Day One and Beyond by Rick Wormeli

 I thought I should begin with the general and then read the more specifically geared books. Day One and Beyond is an all encompassing book for middle level teachers. There are tips and tricks along with some thought provoking questions of how do I want my classroom to work. Reading this now was great because I have already had a classroom and I have an idea of what works for me and what doesn’t. As the title would suggest Wormeli begins at day one. He gives suggestions on ways to successfully start out the year: get to know you activities, the ever present paper work and even “gasp” school work. I think that Wormeli has taught most subjects but it seems that he is primarily an English teacher. Many of his suggestions are geared towards the English classroom.
    One of his first pieces of advices is to teach subject material on the first day of class. He states that children are excited for school that first day, but the endless forms and hoops that we jump through kill the excitement. We need to balance the hoops and academics. He also suggests that you give academic homework the first day of class; this sets the tone for the rest of the year and gives them responsibility.
    Surprisingly Wormeli suggests that you do not introduce yourself first thing. He says he usually waits till the second or third week to go into any real details about himself. He states that this puts the focus of the classroom on the students, not on the teacher. However, it is very important that you do tell the students about yourself early in the year. They need to be able to relate to you.
    He also suggests that you ask the student how they learn best. This can help you plan your lessons. The students are getting to know their learning styles, but more importantly it can teach them to advocate for themselves. Along with this he suggests that you have your students complete learner profiles. Kimberly had the students do this, but I never really payed attention to it. I should have studied the way my students learn so I could learn to use that to my advantage. My 7th hour was probably very body kinesthetic, If I would have incorporated more movement into every day learning, I probably would not have had so much trouble keeping them under control. Wormeli stresses that you need to incorporate this information in your lesson planning.
    A problem that I had with one of my classes what that they didn’t like each other very much. That could have been due to a lack of a community feeling. Wormeli suggests that you give the class group problem solving tasks. Let the students explore their roles in the group, let them depend on each other to get something done.
    One big theme throughout the book is to put as much responsibility as possible on the students. One issue my colleagues and I saw at our high school was that the students are very dependent on the adults in their learning. The students are needy and have a sense of entitlement. They don’t like to think on their own; getting them to do this is like pulling teeth. What Wormeli suggests make sense, put as much responsibility on the students as possible, and they will step up. It makes them feel as if they have a voice in their education. Let the class come up with the classroom rules; it’s their classroom. Give the students choices as much as possible, This will make them independent and allow them to be leaders, especially in their own education.
    Next Wormeli focuses on Discipline. He suggests that you make the student tell you what he/she did wrong. He says that students begin with denial, stating that the did nothing wrong or they try to distract you with what others have done wrong, but you need to redirect them to what they were doing when you pulled them aside or out of the room. Get the student to reveal all of the details to you, then give the student a summary of all they did and ask if it is correct. piece by piece the student my not realize what they did was wrong, but the big picture may help them understand. Make the students take responsibility for their actions. Wormeli also makes the student think about how their actions affected their or their peers’ learning.
    Wormeli also states that we should be able to prevent misbehavior by planning ahead, making sure that the lessons are geared towards adolescent minds and keep them busy. This is where I think I had problems with behavior, not that my lesson plans weren’t at the students’ level, but that I didn’t have enough going on to occupy them. It will probably be exhausting at first but I need to keep the pace up, while still making sure that all of my students are on board with me. If I keep the students moving, physically and or mentally then they have less time to create problems. Also making sure that the lesson is geared towards every student will keep students from feeling left out, left behind or ahead of the group. I think that student choice is one of the best ways to do this, offering assignments/lessons that include student choice, where the choices are of varying levels assessing the same thing.
    Wormeli
    Overall I really like this book and I can see myself referring back to it time after time in the future.

Wednesday, February 23- Subbing- What is inappropriate behavior in class? And what changes between Junior/ Middle school and High school?

Wednesday, February 23- Subbing- What is inappropriate behavior in class? And what changes between Junior/ Middle school and High school?

Today I was subbing at a middle school for the first time. Up until now I have spent most of my time at the junior highs, grades 8-9. Today I am working with 6^th graders and I am in an English class all day; it’s been so long. I have enjoyed teaching other subjects, but its nice to be back to information I am more familiar with.

