Impact on Student Success

6th Grade - Becoming Leaders

My 6th grade students have experienced the most growth out of all my classes in their maturity. By being placed in Leader Teams, they have learned to help one another, work with different people, and learn to take responsibility for themselves.

Anonymous student's feedback on the 6th grade Life Skills course:

"I learned how to take responsibility and be someone who is kind. I don't like being told what to do, but I learned how to listen to my classmates and work with them."

7th Grade - Becoming Readers

"Who are my readers today?" A question I'd ask daily when we had to read our novels and short stories this year. By setting "Community Reading Guidelines," in my classroom, I was able to hear from the majority of my students. The Community Reading Guidelines are posted in our classroom and reviewed every time we read. Students are encouraged to volunteer to read.

My 7th grade class went from 2 people always reading to nearly 10-15 students reading aloud in class on a daily basis. My typically quiet students and students who were insecure with vocabulary went from hiding when I'd ask that question to being the first to raise their hands to contribute to our class readings.

8th Grade - Becoming Writers

"Ugh do we have to write more than 2 sentences?" to "I can write a full essay on my own!" were the statements my students made from the beginning of the year to the end of this school year.

As I facilitated writing in my classroom for my 8th graders, I realized in the beginning of the year very quickly that my students struggled to write confidently and with ease because they lacked writing practice in the past 2 years. The rigorous Writing Process aided in my students' writing success, which is evident in Student A's writing samples below and feedback.

First Draft

The outcome of this story is Chatita buys Abuela a whistle just in case she needs help again. Abuela intentionally locks herself in the shed because she wanted to test chatita. In “The Whistle” by Anne Estives, the whistle is very important to the main characters. This is because it helped or helps the main characters find each other. For example in this story, the next evening after chatita gave abuela the whistle, she heard the whistle going off. She then stated “i rushed inside the storage shed”. After unlocking the storage shed she states that she heard her grandma “chuckling, almost smiling”. That proves that her grandma was testing her to see if she would keep her word.

Final Draft

In the end, Chatita feels bad for not hearing Abuela and desires to make it up to her. So she buys her a whistle incase she needs help again. After Abuela receives Chatita's gift Abuela did not believe that she would help her. Abuela intentionally locks herself in the shed to test Chatita. The whistle is very important to the main characters in this story because it mended and argument they had. For example, the next evening after Chatita gave Abuela the whistle, she heard the whistle going off, “I rushed towards the storage shed” (p.77, line 130) Chatita stated. After unlocking the storage shed to help Abuela get out, Chatita said she heard Abuela “smiling almost chuckling” as she was walking out; this proves that Abuela was most likely happy that Chatita helped her out and that she kept her word of helping Abuela. Their relationship was fixed because of the trust that was built with the whistle.

Writing Process Reflection

Reflection question: Write 2 things you are most proud of that you did during the writing process.

"I usually give up, but I actually wanted to finish this essay and get a good grade. After lots of editing and rewriting different drafts, I was able to see my mistakes and fix them. I'm proud I didn't give up. Mrs. M's comments and my classmates comments helped me to know that my writing was pretty good, but I had to just fix a few things to be better."

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