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Writing Prompt [You were picked for a reality show...]

The most effective way to become better at something is by simply doing it every day. If you want to become a better reader, read more (at your level, using the tools you've been taught). If you want to become a better writer, write more (again, using the tools you've been taught). If you do not have those tools, that's why teachers like me exist! Our job is to give the tools to help you become better readers and writers. One of those tools is to provide opportunities to get ideas flowing. Pictures, stories, poetry, questions, sentence starters, &etc. are all ways to accomplish this.

Bible
Journal
Swimsuit
Towel
Hat
Books
Hatchet

Goodness, when I initially began listing I had more than five items, so I really had to think through my necessities: food/water, shelter, clothing. Since food is provided I should probably focus on the rest. Firstly, I would lose my sanity without the Bible so that's still number one, but I obviously need clothing: swimsuit and hat. That's already three items and I'm surprised at how difficult this thinking process has become for me already! I will want to make a shelter of some kind so a hatchet will help me accomplish this. A towel could accomplish many things: blanket, shelter, etc. And that's five items! Bummer on the journal though... I'll have to be creative with reading and writing! Like writing in the sand. Either way, this process of thinking through this made the idea an appealing one for me. Haha, I might be a boring person to watch on a reality show though.

What five items would you take?

5 Easy Tips for Parents to Prevent Summer Reading Loss (Early Elementary)

It is a fact that there is an academic summer loss. Unless parents are diligent about maintaining certain skills, your child will most likely forget some of what was taught. What you can do is pretty easy, it simply takes some prep time and the time to follow through with them, but for the sake of your child's learning, it is well worth it. Here are some tips in regards to reading over the summer:

1. Read more. There really is only one "secret" strategy in existence to increase reading abilities and this is it. Every book I've read, every reading class I've taken, this one piece always rears it's ugly head: How do we make more time to read? What you do need to make sure when implementing this strategy is that whatever they're reading is not so far above their reading level that their struggle overwhelms them. I stick to the hand rule: if there are five or more words on one page that they do not know, it's most likely too difficult.

2. Make reading memorable. Here's an idea: plan a reading picnic where you gather their favorite drink and snacks, some books, a blanket, find a beautiful spot and your plan is to simply read together for an hour. 

3. If you allow some screen time, make it worthwhile by downloading the "Teach Your Monster to Read" educational app. They begin by creating their own little monster who goes on all these adventures to find missing letters, read phrases to solve a problem for random kingdoms and earn these rewards to dress their monster up in everything from fairy wings to hats. My reader loves it (but she did want you to know she doesn't like the trickies, these weird little pocket monsters, haha she finds them irritating).

3. Get involved. For example, Barnes and Noble has a reading program for grades 1-6 where they earn a FREE book after reading eight and for keeping a reading journal. I've even read that Chuck-E. Cheese offers free tokens for reading books. If you are like me who lives forty-five minutes from the nearest BN or Chuck's, then head to your local library. For a small community, we have a group of librarians who do an excellent job providing services for our young readers. If your local library is a flop, then I know that Sylvan, Reading Warehouse, and Scholastic offer prizes online for minutes read and recorded.

4. Build their "bedroom library" with new books. Studies have proven that providing a child with their own books in their own bedroom increases reading as much or more than summer school. Build your child's library with two or three new books for them to read over the summer (and make sure you pick something that would interest them and within their level).

5. Reward them with more reading material when they've reached their goal (or whatever marker you've set in place). Example: Earn a magazine subscription (i.e. National Geographic offers wonderful magazine's for kids), because getting things in the mail is so fun. Or go out with your child one-on-one (cause you know they need it), go out to eat or grab an ice cream and head to a book store and let them pick a book of choice.

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Or join me on my Facebook page for a FREE reading program designed to hit those early elementary years. Here's what I'll offer: 

• 4 FREE themed FACEBOOK LIVE reading "events" on my Facebook page specifically designed to give comprehension tools. Offered on:
• July 1, 8, 15, & 22 (Follow the event on my Facebook page for more details.)
• Supplementary materials, readily available for download that coincide with that lesson.
• Entered into a giveaway for your child by signing up (a goodie box full of reading material based on the information you gave me on the registration form). 
• BONUS: Multiple entries for every friend you tag on my Instagram or Facebook page.

