A Big Thank You!

Project RAISSE has been a wonderful experience for Gilbert High School. I cannot thank the participants enough for all of the hard work, dedication and commitment to this project. As you reflect on how Project RAISSE changed you as a professional educator and your view on reading and literacy, remember that student achievement is our utmost priority. Implementing these best practices in your instruction and presentation will promote the effort in helping students find success in your content area.

Small Triumph

Okay, a small triumph to report! We started Scribbler of Dreams, a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet, about a week before we began our research projects. We read Romeo and Juliet last semester, and this semester, we decided to continue our study of forbidden love through this modern novel and through research. Well, when we began reading the book, I had several very vocal girls in my second block class who were really not interested in this book. Everyday that week when we pulled out the novels to start reading, they were very vocal about their dislike for this story. Now they are loving it! They cannot wait to read the novel everyday, and they are volunteering to read out loud. I love it when the students are won over!!

Great Research Experience. . .

So, we’ve finished our rough draft of our research papers and I think this may be the first time ever that I have received 95 percent (or maybe more) of my students papers. I usually have a fairly large number of students who just DO NOT do the assignment. I really think our media assistant’s webpage that she created helped the students find their information more quickly so that they had time to get the bibliography and the essay completed. I’ve had our media specialist pull books before for the students, but I haven’t had her compile groups of websites for each topic. One she compiled her wiki space site, I knew right away that the students could just go to these sites and quickly find their information, rather than spending hours and hours surfing through Google. Also, Debra, our English resource teacher, really helped her students in her class to draft outlines, and think of questions to answer for each topic. She is AWESOME!! These two ladies helped the students do such a great job on their papers. I even had a few of these special education students who went around the computer lab after they finished their papers and helped the other students with their research projects!!!

Grading Portfolios

I just had to write--eventhough it is 12:30 A.M. on a Saturday morning. I brought the portfolios of my two study groups home with me to grade. I turn them in to USC on Monday, so of course, I am not grading them until the weekend before--you teachers understand that, right??? Well, I certainly didn't imagine that I'd be grading them on Friday night! However, that is EXACTLY what happened.

I brought them into the house to clean out the car for my usual weekend job--carting my kids around to various activities. I casually picked up one notebook to flip through--and was HOOKED!

Each one of my ten study group members' portfolios was wonderful. I could hardly believe all that we'd done together--must less how much they'd done on their own that they hadn't even had time in study group to share (though we certainly had already shared a LOT there!).

Best of all, when I read the year-end reflections, I was thrilled. The students at GHS--and PHS, too, I am sure--are so fortunate! Ultimately, they are the ones who benefit from the enthusiasm, comaraderie, "tool box" of strategies, and new knowledge of books that was demonstrated in each portfolio I read.

Not only was I inspired enough to stay up til the A.M. hours to read these, I just had to share my excitement! Now. . . I just hope someone reads this since you are all through with your blogging "requirements."

Congratulations to all RAISSERS!! and their students!!

Opportunity for Publishing Students' Work

Are you guys familiar with the magazine Teen Ink? It is a really cool magazine that only includes the writings and artwork of youth. Students really enjoy reading writings done by their contemporaries.

Your own students can submit their writing--no matter the genre. The magazine is available to schools and can be purchased as individual subscriptions are classroom-set orders. The subscriptions are not all that expensive. Ask an English teacher at your school; we get samples all the time.

There are also a lot of other publishing opportunities. See you English department chair for suggestions. Sometimees offering a child an opportunity to publish makes them work harder and write more! That's always a good thing.

All Over

RAISSE is over and I hate to say that I am some what relieved. I have learned so much from RAISSE. However, this has been a really overwhelming year for me. This year was my first offical full year as a teacher and boy, oh, boy has it be a ride. I am so ready for the summer, as I am sure many of my collegues are very ready too! RAISSE really has made me a better teacher. I try to incorporate RAISSE strategies into my classroom more frequently. I also have to say that students seem to enjoy a lot of what I incorporate with these strategies. I send a big thank you to all the group leaders who did such a wonderful job keeping all of us on track.

