tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59780378395843244182024-03-14T01:21:26.578-07:00A Girl with Some GlitterJessica Momanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05089167401293365287noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5978037839584324418.post-25170082704206741352023-09-17T14:21:00.010-07:002023-09-17T14:40:23.457-07:00Culminating Views on Assessment<br /><div style="text-align: center;">*The following post is an assignment for my doctoral class on assessments.*</div><br /><b>Definition of Assessment</b><br /><br /> Stiggins (2018) defines assessments as collecting evidence of student work to make informed “educational decisions” for students. While this definition is close to my own personal definition, I would replace “educational” with “instructional.” In my current role as an assistant principal of a 6-8 grade middle school, I have learned that the term “instruction” is more personal for teachers. Administering well-planned assessments can provide the teacher with data to make the best instructional decisions for students in order to maximize learning, growth, and achievement.<br /><br />Student assessments are not the only educational assessments, though. Teacher effectiveness is assessed through several observations throughout the year that are rated on an evaluation rubric. While most districts include areas of professionalism and contributions to school culture in the evaluation process, planning and instruction are weighted most heavily on teacher evaluations because those areas have direct, significant impact on student learning. <br /><br />Assessments are not limited to individual people. Indiana schools are assigned a letter grade each fall based on student results on state standardized tests, as well as overall student attendance, from the previous school year. Utilizing an A-F system, schools are assigned a grade, which some argue does not fully represent a school, since the grade is based on achievement and does not take into account growth.<br /><br /><b>Preferred Type of Assessment</b><br /><br /> “Recent research suggests that both principals and teachers find many types of assessments useful. Yet, while more than 90 percent of teachers say they use data to adjust instructional strategies,nearly 30 percent did not feel prepared to interpret results” (Jackson et al., 2017). This suggests that educators need more experience in building assessment literacy in order to better prepare students and move them to proficiency of standards. Using assessment data to make classroom instructional decisions can be powerful.<br /><br /> My own personal preference for assessment is a combination of multiple choice questions and constructed responses for a formal assessment. Utilizing Google Forms to build these assessments allows data to be collected and analyzed quickly, assessments to be housed to make quick revisions each year, and students are familiar with Google Forms, so I do not need to worry about a new platform interfering with the reliability or validity of the assessment. For quick checks for understanding, nothing will ever take the place of pre-planned questions the teacher asks throughout a lesson that students answer on dry erase boards so that the teacher can immediately see what students understand the learning objective and who needs assistance.<br /><br /><b>Effort Grades</b><br /><br /> Stiggins (2008) states “we must implement classroom assessment practices that rely on an ongoing array of quality assessments used strategically in ways that keep students believing in themselves.” When assessments focus too heavily on mastery of standards and not enough on a student’s growth towards the mastery of standards, some struggling learners can feel lost or lose a sense of confidence in learning. Historically, educators have not been provided opportunities to learn sound assessment practices or focus has been on high-stakes assessments (Stiggins, 2008).<br /><br /> Effort-based grading focuses on the effort a student puts forth on work. Effort-based grading has benefits, such as students are more willing to take risks, students learn that the effort put forth impacts their outcome, and because the focus is not necessarily a grade, effort-based grading allows the instructor to focus on feedback that promotes student growth (Sull, 2022). Participation grading is when a student gets a grade for attempting the assignment, no matter the quality of effort put forth. Participation and effort grades are similar in that accuracy is not being assessed, but rather one’s attempt. <br /><br /> Effort and participation grades can impact student achievement. Participation and effort grades can provide the instructor opportunities to give clear, actionable feedback to students that push learning forward. Effort and participation grades also allow a student to attempt something and take risks without worrying about whether the attempt was “right” or “wrong”. Focusing too much on participation or effort can be detrimental, though. Focusing just on effort or participation does not show a student’s progress towards mastery of standards.<br /><br /><b>Student Self Assessment</b><br /><br /> Student self assessment can come in a variety of forms. It can be as simple as students placing exit tickets in bins labeled “I got it,” “I have some questions,”and “I’m confused.” It could be a reflection log. Or, it could even be something like this assignment, where we are reflecting on the major learning objectives from the modules. Zhang and Jackson (2022) states, “While the contribution information can be collected, the challenge is whether it is rigorous enough for evaluative purposes. In other words, can the ratings be trusted?” <br /><br />Teachers across the country share the same concern in regards to student self assessments, especially whether or not students will actually use the assessment to reflect on learning, or as a manner in which to boost their grade. “Statistically, answering this question is equivalent to evaluating the reliability and validity of those ratings,” (Zhang & Jackson, 2022). With low stakes, I found that more students are willing to reflect honestly. In my experience, once a numerical score is part of the reflection process and is added to the gradebooks, students tend to rate themselves much higher in order to bring up their overall grade. <br /><br /><b>Student Growth Portfolios</b><br /><br /> As a former English/Language Arts teacher, I find portfolios to be an invaluable tool to showcase student learning and to highlight student growth. In my particular content area, student growth in writing is illustrated effectively through student writing portfolios. Paired with quick reflection assignments, educators, students, and parents can quickly evaluate how a student is moving towards mastery. <br /><br /> Unfortunately, in the past decade, standardized testing has taken more of a focus in middle school classrooms across the country. This has reduced time and focus on portfolios to emphasize student growth. “The intervening years have been sobering: the call for an opportunity to learn standards proved too politically charged, portfolios lost ground to more tractable standardized measures, and a focus on measuring achievement came to exclude much tougher and more fundamental discussions of how to promote and calibrate student growth. Ultimately, the curriculum narrowed to emphasize literacy and mathematics in schools serving less privileged and lower-achieving students who depended on their public schools for a chance to study the arts, science, and world languages,” (Palmer Wolf & Holochwost, 2017). <br /><br /><b>Figures in the Assessment Process</b><br /><br /> A comprehensive assessment system includes a multitude of assessments - formative and summative, low-stakes and high-stakes, academic and behavior, and accuracy and effort/participation. A balance of these types of assessments is needed in order to help student learning and to measure progress of learning. Helping students understand how they are being assessed creates self-efficacy which can lead to greater achievement. <br /><br /> Figures, tables, and assessments go hand-in-hand. Educators in schools utilize figures, tables, and charts every day to represent assessment data in order to use the data to make productive changes to assessments. Sometimes these figures are used to introduce new strategies or assessments that a professional learning community (PLC) would like to implement. For example, if a group of educators wanted to start incorporating Socratic Seminars in classrooms, they might highlight an example as seen in Figure 1.<br /><br /><i>Figure 1<br /><br />Socratic Seminar Rubric</i><br /><br /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qHgAM8byHl_7IJLXaNO23_RMRuj7edytyMYd8FcLrD9jk7m_f3gEsBiNO9wgrAUGuRTw183qTDovKr2BlaZqm5u_Eq6yYelm14AsbkwR_sGeXoWuJiaVAW_wNKN_eygqFcpxdUtD4okFHlx2VW1cv1Q" /><br /><br /><b>Behavior Assessments to Improve Instruction</b><br /><br /> There is this picture that floats around on the Facebook posts of teachers every year. It has the phrase “You have to Maslow before you can Bloom” meaning we have to take care of students' basic needs before they are ready to learn. When we don’t, there are often behavior issues that arise that impact academics.. The majority of students with emotional or behavior issues read below grade level (De La Cruz et al., 2019). “In addition, there is some evidence that students with problem behavior and reading problems in kindergarten are likely to demonstrate the least reading growth across time” (De La Cruz et al., 2019).<br /><br /> When I was in a classroom, those students who might exhibit off-task/disruptive behavior would be the first group I would pull. I would want to make sure that the directions given were clear, and I wanted to make sure they felt comfortable with the work, so that it might diminish the off-task/disruptive behaviors. I realized that when I didn’t pull that group first, the behaviors would start and then interrupt others.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>References</b></div><br />De La Cruz, V. M., Otaiba, S. A., Hsiao, Y.-Y., Clemens, N. H., Jones, F. G., Rivas, B. K., Brewer, E. A., Hagan-Burke, S., & Simmons, L. E. (2019). The Prevalence and Stability of Challenging Behaviors and Concurrent Early Literacy Growth among Kindergartners at Reading Risk. Elementary School Journal, 120(2), 220–242. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/705785">https://doi.org/10.1086/705785</a><br /><br />Jackson, C., Gotwals, A. W., & Tarasawa, B. (2017). How to Implement Assessment Literacy. Principal Leadership, 17(9), 52–56<br /><br />Palmer Wolf, D., & Holochwost, S. J. (2017). From the Middle: A Quarter Century Later. Voices from the Middle, 25(1), 27–29.<br /><br />Stiggins,R.J.(2008)Assessment Manifesto: A Call for the Development of Balanced Assessment Systems. A position paper published by the ETS Assessment Training Institute, Portland, Oregon.<br /><br />Stiggins, R. (2018). Better Assessments Require Better Assessment Literacy. Educational Leadership, 75(5), 18–19. <br /><br />Sull, E. C. (2022). Labor-Based Grading: Perfect for Distance Learning! Distance Learning, 19(1), 59–62.<br /><br />Zhang, B. & Jackson, L. (2022). Exploring the Utility of Peer and Self Assessments in Grading Group Projects for Urban Middle School Students. New Waves - Educational Research & Development, 25(2), 20–31.<br /><br /><br /><br />Jessica Momanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05089167401293365287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5978037839584324418.post-70400498635196032782019-04-16T17:09:00.000-07:002019-04-16T17:09:00.149-07:00Learning from Elsa: (Trying to) Let It Go<br />
I'm a Type A person. I like to-do lists. I have to have my planner at all times. (I was at a conference and a water bottle exploded in my bag. It pretty much drenched my planner and I started to hyperventilate. I couldn’t feel my limbs. I think that’s what a stroke must feel like.) The cabinets in my classroom are organized with smaller containers that have labels on everything. My circle likes to joke about my Type A-ness, but the truth of it is that it helps me survive the chaos of middle school. I wouldn't be able to do half of the things I do without that personality trait. My Type A, perfectionist attitude almost got the better of me this week, though. Almost. And I'm so glad it didn't.<br />
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Our school is having its first-ever door decorating contest. Why first-ever? Well, until Christmas, we were an open-concept school. If you haven't experienced the challenges of a school without doors or full walls, imagine over 950 middle schoolers in some sort of large rat maze. That was what we dealt with on the daily. Our construction project to close in classrooms is finally finished! This is the first time in maybe four decades that every teacher has a door!<br />
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Anyway, so to pump up kids for state testing, each team was asked to decorate their door/hallway. Our team was down to superheroes or Star Wars for a theme. Fortunately, my son has had two Star Wars birthday parties and since Type A lady here saves all party decor because you never know when you might need it again, we went with Star Wars.<br />
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First step was to cover the door with a black tablecloth. I backed away so the kids could do it. What I saw made me want to peel the skin away from my face. It was crooked, it had holes in it, and it had more wrinkles than an English bulldog’s face. I almost tore it off to redo it myself, but I didn't. In my head and using my best Elsa voice, I repeatedly started singing, "Let it go! Let it go!" That's much easier said than done for Type A me, but I did nothing. I had a few kids that wanted to stay after school to finish it. They asked for a new tablecloth to try it again and I obliged.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pX9sLEht-Q6n8tVvxoyAw665ZSW96Rp5vYg5zYhSliIClos3iPDLYDlegYTV0ZiX3CtLJf_NmxYngED2s97qSOLhj53sv6YQKV0SUFyuZklxYlP-B2i6G8XwD6AlTFxhroeNHXnB7cB8/s1600/57393067_10156626344798705_1428225665580138496_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pX9sLEht-Q6n8tVvxoyAw665ZSW96Rp5vYg5zYhSliIClos3iPDLYDlegYTV0ZiX3CtLJf_NmxYngED2s97qSOLhj53sv6YQKV0SUFyuZklxYlP-B2i6G8XwD6AlTFxhroeNHXnB7cB8/s320/57393067_10156626344798705_1428225665580138496_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Their finished product!</td></tr>
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What I saw was better than anything I could have done or imagined. They figured out how to wrap the door like a present, so the background looked much better. They used green plates and construction paper to make a Yoda head. They found yarn to put together a banner for each teacher on the team. This morning, they raided my cabinet for bulletin board letters to make a Yoda-like testing phrase. They figured out how to tape a foam lightsaber to the door to get it to stick. The only thing they needed me to do was to figure out how to get the hooks to not tear away from the tablecloth when they hung the robe (It was heavy!). Oh, and roll tape to hang things. Apparently, that is a teacher-ninja skill.<br />
