Magic Moments in the Classroom

After a slow start to this year, the last few weeks have been so much better. I like to call it classroom magic. (Magic because it just happens. I can't really plan it.)

Magic Moment #1:
Students read part of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and then searched for ten photos that showed people enjoying those rights or people denied those rights. (One student took it a bit further and showed people protesting for those rights.)
   
The next part of the assignment was to merge slides with a classmate. Together, they searched for a song that shared the theme of their photos and turned it into a musical slideshow.
     
To say that these were powerful would be an understatement. "The Sound of Silence" by Disturbed, "Imagine" by John Lennon, and Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" and "We Are the World" were just some of the songs backing some pretty haunting images.
     
Magic. (It didn't hurt that the students were pretty proud of their work.)

Magic Moment #2:
My classes memorize "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrea for Veterans Day. We study the structure, rhythm, and rhyme of the poem, but mainly we study the significance of the poem for Veterans.  Tiny Town High has a close relationship with the military in our community and many military kids attend our school.
     
Anyway, the students have been practicing the poem daily. Today, I had my classes on the stage in my room for another activity. When they finished that assignment, I had them recite the poem in a darkened room with only the stage lights. There was a haunting quality to this every hour, but 7th hour gave me chills.
       
My small 7th hour class has nine boys and no girls. These young men gathered in a tight group and this is part of what they recited:
       
   "We are the dead, short days ago
          We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
             Loved and were loved, and now we lie
                In Flanders Fields.
     Take up our quarrel with the foe,
            To you from failing hands we throw
                 The torch, be yours to hold it high
                    If ye break faith with us who die
                       We shall not sleep though poppies grow
                           In Flanders Fields."

Those nine young men could have been the soldiers of the past and some will be the soldiers of the future. Those youthful faces made the poem so much more significant. I don't know about them, but I will never forget that moment.

I'd like to think that I control the magic in my classroom, but I don't. I think magic just happens, and these are the moments we teach for.

Turn Off The Teacher Brain, Please!

We have been out of school five days, including the weekend. On day four I pulled out next year's lesson plan book and began marking work days, professional development days, and breaks. Day four! I am pathetic.

I've written about our in-school printing business that creates invitations, cards, posters, and planners. This is year three of them creating my lesson plan book. They do great work.

Also on day four, I created a template to track student progress on grammar and writing skills next year. Still mulling over the details, but I will share it when I finish it.

Today, on day five, I began hunting short stories for a short story unit next year.  I needed something to read, and all I could find was my textbook.  (That is what I am telling myself.) I really need to hit the library for some light summer reading.

I need to turn this teacher brain off! 

I love knowing that I don't have papers to grade or lessons to plan. I love not having to be at school early. I loved driving home tonight at 8:00 and realizing that I didn't have to teach tomorrow. 

And yet... I spend "free" time working on curriculum and the logistics of teaching. 

I have to get a life. Or at least a summer life! 

(I wonder what percentage of teachers find themselves in this same summer state of teacher brain gone cRaZy???)

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.

DIY Lesson Plan Book

We have an in-school printing business; however, I'm sure any copy center could put your lesson plan book together for you.

One colleague formats every page of her book and sends it to our printing business.  I did that last year, but this year I sketched a general idea of what I was looking for, and one of the students developed the pages for me.  I tweaked a few things, changed a few things completely, and told her what I wanted for a cover.  She did a great job and even thought of a few things I hadn't.

The juniors and seniors enrolled in the classes for this printing business do some incredible work under the eye of an outstanding young colleague.  She is super organized, super detail oriented, and super insistent that her students produce quality work.  (And yes, she really is Super Woman!)

Anyway, this is next year's lesson plan book.

I loved the sticky note book from last year, but I switched from card stock pages to a heavy weight paper.  (Not so bulky!) The printing class even has a paper cutter that will cut through an entire pad of sticky notes, so they cut the English class (green) notes to fit my pages. The Speech, Drama, and Forensic notes come in the size I need.

