I am married!

Okay, so I'm officially a married woman. :) I have had an amazing week (I took a little over a week off from work), and I'm so not ready to go back on Monday. However, I must admit, I missed my kids like crazy.

Our wedding was so beautiful. I'm really looking forward to slowly getting our new gifts out, sending out thank-yous, and looking through all the amazing photos we have. I'm also really looking forward to my new life as a wife. :)

I know that when I go back to school on Monday, I'm going to have to devote a large chunk of each block so that I can show my kids pictures and such. It's totally fine with me, and I really appreciate that they are so interested. In addition, I think it's important for them to know that I want them to be a part of my life; I mean, after all, they surely share information from their lives with me!

Beginning of my Genre Unit: Reflection

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I'm really excited about this comprehensive genre unit I have begun. Today (yes, Tech had school today even though nearly every other MPS school had off!), I was able to have my kids complete their life maps. The final touches of their maps were completed after about twenty minutes of class. After I had collected all of their masterpieces, I asked them to get out their notebooks (which is usually accompanied by a unison groan) so that they could record some vital details about the next step in our genre "journey." Just as my students are accustomed to, we conducted a "think aloud" about the relationship between narrative and descriptive writing. Just as I had anticipated, I had a decent number of students who were already contemplating the definite connection between these two genres, and I had others who challenged this idea (these are often my favorite learners, because I admire their inability to accept things for "face value.") As we held this think-aloud, I recorded ideas on my handy-dandy post-it poster paper. See the notes below.


Block two's ideas:
-narrative and descriptive writing can both be entertaining.
-narrative and descriptive writing are both kind of imaginative.
-narrative and descriptive writing are kind of expressive.
-narrative and descriptive writing can be fun to write.
-narrative writing and descriptive writing don't need research (or citations).
-narrative and descriptive writing use point-of-view.
-narrative and descriptive writing both use interesting words.
-you can use descriptive writing in narrative writing.


Block three's ideas:
-narrative and descriptive writing can both be emotional.
-narrative and descriptive writing can be about something personal.
-narrative and descriptive writing can be done without bibliographies.
-narrative and descriptive writing are fun to read.
-narrative and descriptive writing are fun to write.
-narrative and descriptive writing are more loose (from your head).
-narrative and descriptive writing shows what's going on in your life.
-narrative and descriptive writing try to explain a part of you to someone else.
-narrative writing needs (most of the time) to be descriptive.


So, as you can sort of notice, although these two blocks weren't thinking identically, they sort of worked through this think aloud in similar ways. And, (much to my excitement) they BOTH created an excellent connection between narrative and descriptive: good narrative writing aims to include plenty of great descriptive writing within it! After this think aloud, I had a hard time getting my students to quiet down. They were very interested in sharing examples of stories and movies that include great descriptions within the plot. So, instead of having them use a metaphoric microscope to "zoom in" on one part of their narratives (their life maps), I decided to roll with it. I had them quickly pick groups of three or four (which, in my class, when I haven't pre-arranged for them to use their group cards, means groups of two, three, four, five, or six...) and create a list of narratives that include excellent descriptive portions. As an additional task of this activity, I asked them to (as a group) select one example from their list and have each group member write a reflection about how this descriptive writing affected how they read the narrative.  


Some examples of the narratives with very descriptive portions:
"Shame" By Dick Gregory-->the part about how he is pregnant with poverty was very detailed.
Harry Potter-->lots of descriptions of the places.
"Birches" By Robert Frost-->he describes the birch trees so much.
"99 Problems" By Jay-Z-->he gives tons of details about his troubles.


Examples of reflections to these descriptive portions:
"I think when he be saying that he pregnant, it make me picture this weird idea of a little boy who pregnant. When I picture that crazy thought, it make me feel kind of bogus like he probably feel being so poor." (in regard to "Shame").
"When I read the descriptions about the buildings and stuff in Harry Potter, it makes me imagine like what it is like. I think the details make it easier for me to see it, and it makes it easier for the movie people to make those movies." (in regard to Harry Potter)
"Those pictures of the birches makes the whole poem flow. Like, the story that in the poem couldn't be there without those pictures. He real good at making me see what he say, and it make the whole story about the boy make sense because the birches fill in the gaps." (in regard to "Birches")
"Jay-Z raw. He tell it like it is. For some folk, those information is old news. For other people, those stories is untouchable. So, he know he got to give real examples of life on the street. I think his descriptive writing is probably the only way his song make sense. I like that he be talking about a life that some people don't know nothing about." (in regard to "99 Problems")


Since time is never on my side, the bell rang just as we were getting to the opportunity to share our ideas with each other. I am pretty happy with what I read, though! I'm excited for Monday when we will have the opportunity to discuss the importance of descriptive writing, and when we will get the chance to describe the "crap" out of one portion of our narratives.

