What a Wonderful Day...

What an incredible day - I cannot even begin to tell you how impressed I am with my students and their work. I purposefully created a lot of pre-cursor assignments to this big project (assignments that would invite them to plan for their writing) and I had students walking out of the classroom saying things like, "Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be." I stopped the entire class at that moment and pointed out that it wasn't because the assignment was easy. It was because they were prepared for the work.

But today - I'm off. All grading is up to date. Plans for Monday have been made. The 26 Ipads are locked up and charging (well, 19 of them that is. If we blow a fuse in that room, it's not our fault, though I did hear that I would be getting a charging cart soon. I told my wonderful neighbor that I'm not opposed to sharing - one night it's mine to use, the next his).

But I'm off. I made a promise to a very wonderful supervisor who knows just what to say when I need something said. I'm taking the weekend off. I'm not even going to think about Monday until - well - Monday. 

And a wonderful date night is in my near future... Waahoo!

On my toes...

You can't fall behind in this job. Ever. And when I say falling behind, I mean if you're not thinking one month ahead at all times (and further than that, actually), then you're falling behind.

If I have one night where I plan on grading but get overwhelmed by the fact that it's my responsibility to charge 26 iPads overnight (but I can't take them from the school, and I can't charge them outside of my little office which can be locked, and I only have one power strip), the fact that our apartment is a disaster area, the fact I haven't had an actual conversation with my husband since Sunday, or my church responsibilities, I'm in trouble. Yes folks, I did not get all my grading done.

But I had told my students the night before that I would have it all graded. I promised. (My crazy rationale for this decision? I thought it would keep me accountable. Force me to grade. I had promised. If I didn't make good on my word, I would lose credibility with my students.)

I'm sad to say that my decision in light of my failure was to lie. In a mad rush, I stapled student assignments together and handed back the graded and ungraded work. To each period I claimed, "Your period was the only class I didn't get to give grades to on the assignment from yesterday."

Yes, I lied. Again. I do it a lot. Like the "FINAL" deadline I keep harping about to my students which is next week. Is that the FINAL deadline? No. But I know I'm not going to get legitimate work from them unless I tell them it's the final and then give them a "last chance revision" opportunity (Which is really the final drafting stage).

Oddly enough, it worked in my favor. It meant students didn't take the assignment with them (I wanted to keep it because they need it for their final project and I know if I give it back to my 7th and 8th graders, I will never see it again. It will be lost forever). I warned them that if they did, they wouldn't get their scores for that assignment. Motivation to do what I asked them to? Seemed to work.

And then - came 6th period - OH. MY. GOSH.

No one trains you about what to do when a student goes completely berserk in your classroom. How on earth do you even teach when you've got a student dropping f-bombs when you hand back an assignment and they're not happy, when you've got a student banging on your classroom door when you asked them to wait outside for a private conversation with you, when you've got a student refusing to listen, inviting you into a power struggle which you know will not end well and you avoid at all costs, all the while looking into the eyes of the rest of your class knowing that today is not a great day for your lesson. Forget the lesson.

I should have asked what was school protocol for taking a student to the principal the first week I was here, but I didn't. Good thing I have some kind of teacher instinct when this particular student looked up at me (literally. He was sitting on the ground with his legs against the door so I couldn't close it) and said, to my threat that I would have him go into another teacher's classroom until he could make better choices, "I don't care. I'm just going to do the same thing there." I walked into my classroom, jumped my students right to their independent learning activity (though I hadn't really done any instruction up to that point), put one student in charge of letting me know if anyone misbehaved while I was away, popped into another teacher's room to ask them to keep an eye on my classroom, and escorted the student to the main office. I didn't know about the physical forms to fill out, but I did immediately enter a log note in the school reporting system detailing all of the situation.

Wow.

It was draining....

Even now... I'm a ball of nerves. Good thing I have a great relationship with said student's mom, though. I got an email from her, while I was drafting one to her, and there was no "How dare you..." or "Why didn't you do ..." or "I'm pulling my student from your class..." It was all apologetic and informative.

Did I do it right? Please, someone, I need to know I didn't screw things up big time. I'm fearful that I've now opened the door to a dangerous formula - he knows he gets out of class and gets to go "help" in the office if he misbehaves for me, so will he keep doing it?

All of my nightmarish summer experiences with daycare are flooding back into my mind, and I'm so worried that it will become like that - where it's my responsibility to keep him under control and the people in charge can't be bothered with little kid issues when I desperately need it. If my job is to teach, how can I do my job when one student is doing all he can to ensure I am unsuccessful in doing said joob? One other teacher told me to just let him go: "It's not our job to lock students in our classroom. If they're making it difficult for other students to learn, open the door for them and get them out. My door's not locked from the inside. That's what administration is for."

So here's some tips I have to remember which is why I'm putting them here:
- Pair up with another teacher who knows that if this particular student comes in, it's simply to calm down and get under control. Make an unspoken agreement so that nothing needs to be said when it happens.
- Don't talk about the behavior with the student the next day. Every day is a fresh slate. Don't hold their past behavior against them and don't remind them.
- Rather than send a student to the principal, send them to counseling (especially if the behavior is repetitive). Then, the student can't get away with just sitting in the office. They will have to meet with someone who will ask them questions - questions they probably don't want to have to answer, so that will be less of a "reward."
- Make some goals with the student. For every day without any incidents, put an m&m or something in a jar. When the jar's full they get a prize. Every time they act up, you have to take an m&m out of the jar. It sounds extremely childish (especially since it came from my limited experience with daycare students, but what the hey. If he's going to act like a 4-year-old, then 4-year-old behavior tactics should work, right?).

I'm going home. Now. Forget prepping for tomorrow (for now). I think I'll start our drafting one day earlier than planned. Student work time. Hallelujah. We'll see what happens tomorrow...

For now. I have two words left:

Ice. Cream.

The Hardest Part (at the moment)

The Hardest Part of teaching for me (at this very moment - because, let's be honest, it changes daily) is the deciphering. Exhibit A:

Student raises hand. "Mrs. Brown, I don't get it."

My deciphering dilemma: Does this student really not get it? I went over it step by step yesterday, I modeled it for them and showed them an example, and I even had students do some other examples with me. Does he really not get it, or is he just playing dumb to waste time and create an excuse for his refusal to do any more work? 

That part is really hard.

Usually, experience with the student is key.

Is this student playing the "I don't get it" card on a repeated basis? If yes - he's faking (but keep an open mind because he/she might really have a learning problem). If no - give him some extra attention and try explaining it in a different way. Try personal contextualization. Something more familiar.

Can the student specifically identify what they do and don't get? If yes - that's a good sign. Cater to that need. If no - pressure them to be more specific. If they say "Any of it" in response to your "What don't you understand?" question, it's a sure fire sign they weren't listening in the first place or that they weren't actively listening.

Can the student remember you explaining the instructions? If yes - awesome. It means they were at least aware of what was going on in class, which is a big deal for some students, and it makes me very proud of them. Usually if I see this situation, I realize that I need to break down my instructions a little bit more into individual steps and give them one at a time. I notice that some students get overwhelmed by a list of instructions given at once, and, as a result, they shut down. However, I feel pressure to give the instructions at once because a vast majority of my students do listen and move through each step much more quickly than those who want it more broken down. So, I'm trying to find a balance here.

