Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I find that all classes are not the same when it comes to working. In fact, I have found that it very much depends on the students as to what we finish, or at least my relationship with the students. Everyone has their first piece of writing due tomorrow, and I am very curious as to who will finish it and who will amaze me. I have some good guesses already.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL Test
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Literature Circles

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL Test
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL Test
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Today was an excellent day. All my classes were well behaved, with very few exceptions, and we got a lot of work done. We talked about reading letters today, which will be one of our biggest grades this year. Students will have to write 4-6 paragraphs about a book they have read or are reading, and I write back to them. I love the personal communication about reading and books that this creates.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL 20
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Reading Letters Examples
Literature Circles

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 20
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Reading Letters Examples
Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 20
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Reading Letters Examples
Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Monday, September 24, 2007

Today was a crazy day. There were discipline problems, it hailed, and we had a lock-down. Thankfully, everyone is OK and there were no major developments.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL 19
Poetry
Vivid and Precise Language
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
CHECK READING LOGS!
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 19
Poetry
Vivid and Precise Language
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
CHECK READING LOGS!
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 19
Poetry
Vivid and Precise Language
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
CHECK READING LOGS!
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Students have a three-day weekend while we, the teacher grade their tests. In the meantime, we are trying to finish up a lot of extra work so that we can switch units fairly soon.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL 18
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 18
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 18
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

It was National Talk Like A Pirate Day today, and so we celebrated with some pirate talk and pirate poetry. I have to say that one student, who sang the pirate poetry for the day, made me happy. He did a great job.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL Talk Like a Pirate Day
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL Talk Like a Pirate Day
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL Talk Like a Pirate Day
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

I was sick all weekend. I slept most of Saturday and Sunday, not to mention Friday night. I’m still not quite on my game these days, but I’m trying! I will try not to get anyone else sick ….

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL 17
Poetry
Triggers for Writing
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
SWBTS (Someone Wanted But Then So)
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 17
Poetry
Triggers for Writing
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
SWBTS (Someone Wanted But Then So)
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 17
Poetry
Triggers for Writing
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
SWBTS (Someone Wanted But Then So)

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Monday, September 17, 2007

I was sick all weekend. I slept most of Saturday and Sunday, not to mention Friday night. I’m still not quite on my game these days, but I’m trying! I will try not to get anyone else sick ….

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL 16
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Independent Reading Logs
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 16
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Independent Reading Logs
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 16
Poetry
Independent Writing, Due 9/27
Independent Reading Logs
Whirligig

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Friday, September 14, 2007

Friday, and the classes were

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL 15
Poetry
Spelling Test
Games / Mad Libs – check Reading Logs!

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 15
Poetry
Independent Reading
Mad Libs -- check Reading Logs!

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
Assembly: Rudy Balles and Peace Jam

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Thursday, September 13, 2007

We finished official Benchmark Testing! We spent one last class period working on the second draft of our Writing Tests, and now all we have left are make-ups, though we have many of those. In other news, most of the classes were wonderful today – attentive and so brilliant. There were a few that weren’t, but we’ll work with those.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
Poetry
Reading Groups
Benchmark Writing Test, Part 2

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
Independent Reading
Benchmark Writing Test, Part 2
Whirligig

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
Independent Reading
Benchmark Writing Test, Part 2
Whirligig

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The second day of Benchmark Testing for the District. These tests help us, as teachers and a district, determine what to teach and focus on throughout the year. It provides the teachers with real data about students and what they understand and what they don’t understand. The Benchmarks were created by the Princeton Review, one of the main prep course providers for the SAT and ACT in high school, specifically for Denver Public Schools in an effort to mimic CSAP. Ahhh, testing. Students were OK today – the writing prompt is a difficult question this test, one that assumes students are familiar with certain English idioms. Oh well.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
Poetry
Reading Group Preparation
Benchmark Writing Test, Part 1

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
Poetry
Whirligig
Benchmark Writing Test, Part 1
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
Benchmark Writing Test, Part 1
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

We began the Benchmark today. Overall, I was very impressed with how seriously all of my students took it and how well they managed a 70-minute Reading Test so early in the year. We’ll see how it goes …. There’s always room for improvement.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
Benchmark Reading Test
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
Benchmark Reading Test
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
Benchmark Reading Test
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Monday, September 10, 2007

Another week begins before any of us are ready. There were SO many students gone today, it was strange. But I am VERY proud of three students in my 8/9 period class, because they mastered the spelling of the names of all the students in their class. We’re working on knowing all of them so that we can build our community in a respectful manner.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
DOL 14
Spelling Test Prep
Reading Groups: choosing groups, names, and books

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 14
Spelling Test: Class names
Shared Reading: Whirligig
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 14
Spelling Test: Class names
Shared Reading: Whirligig
Independent Reading
HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Friday, September 7, 2007

Fridays are always calmer than Thursdays – it’s so nice to come back after a hard day and get some real work and enjoyment done.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
Diagnostic Test: Intro
Diagnostic Test: B
(SRI)
Independent Reading
Games

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 13
Spelling Test
(SRI)
Independent Reading
Mad Libs

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 13
(SRI)
Where I’m From Poem

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Aieee! We switched schedules today and I have never seen such disrespectful behavior from students; I guess they really don’t like change very much. What can you do? Tomorrow is another day.

7th / 8th Grade English Language Development
The Rules
What is English Language Development?
Spelling Test, Part 1

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 12
Poetry 180
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 12
Poetry 180
Spelling Test
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Today was a little better. Some students felt like working, which makes me want to sing! To sing! We had a little chaos, though, because we’re trying to test every student with the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), a computerized leveled reading test. With such large classes, we have to send little groups up at a time, and that definitely disrupts the class.

7th Grade Literacy
DOL 11
Poetry 180
Hoot / SRI
Mad Libs ☺

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 11
Poetry 180
Whirligig / SRI

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 11
Whirligig / SRI

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Well, we all came back after the three-day weekend hyper and squirrelly. Sometimes students (and teachers) just act like squirrels – they chatter for no reason, they dash across small spaces, they climb the walls. It was a buy and difficult day, to say the least.

7th Grade Literacy
DOL 10
Poetry 180
Writing: Details
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 4/5
DOL 10
Poetry 180
Writing: Details
Independent Reading

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner

8th Grade Literacy 8/9
DOL 10
Writing: Details
Whirligig

HW: Read for 30 minutes; parents sign in planner