Thoughts on Articles

So I've recently subscribed to ASCD's "SmartBrief," which sends you headlines and links to the "most important" education articles/news every day. I came across 3 different articles today that really made me think.

1) "Teaching Secrets: Organizing Middle Schoolers"

Organization is something I really struggle with. I tend to either be very disorganzed or hyper-organized to ensure that I'm not disorganized. I tried a new system this year to see if it would work better than just using a notebook last year. I asked them all to get binders, and that really fell through since the principal ordered the district-created workbooks (which I had said I didn't want but have actually been insanely convenient so far). A binder and a workbook was just too much to give them every day, as these are REALLY thick workbooks.

It's been a lot easier on me and them with the workbooks, as all the worksheets are already in there in order. Last year they would lose print-outs or would write in the notebook all out of order. Having the pages already in there makes it so much easier for me to grade and really keeps them from losing anything. Of course, getting print-outs in there is annoying - you either staple or tape and it just wastes time. So I ordered some of those 3-clip pocket folders, and I'm hoping to hand those out next week (or the week after, I think) to use for bellwork sheets and other worksheets that we work on. They can place the folder inside the workbook, and they can be collected together every day at the end of class and passed out the next day - I think that should hopefully work well. *crosses fingers*

Anyway, the suggestions in the article I thought were rather helpful, though some were ones I alread utilize.
1)I've fallen through on checking agendas, so I'm going to need to reinforce that soon, especially with the changes in the ECE (special-ed) workings. I'm going to have some new kids in that will REALLY need the organizational help, and so it will be a good chance to hit everybody and figure out who doesn't have an agenda (I think I know one in my homeroom already).
2) I've got the class website and the binder for make-up work, so that's good. It needs some re-emphasis, though, as there are some kids who are just not making up the work. When I collected bellwork sheets yesterday, though, I had several over at the computer at the last minute filling in the missed dates, so that's good - they were using it to get their work done.
3) I like the idea of the IOU board, but I don't have a lot of posting space in my room, and I just don't even know where I'd put something like that. And I just worry that I wouldn't be able to keep up with it. It's something to think on at least, especially for bigger projects (tests and the like).
4) In related news, I DO need to keep up with the table of contents sheet - I need to laminate a piece of poster board and post that to let the kids know what should be completed and where it should be. That will go along with getting them folders, but I think it will have to have 2 Tables of Contents - one for the folder and one for the workbook, which hopefully will not be too confusing for them.

2) "School Boards Debate Sex-Offender Access"

This was an interesting issue. Obviously as a teacher I worry about the safety of my kids - from outsiders, from insiders, from each other, sometimes even from their families. We have the "Stranger Danger" lady come in every year with members of her organization, and she talks to the kids about keeping themselves safe. It's incredibly important. But what about parents and their child's sporting/whatever events. Sex-offenders aren't just child molesters, and what if a person has totally turned their life around? What about how this is punishing the child for their parent's past criminal, horrible act? And then, on the other hand, a voice says in my head "are you freaking kidding me? Letting people around kids that we know can do wrong?" Of course, if that's one's thought - why are they even allowed around their own children? They have to stay away from all children but their own - that just seems really rather hypocritical. Overall, though, it made me think, but I'm really not sure what to think. Do they make exceptions on a case-by-case basis? Or no exceptions? Or all people with their kids? I really don't know.

3) "Creating Readers, Part I"

As a person who continually struggles while teaching reading (I know very little about how to actually teach it, as I'm a science teacher), this was something that just amazed me. 40 books! I don't even know what to say. It's an amazing expectation, and that the lowest any kid had ever read was 22 is even more so. I admire what she's done, and I really wish I could capture even just a little bit of that ability.

I like that she's got a huge classroom library, that she reads aloud books they like, that she gets them to read independently. But I was confused at how she balances out independent reading and shared reading (i.e. the whole class or a group reading one novel). At first it seemed that they only read independently, and then she mentioned "share-reading" where the students read along. So they obviously do both, but I would really love to know the logistics. I'm hoping to get novels so that we all start off the day with independent reading of the same book, but I don't really know how to balance out giving them a chance to read on their own, making sure that we/they can discuss the books (and so are thus at a similar place in the narrative), and modeling reading by reading aloud. How does one manage all 3 without having kids miss portions of the book or get bored because they've heard/read the same section multiple times?

Testing

There are times when I can't believe my kids. In this case, it was in a good way. The district provides core content assessments (CCAs) for every content area, and I gave my first one a week ago on Wednesday. I graded the open response questions, bubbled in their scores, and then ran the sheets through the new scantron (which is an amazing piece of machinery for any teacher). I could not believe the results. I had gone in with the math teacher to promise the kids who scored proficient and distinguished a dress-down day.

I have 101 students that I tested, and 50 of them (50!) scored distinguished. For those of you not in the know, distinguished is the highest kids can score, meaning they are above and beyond what we expect. The push for better testing scores only requires the students to score proficient. And I had 36 students score proficient. I had 13 score apprentice and only 2 score novice (little/no understanding of the concepts). This is a huge, huge difference from my students last year - I was ecstatic on the last CCA last year to get about 15 distinguished. To jump to 50 distinguished students and 36 proficient is just absolutely amazing. I can hardly believe it.

I am just so amazed and proud of my kids. Talk about feeling triumphant.

(The question again is: is it being out of the first year? Is it being better at preparing us to study in class? Is it the modules making them better prepared from last year? Whatever the case, I am just a happy, happy teacher.)