STAAR Testing

Tomorrow, my students will be doing STAAR testing, and, as a student teacher, I will be on bathroom duty (aka sitting outside the bathrooms grading papers and making sure only one person goes in at a time).

Mrs. M and I wanted to give the kids a little something to get them pumped for the STAAR. We did our Pinterest research and had a few ideas that all turned out to be too cutsie or creative for the likes of us. In the end, we settled on giving them lucky pencils and presented them in the following hilarious manner:

We cannot stop laughing at ourselves. What nerds!

Mrs. M and I posed for the pictures, then decided it would be even more fun to have pictures with the vice principals and principal too. We're pretty happy with how they turned out, and the kids have loved them. Happy STAAR week Texas! Good luck kids!!!

3rd and FINAL Formal Observation: Transitions

I used blendspace.com for this particular lesson plan, so you can view my whole lesson at this link. It's another website that allows students to follow along and interact throughout the lesson on their tablets. It's pretty user friendly. I especially love the embedded videos and the quizzes for formative assessment. I can see in real time who is not getting the answers as well as who is not participating.

Blendspace was fine for the classroom environment, but I think it would be even better for independent work. I'd love it for homework or an alternative option for students who miss class. Also, after students "join" your class online, they can then turn in their own blendspace assignments... Not sure how I could use this feature yet, but I like the idea of it!

This lesson was mostly a review, but here are the two videos I used to keep my students interested:

Also check out this one- It's AWESOME!

And with that, I am done with my observations! I still have 2+ weeks left in the classroom, but I can now apply for my teaching certificate!!! I can't believe I'm nearly done.

2nd Formal Observation: Active & Passive Voice

I waited until the very last minute to schedule my 2nd formal observation. Luckily, my supervising instructor was available, and I was able to throw together a lesson on active and passive voice. This was a topic I didn't feel 100% comfortable teaching, so I figured it would be a perfect learning opportunity. I went through my normal lesson plan preparation routine (which consists of doing lots and lots of research to ensure that I fully understand the concept and have enticing ways to teach it), and here is what I came up with:

I started by showing my students the quote, "'I must do something' always solves more problems than 'something must be done.'" We briefly discussed the universal truth of the quote as a brief introduction before moving on to my real hook. I showed the students gif files and asked them to answer the question, "What just happened?" by writing two sentences- each with a subject I had provided.

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Subject #1. The balloon

Subject #2. His face

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Subject #1. The raccoon
Subject #2. The cat food

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Subject #1. The trash truck

Subject #2. The trash

I then had the students share some of their examples. We sorted their answers by whether the subject had been the one acting in the sentence or the one being acted upon. Then, I introduced how active voice is demonstrated when the subject is the one acting, whereas passive voice is when the subject is the one being acted upon. I also think it helped that I used the example of kicking. I would do a karate kick to show myself as the acting subject, and I would cower to show myself as the victim being acted upon. I also included lots of examples and humor to help them make connections.

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To further help them understand, I found the following video clip:

For the remainder of the class, we went over examples of passive and active voice, talked about when to use them and when not to, and I had them create their own passive and active sentences. I got a lot of great ideas from this website. Finally, I had them take a passage that was written entirely in passive voice and rewrite it in active voice as an exit ticket strategy. From this, I was able to tell to what extent each student had grasped these concepts. I talked with the students who had errors and got them sorted out too. So far, it seems like they got it. I've been bringing it up everyday since then to make sure it's set in their minds.

Well, five down, one to go! Can't believe I'm almost done...

Written Conventions Activity

After reading LOTS of student responses over the last several weeks, Mrs. M. and I decided it was about time we reviewed written conventions. Given the mistakes I had seen, I decided to focus on homonyms, spelling/spell check, commas, apostrophes, subject-verb agreement, and verb tense. I created a document for each topic that would require the kids to line edit writing excerpts that were bad examples of each area of written conventions. To make the activity a little more fun, I let them work in groups and only gave them 5 minutes with each document to find all the mistakes that had been made. Also, I included a humorous example of each convention being used incorrectly (because I thought they were funny). Here are a couple of examples of what I used for this activity:

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Deer Students,

Win your righting something four my class, bee shore that your using the write homophones. Eye cannot tale you enough how sad it makes me win you use the wrong word. Their our know excuses four using the wrong words because you have the education too no better. Your smart enough to no the differences, but if you rush threw you're work, you mite mess up.

