital. There we were told his foot didn't have gout, but that the medicine he had been taking caused his kidneys to worsen. From the hospital he was sent to a nursing home for rehabilitation. We thought he would be home within a month. PaPa told all of us he couldn't wait to go home. He wanted to be ready for officiating high school track. Within weeks he was gone. We were shocked. I am glad that I was with him in his final minutes on earth. I held his hand while my aunt and mom held his other hand. He was surrounded by his family. SInce the funeral we have been spending every weekend going through PaPa's house. Last weekend we finished. Now it's time to get ready for the auction. I don't know how I'll hold up watching MomMom and PaPa's belongings sold to the highest bidder.

My Reader's Notebook.
Each student kept a notebook
and read every day this year.

Up - Remember I read the Book Whisperer by Donalen Miller? Because of that book and Nancy Atwell's The Reading Zone I had my students keep Reading Notebooks this year. I devoted ten minutes to reading for fun for each class, each day of the week. That totals 50 minutes a week for reading, if my math is correct. I tested my students in reading at the beginning of the year to get a baseline. I then tested them at the end of the first nine weeks and repeated this process for each consecutive nine weeks.  I HAPPY to report that the majority of my students' reading scores have improved, some by five grade levels since we first began in the fall. ASTONISHING! I can't wait to see the results at the end of the year. I wanted to collect data, test results, to prove to myself and my administrators that reading for fun can improve a child's fluency and comprehension, thus improving their grade level reading. Some of my ninth graders were reading at a fourth grade level. Now many of them read at a ninth grade reading level. I hope the next teachers my students encounter will continue with reading for fun. I would love to see them graduate reading at a college level.

The Eifel Tower from a trip
I took with my best friend
as her French students.

Down-Up - Our school like many across the state must pass an operating levy next week. If the levy doesn't pass more teachers will lose their jobs. Earlier numerous teachers were RIFed in order to save money. One of those teachers was my best friend. The board and our superintendent decided to eliminate her program. She teaches French at the high school and middle school. When word got out that the French program was going to be cut, students cam out in mass to support her one of the board meetings. In fact so many people showed up that they had to relocate the meeting to the cafeteria. Students and parents spoke about why the French program was so important and what my best friend meant to them as a teacher. It's a good thing I brought tissues. Parents and students also inundated the superintendent and board members with emails and phone calls. Happily, as a result of the outpouring of support, the superintendent and the board are keeping the program in place, at least for now.

Much more happened since I last wrote in September, but that brings us up to speed. I've missed blogging. It's good to be back.

Reader's Notebook

We're going into our fifth week of school. Believe me my mind and body feel it. I'm excited though because this year I'm trying the Reader's Notebook with my kiddos. Just before the end of summer vacation, I reread the Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller and The Reading Zone by Nancy Atwell. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE both of these books.

In a nut shell, kids need to read books of their choice in order to improve in reading. I always wonder when the love of reading stops. I've been watching my son who is in the seventh grade now to see when he will begin to dislike reading. So far so good, but he doesn't seem to read as much as he used to. I tack that up to how busy his life has become with football practice and games, school, homework, church youth group, and family. However, there were times last year when he would come home and tell me what a boring story they were reading in English. He would do well on the tests, but some of the stories just weren't grabbing his attention and keeping it. I think our children begin to dislike reading when they have to read a story, answer questions about that story, and then take a test about the story. Is that fun?

I understand that with high stakes testing and grade level curriculum that most of us feel we have to teach reading this way. This year I'm expected to teach The Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, To Kill a Mockingbird, Night, and Left to Tell. And I will teach them. But in addition I'm trying something new - for me. The Reader's Notebook.

Each student purchased a composition notebook for the year. The notebook is divided up into the following sections: Table of Contents, Books I've Read, Someday Books, Genre Notes, Guidelines for Reading Workshop, Letters to Mrs. Wallace, Book Recommendations, Other Important Information.

