Anyone can teach four days a week, as for five? You know school is back in session when you face that first five-day week, a fact that had left me feeling like I had hit a brick wall when getting home Monday and Tuesday night. You close your eyes at 6:06 p.m with the intentions of getting a 15-minute power nap in and when you wake up, it's 8:46 p.m. That's the life of a teacher, or at least this teacher.
Needless to say, I have been a bit behind on the diary this week, but I am feeling much more rejuvenated after a spectacular Wednesday with the students. Actually, my turn for the better began last night when I woke up around 9 p.m. and checked in on my email.
A student of mine had sent me an email updating how seventh grade was treating her when she asked if I had ever seen the television show "Girl Meets World." I haven't yet seen the show, though I am aware of it as I was a big fan of "Boy Meets World" when I was in elementary school. Remembering that show got me thinking about the main character Corey, who was played by an actor name Ben Savage, whose brother was Fred Savage of "Wonder Years" fame.
Long story short, whenever I think of the masterpiece that was the "Wonder Years" I remember the episode when Kevin and Winnie are dancing at a grade-school party to the Smokey Robinson and The Miracles song "Tears of a Clown".
To hit my "turbo button" (a phrase that has been presented to school faculty this year), I listened to "Tears of Clown" on repeat for about an hour last night, which got me feeling good about the rest of week and set the stage for a productive Wednesday.
Here's the song and a cool video from 1970. Enjoy.
Needless to say, I have been a bit behind on the diary this week, but I am feeling much more rejuvenated after a spectacular Wednesday with the students. Actually, my turn for the better began last night when I woke up around 9 p.m. and checked in on my email.
A student of mine had sent me an email updating how seventh grade was treating her when she asked if I had ever seen the television show "Girl Meets World." I haven't yet seen the show, though I am aware of it as I was a big fan of "Boy Meets World" when I was in elementary school. Remembering that show got me thinking about the main character Corey, who was played by an actor name Ben Savage, whose brother was Fred Savage of "Wonder Years" fame.
Long story short, whenever I think of the masterpiece that was the "Wonder Years" I remember the episode when Kevin and Winnie are dancing at a grade-school party to the Smokey Robinson and The Miracles song "Tears of a Clown".
To hit my "turbo button" (a phrase that has been presented to school faculty this year), I listened to "Tears of Clown" on repeat for about an hour last night, which got me feeling good about the rest of week and set the stage for a productive Wednesday.
Here's the song and a cool video from 1970. Enjoy.
As for the reason you're here, see what's been happening in Room 307 this week by continuing on after the jump.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Reading: Picking up where we left off from the first week of school, students viewed a "Good Morning America" timeline of what happened on 9/11. In groups, they then did their third and final close read of the Marcy Borders "Dust Lady" article and watched a three-minute interview of Borders as she recollected what happened on that fateful day. Students then worked on some deeper level questions comparing and contrasting the Borders they read about in the article with the Borders they saw and heard in the video. For homework, students moved onto the fourth stage of close reading, writing a personal reflection on the following question:
"Imagine that you were giving a eulogy, or speech, about Marcy Borders at her recent funeral. How would you describe Marcy as more than the "Dust Lady" soubriquet that many people associated her with? What would you tell people about the real Marcy Borders, beyond the "Dusty Lady"?
Social Studies: Students returned to their groups and wrapped up the Andrew Santella book Cornerstones of Freedom: September 11, 2001. Students continued with their 9/11 K-W-L charts and noted any questions that were not answered in the book, which were posted on an "Unanswered 9/11 Questions" poster that the students will answer through some independent research this weekend.
Writing: Probably the most enlightening class of the day, students formed groups to share the first drafts of their 9/11 reflections from the weekend, which were based on one of three topics:
1) Why do we still remember 9/11 today, even though it happened 14 years ago?
2) How was Marcy Borders' life forever changed by what happened on 9/11?
3) How were the lives of Americans, even people like you who were not even born yet, forever changed by 9/11?
Students began by forming groups based on the topic they chose. For 20 minutes, students silently read another classmate's first draft, doing a P-Q-S on a post-it note. P-Q-S refers to the student, or peer reviewer, writing a praise, question and suggestion that they had about the classmate's paper. Students got to peer review two other students' papers during that time. Here are some pictures of my students peer reviewing.
Reading: Picking up where we left off from the first week of school, students viewed a "Good Morning America" timeline of what happened on 9/11. In groups, they then did their third and final close read of the Marcy Borders "Dust Lady" article and watched a three-minute interview of Borders as she recollected what happened on that fateful day. Students then worked on some deeper level questions comparing and contrasting the Borders they read about in the article with the Borders they saw and heard in the video. For homework, students moved onto the fourth stage of close reading, writing a personal reflection on the following question:
"Imagine that you were giving a eulogy, or speech, about Marcy Borders at her recent funeral. How would you describe Marcy as more than the "Dust Lady" soubriquet that many people associated her with? What would you tell people about the real Marcy Borders, beyond the "Dusty Lady"?
Social Studies: Students returned to their groups and wrapped up the Andrew Santella book Cornerstones of Freedom: September 11, 2001. Students continued with their 9/11 K-W-L charts and noted any questions that were not answered in the book, which were posted on an "Unanswered 9/11 Questions" poster that the students will answer through some independent research this weekend.