The registration form is available by clicking on this link. 

Writing Prompt [Picture Prompt]

I have an entire Pinterest Board full of enough pictures to last an entire year. There are so many hilarious, sad, thought-provoking pictures floating around that it was easy to build a "picture prompt" folder for everyday use. In order to reach all learner types, I vary it up, sometimes offering multiple prompts on one day that reach the different learners. I've also learned that pictures are perfect tools to use for my 1st grader who is learning to compose sentences. When I pull these out we ask the questions, Who or what is this about? What are they doing? to help her begin writing her subject clause and her predicate clause. We then use the same picture all week and continue adding to it until we've created an entire story bit by bit.

 Today, I'll share what I've collected on Pinterest (Pics to Prompt), along with one of the favorites.

Police struggling to restrain fans as the Beatles walk into Buckingham Palace [October 26, 1965] Source: Ted West/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

I honestly cannot decide which perspective would be the easiest to write about: the policemen (their faces, haha!) or from the erratic fans. Which would you write about?

Writing Prompt [Sooooo... your friend has bad breath...]

What would you do if you're talking to your bestie and am overwhelmed by their terrible breath?

I always keep a pack of gum in my purse and those disposable toothbrushes, because my poor students have told me they couldn't stand my coffee breath. Whoops! Sorry. It's my teacher fuel, or my mom fuel, okay, let's be real it's my life fuel. Therefore, I completely understand being on the recipient's side of, "Dudette, you have bad breath!" And I would prefer to know because knowing is better than making others uncomfortable. Back to the pack of gum, most people like to chew on a piece so I'd simply offer them one, and if they refuse, well, I'll tell them gently why they need it. I would never slap on a slew of insults! Sometimes the truth is hard to hear and it can also be embarrassing. Something like, "it will help your breath" or "I also have a disposable toothbrush you are more than welcome to use" or any way that I can help them with their situation, the better.

10 Key Pedagogical Principles

When it comes to instructional methods, every teacher needs a set of belief statements in regards to learning. These principles are the keys to successful teaching, which is the key to successful learning for any classroom, anywhere. It's these principles that make a teacher confident, and these are ten key pedagogical principles I believe to be true:

1. We learn by asking questions and seeking answers.
2. We learn by having engaging conversations with other learners and with the teacher.
3. We learn from memorable experiences.
4. We learn by adding to what we already know; therefore, we must have a solid foundation of knowledge and truth.
5. We learn when we have the end goal in mind. 
6. We learn when our uniqueness is considered - that our personal experiences, memories, talents, skills, strengths, weaknesses, likes/dislikes, feelings, interests, and background knowledge all impact how we learn, or how quickly we learn it.
7. We learn through an active process that includes (but is not limited to): connecting, writing, studying, questioning, problem-solving, visualizing, practicing, analyzing, discussing, debating, listening, creating, and presenting.
8. We learn when we put to use the study tools available to us.
9. We learn when we are confident in our ability to learn.
10. We learn when our teacher is also confident in our ability to learn and comes alongside us in our discoveries as a creative guide who assists, observes, suggests, and inspires us to learn on our own; where we apply the principles taught - well into adulthood.

HUGE Product Price Reduction

I overthink pricing my materials. For example, I began a business on Etsy (Rebecca's Recycled Readers) where I am attempting to sell the book art I've been making for the last three years, and that has been an undertaking I never anticipated to be so difficult - all because of pricing! The thing about the materials I make is that it takes a lot of time and I must consider the fact that my time is valuable. When it comes to these units, worksheets, and lessons for teachers I must also consider the fact that teachers use a significant portion of their paycheck for the betterment of their classrooms. Therefore I want to charge a price that teachers can actually afford to spend because it really isn't about me, it is about students. Still, I am trying to contribute to our income so that I can stay home with my girls for a little bit longer, thoroughly enjoy the little time I have with them as their mommy, and tutor as many students as I can one-on-one without charging an arm and a leg (which I'm finding that I really, really enjoy).