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I could have stayed late last night to fix it myself, but I didn't. Doing it myself would have robbed them of the pride they felt when they finished. Watching them work together to figure it out was absolutely priceless. They are so proud of themselves and the work they did.<br />
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And Type A me is pretty proud of them, too.<br />
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Love and Sparkle,<br />
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Everyone can tell you where they were on September 11, 2001. I was sitting in my high school French class, on my way to a Jimmy Buffet concert in Indianapolis that evening. The first plane hit while we were in study hall and because everyone thought it was an accident, we didn't turn on the tvs until the second plane hit. Then it became very real that this wasn't an accident at all. We sat in French class absolutely mesmerized at what was happening.<br />
Three years ago when talking about this day with a group of seventh graders I realized these events were just stories to my kids, like learning about anything "in the past." They knew about the day only through stories they've heard and historical fiction novels they've read.<br />
I guess to some I wasn't directly affected by the events on 9/11, but in a way, we all were, though. I was seventeen and it was the first time I realized there was a world much larger than the world I experienced everyday. Because someone invaded that world in such a tragic way, I sat glued to the tv, soaking in very piece of information I could, just trying to understand what had happened and why. I guess I felt like learning as much as I could might help me be more empathetic to those who lost loved ones.<br />
I suppose that's why I feel so passionate about making sure that my students understand what exactly is being remembered and honored. My goal as a Language Arts teacher is to make my students more empathetic towards others, from any event, situation, or story. This why I carefully structure my class on September 11th each year.<br />
First, I have students complete activities in this <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FPgtAhDC84F0XaIfrqTxx9Ur6GMrprJeV9adt26bVAU/edit#slide=id.g253c3b5b39_0_85" target="_blank">Hyperdoc</a>, created by Katherine Baker. Students have to think about what they already know about the events from 9/11, choose a few videos to watch, do a little research, and post their findings and reflections to a Padlet. Starting with this activity gives every student some background knowledge. (Be sure to make a copy of the Hyperdoc and update with your own Padlet link before sharing with students.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The illustrations in the book are gorgeous.</td></tr>
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Next, we read a short picture book called <u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Saved-Boats-Evacuation-September-Nonfiction/dp/1515702707" target="_blank">Saved by the Boats</a></u>, which tells the story of the several boats that heroically helped the people on Manhattan island return home after all other forms of transportation had been shut down. I love this because it brings in a perspective that most students haven't heard of until now. While I'm reading, I ask students to write down at least 10 facts mentioned the story. (We use this story for other things throughout the year, so this quick read sets up other lessons in the year.)<br />
Then, I put a picture from the day on the board. This particular one seems to generate a lot of discussion. I ask students to pick someone from the photo and write a from their perspective. We do a quick mini-lesson review on mood and tone so that students know what emotions to convey, and what tone they need to have as the author. Their one requirement is to include at least 5 facts from the book in their writing piece. After 15 minutes of writing, I ask students to share. (This year I want to try Barry Lane's Human Tableau, where the students come up and mimic the picture. Then, I call out a person and they read their character's story. He did it at a workshop this summer with a picture from the Holocaust and it was absolutely breathtaking.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://wpp.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_main_image/public/2001016.jpg?itok=0v2h9TSb" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Image result for september 11 people" border="0" height="224" src="https://wpp.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_main_image/public/2001016.jpg?itok=0v2h9TSb" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My students always point out the man going<br />
in the other direction. It leads to lots of discussion<br />
on those who went back to help others.</td></tr>
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Finally, we end class with a close reading of the poem <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/poetry-names" target="_blank">"The Names" by Billy Collins</a>. It leads to a really good discussion on the different ways we remember people, and I let the kids create a memorial for something or someone special to them.<br />
I've had two-hour classes for the past two years, so doing all of this in one period was very much possible. I am back to a more traditional schedule (59 minute periods), so I plan on doing the first two activities on September 11th, and then completing the last two activities on September 12th. That breakdown just makes sense for me. I can easily see where you could go into depth with one of these activities and it could last whole period. If you like any of these ideas, feel free to use them any way you wish. Hope this helps give you an idea on how to make September 11th relevant and thoughtful for your middle schoolers.<br />
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Love and Sparkle,</div>
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Love and Sparkle,</div>
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Then, I found a digital Breakout about plot structures. (Actually, it might have been one of my teammates who found the digital breakout, but I'm not really sure. My team and I spend a lot of time together - A LOT - to the point I'm not sure who had the original idea. So, teammates, if you shared it, thanks for it and the blogpost idea! Love you!) So anyway, I thought it might be a good review before our end-of-quarter assessment. It ended up being a GREAT review! The kids were extremely engaged and had the opportunity to review concepts. It was a great alternative to our other review games. And before long, kids started asking if we could do Breakouts at other times. Yes, you read that correctly - kids WANTED to work on content related material. It was nothing short of a miracle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJGL34w2mPathhgSr5tvXKbB6tqkVt0776GCRWHTM2QbkZew-AY7Q4EkvZoKy1DHQduAs7KkG9kkUueU5dOIJvfqKhb7p8EkJbkG511-mTusLwaW0Z-lsxBYpCxUyN0vJsfqv8DdHAGJq/s1600/playing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="384" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJGL34w2mPathhgSr5tvXKbB6tqkVt0776GCRWHTM2QbkZew-AY7Q4EkvZoKy1DHQduAs7KkG9kkUueU5dOIJvfqKhb7p8EkJbkG511-mTusLwaW0Z-lsxBYpCxUyN0vJsfqv8DdHAGJq/s400/playing.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at them working together! They were so engaged.</td></tr>
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So, what are Breakout games? They are escape-room type scenarios where kids have to work together and use content knowledge to solve challenges to solve an overall puzzle. My favorite part is that if you don't want to use the boxes, you can use digital Breakout games, where the "locks" are on a Google Form. Kids analyze clues to come up with the correct codes for the "locks" on the Form. The locks can be words of any length, directional, number, colors - the sky is the limit! (Read more about them <a href="https://www.breakoutedu.com/getstarted" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
Digital Breakouts are available in several places, as more teachers are becoming comfortable with making them. We've purchased a couple from TeachersPayTeachers gathered some from our favorite blogs, and you can purchase a subscription to Breakout EDU for an unbelievable amount of games for only $60 for the year. (Get creative about getting this financed for you instead of spending that money from you own pocket. For example, I wrote a grant to our education foundation, and they bought us a subscription for next school year.) But the place we check first is always the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/digitalbreakoutjb/sandbox" target="_blank">Breakout EDU Digital Sandbox</a>. These FREE game are organized so that you can search by subject, content, or grade level which makes it very user-friendly.<br />
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Breakouts are great, but just like anything else in our classrooms, success comes not from the resource, but the implementation. Here are my tips:</div>
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<b><u>1) Start with a lesson on cursors.</u></b> As weird as this sounds, trust me. Learn from my mistake. I didn't this year, and the first couple of games we were rough kids didn't see how to some pictures and texts are hyperlinked to take you to a clue. I know next year,I actually want to start with a mini-lesson on the different cursor types because that's really important in reading online texts and Breakouts. The cursor will alert you to whether or not something can be highlighted, clicked on, typed in, etc. Digital readers have to recognize this and what other way can I make that mini-lesson engaging than creating a fun, immediate need for that information? Digital Breakout for the win! (<a href="http://www.smekenseducation.com/Recognize-Cursor-Symbols-to-Improve-On-Screen-Reading.html" target="_blank">This lesson from Smekens Education would be a perfect place to start.</a>)</div>
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<b><u>2) Start with a fun, easy Breakout.</u></b> I don't start with a content one because I don't want kids to miss out on learning or reviewing specific content as they are trying to master using Breakouts. The Disney ones in the Sandbox are perfect for teaching how to use the different features of a digital Breakout.</div>
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<b><u>3) Build persistence with consistence. </u></b> My advanced kids are used to things being easy for them most of the time. They have never really struggled with school, so trying something over and over has never really been required of them until they did their first Breakout. The first Breakout game we did, my kids started complaining around the 7-10 minute mark that this was too hard. The second time, it was around the 15 minute mark, so I actually gave them $5 Raider Bucks (our school money) because they had beat their time. The third game it was round the 20-22 minute mark, so I rewarded them again. This last time we played, I gave them a super challenging one, and they still didn't say anything about it being too hard! I was super impressed so everyone earned $15 Raider Bucks! By doing about one Breakout a month, the kids are finally getting used to the challenge...and they enjoy it!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKgZqT-OWTKp22S-jftEMxyySUIdqFjlPudd8EEvWfj8iVAiFmvuJLktbTcmPOyM2MvdCzaph7IHtTMXUvVsDdjyLcvtOvCjx1O11s2Qan_UPhoDkbszDZxGrhoBf4Tl-vMnIWfc7v0BB/s1600/end+of+game.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKgZqT-OWTKp22S-jftEMxyySUIdqFjlPudd8EEvWfj8iVAiFmvuJLktbTcmPOyM2MvdCzaph7IHtTMXUvVsDdjyLcvtOvCjx1O11s2Qan_UPhoDkbszDZxGrhoBf4Tl-vMnIWfc7v0BB/s400/end+of+game.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Their end-of-game poses are alway fun! I laminated the signs so <br />
we use them for every game.</td></tr>
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<b><u>4) Grouping is important.</u></b> Breakouts can be completed independently, but I want my kids to learn how to work together, so we do most of these in groups. Think about how you want to group kids before you begin. I like to keep the groups limited to 3-4 members. (Our school blocked Google Sites. They are wonderful about unblocking specific links for us, but I didn't know our game was blocked until kids started saying, "Ms. Moman, the website is blocked." Ugh! So, I had to log into 5 different computers so the kids would have the access they needed, which is why the groups in the pictures have 4-5 kids.) Also, think about if you want heterogeneous or homogeneous ability groups. You might need to make the groups ahead of time.<br />
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<b><u>5) Reward effort, not time.</u></b> The first time we played I made the mistake of only rewarding the first </div>
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group. Guess what happened? After the first group won, no other group wanted to finish so they lost out on valuable learning opportunities. Now I reward every group that finishes. We make a big deal of "breaking out" by taking their pictures with the signs and everyone earning $25-50 Raider Bucks. (Print end-of-game signs from <a href="https://www.breakoutedu.com/signs/" target="_blank">here</a>.)</div>
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That's how we do it. Once you do one digital Breakout, it actually gets much easier. Let me know if you use Breakouts in your classroom and what you think. Also, the links to your favorite digital Breakouts in the comments.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Love and Sparkle,</span><br />