Rubrics

I have to say rubrics are such a pain to create. If you are like me, it takes forever to get them just right any way. However, once you have a good rubric, they are wonderful tools to have. You can just simply change a word or two here or there from semester to semester. Rubrics really make grading a lot easier. I have also made a few rubics that come back to bite me. Once I made a rubric that really did not give students the clear understanding of a product that I was looking for. Students turned in some pretty rough looking projects, but I had to give them a grade based on the rubric. So it was a lesson well learned.

Using picture books in secondary classrooms

Here is another great article that I found in the process of doing my thesis.


AUTHOR:
CYNDI GIORGIS
TITLE:
The Power of Reading Picture Books Aloud to Secondary Students
SOURCE:
The Clearing House 73 no1 51-3 S/O 1999

VALUE OF READING PICTURE BOOKS ALOUD:

Few secondary students remember having seen a picture book since entering middle or high school, much less having had one read aloud to them. A recent study of secondary teachers (Duchein and Mealey 1993) indicated that more than two-thirds of those interviewed were read to prior to beginning school and more than half were read to by primary teachers, but the practice had ceased for most by third grade. Teachers who did read aloud during grades four to six and into middle and high school, however, made significant, positive, and long-lasting impressions on their students. As one seventh grader whom I worked with said, "It felt odd at first because I haven't had a teacher read a picture book to me in a long time. Most people think that we are too old for picture books, but it's interesting to listen to them." The perception is that picture books have either no value at the secondary level or that reading such books aloud should be reserved for children still in the early stages of their literacy development.Research studies over the years have also supported the positive correlation between a student's being read to and his or her own ability as a reader and writer. Unfortunately, many teachers believe that once students begin reading independently, the process of reading aloud to them should end. One secondary teacher in a college literature class recently asked, "Why should I read to my students when they can read for themselves?" Again, studies show that older students who have experienced reading aloud realize "the power of the spoken word and the bond that develops between speaker/oral reader and audience" (Megyeri 1993, 186).When secondary teachers read picture books aloud, it is important that they read the entire book rather than a few pages or brief excerpt. Students gain numerous perspectives through text and illustration that they would not if one or two pages were taken out of context. A case in point is The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. This story is told from the wolf's point of view (allowing the teacher to elucidate the literary element of point of view) and is effective with older students because they are familiar with the traditional story of "The Three Little Pigs" and they connect to the sophisticated humor in the story and illustrations. Reading the whole book conveys to students that the teacher values literature in its entirety.

HOW TO SELECT PICTURE BOOKS:

Reading aloud to students should occur in all secondary classrooms, not just language arts classes. A number of recently published picture books deal with issues and concerns of today's middle and high school students. These books can be integrated successfully into social studies, language arts, math, science, music, and art (see figure 1). Picture books have been published that focus on historical issues such as the Holocaust, Japanese internment, slavery, Westward expansion, and the Lowell (Massachusetts) mills. In addition, many excellent picture book biographies highlight scientists, explorers, artists, and musicians from the past and present. Teachers searching for books to support the discussion of societal issues such as drugs, homelessness, and suicide will find picture books that present these difficult topics in an powerful format that is meaningful and accessible to all students.When selecting a picture book to read aloud, the teacher should be clear about his or her intended purpose. Books with an interesting story and appealing illustrations are key to the success of the read-aloud. Recommendations from other teachers and librarians are a good place to begin to locate picture books, although what may have worked well in one classroom or the library does not necessarily work with another group of students. Knowing the students and what may appeal to them is critical. Teachers should also select a book that they themselves enjoyed because their enthusiasm for the story will become evident once they begin reading it aloud. Finally, teachers should never assume that the meaning derived from a picture book is bound to be simplistic. Some powerful discussions in secondary classrooms can evolve from the reading of a picture book.