With that said, I've been seriously considering my prices and felt the overwhelming need to lower them for my fellow teacher's sake. Not because I've devalued my work but instead have put more value into what teachers and students need. And every teacher needs Bullying Resources, quick resources for struggling readers (like this Making Inferences Worksheet), and even a unit for those students who are ready to analyze and critically write about literature.

These are all products I've been successfully using in my classroom, in my homeschool classroom with my first grader, as a tutor - okay, basically as a teacher working in the field of education for the last twelve years - and I changed the pricing so that other educators in the same boat as me would be able to purchase and use them over and over again.

Enjoy, use and share - because that's what education is all about anyway.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Rafikeys-To-Success

Writing Prompt [Which Freedom is most important to you?]

Don't ask me why, but I've been on a question prompt kick lately and I feel like this one (like last week's question) is one any student of any age could write about for any length of time. My example: (And yes, I time myself, allowing the same amount of time I give my students for warming up: 5 minutes.)

As an American who has experienced all of these freedoms for my entire existence, I do not know what it's like to be restricted academically, economically, politically, religiously or anything that pertains to my life. I've enjoyed the freedom to say and do what I desire, with very little restrictions. And for that, I'm immensely blessed! Initially, I was going to say academic freedom, but if I had the freedom to learn and learn and learn but restricted in all other areas of my life I feel like I might burst at the seams! I really don't care about my economic status (haha, I guess if I did care about that I would never have become a teacher), speech is important (especially if I keep using platforms such as this to express my thoughts on teaching), but the most important freedom to me is religious freedom. I am incredibly thankful that I am free to read my Bible whenever and wherever I want, I'm free to worship, I'm free to join others in worship, I'm free to live this life preparing for eternity with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All other else pales in comparison.

Writing Prompt [What bothers you most about growing old?]

This is a question any one of us could write on for any number of minutes. Am I right? Let's awaken those writing brain cells for a moment by tackling this difficult, inevitable event in our life: growing old.

What bothers me most about growing old is the possible loss of physical and mental abilities. We've all seen those losses in nursing homes, and yet there are always exceptions to that. I've seen eighty-year-olds doing CrossFit and running marathons, while someone their same age struggles with Alzheimer's Disease or Arthritis. We always hope that we're the exception, but the reality of the human plight is that we might struggle. The best I can do at this point is to take care of my body, giving it the sustenance and activity it needs, hoping that whatever I face, I have the strength to endure.

How can I do that? I believe that there are important "pillars" to a person's life: physical activity, mental growth, spiritual and emotional well-being.... All of these play an important role in overall health and can all be easily taken from you except one: spiritual. View yourself as a soul that needs to be nourished, fed truth, living with a specific purpose, and a set of foundational beliefs. It is this that can never be taken from you because it lies within; so how are you going to foster this in your life so that when you grow old, you are able to stand firm in the face of whatever storm attempts to overtake you?

Study Tools to Give a First Grader

First graders are like little sponges. They love memorizing rhymes and songs, reading and rereading their favorite books, recounting facts, and talking up a little storm about allllllll the amazing things they learn. This is the beginning stages of good studying. And my little first grader is learning to study well. Besides her innate desire to learn as much as she possibly can about polar bears, bats, pangolins, octopuses, Challenger Deep, anchors, and smoothies (all subjects she has chosen); I believe teaching her how to learn, is a key component in fostering that desire to learn. There are a few tools I'm giving her so that she thrives at independent study (which should be an end goal for any educator). And she is thriving! This is what I love about being a teacher-mom (which is the term I use  when people ask what I do for a living, lol).

With that said, what tools do I give my first grader to help her learn how to study?

