I am weeping. Literally- I am sniffling and wiping tears away as I type.

I made the choice a few days ago- after much internal debate- to make Eli Wiesel’s Night the first novel that I bought myself a class set of. My reasons were multifaceted:

1.       Eli Wiesel’s speech, “Hope, Despair and Memory” is in the Common Core text exemplar list for my grade band. This seems promising.

2.     I remember so clearly reading this novel as a freshman. I have vivid memories of flipping the pages of my copy as my teacher read aloud one of the more devastating chapters. I can remember who was sitting around me- it was Caroline, Lauren, and Brett.

3.        I was a mega book nerd as a child…I spent nearly all of my time at the library. The summer after 3^rd grade, (I skipped 2^nd  grade- if that makes a difference) I developed an obsession with Holocaust literature. I read all of the books in the kids section that even remotely dealt with it, then all of the books in the teen section, and then started grabbing a couple of the books from the adult section before my mom was all like “Hey, you’re 8. You can’t read this.”  I was so angry at the time. But thank god she did- I am STILL so emotionally scarred from my 3 month Holocaust literature bender.

I’m not kidding. The only books I checked out that summer were about the Holocaust. And I literally read ALL of them that I could get my hands on. Looking back, I’m wondering what sparked that interest (obsession). My best bet is that I read Number the Stars and experienced that odd feeling where you are SO distraught but still so intrigued that you have to know more so that you can try to understand. Regardless, I was hooked and it was strange. I’m sure my parents had to question if I was emotionally unstable or if I was just a glutton for despair.

Even though I ordered 30 copies on this AMAZING website that I just found, (www.thriftbooks.com) I couldn’t resist picking up a copy when we went into a used bookstore this afternoon. I started reading it aloud to my husband as we drove home and I was quickly reminded how devastating it is. Seriously. I was about 5 pages in and I was weeping as I read. Weeping. This is going to be a longggggggggggg unit.

On the bright side, my students will ALWAYS remember their freshman English teacher weeping as they read Night. Whatever makes it stick :)

Today.

Right now I am:

Reading: Milk Stone Moon by Adriana Trigiani

I picked up a copy of Big Stone Gap about two weeks ago to read on my planning period. Yes, I sometimes just read on my planning period- it recharges me. Anyway, I had NO idea how in love I was about to fall with Ave Maria. I sped through Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler and am now fully immersed in the lovely third installation of Ave’s story. I CANNNOT recommend this series strongly enough.

Writing: the second chapter of a silly young adult novel

I try regularly to write. I dream of writing a novel and I try. Often. However, I never feel connected to what I write and I am not someone who can force it. The other night I jammed out a first chapter that I am actually happy about. We’ll see if that feeling lasts.

Planning: a complete unit about Elie Wiesel’s Night

For the two weeks after the EOC, I am planning a literature unit covering Night. I think it will be nice to have an opportunity to simply focus on the literature and relax the focus on grammar and standards.

Looking forward to: my husband’s graduation

My husband is finally wrapping up his Master’s degree this weekend. He has worked so hard for so long and I’m so proud of all he has accomplished over the past two years. And I’m not going to lie, I am SO excited to have his schedule ease up so we can actually spend a little time together.

Testing Blues

I’m going to spare you the list of reasons why this blog has been left to sit alone, forgotten, for the past months. I’ll simply sum it up as this: I’m a new teacher. Now, however, I’m feeling re-inspired to try to keep track of my experiences, growth, and musings as I wrap up this year and head into the future.

Our final state test has moved past its creeping stage and is now flying up from me. A week from today my kids will have one chance to prove how much they have learned and grown over this past semester. They are stressed, I’m stressed. It’s not making for a pretty or fun classroom environment these days. I’ve got to shake things up and find some fun new ways to review. Everyone has reached their fill of Jeopardy and, to be honest, that is my go-to study game.

So, I did what any tierd but earnest teacher would do: hit up Teachers Pay Teachers. This website is the Mecca of teaching resources. I spend so much- probably too much- time browsing the great ideas that other teachers put out there. Today I came across a great resource, “Concentric Circles.” This is a creative, original way to have students review their material. Best of all- IT’S FREE! You can download this resource here on Literary Sherri's TPT site: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Review-Game-Concentric-Circles-Common-Core-Aligned-433495

I’m really excited to try this out with my kids tomorrow. I’m hoping this will be the refresher we need to be motivated about this test!

