Milkweed, Chapters 1 - 4

My Pre-AP class is reading (or going to be) Milkweed to wrap up the first semester. I handed out the books Thursday and asked them to read chapters 1-4 by Monday. During an informal survey Friday, I learned that about a third of my students had already started reading the book, and many were well past chapter 4. All responded that they were finding the book very interesting. Since I have never taught this book (nor have I finished reading it), I am excited by their initial feedback. 

The biggest problem I have with novels is wanting to teach too much and not being able to finish. I think I have already  made too much work for the first few chapters, but better earlier than later. I would rather enjoy the end of the novel rather than cram too much in at the end. 

Our big assignment for the entire novel is going to be to create a blog for the main character Stopthief. Through this, I can reinforce a number of skills, including point of view and characterization. I have never done this before, but since I have started blogging, I figure I can handle it. I'm excited to see what happens with this. 

For their work, we are going to be using Kidblog. I have heard wonderful things about it and have been playing with it. The site is easy to use and understand, and all work is private. Once I see how things go with Pre-AP, I will decide whether or not to add my other classes to the site. 

For their first blog assignment, I modified a lesson I found on Read Write Think:

To make sure they have done the reading this weekend, I have a quick "higher level" assignment for them to complete on Edmodo. I believe this assignment will be a bit more challenging than a quick T/F or multiple choice did-you-read pop quiz. It should also show if they actually read. 

We will then return to chapter 1 to discuss the Memory Moment signpost from Notice and Note. This will be the third signpost added to our class discussions. I debated about whether or not to include this piece since the students are reading ahead, but I still think that it is important to cover. If the kids already know too much, they can discuss why the moment turns out to be important rather than predicting. 

I have then created an interactive lesson for chapters 1-4 using Nearpod. I made the basic presentation then added slides for my students to ask questions about the text. As we go through the questions they write, I am going to have them write down three that they want to discuss with their groups. They will take notes over this in their Google documents. This group discussion will be used to write their learning logs next week. 

After all this, I need to figure out how many days I actually have left to finish this novel before finals! 

Questions? Feedback? All is welcomed. 

Another one down: Chime by Franny Billingsly

My insane need to read means that I will never be able to get through everything on my list, so in the past year, I have taught myself how to listen to audiobooks. Chime is one I listened to, and I have to admit that I was not impressed with the story. 

Chime was added to my list shortly after it came out based on a Kirkus starred review. Despite the Kirkus
claim, I am far from enthralled with Briony. I find her to be whiny and insecure, much in the same way I find Bella of Twilight to be. Weak female characters annoy me, especially teen ones. I do not want my female students to idolize these types of characters (although I cannot seem to get them to see the reality of Bella Swan). The first person narrative left me trapped in Briony's mind with no escape. 

The plotline itself drags through massive repetition. If I had read the book, I would have been able to skim through quite a bit. Unfortunately, I was forced to endure every word with the audio. I know the author used some things stylistically and for characterization, but at times, it was downright annoying. 

I will admit that there were three or four moments that I thought were wonderful. I perceived some bigger messages from Billingsly about imagination and fantasy in our world today. But I could have probably understand that in a lot less than ten hours of audio. 

My suggestion: PASS. 

Darn you, learning logs!

Next week, we go school wide with the weekly learning logs. Since I made the assignment, I decided to do a trial run today. Of course, I expected it to be an easy day. I was trying not to talk much due to a sore throat, but the best made plans...

I discussed the learning log with the students. I explained how this is going to be used throughout the school, that they will see it in all classes, that I will make them the experts, blah, blah, blah. I discussed how they do not have to address the four questions directly but are to use them as a guide for their response, as the response will depend on what they have learned in a class for the week. I waxed eloquent on the need to write in specific detail and not just make a list, using complete sentences, capitalization, and punctuation. 

I feel like all I did all day was waste my time and breath repeating myself. Days like this make me wonder if I am really doing any proficient teaching at all. 

Is this a complete sentence? Did this happen in the story?
I do not remember blood.

