Month: March 2013

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog. The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog. The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

Last night, my husband and I decided to continue watching How I Met Your Mother. We had forgotten about the fact that at the end of the last episode we were watching Marshall’s dad died.  This episode was all about the last words people speak before passing on.  The characters made a big deal about last words and Marshall had a hard time because he thought his father did not really give him any gems before passing.  It made me cry thinking about the way I feel so desperate when I leave the people I love, even for the most mundane errands.  After losing loved ones, I am careful about what I say before parting from them “just in case.”  But if I think carefully about it, I really don’t think it is all that important to have the last words be perfect.

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

Today we have the first of two nights of Spring conferences.  As always on the day of conferences, I am nervous about it.  It usually is fine, but being a perfectionist, it is hard to have people point out the things at which I might not be doing the greatest.

I do believe in family involvement in a child’s education and I have a lot of ways that I intend to share with parents what is happening in the classroom. However, I have had a very difficult time keeping up this year with all the things that I have to do and the website and parent communications have fallen by the wayside.  I know that this is not okay, but it comes down to sanity.  Should I have to sacrifice both days on my weekend to get my work done?  I think not.  One day a weekend is enough to give up.  

I usually end up enjoying conference night and having good talks with parents and students, so I shouldn’t worry.  But I get very worried that parents will not hear my message correctly or that they will come into the conferences upset that they are not being called when students are missing work.  I know that this is what some parents feel, but I would be spending a lot of my time on the phone if I did this. (I teach middle school)

I really want to do student-led conferences one of these years because I think those have the potential to help both students and parents understand our standards-based grading better.  Many parents still have a hard time understanding that the “grade” their child gets on the standards is based on their level of proficiency, not whether they turned things in on time, etc.  To me, the most important grade on the report card for parents to be aware of is the effort grade in each subject.  This is the grade that tells them if their child is doing the right things at school (i.e. participating in class, handing in work, doing homework).

Today I will also discuss the results of the state testing that the students did in November.  This conversation is scary at 8th grade because the results of the test as well as their progress this year will help determine whether they are “promoted” to 9th grade.  With the state using a new cut score this year, many more of my students are not doing so well.  This could be a difficult conversation with some parents.

Okay, time to take a deep breath and relax.  I can’t anticipate what might come up, and worrying about it will just make me more nervous.  I’m off to prepare for a LONG day of teaching and then conversing.

Have a great day!

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

My dog is super awesome.  After hearing all the mauling stories, it was kind of difficult to believe that Pitbulls are not all violent and aggressive.  I never would have thought that I would get out of that mindset.  But now,  I really think that these dogs get a super bad rap.  My doggy is a mix of black lab and pitbull.  She is the sweetest dog ever and smart as a whip.

My dog wants to meet everyone in the room and get a belly rub from each one.  Even though she weighs more than 60 lbs. she tries hard to be a lap dog.  Carmela is amazing and I am so glad we got her two years ago.

She is so cute! Isn’t she?

I am doubling up on posts again today.  I love the It’s Monday meme because I get to really reflect on my week of reading and share my thoughts with you all and I love the Slice of Life challenge because it is really challenging me to find time to write every day.  I have already realized how much more I notice because I am looking for things to write about.  I also have noticed an increase in my creativity with lessons for my language arts classes.

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

Every week I participate in the It’s Monday meme which is hosted by Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts. It’s a chance to take a step back and reflect on what I have been reading this week and to think about my plans for the week to come.

Books I Finished This week:

Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger was a fun read!  It will definitely appeal to my students who are interested in humor writing like Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.  I enjoyed the story throughout even though it was not very believable but that is part of the humor of it.  Wow! It is amazing what power a good fake mustache can have!  I will recommend this one to readers who need an easier reading level but are interested in a funny story.  I can see how fourth and fifth graders would eat it up!

When I was having a hard time deciding on the next book to read earlier this week, I sent out an SOS on Twitter.  I got a few replies and two of those people recommended that I read this one next.  (Thanks Cynthia and Jen) It was absolutely decided when Matt de la Pena chimed in.  Okay…WOW!  I love that Twitter lets us connect to authors in such a cool way.  I have to say that I really enjoyed Mexican Whiteboy and I know my students will love it too.  Being hispanic urban students, they will absolutely be able to connect with the characters in this book.  I can’t wait to booktalk this one.  I know there will be a waitlist!

