Weekly Writing Prompt [Lonely Contemplation Led]

This sentence starter is melancholy just like last week's writing prompt, that can definitely begin sad, but perhaps encourage a peripeteia? (And use it as an opportunity to teach a literary term!) Peripeteia is an unexpected or sudden turn of events.

About the prompt: it was another phrase I couldn't resist using before tearing the entire page apart for a rosette as part of my book art.

Weekly Writing Prompt [Melancholy marked him for her own.]

When an author uses personification in this way, it brings my imagination to life. I begin to visualize what this looks like, imagine the scene as my own, and attempt to relate to it in some way. How sad is this illustration? Giving life to the idea of melancholy - turning melancholy into a character - a character who does something tragic: marks someone for her own. Can you imagine being this person whom Melancholy marked? What would daily life look like?

I cannot remember which book or story I cut this phrase out from, but I hope the statement itself spurs imagination and allows for an awesome classroom discussion.

My connection: The Book Thief where the author Markus Zusak, writes Death as the narrator.

A Valuable Lesson on Empathy

I am slowly pursuing my Reading Specialist degree. My current class is Diagnosing and Correcting the Struggling Reader and thus far, it has been fascinating! I'm learning so much and adding many tools to my teacher-tool-box, but the last three weeks have been daunting. We began to learn an early literacy through grade twelve assessment where the training process begins with a 400+ page text book. I rely heavily on the combination of reading, reflecting, visual and kinesthetic learning processes in order to fully grasp a concept or skill. As a result, I'm finding this task overwhelming. After completing a less overwhelming section, my vigor was renewed and I felt encouraged! Yay! I actually finished it and understood it - the.first.time! I felt like a congratulatory pat on the back - or reward of some sort - was in order, instead I found myself learning empathy.

While my job is to help struggling readers struggle less, was I someone who really understood the struggle? 

In math, for sure (I remember crying through all of my math homework). But did I truly understand what it meant to be a struggling reader with zero desire to complete a text of any length? Could I really understand what it meant to struggle through a text and walk away feeling discouraged, and even unintelligent? 

Unfortunately, and fortunately, this textbook accomplished that for me. In our discussion board I wrote, 

This section was a refreshing read after the last few sections of reading that overwhelmed me. The process of assessing seems daunting, yet necessary. I was telling a friend that I’ve had to apply many of the strategies of a struggling reader to this textbook: rereading, rereading, rereading, check for comprehension, visualizing, asking questions, &etc. I am thankful for this struggle because it helped me understand the amount of work it takes to be a good reader; and how easy it is to become discouraged -  while also feeling dense. Like anyone else, if a book or text becomes difficult, time consuming, or uninteresting I lack the motivation and desire to finish it. That’s how I felt about this text, which lead to a light bulb moment for me as a reading teacher: this is how my struggling readers feel every time they attempt to read at all! Empathy is a valuable tool, just like the strategies given under each scenario in section 5!

I am thankful for this opportunity to struggle and I hope these feelings I experienced over the course of the last three weeks are remembered when I struggle understanding the feelings a struggling reader encounters on a daily basis.

I do believe that empathy is a key to success.

Professional Reading [What Really Matters for Struggling Readers by Richard L. Allington]

A common misconception many secondary teachers hold onto is that we need know very little about the reading process. This ideal is false for so many reasons, but the two most important are these facts:

1. In every subject area, reading is required and assigned.
2. In every classroom across the United States struggling readers struggle through this assigned reading.

We cannot ignore the fact that in order to be good at any one thing we need only to be able to read. For it's in reading books and journals and articles that we gain knowledge about advancements, ideas, directions, instructions, information, discoveries, &etc. Albert Einstein once said that the only thing we really need to know is how to get to and use the library. Therefore, if we are ignorant enough to believe that the reading process does not add to our teaching, there is no helping the struggling students in your classroom.

With that very pointed point, there are many books every teacher should read - yes, including secondary teachers - and one of them is Richard Allington's What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs. It was required reading for my Diagnosing and Correcting Struggling Readers class, but it is well worth your time. You know it's a good book when my copy contains tabs of unbelievable ideas, quotes, and facts that I do not want to forget:

It is packed full of information readily available to use in the classroom. 

It debunks any misguided thoughts we have on reading intervention programs.