If no - figure out what was going on and address that behavior. Don't jump to conclusions though. I totally called a student out on his lack of understanding before I realized that he was absent yesterday (seriously, teachers have to have a super-memory or something!) I apologized and provided some more instruction.

As I have discovered, there are some steps to avoiding this "I don't get any of it" scenario. Here's what I've tried:

- Develop some signals. I like the thumbs up/thumbs down kind of thing because it can be adapted to give all kinds of feedback. I'll ask for thumbs up/thumbs down after I give directions to see the students to whom I may need to provided one-on-one clarification.
- Have them repeat directions back to you. This takes some extra time from your class, but it also provides opportunities for peers to provide help to those who may have missed your instruction (don't say or do anything your students can say or do, right?)
- Develop a procedure where students have to turn to a friend or neighbor first before asking you. Again, this provides peer-to-peer instruction which can be more valuable for both involved (or it could be problematic if the person they chose has no idea either), which allows for students to get a more student-centered point of view of your instructions.
- Put explicit directions on the worksheet and on the screen in addition to your verbal instructions. Students can read them, view them on the screen and hear them at the same time. (I'm probably weakest here, to be honest. I don't like putting explicit instructions on my worksheets, because I find that I don't yet have a great feel for how to make written directions concise and simple. Also, I noticed that students don't read it anyway, so I thought it was a motivation for students to listen to my instructions before charging off to complete the assignment. However, I see the pros and cons to this, and I'm willing to keep trying. Plus, the explicit written instructions make giving work out to students who were absent much more effective.)
- As always, contexualize. Provide examples. Model.

And if all fails, which it does on occasion, pause. Take a deep breath. Then try again.

And if you suspect students of taking advantage of the "I don't get it" excuse . . . well, I'm not sure what to do there. More often than not it comes from my "I hate school so much, it's actually sucking the life out of me" boys. I start by giving them my vote of confidence: "Dude, you've got this. We've done this before!" which usually elicits a response along the lines of "I'm stupid" or "I'm dumb" or "Whatever, I don't care." Which you have to deal with carefully but strictly - I'm still SO NOT a pro at this part yet. It hurts to see them snub their noses at their own potential and at your faith in them, but with a select few, I know it's because they really don't want to work and if they pull the "I don't get it" excuse then they can blame it on you.

[footnote: If this felt like an instructive informational post, please know it was for me! Sometimes when I get a substantial amount of students pulling the "I don't get it," I take a giant step back and start doubting my own instructional abilities. Was I not clear? Did I not make it comprehendible? Did I go to fast? So this is a reminder for me that I know what to do and can simply continue to do more of it.]

As for tonight - grading, grading, grading.

Project Model

I love modeling - the strategy itself is how I learn. I usually have to see someone else do it first so that I get an idea of what is expected. Thus, it's a strategy I use in practically every lesson. I've found that, with 7th graders especially, if I don't model something, I end up answering silly questions like, "How long does it have to be?" or "What are we doing again?" or "So we're writing what?" (Granted, even with modeling, I still get some of those questions).

However, today was an ALL-MODEL Day. I've learned that I can't always work through the gradual release of responsibility model in one class period - who am I kidding, that never happens! But usually I can have one class period of me modeling a skill or an assignment, have the students join me in practice and then have them complete the assignment on their own the next day with a small review.

And things went fine - other than technology cutting out on me every five minutes, though the students LOVED taking notes in their iPads. I just felt like most of them didn't understand WHY I was walking them through those steps. I repeated several times that if they paid attention today, tomorrow's assignment was going to be a piece of cake, but I had a lot of students zone out.

It may have been the presence of the iPads.

It may have been the quality of the example topic they chose at random from the trash bin.

It may have been me.

But part of me wonders if students see modeling as a kind of lecturing. I try to include student participation as I modeled this assignment step by step, but I didn't feel as though I'd reached that epiphanic moment with my students. Granted, that moment happens more often during the last stage of the game when students are doing the assignment on their own, but still.

Oh well.

It wasn't bad. It just wasn't great. I'm working on it.

On a more fun note, my 4th period class was pretty good today (which is actually pretty great). I found myself relaxing around them and was pretty honest about my frustration with them as an audience (we were talking about reading your audience and catering to your audience today in anticipation for their writing project). I told them that they were my most difficult period to cater to in regards to fun and engaging topics. I thought they would like a magazine article about celebrities, but I learned all teenage boys have an undeniable hatred of anything that even remotely relates to Justin Beiber or One Direction. I thought they would like an article about Football concussions, but they snubbed their noses at it and said they preferred basketball. I thought they would like to analyze lyrics from a song by Bruno Mars and they all rolled their eyes. "Obviously," I confessed to them, "I'm out of touch with what you guys like and care about. And, as you can see, when I get it wrong, you don't respond as well to what I have prepared. So you guys have to clue me in on what it is you want to see more of in this class."

What did they tell me?

Food. And sports.

But the atmosphere was different. I wasn't frustrated, I was just being honest, and they were being honest back.

One student must have put the topic idea of "Kit Kat Bars" in my trash bin, because I pulled it out during my modeling time for 4th period. We were brainstorming all of the things we knew about the topic, looking over the list and brainstorming the kinds of people we thought would care about that topic (audience), and then making a list of plans for writing that would speak to the interests and concerns of those specific kinds of people.

As we listed things we knew, the class all agreed that Kit Kat has the most annoying jingle on their commercials. In response, I said, "Oh, you guys don't like the song they sing?"

"Song?" one student replied. "No one sings. It's just a bunch of sounds that go like: da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-, da-da-da-da-da-da-da    DA   DA   DA."

"I know that, but it's a rhythm that actually has words to it." Stupidly, I continued. "It goes, 'Give me a break, Give me a break, Break me off a piece of that.... " I paused waiting for them to finish, but their faces were completely blank. "KIT-KAT-BAR.' You guys really don't know that song?"

"NO." They all replied in resounding unison.

Did I have one student mockingly shoot himself in the head out of torture as I sang the jingle? Yup.

Did I have one student laugh at me and say, "Mrs. Brown, you can't keep living in the 'old' times."

But it was great. Most of them came to the conclusion that they do the jingle song for kids - which was an audience choice - and the song was a decision to play to that audience.

I don't know particularly why this week, but I just feel like nothing can phase me. Are things perfect? No. Do I notice what's going wrong? Oh yeah. But I make plans for adapting and I move on. I don't know how long this feeling is going to last, but oh it is wonderful!

Not half bad...

The secret to Mondays -- it's all about how you start your day.

This was the start of my Monday: I spoke up in our staff meeting today (Yikes! Hardly ever happens, which is a big deal for anyone who knows me because I'm a fearless talker, hardly ever intimidated by the crowd of listeners...). We were talking about some teacher frustration with iTime and students' failure to show up for intervention even when their planners are stamped. I raised my hand and volunteered a procedure that I had invented because I, too, had been frustrated that students weren't showing up after I took the time to stamp their planners.