I read Hard Love as a part of the Nerdprintz challenge.  I will be reviewing it on my blog soon as a part of this challenge as well.  This book is absolutely deserving of the Printz honor it received.  I fell in love with the characters and thought that the message was well done.  I think that teens would absolutely be able to connect with the characters and the themes in this book.  I like that it deals with homosexuality in a way that helps the reader understand it better without glorifying anything.  I also am intrigued by the zines that the characters write.  Does this medium exist?  I am sure it does and now I want to find some examples.  I will recommend this book to my students that are interested in writing.  Really this book could appeal to any teen who is trying to define his or her identity which is pretty much every teen.  I highly recommend that you read it!

Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry by Jeffrey Wilhelm gave me some concrete strategies to start using immediately in my classroom.  After seeing him speak at the WSRA conference, I was happy to find one of his books that really helped me get a glimpse of strategies that he uses in the classroom.  The book reviews the principles of backward design and gives great examples of how to use inquiry to teach the standards.  I definitely will be playing with these ideas during the rest of the school year and will spend some time this summer refining some of my units to include this type of inquiry.  I highly recommend this book to educators.  It is a quick read and will give you some excellent food for thought.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am about halfway through the book Mindset by Carol Dweck.  I am not too surprised by what she is saying in the book since my Master’s thesis included many of her articles in the literature review.  I was curious about this book after hearing Dweck speak at the Learning Forward conference last summer.  I am glad I requested this one from the library because I definitely am enjoying the examples given.  I am again rethinking how I can bring this knowledge to my students ASAP because I can see some of the behaviors of fixed mindsets within my classroom every day.  I also am continuing to listen to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  As I have said every week so far, I am absolutely loving this audiobook.  I love the interesting and original ideas in the book as much as I love the way it is being read.

Books I Will Read Next:

I will start Unwind by Neal Shusterman tonight.  This will be one of the books I read for the dystopian challenge.  I have had it on my TBR pile for a long time and I am really intrigued by the premise.  I also will probably read Splendors and Glooms or Three Times Lucky or both.  I would also like to get to some nonfiction books this week.  Possibly The Great Fire or The Great and Only Barnum.  I am not sure how many books I will get to because I have parent-teacher conferences this week too.  I guess we’ll see how the week goes.

Happy Reading! What is on your list this week?

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

As multiple revelers are out and about in Irish pubs today, I find myself thinking about cultural heritage and immigration.  What makes people hold on to family lineage that is multiple generations back?  When do we start to recognize ourselves as Americans rather than the list of ethnicities that we might have?  Just like many people who grow up and go to school in the United States, I had at least one project in which I had to go home and interview my parents about the heritage of our family.  I can rattle off the list of nationalities I have in me.  “What are you?” some people might ask.  Well, I am English, Irish, Polish, Czechoslovakian, German, and maybe some Native American (we’re not sure about that one but there was a rumor about an affair…) But aren’t I just American at this point?  How many generations back do I have to look in order to figure out who came here from where?

On a day like St. Patrick’s Day, you may see multiple people bedecked in green, wearing shamrock everything, and proclaiming “Kiss me, I’m Irish!”  But are they really Irish?  My cousin’s fiance who was born and raised in Ireland by parents from Ireland would probably say no.  When is it right to hold on to cultural identity and when should we recognize that this is something that defined our ancestors but does not define who we are?  I do have some Irish blood in me, but are there any indications of that in my family traditions?  Perhaps the annual corned beef and cabbage meal that my grandmother had to recognize her mother’s heritage is an example of one such tradition, but it has not been something we have continued.

This is a particularly interesting topic for me because I am married to a Spaniard.  I met him while studying abroad and brought him home with me.  The importance of his cultural heritage is important to me because I don’t want him to lose his culture just because he lives here.  If and when we have children, I will want them to know about and celebrate the traditions of Spain.  I will want them to have that cultural identity and be proud of their Spanish heritage.  But would I expect that their children would get this same education and have this same identification with the Spanish culture?  I don’t know.

As always when thinking about these deeper questions, my mind turns to the students in my classroom. Many of them have either Mexican or Puerto Rican heritage.  Some are first generation immigrants, but most are children or grandchildren of immigrants.  How much of their identity is wrapped up in this cultural heritage?  How much should be?  It is so important to recognize their culture and to help them to read texts and have experiences in the classroom that celebrate who they are and where their ancestors come from.  But at what point is this heritage maybe not so much a part of their identity?  Is there a point at which we should say enough is enough?