In the books I've Read section students list the number of the book (whether it's their first book or their 20th), title, author, genre, date completed, and if it's Easy, Just Right, or Challenging. I had them begin their list with the summer reading book. Each student had to read either Quicksilver or Quiver by Stephanie Spinner. I'm setting the bar at 18 books for the year that each student must read. That's nine each semester. Breaking it down even further that's four books the first and third nine weeks and five books the second and fourth nine weeks. I think we can handle that. Yes. I said WE. I'm reading too and have my own Reader's Notebook.

In Someday Books students write the title, author, and genre of books that sound interesting to them, and they might want to read some day. Each week I give a book commercial about two to three minutes. Brief. Students will be doing book commercials as well beginning the second nine weeks. If a student hears about a book they want to read they add it to their Someday list. This way when they finish with their current book they can refer to their list and select their next book.

The Genre Notes are just that. Notes on different genres. Here are the genres I chose to use. Traditional Literature, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, and Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir. I chose these because most of the books on my classroom shelves can be easily distributed among these genres. After we discussed the different genres and they wrote the definitions in their Reader's Notebook, I had each class take the tubs of books off of my shelves and categorize them by genre. They had no idea that they were putting their notes into practice. They just thought they were helping me organize our library.

The Guidelines for Reading Workshop was a handout that we cut apart and glued or taped into our notebooks. This is information about reading requirements, how to choose a book, how to write a friendly letter, how to proofread, suggested topics for their letters, due dates for their Reader's Notebooks, and the rubric for grading their Reader's Notebook.

At the completion of each book my kiddos will write me a letter. It must be three paragraphs in length. It must also tell me something important about their story; not just plot development. I've given them a huge list of ideas to write about their book. Here a just a few examples: How did the main character change throughout the book? Describe in detail the setting of your book and how it fits with the story? Who was the culprit and explain how he/she was a good choice. Explain how the book reminds you of yourself, people you know, or of something that happened in your life. Do you agree with the point the author is making and why? ... Some of these I thought up on my own, but others I begged and borrowed from other teachers.

In Book Recommendations students will obviously write a book recommendation about each book they complete. They will initially write it in their Reader's Notebook, but then they will also type it up and print it out so we can add it to our classroom binder of Book Recommendations. This binder is just one more place students can go to find a good book to read.

I'm keeping the Reader's Notebooks in containers by alphabetical order in my classroom. They sit on the bookshelf. Students may get their notebooks at any time during independent class time to work in them. The containers also make it easy for me to carry the notebooks home since they have a lid with a handle.

So how are we going to read all of these books? We read for the first 10 minutes of class each day. On block day once a week we read for 20 minutes. So that is 50 minutes each week. My students know when they come through the door that they have entered the ZONE and must quietly sit down, get out their book of choice, and READ. They also read whenever they complete their assignments, quizzes, or tests. Plus I ask them to try to read for 30 minutes each night of the week. After I take attendance, I read with them. This coming week, I'm going to begin circulating around the room each period and ask what they're reading and where they are in the book.

So far, just through my observations the majority of my kiddos are reading and in the zone. I have a few that read for awhile and then stare at the wall. I've placed several different books into their hands, but as of yet nothing has hooked them. I'll keep trying to find just the right book for each of them.

What I like about the Reader's Notebook besides all of the reading is that students will also be writing. Writing letters to me about their books is like writing a literary analysis. Writing book recommendations is persuasive writing. They're writing about their reading. LOVE IT! Of course this won't be all of the writing they will do this year. I also like the conversations that have already been happening in class. My kids are talking about and sharing their books! Can you believe it?! "This is such a great book. You've got to read it." "I'm at the part where..." "Can I read it after you?"

I pray this works. I want my kids to fall in love with books all over again or maybe for the first time. I want their reading to improve. Please keep your fingers crossed.

Update: Reader's Notebook Turns Blog - A Teaching Moment

Snow Day Yipee!

I'm definitely as bad as my students and my son. We heard on the news that there was a possibility of snow for last night. So sticking with our typical tradition, we didn't want to jinx anything, Michael and I, as well as several other families that I know of, put our pajamas on inside out and backwards before going to bed. This doesn't make for a comfortable night's sleep. And I must admit, I went to bed planning on school.

