Book endings

Obviously I have been slacking on my blogging. This actually makes me really sad because I am sure that there are many memories that have already slipped from my mind and are lost forever because I didn't take the time to write them down. Darn short-term memory.

Christmas break is practically upon us. In fact, I am writing this post during my prep period on the last day before break. Today is definitely a "fluffy" day, one I'm still unsure of it's purpose. Whatever.... I am so excited to take a break.

This last week we finished our book, The Devil's Arithmetic. When 5th period finished the book, there were tears in some eyes because of the emotional ending and all of my students clapped. I couldn't help but smile and feel satisfied that I had helped my kids feel real joy and anticipation in reading. I loved those days when they would anxiously ask, "Ms. Mayans, are we reading today? Pleasssseeeee?!?!?" 

They really do make me laugh. I was teaching compound sentence one day and trying to help them figure out what they were without specifically saying a definition. Once we had looked at models and written down the things they all had in common, I asked a student, "Ok, now with that information, what would you say is the definition of a compound sentence?" He looked at me with squinty eyes and said," Uh, I dont know." Now wanting to let him off the hook so easily, I energetically and dramatically said, "No, think about it. If a person walked up to you and said to you 'Dude, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me what a compound sentence is!' what would you say?" To which the student replied without hesitation, "I'd say, 'Get out of my face!'"   I got a good laugh from that one.

Yesterday I taught them a quick lesson on symbolism. We then watched Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and they had a worksheet to fill out on the symbolism they found in the cartoon. So today, perhaps as a time filler, I had my students write Holiday cards to teachers and administrators to show their appreciation. I got one from one of my students. Here it is (and please note how she applied our lesson from yesterday to her note. I smiled when I read it):

I catch myself wondering if it really wasn't divine intervention that made me teach 7th grade this year instead of 9th. Who knows what next year will bring and what grade I will be teaching, but I have learned how much fun these 12 year-olds can be. They are sweet and funny and (some of them) try so hard to make sure that I am happy with their work and their behavior. I have fallen in love with teaching middle school. Who knew it could be so rewarding!?  :)

Merry Christmas!

Impossible to please everyone

Fact: It is impossible to make everyone happy.

Just accept it. There is nothing you can do to change it. Especially if you are a teacher.

It seems there is always someone who is upset at me.

For the last few weeks I have tried to do something new with vocabulary but it didn't work well, so I decided to return to the original plan of having my students create vocabulary charts. I know these charts have been effective in helping them learn the new words, but of course I had students come up to me and say, "What!? I HATE doing the vocab chart. Why do we have to draw a picture of the word. This is stupid! This doesn't help me at all.... Blah blah blah blah blah..." Annoying. Very annoying. But, you know what? I have realized that as the teacher I get the final say and I get to ultimately decide what we do. I like taking suggestions and knowing what students enjoy doing in class, but in the end it is all up to me and what I believe is best for my students.

End of discussion. End of story.

Holocaust Simulations

We are currently reading The Devil's Arithmetic. It is fictional novel about a girl is transported back in time to the time of the Holocaust. Naturally, we have done a lot of historical front-loading so that my students can better understand the context and culture within the book. I have loved every minute of it, and I think my students are still very enthusiastic about this book. Yesterday we did a Holocaust gallery walk. I posted pictures with small captions, pamphlets, and artifacts about the Holocaust around the room and had my students walk around and view the various artifacts as if they were in a museum. One of the exhibits was a pile of pennies my students have brought in during the previous weeks. We had collected 10,730 pennies, and each penny represented a Jew who died in the Holocaust. I wanted my students to be able to visually see what an astonishingly large number of deaths occurred during the Holocaust (it is estimated that 6 million Jews were killed). Here is a picture of the penny pile.

The day before (Thursday), I did another activity with them that related to the Holocaust; I set up an experience similar to that of the Jews being removed from their homes, having their possessions taken, and being shoved into boxcars for deportation. Of course, this school experience couldn't ever be even a fraction of what the Jews really felt and experienced, but I felt that the activity was very affective in bringing more understanding to my students. 

         As my students approached the classroom, I stood unsmiling and stern at the door and informed them that there would be absolutely no talking. The entered the room and began working silently on the bellwork. Suddenly, in a very commanding and mean voice, I instructed them to line up at the door. I found every reason to yell at them ("You're not moving fast enough", "Dont look at your neighbor", "No talking", etc.). I told them that they needed to give me their jewelry, watches, phones, and anything else of value that they had on their persons. They looked at me with shock but obeyed and put their stuff in a small container I had. Then I marched them single file-quickly-still yelling at them to the front office and inside a small time-out room. After I had shoved all 30 of my kids into a small corner of the room, I began to read from the book. The chapter I read from described the experience of traveling in a boxcar, and soon our little time-out room also felt hot and muggy. Once I had read part of the chapter, we returned to the room and discussed the experience. Most of my students talked about the feelings of fear and confusion they had felt during this experience. I heard from the math teacher that my students were still talking about this experience the next day. Mission accomplished.

My professor later informed me that this teaching strategy is called simulation. She warned me about how some teachers have taken these kinds of activities too far, but she also explained how simulation can be very affective in bringing the text to life for some of my more hands-on learners.