I do not have any big answers to these questions.  It is a compelling and very debatable topic.  All I know is that cultural heritage should never be used as an excuse to go out and make a fool of yourself by getting plastered.  I hope that all who choose to embrace and recognize their Irish heritage do so in a dignified manner.  Have some corned beef and cabbage or a rueben sandwich…yum!  Enjoy a Guiness or two but not a bar crawl in which the only purpose is to get fall-down drunk.  Luck of the Irish to everyone!

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

Yesterday, we went roller skating.  As part of our PBIS program at school, we have incentives that students can earn.  This field trip was one that they could go on if they had earned a certain number of stamps on their stamp card for being responsible, respectful, and safe at school.

We loaded the three buses and headed off to the roller skating rink.  The students had two hours of time to skate, play laser tag, eat junk food, and basically enjoy time with their friends.  This is always a fun time for everyone including the teachers. They all beg us to get in a pair of skates and get out there with them.  I did this two years ago and left the roller rink with a broken tail bone.  Now, I keep both feet firmly on the ground but enjoy watching them skate.

In the midst of all the action after arriving at the rink, one student stayed in the same spot for twenty minutes.  She is a sixth grader and cognitively disabled.  As teachers, we had noticed that she was sitting there but didn’t think anything of it because it seemed that she was choosing to just sit and relax.  Then Kayla went by.  Kayla is an eighth grade student.  She noticed that this other student was not moving because she needed help with the laces on her skates.  Kayla got down on the floor and started lacing the other student’s skates.  Once she had the skates tied, Kayla helped this sixth grader get to the skating floor and she skated with her for a little while because the sixth grader had expressed that she was scared to skate.  Kayla did not have any reason to help this girl but the goodness of her own heart.  She gave up some of her time with friends in order to help this other student to have a good time.  When I see things like this, I am not so nervous about our future in the hands of these kids.

We spend so much time in our society focusing on the negative.  While there are plenty of stories about bullies and teens who are mean to each other, there are also these positive acts of kindness happening daily.  I know I will work to notice it more often and to acknowledge it when it happens.

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

Last year I finally remembered on 3/14 to celebrate National Pi Day.  My math class did some exploration to discover this ratio so that they would remember what pi represents when working with circles.  Then I gave them a slice of pie.  It was so fun and I vowed to remember every year in the future so that I could highlight this ratio and make it memorable for my students.

This year I almost forgot.  Thank goodness for Facebook!  One of my friends shared this hilarious cartoon earlier this week and I was reminded and started planning the festivities.

This day of poem writing was another fun day and there is always room for pie!

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

This month I participated in the first book and bookmark swap sponsored by Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts.  We signed up to participate and filled out a survey about our favorite books.  Then we were given a name and we bought a book and a bookmark for our partner.

The theme for this first swap: Your favorite book or a book you think everyone should read.  I sent The Book Thief to my partner because I think that is a book that absolutely everyone needs to read.  The style of that book is so unique and it is a story that everyone should hear.

When my package arrived in the mail, I was super excited.  It was so fun to have that surprise and to get to open a box with my new book and bookmark.

Here is what was inside:

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.

Today for my writing time I decided to try an ode to a common thing.  I am trying to introduce my students to more poetry forms and came across the lesson on odes in my copy of Lessons that Change Writers by Nancie Atwell.  She uses some of Pablo Nerudas poems to have students try this form and write poems about ordinary things.

My poem is really rough.  I was just trying this out and wanted to play with the ode.  It is by no means finished and will be a work in progress for a while to come.  I am glad I tried this because it is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Ode to Cookie Butter

You tantalize me with
your gingery excellence.
One swipe of you on my bread
and I am rapturous with delight.
How can I ever have lived
without this amazing spread.
As your flavor sticks
to the roof of my mouth,
I contemplate how best
to use you next.
An apple, perhaps
will be the receptacle
to receive your velvety
delicious
sugar taste.
You hail from Trader Joe’s
What magnificent creature
first dreamt of you
and worked
to make your sweet perfection?
As I bite into your luscious
goodness my mind starts to wander
and I wonder
how it was possible
that I never bought you before.

Obviously, as I said before, this poem is still very rough.  I think I will bring this in to my classroom and show students my first attempts and then work on revising it in front of them.  I am envisioning a class shared writing experience: Ode to Takis.

We had such fun with false apology poems.  I hope we can play with this form and have fun also.