STRATEGIES FOR READING ALOUD:

Teachers at the secondary level will often read aloud poetry, short stories, or brief passages from novels. Yet, many times when a secondary teacher brings a picture book to the classroom, he or she apologizes to the students and tries to explain the reasons for bringing a book for "little kids" to the class. Students immediately perceive that they are going to be "read down to" and often are put off by the experience. If students reject picture books in their classroom, the question should be raised as to how the book was introduced. If the picture book is explained as an inferior text, then students will develop a negative mindset before the reading occurs, and the experience is doomed to failure.Also, it is critical that a teacher actually use the term picture book. Recently, during a workshop on literature, a middle school teacher stated that she preferred to call them "short stories" rather than picture books so that her students didn't reject them. However, a knowledgeable teacher who has read, and seen the potential for reading, picture books aloud should not pretend that the books are anything but picture books. By explaining to students how text and illustrations work in concert to create meaning, teachers will help students come to accept picture books as commonplace in the classroom.When students see themselves and their life experiences in the books that are read aloud to them--such as the sibling rivalry found in Patricia Polacco's My Rotten Red Headed Older Brother--the reading experience becomes much more meaningful. Picture books may cause students to reflect on values, both materialistic and altruistic, by discussing a book such as The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor. In that story, the protagonist initially bemoans the fact that her parents make very little money. She comes to realize, however, that true wealth has nothing to do with money. At times, reading a powrful picture book to secondary students may push them in their thinking because many of these books deal with complex issues.When the picture book presents a historical perspective, it is critical that the teacher provide a context for the reading. The power of reading aloud Richard Wright and the Library Card by W. Miller, a story focusing on an incident taken from Wright's novel Black Boy about his inability as a black man in the South to check out books from the public library during the 1920s, will be lost if students are not provided with the historical context in which to place the story. The same is also true of Sarah Stewart's The Gardener, set during the Depression and written in a letter format telling of a young girl's attempts to create a garden that will cheer up her seemingly crabby uncle. Once students have an understanding of the time period, they will be able to derive meaning from the text and illustrations.An important reason for reading a picture book aloud is that the story can be shared in one class sitting, an ideal situation in secondary schools, where class periods are often brief and reading and response to picture books is possible within a single period. Of course, the book can be reread time and again, but the impact will be lost if the story is carried out over several days.

CONCLUSION:

Reading aloud to middle and high school students demonstrates a teacher's enthusiasm for reading, an attitude that can be contagious (Richardson 1994). Hearing a good story read aloud often piques the interest of the most reluctant reader, who will then become an active listener and, possibly, a more willing reader. As one high school student said, "My outlook on picture books is that I feel it is important to keep these books throughout our school years. Although these books are thought to be only for elementary students, they are a nice way to inspire another story or use as a tool to help you open your creative doors. With all the stress and homework of high school, it's nice to have someone read you a story."

Literacy as blogging!

I am currently working on a Masters degree, and one of the requirements is that I complete a thesis. I have found many interesting articles. Here is one on how blogging is used to help increase literacy in the classroom. If you would like the entire article, it can be found through DISCUS.

Collaborative literacy: blogs and Internet projects.(TECHNOLOGY IN LITERACY EDUCATION).
Author(s):Erica Boling, Jill Castek, Lisa Zawilinski, Karen Barton and Theresa Nierlich.
Source:The Reading Teacher 61.6 (March 2008): p504(3). (1625 words) Reading Level (Lexile): 1250.
Document Type:Magazine/Journal
Full Text :COPYRIGHT 2008 International Reading Association Inc.
Popular technologies offer new and exciting ways to capitalize on the strengths of authentic writing, the power of the writing process, and the engagement of collaborative writing. In this column, we showcase students using some of these new technologies. The first vignette focuses on using blogs in the classroom. Blogs are websites that allow individuals to create personal webpages of text, pictures, graphics, videos, and other multimedia with the same ease as creating a word processing document. Unlike traditional websites, however, they provide a space where people can post comments and engage in online conversations. The second vignette illustrates the power of collaborative writing using Internet projects.
Classroom Blogging (by Erica Boling)

Articles

I love using articles in my classroom. Many times I will pick something off the news or something that I came accross on the internet that is interesting and relates to my classes. This has been a great way to start some good conversation in my classroom. Students seem to enjoy a lot of the articles that I bring in. I even have some students that will bring in things that they have found. I had a student bring in a flyer from a doctor's office. It really had great information. Articles have also helped me bring a real world aspect to the material that I teach.

Buying Books

I am really excited about buying books for my classes. I plan on going to Books-A-Million and looking for lots of books that relate to my classes. I am a little nervous that $100 will go very fast though. I bought a few books at the flea market, and I have noticed that many students just pick the books up casually in my room. It is very exciting for me to see students wanting to read more. I know buying more books for my room will peak their interest a little more.