First, I'm teaching her to observe the text. How do you know a text well? Read it over and over and over and over again. Each time she reads it I'm asking her to focus her attention on a few different things. This is teaching her how to observe the text. Here is an example of a daily lesson: "the first time you read it I want you to notice the punctuation. Now read it again and take note of repeated words. Let's reread this sentence and try to find the subject." etc. All of these things I'm teaching her about periods, question marks, quotation marks, nouns, verbs, I'm asking her to find them in a poem, song, or story we read one or two times a day, every day for five days in a row. At this point in her little life I'm NOT asking her to analyze why the author asked a question here, or what emotions the author meant to express in the sentence when he/she used an exclamation point, I'm asking her to locate them and remember how they are meant to be used. Analytical thinking comes later, I'm just wanting her to form habits. And the first habit I want to teach is the ability to focus and rereading. I would argue that the majority of study comes from reading and rereading a text; focusing on a specific thought, topic or idea. (Honestly, I thought she'd fight me with this but she actually enjoys it! The more she discovers the more excited she becomes.)

Secondly, I'm teaching her to use the dictionary (the app version and the book) to understand new words. (Note: I say both the app and the book because we live in a tech world. Not teaching how to use technology appropriately will actually be a disservice to your students.) Again, I'm teaching her how to use it. I'm teaching her guide words, table of contents, alphabetical order, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs... I'm showing her that this word is used as a verb to show what the subject did, which definition fits the way the author used it? Even that is a higher level of thinking that I wasn't sure if a first grader would be able to tackle, but her ability in this has surprised me. My purpose isn't to have her master finding the right definition just yet; remember, my purpose is to simply introduce her to the tools and how to use them!

Next, I'm teaching her to use her library. Einstein once said like, the only place we really really need to know is the location of the library. There is a wealth of free knowledge available to us there. We would be a fool not to use it and teach our children how to use it. Therefore, every week she must pick multiple books using the Dewey Decimal system. Sometimes I tell her it must relate to whatever subject we are learning, but most of the time I let her pick what she wants to learn because the likelihood of her picking that book up to actually read it on her own increases tenfold. After we pick a book I'm teaching her the text features: heading, subheading, table of contents, index, &etc. Those are invaluable to find exactly what you want to find, and the main idea of that section.

Another tool is the ability to write about what she's learned. Writing and discussing that new knowledge is an important step to helping it stick. The writing portion is the part of the learning process she dislikes the most, which is why I've gathered an armful of tools to make it fun (read this post on my personal blog for more on that: Top Ten Fun Writing Tools).

Finally, I'm teaching her to stop at points of confusion and ask questions. THIS is studying! When a learner doesn't know the answer to something or wants to know more of something - which presents the learner with a problem, perhaps even confusion - the first thing to do is ask questions!

• Don't know that word? That's okay, what tools do you have to help you understand? 
• Don't understand that sentence? That's okay, please ask. 
• Are you wondering about something in particular? Wonder away, kid. Wonder away. How can you find the answer?

The art of discovering anything new begins with a question and the desire to find the answer on their own. How can one do that well unless the tools are available in this discovery? But not just having the tools available, it's also knowing how to use them. We are only in the beginning stages, but with the end goal in mind: resulting in an independent life-long learner. I believe developing those habits begins now!

The point of all of this is to give my first grader tools upon which she can easily build. I want my child to become an analytical thinker, but I don't want her to become an analytical thinker without first having gathered basic knowledge and rules. I also want my child to grow from an analytical thinker to a critical writer and persuader. These tools are the beginning of such arts.

Writing Prompt [If You Had a Tail...?]

Question prompts are an easy way to get a student writing. When they are given open ended questions where an explanation is needed helps stretch those writing muscles. One of the key's to successful writing is making it a daily practice. Whether I write here, on my personal blog, my prayer journal, or simply captioning a picture on Instagram, I attempt to write something everyday. Still, it's not just the writing itself that is important, it is the application of those writing tools I've learned over the years. That's the key to creating good readers and writers, give them tools so they want to write and can write well on their own anywhere, anytime.

The Key to Successful Teaching

There are many key's to successful teaching, but in my experience, preparation is vital. If I go into the week unprepared, my students can tell and my lessons lack the enthusiasm and knowledge needed to be successful. Plus,

• How can I successfully motivate my students to learn the subject if I've failed to fully learn it myself? 
• How can I maintain high expectations of learning if I do not keep those expectations myself?
• How can I reach every student on a personal level, making learning relevant by connecting it to their own lives, if I do not spend the necessary time to learn their own personal interests and experiences?
• How can I encourage my learners to be life-long learners if I do not embrace that idea in my own life?

