Learning, Laughter, and Love in Middle School English

We are ending the year with book clubs!  Students could choose from a list of board approved books or choose their own book with parent permission.  Students are reading everything from Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury to Beta by Rachel Cohn. Students enjoy having the freedom to choose and discuss a book that they chose.  When students meet, they have to complete a job ahead of time.  These jobs include: Discussion Deputy, Lexicon Lieutenant, Internet Investigator, Character Captain, and Style Sergeant.  It's a nice way for students to synthesize all they have learned throughout the year. It's so rewarding to walk around and listen to their sophisticated conversations!    On another note, I must share a gem from one of my students this week.  I was checking in with each group to make sure that each member had done his homework.  I made my way over to the group reading The Hobbit.   I saw that one of the group membe...

Students would be surprised to know how nervous teachers are about the first day of school.  After over twenty years in education, I still have trouble sleeping the nights leading up to the first day .The first few weeks are a little awkward.  It takes me awhile to learn their names.  It takes me a few weeks to find out who they are as people.  Now it's May 15th, and every year around this time I start to feel a bit of sadness.  I know most people think teachers are just counting down to the end of the year, but I never do that.  I couldn't tell you how many days are left.  I feel so connected to my students, and it is hard to see them go  They are all individuals with unique personalities.  I can only hope that each student has not only learned from me but has enjoyed my class.  They can't possibly understand the joy that they bring me on a daily basis.   Last week we had a fire drill.  Here are two quotes from students: ...

I love when things turn out the way I envisioned.  As I stated a few blogs ago, we have been working on preparing for a performance task which includes writing an argumentative essay.  We used the arranged marriage articles as practice.  We wrote sample introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions together in class.  I taught students how to write a claim, support it with evidence, and how to write a warrant (explain how their evidence supports the claim).  We also learned about how to include counterclaims and limitations.  It was definitely a great deal of information to process.  As always, I was impressed with how well these kids are able to think critically! Sweet 7th graders collaborating I will miss these kids next year! These kids make me smile! These girls work so well together! Working on Essays The Performance Task This week it was time to see if they could apply what they learned!  Over Spring Break, ...

I am not a crafty mom.  My mom was not a crafty mom.  I don't own a glue gun, and I don't like Michael's.  The only C I got in middle school was in sewing, and in ceramics class my pots ended up on the ceiling!  Therefore, there is nothing that creates  more fear and dread for me as a parent than when one of my sons brings home five pages of instructions for a "fun" project.   In the past several years, we have built three missions out of sugar cubes, a paper mache, seagull, a DNA model out of plastic beads,  a cell made out of cake and candy , a clay village , a Lego diorama, and a variety of other projects,  NONE of these were FUN!  Pretty much all of them involved my kids crying  and me screaming at the top of my lungs ready to stab my eyes out with pipe cleaner or a  chopstick ( chopstick used for seagull's legs in seagull project)! What really gets my goat is that teachers say to use things you have around the house for t...

Last week we began preparing for our next writing type/essay which will be argumentative.  In The Giver , all marriages are arranged, so I thought it would be interesting to pull in some non-fiction about this very topic!  Most students did not know that it even existed!  The first article we read was about why some cultures believe in arranged marriages and why it tends to work well.  This week we will read another article with a different point of view. We also watched a very interesting video clip which showed both sides of this topic.  For both articles, students will mark the text, identify the author's central claim, and analyze the types of evidence used to support the claim.  More specifically, students are learning about rhetorical appeals-ethos, pathos, logos.  To help them understand the types of appeals, we watched a variety of commercials and discussed the method(s) used in each. Watching a video about ethos, pathos, logos  ...

It is hard to believe that it is already April! Of course, April 1st would not be complete without a middle school prank! I was greeted by this little creature first thing this morning!   The kids shared a few of their April Fool's jokes with me, and we had some good laughs. However, this one was my favorite: Apparently, this young man's dad came up with the idea to play a little joke on Mom.  I would have loved to have seen the look on her face when he came home and presented her with this referral.   On a more serious note, we started The Giver last week!  In English 7H, students have been assigned one of three focus questions to follow throughout the book.  In English 7CP, all students will be focusing on the same question.  Students must find passages from the book that address their question and complete quote responses.  These passages serve as a catalyst for class discussions, as well  require students to think critically as ...

As you probably know, I have three boys.  They are seventeen, thirteen, and eleven.  They are absolutely nothing alike.  The oldest is self-motivated, driven, and somewhat introverted.  Good grades come easily for him. He plays on the golf team. My middle son is motivated (by ME), driven (by ME), and is the Pied Piper when it comes to friends.  He gets good grades but isn't willing to work as hard as his brother. He plays competitive basketball.  My youngest is self-motivated, wants to do well, and is definitely an extrovert.  However, he has to work hard for his grades.  He plays baseball and basketball.   Having three boys who are so different has also helped me appreciate my students unique personalities and strengths.   Over the years I have had many siblings in my classes, and I make a point to NEVER compare them!   Because my oldest son is a junior, we have started to talk about college.  Although he claims he is goin...