Now, you might be wondering why sticky notes? I like the fact that I can peel them off and stick them to my clipboard and then return them to the page at the end of the day. (My clipboard is my brain.) I love that when our schedule changes, I just have to pull up the note and attach it to a different date. And I especially love being able to write underneath the note if I run out of room or have things I want to remember about that day's lesson.

I handwrite the dates on the weeks of my book.  They could type them in for me, but I knew that made quite a bit more work and wasn't a big deal to me.  I did ask them to put in blank pages to separate the months.  I will add the school calendar for that month. (I reduce the size of the month and glue it in.) The rest of it I use for notes to myself. (Things I don't want to forget, standards that need to be evaluated again, or a student I want to keep an eye on.)

Finally, every month in the Notes column, I had a reminder added to check on my advisory students and how they were doing in classes.  (Something, I frequently forgot to do this past year.)  And I'm sure in another year, I will have several other reminders that I will be adding in the notes columns.

And that's it.  I don't add the sticky notes very far out--usually, just a month at a time.  It keeps me from wrinkling them before the week arrives. (My computer bag gives the book a bit of a work out.) I am going to see if I can get the cover laminated at the beginning of school.  The business kids tell me that adding something or changing something (like the cover), even in the middle of the year, is a snap.

Oh, and you might be wondering about the initials: R W S L on the English page.  That is to remind me that my sophomore English students should be involved in productive reading, writing, speaking, and listening in class- every single day.  (Emphasis on the word productive!)

Favorite New Year Assignment

I love giving this assignment to my sophomores each year.  I've made changes on it from time to time, but the template hasn't changed much.

I had to screen shot the handout, but this is the assignment.  They fill in the squares and use color pens to decorate the entire sheet.  I let them use the internet to find headlines from last year. (I swear their memories are worse than mine--and that is saying something!) 

The first day back after the holidays is usually noisy with all the catching up, so this assignment gives them the chance to reflect on the past.  I don't even mind the chatter that accompanies hunting for the big stories and inventions of the past year. 

What surprises me every year?  The advice that they give to themselves. It frequently gives me insight into struggles the student might be going through or insecurities that they deal with daily.  

You might be wondering what proves to be the most difficult: the "Dream" headlines for the year ahead.  That stumps quite a few of them.  I don't think they have ever been challenged to think about what could happen in our community, the country, or the world in the coming year.  And of course, because it is a "dream" headline--they can make anything happen.  That freedom paralyzes some of them.  

There you have it: a fun and thoughtful way to begin the new semester.

Hands On Activities in English

As an English teacher, I struggle to find ways to engage my hands-on learners.  It is so much easier to be the demonstrator, lecturer teacher.

Yesterday, I had a smidgen of success.  Students had pre-tested on Phrases and Clauses.  The results showed that most of them didn't understand the difference. (The ones who did went to the library with an extended exercise that I will explain some other time.)

For the ones who didn't understand, we went through a review of the definitions together.  Then we reviewed verbs and subjects to make sure that wasn't the issue. (For many of them, that really was the problem.)  I wrote words on the board.  Together we identified subjects and verbs and then labeled the groups Phrase or Clause.

I wrote ten groups of words on the board, and they tested themselves by labeling them at their seats.  Finally, I divided the class in half and sent them to the board.  I called out Phrase or Clause, and they had to write an example not previously used.  The remaining students determined whether they were right or wrong and helped them fix errors.  Then everyone switched places.

This wasn't very creative or innovative.  Students have been at the board for many, many years. On the other hand, one student said he hadn't understood them until he had to write his own. (Thus proving once more that teaching grammar in isolation isn't very wise.)

When we finished, the students took the post test and 90% of them reached mastery at the 80-100% level.

My question is, have any English teachers out there developed manipulatives or other hands-on activities for secondary students? I have found a few ideas, but not many. I am particularly interested in ideas for teaching language usage and sentence development.  Any and all ideas would be welcome!