"Well," I began, "in my PAWS class I actually don't hand out student grade slips unless their planner is out on their desk and I can see they have no stamp. If I do see a stamp, I still give them their grade slip, but I make sure to stress with them that they have to go to that teacher. Then, if I'm suspicious of the student, I'll follow-up with the teacher to see if they made it to intervention."

What happened? The principal turned to the rest of the staff and said, "That's a great procedure."

Another teacher spoke up saying, "Can we just make that a school-wide procedure now?"

The principal replied, "Yes. Let's do that."

I, the lowly intern, triggered a school wide procedural change.

I feel powerful.

For the rest of the day, even when things got stressful, I felt frustration roll off of my shoulders. Were 7 students from my 4th period still unprepared for Reader's Response? Even after my all-too-moving lecture about what they want out of life the week before? Yes.

But today, I didn't let it get to me. I let the room get eerily quiet. I went to my desk, and stated simply that those students had zeros and would need to take care of it during iTime on Tuesdays. Then I called three more students. Two of them were unprepared and I did the same thing. The one got up and I rewarded that student with 10 points extra credit for being prepared. No lecture. No red-faced Mrs. Brown. I let it roll and moved forward.

Will this change things? I don't know if students will be any more motivated to come ready, but now I'm not pulling my hair out and walking out of the school on Monday feeling like a failure. It just rolls off of me.

And I'm telling you - humor is so important. With my seventh graders, as we were reviewing complete and incomplete sentences again (I wouldn't review it if it wasn't a problem with every assignment!), I wiped away fake tears and included some dramatically fake sobs when students couldn't remember that a complete sentences needs a subject and a predicate or when they still didn't understand what a subject was. They laughed, but also knew that I expected more of them.

All in all - a wonderful day.

Tomorrow is the first day they get to take their iPads to each of their classes (which probably means that I won't get a lunch break, but what they hey! We all got iPads, so I might as well roll with it!). I'm crossing fingers that things will actually work... A girl can dream, right?

It Doesn't Have to be Perfect...

I knew today had to be an "easy" day, but the part of me that has to write learning objectives on every lesson plan that are tied to the common core which is designed to prepare kids for high school and college and real life . . . didn't want to. I have to teach them something! I can't let a day go by as a "wasted" day just because everyone and their dog decided to leave a day early for Thanksgiving Break.

(What would I do if I could leave a day early? Wear my pajamas and go see this movie 3 times. Just sayin. Totally productive, I know.)

So, I had them write Gratitude Letters. I read The Giving Tree, and we talked about how we can prove to someone that we are truly grateful for them. We talked about how saying "Thank You" is great, but often not enough. We have to show them.

And of course we've been talking about citing specific evidence over the past few days, so - moral of the story - I did get my learning objective in there somewhere. I told my students that a letter to their mom saying, "Thanks for all you do," means little in comparison to the letter with specific evidence: "Mom, thank you for always making me dinner and taking me to school and doing my laundry and going to work everyday. I appreciate all you do." Specific evidence proves that we do notice and we want to show it.

And then they wrote letters. Some were so sweet and beautiful. One of my extremely troubled students came to me after ten minutes and asked for another sheet of paper so he could write multiple letters.

I know I have a curriculum to teach, but - goodness - I love it when we get to talk about those real life lessons like saying "Thank You."

Thoughts for the long weekend:

- My Principal approached me this morning and let me know that he wants me to be a part of the APP committee for our school, to find and suggest apps to sync to all student iPads. I'm a little intimidated, but I love feeling like I can contribute to this school. I already feel like the school has done so much for me (I'm starting to realize that administrations have to be extremely brave to hire interns who have no idea what they are doing! But I'm sooooo lucky!)

- It's my first Thanksgiving without my Jex family. I'm a little heartbroken to hear about all the movies and family traditions I will miss out on, and I'm still terrified to try my hand at anything unfamiliar in the kitchen without my mama, but I'm so grateful that they have each taught me so much:

• Mom - As a seminary teacher for five years (nearly six), she was the greatest example for me as a teacher. I saw the way she cared for each of her students, I saw the heart and soul she put into each lesson, and I saw her love for her Heavenly Father. She was the model I have tried to emulate over these past few months, and I couldn't have stayed sane without her ever patient ears to all of my venting...
• Dad - I can't tell you how many times a lesson has spiraled down the tube of despair and left me wishing I could just give up. Turn in my keys, lock up, and go home. But, my father has never allowed me to live with any less than my best. He has had many of his own plans spiral down similar tubes, but has never let it phase him, let it get under his skin, or let it push him to quit. He is the voice in my head when I want to burst a blood vessel in front of my students saying, "Calm down. Take it easy. One step at a time. You can do this."
• Matt - An older brother can never let you take yourself too seriously. If I ever think of calling to vent to him, I usually get a "Suck it up," or a confirmation that I really am a "Horrible Teacher." But for some reason, when he does it, I can't help but laugh and realize that I'm way too wrapped up in myself. His persistent guilt trips make me laugh and make me realize that there are many more important things out there. Plus, he's my one peek into the mind of my 8th grade boys. Heaven knows I don't know a thing about the sports article I'm planning on using the next day, but Matt knows if its going to go over with them or just crash and burn. Food and sports, right Matt? Food and sports are key.
• Emily - Having a younger sister here in the same city has been a huge blessing. As I watch her take to college with a kind of grace and maturity (as mature as a college Freshman can be, of course!) that I never had myself, I am often reminded of what I can do better in this new experience of teaching. She reminds me to be grateful for the things that are going well, and to put in the work when things get tough. 

- I WILL NOT GRADE A SINGLE PAPER OVER THANKSGIVING. (Good thing I got it all done this weekend!)

- I wish I could adequately convey to my past teachers how much their examples, their hard work, and their dedication to a less-than-appreciated profession means to me now. Their faces seem ever more prominent in my mind as each day passes - Mrs. Sertich from 7th grade who taught me how to be a better friend and to have the courage to do the right thing; Mr. E from 7th grade who told me (long after tryouts) that I "sucked" during those first few days, but that he saw in me a drive for constant improvement; Mr. Ahern from 11th grade who showed me I could be funny when another teacher had killed the "funny" in me years before; Mrs. Schrier who took the first paper I gave her (upon which I had received enormous accolades from my previous English teacher) and bloodied it with red pen - she pushed me harder than I had ever been pushed before to refine my writing and my reading skills. All of them - if I could only show them what they did for me. I suppose following their example and doing the same for my students is a start...

- I love being a teacher - even on the hard days. It makes it all so worthwhile. My teaching doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be teachable. I'm a teachable teacher... and I'm so grateful for all those who have been willing to teach, correct, and mentor me.

Have the happiest of Thanksgivings....

Living off of Validation

I'm a validation junkie. Seriously. So, I think I will record some recent validations I have received recently (in case they are the last I'll ever hear! Just playing it safe, plus I need a reminder (on my down days) that I am actually doing good things!)