Sincerely, Your Favorite Teacher
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Eye halve a spelling checker
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My checker tolled me sew. 

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The kids did pretty well, although it was very clear what they were struggling with. Before they left, we talked about their struggles and the things they needed clarification on- Looks like I'll need to concoct a mini-lesson on subject/verb agreement and verb tense! I left them with the fact that they are smarter than Microsoft Word. When I typed up these documents, Word hardly caught any mistakes! They were shocked, so that turned out to be a great take-away.

As for me, I am having trouble with my conventions now after having to type up so many bad examples! I was seriously going cross-eyed and I felt mentally exhausted afterwards... But it was totally worth it :)

First Formal Observation: Setting & Mood

I am so happy with how my lesson came together for my first formal observation. After doing some research online, I knew a lesson on setting and mood would be perfect! I love how it turned out.

I started out by having the kids do a five minute write to introduce how setting and mood work hand in hand. They were to visualize their favorite place, and write about it without mentioning where it is or how it makes them feel by using descriptive and sensory language. Oh man- my students are amazing writers! I was so impressed with what they came up with.

Next, I had them analyze how different settings within The Hunger Games changed the mood throughout the book. We focused on the woods, District 12, The Capital, and the Games. It is possible that this, more than anything, helped prove my point :)

I also wanted them to analyze some writing, so I had them read an excerpt from The Great Gatsby. After reading it, I had them answer the question "What is this place like?" using only one word. Given their answer, we would find words from the text that led us to the answers they gave.

"There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before." — The Great Gatsby

In one class, we decided this place was thrilling. To support this, the kids used words and phrases such as champagne, stars, diving, slit the waters, parties, long past midnight, ravages of the night, etc. Thus, they were able to see how words can evoke imagery through descriptive and sensory language without having to blatantly spell out the time and place.

Finally, I had them create an online flyer describing their favorite place as a setting using a website called Smore. They included vivid descriptions, pictures, video clips, examples of how their setting has been used in literature, and examples of how it could be used in writing in the future. Here are some examples of their work:

I never cease to be impressed with them. AND I am loving all these exciting ways to administer formative assessments! 

I am glad to have my first formal observation out of the way- it was a bit intimidating knowing I was being graded. At the same time though, I have quality kids, quality material to work with, and I thoroughly enjoy what I am doing (like wake-up-excited-to-teach-my-awesome-lesson enjoyment). PLUS the observation wasn't scheduled until 7th period so I had all day to perfect it on my earlier classes :) So, 1 down, 2 to go, and I will be certified to do this on my own!!!

Source:

Smore // smore.com 

Characterization

After Spring Break, we started a new unit that focuses on character analysis. Each lesson I teach helps prepare my students to write their own character analysis essay at the end of the unit. As part of my student teaching, I have taken over the planning and teaching in Mrs. M's classroom. This means planning this unit from beginning to end and creating lesson plans for all classes on a daily basis. I thought it would be overwhelming, but I enjoy the work and have Mrs. M to keep me on track. I am learning so much and figuring out what works best for me.

I have really enjoyed teaching characterization, and I am very happy with how my lesson plans have turned out. I have been using Planboard as my calendar and online lesson planning tool- it is AWESOME! It is an online calendar that allows you to divide up the day by your class schedule. For each class, I can type up a lesson outline and attach the standards we will be covering. Sharing my lessons with Mrs. M is as easy as sending her a link. I can also attach the documents we will be using and keep notes and reminders all in the same place. LOVE IT.

Here are a couple of my favorite activities from my lessons this week (I also had them read excerpts from Mark Twain & Charles Dickens, but this was more fun):

To teach voice, I had my students read the following contrasting diary entries (found online):

8am- Dog food! My favorite thing!

9:30am- A car ride! My favorite thing!

9:40am- A walk in the park! My favorite thing!

10:30am- Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!

12pm-Milk bones! My favorite thing!

1pm- Played in the yard! My favorite thing!

3pm- Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!

5pm- Dinner! My favorite thing!

7pm- got to play ball! My favorite thing!

8pm- Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!