Bloging Reflection

After searching for the past 4 days for all of my blogs, I have realized that I have spent more time looking for blogs than I spent writting them. I could not find all 8 posts for the life of me. So here I am blogging to reflect on my blogging experience. Most teachers had great input and advice for each other and I hope that my blogging helped them somehow. There are many new and exciting things that I try everyday to make class exciting and refreshing. The best advice that I could give anyone is to start each period with a smile on your face and an upbeat attitude no matter what it is that you may be dealing with that day: stress, loss of sleep, etc. The students deserve to have a positive uplifting teacher everyday! Try to make this a priority. We deserve the same as teachers, but often don't receive this - so don't get your hopes up. Hope everyone enjoyed blogging as much as I did. Happy blogging futures for all.

Want Books....Lots of Books!

Now it is time to order books for my classes and I need some help. Does anyone know of any great books that would go well with my Health Science classes? I am really looking for "quick reads," "read alouds" or anything that will capture my students' minds. Some topics might include: health careers, diseases, anatomy, physiology, diversity, or anything that future doctors, nurses, lab techs, vets, etc., might need to read. If you have any great ideas, please let me know ASAP...my list is due this week! HELP! :P

Blogs, Blogs, and More Blogs

Just in case you start having withdrawal pains from reading blogs, try this one:

http://professornana.livejournal.com/ This is Teri Lesesne's blog. Teri is a former librarian who does a great job sharing book reviews of new YA books.

And then when you get tired of reading blogs - try listening to podcasts. They are even more fun than blogs.
Janet

Yearbook

In preparing my Reference Guide and finishing my journals for today, I recalled what we learned from Dr. Feathers, of Wayne State University, at our GHS professional development. She spoke about the relationship of images to text and how that aids in reading and comprehension. I've been working with my yearbook staff all year on "Telling the story" of the spread or picture. I'm going to incorporate this idea into my lessons for yearbook next year. I hope that students will understand that the yearbook is not just about the pictures, that it is a combination of the images and the story.

American Literature

I am looking for Read Aloud ideas and supplementary texts for my American Literature classes. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions to share? All ideas will be welcomed and appreciated.

Raisse is Over?!

Now that we've had our last Raisse meeting, I'll be sorry to see my group members less. I can only hope that we are able to set something up in which the entire school gets involved in Raisse-ish type activities. Someone suggested today that we could begin a teacher blog just for PHS teachers so that we can continue sharing ideas, strategies and frustrations of lessons gone awry. I think that this is a great idea.

Project Raisse, life changing event ? hmmm...

I took this class expecting to learn lots of great new strategies and ideas, which I have in some aspects, but a lot of what I've learned, I was already doing in my classroom. So, this may not have been as life changing as I expected. However, the connections I made with my fellow teachers whom I do not see on a daily basis, or with whom I talk rarely, has made this entire experience more than worthwhile. I am planning on collaborating with teachers on cross-curricular units next year based on what we've discussed in our groups. For example, Mark McAbee and I follow nearly the same chronological process in our classes and we can make connections across the disciplines. I never get to speak with math teachers or science teachers about content, so this was refreshing and built a sense of fellowship. That has changed my professional life here at PHS, and I think that it will be harder for me to live in an "English Hall Vacuum" after this... and that is a good thing!

Parker's Blog

At our Raisse meeting this morning, Dee and Erin talked about Parker's blog that he has been working on with students and I just checked it out. It is very cool and I think that setting up something like this for teachers would be a valuable resource.
The web address for Parker's blog if you are interested is http://theposterboard.blogspot.com

