The Buzz of Teaching

I'm a Leaner. I knew this before I even took the StrengthsFinder, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it appear on my test. As a teacher, my instinct to learn and explore the world guides my choice of curriculum. And as a teacher, I know that there are many times where students (or even me!) have a question about the world that may or may not be directly related to the lesson. This week, I decided to lean into these questions and see where they took me and my classes. Honors LA 10 My students are reading Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley. I found a great unit online that incorporates learning about modern day scientific breakthroughs and connecting them back to the pseudo-science presented in the novel. The first mini-unit derived from this novel is a research unit on In Vitro Fertilization. Students were shown their end goal and how it relates to the novel, language arts, and their lives outside of school. First, students read and took notes from a variety of perspectives reg...

To finish this trimester of LA 9 I asked my students to read Melba Patillo Beals' Warriors Don't Cry . We don't have enough books for my students to check them out and read them at home, so I had to devote the majority of our final 2 weeks to just reading; however, I did create a final assessment inspired by several materials I found online. This allowed an opportunity for my students and me to set objectives surrounding this work and many opportunities for me to provide meaningful feedback to my students' work. The project consisted of 3 steps: 1. Complete Frayer Vocab Models for the following words: ally, bystander, target, perpetrator 2. Complete Journal Prompts about being an ally, bystander, target, and perpetrator 3. Write a Personal Narrative about a time you were an ALLY. This project was great because we worked together to set objectives, or rules, for this assignment. We negotiated the due date, how many pages for the narrative, the amount of points, an...

I use Reflective Statements in my classroom because I like to model that it's okay to give wait time instead of immediately affirm an answer. I also use it to model summarizing a speaker's point of view to confirm that you understood them clearly. I have also found that this is a good technique to know well when it's time for conferences. When I use a Reflective Statement during conferences, whether they be with a student or a parent, it takes the pressure off of me and reverts the focus back to the student, the question, or the situation. I also use this during conflict mediation with students. I have also used this during times when my frustration is increasing because of certain student behaviors; I'll frame the sentence with "I'm feeling __________ because __________ and it helps my students "check themselves" before they wreck themselves.

I try to make my classes more concrete, so this area is an area I can improve upon. My Honors LA 10 students needed to fulfill a standard that asked them to adapt a persuasive essay into a persuasive speech. In my classroom, that process involves making a visualization paragraph in which the speaker asks the audience to imagine the utopia that will flourish if they heed the speaker's advice, or, imagine a dystopian world that will emerge if the opposite occurs. My students did well with their visualization. Also, at the end of each speech, we did an affirmation. Students wrote these celebratory responses at the beginning of the year so it was fun to hear them again. After each speech we did things like stomping, clapping, the wave, and a mushroom dance to support each other and help us visualize a cohesive community free of judgement. It went well. 

I always joke with my students about how we are the school that "Handles it." If there's a change in schedule, we handle it. If there's a change in policy, we handle it. Is the curriculum being overhauled by someone who has no idea what they're doing? We handle it. It started off as a joke but it's turned into a real motto. This ties in with the concept of grit and growth, which I try to help my students learn about whenever they feel frustrated about their lives. Photo Credit: https://camso.co/en/products-solutions/material-handling