The Everything Book

This year, I decided to streamline all of the papers I need from day to day.  Thus, I created this "everything book".

It always stays on my desk.

Although I need to tweak it a bit more, it really helps me keep things together.

The left pocket holds our school schedule and things I need to keep track of until they're due. For example, the Warm Body Count papers are clipped and stuck in the pocket.

The first papers I see are my lesson plans.  Our department shares in lesson plan creation.  Because they aren't always my own, it's great to have them at the ready for clarification.

The next section is seating arrangements.  I have them in sheet covers.

When it's time for me to make my lesson plans, I have a section with the DOK chart, state standards, and goals we want to accomplish for the nine weeks.

 

In order to keep track of students who "regularly" ask me to go to the nurse (and just sick students in general), I decided to have a section for them in this binder. The yellow sheet you see is where I document the date, student name, and ailment.  You can see part of the nurse's pass behind this yellow sheet.  She has a detailed form that we follow. I keep the ones she has sent back with students to verify that they actually go to her.  Sad that I have to do this but it's an ever present reminder that my lil' darlings can be sneaky.  It does take an extra minute or two from my schedule, but it's a great reference I use for habitual requests. I simply go back and show them the documentation if the students ask me.  Generally, when they see me logging their requests, they tend to not ask as much.  Epic Win!

Binders, Binders Everywhere...

Binders, Binders Everywhere and all the stacks did shrink
Binders, Binders Everywhere and not a worry to think
(Thanks Samuel T. Coleridge for your inspiration... so to speak...)

How do I get organized?  Binders, Binders, Binders. Well, binders, folders, and pockets OH MY!

It may not look all flowery and pretty but it is quite effective.

If you can tell, I've stuck with the school colors: purple, white, and black.

This is one of the most important areas of my room. I have the following binders:

• Faculty Handbook
• Classroom Observation process (this is a new item this year and had a lot of information which necessitated a binder)
• Common Core
• Textbook/Novel inventory
• Discovery (testing)
• Student Directory, and I kept the
• To Kill A Mockingbird binder nearby throughout the reading of the novel. 
• The red according is on top and labeled by periods. It's red because it's the organizer that keeps scantrons, written tests, and completed tests all organized.
• Substitute Binder
• The BLACK BINDER that has no label just hasn't gotten one because I haven't had time.  It is the binder that holds copies of PO's and receipts I keep track of for our team.

Character Clouds

In order to help my students extend their understanding of characters and characterization, I developed an activity I call "Character Clouds". 

I put each main character's name on a paper and cut the paper into a cloud-type shape.  As we read through the novel, I often made references to characters and touched the cloud or pointed to it so that my students would not only hear my reference but see the name of the character (hopefully connecting the information to my auditory and visual learners at the same time). 

As the story progressed as did the character profiles, I passed out one sticky note to each student (this working on my tactile learners).  I had them put their names on the adhesive side. Next, they needed to pick their favorite character.  Third, they had to write three descriptive words and/or phrases for that character.  Finally, they went and posted their notes on the proper poster.

In order to build on this skill, I had students find characterization in the book.  They had to write down the characterization, put quotes on it, and then needed to cite the page number where they found the quote.

It truly helped them realize how invaluable characterization is in a story.  It also helped me see which characters my students favor and why.  If you look at the below picture, you will see that the purple cloud is filled with sticky notes. That is Atticus's poster.  The next character, Scout, had half this amount. 

I was able to incorporate some logic and math into this lesson as well.  Aside from estimating the percentages of sticky notes in relation to characters, I had them look at the data and make reasonable assumptions based on my prompts. 

The day after the sticky note activity was completed, I asked each class to observe the posters.  I asked: 1) Which poster has an overwhelming amount of sticky notes?  2) Why?  3) Why is Atticus a favorite character?  4.) Could this be a reason why this novel is adored by millions and has won a Pulitzer?  5.) What cultural aspiration is reflected in the abundance of sticky notes on Atticus's poster?

They thought it was just an exercise in adjectives when it became so much more.

Facebook in the Classroom

I recently finished teaching To Kill A Mockingbird and loved every minute of it. During the course of the novel, I had students complete several activities to check on comprehension and the standards we must ensure they absorb. 

During the tail end of the novel, our department chair came up with an idea she found online to use the Facebook format in a characterization technique.  Beforehand, I wanted my students to work with the format, especially my 25% of students who do not have Facebook accounts. 

I failed to take pictures of it, so I apologize, but I'll do my best to describe the bulletin board.  I stapled five long strips of white butcher paper on one wall of my room.  Every strip of paper belonged to one class. I labeled them 1st, 2nd, 4th, and so on. My wonderful husband found pictures of the main characters and printed them for me.  Each picture went on a different colored paper.  For example, Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck) was put on purple paper.  Bob Ewell was put on gray paper.  I also had Scout Finch, Jem Finch, and Mayella Ewell.  If we had time, I would've had more characters. 

I then cut out strips of paper using the same colors so that every character (class) had five strips of paper to start.  I put all the materials they needed in a tub I labeled Facebook Kit.  It had markers, the different colored papers, and tape. 

It was slow going and took the students nearly two days to make posts but when it took off, it took off!  The most posts were made during and after the trial scene.  Granted, I had to monitor posts and even had to throw some of them away, but all in all, the students enjoyed it and I was able to see how much they knew about the characters.  They also got rather silly and started hacking the Facebook walls of other characters. 

It was quite interactive and showed me how well they understood the characters and were able to "get into their skin and walk around in it" as Atticus would say.