#1: My department chair approached me last week (actually, I approached him, but we'll make it sound like this validation was completely unprompted by me!). I had emailed him about one of the teachers from the local high school (who is also the mom of one of my students) who contacted me with interest in collaborating to better understand what we can teach our 8th graders to prepare them for 9th grade. He explained he hadn't checked his email yet, but asked me to take point on setting time for this collaboration to take place. I told him I would talk to the high school teacher to get more specific about a date and time. He put his hand on my arm and said the following, "Cali, I just wanted to let you know what a great job you're doing. I haven't seen an intern this involved and this proactive, well, ever. Thanks for always being willing to take notes and keep us on track. Do you know where you want to work next year?"

"No," I answered. "But I've heard I really won't know about available positions until April, at least."

"Well, if you need it, I could write you a letter of recommendation. Whoever gets you is lucky to have you. You're doing a great job."

Yes. Success.

#2: The Director of the Special Ed department came to see me the other day. She stopped by to follow-up about a new student that just entered my class who is autistic. She wanted to let me know that the student had reported back to her, "I loved Mrs. Brown's class," which was a big deal, according to her, because this student typically hates school - especially English because of all the writing. She said, "I know I haven't ever been to your class, but from what your students say about you, I already know you are a great teacher. I hope you'll be here for a long time."

Yes. Success.

#3: (Happened today) The high school teacher / mom of one of my students (referenced in validation example #1) was at our school today. I've never met the woman specifically, but she looked extremely familiar for some reason. I approached her (while she was talking with our Assistant Principal), and asked trepidly, "Cassie?" Her face lit up with a grin and she replied, "Cali?" (We've been communicating regularly about her son's behavior in class and working together to get him to make improvements in my class). We shook hands and, in front of the Asst. Principal, she put her hand on my shoulder and said, "This woman is incredible. Hold onto her." We proceeded to have a discussion about her son, and she left with a "Thank you so much for everything."

Can I tell you - receiving validation reminds me how much my students need it as well. So tomorrow, when my students are writing their Thankful Letters, I'll be writing some of my own - to those students who have worked against odds, who have reminded me what this teaching thing is all about. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about it!

Happy Love! Happy Validation! Happy Thanksgiving!

May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor....

Today - well today wasn't a big deal. Students were writing instructions to their genres, and I learned that sometimes you have to give instructions in 5 different ways before some 7th graders actually listen (but it's always fun to hear them come to that realization themselves: "Mrs. Brown, we don't know what we're supposed to be doing. I didn't know because... well, because I wasn't listening, and neither was the rest of the group. I asked them. What are we doing again?")

Key to giving explicit instructions (as I have learned so far): speak slowly and quietly--they listen better that way--and give them some contextual examples. When I was trying to tell them that they need to write more than the simple direction to "pick a title," I put it in perspective. I said, "You can't just tell someone baking a cake to "put it in the oven." You've got to be more specific. At what temperature? For how long? Where should it be in the oven? The top rack? Bottom rack? Should you cover it? Should you check on it after a certain amount of time? After this, they understood that they couldn't just give me the basics.

But today - today was the long awaited for day. At the beginning of the year, I established a reward system in my classroom to reward good behavior in class. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't just establishing punitive procedures to scare students into good behavior, but I was also motivating student to want behave well. I call them "Brownie Points." Heehee. I told my students that I would pick out winners at the end of term, encouraging them to get their name in the bowl as much as possible if they wanted the "odds to be in their favor."

To be honest, I really didn't think it all the way through. I brought a cute glass bowl in from home and students would place a small slip of paper in the bowl with their name and period on it if they got a Brownie Point. So, at the end of Term 1, I had a bowl full of names from each of my periods.

The questions was, how was I going to actually do the picking? I wanted to do it in class, but there was no guarantee that I would draw out a student name from that period. GAH. My own fault for stupidity in planning, I suppose.

So, I copped out. I recorded a video of myself picking names out of the bowl and played it in each period. My poor first period students (who really are some of my best behaved students) didn't have a single student chosen from that period. I want to make it up to them because it was super lame to watch the video with them.... Again, my fault for stupidity in planning.

The rest of the periods had a hoot. Many of them, after hearing someone else's name, said, "Hey, I know that chick! I'm gonna tell her she won!" Others, rather than cheering for people they might know, chose a more negative road, but it was a good opportunity to point out that "You could win ALL the prizes if you get your name in there that many times!" (I did have 3 different students who won multiple prizes because I pulled out multiple Brownie Points with their name on it.)

Oh well, next time, I may have them color code their brownie points so I know to look for specific colors.

What were the prizes? Candy. Food. Cute things from the dollar store. Pencils and pens. Did multiple 8th graders call my prizes lame until I pulled out the package of Cosmic Brownies? Yeah - that got them quiet and hopeful.

In my preparation for this celebration, I realized how little I know about the protocol of getting prizes for your students. I had the temptation to go to some popular fast food restaurants or businesses to see if they would donate a few free coupons to me to motivate my students at school, but I wasn't sure if that was kosher or not in the teaching business...

Any ideas about how to raise money for class prizes or get donations? Maybe when I'm not on an intern's salary any more, it won't be such a big deal, but even dollar prizes can add up pretty quickly if I'm going to do this 4 times in a year! And I'd love to have book prizes - I guess I'd better watch scholastic.com for sales!

As I celebrated student success with my class, I saw something change in them a little. Students who have never thanked me at all for anything, called out shouts of gratitude as they left my room. Students (who didn't even win) told me to "Have a nice weekend..." I realized that when I show them real rewards for their work and for their good choices, they realize that I notice and that I want them to know that.

With these Brownie Points, it looks like the odds are actually in MY favor...

Don't tell the students, though!

As for the weekend - mounds and mounds of grading. My goal? Get it all done this weekend so Thanksgiving will be, thankfully, grading-free!

Wish me luck!

Career Fair!

A few days ago, we received an email from our counseling office letting us know that today was the career fair. I found it odd we were notified so late, but (thankfully) it worked out just fine. Actually, I was worried about the lesson I had planned before being enough for the whole period of instruction, so this was a welcome surprise!

I had the chance to work with the police officer at our school for most of the morning. The drama in the room was palpable. Top three questions of each session:

"Have you ever been shot?"

"Do you have to get pepper-sprayed and tasered to become a policeman?"

"Have you ever shot someone?"

It was great. But, hands down, the best part was when the officer got real with the students. As he was describing the process of becoming a police officer, he said the following: "When you apply to be a police officer, you have to take several tests - a physical exam to make sure you are fit for duty, and a couple other tests to see how good you can write. You have to be able to write in complete sentences, to use punctuation, and to write quotations all for the reports that you have to fill out as an officer. That's most of my job anyway - filling out reports and checking reports to make sure that they are written correctly. If you can't write good, you can't be a police officer."

(Was I tempted to tell him it was actually "write well?" No. Not at all. :D)

Yes, folks. You have to know English in order to be a police officer.

As this officer was detailing these requirements, I saw one of my English students in the audience. One of my little sassy 8th graders who has, on multiple occasions, voiced his frustration with my class and how none of it matters. He looked over to me just as the officer mentioned writing quotations, saw me flash a "See-I told you so" grin, and covered his face with his hand, hiding the smile underneath.

