We're Back to School!!

I can't believe how quickly this summer flew by! As I've talked to the other teachers, they feel the same way but they did a lot of fun things...travel, camping, etc. I stayed home and played with family and did a lot of sewing. One thing I did NOT do was work on lesson plans; at least until the last week of summer. Consequently, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. Oh well...I'll get over it or something. :)

Today we started putting the Interactive Notebooks together. I'm adding some things which I hope will be valuable and help them with the Common Core Standards. Part of the ELA Common Core states students should be able to read informational text and determine meaning. I want them to be able to figure out what the author wants us to know and how we can make meaning to our lives. It's got to have a personal connection! In addition to reading newspaper articles, documentarries, etc., I think you can get a lot of practice reading and interpreting motivational quotes. So, I will be adding those to their notebooks. I found a great website via Pinterest that has "Doodle Pages" of great quotes. I debated whether to use these or not because I was afraid many would be coloring when they should be working on other assignments. I decided to give it a try and see how it goes; worse case scenario, I'll give them the quotes and they'll have to write them down themselves. (I will be having them write what it means to them and how they can use it in their lives, too.)

The first one I printed out was from Dr. Seuss in his GREAT book, Oh the Places You'll Go. (I LOVE that book!!)

I told them I truly believe they have the power to determine the direction their lives will take them. If they choose to do well in school, they can do it! Of course it will take work and effort but THEY CAN DO IT!! A lot of them were really excited about being able to color; others think "coloring is dumb!" Oh well...can't please them all. ;)

 

We then added the "Who Are You??" page I used last year on page 9. We'll add more tomorrow.

 

(SIDE NOTE: As I explained last year, I went with The Middle School Mouth's suggestion of using the acetate covered college-ruled notebooks. I bought 40 extra notebooks during the sales and told students I'd have them today if they wanted to bring money to purchase them from me. Between students who were unprepared (they owe me the money for the notebooks), got the wrong size (wide-ruled instead of college...there is a difference in size of the notebook and all my handouts are geared for the larger size), or just wanted me to do the shopping instead of them ;), I went threw ALL of them by 5th period!!! I took the ones I traded (wide-ruled) and ran to WalMart on my prep and brought back 15 more. By the end of 7th period, I have 3 left!!!!!!! Just call me the "WalMart Extension!!")

Powerful Literature

As a junior high English teacher, I have the opportunity to introduce my students to some GREAT literature! It is the #1 reason I chose English...it certainly wasn't for all the papers I have to grade!! :(

This year, I have built my units around the concept that ANYONE, even an 8th or 9th grader, can be someone's hero. It's really worked out GREAT and I think the kids are really getting it which is the best part of teaching!

In my HONORS ENGLISH 8 class, we've studied:

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

 

Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

In my ENGLISH 9 classes, we've studied:

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Romeo & Juliet 

along with a variety of short stories

It's been a GREAT year with a lot of discussion around which character(s) could be viewed as a hero and what they did to earn that "title." I've always tried to tie it back to what THEY...the students...could do. I feel like I've pretty successful with most/all of the students.

After Spring Break in April, we began reading our last novel: Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt. It's the "sequel/spin-off/companion" novel to The Wednesday Wars. Without going into a lot of detail about either book, The Wednesday Wars is centered around a 7th grade boy named Holling Hoodhood and his 7th grade school year. He learns some powerful lessons from teachers and from studying Shakespeare. (YAY!!) In this book, there are several other students who are part of his adventures...both good and bad...and you really get to know and either love them or hate them. One of these boys is Doug Swieteck who is a bully in the beginning but eventually becomes someone Holling could consider a "sort of friend." Okay for Now is Doug's story as he moves away from Holling, the others, and Camillo Jr. High to Marysville, New York. We learn Doug's story from him...POWERFULLY written in as the first-person narration of an 8th grade boy who has a very rough life! He learns lessons from some great adults in his life and through the Audubon bird plates. We realize why Doug was a "bully" and come to love him!!

Today, we read an incredibly powerful scene in the novel. The students have had some amazing reactions to what they learned about Doug. The discussions have been FABULOUS!!!!!!!! I can't wait to continue and see how their understanding of the power of literature, text-to-self connections, deeper meaning, etc., etc., etc. I've also realized something I needed to be reminded of: Every child, every student, every adult, every teacher, EVERYONE...has a story! NO ONE is exempt from trials and crappy things that help shape us into the people we become. Sometimes, it takes persistence and a lot of hard work to figure out how to help someone but as teachers, adults, leaders, we can TRY to make a difference!!

NOTE: Even if you don't teach English, EVERYONE should read this book!!! I'd recommend reading The Wednesday Wars first but you don't have to...Okay for Now can be a "stand-alone" book.

Quotations, Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and MLA source formatting

UPDATE 5/13/2015: I APOLOGIZE TO ALL WHO HAVE REQUESTED COPIES OF THE DOCUMENTS FOR THIS POST. I HAVE NOW UPLOADED THE DOCUMENTS FOR YOU TO HAVE FOR YOUR OWN USE. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PATIENCE!! :) 

THE DOCUMENTS ARE UPLOADED AT THE END OF THE POST.