Writing: Probably the most enlightening class of the day, students formed groups to share the first drafts of their 9/11 reflections from the weekend, which were based on one of three topics:
1) Why do we still remember 9/11 today, even though it happened 14 years ago?
2) How was Marcy Borders' life forever changed by what happened on 9/11?
3) How were the lives of Americans, even people like you who were not even born yet, forever changed by 9/11?
Students began by forming groups based on the topic they chose. For 20 minutes, students silently read another classmate's first draft, doing a P-Q-S on a post-it note. P-Q-S refers to the student, or peer reviewer, writing a praise, question and suggestion that they had about the classmate's paper. Students got to peer review two other students' papers during that time. Here are some pictures of my students peer reviewing.
 |  |  |
Students then reviewed some of the comments from their peers to identify some strengths within their reflection. We then did a read aloud of a modeled reflection that I wrote about 9/11. Students noted the strengths of this reflection and compared it to their own paper as a foundation for them to improve their own writing. Here is the modeled reflection.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Reading and Social Studies: Both classes were combined as students did a 70-question diagnostic test on content that they have been learning about 9/11 and some reading strategies/skills and literary techniques that we covered last year. The diagnostic test did not count, which students were grateful for after we reviewed the results. That's why it's called a diagnostic.
Prior to the test, students shared their read-aloud responses to the Marcy Borders' question from Monday night's homework. As a review, students were asked to describe Marcy Borders as more than the 9/11 "Dust Lady." Here is a picture of some of their wonderful responses.
Reading and Social Studies: Both classes were combined as students did a 70-question diagnostic test on content that they have been learning about 9/11 and some reading strategies/skills and literary techniques that we covered last year. The diagnostic test did not count, which students were grateful for after we reviewed the results. That's why it's called a diagnostic.
Prior to the test, students shared their read-aloud responses to the Marcy Borders' question from Monday night's homework. As a review, students were asked to describe Marcy Borders as more than the 9/11 "Dust Lady." Here is a picture of some of their wonderful responses.
Writing: We set up our two writing notebooks, one of which will be used for grammar work and the other for creative writing. As part of our grammar focus, we reviewed some of the rules for punctuation (periods, question marks and exclamation points). Students wrote the rules into the "Grammar Rules" section of their notebook and then tried some "Brain Ticklers" in which they had to apply these rules to some erroneous sentences.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015 -- Mexican Independence Day
Wednesday began wacky, as I moved between two classes for the first 15 minutes as we waited for a sub. We later had a surprise fire drill. None of this affected the students, who were really on their game today as I threw a lot at them and they didn't flinch one bit (though one student said his brain hurt).
Reading: Students set up their reading notebooks into five sections:
1. Close Reads.
2. Notes.
3. Novel Studies/Read-Aloud Responses.
4. Stations.
5. Vocabulary/Greek and Latin Roots.
I then modeled how we will be doing weekly vocabulary, with the students then setting up their vocabulary for this week's words (due Friday). We then reviewed two summarizing strategies from last year (SWBST and GIST), along with some close reading notes. We applied these summarizing strategies to our recently read article on Marcy Borders and last night's close read on Mexican Independence Day, which was celebrated today.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015 -- Mexican Independence Day
Wednesday began wacky, as I moved between two classes for the first 15 minutes as we waited for a sub. We later had a surprise fire drill. None of this affected the students, who were really on their game today as I threw a lot at them and they didn't flinch one bit (though one student said his brain hurt).
Reading: Students set up their reading notebooks into five sections:
1. Close Reads.
2. Notes.
3. Novel Studies/Read-Aloud Responses.
4. Stations.
5. Vocabulary/Greek and Latin Roots.
I then modeled how we will be doing weekly vocabulary, with the students then setting up their vocabulary for this week's words (due Friday). We then reviewed two summarizing strategies from last year (SWBST and GIST), along with some close reading notes. We applied these summarizing strategies to our recently read article on Marcy Borders and last night's close read on Mexican Independence Day, which was celebrated today.
Social Studies: After students did the first close read of an article on Mexican Independence Day last night, I read the article out loud to the students. We explored how the indigenous people of Mexico were treated by the Aztecs and the Spaniards and why they needed to seek their freedom, as symbolized by Father Hidalgo's impassioned pleas of "Viva Mexico" and "Viva la independcia." Students then worked individually and in groups to do SWBST and GIST summaries of Hidalgo's courageous and inspiring leadership, which became the battle cry for Mexicans to fight Spain for 11 years in order to become free. Here is the article the students read.
Writing: We reviewed our rules for punctuation and last night's Brain Ticklers. Students began working on a punctuation packet for homework. Tomorrow I will confer with students about the first drafts of their 9/11 reflections as we move into the rewriting stage.
Thus concludes the Longest. Diary. Entry. Ever. I will definitely be more diligent in doing these on a daily basis. Have a peaceful and restful night.
Thus concludes the Longest. Diary. Entry. Ever. I will definitely be more diligent in doing these on a daily basis. Have a peaceful and restful night.
RSS Feed
