All things Love and Birmingham

Oh Saint Valentine, how we love you. And candy. And school parties. And love. And most importantly, Birmingham. On Friday we went on our last field trip to the Civil Rights Institute. To say it was absolutely amazing is an understatement. You feel all the feels and see the beloved city in such a different way than we know now. In 5th grade, I read The Watson's Go to Birmingham 1963 and this is a real game changer for them. It perfectly intertwines the humor of Kenny and the antics him and his brother Byron find themselves in while in Michigan.They end up being sent to their grandma's (with the rest of the family) in Birmingham and are faced the harsh realities of the Civil Rights movement in the deep south. It had our class laughing, crying, and questioning things that don't have a simple answer. If you are ever in Birmingham, I highly recommend you check out the Civil Rights Institute and take a gander across the street to the 16th St. Baptist Church that got bombed in 1963 killing 4 little girls in Sunday School. It's funny how often we forget to take the time to explore our own city when we're caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. There is so much to do and experience downtown that forces us to realize how grateful we are, how far people have come, and how much we still need to grow. It was humbling (even for 10 year olds) and seeing the 16th St. Church is something amazing, heartbreaking, historical, and thriving.

[ Statues from the park across the street] 

The love only continued with our Valentine's party where candy grams were sent out from "special friends," notes passed saying "Will you be my girlfriend? Check yes or no," and an illegal amount of sugar was consumed (which was quite alright with me because it was Friday and they had the whole weekend to burn that off.) I mean really, no one needs this much junk, but it was so tasty. Middle schoolers have so much love they want to share and it's so sweet when they think of you, and their thoughts are in the form of candy.

Until next time, keep it real.

Meet your Savior: Text Based Evidence

Here's a brief glimpse into what unfolds after I explain I want questions to be restated on assignments: "
Me: "Restate your question in your answer"
Them:  "What? What do you mean Mrs. Roberts? How do I do that?" "Did we learn that?"
Me: "Where did this answer come from?" "You have to tell where you found this in the text."
Them: "What do you mean?" "I found it in the story" "I found it here" (while pointing all over)

Clearly, things weren't working! Somewhere between what I said in class and what they were doing at home or during study hall got lost in translation and was causing everyone major frustration because they truly didn't get what I was wanting. This all changed thanks to an awesome product from Ms. Leslie Ann Rowland also a 5th grade teacher in the lovely state of Alabama (Click to see her blog). When she put out here Comprehension pack on TPT I couldn't get my hands on it fast enough because I knew this is what I had been looking for all along and just didn't realize it. I needed something that would require my students to read a text and be able to cite evidence from it and to tell where they got their evidence from. BAM, this is it. So, this brings me to the every other night reading logs I have been using for homework. I have to be honest, they love it and so do I. What a great win-win for everyone. In these folders I put the log on the front and some instructions for them on the back. Each night as they read they are required to:

- Highlight where they found the answer in the text

- Begin each answer with the Evidence Based Text prompt located on their bookmark (corresponds with the bulletin board in the room)

- Highlight where they used the prompt to begin each question

- Make corrections from the previous Reading Log based on what I have highlighted for them

I also started having students go back and correct questions for a couple reasons (see picture below) because I want to make sure they aren't "getting away" with not giving me their best work. Sure, it would be easier to not start with an evidence prompt or highlight the prompt so they know they used it and get points off. But I don't let that happen. Yes, points will be taken off for not following the guidelines, but they better believe they will still be fixing mistakes. Now, they know it's just worth it to put in the effort the first time around rather than have to correct later.

[ I use the yellow highlighter to let students know something needs to be corrected. They use the orange guidelines on the back of their folder to assess what will need correcting. All corrections go directly on the back of this page.]

Not only has this increased the quality of responses on these isolated homework assignments, it has transferred to other work where students are asking "Can I highlight where I found my answer?" "Is it alright if I start my question with an evidence prompt?" UMM, LET ME THINK ABOUT THAT. YES!! As a bonus for the teachers, they're super easy to take up, quickly read through, and let students know where corrections need to be made.

 [ In the folders I keep all past logs stapled together, text based evidence book mark, and a character trait sheet for reference] 

Until next time, keep it real.

Quick Tip Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! Hopefully I'm not alone in saying my sweet students are ALWAYS losing pens or pencils and seem to ask for them at the most inopportune times. After letting them borrow (keep forever) a pen or pencil here and there I realized one day I didn't have any left! When you're the one buying the supplies, this is a huge bummer and can get expensive. So, here's what I've started doing:

In this cute recycling bin one of my students got me I went out and bough a bunch of regular pencils (maybe I'll upgrade to mechanical soon but who knows). If  a student needs a pencil, they can buy one from me for 25 cents and it is theirs to keep. You'd be surprised how much spare change these kids have hanging out in their pockets and how willing they are to buy pencils. Then, with the money I make I just restock my supply of pencils.