<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I attended this year's Louisville Writing Project conference on Argumentative Writing, and sat in on a wonderful session about using crime puzzles to get students started on argumentative writing. I took that idea and adapted it to this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Our students use the acronym RACE (restate, answer, cite evidence, explain evidence). It helps that we use this building wide. Every teacher posts something about it in their room. Their might be a bit of variance depending on needs for the content, but every teacher shows students how constructed response questions are to be answered in their room. We took this a bit further this year, and realized that we need to get students to RACCE or RACECE. We had already taught students to RACE when I created this, but I know I will need to update this to use it earlier in the year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> So, here's the plan:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> 1) I show students released items from state testing. I ask them to score the responses based on state rubric. This leads to a lot of really good discussion. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> 2) I ask students to score their own recent constructed response answer on the state rubric. They compared their own to the third released item (the highest score). Almost immediately, they noticed that they were giving one piece of evidence but really needed to provide more. I had to lead their attention to the explanation part of the answer, the part I felt like they weren't always great at, especially when the evidence lead to an inference (check out my post about teaching inferential evidence). </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5Dx7PMXJUidMClQeBTKFjL4SqnPIZ81mYMiKcZcX3wkMPyc3TfFYJWEx_5a5xoYv6RxJ0V4a-c7vtYeVPEkuSHapiImAbVs9RcsgnkSF-e2zWOLpLPE-d7mIfx07hC9lqji3Q0eZyAem/s1600/crime+puzzle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="260" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5Dx7PMXJUidMClQeBTKFjL4SqnPIZ81mYMiKcZcX3wkMPyc3TfFYJWEx_5a5xoYv6RxJ0V4a-c7vtYeVPEkuSHapiImAbVs9RcsgnkSF-e2zWOLpLPE-d7mIfx07hC9lqji3Q0eZyAem/s200/crime+puzzle.jpg" width="156" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These books are a great resource!<br />I purchased mine from Amazon.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> 3) To practice, I gave students a copy of a mystery from the book <span style="background-color: white;"><u style="color: #111111;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Puzzlement-Solve-them-yourself-Picture-Mysteries/dp/0879234059" target="_blank">Crime And Puzzlement: 24 Solve-them-yourself Picture Mysteries</a></u><span style="color: #111111;"> by Lawrence Treat. (Some of the puzzles are inappropriate for middle school, so I purchased several used books from Amazon in order to have enough puzzles.) The puzzles are a great resource for teaching this! They combine a short text with picture of the crime scene so it works with all ability levels. Each puzzle also includes questions to get the reader thinking like a detective. I used these for scaffolding, when students were stuck on a puzzle. They worked in groups to find three pieces of evidence to prove guilt or innocence for each puzzle. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #111111;"> This plan isn't anything crazy new, but the crime puzzles as the text increase student engagement making them actually excited to do this, which helps when I want them to practice this over and over and over and over...</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"> I gradually released the responsibility from whole class, small groups, partners, and finally to individual students. We did one puzzle a day for almost two weeks. The first and second puzzles, the whole class found 3 pieces of evidence to prove guilt and then three pieces of evidence to prove innocence, then we created our constructed response answer together. This became our mentor text and we put it on an anchor art in the front of the room.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"> In the third, fourth, and fifth puzzles, students worked in groups to analyze the puzzle, find three pieces of evidence for both sides, and then chose a side to create their constructed response. In puzzles six and seven, students created the constructed response on their own. If students showed mastery on it - great! They were finished! I used puzzles eight and nine for students who needed extra practice. We completed them in small group so that I could see where we were getting off track, and then I give mini-lessons for those specific things.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjynpWQ_EJkDpiAY1An1QIbOlpRNrxMnnb9Qvar8-kUnQ1gCHmtmWp54gSuMasUNf26zkzMhZpn2anx28SvIw7lrnT02wXFmFsmY0A5YoSApghXfenbVciuE_gsJpDGs8lexLsptfWtSEo/s1600/Constructed+Response.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjynpWQ_EJkDpiAY1An1QIbOlpRNrxMnnb9Qvar8-kUnQ1gCHmtmWp54gSuMasUNf26zkzMhZpn2anx28SvIw7lrnT02wXFmFsmY0A5YoSApghXfenbVciuE_gsJpDGs8lexLsptfWtSEo/s320/Constructed+Response.png" width="118" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's are some of the slides<br />in the mini-unit.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhimQxNsJEmxEzyVKKxIMv9Fcl_k5gBLh0brVYS_IkGbyJdARdR3Gnq3xRjkVXs8yWY_WWOPpl77dDjNX6TDa_O7jxuEyX3qVuuPjonqOqnHJWosd0hU1QUMuX2SSkdG8zpJ_Sfl3JvvDE7/s1600/innocent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="269" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhimQxNsJEmxEzyVKKxIMv9Fcl_k5gBLh0brVYS_IkGbyJdARdR3Gnq3xRjkVXs8yWY_WWOPpl77dDjNX6TDa_O7jxuEyX3qVuuPjonqOqnHJWosd0hU1QUMuX2SSkdG8zpJ_Sfl3JvvDE7/s200/innocent.png" width="102" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Me with my "Innocent" <br />hat! They loved it!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: inherit;"> I added a bit of dramatic flair to it because, well, I teach middle school, and they are all about the drama. I had red and blue hats, one for the defense and one for the prosecution. I told them they had been hired by the defense to prove innocence, and once we had done that, I switched hats and told them they prosecution came along and paid them more money to prove guilt. Each time they were successful, I paid them with our school economy money. They loved it!!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: inherit;"> If you are going to teach this before you teach argumentative writing (and I suggest you do - this is a great transition. If they can't do this, than argumentative writing will be extremely difficult!), then you can easily show students how the RA is the claim, and you still need the C & E. In fact, this is just like a body paragraph in an argumentative piece.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> These puzzles are great! Here's what I use with just a few of the puzzles to get you started - <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TL-zw4du8ffQzCEjlWQj7aj5YtMttp4sEFivabrW51o/edit?usp=sharing" style="font-size: x-large;" target="_blank">Constructed Response - Crime Puzzles.</a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Feel free to make a copy and make it your own.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Love and Sparkle,</span><br />
<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" />
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At the same time, my students were working on developing constructed responses for questions. I thought they were struggling with explaining evidence, but after a couple of weeks, I realized they were actually having trouble citing inferential evidence - they would ramble on and on, but never really cite the evidence that started their train of thought. They needed help in identifying they were making an inference.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6WsSdDMcaFPtt1bBaYbaHbh5dotnsNtOxK_O3wljA6H0IZipN7I0rvWJWnPMh2SPXo8so_L93AuBN0jpxworYRsjwu_ZU22VVZIclz1FbchVHsI425oelgVuaYFT83sC6i5WC0lI247d/s1600/IMG_6158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6WsSdDMcaFPtt1bBaYbaHbh5dotnsNtOxK_O3wljA6H0IZipN7I0rvWJWnPMh2SPXo8so_L93AuBN0jpxworYRsjwu_ZU22VVZIclz1FbchVHsI425oelgVuaYFT83sC6i5WC0lI247d/s400/IMG_6158.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What I Know Chart from Linder</td></tr>
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Anyway, my brain was super exhausted just trying to figure out how to teach all of that. Then, enter Chart Sense.<br />
<br />
Chart Sense by Rozlyn Linder is one of my three go-to books when lesson planning. I love the book because not only does it include anchor charts (which I love!), it also includes ideas for scaffolding and instructional tips. Her section on textual evidence includes a chart called "What I Know," which is what I used this year for teaching inferencing to my students in Guided Reading and it worked really well. So, here's how I planned.<br />
First, when I introduce a new skill in my Guided Reading class I use movies, commercials, songs - basically, anything that is not print text. I want them to practice the skill and be successful, so I go out of my way to make sure we do not start with a text where they could trip up over words, get confused about context, etc. I also almost always go with literature/fiction "texts" first because I think those are easier for specific skills (except main idea - then I always start with something nonfiction). In this case, we used Pixar shorts. The questions I created to pair with the clips were similar to ones that our kiddos see on the constructed response portion of ISTEP (our state assessment in Indiana). (<b><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SAqe5q1iJjkLBUZggbGNty64vVB9P1gn7bZ21NYk6s8/edit#slide=id.p" target="_blank">Click here to get a copy of the clips and questions I use</a>! Less work for you! Yay!</b>) Students were working on constructed response and argumentative writing in their ELA class and I wanted to make sure I was still supporting their ELA class needs, too. (My 6th grade ELA team is AMAZING and supportive of each other! It makes collaboration between Guided Reading classes and ELA extremely successful!)<br />
Second, I make sure I model whatever I'm asking the kids to do. In this case, I made the anchor chart 20x22 and laminated it so that I could use it over and over again. We watched the first clip together as a class and I showed them the question. Then, I made the kids move to our small group table and stand around the chart. We went through steps of making an inference, according to the lesson from Linder. They are:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-size: 12.8px;">
This book is a MUST for all ELA teachers.</div>
<div style="font-size: 12.8px;">
Get it from Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chart-Sense-Common-Informational-Literature/dp/0988950510" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<b>1. Read/View the text.</b><br />
<b>2. Read the question. </b><br />
<b>3. List relevant details around the head.</b> (Not evidence - don't use the word evidence. Not all of these details will be used because technically they are not all evidence that will support a conclusion. Our kids need to learn that evidence is a detail from the text, but not all details are evidence.)<br />
<b>4. Look for patterns/relationships between the details.</b> These could be similarities, contradictions, cause and effect, problem and solution, etc.<br />
<b>5. Determine what they mean.</b> So what is this the relationship and what inference can be made?<br />
<br />
It took about 10 minutes because I did all of the talking and modeling. I didn't ask the kids for any input. This is extremely difficult for teachers, but important. Model it for them without questioning and input the first time around. Maybe the next time it can be an interactive model, but we need to model it without interruptions.<br />
Seems like a long process, right? Truth be told - it is. Our most fluent readers do this in a matter of seconds, but our struggling readers need to be taught to take these steps when they approach a challenging text. Not only do they need to be taught these steps, but they need the opportunity to practice them over and over and over and over and over and over... get the idea? We get bored with this repetition so we move on way before our kids are ready. I can not stress this enough - give this time and opportunity. We did one every two days (completing the chart one day and creating the constructed response the second day).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg61SwzW3LJR33B2fMF0mZqNbTvz57w8kNgKtDi0VUVs7no3zp8jqUDqexGAqwt9RUiJc_kI2xaGHJeXYVLvt2Z8ypkMN1MiL5ZbSDVDczCIx6PfngdXLy1Fwhd8Vz6rqGfYQbatXQ0HGop/s1600/complex+texts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="353" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg61SwzW3LJR33B2fMF0mZqNbTvz57w8kNgKtDi0VUVs7no3zp8jqUDqexGAqwt9RUiJc_kI2xaGHJeXYVLvt2Z8ypkMN1MiL5ZbSDVDczCIx6PfngdXLy1Fwhd8Vz6rqGfYQbatXQ0HGop/s320/complex+texts.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Complex-Text-Passages-Meet-Common/dp/054557711X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514830244&sr=8-1&keywords=passage+for+complex+texts+grade+5" target="_blank">here</a> to view on Amazon</td></tr>
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We eventually moved to short stories, specifically one-page passages. I use stories from 25 Complex Text Passages to Meet the Common Core. I have these books from grades 4-8. I use the 5th grade book for my Guided Reading because it tends to be just above the current level of my class and I want to push them a bit. When I give them a passage for the first time, I ask them if there are any words they aren't sure how to pronounce and I go through and pronounce anything they need. Then, we complete the chart for the text to answer questions (for this activity, I didn't use the questions that go along with the passages). Same structure as the clips - one day on reading and completing the chart, one day for creating the constructed response. We spend about two weeks doing this. (While we we working on this, ELA teachers were working on constructed responses in class and using crime puzzle pictures to continue practicing using details to make inferences. Again, multiple opportunities to practice the skill is so important.)<br />
But the kids won't always have the opportunity or time to create that chart and use it, so I show them how to follow the steps without the chart. We underline details that will help us answer the given question. Then, we mark the relationship between the details in the margin (our annotations). We did this for about two weeks.<br />
Six weeks or more on the same seems like a lot, but for a Guided Reading group, it has big payoff. I had 10 students in my Guided Reading class. Five students moved to a new Guided Reading Group and two improved so much they graduated from Guided Reading. More importantly, though, all 10 students showed more than a year's worth of growth in just a half a year!!! They are THIS CLOSE to reading on grade level!!<br />
I hope this is something you can use as you return to the classroom in 2018! Let me know if you have any questions. Also, be sure to let me know if it helped, or how you tweaked it to make it better!<br />
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Love and Sparkle,<br />
<br />
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After being a new teacher and now mentoring new teachers, parent communication is an important topic that I feel like is often overlooked in education programs. Yes, teachers are often taught ways to mass communicate expectations and standards, but rarely are teachers taught how to deal one-on-one with a parent concern or when a parent is upset. So, our immediate reaction is to get defensive.<br />
Any why not? I feel like more and more of my job is becoming documentation of, or defending, the choices I make in my classroom. I make notes on spreadsheets for why I chose to give students an infraction, or an office referral, or why I chose one strategy over another to teach a specific skill, like why I used a t-chart over a Venn Diagram. The knee-jerk reaction is to get on the defensive side to once again explain our actions. But just because defending my choices is my first reaction doesn't make it the right one.<br />
I had the opportunity to hear Gerry Brooks speak at the 2017 Teacher Blogger Retreat in French Lick, Indiana. (Honestly, if you can say that town's name without laughing, you're a Hoosier!) His whole keynote was about climate, culture, and how we create those in our classrooms. A big chunk of that is how to create the right climate and culture with parents and guardians of our students.<br />
