I finished the book 180 Days by Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle earlier this week. It was amazing- definitely lived up to all the hype I saw on Instagram and Twitter.
For those of you that haven't seen it, 180 Days is a one year story of Gallagher & Kittle's 9th grade classrooms. They walk you through how they set up their reading and writing units for the entire year. It's geared towards ELA classrooms, and more towards high school, but I found it adaptable to middle school.
I'm excited to implement more independent and choice reading this year, something I was planning before I read this book. I plan on pretty closely following their timeline for reading. It suggests independent reading, then book clubs, then a core text, and then you repeat the whole thing, and then you finish the year with either independent reading or book clubs.
The writing units are more geared towards high school standards, and include more units/topics than our curriculum requires, so I'll have to make some adjustments from their schedule. Still, the pacing is nice to see and they go into detail about how they work through the major units- narrative, informational, and argumentative. Those are the ones I will be keeping, so that section of the book was really helpful.
The one thing I didn't like about the book is that even though they recommend reading and writing conferences, they don't go into depth on how they get those done. (I haven't watched/reviewed all of the online resources yet though.) I think conferences will make a real difference in the classroom, so I'm looking forward to finding more resources to help with that.
Have you read 180 Days? What did you think?
Friday, July 13, 2018
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Why Do I Teach?
I was asked this question as part of the Adventurous Teaching Academy challenge I am participating in this year. I immediately came up with this sentence: I teach because I love reading and writing and I want to share that love with my students. I feel like it's kind of cheesy, but really those are my favorite parts of teaching- introducing students to books I know they're going to love, talking about books and reading with my kids of all reading abilities/loves, and getting kids excited about writing through silly activities or fun ones like NaNoWriMo.
Even though it is kind of cheesy, that is the reason why I teach. And, unfortunately, I feel like I forget my reason a lot of the time. I get caught up with trying to learn a new curriculum (like this year) or trying something new that is harder than I thought, or simply focusing too much on curriculum and standards. Those things are important, and I believe I grew a lot as a teacher last year (Especially in terms of what just doesn't work with my babies! lol) but I moved away from independent reading and sharing books & reading with my kiddos. Part of that was learning a new curriculum and figuring out a new school and a new grade, and part of that was seeing how other teachers in the building ran their classrooms, and part of that was me thinking it was "too hard" to fit it in. But honestly, I missed it. I missed all of my book talks and students actually checking out books from my classroom library, and seeing my students fall in love with books.
So this year, I'm determined to go back to that. I'm reworking our curriculum to meet the needs of my students. I'm making sure to carve out time for independent reading. I'm planning on book talks and sharing what I'm reading (plus actually reading during the school year, which I drifted away from the last few years) and so much more!
I really think that if I truly focus on fostering a love of reading and writing in my classroom, the other things will fall into place. It's a lot more fun to discuss theme or characters or narrative writing if students are engaged or tying it to books they love. I've re-found my purpose as a teacher and I am SO excited!
So why do you teach?
Even though it is kind of cheesy, that is the reason why I teach. And, unfortunately, I feel like I forget my reason a lot of the time. I get caught up with trying to learn a new curriculum (like this year) or trying something new that is harder than I thought, or simply focusing too much on curriculum and standards. Those things are important, and I believe I grew a lot as a teacher last year (Especially in terms of what just doesn't work with my babies! lol) but I moved away from independent reading and sharing books & reading with my kiddos. Part of that was learning a new curriculum and figuring out a new school and a new grade, and part of that was seeing how other teachers in the building ran their classrooms, and part of that was me thinking it was "too hard" to fit it in. But honestly, I missed it. I missed all of my book talks and students actually checking out books from my classroom library, and seeing my students fall in love with books.
So this year, I'm determined to go back to that. I'm reworking our curriculum to meet the needs of my students. I'm making sure to carve out time for independent reading. I'm planning on book talks and sharing what I'm reading (plus actually reading during the school year, which I drifted away from the last few years) and so much more!
