In the next series of posts, I'm going to go over the various class requirements and routines that we have set up as an 8th grade English/Language Arts (ELA) department. All 8th graders going through DPMS will experience the same activities and the same curriculum delivered on the same day. In fact, if you went from one ELA classroom to the next you would enter the new classroom at almost exactly the same point in the lesson going on in the room you just left! As you read through these posts you will find that I use the pronoun "we" instead of "I" because all of this information applies to every 8th grade ELA teacher.
Kick Start is the way that we start our ELA classes. We want to kick start their thinking to get class off and running.
The first component is a word of the day. We have a vocabulary word that is either taken from a text that we are working through in class or from the Vocab Ahead website. Vocab Ahead takes collections of common SAT vocabulary broken down by grade level. They include short videos that give the definition of each word and then use the word in a few sentences. In the vocabulary section of their notebook, students write the word, part of speech, definition, synonyms, and antonyms. In addition we usually have the kids write a sentence about an instance where the vocab word applied to them, or we have them list three things that would match the definition (3 things that are archaic - if archaic was the vocab word).
On the same slide we also have one of the national holidays - and there are definitely some odd ones (Friday is National Talk Like a Pirate Day) - as well as some trivia that usually connects to the holiday. It provides for some great discussion!
Lastly, depending on the day, we either have a short written component or we do a book talk. For the written component, we ask students to either respond to their choice reading book or the current class read aloud. We also try to reinforce the grammar we are teaching by having students apply those skills in a short response. In an effort to combat the "I don't know what book to read" complaint from the kids, we give book talks or show book trailers so kids always have a title in mind for their next book. It's amazing how many of the titles we've shared are in the hands of the kids!
After we complete Kick Start we are ready to get going for the rest of the day!
As always if you have any questions or concerns send me an email or give me a call!
Friday, September 19, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
The First Days...
Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year! This blog is meant to help keep parents "in the loop" with what is going on in your child's ELA classroom. Hopefully it will also help to spark some conversation instead of the usual "nothing" response to the "what did you do at school today question".
Here is a brief run-down of events thus far!
The first day is always one of the toughest days because of all the sitting and listening. I must have apologized a hundred times for talking so much. We went through the basics of what students can expect in ELA class as well as some get-to-know-you activities. In addition there were some PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports) videos reminding students of the Redbird Way in a variety of situations.
In addition, we went to the LMC to check out books and went over the class syllabus as well as the independent reading requirement for the year. I have linked each of those documents here and there will be a subsequent posting on the independent reading requirement. We also did a book pass activity - I called it "speed dating" but with books. This gives the kids an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of titles and genres that they may want to pick up the next time they go to the library.
In grammar we have already begun taking a look at sentence types. The sentence is really the foundation of good writing. I want all my students to have a variety of different sentence structures at their fingertips when writing. We have reviewed simple and compound sentences and have started looking at complex sentences.
We are in the midst of our first whole-class novel - Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson. This story is about the the lives of three brothers whose parents have both passed away. The oldest brother is doing his best to keep them together - giving up his spot at MIT - to stay and raise his two brothers. The novel is beautifully written and gives the ELA teachers a common text that we can refer to in the future, as well as use to teach our expectations for responses to literature.
This is just a fraction of what we've been doing in ELA over the last ten days. In future posts I will be presenting various components of our day as well as some of the general curriculum that we teach in 8th grade ELA.
Here is a brief run-down of events thus far!
The first day is always one of the toughest days because of all the sitting and listening. I must have apologized a hundred times for talking so much. We went through the basics of what students can expect in ELA class as well as some get-to-know-you activities. In addition there were some PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports) videos reminding students of the Redbird Way in a variety of situations.
In addition, we went to the LMC to check out books and went over the class syllabus as well as the independent reading requirement for the year. I have linked each of those documents here and there will be a subsequent posting on the independent reading requirement. We also did a book pass activity - I called it "speed dating" but with books. This gives the kids an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of titles and genres that they may want to pick up the next time they go to the library.
In grammar we have already begun taking a look at sentence types. The sentence is really the foundation of good writing. I want all my students to have a variety of different sentence structures at their fingertips when writing. We have reviewed simple and compound sentences and have started looking at complex sentences.
We are in the midst of our first whole-class novel - Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson. This story is about the the lives of three brothers whose parents have both passed away. The oldest brother is doing his best to keep them together - giving up his spot at MIT - to stay and raise his two brothers. The novel is beautifully written and gives the ELA teachers a common text that we can refer to in the future, as well as use to teach our expectations for responses to literature.
This is just a fraction of what we've been doing in ELA over the last ten days. In future posts I will be presenting various components of our day as well as some of the general curriculum that we teach in 8th grade ELA.
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