            This classroom was the most welcoming classroom, and it didn’t even have windows for natural light! There was a reading nook with big comfy chairs, a couple of lamps, and some pillows. There was a wall of bookshelves filled with books organized by genre. There was carpet and I think a rug. The room was a little cluttered, but it made it feel lived in instead of messy. It was nice. I think I like 6^th graders. They can be very witty, but they aren’t completely full of themselves yet. I was surprised at the levels some of these students were reading at, they were carrying around huge books and they willingly read when ever there was free time (something I have noticed at the middle schools and junior highs). One thing I don’t love about the 6^th graders is that they can be mean to each other. Some of them are becoming aware of hygiene and the bullies can use this against other students. One student in particular was very vocal about a student’s zits and another student’s possible nose picking habit. I told him that it was inappropriate, but he continued doing it. I should have sent him to a safe seat, another classroom, or even the office, but I wasn’t sure what was appropriate. Later I was working in the office, and two of the students that were just in my classroom were there writing up the incident. I was so proud that they were willing to stand up for themselves, but I felt really bad that I didn’t do more to prevent or stop what was going on. I need to work on what I am going to do when something like this happens again. I don’t think I have experienced this with the other grades I have taught.

            On a happier note I was introduced to a class I have sadly never heard of before, recreational reading. I don’t know if every student takes this or if it is an option, but it is a class were students read what they are interested in and submit journal entries and projects related to what they are reading. Even though they may not be reading the best material they are reading, and they still have their normal Language arts class that includes the more academic readings. I think most of the students were really enjoying what they were reading and the school is obviously a community of readers; every student had a free reading book, or had just finished it and needed to go to the library to get a new one. My question is, what changes when these students get to High School. Very few students at the high school carry free reading books, what can we do to encourage recreational reading in the upper levels?

Tuesday February 22, subbing- When to walk away...

Today I learned a valuable lesson: When to walk away.

I was subbing for a high school English/ ISS/ Plato teacher.  I.S.S. and Plato really didn’t take much thought, the students pretty much do what they are supposed to do. I haven’t decided what I think about Plato yet. Its nice that the students get to learn at their own pace, and it allows them to take classes that aren’t offered when they are able to take it or that they have failed previously. What isn’t great about Plato is the fact that there is no one up their teaching the information, there are very few activities that cement the information in the student’s brain, and a student has to get a “b” to pass the class so they can retake tests and assignments as many times as they need to in order to get a good grade. On the other had, since students are able to work at their own pace, they always have something to do, they don’t have to wait for the other students to catch up to them and this means they don’t misbehave. Idle hands and all that you know.

The English class took a little more thought. It was a small class full of students that didn’t fit in with the regular English class; it covers the same material, just in a different way. This class was not offered last semester, but it was really needed. The students were taking a post-test formative assessment, but there were only enough computers for half of the class to be on the comp. at the same time. While one half was on the computers, the other half was starting a new unit by looking up vocabulary and applying it to a poem. I think this was probably supposed to be closer to Valentines Day originally so the teacher had them using a Shakespearean Sonnet, “My mistress’s eyes….”

This was a good activity, it walked the students step by step through analyzing the poem, they had just looked up the definitions for the terms so they should know what to do, but these students need a lot of help. They want you to hold their hand. I think there were two things I would change about this lesson. I wouldn’t have had them working on the poem when the classroom needs to be quiet so students can take a test. Poetry is scary for most students and starting them out like this is like throwing them out in a lake and telling them to sink or swim. Which leads me to the second thing I would change, I wouldn’t start out with a Shakespearean sonnet. Not only is poetry scary, Shakespeare is ultra scary. And asking them to work aloe on a poem that they are not comfortable with is just reinforcing their beliefs that they hate poetry and that it’s hard. It would have been cooler if it was right around V-day but because of snow days that wasn’t possible. I would start with song lyrics from a popular song. This would show the students that they really are familiar with poetry, they listen to it and recite it every day. You can still do rhyme scheme and interpretation. The students may not be able to look for iambic pentameter, but for the first day of poetry working on your own is that really necessary?

My lesson of the day happened when it was time to switch gears halfway through class. A student had been working on the vocabulary, but when it was time to switch to computers for the post test, he didn’t want to take the test. There was an article to go with the test and he was a lower level reader. He claimed that he didn’t know half of the words in the article and that he was going to fail the test. I discussed this with him calmly telling him that we needed the data that he would provide, and that it was okay if he didn’t do well, but he wouldn’t take that as an answer. After a little while the Para caught my eye and told me to walk away, so I did. Right after I walked away the student got up and began working on the test. I was shocked! We are told what to do in these situations and what works and why, but I guess my stubborn mind has to experience it for my self in order to accept it. Looking back I recall being told to just walk away, that the students are just wanting to get a rise out of you and that if you don’t engage in the conversation then they will back down. Well today, thanks to the Para, I finally learned that. I can be told what to do, but that doesn’t mean I have learned it, I have to experience it first hand for it to click, and I need to remember this when I am teaching my students.