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. 

Reassessing my Assessments

This week's schedule was so strange. We went to Salem High School on Monday morning to see the play they are soon to perform, Guys and Dolls. That took all of the morning, and I only saw my 6th, 7th, and 8th period classes. Then the next day we had an early out without a change in the bell schedule. This meant that I only saw periods 1 through 5. So basically, I taught the same thing on Tuesday and Wednesday. And can I just say how shocked I am at how fast the time whizzes by!? When I was studying to be a teacher, I saw the curriculum we are required to cover and I thought to myself, "Oh, it wont be hard to fit that all in a year. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I have extra time I'm not sure what to do with." Wow, what an ignorant assumption. I have plenty to teach, and I feel like I am running out of time for some things.

The kids had early out on Wednesday so that the teachers could have an in-service training meeting. It was soooooooooo boring, but I was reminded of a few things. Our principal talked to us about having common assessments (which my school --or at least my English team of teachers--  is horrible at). However, this did serve as a reminder to me that every day I should be assessing my student's understanding of the concept I have taught. I feel like I am pretty good at that part, but I forgot to also look and assess more long term. For example, over the weeks I have been teaching my kids the parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.), but I don't know how much they have retained. This is especially important to know because I am planning on giving them a final test on parts of speech right before Thanksgiving break. So, because I was inspired by the boring meeting, the next day I gave my students a benchmark test on these concepts. Wow, they did horribly on some of it, and I quickly realized how useful assessments can be for reteaching. This week's task: reteach (in a different way) some of the parts of speech so that my kids can be better prepared for the final test.

You guys...the worst has happened...I knew it was coming...but I didn't want to admit it...it's here...SNOW!!!! Oh, how my poor California-raised body and spirit long for the simplicity of...no snow. But no, I don't get my wish. So of course with yesterday being the first snow day, all the kids were in a funk. No one could concentrate. The power briefly went off twice yesterday, and of course that got everyone talking and laughing and chatting instead of focusing. Usually I am sad that I don't have a window, but yesterday I didn't mind it.

Just so you guys can envision what I have to suffer, this is a picture of my car this morning. Remember, yesterday was our FIRST snow day.   :(



One last, funny thing.
I wrote this on Facebook about something that happened to me on November 7th:
"Happy UnBirthday to me! Today during 4th period, the band kids came into my classroom with all their musical instruments and wearing party hats. They gave me a candy bar and played a very entertaining rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song. I clapped, and then I blushed as I explained that it wasn't my birthday... Woops! haha. Just a month off guys! But thanks for the very sweet gesture."

The cold, hard truth

I realized something this week, and it's not pretty. When you are an intern, it is required that you live, breathe, think, eat, sleep your job. In other words, your internship is your life, and you can kiss those care-free college activities goodbye. Yup, that is the cold, hard truth, and it only took me one crummy week of teaching to realize it.

Yes, it's true that this week I didn't have the most optimal teaching environment anyway. It was anti-bullying week, dress up week, Halloween, and afternoon assembly schedule. Still, I know I can take some responsibility for my pretty mediocre lessons. Here are my confessions:

• Confession #1: I put my social life before my job this week. Yikes! I know, I know, I can try to excuse my behavior by saying that I am young and still single and live in a house full of desperately eligible bachelorettes. I admit that I was lured by the promises of costume parties and lots of candy (including eye candy). But the truth is simple: I knew when I accepted the internship that I would have to put in a lot of time and effort into doing my job well, and this past week I didn't put in the needed focus for successful teaching.
• Confession #2: There were days (Dr. Coombs, please don't kill me) that I didn't have a lesson plan written out. Yikes again! I realized how big of a problem this was when I was standing in front of my class, watching them talking, trying to get the attention, and also trying at the same time to figure out in my mind what exactly I needed to tell them. While sometimes I write lesson plans that I don't use during the actual lesson, I still find security in knowing that it sit there on my podium just incase my brain decides to fail me momentarily. So lesson learned.
• Confession #3: Because I was feeling so guilty, I went to the library last night to work on my unit plans. I am happy to say that I have basically everything planned out from now until Christmas break. But here is a little thing you may not know about me: I am a perfectionist when it comes to writing. I hate scribbling out things, but I think I hate writing in pencil more. It's a no-win situations. Until...I figured out a brilliant way to plan without having to scribble out changed lesson plans. I call it "the post-it method" and some of the veteran teachers at my school have started using it since they saw my planner. I have different colored post-it notes for different subject (the novel we are reading, writing, and grammar) and once I write the different lesson plans on the post-it, I am able to move and rearrange them to fit just right. I love it! Here is what it looks like: 

While you may read these confessions and think, "Maichael, you are being too hard on yourself. I'm sure your lessons were fine,"  I sit here and know that, although my students may be none the wiser, I know I didn't put in my full effort and that disappoints me. But, a new week will come in a few days, and I am already rededicated and better prepared for the future.

Anyway, enough of my bad confessions. Here are some more entertaining ones:

• Good Confession #1: I think I may be falling in love with teaching 7th graders. True, I haven't yet had the opportunity to try my hand at teaching older grades, but I actually enjoy teaching 7th grade much more than I thought I would. They are always so full of surprises. I have one girl in my first period class who is in love with words. The other day I said "befuddled" in class and she immediately got up and picked up a dictionary to find out what that word meant. Then, a few minutes later, she said to me, "Ms. Mayans, that is a cool word!  You want to know another cool word I learned a few days ago: Indubitable." She promptly opened up the dictionary again to find the official definition of the word "indubitable" and has been carrying a dictionary in her hand ever since. I love it!  :) Big words are so fun.
• Confession #2: It is pretty funny working in predominantly Mormon community. You get some very interesting reading logs. (The second picture instructs the students to write down sentences from their reading and identify the subject and verb).  
•   
• extra credit if you can identify where this girl is reading!