Rubrics and Change

Okay - this is my last post, and I will be caught up! One thing that I have gotten out of the RAISSE class if that the use of rubrics is more important than I ever thought. I felt like it took too much time, that it didn't give me enough leeway in grading projects, that it was just another piece of paperwork for me to do. But I am now a believer. Hard headed as I can be, I now see that it only makes life easier. And giving the rubric out at the beginning when you assign the project is the most necessary thing about it. It helps us be "accountable," it covers us when the students say, "I didn't know you wanted that!" And more important - it makes the students "ACCOUNTABLE." Why my brain wouldn't accept this all along - I don't know. We teachers sometimes get into our routines and watch that pendulum swing back and forth with "new" strategies that come and go, and come back. Many of these strategies that we have talked about were in CHRISS training about 10 or so years ago that we did in groups at LHS. There was also a "Summer Institute" one year that introduced such strategies as "Think, Pair, Share" and KWL and egg timers and other graphic organizers galore. The Janet Allen institutes are full of these same things with the addition of Read Alouds and a focus on literacy. What I have really liked about the format of RAISSE, is the study groups. I think that this have forced (encouraged is a better word) us to meet with teachers across the curriculum with whom we wouldn't normally have pedagogical conversations. Ideas that work in science class might have never occurred to me to try in my English class, but I have gotten great ideas from the math, science, special ed, computer technoloy, and broadcast journalism teachers in my study group. This has been a wonderful and enlightening experience. Thanks to everyone.
Vicky J

Story Book Assignment

I used this activity with my Public Speaking class. Most of them enjoyed it and were successful in the creation of it and the presentation of it. Some students had trouble understanding how to present complicated material in a story book format. They kept asking, how are little kids going to understand it? I explained that this was the format for the project. Maybe no little kids would actually read it. Some could not grasp this idea. But for the most part it was a success. First I gave them asn assignment sheet with topics from which to choose, explict expectation of what would be turned in, including an outline of the topic, a story board for their story, pictures in cluded, and a works cited page. Some of the topics included the communication process, what makes an effective speech communicator, nonverbal communication, barriers to effective listening, faulty reasoning, and stage fright. I also suggested some sites to help them format their works cited page. Once they had all finished their books and saved them to the O drive, I printed them out, and bound them using the library's binder machine. They LOVED getting their story books back looking so nice. We then invited classes to hear our presentations. Next time I think I will split this up between two days, so that it doesn't take an entire class away from the visitors, and I will have some sort of evaluation tool for visiting students to fill out. I enjoyed this activity as did the students and will be looking for other ways to incorporate it.
Vicky J

RAFT Writing

For my spotlight strategy, I chose to do a RAFT writing assignment, where students write from a different point of view (Role), for a specific Audience, in a specific Format, on a specific Topic. Again I used this activity with my English students while working on The Miracle Worker. The Assignment was to choose a character from the play, write a business letter to Dr. Anagnos, explaining the miracle that has taken place, how you feel about it as your character, and how you think it will affect the family and each individual other character - from your character's perspective. I gave them a list of brainstorming questions like the following. How would you describe your character? What are the desires of your character? Who are the important people in your character's life and why? What are your character's expectations at the beginning of the play? What are your character's feelings at the end of the play? What was the lesson your character learned? How does your character think this will affect each of the other characters? Next time I will create a graphic organizer for this purpose. Some of the students had a hard time answering these questions. Of course, then they drafted their letters, we went over the format for a business letter, and they rewrote their drafts in business letter form. We then went to the lab and typed and printed them out. Most of the students got a kick out of this assignment. Some had trouble staying in character throughout the letter, but I think it taught a good lesson in point of view. It also got them thinking about the feeling of the different characters.
Vicky J

The Miracle Worker - Using the Film in Class

As my movie project I used The Miracle Worker, which I usually show in class, but had an inspiration about how to make it better. One of the things I try to get the student to focus on is that stage directions when reading a ply or a screen play. Especially in this piece, many of the scenes have little or no dialogue, but are mainly stage direction, i.e. the dining room scene. Therefore I cam up with a graphic organizer for the students to use while watching the movie. I asked them to note colors, levels of lighting, and music used in certain types of scenes. Then after the movie we would go back to the literature book, and I would have them look for those scenes, read the stage directions to see if the movie followed them. Whether or not they did, they should decide if the techniques used helped to portray mood or theme in the movie. I ask them if they think the director made good choices and if not, what would they have done to make the mood more evident. I will use this one again, but I may modify it.
Vicky J

"How to Bartle Puzzballs"