I know that I cannot inspire life-long learning if I do not embrace the power of learning in my own life. Just gathering enough to fulfill the standards or the class period is a laziness I do not want in my teaching; not for my sake, but for the sake of my students who depend on me! I do not want to give them worthless exercises that do nothing but fill time and I sure as heck do not want assessments that do not give an accurate depiction of what he/she does or does not know.

All of this requires preparation.

Knowing this to be true, I'm spending today in preparation for this coming week. And if I finish the prep for this coming week today with time to spare, then I'll begin prepping for the next week. And that has been the key to my teaching success. I spend so much time in prep that I over plan like crazy. I simply run out of time to share all that I've learned or planned for my students. And that's okay, because there are many times that a few students here and there need an extra push and if I'm prepared, I do not have to worry about whether or not I will have something for them. I want to know the concept or skill so well that I can teach it simply, or I can teach all the complexities.

Here are two major things I do to prepare:

1. I use up my local library and search for any possible book on the subject. Einstein once expressed his secret to learning was knowing the location of the library!
2. YouTube has so many wonderful videos full of amazing information with visuals to coincide. I subscribe to places like PBS, National Geographic, History Channel, &etc. The key here is to consider your source, do not just watch a random video in your classroom without first checking its facts!

Prepare, prepare, prepare! When you are passionate about a skill or concept, that will come through in how you teach, what questions you ask, and the success of reaching your students. This has proved true in my classroom as much as it has in my homeschooling a first grader. Too many times I have entered a week unprepared with my daughter and paid for my laziness. Thankfully this hard lesson is one I do not want to repeat and on those Saturday afternoons where I lack the motivation to follow my own advice, I'm reminded of those failed attempts that offer all the motivation I need to get up and get going! 

With that said, it's time to get moving because my first grader has been asking all kinds of questions about Polar Bears, the Arctic Ocean, and has randomly sparked an interest in pangolin's thanks to an Instagram post from National Geographic. Since she wants to learn I'm just going to spark that interest even more and that means I need to prepare for it. It's amazing that in my digging I can incorporate measurements (the Polar Bear has a huge paw), geography, ocean facts, amazing vocabulary, writing opportunities, reading, reading and more reading. Ah, the power of preparation. 

Although I haven't had a chance to dig into pangolin's; what I'm learning about Polar Bears is beyond cool! I cannot wait to share it with her! Excitement is contagious, so be prepared and get excited.

Weekly Writing Prompt [High School Dropout Advice]

Last week I wrote a short paragraph of the importance of warming up, I feel it's important enough to share again, but think of a daily writing warm up the same as a track and field warm up. We are encouraging our students to work specific muscles, so how important is it to get the juices flowing? With that, here's what I wrote last week: "One of the most important aspects of an ELA classroom is the daily warm-up. Spending at least five minutes on the task of free writing, where ideas are brainstormed, a brief story written, a list of words formulated as a result of seeing, reading, or thinking through a prompt are all valuable ways to help your students warm up. Teach them the skills, give them sentence starters if they have a brain slump day (cause we all have them), then allow them to use any one of the tools available to write without the "fear" of being graded. Beginning is the hardest part. It is our job to give them the tools to simply start...."

Giving students and understanding of the "why" behind a task will help them do it without a lot of complaint. They may not enjoy it, and they'll likely tell you so, but stand firm and put on repeat the reasons why you require what you require. Doing this helps you pick activities with a purpose and an end goal in mind, and if you share those two things with them, they are more likely to do it and less likely to grumble about it.

Today's prompt is another question for student's to ponder and write about what they'd advise on the topic of high school drop outs:

Professional Reading [The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy L. Sayers]

This forty-one page symposium on education inspired me to learn more about the classical approach to education. For one, as a student who went through this particular process, Sayers was especially persuasive, on point, concise, and obviously well educated herself. Overall I was impressed by her experience, ideas, and writing. Just that alone gave me the desire to dig deeper into these lost tools!