It was so great. I had him talk to the class about it later - how he heard that he has to be able to use English for a cool real-life job.

It was like everything came together - the stars aligned and English was a valuable part of their lives, just for a moment!

Success never felt so good!

And of course it all fit into my lesson so well - students were learning how to write instructions today, so I had them reflect on one of the careers they learned about and write a list of instructions directing me about the steps I had to take to get into that career.

Whoever came up with the career fair is an absolute genius. Never again will I ever even remotely think about complaining about missed class time. Nope. Not a peep from me.

Thank you real life for motivating my students to care - even for just a moment.


OH - and I have to just say.... I was in the teacher's lounge today for lunch and some of the other teachers came up to me to tell me they heard from some of their students that "Mrs. Brown is really mean." Just as I was about to crumble up in a heap of sorrow, their reactions to this statement caught me off guard. They stated their congratulations and offered accolades for achieving the status of "Mean teacher" this early in the year: "It's a good thing!" they reminded me. "It means you make them work hard and they know it."

Well, that is true.

Still, it makes me wonder who those students are.... ;)

Go With the Flow

Today, I came into my room to set up the television and iPad for our classroom activities today.

Guess what?

None of it was working.

My TV simply read, "Cannot connect to the internet," which was the worst message I could have ever received for this lesson.

(I mean, this whole unit was designed with the idea that they would each have their very own iPad by this point, so I've been doing a lot of the research work for them. Since the D-Day for this whole iPads Across the School thing has been postponed repeatedly, I've really had to be flexible with it all. But when I don't have any technology working for me, I almost flipped a lid.)

I pulled out the ole projector and hooked up my old laptop (which I selfishly kept for a time like this), and guess what?

That didn't work either.

My first period class was a mess.

I wanted to cry. Throw my hands up. Stomp out of the room and demand some help in here.

But my job isn't to show kids what not to do. It's to show them to be flexible and learn from their experiences.

So, second period came in and I started with a short monologue: "Class, I'm going to ask for you to be patient with me today. I'm trying to use lots of different kinds of technology, and I obviously seem to repel this stuff, so please - focus with me today. I'm going to need to to go with me even if things don't work out perfectly, okay? So if you can't see or if you don't understand where we are, please take action. Move to where you can see (quietly, of course), quietly ask a neighbor for help, do what you need to in order to make this work, cause that's what I'll be doing, okay?"

Things weren't much better technology wise, but when I had students complaining, I saw others giving them the stink eye or saying, "Hey, quit it. Just go with it."

And when the look of frustration on my face reach the "obvious" breaking point, I had some students fighting for me: "Guys, just be quiet! Listen!"

It wasn't easy - though I think I'm better off than some other teachers. (My wonderful neighbor came into my second period with her iPad blaring some kind of music and she asked me how to turn it off. I love helping her, simply because it reminds me that I'm not desperate. Technology doesn't repel me. I know something and can help somewhere.)

When I finally did get somethings to work, it was like magic. Was it perfect? No, but things went smoothly. I can only imagine what changes and difficulties we'll face when students get their iPads, but I'm so excited for what it means to their learning.

Roll with the punches, my friends. Letting students know you're human is also a nice choice (every so often, that is!). Don't get frustrated easily - and don't give up. Things will work out... at least they did before computers, white boards, and book printing, right?

Today, Mrs. Brown is a FLOW-RIDER.

The Post Ice Cream Rush

Sorry for being so down yesterday - I guess I'm no better than my students. I was as dead as they were on a Monday...

But ice cream always does the trick.

In some of my conversations with other interns last night, a wise new teacher encouraged me to get feedback from my students. He'd encouraged me to not let those negative student voices get stuck in my head - more often than not those students who belligerently denounce your lesson and your attempts to engage students in an exciting and meaningful way are just negative overall. It's not my lesson or my failure. In addition, getting feedback from students allows me to see that some students are enjoying our classroom activities.

So, I put a new poll on our edmodo website asking them to rate which novel assignments they liked the most (since I had received negative comments today about our Novel #4 book review).

And the great thing about asking students for feedback is this: they feel empowered to give you more. After introducing the poll and telling students that I'm interested about how they feel about the assignment, I had students come up with me with ideas to do book trailers, children's books, and even podcasts about their future assignments. Some of them even said, "We should do our book projects like the stuff we're doing in class now!" (where I gave them several genres to choose from and they got to decide what they did).

Do I take their feedback with a grain of salt? Yes. When nearly every student in my second period class gave me a thumbs down for their opinion declaration about this assignment, I knew it wasn't a hit, but I also knew to ask deeper questions. Some of them said that they felt this was the hardest assignment we've done because I asked them to state their opinion and give me evidence (which is the skill we are working on as a department for term 2). That was such great feedback! Now I know I need to do some more in depth modeling of how to cite evidence and how to use evidence from texts to back up your own claims.

Am I doing everything my friends are doing or that other teachers in the department are doing? No. But what I am doing is being well-received (by about 85% of my students), so I can't be doing it all wrong, now can I?

We'll see how that poll on Edmodo turns out! Here's to giving students a say in the matter - I guess that's what we all are wanting, now isn't it?

The Blur...And Avoiding the Rut

Monday is hit or miss... I never know if students are going to come in dead from the weekend or bouncing off the walls...

Today was a dead day.

Grammar instruction seems so much worse when all of your students are dead (probably from playing in the snow all weekend!).

But when my 4th period class came in and no one was ready for Reader's Response (which means they all get zeros), I didn't lose it... but I lost it. I maintained my composure but pretty much had another, "What on earth do you want out of school anyway?" kind of lectures...

I don't think those lectures are effective at all, so I think I'm going to stop and adopt a much more flexible attitude. More like, "Oh are you unprepared? Wow. Stinks for you." Probably immature and unprofessional. I'll work on that...

So 4th period was lame.

(momentary vent: I just hate that some of these students don't want to learn and that I feel powerless to do anything about it. Even when I try with pop culture articles, popular song lyrics, funny comics, sports articles and analogies, etc - my fourth period just seems to be too cool for anything that I wield at them. And when I ask other 8th grade teachers about it, they recommend activities that I have tried that my students have snubbed their noses at! My frustration level is steadily climbing, but I'm grateful that I have a class that is challenging my every word and every educational decision. There's nothing better for reflection and improvement, right?)

But then in 6th period, one of my seventh graders read from his novel and totally brought out his secret Yoda-awesomeness. He's one of my shyest students, so I was so not prepared for his courageous storytelling as he read from his star wars novel! My jaw literally hit the floor as he creatively narrated his chosen passage and included a very cute Yoda voice. Those moments of surprise when students completely blow your expectations out of the water - that's my reason to celebrate today.

But I have to be careful as November, December and the dead-cold loom at my doorstep - I know I'm prone to being very down on myself at this time of year. Holidays. Psh. Love them. HATE THEM. 

As I left our intern class tonight, I had to fight back tears. And I have no idea why. Okay - I do. I'm prone to comparing, so when I hear other interns talking about these awesome lessons they are putting together and how they are on their 4th unit of the year and how wonderfully their lessons went over with their classes, I have an emotional break-down and assume that I must be doing something wrong if I'm so far behind or if I haven't had the same kinds of successes...