I returned to school to earn my teaching licensure after completing a degree in Communication. One of my favorite courses was Interpersonal Communication and how we create positive communication with small groups. One of my big takeaways was I vs. You statements, which I still use in teaching.<br />
You statements put someone on the defensive, like it almost corners them so that being defensive is just about their only option. Think of it this way: a parent checks their student's grades and isn't happy. They email you and and write, "<u>You</u> gave my student a C on this assignment? Why did <u>you</u> give them that grade?" It puts us in a corner. We now have to defend why the student earned a C. "Little Johnny earned a C because he never completed one homework assignment all quarter, after I gave him until even the 9th week of the quarter to make up everything. He never wants to do work in my room." Sound familiar? Well, the "You" statement backed the teacher into a corner, and they used absolute language like "never", which will then put a parent into a corner. The problem is yes, we might have a right to say Johnny does nothing, but it doesn't mean we are right saying it.<br />
Brooks stated that no matter what a parent emails a teacher about, the root cause is the parent wants to know their child is safe and happy. The C is concerning for a parent that wants their child to make good grades, to earn scholarship money, to get into a good college, to get a great education, to better prepare themselves for a fantastic career, that will in return make them happy and safe. A parent is angry that their child can't go on a field trip because they didn't turn in their permission slip? Really, that parent is concerned about their child's happiness, they are not angry at the teacher. Much like this video - it isn't about the nail, so to speak.<br />
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When communicating with parents, it is important to think about their perspective - remember, it might not be about the nail. Don't think about how it is being said, but really listen to what is being said. Ask for specifics and respond professionally. Finally, remember you are never talking to just one parent. Your conversation will be repeated at the next PTO meeting, a birthday party, the grocery store, etc. Don't put yourself in the position where the only thing a parent might know about you comes from an angry parent.<br />
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Love and Sparkle,<br />
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Then, I met two of my professional heroes - Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. During their presentation, they said, "Teachers are making themselves exhausted trying to create interest. Use an interesting text and you will get engagement." Whoa! I remember sitting up a bit more in my chair because I felt like they were talking directly to me. There were three things they suggested about the texts we use in class:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"1. Relevance is about keeping their attention. Relevance equals engagement. 2. Rigor resides in the energy and attention given to the text, not the text itself. 3. When kids finish reading, they want to talk."</b></blockquote>
It was one of those moments where I was like, "Duh! This is so obvious, why didn't I think of it?" I was spending all of my time trying to create interest by making all of these gimmicks I found on TeachersPayTeachers or Pinterest, but in reality, what I needed to do was start the lesson with a better text.<br />
When I returned to school after the conference, my goal was to find more relevant texts, because I felt like more relevant texts would naturally lead into more talking (I needed to show them how to talk, but how could they talk about something they didn't find interesting?) and rethink what I was asking students to do with the text. <br />
I was so nervous in the beginning because I was spending a really long time finding texts. I kept wondering, "Will this be worth it?" What would happen if I spent all of this time finding a text, and creating 2-3 discussion questions to start us off, but nothing else? Would we just sit and stare at each other? Will this be considered "rigorous"?<br />
As I spent my time finding more relevant texts for my students, I realized that a relevant text was all I really did need. The relevant text was enough. Relevant texts led to kids wanting to talk about what they were reading, and since they had so many ideas, it led to deeper, thoughtful class discussions.<br />
Finding the right text really does transform your class...and keeps you from wanting to pull out your hair! Spend less time on "perfect" lessons, and more time on finding the right texts to increase engagement. That is the perfect lesson!<br />
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Here are some of my favorite places to find engaging texts:<br />
<br />
Argumentative: Anything from the Room For Debate section of the New York Times is great! <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/10/06/should-every-young-athlete-get-a-trophy" target="_blank">Check out this text set on Participation Trophies go get your middle schoolers talking!</a><br />
<br />
Informational: Excerpts from Chew on This and Garbology are nothing short of amazing. Lots of information leads to kids wanting to talk about these for hours! <a href="https://www.blogger.com/:%20https://www.risd.k12.nm.us/assessment_evaluation/THE%20PIONEERS.pdf" target="_blank">Check out this excerpt from Chew on This</a>.<br />
<br />
Narrative: Pictures! Lots of inferencing required, which leads to lots of class discussion on perspective. <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q7vonqTREFf34jUsH6FXBINh3q9V4zO_igCCQ15IbD0/copy" target="_blank"> Here's a unit I created using pictures from the Civil Rights Movement to teach narrative writing. </a><br />
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I start every school year feeling like I can change the world, one student at a time. I really do. Going back to school after summer break is easy because I truly believe in the power of education. Education is the key for social justice. Education is the great equalizer. I love teaching and the joy of each day's adventure. However, ask me if I love my job around testing season (February-April), and I'm sure the response won't be pretty. Except for this year. This year was different than the others.</div>
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Our school was awarded a grant that has given us professional development opportunities that we could only dream of before this year. In the past year, I talked about argumentative writing strategies with Kelly Gallagher, learned ways to engage kids in a rigorous text from Kylene Beers and Bob Probst, discussed goal and technique charts with Lucy Calkins, came up with academic vocabulary lessons (and triggers!) with Kristina Smekens, and laughed at school day shenanigans with Gerry Brooks (twice!). Not only did I get to hear them speak, but each opportunity kind of rekindled that back-to-school eagerness that starts to smolder around the third quarter of school.</div>
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That's what good professional development does for a teacher. It empowers, encourages, and engages teachers for the work ahead. This doesn't happen easily, though. Want to make sure your PD is one teachers love? Here are the 3 things teachers want from PD:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the materials I received <br />
at the Smekens Literacy Retreat</td></tr>
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<b><u>Lessons that are ready to use</u></b></div>
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There are times to talk theory and there are times to talk strategies. A good PD talks strategies immediately. My favorite thing about the PDs I've attended this year is that each one gave me strategies I could immediately use in my classroom with very little prep. For example, after an entire session on tangible triggers for lessons, Kristina Smekens then gave every teacher those triggers, including a card to explain how to implement the trigger in the lesson. </div>
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<b><u>Opportunities to collaborate</u></b></div>
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When I hear a great idea, my first instinct is to turn to my colleague and say something like, "We could totally use it for..." and then they will usually explain how they were thinking we could use it. I give my kids time to talk to each other to make sense of what we're doing in class, and I want the same from a PD. I need that time to collaborate with my colleagues and bounce ideas off of each other. Kylene Beers and Bob Probst did a great job of providing that "turn and talk" time during their sessions at the National Reading Recovery Conference in January. Like they mentioned, "The smartest person in the room...is the room." I'm an okay teacher, but the opportunity to discuss new things with my colleagues makes me a much better teacher!</div>
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<b><u>Humor</u></b></div>
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Teaching is a stressful job. Any opportunity we get to laugh at the ridiculously funny things that happen during our day makes that job a little easier, and a good presenter recognizes that. Gerry Brooks is phenomenal at this. Brooks engages the audience by getting us to laugh at the absurd-to-any-other-profession events that happen in our day, and then uses those events to teach us valuable lessons, like unwritten teacher-code when talking to parents and then teaching how to effectively communicate with parents.</div>
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Professional Development not only teaches new strategies, but when well-executed, it also gives much needed inspiration. Be sure to leave your favorite PDs in the comments!<br />
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As a teacher, I understand there are too many standards for kids to master in grades K-12. In fact, if a teacher were to truly teach each standard to student mastery, we would need to change K-12 to K-22 before sending them off to college. As the leader of my classroom, I choose which standards need our attention, and for how long. Sure, we have a pacing guide, but I'm not tied to it. During a quarter that focuses Reading Literature standards, I can choose how long my students need to spend on narrative writing in that time frame. And as long as I have an option, I will always teach narrative writing because I see a great value in it. Narrative writing is the most undervalued element of the ELA classroom.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzlN1esXEr2ST-e6OQdmdgP_gGiy_dm3kv9qoXsitNZtMFbivDbhCfhyphenhyphenCOvdS5V4d5J2M5ckV1RZL2x3E4K2Q4jG1He73-gfMdcU1lyEL-znAFF-1t49T_l1OdnXyjTS8L6dbaYhCAsXS/s1600/narrative+writing.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzlN1esXEr2ST-e6OQdmdgP_gGiy_dm3kv9qoXsitNZtMFbivDbhCfhyphenhyphenCOvdS5V4d5J2M5ckV1RZL2x3E4K2Q4jG1He73-gfMdcU1lyEL-znAFF-1t49T_l1OdnXyjTS8L6dbaYhCAsXS/s320/narrative+writing.png" width="264" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student works on autobiography portfolio unit. <br />
This <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">student stated it was her favorite project </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">of the year, </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">and her favorite assignment since </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">starting middle </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">school.</span></td></tr>
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Narrative writing is still important in grades 6-12 for a myriad of reasons. Narrative writing and storytelling is something our students do everyday, from telling friends what happened over the weekend to describing the cafeteria food fight to the dean. Narrative writing and telling a story in a logical sequence is a relevant skill students - and adults - use daily, whether school officials want to believe it or not.<br />
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I think one of the reasons for narrative writing's bad rap in grades 6-12 is that the wording of the standard doesn't drastically change, leading some to believe that narrative writing is just a repetition of previous years. In middle school, it isn't. This is a time for students to explore with structure - start with the exposition or the climax? It is a time for students to play with the timing - do we slow down time with lots of description of the short time, do we use a technique like a flashback? Basically, the standard becomes as rigorous the teacher makes it.<br />
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Most importantly, though, is that this is a time for students to find their voice. Our kids see and experience so much in their lives. Writing about it, processing it, working through it is therapeutic. The creative release of narrative writing is something some kids seek and relish during their school day.<br />
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I've been reading <u>Disrupting Thinking</u> by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst (expect a book review on here soon). If you've read anything else from Beers, you'll remember her anecdotes from Marcus, an 8th grader in 2008. His story is very haunting for me because I know his story is very similar to some of my students. When asked about his spiral notebook, he replies "its kinda private" and that the writing he does in his notebook is the "wrong kinda writing for school" because it doesn't have topic sentences. With his full notebook, it is obvious Marcus is a writer, yet he doesn't see himself as one. In fact, when asked if likes to write, he responded with "No I don't think so. I got a D in writing last year. I turned in this one paper about the time my dad came for a visit and the teacher says it was good but it had agreement errors and that was why it had to get a D."<br />
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Have we really reduced good writing to nothing but topic sentences and subject-verb agreement?<br />
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Similar to Marcus, I have a student who lost a parent this fall. Just two weeks ago, we worked on a visual I Am poem. Students wrote the poem, then created a slideshow of images to go along with the poem, and then used Screencastify to record themselves reciting the poem over the images being displayed. The student chose to write about her mother's death, and what her life is like now without her mother here with her. She is a reluctant writer on most days, but spent a week on this project, perfecting every line, every word. When recording, she rushed through the poem because she didn't want to start crying. She stopped the recording and then started to tear up. "Moman, that's the first time I've said any of that stuff out loud. You know, I think it all the time, but I thought saying it would just make me more sad. It didn't though. I liked remembering my mom." Narrative writing that allows for reflection - on an life event, on yourself, anything - helps our students grow in ways that we can't fully understand<br />
