One Size Fits All?

This past week I spent some time reflecting on the concept of school.  In theory, it's a great idea.  Children learn powerful information, become great citizens, meet new people, and are inspired. Hmmm. Then I started thinking about the number of kids who are disengaged, who struggle with a variety of school "rules", question why they have to take certain subjects, and why they have to sit in chairs all day long.

I started to think that while we try to differentiate instruction, we don't differentiate schools. I'm not talking about magnet schools, private schools, charter schools, or any other kind of special school. I'm talking radical change. I'm talking immersion into the real world. I'm talking about a school without so many boundaries. I'm talking about a school where students can talk, and it's OK.

What could school look like? Traditional schooling works for many students as long as it is engaging, as long as the teachers care, and as long as it meets their basic needs.  Yet, traditional schools can't meet the needs of many of today's students.  They're also failing to recognize students' talents.  Excellence is only achieved if you can perform well on a standardized test in English and Math...maybe science and social studies too. What does this say about art, music, technology, building trades, theater, and everything else that isn't and shouldn't be tested?

Maybe that's the real question we need to be asking.

Routine

If there's anything I should know by now, it's the importance of routine for 9th graders. Sure, they like to act "grown", they enjoy doing different activities, but they are also creatures of habit.  This past week has been a good reminder that while it's great to try new things, I have to be cognizant of how it's impacting their routine, especially in March :)

I integrated bell ringers this trimester, which has been worth the extra time. However, I tried using my colleague's model, which includes the word of the day on the actual bell ringer. I always did my word of the day at the beginning, my students had their word of the day sheets, and it was something they regarded as an instrumental part of class.  Combining the two has been an epic disaster. Thankfully, I picked up on it before too much damage was done.  We have returned to beginning class with the word of the day and THEN beginning the bell ringer.  They are much less confused, overwhelmed, and on task.

My student teacher also brought up the ingenious idea of noting whether students were doing the bell ringer by using a clipboard. Why I didn't think of that, I'll never know. Needless to say, I'm much more comfortable with keeping track of them that way. The piles that were forming were freaking me out! Now, if I could only find a way to do this digitally, life would be amazing. And after the past week's fiasco with the copy machine (obvious abuse has been duly noted), the repairman, nasty notes, and people who should never ever touch a copy machine, I'd like to use it even less than I do already. If anyone has any ideas let me know! (No, I do not have a smartboard).

Lately, I've also felt like the weakest link on the English 9 team, because my students are simply eons behind where many of my colleague's are in terms of writing. It bothers me.  A lot. I'm also frustrated, because I feel like I should be able to have my students craft a paragraph free from run on sentences, fragments, and that actually made sense. Granted, probably a 1/3 of that group has not been with me since day one and arrived from different schools, I still feel responsible.  I'm still trying to figure out how to address these issues, and I'm hoping that this week's assignment for school will help, since it's all about creating writing lessons :)

Clicking

Today we began discussing the eight stages of genocide, something I didn't even know existed until I stumbled upon it when I was browsing information on the web. The document itself is written at a ridiculously high level, so I copied and pasted it and deleted information that I knew would frustrate my kids.  We went over text structure and then individually they sorted through each stage and created their own definition and examples of how the stage operates. It was pretty powerful stuff. We were having meaningful conversations and making some great T-W connections.  The three they seemed to own the most were classification, symbolization, and dehumanization (I thought they would get this one given the amount of time we spent on it during Sold.  Listening and unpacking these stages was so insightful for me, and it reminded me why I love teaching. The lights were going off, and I was able to witness it.

We also did a pretest on different types of sentence, as well as fragments and run on sentences. OH MY. I have a lot of work to do in this area, but at least I have some direction on what we need to work on in small groups.  Thankfully, some of them won't need a mini lesson at all, which is great because it means I can spend my time efficiently.

I'm excited about this unit and can't wait to watch it unfold!

P.S I picked a book..If I Should Die before Wake

Breathing Room

The end of the second trimester came to an end last Thursday, and to say I was eager for third trimester to start is an understatement.  You see, somehow, powerschool recognized that my sanity relied heavily on a little change of scenery and a little less kids.  Powerschool makes a lot of mistakes, but it did something right when it divided my sections into manageable class sizes and separated some personalities that should never, ever, get back together. (Sorry, T-Swift). Anyway, I have 23 kids in my 3rd hour compared to 32, and I can walk, and we can move, and it isn't ridiculously loud, and everyone has a seat, and they're normal 9th graders, rather than off the chain 9th graders. I will most definitely say some extra prayers tonight.

So, let's reflect on the first day.  My department head and neighbor at school has devised a pretty awesome bell ringer system.  He was kind enough to forward these to me so that I could begin to create my own.  Today was our first go, and it was purposeful, and eye opening, and made it easier to talk about fragments, run on sentences, and the treasured sentence. They change from day to day, and I've tweaked them to be my own, but these are the first bell ringers I've ever found effective and worth my time.

I decided to start the trimester with a general overview of the 8 genocides that have occurred in the 20th Century before focusing on the Holocaust. I was taken aback today by the lack of background knowledge my students actually had about the Holocaust.  A few had read Anne Frank or touched briefly on it in history class, but very few were able to make any T-T or T-W connections. Usually when I begin a unit I try to front load a lot, but I didn't think that was necessary for this unit. Lesson number one...don't assume. Thankfully, I have the first couple of weeks devoted to researching the different genocides, including the Holocaust, so they will definitely be equipped with ample background knowledge before we begin reading the selected text (I have yet to decide which text).  I would love to do The Book Thief but we only have enough copies for my honors class to read it.

Stupid budget cuts.