Hannah+Strawser's+Daily+Reflections


 * =Day: = || =Entry: = ||
 * Day 1: Tuesday 6/25 || The first day of the summer institute awoke many feelings within me. Fear. Excitement. Intimidation. I felt like a student on the first day of school again. However, unlike the first days of school that I remember, I was very impressed with the amount of engagement that was involved within the classroom on the first day. This is something that I am continually thinking about considering our districts shift to LFS and not lecturing at kids, but rather allowing them to become part of the learning process. I really liked the idea of the Socratic seminars and have actually tried something similar in my classroom. However, I never called them “Socratic seminars” … isn’t it funny how we teachers may have tried something before or we have been doing something for years, but we just don’t use the “buzz words”. Anyway, I must admit that although I was doing something similar, I liked the structure of the one done in class a whole lot more. I particularly found the second socratic seminar topic to be of interest to me. The idea of modeling has always been one that I struggle with as an eighth grade teacher. I know that some of the people in the discussion talked about it, but I was wondering if any middle school teachers could share with me what modeling for writing looks like in your classroom? ||
 * Day 2: Wednesday 6/26 || IPADS! AHHHHH! Today was so much fun … completely different feelings from that of yesterday. The possibilities are endless with the use of these portable electronics. I have so many ideas, but there also seem to be so many unanswered questions. Most of those questions have to do with the limited resources within schools today. I-Pads are great for us teachers to have and to use, but my mind keeps jumping to, “how great would it be if my students had one of these babies?” What a great resource for students to stay organized, take notes, complete assignments and creative projects. Not only will it catch their attention because it is relevant to their lives, but because they will be engaged through the use of things like i-Movie and penultimate. I was even wondering to myself, “if my students each had one of these, would it be possible for them to keep their entire double sided journal on their i-Pads (since you can draw in the penultimate app too)?” I think this would also be a good shift for students as far as assessments, both within the class and statewide. If you think of the standardized tests today, those aren’t even paper and pencil anymore. They are electronic. Not only that, but with Smarter Balance approaching, students are going to be asked to do more performance tasks. What better time to start preparing them for this then now? ||
 * Day 3: Thursday 6/27 || There are so many ideas from the readings and from class today that I want to try in my own classroom. It’s only a matter of figuring out where to start. Our school district hasn’t put much of an emphasis on writing; at least not in the three years that I’ve been a part of its family. To be honest, this whole writing thing is a little overwhelming, because up until now, the curriculum team, in which I am a part of, has focused primarily on the reading standards. I have always had the desire to incorporate more writing within my classroom, however I never knew where to start. That is one of the many reasons why I am grateful to be a part of this class.

In writing my first two reflections, I kept questioning myself. “Am I doing this right? Am I expressing myself too much? Too little?” Then I read the first two chapters of the book and what should have been clear before was all of a sudden clear as day to me. I realize now what the difference is between reflective and expressive writing.

One thing that I particularly liked about the first few writing activities in chapter two was that they all seemed to build upon one another and weave together like some sort of thematic basket. Gallagher’s first activity started small … very miniscule … with just six words. This makes me laugh, because during my poetry unit I had my students read “The Red Wheelbarrow”, which only consists of 8 lines. After reading the mentor text (I know what that is now!) I had them write their own poem that followed the same structure and included the same kinds of imagery. I can still picture their frustration in my mind. The grinding of the teeth, the incessant clicking of a pen cap, the pitter-patter and tapping of fingers on the desk as they tried to count syllables and lines. They were frustrated … and while I thought they were sure to hate me for putting them through this project, they ended up being so proud of themselves. I think that the six-word memoir will do the same thing. As I mentioned before, I like how Gallagher starts with six words, moves to 140 characters (tweets), and then he builds from there. However, on top of the structure of it all, he does all of that while making it interesting and relatable to his students.