I awoke ten minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Don't you hate that?! I rebelled and snuggled under the covers hitting the snooze at least once. It never occurred to me to look out the window. I just blindly got dressed to walk on the treadmill and headed down to the basement for my walk. While walking I watched a movie that Matt had left on the TV, Midnight in Paris. I love this movie! I walked for 30 minutes and headed back upstairs.

I quickly sat down at the kitchen table and created a quiz for the Count of Monte Cristo for my Honors English class before heading for the shower. (So if any of you are reading this, yes you have a quiz tomorrow over the reading - pages 192-288.) While typing my phone rang. It was school. We were on a two hour delay! YES! I jumped back on the computer to see if my son's school was also delayed. Sadly his was still on time. He was majorly bummed.

I ended up taking Michael to school instead of having him ride the bus. It's not often that I can drop him off at school. I came home, finally hopped my stinky, sweaty body in the shower, got ready, and graded some papers. I was just getting ready to head out the door to school when the phone rang again. It was school. CANCELLED! YES!

The rest of the morning I graded a stack of research papers. I so needed this time to grade. Unfortunately, I only made a small dent. For lunch I met my friend Amy at a Mexican restaurant in town and enjoyed a burrito and a margarita. YUM! I popped over to Pat Catan's for some crochet hooks and yarn. I'm teaching the Girl Scouts how to crochet on Wednesday.

The rest of the afternoon I read my Kindle until Michael came home. He was excited to see me home before him. Until he realized that I had a snow day and he didn't. I guess the pajama thing works. Thanks for the nice surprise of a snow day! I definitely enjoyed it!

So do you have any silly superstitions to make it snow for a day off of school? Please share!

My Mentor, My Friend

MaryJo

My first year teaching English at my present school was almost my last year of teaching. I came from a smaller private school where the teachers and administrators were kind, considerate, helpful, and gracious. At the private school we collaborated on a daily basis. The time to collaborate wasn't worked into our day; we made time whenever and wherever we could. We shared new ideas, asked questions of each other, and most importantly we trusted one another. We wanted to be the best teachers we could possibly be, and we wanted to help each other to reach that goal. This community of educators taught me what it was like to be part of a team, part of a family. Sadly, I had a difficult time making ends meet while teaching at this school and moved on to my current school.

During my first year at my current school, I was teaching five sections consisting of sophomore honors English, senior college prep English, and yearbook. I was also the advisor for the fall play and coaching JV cheerleading. Whew! What a new teacher won't do.

MaryJo, a cutting edge veteran teacher, saw that I could use some help. She approached me saying, "I would be more than happy to answer questions for you or help you in whatever way I can. Just so you know. I'm the black sheep of the family around here, and it might come back to bite you in the end." That was the day I became a black sheep too. Baaa! Baaa!

This image is from: http://www.wallpapers.cc.

MaryJo and I worked together that first year discussing curriculum, assessment, project ideas,... We shared our ups and downs in the classroom. From there we began teaching some of the same classes and worked together on curriculum maps and team teaching. We wrote curriculum maps for our courses, taught the lessons, and discussed what happened in our classrooms. We had great conversations reflecting on our teaching methods and the curriculum. What worked? What didn't work? How can we make this better for next year's kids?

We went to annual conferences and classes together: OCTELA (The Ohio Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts), Young Adult Literature, Wordpress for online school newspapers, NCTE (National Council of Teacher of English), MOWP (The MidOhio Writing Project), and NWP (The National Writing Project). I'm sure there's more, but you get the picture. After several years of going to these conferences to gain ideas to use in our classrooms, we began to present our own classroom ideas that were successful.

MaryJo and I became our own professional team. We wanted to be the best teachers we could be to help our students succeed. What I left behind and missed so much from the private school, I found in a black sheep named MaryJo. We have learned so much together over the course of 13 years. We've built a strong friendship.

On Wednesday, MaryJo retired. She taught k-12 for over 40 years. We threw a small surprise retirement party for her during lunch on her last day. It was difficult collecting donations from fellow teachers and administrators since MaryJo and I are almost always together. With the donations I was able to purchase several gifts for her. I also baked her favorite dessert, red velvet cake.

