Trying the Personal Approach!

2017-2018 GOALS

Personalizing the Experience

08/12/2018

This year I expanded my flexible seating to give more options to my students. I love to see them switch options as they discover where is the right spot for them! Rather than go on and on...and on about what I do, here is a video that I created for a my FaceBook groups (40 Hour Teacher Work Week, Middle School ELA Teachers Community, Rethink ELA, 6th-9th grade ELA Teacher Support Group just to name a few).

Not a fan?

Bear in mind that my AP told me that I had the least behavioral issues out of all teachers, and he was a huge believer that my room, and the comfort and freedom to learn it allowed, was a major factor.

Enjoy!

Personalizing Through Writing

January 10, 2018

As a student working on her reading endorsement and attending classes with a professor who was a disciple of Linda Dorn, I spent much of my undergraduate degree concentrating on literacy and writer’s workshop technique.

I love to write❤️

Writing is key🗝

Kids can’t write enough - the only way to be a better writer is to write 📝

.....“But they aren’t always excited to write...there is never enough time...we have too many standards to cover to give up an entire period to writing...that only works with block lessons...you can’t do a proper workshop in 40 or 50 minutes...”

That’s what I’ve heard since I started teaching. Isn’t it about time that I stopped listening to the naysayers? Clearly there’s an answer to each comment.

If the teacher is excited, the kids follow the passion. Writing doesn’t have to be cursive in a notebook. What about blogging, pen pals, opinion sharing? What sixth grader doesn’t like to tell an audience his/her opinion?
Time? There really isn’t enough time, but I need to prioritize my time. Writing is key to everything, it has to be important. Better to spend a period writing - the beauty of writing is that any content need can be embedded. Writing can always play double duty.
Standards - I can’t believe I listened to this one. Between the writing standards, the opportunity to embed mechanics into the workshop, the chance to use mentor texts to give examples, this bringing in both literary and informational texts....it almost makes me feel,that I should stop everything else and just focus on the writing workshops!
As for block lessons, this last one is very true. There is so much we are unable to accomplish in our limited time - but that will always be true for all content areas. But that isn’t a reason to avoid the activity. In fact, with so many opportunities to embed many standards, it is more of a reason TO do it!

My overriding goal this year was to personalize instruction and give students power over their learning. What could be better than writing?

Writing workshops give the ultimate opportunity for choice AND voice.

So, the decision has been made. Fridays will be set aside for Writing Workshop time. We will develop writing portfolios that we will share and show off to parents at our Open House. We? Well, of course! In the spirit of understanding what I am asking my kiddos can do, I am trying to work right alongside my students.

Set the example
Share the struggle
Feel the frustrations
Celebrate success

Our first lesson will be Friday. I can’t wait! The joke’s on me and the determination has to be in place as we have a pep rally schedule on day 1 😜😂

😳😉Now to find time to embed reading into our plans 😳😉

Using Data to Personalize Learning

October 7, 2017

The literary devices summative test netted interesting results. As I went through all the answers, I realized that the major pattern for the majority of the students was a lack of understanding of how to find and explain sensory imagery.

Boom.

Our original retake, as created and used by the CPT, had been combining all the elements. As I looked at it now with fresh eyes, that seemed a little pointless . When a student got 100% of the other answers right, but missed all sensory imagery questions, then clearly the relearning and retaking should be over that. I did the math and discovered that sensory language was a quarter of the test. If they bombed just that one area, the highest possible grade they could get was a 75.

😳🤔

So I created individual relearn activities and retakes for the students.

Wait, aren’t you seeking ways to reduce the load? Well, sure, but it is not as if I had to create 20 different retakes, because most of them have failed in the same area.

Note to self - if so many fell in that one area, only I am to blame. CLEARLY I did not teach it well!

Stops blogging to go back to 2018-19 notes to jot down the need to look at the sensory language tasks and learning.

Their weaknesses are a direct reflection of my teaching. So I needed to ensure that the reteach was both engaging and encompassing.

The Activity

I created a relearn assignment that basically focused on sensory imagery. It focused on a using imagery themselves, from watching a video and answering questions, to taking a boring sentence and making it better. Then moving to finding it in real writing and noting what sense was used. Finally finding it in a passage, jotting down the sense used, and explaining it. This was created digitally in Google Classroom, allowing me the opportunity to check in and give personal feedback. Once successfully completed, the student would be ready for the retake.

Other students struggled in different places too. They had a slightly reduced activity with added opportunities to learn and practice their figurative language and/or connotation and denotation weaknesses. I was easily able to look at their test and adjust my hyperdoc to suit the students’ needs.

Changing the reteach to suit the weak spots allowed me to truly feel that I was personalizing the retake experience, instead of the one-size-fits-all retake of the past.