Harper Lee 1926-2016

I love To Kill A Mockingbird. I have been teaching it to sophomores for 34 years. And we were about 10 chapters into the book this year, when the news of Harper Lee's death reached me. I almost started crying. I'm sure my students thought I had lost it.

My initial reaction to the novel wasn't great. My dad put it on an assigned reading list when I was in 9th grade. (He was tired of me reading junk.) I checked the book out but was skeptical. I hate guns. I wasn't crazy about birds.

Three chapters into the book I was so confused. Scout sounds like a boy's name. Jem sounds like a girl's name. The kids called their dad Atticus, and calling a dad anything but dad was a foreign concept to me. I turned the book back into the library after those three chapters and didn't pick it up again for about 10 years.

This time, it was instant love. I love the fact that the story is told by a child, and those sordid events are seen through the innocent eyes of children.

I love the fact that the kids recapture childhood memories of making up games and having adventures. (It took me about 5 years of reading/teaching this book 6 hours a day to figure out that the kids even watched a neighbor pee off the porch. Duh!)

I love the parallel plot lines and the incredible way Lee pulled both of them together in the end.

Most of all I love that To Kill A Mockingbird was part of a great shift of thinking in the USA. We will never know how much of a role the book played in the Civil Rights movement and the changing views of our country, but never underestimate the influence a novel has had in the hands of students all across this country for the last 50 years.

Scout said, "There's just one kind of folks--folks."

And her brother Jem replied, "If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other?"  

 A good question...and one we are still trying to answer today.

A Couple of New Seating Arrangements

I still love experimenting with seating arrangements. My students always find it a challenge to find their seats. Those gender colored sticky note seating charts are a lifesaver! The seating charts are in page protectors and can usually be found on my podium. (A seating chart for three different classes can be changed in under five minutes.)

I've blogged about seating arrangements here, and you can see my seating charts here.

Here are a couple of new seating arrangements. I used this one for Speed Dating--actually Speed Meeting. (Valuable when students have to share information with a classmate. They can move quickly to change chairs and partners.)

The students loved this arrangement for a fun, quick-moving activity. (Most days they would be far too chatty for this to work.)

Now, I am experimenting with this V shaped arrangement.

You can see my podium on wheels where the seating charts are located. I'm using this during a novel study. I can use my rolling chair to roll up and down the rows of desks to check dialectical journals. And I love that I can still see every face.

I like changing the desk arrangements. Different activities call for different arrangements. Upon seeing a new arrangement, students expect to be doing something different. Switching it up is good for them and for me.

One Word New Year

I love the New Year. I've always enjoyed looking back at the events of the past year, and imagining what the year ahead holds. A few years back, I tried to find a way to share this reflection with my students.

I've written about this first-day-back-after-winter-break assignment here. This year I shared Google and Facebook's video reviews of the year. We discussed some happenings that were missing from each, hypothesized as to why, and then I turned them loose on the top portion of this activity.

Midway through talking class, I stopped them and showed them a video- "One Word That Will Change Your Life." It is appropriate for our public high school. (I'm sure there are videos that have a religious slant that private school teachers could share.)

We talked about New Year's Resolutions and how much easier it would be to choose one word to focus on for the year. Then they completed the 2016 portion of the assignment.

The next day when they came to class, I handed them a strip of colored construction paper and had them write the word they had chosen for their focus. I collected the words, taped them onto black construction paper, laminated the whole thing, and mounted the words over my classroom door.

Now, every day when they leave my room, they see their focus word. One student said, "I'm so glad that these are in our own handwriting. It reminds me that my word is for me."

One day/evening is not enough time for them to think about this, so next year, I might initiate thinking about the focus word before we break for vacation.

This was just a little tweak on my favorite way to start 2nd semester.

Teachers Can't Get Sick

My last post was about the day before Winter break. I was sick with a doozy of a cold: fever, chills, and a sore throat so bad I couldn't swallow. I missed the first day of finals. Who does that? I made it for the second day and spent most of that weekend recovering

I felt better during the rest of this vacation time, just battling a stuffy nose. (Wish I had stock in Kleenex.) We did quite a bit of celebrating with family, and we had a good time.

As of yesterday, the cold symptoms are back in the way of a nagging, rattling cough and laryngitis. I went to school on Friday and outlined lessons, posted the assignments for the week, arranged the desks, and made sure things were in order.

I am not going to miss tomorrow. There has to be a way to teach with no voice. (Project a document I can type on for instructions? A lot of gesturing?)

Fortunately, I have great classes. Teaching speech without speaking might be interesting, but I can make this work.

Good Subs

I hate having the flu. I hate missing school. I especially hate missing school on a final day.

This year, teaching speech, drama, and forensic classes means that my finals were performances. I sent my iPad so that the sub could video their finals.

Thank heavens for a young sub. My iPad ran out of storage after 1st hour. My sub borrowed another iPad, videoed for the rest of the day, and shared the videos on google with me. Rather than just throw up his hands, he adapted and found a way to make it work. I think he is going to be a darn good teacher.

Oh, and I forced myself to go back to school for the 2nd day of finals and am now down again. I hope I am over this junk before Christmas.

Major bummer to go into break this way.

Wishing everyone a Wonderful Holiday break!

The Not So Necessary

This app has been a nice addition to the holiday classroom.

Fireplace 3D. If I can't have the real thing, this is pretty darn close. In fact, with this free app you get the dancing fire and the crackling sound of burning logs. I project it from my iPad.

Some students swear my room feels warmer, and today, I would have sworn I smelled smoke.

OK. Maybe we're all losing it.

I don't know the last time I enjoyed a free app this much.  (I might be compensating for the lack of windows in my classroom.)

Sometimes, it's the little things, folks!

Necessity...

Yes, it really is the mother of invention. I'm sure I saw this on Pinterest, and it has been a lifesaver this year. There are three doors coming into my room. (Three!) Each of those doors is a "Columbine" door, meaning they are made of cement, can't be propped, and should remain locked most of the time for student safety. This little trick means that the students can enter the room, but we can also be on lockdown really quickly. (Well, as fast as I can sprint to three doors to remove them!)

Swim noodles. They aren't just for swimming anymore.