At our school we have a tradition of giving a wooden replica of the building signed by teachers and administrators. It's sitting in front of the flowers and cake.

MaryJo opens her first gift. It's a Kindle. She LOVES to read, but has run out of shelf room for her books.

This tote bag will come in handy when traveling to visit her grandchildren. She also received a matching wallet and Kindle cover.

Finally, MaryJo received a beautiful handmade quilt from one of our fellow teachers. This has also become a tradition in our building.

I'm going to miss MaryJo, my neighbor, my mentor, my friend. We would pop in and out of each other's rooms to share a new idea, a book, or ask a question. MaryJo, Mr. P, and I met each morning before school outside of Mr. P's classroom door to help "hold down the fort" in our hallway. Each day after school we'd sit in one or the other's classroom and share our day. We've had some of the same thoughts and finished each other's sentences.

Thank you, MaryJo. 

Baaaaa! Baaaaa!

This image comes from the following website: http://www.cafepress.com.

Bored With School?

My son Michael has always LOVED school. On his first day at Wee People, three-year-old preschool, he kept looking behind at my husband and saying, "Come on Daddy." Matt followed with the video camera because I wanted to capture every minute. I was already at school with my own students. Michael just couldn't wait to meet his teachers and all of his new friends. When Matt picked him up three hours later, Michael cried because he didn't want to go home. He wanted to stay at school. Matt just about died. Usually a child cries when being dropped off not when getting picked up. What would his teachers think?

Michael has loved every grade and every teacher just about every teacher. There was one. Anyway, he's in sixth grade this year and until the last two weeks has LOVED it.


THEN the math paper came home with a drawing on the back of a boy's face and a cloud coming out of his cartoon mouth that said, "I hate school." OMG! We were so shocked! STUNNED! Is this our little boy?

We sat Michael down at the kitchen table and asked him about the drawing. He explained that he had time left over in class and decided to draw a picture. The boy in the picture hated school. Not him. Teacher mode kicked into my brain and thought: Yes, but you drew the picture therefor it came from you so subconsciously you must hate school. After I gathered my thoughts a barrage of questions spewed from my mouth: Is someone bullying you at school? No. Are you upset with a teacher? No. (sigh of frustration from Michael) Did you have an argument with a friend? No. (another sigh from Michael) Michael reassured both of us that he did NOT hate school.

Three days later...Matt and I had been wondering when Michael would be bringing home his report card. We had asked him each day of the new nine weeks and both times he said he didn't get it yet. Then Matt and Michael drove to wrestling practice and had a conversation on the way.

Matt - "When are you getting your report card?"

Michael - "I don't know dad."

Matt - "Did you get it today?"

Michael - pause "No."

Matt knew something was up at this point.

Matt - "Do you have your report card?"

Michael - Long pause "Yeah."

Matt - "Where is it?"

Michael - "In my computer bag."

When they got home that night we had another sit down at the kitchen table. This seems to be the place where we hash things out in our family. Come to find out Michael had his report card for three days and kept it hidden from us. He was upset, worried that we would be mad at him for a bad grade in math. He received a C-. Now this kid has been bringing home A's and B's in math forever. Math and science were his strongest subjects. Go figure. When we looked at his grades online that night he had several homework assignments with low marks, whereas his test grades were high. How could this be?

Then I remembered how my husband was in school, or so I've been told. Matt is super smart. He never had to study to get good grades. He picks things up easily and has a memory like an elephant. I wonder where this saying came from? He told me that when he was in school he pulled C's because he never did the homework. Why bother when he could ace the tests without studying? He was BORED in school. While other kids worked on their homework Matt read books, until that didn't even keep his interest, and he began to get into trouble. Oh I did NOT want Michael to receive this gene from the Wallace side.

Michael explained that he went in for extra help during music class at the end of the day. Unfortunately, he had an F in music because he was getting extra help in math. Why must he take music when he plays the drum in band? And band is a year long course? I digress. Michael went on to say that he understands the math. He'll try harder. He'll get the grade up. Because he kept his grade card hidden from us (deceitful) we grounded him for a week. No TV, computer, or video games.