I really think that if I truly focus on fostering a love of reading and writing in my classroom, the other things will fall into place. It's a lot more fun to discuss theme or characters or narrative writing if students are engaged or tying it to books they love. I've re-found my purpose as a teacher and I am SO excited!
So why do you teach?
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
SNOW DAY
Nothing like getting the call on our day off to know that the next day is a SNOW DAY!!! Woohoo! Guess I'll have a three day work week! Not going to lie, I was so excited to get that call. I mean, I definitely need the days in this unit, but I'll make it work.
What am I doing on this snow day? Nothing much except working on my online rewards programs (extra $$ here I come!) and browsing Facebook... you know, after sleeping until 11. Tomorrow's 6:45 wake up call will be a rough one after four straight days of sleeping in!
What do you do on a snow day?
What am I doing on this snow day? Nothing much except working on my online rewards programs (extra $$ here I come!) and browsing Facebook... you know, after sleeping until 11. Tomorrow's 6:45 wake up call will be a rough one after four straight days of sleeping in!
What do you do on a snow day?
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Back at School
And we're back!! (Well, we've been back for a week. It's been busy.)
My eighth year of teaching has begun!! Also, I've changed schools and grade levels. It's almost like being a brand new teacher again! Lots of late nights and learning new things.
I'm now in 6th grade, after being in 7th for the last six years. (My first year was 6th... three curriculums ago.) I do love my middle school babies! They're so sweet! They're also SUPER excited about middle school & very chatty. :)
I am a bit nervous about this year- I'm trying Standards Based Grading for the first time. I've done tons of reading and planning, and I think it will be a success. I'm a little nervous for explaining it to my kiddos on Friday. I hope it makes sense to them. I think it will once they see the examples.
Happy New School Year!!
My eighth year of teaching has begun!! Also, I've changed schools and grade levels. It's almost like being a brand new teacher again! Lots of late nights and learning new things.
I'm now in 6th grade, after being in 7th for the last six years. (My first year was 6th... three curriculums ago.) I do love my middle school babies! They're so sweet! They're also SUPER excited about middle school & very chatty. :)
I am a bit nervous about this year- I'm trying Standards Based Grading for the first time. I've done tons of reading and planning, and I think it will be a success. I'm a little nervous for explaining it to my kiddos on Friday. I hope it makes sense to them. I think it will once they see the examples.
Happy New School Year!!
Friday, June 16, 2017
Standards Based Grading/ Growth Mindset/ Gamification
Standards Based Grading, or SBG, is one of those newer educational terms that I've heard about, and read about, but never really did anything about it.
Basically, the concept of SBG is that you give students grades based on their mastery of standards, not just grades based on classwork, homework, and assessments.
It is a newer way of thinking about school/learning, and, to be honest, is fascinating to me. I love the idea of focusing on what standards I want my students to learn and helping them to reach mastery on each standard.
I believe that it works well with growth mindset (encouraging students to think more positively and focus on growing and improving) and with gamification (making learning more like a game, where you can earn experience points and have fun). I'm WAY simplifying all of those new terms, but I'm super excited to try it out.
I've been toying with the idea of all three concepts (SBG, growth mindset, and gamification) for a while now, and I think I can make them all work together. Just means I'm going to be doing more planning this summer!
Basically, the concept of SBG is that you give students grades based on their mastery of standards, not just grades based on classwork, homework, and assessments.
It is a newer way of thinking about school/learning, and, to be honest, is fascinating to me. I love the idea of focusing on what standards I want my students to learn and helping them to reach mastery on each standard.
I believe that it works well with growth mindset (encouraging students to think more positively and focus on growing and improving) and with gamification (making learning more like a game, where you can earn experience points and have fun). I'm WAY simplifying all of those new terms, but I'm super excited to try it out.
I've been toying with the idea of all three concepts (SBG, growth mindset, and gamification) for a while now, and I think I can make them all work together. Just means I'm going to be doing more planning this summer!
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