First day with a sub!

Okay, so I have two things on my mind for this post: I called in sick today; therefore, my students are having their first experience with a sub in my class. Also, I wanted to reflect a little bit about the cohesive genre unit I have going on right now.

In regard to the first idea that's on my mind, I was feeling really crappy this morning. I actually fainted in the shower (and managed to give myself a slightly bruised cheek!). After getting out of the shower and drinking some orange juice (I thought maybe it was just that my blood sugar was low), I realized that there was no way I was going to take the risk of going to work and fainting in front of my student (talk about scaring them!). So, I called the sub line and left a message with the secretary at school. I have to admit, I'm feeling rather guilty because I am going to be gone for a total of 6 days (10/21-10/28) for my wedding! So, in my guilt-enduced "frenzy," I sent out an email to all the teachers in my pod asking them to please let me know how my kids were responding to the sub. I received an encouraging email from a co-worker stating that my Block 3 class looked pretty good when she walked through. We'll see if that is an accurate representation of how the sub felt in my classroom.

Next, I want to spend a few minutes reflecting on a genre unit that I sort of "whipped" together on accident. So, since I have been completely overwhelmed with the planning of the wedding, parent-teacher conferences, open-house, observations, and overall lesson planning, I have been finding that a lot of the lessons I bring to school are not filling the entire block. So, in addition to feeling inadequate in regard to time management, I have begun to develop a keen sense of improvising. (See how I found the positive side of this blunder?) In one of my hurried attempts to fill up a chunk of the block (usually around 10-20 minutes!), I found myself having my students do a free write. Well, as they silently wrote for the remainder of the class, I frantically searched through my brain for an explanation or rationale for making them do this. What rationale did I come to? Well, I brought in a poem that I had written about a year and a half ago. I also brought in write-ups that I had done about dreams that my parents had had for me while I was growing up, a hard decision I had made in my life, an anecdote about a Polka dancing contest I had won, and symbols that represent who I am. This follow-up lesson plan introduced my students to some new vocabulary (symbol and anecdote), and it allowed for me to make a connection between free-writing, creativity, and poetry. Also, the write-ups about dreams, anecdotes, decisions, and symbols allowed me to have a discussion with my students about the role that personal experience plays in expressive writing (such as poetry and free-writing). So, after that lesson, I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to introduce my students to the idea of genre, and how writing genres can really become intertwined and cohesive if we think about them in a sort of cause and effect way. In addition to exposing them to a new vocabulary words with this idea (genre, description, narrative, creative, technical, persuasive, and expository), we had a valuable discussion about categories, and how categorizing information allows for us to more easily process information (example: author purpose and audience). Shortly after this discussion about genre, we "connected the dots" for the previous lessons we had had during group work. I had them fill in a cause/effect organizer with their thoughts about how all of our discussions and activities over the past few days were related. The results were incredibly encouraging!! A few examples:

"The free-write showed us how to let loose with our writing--->After we let loose, we looked at examples of writers who had let loose with poetry (Kanye West and Ms.K)--->Then, we looked at different ways to be expressive with our writing by looking at symbols, dreams, and quick stories about personal things--->Then we learned about how free-writing can lead to creative writing which is a genre of literature.--->Now we think Ms. K is going to have us use our free-write to write in a new genre of writing, like maybe descriptive or something."

"When we was free-writing, we didn't know why we was doing that--->Then, when we looked at "Jesus Walks" (by Kanye West), we thought that maybe we did it because we are going to write a poem--->Then, Ms. K brought in some stuff she had wrote about herself, and how she became who she is today--->After that, we thought that we would probably be writing another free-write about the personal side of who we are--->Then we learned about different writing genres, and we sort of thought about the fact that all of the stuff we are reading and talking about is really creative writing, or kind of like a narrative--->So now we think we is going to write a personal narrative, but it can be creative too because creative writing and narrative writing can be a lot alike if you think about it."