Aside from how it affected me, I do believe that this short (and yet deep, thick) read is a worthwhile endeavor for each and every educator. For her goal in education should be shared by every educator, "to teach men how to learn for themselves."

That short explanation of the purpose of education is worthy of remembering, but there was another quote I thought worth sharing (there are many, but I'll leave it at this for now...)

"For we let our young men and women go out unarmed, in a day when armor was never so necessary. By teaching them all to read, we have left them at the mercy of the printed word. By the invention of the film and the radio, we have made certain that no aversion to reading shall secure them from the incessant battery of words, words, words. They do not know what the words mean; they do not know how to ward them off or blunt their edge or fling them back; they are a prey to words in their emotions instead of being the masters of them in their intellects." p.18-19

I love that last statement! "... they are a prey to words in their emotions instead of being the masters of them in their intellects." This book was published in 1947 and it's just as much true today as it was then! We are prey to our emotions and vomit words all over Facebook, Twitter, emails, &etc. - words that are emotionally impulsive, uninformed, and unkind. When we learn, we forget how we learned it and whether or not a source was credible. Reading this book was discouraging when I think of how we educate our young, and encouraging knowing that as an educator, I can do something about it. And doing something about it (even in a small group of young people) is better than learning and doing nothing. I cannot stand still after being filled with valuable tools such as this!

Weekly Writing Prompt [What is the most serious problem on your school campus?]

One of the most important aspects of an ELA classroom is the daily warm-up. Spending at least five minutes on the task of free writing, where ideas are brainstormed, a brief story written, a list of words formulated as a result of seeing, reading, or thinking through a prompt are all valuable ways to help your students warm up. Teach them the skills, give them sentence starters if they have a brain slump day (cause we all have them), then allow them to use any one of the tools available to write without the "fear" of being graded. Beginning is the hardest part. It is our job to give them the tools to simply start...

With that, here is today's prompt:

Literary Analysis (How to Write About Literature Unit)

Transferring my units from my middle school and high school teaching days has been more of a challenge than I ever would have thought! It's amazing how the formatting used on one computer (although saved) changes dramatically when it's opened elsewhere. It's forced me to think about how and where I save future files, that's for sure, but it's a time consuming endeavor to attempt to recreate and share what I've created in another digital format so it's available to teachers such as you! 

With that said, I'm excited to share my Literary Analysis unit with you. It's 14 pages of how I went through the process of thinking about literature critically with my high ability readers, and then how I taught them to properly write and present that analysis.

Objective Overview:

This unit follows the 4MAT method where students connect, reflect, gather information, research, experiment, practice, and perform in order to master the ability to think critically about literature and then follow a specific writing formula to demonstrate understanding of their analysis. 

Who will benefit from this unit? 

High ability learners needing to be challenged on how to think critically and write critically (and accurately) about literature. This unit would be a useful undertaking in any Honors English class or for any student preparing for college english courses. I used it for my high ability learners reading at a high level, needing to be challenged.

What will students will be doing?

Students are active participants throughout the unit when they discuss why this skill is valuable, analyze literature, gather information about how to write about what they analyzed, take notes, organize their thoughts, learn study skills, write, edit, and revise, and finally share the information they learned through a variety of presentation options.

How much time is needed? 

This unit could last up to 2-3 weeks, but the amount of in class time the teacher decides to give the students on discussions, peer reviews, revisions, &etc. depends on how long this will take.

What all is included?

• Step-by-step guide for the teacher to follow that reveals how I connected with the students, attempting to help them understand the necessity of this skill. 
• Notesheets
• Links to helpful videos and documents for students to review.
• Graphic Organizers
• Rubrics
• Peer Review Worksheet
• 12 Presentation Options

To purchase this unit go to my TeachersPayTeachers account: RafiKey's to Success, where I promise that this unit does in fact offer key's to a students literature criticism success. Here is the direct link: Literary Analysis (How to Write about Literature Unit)

BONUS! I created a video "assessment" using PlayPosit you are welcome to use: https://www.playposit.com/play/945426/Literary-Analysis