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Common Core's push for more argumentative and informational writing has made several administrators and Language Arts teachers question how much time classrooms spend on narrative writing. Topic sentences, claims, good evidence,and attribution are all important, don't get me wrong. But in real life, argumentative writing is best when supported with a strong narrative. Kelly Gallagher urges us to think to about it in his book, <u>In The Best Interest of Students</u>. Gallagher states that during the State of the Union Address, while the president is convincing other legislators the importance in his initiatives, he stops to point to at the crowd, illustrating the story of everyday Americans whose stories support his agenda. We have to balance the writing genres our students are exposed to in order to make sure we have a well-rounded student.<br />
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While argumentative and informational writing are important skills, our students having a voice and the opportunity express themselves in our classrooms should be the forefront of our teaching. Forget the subject-verb agreement. Narrative writing that gives students an outlet for creative expression is the "why" in my classroom.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #ed2986; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" style="border: none; max-width: 730px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" /></span></a></div>
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I love my kids. I really do. And I love working with them everyday. But, if we can be honest for a minute, if something happened and I didn't get my paycheck one Friday, I would be finding a different job. I'm not in teaching for the money; however, my paycheck that is used to buy me a Cookies-n-Cream milkshake from Chick-fil-a during a stressful week is my incentive to work really hard. Without it, I would definitely move on to something else that could bankroll my milkshakes.<br />
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While seeing my kids grow throughout the year is definitely a reward for me, so is my paycheck. This is why I fully believe in rewarding students for their hard work. I am asking them to think critically, dig deeper, and work hard every single day in my room. I am pushing them outside their comfort zone, and because of that, they are growing so much, but that doesn't make the work any less challenging. Going to school is a job for our students, and while a good education is the outcome, they really need something immediate and tangible for their efforts, much like teachers get a paycheck for their work.<br />
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What the students earn, how they earn it, and what they can spend it on are the important concepts of an token economy system. Hopefully this post will give you some ideas for all three parts.<br />
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<u>1. School Money</u><br />
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When I first started teaching middle school, our 6th grade teams had team money that was used as an incentive. The next year, that concept was incorporated throughout the whole school. Our students can earn Raider Bucks (our mascot is a Raider) from any staff or faculty member in the building. Raider Bucks come in $1 and $5 bills. It is up to each teacher to determine what warrants Raider Bucks in their classroom. I give Raider Bucks for sharing writing pieces, 100% on tests or quizzes, improvement on progress monitoring tests for reading, answering questions, as Reading Counts prizes, and doing anything "extra" (helping others when finished, proofreading papers for others, etc.).<br />
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<u>2. Prize Wheel</u><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFaDaurpR5RRiUgiOWVbSbUjFiSOatcuXduE0lDo0OreO8QN90epCbPwV-WVnnR9MZYB5st_bviDFFsvDRgYY2ATjsgbyjr34k7_5yamV5RiCJsEKnRoEzqMUaufznvaYO2AnO8MphgzY/s1600/IMG_1634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFaDaurpR5RRiUgiOWVbSbUjFiSOatcuXduE0lDo0OreO8QN90epCbPwV-WVnnR9MZYB5st_bviDFFsvDRgYY2ATjsgbyjr34k7_5yamV5RiCJsEKnRoEzqMUaufznvaYO2AnO8MphgzY/s200/IMG_1634.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Prize Wheel is a big hit in our room!</td></tr>
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Sometimes, just handing out the Raider Bucks gets to be a little monotonous. To help switch it up, I bought this prize wheel from Amazon last year. (Click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00486ZSQI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">here</a> to purchase it.) Kids love it - it really adds another "umph" of motivation. For example, if we are working on Moby Max skills in class, I might say, "Okay, for 20 minutes, anyone who earns an 80% or higher on a skill will get to spin the prize wheel." They go crazy! Student show me their screen so I can see where they've earned it, and then they spin the prize wheel. They can earn Raider Bucks or candy from it. Another time we use it is when we play Kahoot! Top three winners get to spin the wheel as their prize. Nothing is more entertaining than first place getting $1 Raider Buck, but third place winning candy! Their faces are priceless!<br />
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<u>3. Prize Closet</u><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPzh1_6Vk_8CDSThXT4Jllz6SEUTMpFjOPW9pAdQBTgKIQrM3Y3-aAGlVFeTFsG6YCAtnwFm6pMNi4QxZEzlae7yq42_cSBaSrCinWpmI440_DKFCuyG9Gj-GjNDyHON-qQy0RBewcmOjb/s1600/IMG_1638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPzh1_6Vk_8CDSThXT4Jllz6SEUTMpFjOPW9pAdQBTgKIQrM3Y3-aAGlVFeTFsG6YCAtnwFm6pMNi4QxZEzlae7yq42_cSBaSrCinWpmI440_DKFCuyG9Gj-GjNDyHON-qQy0RBewcmOjb/s200/IMG_1638.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prize Closet visits happen once a month.</td></tr>
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Students can use Raider Bucks at our school Success Store on items like pencils, calculators, notebooks, erasers, lanyards, hat passes, lunch level passes, and all sorts of other items. It is a work of art! Anyway, I wanted kids to be able to spend the money in my room, too, so I created a Prize Closet. <br />
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We do Prize Closet about once a month, and it usually takes between 15-20 minutes. I sell mechanical pencils, eraser, posters, books, bracelets, nail wraps, games, craft supplies (tie-dye kits are really popular with my kids!), stickers, and anything else I think the kids will buy with their Raider Bucks. The best part is that most of the items are free to me, or really inexpensive. The books are usually free books from Scholastic orders, craft supplies and games are usually donated (one kid's <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8No4S0tIM8Hb0PmZ4ySG0BlDaQDqsDj-9f19s30wnxEl8PJfcgkPpmvWm2m9IOXrpzoWgmZ2ckRyoRMTq_ZcsBVr0oa-KfjWnMWOkbYqAkK6c9MrhwOU8qon51x4iU0SOYcZ38bBo9T5/s1600/IMG_2756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8No4S0tIM8Hb0PmZ4ySG0BlDaQDqsDj-9f19s30wnxEl8PJfcgkPpmvWm2m9IOXrpzoWgmZ2ckRyoRMTq_ZcsBVr0oa-KfjWnMWOkbYqAkK6c9MrhwOU8qon51x4iU0SOYcZ38bBo9T5/s320/IMG_2756.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside of the Prize Closet. The lights mean it<br />
is open for business!</td></tr>
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junk is another kid's treasure), and the Dollar Tree is perfect for cheap, fun prizes.<br />
<u style="text-align: center;"><br /></u>
<u style="text-align: center;">4. Reward Coupons</u><br />
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The most popular items in the Prize Closet cost no more than the paper used for printing. My students love purchasing different coupons I have created. I have coupons for lunch in my room with three friends, music during writing time, 15 minutes of computer game time, no homework pass, extra time to work on an assignment, and a class game. I make the cards about the size of a business card, and then I use library pockets to store them on the doors of the cabinet. (See the picture of the Prize Closet).</div>
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<i><span style="color: purple;"><b><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reward-Coupons-for-Middle-School-Students-3078868" target="_blank">Click here to download the Reward Coupons from my TeachersPayTeachers store - for FREE!</a></b></span></i></div>
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<u>5. Popcorn Fridays</u><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrpCJGaA_UZUczxtpxZxtkmuRL6HPuaXi8raRzNunjiDBU77i5-fMrdRn_8jKY3RGWuFxoSC_cP3gqJ8XxWekbbBpXVoR83KLqL7mgkbXsiJAjmE2xhv_9E9wpf34xxfzXfiY5HXjkoWw/s1600/IMG_1679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrpCJGaA_UZUczxtpxZxtkmuRL6HPuaXi8raRzNunjiDBU77i5-fMrdRn_8jKY3RGWuFxoSC_cP3gqJ8XxWekbbBpXVoR83KLqL7mgkbXsiJAjmE2xhv_9E9wpf34xxfzXfiY5HXjkoWw/s200/IMG_1679.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A student enjoying popcorn<br />
while reading.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last school year, I really wanted to add another reward for students. My students love food and will do just about anything for a food reward, but I didn't want it to be too unhealthy. So, I thought a popcorn reward would be okay, and relatively cheap. However, I wanted the popcorn machine to be in my room, so I wouldn't have to worry about getting popcorn from our concession stand to my classroom. I put up a Donor's Choose project for a popcorn machine and it was funded! Once a month, students can spend $30 Raider Bucks to buy a bag of popcorn to eat during Independent Reading. <br />
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These are just some of the ways I reward my kiddos. What kind of rewards and incentives do you use in your classroom? Be sure to share your ideas in the comments!<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Love and Sparkle,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember 5th grade like it was yesterday. My family and I were in our cart. We had very little food. My sister had died of a broken arm. My brother had a snake bite and I had dysentery, yet my family persevered on to Williamette Valley. When we reached it, I felt like I had won.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6PIv1hUYXkUfLeupCCX-hHrfGrfByr3I9dLp7mkMkDv8Tpz9xqvIMlgp28N1C58yt7kfB-ebS5PJHb9ktQyGsanHbYuYhOKJLvN72Ol6wpAfdSt1b5fR5HKXR73hRV5s6CBurr5QvK4/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6PIv1hUYXkUfLeupCCX-hHrfGrfByr3I9dLp7mkMkDv8Tpz9xqvIMlgp28N1C58yt7kfB-ebS5PJHb9ktQyGsanHbYuYhOKJLvN72Ol6wpAfdSt1b5fR5HKXR73hRV5s6CBurr5QvK4/s320/1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even back in 1995 in a rural community, my teachers recognized how the right technology can aide, engage, and inspire student learning. I was raised on the Oregon Trail. Well, not literally. I actually grew up in Small Town, Indiana, but my 5th grade world revolved around escaping to the high-ability room and knowing that if I had to die on the Oregon Trail, I needed to at least die by dysentery rather than a fever, because, let’s face it, dysentery was way cooler than an ordinary fever. As a 6th grader, I got to show 5th grade students which key was the spacebar so they could continue their journey on the Oregon Trail, and how to save medicine for a snake bite. I was allowed to teach them the things that I had learned while playing the game.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I live this same philosophy now with my 7th graders. We try new technology to aide in our learning of extremely challenging standards. As a teacher, I am trying to engage my students with technology in the same way that Oregon Trail engaged me, just with more relevant technology. Because I use technology with every student, every day, lots can go wrong.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, lessons always turn out differently than planned, but when you add more moving parts to a lesson, there are more things that can go wrong. Wi-fi is down, the battery on a device won’t stay charged, kids show up without their device. The best thing we can do as teachers, though, is probably the most uncomfortable for us - do not solve the problems for them.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the classes I teach is our school newspaper. We recently added a poll to our paper to feature more students each week. We wanted to make this section visually appealing, so we searched and found </span><a href="http://piktochart.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">piktochart.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a website specializing in infographics. The two students working on this new feature were struggling with how to add pictures from their phones to the infographic on their Chromebook. Almost immediately, my instinct was to save them, to take the Chromebook and the phone from their hands and email the pictures to myself to open and save to the computer, and then import the images to their design. It would have taken a matter of minutes for me to finish the infographic. I knew exactly what steps needed to be completed, so it would have been easy for me to do it for them.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But, I didn’t. I didn’t learn how to survive the Oregon Trail because someone did it for. In fact, I learned because my teacher walked away, making me ask myself some important questions, so that’s what I did for my students. “Okay, so we have some issues. What should we do now?” By asking that simple question, I became the sounding-board for their discussion, not the leader of it. I put the learning, experimenting - and maybe even failing - experience back on them. After 5 minutes or so, they had a plan. I asked them, “Why do you think that’s the best way to do it?” Asking them to think about their thinking showed me how they eliminated other options. I know they were processing through information. Once they completed their assignment, I asked them to show the rest of the staff how to use this website for future issues. This assignment took much longer than needed to complete, but I know they learned not only how to use the website, but they also learned how to be persistent and problem-solve.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-1c552fe9-3a3e-d9ee-047e-4dbf755e0a84"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Technology is changing. A teacher’s desire for her students to be creative, analytical thinkers does not. Think about technology in the classroom as the Oregon Trail - lots of things will go wrong in the beginning, but don’t get discouraged. By asking the right questions, teachers will see how technology revolutionizes the type of thinking students will do and that will be like the teacher-version of making it to Willamette Valley.</span></div>
<br />
Love and Sparkle,<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" /></a><br />