At the beginning of the year our RAISSE representatives introduced an activity that I used with my class. At that time I was having trouble getting on the blog. Now, looking back at my journal, I wanted to share that experience. The students each got a copy of the reading selection. It includes gibberish words that create a paragraph that make no sense. Then there are questions about the passage. After giving them a chance to read the passage and letting them laugh and share their first impressions about it, I asked the question, "How many of you have ever read a passage with real words and felt like you had no idea what you just read?" All hands shot up. I asked, "What do you usually do about it?" Some answers included, "Just forget about it!" "Go on to something else." "Wait for the teacher to explain it." Then someone said, "Read it again." Yay! So I put them in groups and charged them to read it over and over again, try to decide what the gibberish words stood for, and reword it so that it made sense. After about 15 minutes, we came back together as a class. We went through the questions together, and tried to answer them using word placement, parts of speech, and guessing the meanings of words. Then we brainstormed strategies for comprehending what we read. Some of the suggestions were to read the passage at least five times, look at the words you already know (the little words) and try to figure out what the other words mean, look at the parts of speech to tell whether a word is a noun, verb, a name (proper noun), etc…, find the definitions of words, do some research on the topic, and many more. Then I suggested that they should try these strategies whenever they come across a passage that they don’t understand after reading the first time. It seemed to make a lot of sense to them. We have touched back on these strategies from time to time, but I think I could do more with the activity next time.
Vicky J

Does this count as a Post?

The Money Tree
by
Don Parker

When I was a boy in my hometown
People came from miles around
To see the great big Money Tree
That grew in the yard next door to me.

The people looked ‘till their eyes ‘most popped
To see the money that grew on top.
The big bills high and the little bills low.
The money grew from head-to-toe

The wind would blow and money fell
You ought to have heard the people yell.
Maybe a thousand or two would fall
But I could never get any at all.

One day a tornado with might force
Found the Money Tree in its course.
It twisted and turned as best as it could
Then finally splintered the tender wood.

Around the world the seeds were blown
And somewhere else a tree has grown.
I’ll search this earth ’till I’m old and grew
And find my Money Tree again someday.

Now life is like this tale I’ve told
It’s been that way since the days of old.
If you look you will find what you are searching for.
It might be found through the very next door.


P.S. I wrote this in middle school for a poetry contest.
The teacher accused me of cheating.
I never told anyone.
I didn't write for 20 years.
It's being made into a children's book.

This is torture!

I have sat here for hours trying to think of something to say. I have searched all of the Posts to find topics to which I can relate. Don't get me wrong. After reading all of the posts, it's obvious that you are all are very qualified teachers. For me, this is a grueling process. I teach technology. I am project oriented. Reading and writing is not easy. I am constantly questioning my choice of words, grammar, syntax, spelling (thank God for 'Spell Check"), and-on-and on. Are hyphens necessary? Does what I have written make sense? People can read what I have written! Yikes! I like things that are real. I don't like to B.S. However, I do have a feeling of accomplishment when I press "Publish Post". By the way, does the (.) go within or outside the quotation marks? Or is that "in or outside the quotes"? Help! Guard! Let me out!

Suggestions on Books?

Our special education department would like to order some new books for our classes that we can read as a class. We have several titles but many of the upper-classmen have already read them. Does anyone have any suggestions for some new titles that we could order?

A Long Way from Chicago

I have been reading A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck with my students and I have to say that this was a very fun book. I think we'll read the sequel when we finish this one. I haven't had as much time as I would like to read with my students because they have had so many projects for other classes, but hopefully, things will settle down and we can get back to a routine.

Mistaken Identity

I have read the book Mistaken Identity which is about the families of Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak. Their story was just recently shared on NBC's Dateline. Since I teach Health Science this book lead to much discussion in the classroom. We discussed topics such as how a body is identified, head injuries, health care workers who were involved in Whitney's care, and many more. Whitney suffered severe head trauma from the wreck she was in. This was a great way to open the study of the nervuos system in my anatomy class.

