Gallery Walk and Mentor Texts

Today we studied subordinating conjunctions in English class. Sounds exciting, huh? If I had introduced the lesson as that, they would have revolted. People assume that just because I'm an English teacher, I love grammar. I don't. It's as big a pain in the butt to me as it is to my kids.

To start our conversation about subordinating conjunctions, I set up a gallery walk. I chose several sentences from different novels that use subordinating conjunctions. Their only instructions were to walk the room, read the sentences, and notate things that they notice and/or think of on post-it notes. Once they finished the walk, we talked about what they noticed. I pushed them to find what the sentences had in common. They noticed commas, a few literary devices, and that several sentences started with "if." So I introduced them to the AAAWWUBBIS.

AAAWWUBBIS is a mnemonic device for some of the most common subordinating conjunctions. According to Constance Weaver, it's also one of the most commonly assessed errors on standardized tests. I know I've seen it in my students' writing all year long--even in my seniors.

Once they knew what they were looking at, we were on a roll! We talked about punctuation and how using a period instead of a comma lead to fragments. We talked about removing the conjunction and making two short sentences. We talked about using conjunctions for sentence comining because the short sentences were "baby" sentences.

After theorizing why authors would use subordinating conjunctions, students went to other mentor texts--children's books. They mined those books for
sample sentences. Not every book will have them, but many of them will. We looked and shared aloud and broke the sentences apart and put them back together.

To sum it up, students worked in groups to write their own sentences with subordinating conjunctions.

We aren't done with subordinating conjunctions. As we work in literature circles, students will continue to look for them in their young adult books. We'll compile examples in group folders. We'll examine subordingating conjunctions in our own writing. We'll experiment with sentence combining.

And, hopefully, along the way, we'll remember how much fun writing can be. It's not all about correcting papers after all.

When they won't stop reading...

My students picked out their literature circles books last week and were able to start reading them this week. Today, I couldn't get them to stop.

I have trained my students to start class with independent reading time. I set the example; I don't assess their reading comprehension; I supply a literacy-rich environment.

But I never expected to see the reaction to the literature circles books that I have seen today.

They didn't want to stop reading. They wanted to take the books home (we don't have enough for that). There was nothing more they wanted to do than to read their new books.

Teenagers reading is an awesome thing, especially when that teenager doesn't fit the mold of a high-achieving student. What else can you do when they won't stop reading except...let them read?

Kids Talking about Books

I stumbled upon the website, Awesome Things, today. This has inspired me to focus on awesome things in my life. Today's awesome thing: Kids talking about books.

I haven't gotten very deep into the literature circles. We've done the book pass. I've told them what their books are. But we haven't met, we haven't discussed jobs, we haven't even really set goals. (They were supposed to yesterday, but I didn't structure it well and I suspect that they didn't.)

But today. TODAY. Students pulled their new books out of the crate. Not everyone chose to read their new books during SSR, but some of them did. And then the magic happened. I noticed some movement from the back of the room and realized that one boy was passing his book to his neighbor to share what he had read. Then, at the end of SSR, one student turned to another student--not a friend, not even an aquaintance--and asked him about something he read in his new book.

My awesome thing today is students talking about books. My main goal is to churn out literate adults. I want children to remember the magic they used to find in books. There is something amazing about teenagers talking to one another about books. I'd like to bottle that so that I could take it out every October--after the newness has worn off and before they are properly trained. I could take out that bottle and remember the promise, the awesome thing, of teenagers talking about reading.

Website of the Day

I love stumbling upon new websites that inspire me to create new lessons. I found one today. 1000 Awesome Things started when the author was feeling really down and decided to write about an awesome thing every weekday. What an inspiration!

What if we started every Monday writing (and maybe posting!) about an awesome thing? Students would get practice with authentic writing. For a year-end project, students could choose the top ten and piece together a book, complete with illustrations. I'm brilliant!

I think I see it like this...

First week of school--explore the site as a class. Brainstorm awesome things. My own list would include puppy breath, fresh cut grass, wisteria, rain...I'm big on smells...Maggie curled up on her bed, my sister in the pulpit, Fenway Park. I could list things forever!

First Monday--shared writing about one awesome thing. Creation of Wiki and all that entailed with getting students started with it.

Second Monday--partner writing and illustration.

Third Monday--We are rocking and rolling at full steam ahead! We will be writing as individuals on Monday, getting a peer review on Tuesday, and posting to the class wiki by Friday! Woo hoo!

Isn't it amazing how much optimism I have for NEXT year's kids? I know. We are three weeks out from the end of course test and literature circles are my only adventure right now.

BTW...post on literature circles coming soon. Perfect? Nope. But I heard kids talking and asking questions about their books and we haven't officially started yet! Yay!

The Book Pass

My ninth grade babies are getting ready to embark on a literature circle journey. One of my colleagues snickered when I told her this and then told me to let her know how it went. I have faith. I've trained them well, right?

So today, we started with a book pass. I have thirteen books. I have no intention of having thirteen literature circles. They need to weed out the good from the bad. We did a book pass instead of sustained silent reading today.

If you're unfamiliar with a book pass, it is a chance to teach students to process for choosing a book to read. It's a great way to start an independent reading program or a literature circles program. Students often don't know what they are looking at when they decide to check out a book. They just know that they have to take one with them when they leave. The book pass lays out the steps for them. Students are instructed to start by looking at the book--the title, the print size, the cover illustration, etc. You want them to just get a feel for the book. Then you want them to read some. The back of the book, the first chapter, even the end if that's what they usually do. Students need a time limit. After only a minute or a minute and a half, they need to rank their book and pass it to their neighbor.