And then I take a deep breath and decide to be rational: that intern has 90 minute class periods every day - she has twice as much time as I do with my students. Of course she's going to be on her 4th unit of the year. That other intern teaches high school and as much as I want to be talking about transcendentalism in my classes, I'm still working on complete sentences with my students. That other intern has a department that requires that he cover certain skills in a workbook, so of course he has those resources for vocabulary instruction.

I just feel like there's so much I should be doing, and in the face of it all, I feel like everything I've done so far just isn't enough to hold up.

But I know that's not true...

Tomorrow, I'll try to believe it. Tonight, I'm going to eat some ice cream.

Make it Urgent

Today was PURPOSE PAPER day...

Can I tell you one idea for success in the classroom? Do the assignments with your students! It helps so much because students see that I'm doing the assignment, too, and it gives me a model to use with my students so they can get an idea of what I'm expecting as well as what they need to do in their work. So I quickly wrote my own purpose paper to my own genre of writing before class started. I read it aloud to the class and had them analyze it - "What did I do in my first paragraph? second paragraph?" or "Why did I need to include that for this assignment?"

It went pretty well and the groups worked well together.

Did I give them a lot of time? No. I gave them 20 minutes to complete this assignment and collaborate with their groups. Many of them panicked in the last five minutes, but I noticed that my notifications to them regarding time left were more motivating than intimidating. Most of them got it done without a problem... Some of them fooled around thinking they could finish it over the weekend and were extremely surprised when I collected the papers from everyone to turn in. (If there's anything I've learned about middle schoolers, it's this: don't trust them to bring papers back if they didn't finish it! Use intervention time or you'll never see it again!)

Even my journal prompts - I've noticed that there seems to be a sense of urgency with those as well. Mostly because I call it Ready, Set, Go Writing. I read the prompt aloud, answer any questions and shoo them off on their way to writer's bliss by saying, "Ready... Set.... Write!" Does it work with all of them? No. But most of them are poised and ready with their pencils when I say go!

Thoughts to welcome the weekend:
- Hello, principal. Thank you for coming in during journaling time so you really didn't see me do more than take roll. That's an effective observation.
- And thank you, students, for choosing today to have several brain farts while the principal was in the room. It's obviously really impressive that you answer the prompt with "I don't know" in your journal which you chose to share with the class.
- Please, dear district, take the time to press/click the silly button that allows me to actually be able to use my TV. They're taking my old laptop away on Monday, so I would really like the tools to be able to project writing and activities onto the board for the class to see by the time I get back from the weekend. Please. I'm begging here. Two minutes - it will take two minutes. Tops.
- Oh husband - why did you choose this weekend (the weekend I wanted to leave all work at work) to have a million tests and papers to complete? I guess I'll take some work home to grade after all... but I'm not making promises here! :D
- Dear sickness, I really hope you decide to pack up your bags and leave our apartment this weekend. As much as I like to cuddle up in blankets on snowy, cold days, I'd rather not cuddle up to a pile of used tissues. Thanks.
- Thanksgiving Break is almost upon us, and, of course, I have a million students having me sign teacher approval sheets for planned absences. So I guess I won't plan anything too pivotal to student success on that Monday or Tuesday.... I'm being strategic here... Any ideas for texts to teach around Thanksgiving?
- Thank you, wonderful school, for giving me a room with windows so I can watch the beautiful snow fall all around as I sit here loving my job.

Happy Friday...

I'm REALLY Not a Horrible Teacher...

Every lesson I have ever taught .... has never been completely finished on time.

Usually that five minute bell rings and I'm already thinking, Okay, what am I going to sacrifice from my lesson plan today and use tomorrow? It makes day to day planning easier - I always have a "pick-up" point from the day before!

But today - things went just right. I watched the clock a LOT more. I was very explicit with students, letting them know exactly how much time they had to do an assignment (rather than my usual, "You have 5 minutes" but I really give them three because I know they can do it in that amount of time), and I made sure that the 5 minute bell marked our review time rather than the last ounces of instruction time.

Although the timing seemed to work out, my chosen texts were less ideal. Students were supposed to be analyzing some model texts of the genre they chose today in class. Yay for repetition - I had them take the same kind of notes I had them take on Tuesday, and even they remembered each of the elements I wanted them to pay attention to. I had chosen some of those models mostly because of organization and topic - I thought they captured that genre well, showed some variety, and talked about topics my students would be interested in or they would benefit from learning about.

Well, one of my cute, sweet, innocent 7th graders came up to me with a copy of one of the blog posts I had printed off and said, "Mrs. Brown, isn't this [pointing to the paper] a bad word?"

Oh. My. Gosh.

I looked down to see the f-bomb glaring me in the face. I snatched it from his hand and immediately confiscated the blog post copies from the other genre-blog groups.

Four students saw it. I apologized to each of them individually, and most of them just let it slide with a "It's okay, Mrs. Brown. I've heard worse," which didn't really make me feel that much better.

The post had been about bullying, giving tips for people to avoid cyberbullying. One of the tips had been to just go outside (rather than stay inside playing online games). Why the author felt she needed to place f-bomb emphasis on that particular tip, I will never know. The irony of it all is that it's anti-swearing week at the school. And I had missed the word because it fell directly on the printer line (so I couldn't see it clearly on the next page). What a fail!

I have to be much more careful about what I let them read in the future. That's probably the hardest part of this genre unit and informational text in general. I want them to read REAL stuff - real articles and blog posts and podcasts that are out there, but so many of those genres are inappropriate for students their age. So - if you have any ideas for examples/model texts for these genres, let me know! It's so much easier to turn to our class anthologies for stories - I know they're clean and that they're well written. But where can you go for clean, well-written informational texts?

And I need to be a much "close"er reader when it comes to what I give my students. To confess, I had printed off these articles this morning after doing what I thought was an adequate search for examples, and was more worried about the seating chart changes than about checking each word of the texts.

Oh, and I told my students I was high on DayQuil today (which was true! That stuff is nasty and really does a number on my brain function!). Note to all teachers: don't tell your students your high on anything. All they will hear is, "I'm high."

Hello, Hyperawareness of every word I say to my students. Looks like we're going to become fast friends.

I'm Not a Horrible Teacher...

I'm not a horrible teacher who was too lazy today to come up with fun activities for her lessons. I'm just sick.

They weren't lying about that part of your first year teaching: "Plan on getting sick a lot. Overdose on Vitamin C. Use hand sanitizer frequently. Etc. Etc. Etc."

So today became an explicit instruction day - I created an assignment explanation sheet that outlined all of the little assignments that would need to be completed for our next class project, including due dates, explanations and the final rubric. Say what? I'm that on top of things when I'm sick? Oh yeah.

Actually, it was just easier to do some explicit instruction by going through each of the assignments (while having students write down the due dates in their planners), than having an activity. And, I realized after my midterm evaluations that I can/need to be more explicit when I give instructions for assignments. If I'm going to hold them accountable for the assignment, they need to know exactly what I expect.