I emailed his teacher and she said Michael was bright in math. He participated every day and helped other students who had trouble with the material. She said Michael made careless mistakes in his calculations. Now we have told Michael umpteen thousand times to take his time and double check his work. She also said that he could fix any of the problems on his homework to earn full credit. The students have been allowed to do this all year. Why am I just now hearing this? Back to the kitchen table.

I shared the email with Michael. He smiled feeling pretty good about himself. Then I dropped the bomb about the homework. His face fell. "Oh, yeah. I forgot." We came up with a plan of attack.

Plan of Attack
Bring ALL papers home every night - no matter the grade
After school relax
When Mom gets home we'll both work on our school work together at the kitchen table ( I could use the time to grade papers.)
Get to bed by 9 pm
Take time and double check ALL work in ALL classes AND fix all errors on homework

Today Michael brought home his math test. He missed one and received a 98%. It brought his grade up to a higher C. He also brought his music grade up to an A since he's been attending class and completing the work. He felt good about it and called Grandma. She's been worried about him too. Hopefully we can keep things on track until the end of the year. I know he can do this.

Is it boredom? As a teacher I struggle with this everyday. I have many Matt's in my classroom, bright students who don't complete their homework, but do well on tests and quizzes. How do we reach these kids? How do we get it through to them that it's important to complete ALL of the work? Most of them settle for just passing. "I just want to pass." How about I want to do the best I can?

Is there anything you've tried in your classroom or with your children that works. If so please share.

No Place But Here

I belong to a book club in which we are reading No Place But Here A Teacher's Vocation in a Rural Community by Garret Keizer. Our book club holds discussion on a wiki. We read a couple chapters and pose questions for discussion. This past week we read a chapter entitled "Sex and Faith." I wanted to share the post I wrote with you.

Kaizer struck a note with me in the chapter on “Sex and Faith.” I have not had many a young pregnant woman walk through my door.  But the first one that did made me look at her, really look at her and wonder how difficult it was to walk in her shoes.  I wanted to do everything I could to help her, whether that was extra time in her studies or offering advice on parenting, or just listening. Not that I’m a perfect parent, in fact at that point I wasn’t a parent at all. When I looked at her I saw my own mother, my biological mother.

When Tish was pregnant with me in 1967, I wonder what kind of support she had from her teachers? Not much I think. In that time being an unwed teen mother was still shameful, like wearing a scarlet letter on your bosom. Is it still as bad today? Tish was just a sophomore beginning her second semester in school, and my birthfather, Gary, a senior. Anyway, as soon as she found out she was pregnant and shared this with her mother, she dropped out of school. Her mother suggested it herself. When Tish began showing, she was shipped off to live with an older sister in Huron where no one knew her.

Tish didn’t like school, especially not English.  Oh the irony of finding your daughter is an English teacher. In both her freshmen and sophomore years she made cheerleading. However, she never cheered because she didn’t have the grades, which is sad because sometimes an interest in sports helps a student to do better in their studies. I’ve asked her about her teachers. She’s said she felt that some didn’t care about her. She tried coming back to school once I was born, but she was a year behind all of her friends since she took nine months off.  Suffering with the loss of a child and not having anyone to talk to about it must have been difficult. She eventually dropped out all together.

Kaizer said, “Dealing with a student who is pregnant or a mother is, for me, like offering condolences to the bereaved; it is something that I shall never do well,” (30).  Are any of us good in dealing with this situation? How difficult was it for Tish’s teachers in 1967 to come forward and help her? Upon answering the call to teach do future teachers understand that on any given day they will not only be teacher, but also mentor, coach, counselor, mother, friend,… Where was this in the job description? This is truly a profession of service in which most of us are called.

My student, a young mother, came back to finish school and graduate. She became a nurse. But at one time she was a young sophomore walking the halls of her school wearing a badge of shame on her chest like my own mother once wore. Like my former student, Tish went back to school and earned her GED. And in my humble opinion, both are warm and loving mothers.

How do teachers get their students to do the required reading?

