Post #7: Slice of Life

Observation

The third period bell rings and I can see my principal walking towards my classroom. 

I take a deep breath and wipe away my tears. I try to remember what I'm supposed to do first. 

Greet your students at the door "Good morning! Welcome back!" 

My class ambassador greets the principal at the door. 

Have a student read the objective. Check. 

Have another student read the agenda. Check. 

1. Good things

I ask "Share with me some good things!" 

17 hands fly up. We clap and celebrate after each one is shared. 

2. Hook video

I press play on the hook video, hoping that my students at least stay awake. 

Remember to pause the video and ask engaging questions. 

Higher order thinking questions, like all coworkers advised me to ask. 

Try to forget about the meltdown I had 10 minutes ago. 

3. Anchor Chart

I have pivoted more in the past 3 hours than I have all year. 

This anchor chart is the worst one we've made all year....

Am I going to fast? Do they understand? 

Ask questions, don't give them the answers, wait time, give examples, whole class learning. 

Think-Pair-Share.....so many buzz words going through my head. 

I do, we do, you do. 

4. Padltet

You do, but let's work in pairs (because we don't have enough Chromebooks). 

Pull up the QR code. It doesn't work!!!

Pivot again! Why did I think I wouldn't have to pivot TODAY!?!?

Send the link to each student. Frantically run around the room to help everyone get in. 

Has it been 45 minutes yet?!? 

Why is the principal taking pictures of me helping my students right now?!? 

Did I explain this well enough? 

Exit ticket!! Buzzzzzz

5. Launch 

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." 

Breathe

Post #6: Book, Head, and Heart Strategy

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    New Kid by Jerry Craft is a graphic novel about a kid named Jordan and how he is the new kid at a prestigious private school known where Jordan is one of the few kids of color. Jordan tells his story and incorporates his own drawings. The author wants me to know about how hard it is for students of color to fit in and be treated respectfully in a school where they are the minority. One thing that surprised me about this book is how realistic it was, I did not think that the author would be so real with the reader. The fact that students really do pay attention to how their name is pronounced confirmed my thinking. The author of this book thinks I know about how life at a prestigious private school is. One thing I learned about myself with this book is how much I connected with Jordan and being a minority student. This text helped me learn that others have gone through a lot of the same struggles I went through as a kid and still continue to face those same struggles now. This book has helped me be a better teacher to my students and be conscious and careful about what I say to them. From making these connections, I learned how much deeper I can reflect and go into a book. Using the BHH strategy helped me to further reflect on what I read and how it connected to me. 

    The objective of the BHH strategy is to help students actively think about the text instead of being passive readers. The BHH strategy can be used to help students pay closer attention to the author's words and reflect on them. The BHH strategy can be used with almost any book. In a classroom, teachers can give students a designated readers response notebook where they reflect and write their thoughts about a book. The goal is to help students understand that they can implement the BHH strategy with any text on any piece of paper. Students will need help at first with tons of modeling and practice in order to be able to use the BHH strategy independently with texts they choose. 

    During read alouds, I would model my thinking and show how I write my BHH reflections to demonstrate how it can be done. From there, my students and I can work on these reflections together to be able to gradually release them to practice the BHH strategy independently. During the gradual release, I can narrow down one or two specific questions that I want my students to focus on reflecting. I would also provide my students with time to share and discuss their reflections in order to learn from each other and deepen their thinking of a text. Again, my goal would be to eventually see my students be able to use the BHH strategy with texts independently. 

Post #5: Reading as Thinking

    It’s interesting to explore oneself’s experience of literacy. When I see what I read, in my mind’s eye, it’s usually played out like a movie. I can very well visualize what I’m reading, the setting, the characters, I can easily create an image of each character even when provided little detail. Settings are a little bit easier to see and make richer pictures in my mind, especially settings that have to do with the outdoors and school settings. When it comes to sound and how I hear what I’m reading, my mind creates different voices for each character. My mind doesn’t create any background noises based on the setting unless they’re described by the author. Most of what I see when I read, in my mind’s eye, is visual, not much auditory. When responding to confusion or difficulty in a book, I tend to get very involved in the book and at times bring anxiety on to myself. When I’m not understanding a scene in a book, I tend to leave the book alone for a couple of days, and most of the time, come back to the book with rested eyes and a different perspective. Depending on the book, the feelings that I generate while reading are a good portrayal of what is happening in the book. I feel pretty happy and excited when I start a new book. It’s towards the middle of a book that I start to get a little bit anxious and will want to finish the book already because I want to know how it ends. I can be a bit impatient when it comes to endings. I also have a very short attentions span and get distracted easily, which can affect my feelings when reading a book. While reading a book, I don’t really tend to relate texts to other texts I have read before. I primarily just think about the text I am thinking about and how it relates to my own life or something I’ve seen in media.