Well, after we had sharing time with these cause/effect handouts, I lead them into a discussion about how creative writing and narrative writing can be related. We also talked about one type of narrative writing: personal narrative. We are currently working on "Life Maps." Each student has had their picture taken (courtesy of my digital camera). These are not just your typical "mug" shots, I encouraged each student to think of a pose, facial expression, or any other aesthetic that would accurately represent WHO they are. So, I have a lot of silly faces, interesting angles (one boy wanted me to stand on a table and look down at him so he could look up... he wanted to show that he feels like he has so much potential!). In addition to the self-portrait, they are creating actual timelines of their lives. These timelines will be fully illustrated (perfect for open-house), and will include little write-ups about at least 6 substantial events in their lives. So, what's coming next in this cohesive genre unit?

A descriptive peice about one event on their life maps (which will be an excellent time for me to do grammar in context about colorful adjectives, descriptive verb usage (example: Lisa DRIBBLED water down her shirt. Instead of Lisa got water on her shirt), and using a variety of sentence lengths in writing). And then?

A research inquiry about memory and why certain memories stand out more than others. And then?

An expository paper about the processes of researching and inquiry. Then?

A persuasive paper about the "best" genre of writing they have worked with thus far. Then?

A technical (business letter) piece written to a literary journal explaining why a (self-selected) piece of their writing should be published in that journal. And finally?

A creative piece (poem or short story) that incorporates their experiences with this genre unit.

Of course there are things that need to be ironed out, and of course some of the connections seem a little stretched, but I feel like I could have benefited from a cohesive genre unit like this when I was in high school. I think it's so important for these kids to understand that there are distinctions between all the different genres, but good writers should also be able to find a strong voice and let that voice be heard in all the genres. What better way to see that than to stick with a common thread and travel through all 6 genres?

Two days in a row? What?!

Okay, so today I'm all sorts of proud. Several of my students are being recognized school-wide for performing at an advanced level on the benchmark, one of my tenth graders recieved a scholarship for a football camp (it's next summer), and this camp is nationally acredited for the success it has in regard to gearing students up for college football, and another of my students did something admireable for me. I was called down to the office during block 4 today (I don't teach during this block). When I walked into Ms. Marsh's office, I saw one of my tenth grade boys sitting in the room as well. Since I hadn't been alerted to the fact that he would be sitting in on this meeting, I had a whirl of possibilities running through my head. Ms. Marsh greeted me by saying that she had called me into her office because she wanted this young man to tell me why he was in her office. As she finished saying this, my student looked at me and urgently started telling me about an incident he was involved in during block 3. While he was using the restroom he overheard some other young men saying inappropriate things about me, and these guys were also bragging about the fact that they had taken some of my candy, and they were making plans to snatch my unicorn puppet (long story). Being appalled by both the disguisting things that these guys were saying, and their hurtful plans to take things from me, my student clearly told these boys to stop. After what turned out to be a bit of a scuffle (nothing too major, my student ended up walking out before anything stupid happened), my student went to administration to let them know what had happened. After this young man left Ms. Marsh's office, she informed me that when he had come to her office, he was VERY upset. She said that he was having a hard time even telling her what happened because he was so irritated about how those boys in the bathroom had acted. Right there in her office, I started to cry. I was so touched.

In addition, I am currently in love with my classroom. I work so hard to keep that room looking the way that it does, and the hardwork is really worth it. :) Here are some pictures:

Pressure, pressure everywhere!

Okay, so I'm aware of the fact that my last post was rather urgent, and to make matters seem even more dire, I failed to post another entry in a timely fashion... whoops, that was my bad.  Well, in any case, I somehow manage to get myself feeling guilty about not blogging, so here I am... blogging. :)

My life is crazy hectic right now (to say the least).  I'm getting married in 16 days, I recently had parent/teacher conferences, I am being observed about 4 times over the next two weeks of school, our open house is on October 16th (from 6-8 pm) and the general public is coming, and I am trying to find a new car (mine is about ready to die).  Between gathering RSVP cards for the wedding, trying to get in dress fittings, grading papers, creating engaging lessons, test-driving cars, and desperately trying to display student work for the open house, I have very little time to sleep, clean, or reflect.  Now that I am done making a laundry list of excuses for myself, I am going to just say that I love reflecting, and here I have made myself time to do it (when I should be planning for tomorrow, or doing the LOADS of laundry that currently resides on my bedroom floor).