Gallagher makes it easy for me to look through his sample activities and picture how I would adapt it to my classroom’s needs, both grade level and technology advancements. He particular got me thinking about how I could utilize my document camera and SMART board more often to model and show student samples and my own. Quite frankly though, this makes me nervous. Not the idea of showing the students my writing; but in doing so without a plan and sanitizing it (page 33).

I realize in reading these chapters that I need to write more, both with and without my students. I did a lot more reflecting in my first year teaching then I have done in the last two years. Not to say that I currently don’t reflect at all, but I definitely do not make time to reflect each day, as suggested on page 60. When I read this I heard the voice of my principal haunting me. His saying is, “statistics show that you’re the best you’re going to be by year five.” Here I am going into year four and I know very little about teaching non-fiction writing well. I don’t want to be a statistic. I want to be the one to defy it. My goal? Start reflecting more.

I want to start writing with my kids, as I believe this is a good practice for both my students and myself. I want to be a great teacher… I believe I can one day be a great teacher. I believe in shaping lives. I believe this class can help me on my journey to do so. (“This I Believe”)

My six-word memoir for the day … Attend Delaware Writing Project, learn much.

Questions:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1) I use sentence stems in my classroom to help my students start papers/thoughts. My principal questions me on this sometimes and thinks that we should gradually release control to the students as the year goes on. The way that I take this is that he doesn’t want me to model and help them as much as the year goes on. What are your thoughts on this (or on using sentence starters/stems)? Is this “dummying” it down for kids and setting them up for failure later in their lives if another teacher doesn’t do the same for them or are we honestly helping them become good writers?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2) How does everyone else use writer’s notebooks in the classroom? I know Heidi and Robyn shared theirs today (thank you for that) but would anyone else like to share how they use them in theirs?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">3) I found it interesting that on page 61 Gallagher talks about technology creating an “entertainment bubble” for kids. Are iPads a good idea then or is this feeding into the entertainment bubble? Is it a good way for us to relate to them or not? || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> 7/1 || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Every day that passes in this class just reminds me of how grateful I am to be a part of it. I am so excited to use so many of these strategies within my classroom this year. I am kind of overwhelming myself mentally trying to think of where I can fit THEM ALL because I love them SO MUCH! With some of these strategies it is only going to take a few modifications to a lesson; however, with others, I am going to have to rewrite whole lessons ... which is annoying, but exciting at the same time.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Day 4: Monday

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I really liked the amazon review activity from today particularly because I had so much fun with it and I know that my students will too. I could see this also serving as a means of talking about sarcasm within writing (if I do something similar to the banana slicer). I also enjoyed the "I wonder ..." activity that Robyn did for a few reasons. First off, I thought that it was a great way of keeping high interest with the students while keeping the material rigorous enough for 8th grade students. Secondly, I like that this is something that can be used all year at any point in the class, constantly requiring the students to think back to the idea of research. My district is trying to incorporate more research in every unit rather than just having one ginormous research unit at the end of the year. I think that this activity could be a good way to consistently lead up to and incorporate research throughout the year, in every unit. *There are so many ideas from today that I could incorporate into my class, I would be writing ALL NIGHT if I told you my reflections on them all ... so I will just stick with those two.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I did want to touch on the discussion topic from today of grading the writer's notebook's. I know that someone had asked, "How do you keep up with grading them?" Something that I tried last year that was helpful was having weekly writing graphic organizers that I collect at the end of the week instead. My first year teaching, I tried the writer's notebooks and I either forgot to grade them or lost momentum to do so by the end of the marking period. With my students doing weekly sheets that they get on Mondays and turn in on Fridays, I am reminded weekly to look them over or grade them for completion. My graphic organizer for this was simple. It consisted of a box for each day for the five days of the week. Each box had a date box in the corner. They would have to write the question for the day and then their response. These would then be kept in their binders ... so they had more of a "writer's binder" instead of a notebook ... however, it was a writer's something, and it worked. It worked well for my hidden, procrastinating, sometimes forgetful side of my personality (we will call that side "Ms. Hyde" ... pun intended).