<span style="background-color: #ff0072; color: #fff1f9; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLobo_1Qlq79GI3FjOYkjH5Fi4FW4EXScJ6kBgV4zsIg5Hqiks3A6B0Kvey7tCfKGAT8-Mq1ymdVHASZ4fKWgzqf-22VVcWOjeB98Gq3dHm5WMjlCQAoieitNhNJARD3rCgw0gaKXD-XC-/s1600/Steve-Jobs-520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLobo_1Qlq79GI3FjOYkjH5Fi4FW4EXScJ6kBgV4zsIg5Hqiks3A6B0Kvey7tCfKGAT8-Mq1ymdVHASZ4fKWgzqf-22VVcWOjeB98Gq3dHm5WMjlCQAoieitNhNJARD3rCgw0gaKXD-XC-/s320/Steve-Jobs-520.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Steve Jobs quote courtesy of awaken.com<br />I'm very blessed to be able to answer yes to this every day.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One of my favorite units I use with my seventh graders is an informational reading and writing unit "What makes someone successful?" In this unit, we look at the definition of success, read the biography <i>Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different</i>, and research an inventor (my pre-AP kiddos will make a simple machine and present it in a how-to format to the class). I love this unit - I cannot say it enough. The kids are engaged, excited because it is someone who is relevant to them, and of course, they have a lot to say about success. My favorite reason, though, for this unit happens in Chapter 1 of the biography.<br />
Chapter 1 discusses Jobs's childhood, and specifically what school was like for him. Jobs hated school because it simply wasn't interesting to him. So, to make school interesting, he often caused trouble, like letting a snake loose in a classro<br />
om and making an explosion under a teacher's chair. His father defended him, often saying, "If you can't keep him interested, its your own fault."<br />
That all changed for Jobs in fourth grade when he met Imogene "Teddy" Hill, his teacher. Ms. Hill started off the year by <strike>bribing</strike>, er, I mean, motivating Jobs to complete work ("Complete the math workbook and get at least 80 percent right, and I'll give you $5 and a giant lollipop.") But before long, he just respected and admired her enough to complete his work. Jobs credited Ms. Hill for the beginning of his success, stating, "I'm one hundred percent sure that if it hadn't been for Ms. Hill in fourth grade and a few others, I would have absolutely ended up in jail."<br />
Ms. Hill showered Jobs with much needed attention, and did not see him as a troublemaker, but has a gifted kid who needed more.<br />
<h3>
<b> <u>Are you a Ms. Hill?</u></b></h3>
By this, I mean, we each have that student sitting in class that no one seems to understand - the one that puts his head down constantly, or the girl that seems to not be listening to a word you say, or the group of kiddos that seem more interested in the computer game trend of the week than anything you are teaching? Are you trying? Are you trying to understand that student's behaviors? Are you trying to figure out what motivates him? Are you trying to build a relationship? Yes, it will be difficult. And yes, it will be challenging, but isn't that student worth it? A student will never learn from a teacher they don't respect. No, a student doesn't have to like you, but they do have to respect you enough to listen to you. <br />
Ms. Hill thought so. She had no idea that Jobs would go on and be a creator of so many things we use today, but she did see something special in a kid that others only identified as "trouble." Find that student in your class, and make an effort in the following weeks to figure out how you can make this student interested - do it a day at a time, or an assignment at a time. <br />
Build a relationship. Be a Ms. Hill.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Love and Sparkle,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" /></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It has been
a month since my last post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, over a
month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what happens at the end of
the semester if you’re an ELA teacher – you lose yourself to final exams,
retakes of final exams, and enough data to make you wonder if you teach
Language Arts or Math.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My previous
posts have been about the Writer's Notebook in my classroom, and this post will
wrap up that series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The timing of this
post is kind of on point – as I reflect on this past year to make new goals for
myself, I get to think about which writing assignments worked well and which
ones….ugh, which ones were lessons learned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I started the notebook in my classes
last year, but have fully implemented it this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We start with 10-15 minutes of writing in our
notebooks each class period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some days a
topic might just be for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
topics might last 3 or 4 days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
assignments we work only at the beginning of class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others might last the whole class
period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It depends on the assignment,
but more importantly, how it engages my students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it is something the kids really get into,
I might let it go on for another day if they are working hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Besides
getting to talk to kids while they are writing, my favorite part of the writing
process is Author’s Chair, when the students get the opportunity to share what
they have completed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes this is
meant to showcase their work; sometimes it is meant as an opportunity to
present challenges or questions to the class so the author gets feedback.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here are my
Favorite 3 Writer’s Notebook Activities from this semester:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Memorial Design<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This makes
me feel old just thinking about it, but I teach kids who weren’t alive when the
events of September 11<sup>th</sup>, 2001 took place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I think I just felt a hair turn gray
thinking about it!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My kids don’t
remember where they were when it happened (in utero is something we don’t like
to imagine…or talk about in school), or comprehend just how much the world has
changed since then (in utero vs. out of utero), but they have experienced the
memorials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, on September 11<sup>th</sup>,
we talk about how we honor those who lost their lives – on this day or any
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We talk about moments of silence,
statues, scholarships, naming public places after people, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, we read Billy Collin’s poem, <i><a href="http://podcasts.shelbyed.k12.al.us/jculver/files/2015/09/The-Names-Billy-Collins.pdf" target="_blank">The Names</a></i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After reading it, table groups
discuss if a poem or other literary work can be a memorial, and why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, students are given the opportunity
to create a memorial for someone special to them in their Writer’s Notebook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can be a poem, drawing, song, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had kids design parks for grandparents
who loved going to the park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had
kids create football stadiums for parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One of my personal favorites is a ginormous Diet Coke statue that
dispenses Diet Coke for a grandmother that always had a can of Diet Coke in her
hand (I can relate). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the
design, I ask kids to think about color choices (what do colors symbolize and
how can they contribute to honoring someone), and what is the best way to honor
that person (what was important to them and what legacy would they want to
carry on).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This assignment usually lasts
a few days and kids get the opportunity to share their work on the document
camera. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Middle
school kids can be very self-centered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This assignment is one of my favorites because it makes them really
think about someone beside himself or herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I enjoy listening to the rationale behind their choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also lets me hear about special people
for my kiddos, which allows me the opportunity to know more about them before
we start more formal writing pieces and they need help brainstorming
topics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With this assignment, I can
start to tell what is important to them already.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A House of My Own Vignette<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB6ajiww3112MRE7li1IfISHacsE1XJ94yU7eniZ7TkJNArTaNM1FlwTAuY7fVGnn_3_33ugQcGl3j7qAqmpC0_N_XkOv8iKvQpj4cBaCZYGF-itm5bmmXQE0ScmkiSxCKhpFjnNtDsuP1/s1600/image+%25282%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB6ajiww3112MRE7li1IfISHacsE1XJ94yU7eniZ7TkJNArTaNM1FlwTAuY7fVGnn_3_33ugQcGl3j7qAqmpC0_N_XkOv8iKvQpj4cBaCZYGF-itm5bmmXQE0ScmkiSxCKhpFjnNtDsuP1/s320/image+%25282%2529.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PQP Notes for a rough draft</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Everyone
tends to use the <a href="http://theliterarylink.com/mangostreet.html" target="_blank">“My Name”</a> vignette from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
House on Mango Street</i>, and believe me, I did, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the <a href="http://facultyfiles.deanza.edu/gems/pesanojulie/Houseonmango.pdf" target="_blank">“The House on Mango Street”</a> vignette digs a
little deeper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did the whole “My
Name” thing and the first drafts were…well, not what I expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started to panic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized that my kids were being very, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i> literal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I told them we would come back to that
piece, but we were going to read another piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first drafts of “The House on Mango Street” were nothing short of amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that piece, students started to see the
more creative, reflective type of writing we would be doing, compared to the
more technical and formulaic writing they had previously done. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I’m not trying to knock that type of writing
– at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, when I have kids who haven’t
had to do a lot of writing before, I often start with “formulas” to help
them.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that first round, we did
PQP editing (Praise – Question – Polish), which is now a go-to process for a
class in particular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">extremely</i> social kids, this works
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kids work in pairs or triads to
share writing drafts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group then
shares praises they have for the piece, question things that don’t make sense,
and then give the author a couple of ideas for things that might need to be
polished for the next draft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because
this involves a lot of discussion and movement, the students love it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the discussion is very specific, I
love it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is really a win-win
situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With my
Pre-Advanced Placement class, several students had done this type of writing,
while it was completely new to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For my kiddos that needed to be challenged, I gave them the challenge to
emulate an author they really liked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had a student that took this to a whole new level and “shaped” her poem like
that of her favorite author’s works, Ellen Hopkins. Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b5WB7wsMViWu6OP7zKe04MF2r1N9lV8pMSb6xggY9Og/edit" target="_blank">here </a>to see it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If your
kids really get into this activity, they can create their own version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The House on Mango Street</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My students created <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The School on Veterans Parkway</i>, full of their own stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is being self-published in Spring 2016 (in
other words, I finished editing it during break earlier this week and am
sending it to an online printer to be published). In the meantime, <a href="http://www.educationdreamer.com/2015/09/my-house-by-micah-clark.html" target="_blank">here</a> is a student's work on his "My House" vignette published on his dad's site.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
building relationships with my kids, I often wonder how they became the person
they are now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “My House” dives into
this a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kids have talked about
renting apartments with the dream to one day own a home so they get to paint
their walls, to the crazy neighbors their family likes to prank, or the loss of
a home due to poor choices and how that impacts them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This particular assignment had me laughing
and crying while reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Desk<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLS_u8i7lS2EEe9noAOJyAK5F84tMU-FqwzV4W4GE2R8ocgmTChCGA73t3rA757EONvVGwsNAs53heIEYGW5WKV1gJsYTpD0wDOTFAiWQuJzLzeGgYYr6O-yLZhR6HI8R5MLFNuJoSOweE/s1600/image+%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLS_u8i7lS2EEe9noAOJyAK5F84tMU-FqwzV4W4GE2R8ocgmTChCGA73t3rA757EONvVGwsNAs53heIEYGW5WKV1gJsYTpD0wDOTFAiWQuJzLzeGgYYr6O-yLZhR6HI8R5MLFNuJoSOweE/s320/image+%25281%2529.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Desk Writing Collaborative Piece</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We had a
day at the end of Quarter 1 that we literally didn’t have anything that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">had</i> to be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had completed our end of the quarter exam
and had made corrections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
organized our binders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Writer’s
Notebooks were in order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we did a
writing assignment that I will now be the first writing assignment I do every