11pm- Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Day 983 of My Captivity

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed has or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I neverthe less must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today, I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hears, since this clearly demonstrated my capabilities; however, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event; however, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feat as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe... for now.

These two were a great way to communicate voice, and the kids had a lot of fun with them!

My favorite lesson this week was about internal and external reflections. I was able to teach my students a little bit about psychology and the affects of other people's opinions of us (LOVED incorporating my undergrad degree!). Then, after applying what we had learned to a character from a novel we are reading, I had the students do their own internal and external reflections in an activity called "Judging a Book by its Cover."

First, each student created a collage on Pic Collage that symbolized how others see them and how they view themselves. Everyone got really into the assignment and enjoyed the metacognitive aspect of this assignment. They used this Pic Collage picture on their edublogs and wrote a post about what they had learned about themselves and about others by answering several questions in paragraph format. I am loving seeing what they came up with!

Here are two examples of their responses:

Other people normally see me as a clam, gentle and as a funny person. They wouldn’t expect me to go all silly and talk weird. But, they are wrong. I act like this because I don’t know the people that very good. The way I see myself is that I am wild, crazy and jumpy. Yet, I am very calculated and organized and try to be perfectionist. I find myself to be cunning sometimes too.

There aren’t many similarities between the two, but there are many differences. Crazy and wild are the exact opposites of peaceful and calm. Almost everything is different but I am funny and happy in both ways.

I think people see the way they do because of my actions and my words. When ever I do something, I think twice before I do it. I also talk politely to people so that they would like me. But, internally, I think about all the risky things that I could do. When I am alone I don’t always think before I do something. I go straight to it. I am very different externally and internally.

And this one is simple, but straight to the point:

It has been really interesting to read their responses and get to know them better. I am also happy to see them applying these important concepts to their own lives.

I am also excited about what I have planned for next week! On Monday I'll have my first formal observation (!!!), but I'm feeling ready for it.

Sources:

Planboard // planboardapp.com

Pic Collage // pic-collage.com

Edublogs // edublogs.org

The Divergent Series

I've finished the Divergent series and several people have asked me what I think about them. These books are pretty popular right now and are getting pretty mixed reviews, so I figure I should share my two cents. Divergent is another dystopian novel that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoyed The Hunger Games. And you know what? I think I liked this series better than The Hunger Games (!!!). I realize this is a big confession, and trust me- it was a decision I did not take lightly, so I guess I better explain myself :)

One of the big deciding factors for me has to be that Tris is a better heroine than Katniss. Time and time again, Tris chooses her own fate, chooses to be a leader, chooses to be courageous. There is something innate within her that makes her divergent, but still- she chooses to act. Katniss wants to save her sister, save her family, save her loved ones. Leadership and responsibility are thrust upon her, whereas Tris has hardly anyone left, and yet she's willing to risk everything for what is right.

Then there is the romance aspect. Sure, Tris and Tobias had some a pretty volatile relationship with plenty of issues, but I enjoyed reading their love story so much more than the whole Peeta, Gale, Katniss love triangle. Plus, I had a little crush on Tobias- did you see who is playing him in the Divergent movie?!?!

And then there is Allegiant. EVERYONE I have talked to dislikes how the books ended, but I have to disagree... for the most part. The change from one narrator to two did not go over well with me. I understand why she had to do it, but it was done poorly. Each character did not have their own distinct voice, so I often found myself questioning which point of view I was supposedly following. The change in setting also threw me for a loop. For a while there, I felt like I was reading a book completely independent from this series- something inspired by The Truman Show (1998) and The Island (2005), making it feel much less original and losing all of its Divergent appeal. Still, I got through it and thought the overall story was worthwhile.

Now, as for the "twist" at the end, you'll have to ask me in person. I will NOT be spoiling these books for anyone! One of my students spoiled it for me and that's the worst! I will say that I agree with the author's decision and think the books ended well.

So there.

Can't wait for the movie to come out on March 21st!!!

UPDATE! I just read the author's own character analysis of Tris that she wrote following reader's reactions to the end of Allegient. It is so well written and perfectly describes why I loved Tris as a character and a heroine. IT CONTAINS SPOILERS so don't read it until you've finished the series. You can find the article on her website.