Getting students to complete the assigned reading is becoming more and more of a problem for teachers these days. Teachers spend hours creating a fantastic lesson around the assigned reading only to find out that over half of the class didn't read it. This has happened to me to often to count. How am I supposed to complete a lesson with my students when they don't even read the assigned chapters in the novel?

For example, during the second nine weeks I taught To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee to both my ninth grade regular and honors classes. The majority of my former students have loved the story about Scout, Atticus, Jem, Boo, and Tom Robinson. I tried to create some interesting activities to go along with the story in hopes to get them to read.

• At times, students met in small groups to discuss their reading, other times we discussed the story as a whole class. 
• We mapped out the town of Maycomb using clues we found as we read and learned how to properly cite the information. This was one way that helped curb the urge to copy the map from the internet. If they did not have the clues to back up the placement of a particular location then they did not get the point for that location. 
• Students researched information from that time period, Jim Crow Laws, the Scotsboro boys, the Great Depression, the Dustbowl, to name a few. 
• Students created their own questions to try and stump their classmates and me. 
• Finally, students participated in a Socratic Seminar, which they loved and want to do again. YEAH! 

The honors class spent about three weeks on the novel, reading, writing and discussing the story. For the most part the majority of my honors students spent time both in the classroom and outside the classroom completing the required reading assignments. They had much more to read each night than did my regular classes, and they came to class prepared. This didn't surprise me out of honors students who care about their grade. Not to say that my regular students don't care about their grade. Some of them actually do care.

My regular class spent roughly seven weeks reading, writing, and discussing the novel. Well, not much discussion took place because my students did. not. read. I began the novel by reading out loud in my best southern accent while they followed along in their own books. At first there were some giggles, but my twang southern charm got their attention and they listened. I would stop periodically and ask questions to make sure they were paying attention and understanding. No problem.

When they began reading independently, I assigned questions for them to answer while they read, thinking this might help them continue reading. I'm not crazy about using study guide questions because anymore anybody with half a brain can find the answers online. When I give study guide questions as an assignment, I only give completion points for the grade because I also believe the little darlings love to share their answers with each other. During discussion my students were fantastic at answering the questions I gave them, but when it came to extending their answers or discussing something that wasn't on their study guide most of them did. not. have. a. clue. Gee. I wonder why.

I then resorted to pop quizzes, which after awhile were no longer "pop" quizzes because they knew they were coming after each reading assignment. These quizzes were pretty easy if one read the assignment. Many of the little darlings' grades sunk to extremely low levels. Even then, they. did. not. read. Instead they asked if I was going to offer extra credit. ARGH! Pirate speak for frustration.

These kids are on the internet 24/7 reading Facebook, Twitter, email, and on their phones reading their text messages. Why won't they read a BOOK?

The next novel I'm teaching is The Count of Monte Cristo.  Holy Cow! If they didn't read To Kill a Mockingbird which according to them was a "fat" book. How am I going to get them to read about the count, which is in FATTER? And how can I teach the lesson if they do not come prepared? What do I do with those kids who did not read?

What are your thoughts? Does anyone have ideas that have worked for you? Please leave a comment and share how you get kids to read their assigned reading.

My Classroom: A Few Changes

This bulletin board is toward the front of our classroom. Here I post the syllabus, graduation requirements, editing information, and bell schedules. Student work is also important, but I hang it all over the walls of our room, front, back and sides. Most of the time the students choose the place where they want to display their work.

Interesting Read for Classroom Teachers

I thought I'd share this article with those of you who may be teachers.

Aalbano: How to Create a Highly Effective Inclusion Classroom | Classroom Solutions

Last year was the first time that I had so many inclusion students in one English classroom. In a class of 30 kids almost half were on an IEP. Often times teachers feel frustrated trying to level the playing field for all kids in the classroom, especially when a teacher feels alone in this endeavor. I don't know about you, but I only had to take one class in special education to graduate with my degree in education. It's just not enough. Luckily, I had an intervention specialist, Danielle, who worked with me in my classroom. Danielle, along with our whole team of intervention specialists, were a Godsend for me.

Today while reading some of the blogs I follow, I came across this article on How to Create a Highly Effective Inclusion Classroom. It's got some nice ideas. Enjoy.