Tell me- what do you do to keep your students motivated and excited as you near testing time?

Snow Day...Just In Time!

Well, it happened. I had to break up my first fight.

Let it be known that I went to a teeny-tiny high school where the closest thing to I fight I ever encountered was hearing some senior say, “We’ll meet up this weekend- then we’ll fight.” These fights never happened, and, thus, I’ve made it to 24 without ever actually seeing physical violence.

That being said, of course my first encounter would be in my classroom with two of my students. And, of course, these students were two big boys. Boys much bigger than me. Much bigger. Because, I could have expected no less.

I have to be frank: it was scary, overwhelming, and just too much. You know that story about a mom being able to throw off a car when it’s on her infant? Well, that’s pretty much how I felt. My voice got louder and stronger than I ever imagined. I was took up more space between these two boys than I imagined possible. And when a desk was picked up by a boy more than ready to chuck it across the room, all it took was one word to have it put back down.

Honestly, I was proud that I handled it as calmly and rationally as I did. I broke it up before a punch was thrown. It felt like I had the boys separated, in the office, with the report written before I even was able to blink.  I must admit, however, that when I finally walked back to my classroom, my hands were shaking.

So, it’s happened now. I’ve  broken up a fight. I now know that I have it in me and that my students will, in fact, respect my authority in an abnormal situation. And I feel good about this realization.

Now, with all that said, can I tell you how glad I am to have two snow days in a row? As much as I love my kids, after drama like that, I needed a breather!

Handwritten with Love

I am guilty of spending a large chunk if my time on Pinterest, particularly in the education section. I love looking at blogs of adorable classrooms, perfectly crafter word walls, and the individually created resources. With darling fonts and whimsical borders- be still my heart. 

I'd love to be a teacher whose handouts and quizzes were all created with a font that captured the heart of the story. I would like to have clip art and borders that matched the theme of the novel. And sometimes I try to do this. But more often than not, this is what my quizzes end up looking like:

My school currently doesn't have enough classrooms for every teacher to have their own, so I share my room with another English teacher. To be fair, I'm luckier than most of the first year teachers as I get to teach 2/3 of my classes in my room and don't have to travel with a cart. But this also means that I have no computer or private place to work on my planning period. Hence the handwritten quizzes and handouts. 

I try to remind myself that the quality of the materials far surpasses the adorableness, but sometimes I do wish I had that cute factor. Anne Shirley and Laura Ingalls certainly wouldn't have had fancy copies for their students and if handwritten was good enough for them, it's good enough for me.

What do you think- do appealing quizzes and handouts help students learn? Or does the material trump all?

Making it Work

Now, don't get me wrong. I love the opportunity to sleep in from time to time. I have last period planning so when school lets out early and I get the opportunity to head home early, I'm all about it. Snow days can be beautiful, relaxing, and productive. They give me the opportunity to work on reading this:

Why, yes. This is my reading for my classes this session. And no, sleep is not on the agenda for the next 11 weeks. 

Anyway, the point is that after all of these snow days, I'm starting to feel lost in my lesson planning. I spent a good chunk of time before Christmas Break working on a master plan for the month of January. And I must say, I was so pleased to know that everything was ready to roll when it was time to go back to school.

See? I'm never this organized!

Now that we've been out 4 days, let out early one day, had a 2 hour delay, an in-school wrestling match, and a school wide assembly, my schedule has gone out the window. Instead, I'm swapping things around, trying to prioritize, and just learning how to make it work. 

So, until the weather settles downs and school gets back to normal, I'm embracing a new moto:

Book Proposal

One activity that I have my students do each 9 weeks is to complete an Outside Reading Project (we call it ORP) with a book the choose. I found last semester that many students were choosing books that they had either already read or that were too easy for them. To remedy this issue with my new students, I wanted to design a way to let them have freedom over their choice, yet allow me to have veto power. And, of course, I wanted to find a way to get them writing. 

So I designed a new book proposal activity that will ask students to justify their choice of novel for their Outside Reading Project. It asks them to explain their reasoning for choosing the book, what they hope to take away from it, and how it will challenge them. I've put this activity on my Teachers Pay Teachers account for FREE for you to check out!

This was designed to pair with my Outside Reading Project but could be used with any literature reading assignment or book report. It could easily be used with a variety of ages- just tweak the length requirements.  How do you keep your students feeling in control of their decisions, yet still maintain control?