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">It was also nice to have some moments of validation. For example, I already use commercials to teach the propaganda techniques within my class. It was nice to have a few moments of self praise before going back to all of my thoughts of, "I need to do this ... I need to do that ... OOOO that looks snazzy, how can I make that to meet the needs of my 8th graders?" (of course it's a good kind of flustered ... the kind that keeps me moving toward wanting to be a better teacher each year, so don't worry about me). :-)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Thank you for all of the resources and help on the unit! Six words for today? Hmm ... how about ... Another day gone ... another to come. ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Day 5 : Tuesday 7/2 ==== || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I really like how everything within the text that we are using, and within the DWP itself is linked to the CCSS. This is something that is very important to look for as the whole state makes its shift to the Common Core Standards. I especially think that since so many of the standards touch on analyzing and interpreting text, and argument/taking a stand, that today's class was extra helpful.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I thought that it was neat how today different kinds of media were used within the sample lessons (i.e. song lyrics, videos, pictures) and that the lesson wasn't just confined to reading TEXT ... but reading into pictures, etc. and analyzing them. I do some analyzing of pictures within my class already, but after today and reading these chapters, I have some new ideas as to how to make my lessons better. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Another thing that I noticed was that during my reading there were several times where I wrote, "this would be great for Stef (our math teacher) or Mark (our social studies teacher). I think that it is important that we get the other subject areas to jump on board with the writing and use of non-fiction text in the classroom. By teaching them what we have learned from this course, especially having students analyze and argue through the use of visuals and written text, we can cover more standards multiple times throughout the year. How much more effective would that be? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I like the philosophical chairs. As we all know, middle students LOVE to voice their opinions on matters ... don't we all? I could totally see them having so much fun with this during our argument unit in my ELA class. There are already some texts that I have in mind to use this with.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I do have one question: What is this Bingo, Bango, Bongo thing that you speak of that is taught in the Brandywine School District? ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Day 6: Wednesday 7/3 || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Dr. Mouza's suggestions for apps was very helpful and I cannot wait to use some of these in my classrooms. I've been spending some time on my own sifting through the millions of apps that are out there, trying to find ones that are useful and reliable. Her presentation couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you so much. I also found Heidi's presentation to be helpful. Through reading the chapter on revising and editing and seeing Heidi's presentation, I have realized that I need to do more teaching of these skills and differences between the two to my students. I have been looking at some of the links that Heidi gave to us at student motivation and I am definitely going to try some of these. I even want to try the "Meet the Author" night. I think that this would be fun! ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Final Reflection: Tuesday 7/9- Thursday 7/11 || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Writing this unit has been very tedious, but rewarding at the same time. I hit a road block at the beginning of this week. I didn't know what it was, but I was confused about something. Thanks to Holly, I was able to finally wrap my head around the confusion. In my district we use the LFS strategies; however, we usually use the shorter lesson template (E.A.T.S). I wasn't comprehending what all of the APs were about and how they differed from EQs, and why the lesson seemed to be so disorganized. Now that I understand the format, I do not think that this is the case at all! I think that it definitely takes more time to plan a lesson this way, at least for now ... but I think that it also helped me to see my lesson in a different light. I like how the template reminds you to stop and check for understanding/ summarize (this is something I sometimes forget to do). I also like how in being reminded of this so often in the writing process, I was forced to go and look for new strategies. So I really learned a lot of methods that I am going to try and incorporate into my lessons this year.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Our administration is going to start checking for lessons in our rooms each day, so I think that it is very helpful that we were forced to use this template. I prefer to grapple through the frustration now, over my summer, rather than in the middle of a busy teaching week.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I have learned so much from this process, once again ... even though it was frustrating. Thank you so much for guiding us in this process and for the wonderful examples and mentors you have been to us, Heidi and Robyn! ||