We are one week away from our spring vacation, which we always called the April vacation (this year it starts on March 27th – so strange). As I begin to prepare for this final week before vacation, I can’t help to think about how much we have covered in ELA during this school year of hybrid/remote learning. We will come back with twelve weeks to go, and with most students coming back, the expectations are going to be so high.
There was no flow for the first three months of the school year, and the kids (and teachers) struggled. Come December, we started to find a rhythm, but everything still felt choppy and discombobulated. When we returned to school after the holiday vacation, we started our poetry unit and everything began to change. While reading and writing poetry, we read the novel entitled The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, and we were in a rhythm. The kids thoroughly enjoyed The Watsons, and we closed the poetry unit with a virtual poetry reading night (on Zoom). The students invited family and friends, and the kids read their poetry to about eighty people. As we started our February vacation, we were rolling.
Over that February vacation, I was excited to plan for the five weeks of uninterrupted learning/teaching. I took all of the data that I have collected on reading skill needs of the students and tweaked my short story unit. While we progressed through the short story unit, the students worked in literature circles to read a novel together. There are six different books and groups. The students are loving the books that they are reading in literature circles and the short story unit has been a success. The students are turning into active readers that can talk about literature. We are exactly where we need to be with thirteen weeks left in the school year.
It may have taken three to four months (about fifteen to sixteen weeks) of school to find the rhythm of school, but I am grateful that we have found it. We will keep it flowing next week, and towards the end of the week, we will talk about the reading AND writing expectations when we return for the final twelve weeks of sixth grade.
Fueled by Inspiration and Ideas 
It sounds like you’ve found your groove and there is a lot to celebrate! This feels like a forward looking reflection; I don’t know what other people call them, but that’s what I call them. I love the forward motion and hopefulness you’ve shared. First, because it sounds like you have a lot of hope and momentum for your students. Second, because it’s a perspective, or maybe attitude, in writing that I want to try to do more of…so I like seeing how other people are capturing that! Great slice!
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I loved reading about your process. The kids will get what they need from you. They are lucky to have you.
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Your strength as a teacher and vision of how to take your 6th graders from September to June is so clear in this slice! I love the optimism that seems to be in every word, because you are, even now, incredibly optimistic about the potential of your students. Thank you for this!!
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