No, dear. This is not specfic. Nor did you know all of this.
You told me so in class. And you do not read outside of class.

Oh, thank goodness. We are at least headed in the correct direction.

Thank you. Someone listened in class and read the directions.

All right, all right. Maybe I do not have to quit after all.

So what have I learned from this?

• My students need explicit teaching on how to write about what they have been taught during the week. 
• My students need a review of what they have learned during the week before writing about what they have learned during the week. 
• The non-English teachers are about to feel some English teacher pain when it comes to reading student writing. Wahahahahahahahahaha!

My middle school funny of the day

In the middle of an independent work lesson, one of my male students says, "Ms. Foti, do you have a period?"

A female student sitting nearby burst out laughing. 

At the same time, my phone rang. My class and I were laughing so hard that my colleague on the other end starting laughing. 

Once I got off the phone, I asked the male student how old he thinks I am. I mean, forty might be "old," but it ain't OLD. 

So I asked why he was asking. With tomato-red face, he responded, "That's not what I meant! Do you have a class next period?"

Oh, the joys of middle school. TGIF.

Playing with Nearpod

I am a lifelong learner. I will never know everything I would like to know, but every opportunity I have to learn something, I jump at it. 

Last night, I had the opportunity to work with our district Texas Literacy Initiative technology representatives. They came to campus and conducted a workshop on educational apps to use in the classroom. My favorite of the night was Nearpod, especially since I make PowerPoint presentations for everything. 

With Nearpod, I can upload my presentations, then edit them to include polls, short answer responses, draw responses, quizzes, and videos. My presentations now go from discussion to complete interaction. Not only can you have the students respond, you can show their responses anonymously to discuss (or laugh at, as we did with the drawings today). The program will also save a report of all the responses to whatever you have within the presentation. 

Today was a district testing day for us, so I only had two afternoon classes. I decided to throw together a quick test run. I did tell the kids we were playing today, so you'll see some of the non-seriousness. 

This was a hit from the very beginning. There was so much smiling going on in my classroom, and that doesn't usually happen after three hours of testing. They were 100% engaged. The only complaint I heard was, "I don't wanna put this on my phone. It takes up memory!" Teenagers. 


I have pasted each slide with some of the student responses:

SLIDE 1

SLIDE 2

SLIDE 2 RESPONSES

SLIDE 3

SLIDE 3 RESPONSES

SLIDE 4

SLIDE 4 RESPONSES

SLIDE 5

SLIDE 5 - RESPONSE 1

SLIDE 5 - RESPONSE 2

SLIDE 5 - RESPONSE 3

SLIDE 5 - RESPONSE 4
(NOT SURE WHAT TO THINK ABOUT THIS SINCE I AM BLOND)

Holy moly! I'm famous!

This blog o' mine had over 2000 hits last week. I was blown away. I am blown away. It turns out there is a reason. My blog was mentioned and posted on a web site. I am so blown away that someone better grab a rope and tie me down!

Point of View Lesson: Day One Reflection

Well, well, well... I never cease to amaze myself. So far, this lesson is actually working. Because of the constant shuffle from one activity to another, the kids have remained engaged. 

Here is some of what I have noticed and heard:

• There has been some very interesting discussion about what the story is really about. 
• One of my most airheaded male students said, "I think that the driver caused the accident purposely. He is lonely and wants attention." Say what! 
• A female student referred to the driver of the car as she. That was the first time it was mentioned all day, and it led to some very spontaneous and interesting discussion. 
• The kids actually know quite a bit about point of view. I was impressed to hear the word omniscient being thrown around in group discussions. I am glad I chose to have them write down what they know first, rather than simply throwing a full lesson at them of things they already know. Now I know what I can skim over. 
• "I knew there was a second point of view!"
• I had a student ask why this would not have been presented to them when they were younger. 
• In two classes I have heard, "Class is already over? That went too fast!"

I love when my own lessons surprise me. I expected much more moaning and groaning. We haven't gotten to any of the rewriting yet, so maybe that is coming tomorrow.