If it's something quick and a pen or a pencil is needed briefly I've added this pretty tape to my pens and pencils so should it go missing and turn up 3 days later in the lunch room (specific example) all the students know to return it to me because of my tape. 

Hope this can help you if you have a case of the missing pencils! Until next time, keep it real. 

Have no fear, paper writing just became easy

Let me start by saying, if you dread teaching paper writing because you don't know where to start or an easy way to implement it, I totally felt your pain. It's such a daunting task because you know you want the final product to be organized and cohesive, well written and revised and this and that with the list going on an on. Those qualities should be expected in a paper and finally there is a way that won't stress you out to the max. After going to professional development at the beginning of the year I signed up for a writing session because I was feeling very uneasy about my writing implementation and this was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made in regards to PD. Here we go:

1. Expectations, guidelines, and organization of papers need to be clearly and explicitly stated.

2. Make it simple! Chunk the paper into manageable writing sections

3. Give students all the tools they need to succeed. This may include packets, anchor charts, videos, etc. at the very beginning before they begin writing.

This is now what paper or essay writing implementation looks like in my room:

 1. First, I present students with a packet full of everything they need to know about their paper. The packet includes:
      - An essay schedule of lessons and all due dates for their paper
      - Essay topic/ guidelines
      - Essay rubric (so they know expectations and what they will be evaluated on)
      - Essay outline guidelines
      - Thesis statement writing help
      - Hook/ lead writing help
      - Conclusion writing help 

We go over this whole packet and any other helpful anchor charts I have during the first class period. I don't do anything else because this can be overwhelming. I let them soak in what we talked about, what their paper will be on, and begin thinking about what they are going to write about. Day 1 is just to present the information very clearly and let it sink in.

2. I then spend one whole class period going over how to write a thesis and how to create a paper outline. We write a few sample thesis, watch a video on writing them, and look at the sheet I attached below and discuss as a class.  I make sure all students are clear on how to write a paper outline and I show them how I expect it to be set up. If their outline isn't set up correctly or doesn't have all the necessary information, there is no way they can succeed in their paper. It is really important they are responsible for drawing and filling in their own essay outline. Don't just give them a blank template and have them fill in the necessary information. I give them a reference sheet but they create their own to turn in. They will be expected to do this in high school and on standardized tests- so start now by making them responsible thinkers and planners. The day following this lesson is spent working on their outlines in class so if they have questions I am here to help (This is the basis of their whole paper so I want to make sure it is solid). That is the only in class work day they will get for the paper. 

* Outline layout example* Student written outline

3. I use brightly colored sentence strips to help write the paper drafts. THIS. IS. LIFE CHANGING. I always go over this in class and use a different paper as an example that we can mark up together to show what their paper should look like. These sentence strips stay up during the whole paper writing process but are interchanged based on the section we are at. I also upload this to their homework website so they can see it at home. Before each part of a paper is due, they are to highlight the corresponding section of their paper to the sentence strips so we can clearly and quickly see all parts of that particular section of the paper are present (that's why you need colored sentence strips). In the body paragraphs, I also make sure they included one quote from the text. This will lead into the last part of the implementation.

4. The whole paper needs to be split up into manageable sections. Only when the final paper is due, do I want it turned in as a whole. For example, the introduction is one part, body paragraph 1 is another part, and so on (You can see this in the above paper schedule). Each part is due on a given day and the next day it is returned to students with meaningful comments the next day so it is almost immediate. This part is crucial so students can self revise and edit.Then, the next section is due. 

Although it will day 2-3 class days to set students up, after these days they can do their paper independently. It is amazing to see how well they can take information from a book or whatever their essay source is and put it to paper when the directions are so clear and simple. I hope this can help you in your room! Let me know your thoughts. Until next time, keep it real.

Superbowl Sunday or Super eating Sunday?

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! If you're like me, you may not really at all care about the game itself because The Bills aren't in it (shocking I know). I'll just throw it out there and admit I like my house to be obnoxiously clean.  I'm actually more anxious about making sure the house is in order and I won't have to make apologies and say things like "Sorry about the house" when I've had anything but a crazy week and no excuses not to swiffer. Aside from that this dreary Sunday will consist of heading to the gym so I will have less qualms about slowing down on the chicken wing dip, sausage balls, chips and dips, etc. The list of foods I could consume is really limitless (am I right or am I right?!) Today is a fun opportunity to get together with some friends from work and mangia (I also wish I was Italian) all night long. I can't wait to show you our yummy food later. What are your plans for the day? Whatever it is, I hope it's great. Until next time, keep it real.

The First Ramblings

Well, it's finally happened! I took the plunge and actually created the teaching blog I've only been thinking about for quite some time now. Come along and listen to some of my ramblings about school happenings, life updates, and just general chatter about what's going on. I will be uploading a classroom tour shortly and jumping right in to the happenings in Mrs. Roberts room as of late. Until next time, keep it real.

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