"Use Help, Please"

I am a technology teacher. The course is focused around Apple's Final Cut Pro, a professional video editing software application. It's a great program, but the learning curve is intense. Once you understand the process, if you can visualize it... you can make it happen. I give the students plenty of guided practice on how to navigate the interface and how to accomplish basic editing tasks.
I make a list of terms and questions whose answers can be found in Final Cut Pro's Help. Once I turn them loose to create their own video projects and they have "How To" questions, and there are many, I make them search for the answer in Help or Google. I believe that they have enough information to ask the right question using the terms and questions I have provided. Therefore, they should be able to discover the answer on their own.

Independent Reading

The practice of allowing students to select their own books is one I have always endorsed, and one of the reasons I am so excited to be a part of the English department here at GHS. For those of you who don’t know, English teachers here commonly require students to read three or four books “independently” during each English semester. Though some of this reading occurs at home, teachers also usually provide silent reading time in class for students to accomplish the task. One important characteristic of this reading experience is that the students, not the teachers, select the books. This allows students to explore genres they are interested in, or to discover what type of reader they are by sampling various texts. I feel this is one of the most useful strategies in building literacy because honest reading requires true interest, which is something we cannot force upon our students. By allowing students to pick their own books, we can be fairly certain that genuine reading takes place.
Of course, the issue of accountability always enters the picture. The standard “book report” assignment for independent reading seems to be note cards. These serve as class grades and double as incentives for Reader Rewards day. The other tricky bit is connecting students (especially reluctant readers) with books they really want to read. Some teachers simply require students to find reading material on their own, others take their classes to the library, and still others provide texts through personal classroom libraries (though I have a feeling most teachers provide more than one of these options). I don’t care how a student finds a book, so long as he/she discovers something enjoyable. Being a book collector myself, I have found my natural inclination to be building up a sizable library in my room: my collection has grown by a few hundred books this school year. Of course, I highly recommend visiting thrift stores and/or used bookshops. You’d be surprised at the quality you can find so cheaply!
If you haven’t tried enticing your students to read by dangling class credit before their slavering jowls, I strongly recommend it. And since the reading is accomplished outside the classroom, you don’t even have to worry about losing instructional time. The rewards are well worth the slight effort on your part. I think your students will agree.

And One Makes Eight!

This is my eighth post, completing the requirement (yippee!). I did spend a little time reading others' posts this morning, and there are a lot of great ideas and, I'm proud to say, a bunch of folks who clearly have a passion for teaching. That makes my heart glad, 'cause it sure is easy to get cynical these days.
I think in my next life, I'll be an English teacher. Seems like so much of this cool stuff is more easily incorporated into teaching English. Besides, as Huck would surely NOT say, "Ain't readin' the mostest fun?"

Describe a Project you would like to Produce in Broadcast Production and how you would go about making it happen.

This is a post for my Broadcast Production Class. I meant to post on The Poster Board but posted here instead. Anyway, this is more like the kind of writing I want them to do.

Movie Lesson really resonated with students

I decided to show the movie Lorenzo's Oil again in my classes for this semester as part of the nervous system in Anatomy and genetics in Biology. It still amazes me how much this movie resonates with the students. To start with, I give them an anticipation guide with agree/disagree statements about the movie (such as "If a person has a terminal illness, everything should be done to keep them alive as long as possible," or "Parents have the right to make life and death decisions about their children without discussing it with them first"). The discussion these statements provide is quite lively and really starts their brains thinking in a good way. Then when we watched the movie, they were all awestruck at what was happening. It was amazing how a movie where nothing blows up and there's no real cursing or violence kept their attention. After the movie, we revisited the anticipation guide to see if any of their responses changed, and a lot of them said they had. I then showed them the myelin project website and the current information about Lorenzo (still alive and about to turn 30!). We ended the discussion with a poem written by lorenzo's mother that was turned into a song ("Lorenzo") by Phil Collins. I then had them do a freewrite or write a letter to Lorenzo which we will send to him. The students were so excited to hear he was still alive and that they could write to him. Their letters were very heartfelt and showed a great deal of compassion and sympathy I didn't think that they were capable of. We've now been referencing back to the movie all week as we talk further about our material, and I think the students are holding on to it a lot better now that they've made the emotional connection to the content. this is definately one I'm keeping for my bag o tricks, even though it requires a parent permission slip!

