Two Weeks to Go

Two weeks to go...only two weeks. I can make this. I can do it. I won't lose my temper. I won't yell at the sweet children. I'll be smiles and mistletoe and everything nice.

Who am I kidding?

I'll yell and carry on and give lunch detention--whatever it takes to make these last two weeks semi-peaceful. Luckily, the last week before break will be taken up with exams.

So, really, I have one more week. One more measly week to be interspersed with happy hours and Christmas parties to make me more festive and bright.

I can do a week. Granted, I have a skeleton of a lesson plan for tomorrow because I spent today watching Falalala Lifetime. And it was awesome. It had to happen in order for me to make it one more week. So tomorrow, we'll wrap up the oh-so-awesome bias lesson I came up with and I'll plan tomorrow afternoon.

That's what planning period is for, right?

When is Christmas break again?

Oh, that's right...it's three weeks away!

First day post-vacay was rough. First period, bless their little hearts, made me want to curse and break laws. Second period, my best class, was also hard to handle. The highlights of my day were, surprisingly enough, third period (a challenging group) and my seniors (who checked out before LAST year's graduation).

I have to admit, going back this morning was hard for me, too. I arranged for my freshmen to go to the library to check out books. As a former literacy coach, I really try to practice what I preached for four years and SSR was my mantra. (I think my principal thought I was a one-trick pony.) We read for ten to fifteen minutes at the beginning of every period. I've explained to them the importance of reading and likened it to a muscle. I wouldn't show up at a weight-lifting competition without working out ahead of time. Reading is the same way.

So we started with the library and SSR and then began our explicit strategy instruction to prepare for the semester exam. We're working on making inferences and reviewing tips for finding the internal text. I'm using strategies out of one of my favorite books, When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers. She's got great strategies for everything imaginable and gives real-life examples to use.

Now, the question that has haunted me all year--will SSR and explicit strategy instruction be enough? It keeps me up at night...and makes the vacations not long enough.

Not near enough couch time...

Tomorrow is Monday. I am not ready. I have not had near enough couch time.

Since I've gone back into the classroom this year, I find myself a virtual veggie almost every weekend. I don't go out of town if it means traveling on Sunday. I empty my DVR instead. I enjoy the fire, the dog draped over my feet, a good murder series on the TV (or Christmas movies this time of year), and lots of couch time. I haven't gotten near enough couch time this break.

You may think I'm lazy. And it is possible. I consider it mental health work. My couch time saves the poor children.

This break has been pretty busy. It started with friends' Thanksgiving on Tuesday--lots of food, friends, and fun. Late night fun. After sleeping in on Wednesday, I spent most of the day on the couch and topped it off with a trip home for a trivia game. Then I was on the road all day Thursday. Friday was taken up by decorating for Christmas and Saturday was consumed by dancing around the living room every time South Carolina got a first down. So there was no rest for the weary.

I'm headed back tomorrow to start cramming for the end of semester district exam. I've been following the prescribed curriculum, but I'm not convinced that they are ready for any sort of standardized test. It's time to start talking testing language and inferences and point-of-view, oh my. So whether I'm rested or not, it's back to the grind first thing tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, I'm going to sit on my couch and watch the few shows left in my DVR. I consider it the sacrifice I have to make for the children.

Yummy popularity!

I am one of the most popular women on campus these days. It's an enjoyable experience. All the girls are coming by to visit and they all want to know, "Do you have it?" Oh yeah, I got it.

I am the sole member of our high school community in possession of the newest novel in the Blue Bloods saga by Melissa de la Cruz.

Now those of you not surrounded by teenagers on a day to day basis may not realize who or what the Blue Bloods are. Allow me to fill you in. The Blue Bloods are vampires. There are 400 of them and they recycle in and out of everyday world. They age, they eat, they live and work. At the end of their life, their blood (sagre azul) is saved until the next cycle.

Now, whether or not you know a teenager, you have at least seen the recent Twilight phenom with all the screaming girls AND their moms. Well, that phenom has spread. All things vampire are H-O-T, hot! That means that books such as Blue Bloods and Vampire Diaries are huge in high school libraries. Vampire Diaries has even turned into a smash-hit TV show. Our media center can't keep the books on the shelves--I have girls asking to go to the library every day.

So I have become very popular. I'm kinda hoarding the book. I tore through the first three so fast that I can't seem to get into the newest installment. So I have been rereading. I started at the very beginning earlier this week, and this afternoon I cracked open my copy of the third novel, Revelations. Then I'll be reading to seek my teeth into The Van Alen Legacy, pun intended.

If anyone wants to donate, say, five copies of the book to my classroom library, that would be greatly appreciated. I mean, it is the Christmas season, after all.

And if you're worried that there's nothing out their for the boys, I'm also taking donations of graphic novels. They can't get enough of them.

So I bought your book

So I bought your book,
A little out of pity,
More out of curiosity,
Mostly out of desperation.
Ninth grade poetry is dull.
Boring.
I'm always looking
for new stuff.
So I bought it.

It sat on my ottoman
For only a day
before I picked it up,
took it to my couch,
and proceeded to look
for my name.
You didn't expect any
more of me,
did you now?
You know me better than that.

I read all the poems.
I read about Uncle Wayne.
I even found my name,
and saw that you spelled
it with 2 Ns, just like God
and my mama
intended.
You wrote about my daddy
and the sobs that still
echo in my heart.
You described my
granddaddy
to what we can only call a T.

I sat here
on my couch
with the dog curled at my feet
and read through
this book you're pushing.
And I cried.
I laughed a little.
But I mostly cried.
And those tears,
fat and sassy,
freed me from the dark place
that sometimes holds me in.

I bought your book.
And I found a little release.