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My high school English teacher did
this with my class back in the day, but I put my own spin on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5O_PR_JYS_U7QcfsWt2x876k2yKR3DX5wfFE_-T_x96NJinHdmS8hoQucPNhO2Vp8KWxw4yTZMvl62wF0PVgjZ5dJdy1tl2u0GxJpPYEBigGUueayKeiIsxJhKrBnDcUGN1JIve45CBC/s1600/image+%25283%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5O_PR_JYS_U7QcfsWt2x876k2yKR3DX5wfFE_-T_x96NJinHdmS8hoQucPNhO2Vp8KWxw4yTZMvl62wF0PVgjZ5dJdy1tl2u0GxJpPYEBigGUueayKeiIsxJhKrBnDcUGN1JIve45CBC/s320/image+%25283%2529.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Desk Writing Assignment with "Favorite Line"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I put a
student desk in the middle of the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I then told students they had to write about the desk for 15 minutes
(pencils couldn’t leave the page).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also,
no talking (which is a big deal – we do a lot of talking while we write).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bet 10 hands went into the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told them I wasn’t answering questions at
that time – write for 15 minutes about the desk and no talking were the
rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students walked around the desk;
one student even sat at the desk while writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After the 15 minutes, we did an author’s chair and students shared their
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had pieces that ranged from
describing the graffiti on the desk to accusing the chair of being part of the
Illuminati to a story set in a nightclub where the desk was a transgender
transformer that had been accused of murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Have I mentioned how much I love my students?!?!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students that had written more descriptive
pieces wanted to redo the assignment to write more creative pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we did, but in a different way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked each student to choose one sentence
or line from their piece that they really liked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As each student shared, I wrote their line on
the board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we finished, we had 25
really good lines, but no real piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Students were then asked to take those lines- all 25 of them – and
create a new piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could be a poem
or a story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The end result was
AMAZING!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know they are really good
kids, but their work on this shocked even me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As an exit ticket, I asked kids to send me an email about the
activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every kid wrote that it was
their favorite assignment of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every. Single. Kid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was great!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
assignment without a doubt is my favorite because we work on the final product
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I try to instill a sense of
community in my classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With this
assignment, I finally saw that “spark” in students where I knew our classroom
community had come together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>I love getting new ideas - what are some of your favorite notebooking activities?</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love and Sparkle,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZv6-s8Qi5718rhiqC-EOQNkX6DBw6vuTRx7VYuumj0uWRePJUKGxV4BDPMPYCaAp_Li6llA7Kzx29niXx0Q2ROT6C17WM_2KTxzfEoi9LTjM7_pEgOa8skHT_zmsCflDKA0iIuAuH1YON/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZv6-s8Qi5718rhiqC-EOQNkX6DBw6vuTRx7VYuumj0uWRePJUKGxV4BDPMPYCaAp_Li6llA7Kzx29niXx0Q2ROT6C17WM_2KTxzfEoi9LTjM7_pEgOa8skHT_zmsCflDKA0iIuAuH1YON/s320/image.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover of a student's notebook - it captures her personality.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When writing is mentioned to any Language Arts teacher (well, and other content teachers, for that matter), one of the first things that come to mind is "Writing means soooooooooooo much grading!" My first few years of teaching, I associated writing with Peppermint Patties because for every 5 essays I got through, I rewarded myself with a Peppermint Patty. It was kind of like my own school economy.<br />
Anyway, during Writing Project, I'm pretty sure I loved the thought of a Writer's Notebook, but the thought of grading it made me want to curl into a ball and cry. Then, what would happen when inevitably kids wouldn't set it up to my specifications? What would happen when I couldn't find a single assignment in there because they didn't label it, or put it on the right page, or one of the other 583 ways that this could go wrong?<br />
I'm only in my second year of a Writer's Notebook, but here are some of the things I've learned:<br />
<b>Organization</b><br />
So, if you've ever met me, in about 10 seconds you can tell I'm a Type A personality. I have a weekly to-do list paperclipped into my planner that has both a weekly and monthly calendars, long-term project pages, and note pages. This is carried in conjunction with with clipboard that has a ridiculous amount of note pages so that I can reference anything at any time. My first year of my Writer's Notebooks, I asked kids to set up their notebooks with tabs - Title Page, Dedication Page, Table of Contents, Writing Lesson, Writing Notes, and Writing Goals. Then, I did the unthinkable - I asked middle school students to keep up with that. Because they didn't, I gave up on the notebooks about halfway through the year.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8IdSW2byX3plQAL5M2ItOuzPU7dcj3uoAB-29mbSgrwmFCWBR4AJAQhD9jugD83gH0QBLTnrT_p7dLUAWmnBrPml67t_BMNjQWxums7cN-XviTKVL-eKsEElsuR6JSiKRjUw9b2qQI5ng/s1600/image+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8IdSW2byX3plQAL5M2ItOuzPU7dcj3uoAB-29mbSgrwmFCWBR4AJAQhD9jugD83gH0QBLTnrT_p7dLUAWmnBrPml67t_BMNjQWxums7cN-XviTKVL-eKsEElsuR6JSiKRjUw9b2qQI5ng/s320/image+%25281%2529.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table of Contents in a student's Writer's Notebook</td></tr>
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At the end of the year, I thought about what I liked and didn't like about the notebooks and why I gave up on them. I realized I made it INSANELY too difficult. My kiddos are a very transient popular, like I've had 8 new kiddos in 6 weeks and that's not anything new. I need something that can be explained to new kiddos quickly, and a routine that can be picked up on after just a few days.<br />
So here's what I did this school year and I already really like it: Every student had to have a composition notebook by day 3. On day 3, we spent about 20 minutes numbering every page, front and back in the notebook. Kids grumbled, but it has saved some headaches, for sure. Page 1 is a Title Page, that includes first and last names, and a picture. Pages 2 and 3 are a Table of Contents. That's it. No tabs. No ten different sections. Plain and simple. Kids know we add the title of the assignment to the Table of Contents, flip to the next blank page, and that's where we start the assignment.<br />
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<b>Grading</b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5d0Flo_oTvuEZrM0DhRNvyr_GmQuasDZIF01gqAQB9X9RdO2COb1NHg240IAXVcZh4EE7O0aEQP7ZJvML_NA_V59qXnaCw2iQL6dGivgQR7N0NzSyrD04WMZpBnZTOEa8J2hMYAkUMNq/s1600/image+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5d0Flo_oTvuEZrM0DhRNvyr_GmQuasDZIF01gqAQB9X9RdO2COb1NHg240IAXVcZh4EE7O0aEQP7ZJvML_NA_V59qXnaCw2iQL6dGivgQR7N0NzSyrD04WMZpBnZTOEa8J2hMYAkUMNq/s320/image+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mailing label grading - Ah-maz-ing!</td></tr>
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Remember when I said that the thought of grading writing makes me cringe. Well...it still does. I wish I had the ultimate solution to that, but I don't. I have found a couple of ways to make it easier, though.<br />
First, I never collect all 75 Writer's Notebooks at one time. I will do it by class period, or by tables. Once I get those finished (2-3 days), I move on to the next group. It usually takes me a little over a week to every notebook graded, and I don't feel so overwhelmed looking at the mountain of notebooks! <br />
Second, I started following Sarah Koves at Kovescence of the Mind after participating in a Twitter chat with her. She had this amazing tip for grading and it truly is a timesaver. She grades using...wait for it...mailing labels (<a href="http://kovescenceofthemind.blogspot.com/2015/07/grading-student-notebooks-with-mailing.html">See her full blog here</a>). It is great. You type whatever you want on the label (which can be a rubric you use on formal writing pieces or prompts even), and then stick it in the notebook. It cut my grading time down by half. I simply put whatever items should be in their notebooks and then grade it out of 4.<br />
Third, the most important part of grading is conferencing. When I distribute graded notebooks, I do it through conferencing. We conference quite a bit during the actual writing, and grading shouldn't be any different. I pull students up and ask them which piece was their favorite and which piece was difficult to start. Then, from there I may ask more questions, or ask them to elaborate more on something they said. This gives me so much insight to how a student attacks a writing task and I can provide feedback for more challenging assignments. Conferencing with my students about writing is the absolute best part of my job. Any day with conferencing involved will always be listed as one of my favorite days (and Fro-yo Fridays. Fro-yo Fridays are pretty amazing, too!).<br />
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I hope this gives you enough inspiration and answers e<span style="font-family: inherit;">nough basic questions about Writer's Notebooks. Check back soon for my third and final installment, Writer's Notebook: Part 3 - Ideas, Student Examples, and What I Would Do Differently.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Love and Sparkle,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" /></a></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of my MANY Writer's Notebooks</td></tr>
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Last week, the hashtag #whyIwrite was trending on Twitter in honor of National Day of Writing (October 20th). People were sharing their personal reasons for writing and why they see writing as a valuable experience in their classrooms. My story begins in 3rd grade...</div>
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If it is even possible, imagine a nerdier version of the current me, a 7-year-old that wanted nothing more than to read "The Boxcar Children" and become a country music singer with her two friends. Yep, read that last line again. A country music singer. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but that was my life goal (well, and to become Miss USA). I had a teacher that probably realized I couldn't sing to save my life, dancing wasn't my strong point either, but encouraged my friends and I to write our songs. Furthermore, she let us perform them for the class all the time. Like, every day. At one point, we even created "dance partners" by tracing our own bodies on poster paper, decorating them, and cutting them out to use. That amazing lady never mentioned how ridiculous it was, nor smirked at our choice of lyrics (losing love at 7 is hard, man). She encouraged an abundance of creativity and showmanship, and I loved her class for it.</div>
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Fast forward to high school where I joined the newspaper staff. I wrote what I still believe to be a phenomenal piece about how to be the best benchwarmer you could be. I laughed. My parents laughed. My basketball coach did not laugh. I enjoyed writing for the newspaper because it was fun and exciting. I never associated it with creative writing, though, and I still don't understand why. </div>
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Besides newspaper, my high school career consisted of critical writing with very little creativity. Lots of essays, reports, regurgitation of researched information. I considered writing to be a very technical process.</div>
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And then I participated in National Writing Project two years ago. If you are ever looking for a Professional Development opportunity that will rejuvenate your sense of purpose, NWP is it. I found my love for writing and fun again, while learning that creative and critical writing are not two very opposite ends of a spectrum, but actually work hand-in-hand in a classroom. I learned how to take information or stories, and present them in new, fun, challenging, creative formats, and how to model that for my students.</div>
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Students need more opportunities to express themselves constructively during the school day. With my Writer's Notebook, my students are learning problem-solving, collaboration, organization, how to ask questions/wonder, and it helps foster a sense of self-worth.</div>
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I write in my classroom because I believe critical writing can be creative and my students needs to see that. I teach persistence through a blank page in a Writer's Notebook, waiting to be filled with thoughts, stories, and doodles that represent how my students see themselves. My kiddos write to show they matter.</div>
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#whyIwrite<br />
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Love and Sparkle,<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJ-poHTpsklUXbslfAyI6C2ONPbriDOGyr9Tsm3v0i-WkCX0IYqSM-DOhbLaWfBfH4uqZ5_ccly3ZSkbbGEfYZTt94k0WedictgNC5qWHCs5LEqcdIGmAswZKvKw5Gtqa4DqsdE0_GntfY5zWDbvOYZqtidR_v3_ImLYAE=" /></div>
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Come back for the next installments of this series: <i>Writer's Notebook: Part 2 - Organization, Grading, and other Teacher-ish Questions </i>and W<i>riter's Notebook: Part 3 - Ideas, Student Examples, and What I Would Do Differently.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyWRv7Gr68ifvVBstKFH7xy2z_Q1sPF7RYLIkJHl0eAcBVQMa0fG6nFGL2tjZtYxIzKqnsF5vWhLYsVavcSfRuO3H-ZKFsYFntPygTtxH8PR_502oPoDRmUfbyrBwPRrGzWeRZ449n8PJ/s1600/Success.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyWRv7Gr68ifvVBstKFH7xy2z_Q1sPF7RYLIkJHl0eAcBVQMa0fG6nFGL2tjZtYxIzKqnsF5vWhLYsVavcSfRuO3H-ZKFsYFntPygTtxH8PR_502oPoDRmUfbyrBwPRrGzWeRZ449n8PJ/s320/Success.jpg" width="240" /></a>Small things are the ones that seem to have the biggest impact on my students. Silly erasers and small pieces of candy aren't much, but they let students know we care, we think about them, and even look forward to things they do. </div>