Today I had a crazy day with the kids.  My attendance was low (about 33% of all of my students were absent), and the kids who were there seemed particularly testy, edgy, and just generally sassy.  In addition to the discombobulation of my student population, I am feeling uneasy about lesson planning.  My ninth graders are being such troopers with the Pebble Creek curriculum, and I actually like what I am having them do currently (we're writing self-created news stories about major natural disasters).  So, the issue I'm having is not with them--I'm feeling uneasy about my tenth grade curriculum.  About a week and a half ago, I decided to have my tenth graders take a brief practice test to get a feel for where they stand when it comes to the skills that the WKCE tests for.  After looking through these practice tests, I was literally knocked on my a$$.  Not a single one of my tenth graders scored better than a 67% on these practice tests.  At first I was thinking, "well, they didn't take it seriously, they didn't have enough time, or this practice test is not a clear indication of how they will actually perform."  With these more positive thoughts in mind, I formulated lesson plans that focused on the writing process, author claims and support, purpose and audience, and we had plenty opportunities to learn about grammar in context.  The issue I am facing now is this: these kids are SEVERELY lacking in the vocabulary needed to perform proficiently on these tests.  Agh, I hate to admit this, but I have sadly come to the conclusion that my students simply lack the lexicon that the WKCE expects these tenth graders to have.  So, with less than a month before my students have to take this cruel test, I'm feeling a lot of pressure to make sure that I have done my best to prepare them for this assessment.  Now, how do I teach two blocks of tenth graders what discuss, explain, extrapolate, emphasize, explore,..... means (without resorting to the awful teaching methods I have previously seen in terms of vocab instruction)?

So, as I'm venting about this vocab frustration, I'm feeling other frustrations storming in.  They won't stop, so here they are:
- I have terribly limited access to technology--I have a computer for my own personal use in my classroom.  This computer is not networked to a printer in the building, so I have to put everything on a flash drive and use another computer to print.  In addition, I have no projector, and no smart board (this means no power points or demonstrations.
- My overhead projector died.  There are no other overhead projectors available in the building.
- The only open computer lab that my students have access to (as a whole class) is in the CLC, and during both my block two and three classes, this computer lab is used by the computer programming class.
- My school is so broke that they can't even help me pay for supplies (like markers, construction paper, scissors, tape, staplers, index cards, ANYTHING).
- We also can't go on field trips because we literally have NO money.
- In addition to experiencing major budget cuts, we lost 6 teachers, and because of that, I have about 4 new students in each of my classes (this happened on Monday).  How the hell do I catch up these kids??

To leave on a positive note:
- I still love my kids.
- I care about them so much.
- Sometimes I have to stop the lesson so that I can re-gather them (aka Ms. K goes into lecture mode and desperately explains to them why I need them to be a bit more serious..).  When I do have to stop, and when I make these little "speeches," they actually listen.  This isn't like silently staring at me and waiting for me to stop, this is like looking at kids who are actually concerned and who are honestly hearing what I have to say.  Today, I was feeling particularly frustrated with the fact that some of my students refuse to show self-discipline by staying on task during workshops.  I said something like, "I care so much about you guys, and it KILLS me to know that you know what it is you have to do to do well in here, and you blatantly choose NOT to do it.  I can't go home at night and feel good about myself as a teacher when I know that a lot of my students are not living up to their potential."  I could tell they were serious, and one of my students (who hears his name a lot in my class because he's always a little on the sassy side) said, "Ms. K, you know we love you and we love this class, right?"  I didn't know how to respond.  I know that they love me, but I don't necessarily know that they love the class.  So, I said, "Well, I know that you all care about me, but I would love for you all to SHOW me that you care about me as a teacher by doing what you need to do in my class."  I won't lie and say that the rest of the class was sassy-free, but I will say that I left my school today knowing that 75 young-adults care about me.  I used to ask myself why it was so important for me to feel like my students care about me, and now I think I finally know why I have always wanted this so bad: because now that I actually feel like these kids care about me, it is PROOF for me that they know that I care about them.  I could have never imagined (in a million years) that my first month of teaching would be this amazing.

I have so much more to say, but I need to do some planning, and then I need to do some sleeping. :)