In Need of an Update

I've stayed away from the blog for a while. I've been swamped. My classes, the after school activities I take part in, and bronchitis have had me focused on other things. I've also been dealing with feelings of inadequacy.

I've been utilizing a curriculum that South Carolina teachers and leaders created with Janet Allen. It's a great curriculum that utilizes young adult literature and lots of graphic organizers. But I just don't feel like I'm preparing them for their upcoming tests. This is something that weighs on my mind heavily. I know that I'm doing some things that work--like sustained silent reading. We read every day. And we've been flexing our muscles with poetry. But I just don't feel like I'm getting deep enough. It's like I have time to gloss over the top of things, but we aren't really going to the deepest level.

I'm working with my seniors on analysis. They can't analyze for anything. They can summarize. They can gloss over the high points. But they do not analyze. I'm using deep thinking questions and graphic organizers. We are doing several rough drafts. Eventually, they'll be able to participate in writer's conferences and peer assessments. But they are struggling to get to that deeper level.

So it's something that I'm struggling with all day, at all levels. I want to have this dynamic effect. I want to churn out thinkers and doers.

And that is a heavy load to bear.

So I've stayed off my blog for a while; these questions are sitting heavily on my heart. I reassess what I'm doing every day. I think about my pedagogy every minute. I look out at their faces and read my influence constantly. Now if I could just find the answers...

Test Anxiety

I am having test anxiety. I teach ninth graders and there is an end-of-course test in May. It's in May, but I'm having nightmares now. How am I preparing them? Am I teaching them the right thing? How can anything prepare them for a standardized test? How will tomorrow's lesson effect their scores?

This is a problem. I have a problem. I'm not thinking of teaching them to be lifelong readers and writers. I'm thinking of teaching them to be good test-takers in May. It's almost as if I've bought into the hype that says that test will show how good of a teacher I am.

And it won't.

The lives that I touch may or may not do well on that test, but they'll remember the lifelong lessons from my class. They'll remember that we start each day with a little reading, because reading is like a muscle and you use it or you lose it. They'll hopefully remember that they shouldn't "think" in their writing--they should just get to the point and know. They'll remember their ma'ams and pleases and thank yous. They'll hopefully be more likely to pick up after themselves. And there is no doubt that they'll remember that there is a book out there for them. They just have to know how to look for it.

The test in May won't show all the little lessons that we've covered so far this school year. It won't measure my impact on their lives. But for someone on the outside, it will measure my effectiveness as a teacher. And that is what is giving me nightmares.

A New Type of Write-Around

I love doing write arounds in class. It's a chance for students to get their thoughts on paper. It's a great quick assessment for me, the teacher. I can check for comprehension. I can check writing skills. I can check for a pulse.

So I tried a new write around today. I gave students a topic and had them start at their desk. Then, instead of having them pass their papers, we passed their bodies. Consider this write around meets musical chairs. Except I didn't take away any chairs. They left their papers on their desk and took only their pencil. I played some music and they roamed the room. Once the music stopped, they had to sit, read, and write.

You would think that having them get up and move would cause chaos. It didn't. They loved it. They jumped in a read what their peers wrote and responded. Some are still getting used to writing under pressure, but others wrote lengthy responses. All in all, huge success. They liked it, and I got my write around done in a new and engaging way!

"I like this!"

You know you've reached high engagement when you hear a high school senior say that she actually likes the assignment you gave her. It is a rare and beautiful thing.

So what, you may say, illicted this nearly extinct response? A Facebook feed project.

Facebook has taken over the world. Even my parents, nearing their 60s (although I hope they don't read this since they aren't there yet and will not like that wording), have gotten on Facebook and reconnected with dear old friends. I check mine several times a day. I'm addicted, I can't help it. I've even created a Facebook group for one of my classes--although not many of my students have joined. I think they're scared I'll see their pictures. And they probably should be.

So I wanted to incorporate Facebook into an assessment for my seniors. We are halfway through Beowulf and I want to check their understanding so far. I'm trying everything that I can think of to make the text accessible. I have a variety of levels--academic and initiative. We have read the poem out loud and used post-it notes to summarize in little chunks. We've identified literary devices and labeled them within the text. But how do I know that they know it?

Today we started a Facebook feed project. Students had to create a Facebook status page that reflected the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the first few sections of Beowulf. They had to incorporate an allusion, an example of personification, similes, and alliteration. They had to have at least 16 updates from 4 different characters, three of those being Beowulf, Grendel, and Hrothgar.

What I saw as I roamed the room was success. Students were engaged with the text, demonstrating high levels of understanding, and making the text their own. It was a beautiful sight! And it illicited that much-needed comment--I like this!

Making SSR Work

We have sustained silent reading in my high school, but it is not an ideal situation. We have SSR during our breakfast in the classroom. Right after the announcements. Once we get started, the breakfast comes in. It takes a few minutes to get started again. Just when we are good and settled, it's time to stop. I only have 60 minutes and we can't really give more than ten or fifteen up for reading.

It isn't an ideal situation, but I'm making it work as best I can.

There are two musts to making SSR work with high school students. The first is setting an example as a reader. Most students haven't seen a reader in their home. They don't know what a reader looks like, talks like, or thinks like. It is important for them to see someone who does read.

The other must for SSR is good books. Students will read if they have the right book. They will beg for more time to read. They'll even ask you if you will let them read the whole period. They think they're getting a free day. You'll have to fuss at them for reading during class. It is heaven on earth.

I don't have an ideal situation but it's a situation that I have to make work. I know that only by reading more will students improve their standardized test scores by building comprehension and text stamina. So I'll have to shhh them a lot and be a good example, but it is something that we'll keep doing.