It's Almost October

I had intended to post every Friday, but I think I will now aim for at least once a month! :)

My class is currently working on a story from our literature book.  I have been covering "conflict" for several days using foldables, examples, class discussion, YouTube videos, etc.  The kids seem to be getting it, (one would hope, right?  I mean, they are 8th graders) although they are finding it difficult to identify with anything other than "Man vs. Man" conflict.  So today I asked them to use a highlighter and look for instances in our story that contain conflict.  I said,"Highlight sentences or phrases that would show conflict."  As I was walking around, monitoring the work at hand, I had one student come to me and say that he was going to highlight the entire story - it was his example of "Man vs. Story" conflict.  I couldn't help but laugh.  That was pretty clever, if you ask me!

At one point today, I had the students take short examples and try to decide if they were internal or external conflict.  It warmed my heart when I walked by one group that was arguing over the conflict being "man vs. man" or "man vs. society."  One of the students said, "You need to make the answer "man vs. society," or I will show you "man vs. man" conflict right here!"  Not that I condone violence, but it is always nice when kids take what you are teaching and apply it to their own lives! :)

Speaking of working in groups, I have moved my desks into groups of four, making "table groups."  I LOVE the way my room looks now because it opens up so much space.  However, I am going to have to spend MUCH time going over the process of working in groups.  This class is one of the most talkative I have ever had!  They don't seem to mind at all that I am giving instructions - they just talk over the top of me! It's crazy.  
One of the teachers in my building had a sign on her window that said "Everyone deserves a do-over," (or something to that effect).  I really liked that.  I am always willing to give kids a second, or third, or fourth chance, but I don't often give myself that same grace.  That saying made me think that it is ok to make changes in my classroom routine - even at almost nine weeks into the year!  I will be working on a process for managing my kiddos and helping them to be more academically successful (and at the same time, helping me keep what is left of my sanity!)

Reading Strategies

Wow! If these past two weeks are any indication, this year is going to fly by.  I walk into the school at a little after 7 in the morning and I don't stop until I walk out of there after 5.  The days have just zoomed by!

This week we worked on reading strategies.  Having two periods for class gives me more opportunities to cover material that I have never had before.  I have always skimmed over the reading strategies without much depth, but this year we spent the entire week working on them.  I found some fantastic resources on Scholastic and Teachers Pay Teachers.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Comprehension-Strategy-Resource-Binder-113408
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/strategies-active-reading

(Hopefully that shows two of the resources that I used)

Here are some photos of one of the activities we did...

After reading the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker, we made text connections.  The kids wrote connections they made-between themselves and the text, the text and the world, and with another text-on sticky notes.  We then posted them on large sheets of paper and discussed the connections.  Once we were finished, they took their sticky notes and placed them into their notebooks next to the foldable on text connections. 

We are quickly adding many pages to our interactive notebooks.  I am already thinking ahead to next year and making notes as to what should be changed.  Hopefully, I will have some time this year to work with my colleagues to see what they are using and how they are putting their notebooks together.  So far, my kids seem to be enjoying the process and are much more engaged.  I had one student say, "This is like art class with a little English thrown in."  To which another replied, "Yeah, too much English."  So, based on those two comments, I think I am on the right track! :)