You could have heard a pin drop this morning. We were reading and ranking and passing. Everyone found three books that they thought they would enjoy reading. Now I've got to put them into groups that will work.

Next week, my students will experiment with literature circles for the first time. This should be a great way to end the year. But if I don't plan it right, it could be a disaster. My goal? Let's end the year with adult discussions about reading. That's not too much to ask for, right?

An EOC Plan

So...I am in a state that gives End of Course Tests for certain subjects. And I teach one of those subjects--English I. Now. Please believe that I am on a personal crusade to end these tests. The legislature is talking about freezing the step raises for teachers, and I would much rather them do away with these ridiculous standardized tests. I have e-mailed several times. Needless to say, I haven't gotten a response. Yet.

But I have a plan to end the year. My colleagues do an EOC boot camp, but scores haven't exactly been stellar the last few years. (This isn't exactly a valid assessment.) So I'm trying out my own plan for the last three weeks before the test.

We are going to continue our vocabulary on Mondays. Only our vocabulary will consist of words from the standards that students need to know. I should have a lot of As on tests, don't you think? I mean, I've taught these things all year. Hmph.

Tuesdays will consist of a focus lesson--such as propaganda and bias and craft. These are still under construction. I only have a few days to perfect the first one.

Wednesdays and Thursdays will consist of literature circles activities. Students will use their novels to study author's craft.

Fridays will be reserved for vocabulary tests and articles of the week. I've been inundating my freshmen with nonfiction texts recently and now it is time to step it up a notch. In addition to the nonfiction text, they will have a poem to compare it to in their reflection.

This is my plan. Foolproof? Heavens, I hope so. But only time will tell. We are taking the tests on computers this year. My children have no experience with computerized tests, but we'll do anything to save a buck and save a test. We'll see how things go the next three weeks.

Spring Break, Allergies, and Grammar Instruction

It is finally spring break and I am down for the count with allergies. I had a lovely day off Friday and went down to the beach for the day. It was ideal, but this 90 degree weather and coats upon coats of pollen is not ideal. Not at all.

So I am sitting here, eyes puffy, tissue stuffed up one nostril, spending time with Constance Weaver's Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing. I have spent a lot of reflective time with my writing instructional practices this year. I am trying to use only best practices (although I'll admit to not using vocabulary best practices--it's hard to be on ALL the time). In order to improve writing, we are not doing "daily oral language." I am adamantly against it, always have been. First of all, it isn't oral. Secondly, I've never seen the benefits of copying down incorrect sentences. Don't you remember more what you copy down? Then wouldn't it make sense that students are learning incorrect writing skills?

Constance Weaver is only supporting my beliefs that teaching grammar in isolation is not beneficial to student learning. Weaver's research shows that grammar study in the Middle Ages was a study of what not to do, instead of what to do. Think of your own grammar lessons in schools. There was a lot of labeling parts of speech and rectifying errors. What not to do. Towards the end of the 19th century, the teaching of grammar was designed to move lower class citizens up the class system. The teaching of grammar was also used as ammunition for the middle and upper classes to use against those who did not change their use of language. This hasn't changed in over a hundred years. We still expect students to memorize grammatical rules in order to be successful in the workplace. Instead of teaching code-switching, we expect students to leave their inherited linguistic practices behind. We teach grammatical rules in order to help students move up in the world. Nothing else that we teach is the same--why do we believe that grammar is different?

I remember grammar being taught to me in a separate class. It worked for me...I guess. I'm obviously a verbal/linguistic-minded person. I feel like it probably worked for most English teachers. And since it worked for them, they perpetuate the ineffectiveness on their students now. Weaver points out, however, that studies show that grammar in isolation has a NEGATIVE effect on student achievement. A negative effect. Read that again. Grammar in isolation has a negative effect on student achievement. Yet, here we are in 2010, using daily oral language in English classes. In 2010, we are still teaching students to label the parts of speech. Just as they did in the Middle Ages.

In this age of instant gratification, YouTube, Facebook, and, obviously, blogs, do we really need to teach something the same way we did in the Middle Ages? I'm not comfortable with that. If I want to do the best job that I possibly can, then I don't want to teach things the same way we did hundreds of years ago.

I think I'll go back to spring break. I'll keep reading Weaver's book and contemplating the best way to teach effective writing skills. I'll also be contemplating how to tactfully share my findings with my colleagues. It is a lot to think about. Right now, I'm just hoping a little rain will fall and I'll finally be able to take this tissue out of my nostril.

A Nice End to a Long Week

It is finally officially spring break. I am headed to the beach first thing in the morning. It's just for the day, but the beach is the beach. And I can't wait for it.

Overall, it was a good week. There was a beautiful full moon and it was the week before vacation and the sun was shining and hot...but it was surprisingly a good week. My freshmen are taking their writing seriously. Slowly, but seriously.

We are STILL writing about Romeo and Juliet. We've settled into a nice rhythm this week, but it's enough already. I'm ready to be done and to move on! But they are taking their essays seriously. And when we get done, they will have a polished, published essay. They will understand analysis. They will understand the use of quotes from a text and the importance of commentary in an essay. They are learning valuable writing techniques. But I want them to floor it. I can see that they are writing and I can hear them discussing their essays together and I am enjoying the one on one instruction.

But come on...step on it.

When we come back from spring break, come hell or high water, we'll be typing up our essays. We'll be completing peer reviews and we'll go to the library and they will have what they think is a final, published piece. Of course, that's when the markers come out and I get to do my handiwork on it, but we'll be one step closer.

Next, we are on to multigenre units and literature circles. But for now, bring on the beach.