Spring Break Reading

I finished reading Stray (Autobiography of a Dog) to my physical science classes the week before spring break. A lot of the students really liked the book and looked forward to hearing the story each day. As an extension, I took my classes to the school library the Friday before break and gave them time to select a book to read over their week off. The carrot was a promise of a 100 quiz grade for those who read a book and brought it to class when we got back, then answered a few questions about it, with no penalty for those who chose not to read a book. I was surprised at how many students picked out a book, and how many wrote thoughtful responses to my questions. I think a lot more students would read on their own if we would give them opportunities to just get a book from the library rather than expect them to go get one on their own. Maybe once some of them see how much fun it is, they will get hooked. I plan to do this with future classes.

PE Reading Exercise

For the last 7 chapters of our Looking Good Feeling Good Textbook, I decided to change up the way I had previously presented the material. The students were given a syllabus with a packet of assignments for the last 7 chapters. Each week we go to the classroom the students already have it outlined what is expected of them. The students can work ahead or stay with the day we are on. In addition to the packet, the students have a reading exercise and place on a worksheet (already made to them) the heading of each section and 3 facts they read about. After completing the activity and reading exercise the students were allowed to use their information on the test. The reading exercise was stapled to the back of the test for proof of completion and also to show how little or how much work was done in relation to their grade. This has worked quite well in the PE class.

Don't Quote Me

Using quotes can be very interesting to to students. Find a quote that is related to your topic in some way and introduce it with a quote. Have the students discuss the meaning and see if anyone can find another related quote.

Update on Blog http://theposterboard.blogspot.com

I want to thank all of you who have commented on Class Blog at http://theposterboard.blogspot.com and for your support. For several days the class has not blogged. Why... because I haven't given them a topic. With the start of a new semester and wanting to "get off on the right foot," I have neglected posting a daily question for them to blog. They have missed it. Each day they come in and ask, "Do we have a blog today?" and now they've added "Why, not?" Why is it that when we find something that students enjoy and can learn from, we often miss the opportunity and stay in our comfort zones? I'm resolving today to blog everyday in my classroom. Thank you RAISSE for guiding me to this point.

Research Papers!!!

I have been working with an English I teacher who teaches the year-long English. She has a lot of struggling students and they have just begun the dreaded research papers. Today in the library, students were to research information about their topics. They were all lost as to what to do. The poor teacher and I were running around trying to help each student as their questions began to mount. These students didn't really understand what they were looking for or why, even though the teacher had gone into great detail about what to do. My question to everyone is... Does anyone know of a simple way to explain the purpose of research and the steps to completing research so that students who struggle with reading and writing can understand what to do?

It's all in the DESCRIPTION!

For my movie project I decided to do it on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Students completed a journal entry on the board where they wrote a description of a new character for the Harry Potter series. Then I did a Read-a-Loud from the book and read them the descriptions of Aunt Marge and the dementors. Then we viewed how the dementors were made from the video. The students really liked how the animators used the words from the book to make the character. After the video, I had the students look back at their journals and use Flash to create their character. It took them about two days to get through the assignment.

For the most part, they enjoyed creating their new characters.

Notebook Completed!

I am so excited that I have finished putting my notebook together. The letter for me was the most difficult part of the notebook. Trying to figure out what to say to someone about how to run my classes is quite challenging. I hope the rest of you have finished.

Reading First Initiative Model for Math Instruction?

In reading an article in improving the teaching of mathematics, they discussed the federal program of the Reading First Initiative that began its work over 10 years ago and has had over a $1 bilion a year grant program from the feds. According to the article, this panel recommended a nationwide "push for greater coherence in math instruction." NCTM has published "Curriculum Focal Points", a document that should help address how mathematics should be taught, especially at the early grades. I, frankly, am a proponent of basic skills and automatic recall so that the students of algebra can concentrate on problems of algebra and not on seven times eight. I also feel this parallel's the Reading First Program of teaching basic skills and how phonics connects to letters in the alphabet.

Basketball Vocabulary

We've been working on learning the different types of passes in basketball. I recently wrote the four different passes on a few basketballs and had students make passes to a partner. When a student received the ball, whateve type of pass was written at the top of the ball, they then had to say and make that type of pass. The students were able to pick up on the types of passes and transform this into a moving and learning exercise.