Well, that is all for now. Thank you to those who have commented or emailed me to give me advice and support. I love you all!

My Picture on the Website

Look! I am officially on the Mt Nebo Junior High website.  :)

     Today was such a wonderful day, I just have to tell you about it. Really, it was nothing special. Just same old lessons and assignments, but today I wasn't the only one working hard; my students did such a great job at working diligently on these fractured fairytales we are creating.

      Let me tell you briefly about the assignment. My kids are taking a fairytale and making a major change to the story (like changing the setting, point of view, character roles, etc) to make new stories. We have spent the last few days looking at a ton of models and now today we talked about sensory detail and how to make your story come alive. After all this work and preparation, it was nice to have them finally start drafting their stories. I gave them a little bit of time to talk with a friend and do some last-minute brainstorming and tweeking before having them quietly work on their stories. And the great thing is, they ALL worked hard today. Yup, even my kids who hate writing. Yup, even that ridiculous 7th and 8th period, talkative class. Yes-sir-ee, I was a happy gal.

     

     So it didn't even bug me when I had kids in my class until 4 (remember, school gets out at 2:40) desperately trying to get missing/late work or redo tests before the end of term. I was actually impressed with some of their diligence today (although I am hoping that they learn their lesson this term and cease the procrastinating game). 

     Ok, but now it just hit me...I am exhausted....nap time at 7:40. Sounds good to me.

A Few Weeks Worth....Sorry

Holy cow! It has been way too long since I last posted something about my life. So much has happened, but it has also drained me a little bit (hence, I haven't even found the strength or motivation to write briefly about it).

Lets start with today and move backwards, shall we?

The end of term is almost upon us. October 29th, grades are due and October 19th is the last day for my students to turn in any late/missing/redone/extra credit work. Yes, you heard right, that is THIS Friday. Are people freaking out? You bet your boots they are! Just last week I tried to give one "catch-up" class period. I was thinking, "Oh, this will be easy for me. I will just give them the class period to work on whatever they are missing and maybe a few people will ask for some help during the hour."  No! Once again, I was terribly mistaken to think that an activity I planned would turn  out simple. I had students coming up the entire time: asking what they were missing, wanting to see their grade, checking how much an assignment was worth, asking questions about how to do something. By the end of the day, I had a head ache. But, I can honestly say, that I am glad I gave them that time. I feel like many of the students appreciated it and used the time wisely.

With grades coming out soon, I am supposed to notify all the parents of students who are currently earning a D or an F. For most of the parents, I have sent an email. Generic. Simple. Clear. "Your son/daughter is earning a         . They are missing the following big-point assignments:         ." The end. It hasn't been too bad (besides the fact that I have more students failing that I would like to admit). There are, however, some parents that don't have emails. These ones are usually the hispanic families. So, yesterday afternoon, I called the house of one of my students and began to have a painfully un-understandable conversation with his mom. I soon realized that this was going to get me nowhere, so I admitted to her that I spoke Spanish and that we could probably try to communicate in her language instead of pretending to communicate in mine. It was tough, but also rewarding to communicate with her. I was so grateful at the end for my mission and the opportunity to learn Spanish. I can tell it will truly be a blessing to me for the rest of my life.

Yesterday was also fun because I realized how important metacognition (the act of thinking about thinking ) is. We were reading "The Landlady", a scary short story, as a class. I didn't even realize how much you have to infer about the story until the very end when I was all pumped and my students were like, "Huh?! That's it? That wasn't scary at all!?" What a bust! Here I was, all excited and literature-nerdy, and my kids couldn't even understand how cool the story was. (Feel free to read/listen to it here). Anyway, after first period's less-than-stellar reaction, I realized that I needed to scaffold the inferencing better. The rest of the day went better, but it all taught me a lot about what I can expect from students this age.

A few weeks ago, I went to an English teacher conference (UCTE). I'm not going to write a lot about it, but I will say that it was very fun and gave me a lot of good ideas. I feel like I am brimming with good ideas but am not sure exactly how to implement them. That, or I once again dont have time because I am juggling so many things. Some of the speakers included: Shannon Hale (author of Goose Girl...which I LOVE and read in one night a few years ago) and Taylor Mali (author of "What Teachers Make"....read it here or watch it on YouTube).

Last weekend we had Fall Break. No school on Thursday or Friday and it was definitely a needed break. Yay!

Ok, so a few weeks ago, I broke up a fight at school. A girl fight. Oh man, it was intense. The adrenalin kicked in when I saw these two girls punching and pulling hair in front of my classroom during passing period. I pulled one girl off of the other, and then luckily another teacher came who knew the girls and could tell the administration who they were. I was fine until the crowd dispersed and I saw the clumps of long, brown hair in the hallway. Yuck!  I almost gagged. I was then the talk of the school for the next few days. Kids would seriously walk past my door, look at me, and whisper to their friends, "That's the teacher that told on so-and-so." Haha, while it was kinda funny, I am happy that the fame was fleeting and things are now back to normal.

Well, I'm sure there is probably more that I missed, but I can't recall anything else for the moment. I promise I will do better from here on out.