In defense of my boring lesson, I did have them do a white board discussion in answer to the question: "Why is Mrs. Brown having us learn how to write different genres?" Did I get some sassy responses like, "Because she likes chicken," or "Because that's what she does," written on the board? Oh yeah. But then I had responses like, "Because we're going to need to know these things for our careers," and "So we can become better writers and readers!" and "So we know how genres work and how to use them for our own purposes."

Wowza. Yes.

Then I went through the assignment with them, had them make a list of what genres (from a list of three options) they would like as their first choice, second choice, and third choice. This is my attempt at autonomy while still keeping some kind of control. We'll see how it goes. I explained that I reserve the right to put them in the groups I thought they would work best in, and I would do my best to make sure they all got their first choice, but I wasn't making any promises. I also told them that I reserved the right to make them do the assignment individually (instead of with a group) if they showed me that they couldn't handle the group work.

So, essentially, it was a day of setting expectations for the next 2.5 weeks.

And though I felt like it was a waste of a learning day, it wasn't. You have to plan time for setting expectations and teaching procedures because that is a valuable part of learning as well (though it's not something they include in that all-powerful Common Core). Lesson learned and appreciated.

My thought questions for the day:
- Why are 8th graders so apathetic? My 7th graders ate up the idea that I was teaching them strategies that they could use as life long skills, but my 8th graders wouldn't buy it. What happened to them in school that made them so indifferent?
- How on earth am I supposed to be human as a teacher? I can't leave my classroom to go get a drink when I have a coughing attack because I'm supposed to be their supervision as well as their instructor. If anything happens while I'm gone, I'm accountable. Do I trust them enough to have them follow my expectations without me there? Sometimes... But thank heavens for sweet students I know I can trust to run and fill up my water bottle! Those coughing attacks like to come at the most inopportune times.
- Why on earth do I ever plan on getting things done over the weekend? It never happens! That large stack of papers sits on my couch/desk at home and goes untouched until Monday morning when they go right back to school. I think I should just plan on leaving work at work every weekend. Must. Have. A. Life.
- I get to be a part of my first IEP team on Friday (where we talk about the needs of a specific student in the SpEd program). What on earth should I do to prepare? Am I even qualified to be the GenEd rep for that meeting?
- When can I go home to put on my PJs and get some sleep?

Oh sweet, undeniable sickness, please go away. I don't want to be Mrs. Brown with a man voice anymore...

:D

Evaluating Myself...

Hello Midterm Evaluation - thank you for not looming over my head too oppressively. I had the chance to visit with my mentor teacher and my supervisor about my progress during this internship - both of which were pleasant meetings! And let's face it - though I am a perfectionist - I want to know how I'm doing! I want to know where I can improve! I want to know how I can improve! I'm a teacher (and therefore an eternal student focused on learning). So bring on those opportunities for improvement!

But I thought it would be refreshing to do a personal evaluation - not just about teaching, but about the balance of my life right now.

So....

Cali's Life Evaluation:

1. Balance: 2/5 (A lot of what I do is, obviously, centered around teaching, but sometimes I forget that I am a real person, not just an intern teacher. I go home and talk about teaching. I call my parents/siblings and talk about teaching. I go to bed at night, after prayers about teaching, and dream about teaching. I wake up and think about my lesson, trying to anticipate any issues or problems. When I visit with friends, I talk about teaching. Is this bad? No. But I need to maintain other hobbies and interests in the midst of it all, right? But when....? I haven't picked up a book for myself in a long time...but that's what Christmas break is for!)

2. Relationships: 4/5 (This is generous - mostly because I feel like those friends and family members that I have relationships with are just really wonderful people who understand that I'm a flake who only likes to talk about herself. Fortunately for me, they are patient and kind despite my self-centeredness.  Luckily, the hubs loves to hear all my crazy stories and doesn't get too tired of them after 3 months. They really have been the ones to help me through the crazy times, let me vent during the hard times, and celebrate the good times in a healthy, productive way.)

3. Finances: 2/5 (I knew before I ever started that teaching was not the profession you choose to inflate the pocketbook; however, it is stressful to hear about teachers bringing candy for their classes, cooking breakfast for their classes, offering prizes for their classes, buying sets of textbooks for their classes, etc. all the while knowing that I can't. After Sean and I established a budget, I realized just how far an intern's salary goes for two people. Not far, my friends. Not far. But it has caused me to become more aware of alternatives - rather than offering donuts to the class who behaved the best for the sub, I offered extra credit. It's free to me and means a lot to most of them. But I know some of my less motivated boys would have loved the food much more... So - I'm working on this one.)

4. Health: 3/5 (I started off the year knowing that I would struggle to eat. I always have. Not healthy. Not good. When I get busy and stressed, I don't have time for food! Who does? So, I told myself I was going to make some changes to make sure I didn't starve myself (and binge when I got home) for the next year. So - I Slimfasted. The stuff tastes great, let me tell you. I'm all for chocolate at any time of the day! A shake for breakfast, a shake and apple for lunch - it has worked wonderfully. Though, I might need to buy a few new items for my teacher wardrobe now that my clothes have decided to look bigger and baggier than I intended. Shoot. And woot! I do miss my exercise though - I sometimes dream about a long, invigorating run across Provo, but that dream is quickly dismissed at the thought of an hour more of sleep! Oh well.... Living and learning...)

5. Spiritual Well-Being: 4/5 (All of this - all of the struggles, triumphs, heartaches, etc. - I have shared with my Savior. I have learned so much about our Father's Plan of Salvation from the little experience I have gained teaching. We come to this earth to do what? LEARN. The Lord simply asks us to "do our homework" and we find excuses, we forget, we refuse to listen thinking we know better. He has promised us unnumbered blessings if we just do our work: read our scriptures, pray, serve others, go to the temple, etc. And we still don't seem to get it. It all sounds so familiar to me and my classroom! Though I know I can do more to rely on Him and make Him a part of my teaching efforts (and Heaven knows I can be better at doing my "homework" on time), I feel closer to Him than I have before.)

Room for improvement, my friends. But not too shabby. :D

In Love Again...

To all of those interns I talked to last year: what on earth were you talking about?

Several months ago, I had the chance to work with several different interns as well as individuals who had completed internships. Each of them had horror stories to tell about their intern experiences. Many of them confessed that they don't (or they didn't) want to continue with teaching after that year.

So, I sometimes ask myself if I am doing something wrong because I LOVE MY JOB. I would love to do this for the rest of my life. Is it hard? Oh yes, but the hard days are few and far between when you have such bright and promising students, when you have a staff that opens arms to you and isn't afraid to turn to you for help and advice, when you find your place in the school.

So what's going so right?

1. Today's PLC was great. It was like we were all friends. Were there still frustrations to vent about? Of course, but I found myself collaborating with other teachers (guess who's making the rubric for our next common department assessment? This gal.), offering suggestions, and making plans for December! I mean really - we are totally on the ball. I know it's not just me, but it feels so good to be a part of a successful team.

2. The Monday "Reader's Response" procedure is going great! I say Monday, and they know - Reader's Response. I used one of those sites that randomly generates a certain amount of names from a list of class members - I generated four names and those students knew exactly what to do. It was great. Were there still students who forgot their books? Yeah. They know that they'll have a zero in the gradebook until they come and see me during i-time. Obviously not perfect, but definitely improving.