It's my least favorite time of the curriculum...research. I personally don't mind doing research but trying to teach the process to students is so time-consuming and tedious. But, with the new Common Core focus on argumentative writing, we have got to focus on it more. Plus, it's a skill they will use in all the years of schooling that follow.

I'm all about making the Interactive Notebook pages creative which makes them more likely to be used. I also firmly believe that the more modalities you have students use when learning something, the more likely they are to remember it. So, I've pulled out the colored pencils and markers and encouraged them to have fun designing the pages.

NOTE: Our district has adopted MLA formatting as the standard for all classes. Everything I post on this subject will be in accordance with the latest MLA standards.

I started with a reminder of what is considered FICTION versus NON-FICTION:

I reviewed our school's plagiarism policy to remind them of the consequences here as well as explained the consequences if caught in college/university. I stress this over, and over, and OVER again throughout the year! (The most hateful part of my job involves cheating and/or plagiarism!!)

Then we created a page for using quotations in an essay:

The next day, we discussed paraphrasing: 

and summarizing:

I then showed them the Incredible Shrinking Notes concept of taking a piece of material, taking notes on it in the top box, deleting the lesser important items for the middle box, and then 2-3 MOST IMPORTANT statements in the smallest box. It helps give them a visual of how to pick out the most important information. I also stress using bulleted lists with sentence fragments when taking notes. This helps with making sure they aren't copying information word-for-word which leads to plagiarism.

Then we created a reference page for "MLA Format for Parentetical Documentation." This is hard for them to grasp so having a resource to refer back to always helps.

The following two pages are the basic types of sources they will be using as they research and how to create the Works Cited page. My own daughters, who are in college, still refer to this as a guide for Works Cited pages. I update it as MLA standards change. 

Then, we practiced as a group how to cite an article they had summarized the other day. I had them walk me through the citation but made corrections as needed. Next week, they will create a Works Cited page from a variety of sources I provide. It takes time but it really helps them get the hang of it.

NOTE: THE NOTES ON THE TOP OF EACH NOTEBOOK PAGE ARE ON PAGE 1 OF THE QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING PAGE. YOU CAN EITHER PRINT THIS OFF FOR THEM TO GLUE IN TO THEIR INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS OR HAVE THEM WRITE IT. I PREFER TO HAVE THEM WRITE IT BECAUSE THEY'RE USING MORE MODALITIES SO IT GETS INTO THEIR BRAINS BETTER. (AT LEAST I HOPE IT DOES...)

QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING

MLA FORMAT FOR PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION

WORKS CITED FORMAT GUIDE

COOLEST EXPERIENCE EVER!!

I just have to share the most amazing experience. Long story short...I met and have become great friends with author Jason Wright. It all started in November 2007 when he was touring our district promoting his little novel, Christmas Jars. We had him come speak to our 9th graders in a mini-assembly and the response was overwhelming! Over the years, we have emailed, texted, visited, held assemblies, etc. and become GREAT friends! Each year since that time, I've had at least two of my classes (totaling 60ish students per year) read Christmas Jars and have seen it change their lives. It's AMAZING!!

So...today my Honors English 8 students had the opportunity to Skype with him! I prepared them with an understanding of the novel, explained the basic premise of his other novels, and then had them write up questions they'd like to ask a New York Times best-selling author. Today, I took them on an "In-house Field Trip" (pulled them out of a couple of classes) and we Skyped for 90+ minutes. It was hilarious and very touching to hear some of their own personal experiences with his other books as well as ask for advice on how to be better writers. I am so grateful to those who are willing to share their time and talents to help our young people!!

Bildungsroman

It's been a while since I've updated my posts. It's crazy how busy this year has become!

My Honors English 8 classes have just finished reading The Outsiders in class and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry as their assigned "at-home" reading. We've had some AMAZING discussions about both books and made terrific text-to-self connections. I'm astounded at how insightful these kids are! :)

In one of the lesson plan packages I purchased from Secondary Solutions, I found an explanation of the literary genre, Bildungsroman. Both novels fit the genre criteria of being a "coming of age" novel. So...for their Interactive Notebooks, I created a half page header they could cut out and glue in which gives the definition of the genre and the four points of criteria a novel must meet in order to fit. We then had a class discussion where we outlined the characteristics of Ponyboy (The Outsiders' protagonist) and Cassie (Roll of Thunder's protagonist) at the beginning of the novel and the end. I wrote their descriptions on the board. Then, I had them divide the bottom half of the page in half again vertically and write a paragraph explaining how each of the novels (one per side) fits the Bildungsroman criteria. It was really powerful! They saw how the experiences the characters went through over a period of time helped to mature and develop them.

(NOTE: My 9th graders have finished The Wednesday Wars; we did the same thing with Holling on the full bottom half of their page.)