It tackles difficult issues such as standardized testing and Dibel's assessment with researched facts.

It offers research based strategies to help struggling readers that are easy to implement and simple to follow.

Overall this book has motivated me, given me confidence in what I know, built upon knowledge, and gave me the will to fight for what is best for students. 

It is one I will be returning to many times over as I fulfill the desire to become the very best teacher I can be. And I highly recommend it goes on your teacher-tool shelf as well.

Weekly Writing Prompt [The Day I Was the Teacher]

Hopefully I'm back in the groove of sharing weekly writing prompts, professional reading musts, and my curriculum creations! With that, here is a prompt that could be used as a title or a sentence starter!

My Example:

The day I was the teacher I decided to take a nap. I called the students one-by-one to lay their head upon their desk, "Throw aside your homework, forget the assessment, the lesson's a wrap. It's time for a nap." I was tired of their belly aching and whining and rolling of the eyes, so tired in fact that I needed a snooze. And when we wake up, what have we to lose? Fighting sleep is the hardest thing for me to fight, and while I did with all my might, I gave up in round two, and barely made it to my desk before I closed my eyes and enjoyed the view. This is a sad attempt for rhyming, but the reason is super clear: I'm tired. So tired of grading, lesson planning, teaching, guiding, assessing, and loving on all of you.

Elementary Plant Seeds Unit

At this point in my life I am designing lessons for my 1st grader rather than the secondary units on English/Language Arts that I am used to creating. Originally, I thought I would look into a curriculum to purchase, but my smart husband made this point: that would be like being a master carpenter and hiring someone to build a fence. His point: my masters degree is in curriculum and instruction, therefore it just makes sense that I create it. His common sense approach is another reason why I am incredibly thankful for this man. I am so glad I took his advice, it has been fun designing and doing these lessons with my own child.

Objective

Introduce plant basics while learning the value of the Scientific Method: observation.

Lesson Format

Each particular lesson I create follows the 4MAT method - a learning and communication tool that takes into account the different ways students perceive information, learn, process and share what they learned. Each activity is purposeful and hands on; there are very few worksheets.

(Download your FREE 4MAT lesson plan template HERE.)

Length

This unit took us 4 weeks to complete, however, it can take as long as you wish. There is quite a bit of time on observation, so the amount of time you take to complete these particular activities is entirely up to you and the time you have or need. 

Cost

$8. This is the decision process I struggle with the most. This took me hours to complete and I did try it as a one-on-one lesson successfully for 4 weeks. If you purchase it, you are not even paying for my time, but my hope is that if you like it, you give it a high rating and encourage other teachers to purchase it to make up for that. The other side of the coin is this: teachers are always purchasing items for their classroom from their own pocket. I know $$ is short and do not want to overcharge.

How to Purchase

Follow this link to Teachers Pay Teachers: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Plant-Seeds-4091638

Be sure to like my page or follow me via email or Facebook!

Fluency Rubric [How I Helped Struggling Readers Gain Confidence & Become Fluent Readers!]

There are three aspects of a reading program that struggling readers need: comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Integrating those three ingredients proved difficult as I faced junior high struggling readers who lacked confidence, motivation, and a positive outlook. As a result, their temperament in all of their classes was not constructive or positive. They were not successful students because of their inability to read assignments or textbooks. That frustration carried over to all aspects of their school day and homework experience.

At first I was at a loss as to how to help them without causing further frustration. I began with read-alouds showing them how to think as they read, but also providing opportunities for them to see success with elementary principles without being elementary in the presentation and activities. That's when I introduced the fluency rubric and self evaluation.

The rubric principle is a simple one, but it's objective is amazing: to give clear guidelines. I quickly realized that even after practicing and practicing and practicing a poem to be read aloud (for example), the students needed to understand the expectations more clearly - hence this rubric. We went through this rubric multiple times - checking and rechecking for understanding. Modeling expectations over and over and over again. And it took quite a few run through's before they were ready to implement this assessment with their own presentations, and when they were ready (they literally knew the expectations like the back of their hand) - the results were amazing. The more they read (and saw success reading) the more they wanted to read! I took it up a notch with Poetry Performance Parties - complete with snacks, presentations, and games if time.

Visit my TeachersPayTeachers or TeachersNotebook stores to purchase the rubric and self-evaluation along with a detailed explanation of exactly how I implemented it for $2.