3. I have a dear sweet neighbor who comes and asks me for technology advice during class. At first, I was annoyed. I thought, Hey, this is my class time and I'm teaching right now. But after thinking about this selfish reaction, I realized what a huge vote of confidence this was for me - someone was asking the lowly intern for help. And though it stops the momentum of my class for a moment, it allows me to practice my procedures ("And we're back in 3... 2... 1..."), and it allows me to contribute to the success of other teachers in a small way.

Is it bad to walk away from a day like today with a feeling of gusto and confidence? Can an intern even boast at this stage of the game, I think I may be getting the hang of this? Again, I have to ask myself, "Am I doing something wrong if I'm more in love with this job than ever before?"

I guess I'm just in love with learning - so sue me! Here's to all of the future lessons to come...

Let's Try This....

So today, I had this brilliant beyond brilliant idea.

We were talking about audience and how important audience is in order for us to understand writing and to be good writers. I posted 9 different ads that I ripped out of magazines around the room and started the class off with a museum walk (they brought their journals and were required to choose three ads to analyze the audience of the advertisement and give evidence for each). I even put on "museum" music!

That part - turned out great.

Then, they were going to choose a magazine out of my trunk of magazines, find an ad of their own and do the same thing (moving from we do to I do, my friends). Except, it didn't work.

I thought I had gone through most of the magazines to ensure that the content was solid and wholesome; however, some must have slipped through my fingers. It wasn't incredibly inappropriate; however, in the presence of 7th and 8th grade eyes, any and all style ads or perfume ads are blatantly sexual.

Yikes.

So I panicked. I had my first 7th grade period toss all the magazines back immediately and we simply reviewed my chosen ads on the walls as a class. Which worked okay but wasn't as interactive as I would have hoped.

So my 8th grade period came in and I quickly did some adaptations. Maybe my 8th graders can handle it. I'll just set some expectations that if they see something not so appropriate, they immediately rip it out and throw it away. Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to find out what happened and I'm a goof for not realizing it before. They pretty much went looking for those inappropriate ads. When they found one, they very dramatically brought it to everyone's attention, and then ripped it out to throw it away.

At this point, I'm thinking, forget the magazines, woman. Move on and come up with something else.

So my next 7th grade class walks in. As I'm rolling with the punches, I have them do the museum walk (where I still had some comments like, "Well I know this magazine is for guys because the girl in the picture is hot."), and then they sit down. We review a few things, I ask them which ads were the hardest to find audience, and we have a small discussion. Then, I have them choose one ad that they analyzed and make a significantly different choice for audience. Then they had to write and tell me what they would change about the ad because of that audience change.

This worked okay. I probably could have been more creative and had them actually draw the new ad, but, hey, that's what 4th, 6th, and 7th period are for, right?

I love that teaching is learning. It seems so appropriate, right?

And here comes my 4th period now! :D Yay for interactive and lively Fridays.

We do... We do... We do... We do... We Do...

The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model: I do, we do, you do.

This was one of the first education principles I was taught in my program.

No one ever told me that I would perpetually pause on the WE DO stage.

Let me set the scene: We have used the Says/Does chart for our class analysis of literature since the beginning of the year and it's extremely important as we begin our genre exploration unit. It allows them to see that writers are talking to them as readers but also as writers! That all writing can be a model to learn about that genre of writing! They have used this strategy countless times over the last year. On Friday, I went over the assignment they would be working on this week (with the Sub). We went through each step together and filled out the SAYS/DOES chart.

I collected student papers on Tuesday and Wednesday after school. Guess what they still didn't grasp? Don't get me wrong, many students did, but it was hard for them to understand that the DOES side of the chart was talking about writer choices and genre patterns rather than what the subject of the genre DID during the story/article/play/etc.

So although we planned for today to be a day of strategies for reading informational texts, it became review day. Every time we review it, the students GET it. They are shouting out observations that I wouldn't even have thought of! But the second I turn them loose on an assignment, it all becomes mush in their brains.

Favorite moment of the day:

"Mrs. Brown," one 8th grade student began, "that assignment was hard. You weren't here to explain it, so we didn't know what to do."

"Dude," another student interjected before I could even respond, "she explained the whole thing on Friday."

Thank you, dear student, for proving to me that I am getting through!

Moving from "We Do" to "You Do" is a little troublesome, but I'm trying things to prevent that (having them work with partners for one, although the sub nixed those plans immediately because none of the classes could handle working with a partner while a stranger was in charge).

Small vent about substitutes:

Seriously? You didn't get to the assignment? What were you doing for 45 minutes? If you're going to leave me a note saying, "Sorry, we didn't have time to get to the assignment," I would like some kind of explanation. That's all they were supposed to be doing on Wednesday!

But it was Halloween. And it was a sub. And they are 13 years old.

Poor kids.

I did have some opportunities to practice my strict teacher face today though. One thing I love to do now with my behavior lectures is separate myself from the classroom for a minute. For example, students were using a department set of READ magazines for their work these past few days. The sub reported that she threw 5 different magazines away because students had drawn seriously inappropriate pictures on the pages. So, with each of my periods, during my announcement time, I simply said, "Okay, guys. Mrs. Brown is just going to vent for a minute." Then I laid into all of them. I was firm and stern and immovable. I even got all contextual on them and tied these actions to their iPads. "If you can't control yourself with a 10 cent magazine, how can the school trust you with a 600 dollar iPad?" Their faces were all somber, and I conceded that I didn't know which period did it, but it was unacceptable either way. I finished my rant and said, "Okay, rant over. I am glad to be back with you guys; training was great, but I missed this! How was Halloween?" It's a 1-2 minute thing, I make my point, the students know I'm serious, and then we move on. And the students move on with you, which is great. I'm not the mean witch of a teacher after that point, but they know my expectations.

Oh, and 8th graders loathe Justin Bieber. Like a lot. Seriously? I swear - I don't know how to read them. It's like they will play too cool for ANYTHING I bring in just to maintain that edge. Even if they like it. Any ideas for cool 8th grader texts/opportunities?

Oh well...

Training was SOOOO much fun though. And yes... I meant SOOOOOO. Were a few of those days somewhat useless? Oh yeah. I didn't need an entire day with someone holding my hand to show me where the on button to the iPad is, but I'm sure some people did. I guess this is ONE time where being a young, inexperienced intern has its pluses. So I spent a lot of time doing some investigative work on my own and tuning out the iCampus rep (and then I realized I will probably have students doing the same... so I'm planning for time to allow that and time that they know they have to be with me and not jump ahead to adventure into the bliss of the unknown).

But really - the possibilities are endless! Do you have any idea how many AWESOME free books there are out there? Do you have any idea how easy presentations and videos are going to be? Do you have any idea how this will help with my assessments and accommodations for my ESL and SpEd students?

And do you have any idea how much I love my MacBookPro? Apple just knows how to do it. And when you get everything Apple, everything just works so much better together.

Are we using any of it yet? No. Yay for technology glitches, but still! I'm so stoked.