AuburnChick's Adventures

Yesterday morning, while I was driving to work, I couldn’t help but consider how fast time seems to fly by.  Teacher are especially cognizant of this fact as we live week by week.

So, here I am, and another week has passed.  It seems like only yesterday when I opened my eyes and it was Monday!  Wow!

Ok…so on to Week 26 of my first year of teaching.

Last weekend, I had an epiphany while I was enjoying a hot, relaxing shower.  I had been thinking about some of my students who have struggled with the vocabulary tests I have administered this term.  One thing I have learned through my certification classes is that students absolutely must show mastery of the standards that are being taught.  The purpose of assessments is to determine mastery.

Students who have not passed their vocabulary tests obviously have not mastered this skill.

My epiphany was that I would administer retakes for those who had obtained a 74 or below.  I consider scoring 75 or higher showing decent mastery.  So, after getting out of the shower, I wrote up my procedures and handed them out on Monday…

I put a schedule on the wall beside my classroom door, and students were allowed to sign up…

You should have seen my students’ faces when I told them about this.  The ones who needed to take advantage of the retakes looked visibly relieved that they would have a chance to pull up their grades.  One of my students thanked me several times.

Meanwhile, my 11th and 12th graders read a couple of selections written by Henry VIII’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth.  She was quite the sporty queen…very well educated and gifted with political prowess.

My sixth graders took a spelling pretest and then worked in cooperative groups to practice poetry reading.  My goal was to get them to practice their fluency skills, and I assigned each group a different poem from their textbook.

I have to say that I really, really love cooperative learning.  I love listening to students as they share their ideas and work out details for projects.  As I become more proficient at lesson planning, I will utilize this instructional strategy more often.

My ninth and tenth graders continued discussing Romeo and Juliet.  We began working our way through Act 4 this week.

On Tuesday, I finished up the Queen Elizabeth writings with my oldest grades.

My 6th graders read a poem about daydreams, and we did an exercise in which I allowed them to daydream for a few minutes.  Then, they had to do freewriting, capturing their thoughts and ideas from their daydream.  This class seems to enjoy writing exercises, so I have started incorporating them into most of my daily lessons with them.

Meanwhile, my 9th and 10th graders continued their Romeo and Juliet discussions.

Wednesday was an unusual day.  It was the day of the county’s History Fair, and all of my ninth and tenth grade students attended the fair, so I only had to teach three classes!

My 11th and 12th graders brought in the rough drafts for their short stories. I have to tell you that my students have really grown to enjoy this project.  When I first assigned it, along with the minimum word count (1,500 words), they groaned.  They had no idea how they would write that many words.

Ha!  When they showed up on Wednesday, most of them had surpassed the count by two or three thousand words!!  I overheard students telling each other how much they were enjoying the assignment and had fallen in love with their characters.

Bigtimegleek and mlbstyl blogged about the assignment.

These two classes spent Wednesday doing peer reviews while I spent time marking up rough drafts.  I have to say that I am merciless in this department.  I demand excellence as far as grammar goes, and the markings on their papers reflect this expectation.  I also asked poignant questions requesting clarification of story lines.  Students are learning how to write detailed narratives that include a lot of dialogue.  There are many lessons being learned through this assessment.

My 6th graders studied personification and then attempted to create poems about daydreams, incorporating personification into their poems.

Then, I was free for the afternoon!  I went home, where I grabbed a quick nap and then settled in to work on my certification assignments.  I loved the gift of time that I had been gifted.

On Thursday, I resumed peer editing with my Juniors and Seniors.

My 6th graders got an in-depth lesson about personification because I had, through formative assessments the day before, determined that my students did not understand what, exactly, personification is.  By the time we finished the exercises, I felt like they had a better grasp of this literary device.

My 9th and 10th graders were given a pop quiz on Act 4 of Shakespeare’s play.  I also had a few reminders for my students…

Before I knew it, Friday arrived.  The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here in northern Florida, so I pulled out my sandals and got ready for my day…

Have I said how much I love Fridays at my school?  Yeah, I think I’ve told you a few times.

Once again, my oldest students peer reviewed.  This is a very time-consuming process, and I want to make sure that I touch every single story before they turn in final drafts next Friday.

My 6th graders had a spelling pretest and then read Time for Kids magazines, which I happen to get free (long story) and then completed worksheets.  We worked on skimming and scanning skills with the worksheets today.

During lunch, I administered retakes to seven students.  Most of them did very well on the tests, I am pleased to say.

My 9th and 10th graders worked on dialectical journals.  I have required them to complete one journal for each act of Romeo and Juliet, but they just have not “gotten” the point of the exercise.  Although I have explained how to write the journals and given examples, they still have not understood.  So, I decided to have my students write them during class time.  I thought that by circulating around the room and providing on-the-spot feedback, that they would do better.  I expect much better grades when they turn in final copies on Tuesday.

Whew!  It’s hard to believe how much work each week requires!  It’s enough to tire out even the most energetic person!

By the time Friday afternoons roll around, I am so ready to relax.

Pele is always more than happy to participate in weekly de-stressing sessions…

So now the countdown begins.  Three more weeks until it is Spring Break.

I think I can…I think I can…

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching |