Feeling like me again!

So, it's been forever since I've been on here and I'm sorry. I've been so into my classroom and getting my feet under me that I just forgot.

So, now that I'm here, I have some good news. I am loving what I'm doing right now. I've planned some CA lessons recently that the kids seemed to really enjoy and I enjoyed teaching. I am working on a writing part to our "Life Stories" unit (Biographies, Autobiographies, Memoirs, Personal Narratives) and I am really pumped for it! My students don't really like to write, but I'm trying to ease them into it by creating life maps and "writer's eye" sections like we did in teaching writing. I'm excited about this unit so hopefully it will rub off on my students.

Also, I've been getting good feedback from other professionals about my lessons. Trust me, I am not trying to brag at all, I'm just sharing a triumph because for the longest time I felt like I was just trying to keep my head above water. It seems that every once in a while you get a few gulps of fresh air and it's marvelous. =)

Um Hello??

I FREAKING LOVE L-S!

That's all :)

Taking One Deep Breath

I think I finally had that day when I kind of questioned my classroom management methods. In fact, it was the first day when I couldn't wait to get out of the school!

Long story short, the students were very hard to deal with and were literally off the walls and extremely disrespectful. I actually had a student tell me no four times when I told him to go out and get a drink because he was sleeping during class. My co-op stepped in (thank goodness!) and took him out of the room, but I took a step back and felt a little defeated.

I was so frustrated by the lack of listening and respect being shown by the entire class in general that I gave the students a 5 minute timeout. They had to put their heads on the desk and couldn't talk (or touch) one another until I said it was time to move on. While they were in their timeout, my co-op and I moved a couple of students' seats permanently. Once all was said and done, the students were back to "normal" and we could finally move on.

This is really a frustrated vent on my end and I have a disrespectful and unruly class in comparison to most, but how do you all manage a situation when students absolutely refuse to listen or do his or her work? I've had success in the past, but I feel like this is a weird time of year, especially with the weather. I want to do more activities, but have found it's a little hard when students just want to sit around and talk to one another, while refusing to do any work.

Socratic Seminars

You might already know this, but I am a huge fan of the Socratic seminar. I haven't been able to fit them into my teaching schedule until recently this semester. I just had to let everyone know how GREAT it ALWAYS turns out! I love just sitting back and letting my students discuss the literature on their own terms. It's hard for me to keep my mouth shut sometimes, but I really think it's important that the students for talk with each other, rather than just answer my questions. I am always amazed after a Socratic seminar in my classroom. I found that what works best with my 10th graders is to give them a little time in class to prepare for the upcoming seminar. I usually give them a sheet with quotes, or short passages from the text we are reading. This week, we finished Huck Finn so I prompted them with some open-ended discussion questions on a worksheet, and I also highlighted a few excerpts from the text. I found that they need something to get them started, and these open-ended discussion questions work really well for that. I give the students points for participation, but I also give a few points to the students who don't participate if they can show me that they took useful notes during the discussion. Soon, though, I will require that everyone participates if they want the points. They are still getting used to it. Last semester, I had a great deal of success using the Socratic seminar in the classroom; it has been equally rewarding this semester as well. Today, the students were discussing timeless themes in Huck Finn and connecting them to real world issues-- all on their own. It was amazing-- one of those really proud teaching moments :)

Has anyone done anything like this? I know there are different ways of holding Socratic seminars in the classroom. I put 5 seats at the front of the room and let the students walk in and out of the conversation when they want. It has worked really well so far. I do facilitate the discussions, but I try my best to stay out of them and just let them talk, but I do interject at times.

Huckleberry Finn

I am currently teaching Huckleberry Finn to my 10th graders. They are really struggling with the dialect of the text. I have taken a few days off from the reading so we can make sense of what we have read so far, and we can flesh out the confusing parts. I assigned a few chapters to each literary response group, and had them create wikis to present the key points to the rest of the class. This seems to be working so far.... But now we are a few days behind. Also, I know a large chunk of my students aren't doing the reading. We have the novel on audio, so we starting playing it when we see these kids in RTII at the end of the day. The videos of HF aren't approved, so I can't play anything like that. I need to find a way to really engage them! I am currently trying to get them excited by expressing to them that this is a story of adventure.... not so different from Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, etc. I am trying to focus on that aspect of it. But I don't think they are buying into it. Also, for the the next writing assignment, I am going to have them write their own adventure story, or write another adventure for HF. On another positive note, their writer's notebook entries have been incredible. They are writing about their own unlikely friendships (like Huck and Jim), different times in their own lives when they assumed a different character roles (like Huck does many times in te novel), and how they have seen racism affect people in their own lives. The writer's notebook is a vital part of my English classroom... I could not imagine teaching without it :)

My new home!

Since Jackie is kicking me out I have to go find a new home as well.

So I'll be teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classes. 40 minutes each period. 4 times a week. Somewhere between 20 and 30 different nationalities represented in the school from K-12.

So middle school. What do you do with middle school? How do you keep their attention? What kinds of instructional things do you avoid? What works well? How do you assess students and try to understand if they got it or not?

Just like with Jackie, this is a culture shock and also high school to middle school. Completely different world, yeah? I'm excited to develop my teaching personality with this new dynamic of students.

In other words, help! Haha, thanks everyone. I hope you are all doing well and can catch up on some much needed sleep!

I'm Movin' Out...

Billy Joel...anyone? anyone?

Anyway, so today was my last "real" day at Reynolds...unfortunately not the best I've had and that's kind of a sad way to leave things, but alas, we all must move on.

SO!  My question for you all....i would LOVE some advice on how to make my transition over to L-S...Jeff, Kim - I'm looking at you.

Jess, you went to L-S, so obvi I'd love some imput and behind the scenes from you as well.  Also, maybe you can give me some tips on how to manage the culture shock I know I'm in for? (since you went from L-S to the city and i'm doing the opposite - I'd like some coping strategies lol)

Thanks guys!!  I'm excited to report from my new "home" in two weeks!