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My third year of teaching I worked in building that really promoted positive communication between school and home. About 98% of our kids were on free or reduced lunch. Most of their parents had 2 or 3 jobs in order to just survive. Kids might not see their parents at all on a given day, so the kids thrived on any positive reinforcement given at school. That was great, but not enough, so our principal encouraged Positive Postcards. It is so simple, that it is kind of ridiculous more of us don't use them. It is so simple, in fact, that once I moved to middle school, I just forgot about them. </div>
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Until the end of last school year.</div>
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I look forward to my end-of-the-year evaluation every year. Yes, yes, I know that's crazy, but I like hearing what things I can do to improve the next school year. I am an extremely competitive person (I get this from my Dad's side of the family - a game of Spoons is like going to war. Blood is often drawn and small children are used to steal spoons from others. No joke!). Because of that, I make it my own personal mission to beat my evaluation scores from the year before. When I had to make my goals for this year, I said that I wanted to have more positive communication in my classroom, with parents and students. And that's when I remembered the Positive Postcards.</div>
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Positive Postcards are just a 3-4 sentence positive note you actually mail home about something amazing you've witnessed the student do recently. Easy enough.<br />
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Here's what you do: </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the design I chose for the postcard</td></tr>
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First, get postcards. You can make some on your computer and print. Dollar Tree has packs of 20-25 postcards in their teacher section. If you're like me and you like personalization, I bought postcards from Vistaprint. It was an amazing deal - 250 cards for $16! There are always 40% or 50% coupons for Vistaprint on coupon sites, which is what I used.</div>
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Second, print address labels for your students. Most teacher attendance or gradebook programs have this option from the homepage. If you can't find it easily, search it. </div>
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Third, find a time in your week to do it. I don't feel like I have a lot of extra time - who does?!?! - so I thought about time that gets wasted. I keep my postcards and address labels in my clipboard portfolio I take to meetings. When I get to meetings early or technology goes awry during a meeting, I pull out those postcards and labels, and start writing to kids. This way, that time is still productive. </div>
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That's it. It's that easy. I try to send out 5-7 postcards a week. This means I can get through everyone in one semester, which means kids can two postcards a year. I know who I haven't sent postcards to yet because I still have their label, so no need to keep another record sheet.</div>
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I've already had parents email about the postcard being on the fridge at home, or students who have shown me pictures on their phone of the card in their locker.</div>
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And if that isn't enough reason to do, it just makes me happier. It gives me a specific reason to look at all of the bright spots happening in my room daily. Some days the negativity starts to creep in, but when I write those postcards, I smile thinking of the specific incident I'm writing about.</div>
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What types of positive communication do you have with your students and parents, in or out of school? I'd love to hear about them, so be sure to comment!</div>
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Love and Sparkle,</div>
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The first year I taught Read180 I felt like the ringleader of a chaotic, but meaningful, circus. Read180 is set up for about 20-25 kids to work in three parts - Independent Reading, Software, and Teacher-led rSkills Workshops. Yes, I had managed group projects, but not stations or small groups. This was an entirely different beast. I felt overwhelmed because I was really teaching three different pieces in one class - AT THE SAME TIME. I had a principal that sent me to the Internet to watch how small groups should work. I'm still so grateful for a principal that recognized YouTube could be Professional Development and actually encouraged that. </div>
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That year pushed me past the survival mode of teaching. I learned so much about groups, stations, and how they could support learning in my classroom. In hopes that you don't make the same mistakes that I did, here are some things I learned my first year of working with groups that I use for Small Groups now:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPvHPrCpiFqByIrlhhqycNWeTGe9aAw0wvK91BYxtnHLKjy4kES-wMA3FHz6m_c2qLxMAJ4_0P13CKvxX-Hcgm8NNnVe77ILE5Qck5pgMWx877B9xo9g0dQ2WiVeHDJhvAFw3TNgd-U_d/s1600/Groups.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPvHPrCpiFqByIrlhhqycNWeTGe9aAw0wvK91BYxtnHLKjy4kES-wMA3FHz6m_c2qLxMAJ4_0P13CKvxX-Hcgm8NNnVe77ILE5Qck5pgMWx877B9xo9g0dQ2WiVeHDJhvAFw3TNgd-U_d/s320/Groups.jpg" width="240" /></a><u>1. How to Design Groups</u></div>
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Grouping has to be flexible. The types of groups you will want will depend on the skill or task the students are practicing. For example, even with reading, I switch from homogeneous groups to heterogeneous groups depending on the skill. If we're working on fluency practice, I will pull a small group of kids that might have the same obstacle in fluency, like phrasing. However, if I want kids to hear better readers, I might put them in groups with higher readers. For grouping, I wait until after kids have taken the benchmark test in STAR, and I use the "Instructional Planning - Class" report. This allows me to group kids however I want, and see what skills that particular group needs. This is an amazing tool, I'm already panicking about what will happen in January when our district moves to a new reading assessment.</div>
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Where you post your groups should be consistent, but make sure it is something that can easily be changed. I post mine on the side of the Promethean board, but on laminated strips of paper, so I can change the groups with ease.</div>
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<u>2. Prepare Ahead of Time</u></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnX9JPqG8s33S4L41Y-RRok0Q3maY3pROST_LRhy1w4IAnRGQGmVZzA09Qee5lp03ZXTglBJkJ8-TqczvUzIZzPuJJixcbNUCPHRFD2SeYpg_MyVXxo68sae9kLXYfaYvlR_7V5t1yZeJ7/s1600/image+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnX9JPqG8s33S4L41Y-RRok0Q3maY3pROST_LRhy1w4IAnRGQGmVZzA09Qee5lp03ZXTglBJkJ8-TqczvUzIZzPuJJixcbNUCPHRFD2SeYpg_MyVXxo68sae9kLXYfaYvlR_7V5t1yZeJ7/s320/image+%25283%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a> Teaching is an art and a science - we've all heard it before. Grouping kids and what to do in groups is the scientific part and something that needs to be prepared before class. Small group time is precious and shouldn't be wasted trying to gather materials or supplies. To help, I keep buckets in my room for each day of the week. Inside each bucket, I place copies needed for groups that I'm working with on those days. When it is time to meet in groups, I pull that bucket and sit at the small group table. This means I know how I'm differentiating things before I come into class. Everything I need is in that bucket, so I'm not rushing around the room or my searching my desk trying to find anything. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpZvuJ3Ad5yWs6NjSPnpZZ2Z5rIOCXcaepKsvQsr2reyWH54oQcvjmKlZwMPE9lxk_14VsCM7rQ43Qg7tQI_d1RYMhMSxKk81SE8d7ZAsPM3Hx2B-pcUERzDwe4h66aO0WBeFnM2RvWUg/s1600/Drawers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpZvuJ3Ad5yWs6NjSPnpZZ2Z5rIOCXcaepKsvQsr2reyWH54oQcvjmKlZwMPE9lxk_14VsCM7rQ43Qg7tQI_d1RYMhMSxKk81SE8d7ZAsPM3Hx2B-pcUERzDwe4h66aO0WBeFnM2RvWUg/s320/Drawers.jpg" width="320" /></a> It also means preparing your classroom space for groups. Pencils, highlighters, lead, etc. are all in the cabinet beside my small group table so that I don't waste time with kids who don't have those things with them. Because if you haven't worked in a middle school, kids will find any and every excuse they can to get out of their seat 20-30 times a class period!</div>
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<u>3. Teaching Routines is Mandatory</u></div>
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My first year in middle school, I was completely shocked by what kids didn't know how to do. You mean I have to teach them how to get out a notebook for class??? Ain't nobody got time for that!! Well, as the first team I worked on put it - you better make time for it! Spending a couple of weeks teaching routines in your room will save you DAYS and WEEKS worth of instructional time later. Our district pacing guide last year included a three week window at the beginning of the year that included only collaboration, listening, and speaking skills so that we could work on routines. IT WAS AMAZING!!! I wish we had done that this year, because I'm already noticing little things creeping up, stealing my time when I'm in groups. For example, I used to have a touch light that I turned on behind me when meeting with a small group. It meant that I wasn't supposed to be disturbed when working with that group, so you needed to ask classmates for help. In between groups, the light would go off for 2-3 minutes so that other students could ask questions. I haven't been doing this and I'm noticing my groups are taking longer now because of the interruptions. It is something we're definitely going to have to practice again after Fall Break...</div>
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<u>4. Not Meeting With Each Group Daily is Okay</u></div>
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I hate saying this and even though I do it, I still cringe thinking about it, but...*Gulp!*...it is okay to spread your meetings over a two or three day period. For example, we've just started argumentative writing in my classes. We read <u>Chew on This</u> and students have to write their essay over an issue in the fast food/junk food industries. After talking about credible sources, students were to find sources and start taking notes. My lowest group was given an article on their reading level from Newsela. (I chose their argument for them so I could offer more assistance.) I knew they could read the article on their own, but taking notes would be a problem. I gave the article to those students and left them to read. My average readers were told to find their first source, and then I met with my advanced readers to show them the graphic organizer and told them to work on finding all of their sources and begin taking notes. Then, I went back to my average readers to check their sources. Right about that time, my lower readers had just finished reading, and I pulled them to help them begin their notes. I didn't meet with my advanced readers until the third day, so I could check all of their sources and notes at once. They loved being left to work without the frequent monitoring and I had time to work with my kids most likely to shut down and not do the work. This worked out beautifully, and for the first time in three years, I don't have a student who is not ready to write this paper!</div>
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I definitely have learned so much about grouping and pulling small groups, but I'd love to learn more. How do you pull groups and how do you use groups to differentiate? Comment with your favorite tips below!</div>
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Love and Sparkle,<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I think September is one of the most difficult times for teachers. The shininess of a new school year starts to fade. Hopes for change fizzle. Kids start to show their true colors, so you start to see issues for the first time. September is the month I feel myself go from Positive Polly to Negative Nancy...and I hate myself for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I sat in a meeting today and cried. No joke. Just a normal professional development meeting and cried. Now, if you come back here often to read what's happening in my little corner of the world, you will realize I am emotional and cry often. Even at things most people don't. Like Fox and the Hound. I watched 30 minutes of it when I was 7 years old and cried hysterically. To this day, I still can't make it through Fox and the Hound, Bambi, and Ice Age. Don't judge me...well, okay, but just a bit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I cried today because I could actually feel a weight coming down on my shoulders. I could feel myself morphing from Positive Polly, with all of her "Do what's best for kids!" and "That's not asking too much!" to Negative Nancy, and all of her "You've got to be kidding me!" and "Why are we all being punished?" At that very moment, I felt like a failure and it was making me become Negative Nancy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And what did I do? What any good middle schooler does - I blamed everybody else. At the time, it was everybody's fault, but my own, that our school scores are low. It was because other teachers don't do enough to help our kids. It was because everyone else doesn't spend time building relationships with kids.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> All day, I kept thinking about why it was everybody's fault, except mine, until I had my second cup of Kona Ice for the night. Again, if you're going to judge, just judge a little. Kona Ice is like a miracle drug and helps you see things clearly - I promise. Anyway, I realized that by becoming Negative Nancy and complaining about things over which I have no control, I had just become part of the problem. Positive Pollys are needed at times to say, "Hey, this does suck, but how do we make it better? What can we do to make it work? How can I help?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> My personal challenge for the rest of the quarter is to say good-bye to Negative Nancy, to keep being Positive Polly for as long as I can hold out. And if that means I need Kona Ice daily, than so be it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Love and Sparkle,</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.glitterfy.com/"><img alt="Glitter Words" border="0" src="http://img41.glitterfy.com/15253/glitterfy5212928T319B81.gif" /></a>Jessica Momanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05089167401293365287noreply@blogger.com0