This morning, I woke up with an idea.  These days, I awake, look at the clock, and then turn over and go back to sleep until the alarm goes off, but not this morning.  This morning, I woke up, looked at the clock (4:05 AM), and headed to my journal and computer.  I had a story idea.  Sorry about the swearing (I left out the words on this blog post, but they will go into the manuscript).

Here’s an excerpt (I don’t want to bore you with too much, but here’s a little:):

Tonight, the excitement can’t be tamed, and the solitude that I treasure in the locker room an hour after a big game won’t come.  I turn off the shower, grab my towel, and head to my locker near the door.  Three of the seniors walk by and congratulate me on the game.  It’s beginning to quiet down.  The last few lockers slam shut as Bradley comes around the corner of the far row.

I scan the bench while attaching my sticks to the outside of my bag.  After zipping up the bag, I lift the corner end to find the game puck still sitting there.  I grab it as Bradley sits down.

“Great game tonight, Griff.” He says while extending his fist.

“Thanks. You too.  You played awesome.”  I give it a bump.

“That shot at the end was a classic.  A top ten highlight.”

“I would never had gotten off that shot if it wasn’t for your pass.  In fact, I want you to have the game puck.” I toss it to him as he stands up and he catches it in the shoulder.

“No way, Griff, the team gave it to you.” And he holds it up.

“They gave it to me for the winning goal.  I wouldn’t have gotten it if it wasn’t for that pass.”

“Dude, I can’t take it.  There’s no way I could have hit that slap shot like you did.  I’ll never be able to put that much velocity on it.” He starts to walk away.

“Again, I’d never gotten the chance if it wasn’t for the perfect pass.” And I drop it into the pocket on the side of his bag.

“Thanks, man!” He stops, reaches out his hand, shakes mine and says, “Now, let’s win a state championship.”

We step out into the bitter cold of the night.  Steam rises off the tops of her heads.  The once wet sidewalk is now iced over and slick.  Bradley’s dad is waiting in the still running parked car at the end of the sidewalk.  The trunk pops open.  When we approach, his dad jumps out of the car.

“Hey, Dad.  Great win tonight!” Bradley is still excited.  He throws his gear into the trunk.

“What are you talking to that jerk (I don’t intend to use “jerk” in the final manuscript) for?  He stole “your” winning goal.”  He’s not even looking at me when he says it.

“He didn’t steal it.  There’s no way I could’ve made that shot.”

“What is wrong with you?  Get in the car.” He grabs Bradley by the left shoulder and swings him into the car.  He kicks him in the right leg as he slams the door shut and yells, “You don’t need that jerk.  When are you going to turn into a man and take control out there on the ice?”

He comes around the front of the car glaring at me, “What are you looking at?  Trying to show up your dead brother.”

I bite my tongue as hard as I can, but the tears and anger is boiling inside of me. “Go to he*& (again, that’s not what’s going in the manuscript), Mr. Reynolds.”

I turn and wave at my dad, who’s just pulled into the parking lot, and start walking towards his car.  My heart is beating so fact that I’m dizzy and the tears that I’m willing not to come are blurring my vision.

My goal is to write about writing in the classroom every Tuesday, but last night while writing my reflection of my Monday, I came to the realization that I need to focus on the benefits of writing (as well as the skills) with my students.  After a Monday that included showing the “Growing Up” video to three science classes of boys (about 80 boys), getting my head shaved by sixth graders during their lunch period as the prize for raising three hundred dollars for St. Baldrick’s, squeezing in a four-mile run, and presenting a school budget (millions of dollars) at our board of education meeting, I decompressed by writing about it in my journal at 11:00 PM last night.  AND it felt great.  I wrote:

“As I pulled my winter running hat over my bald head and entered the dark cold of the March night, I felt a sense of relieve wash over my entire body.  The tightness that I carried all day since my morning shower at 5:30 AM completely disappeared.”

Honestly, I barely remember writing that part of the reflection.  The thing that I do remember is that when I closed my writing journal, I felt like I was on top of the world, and I was ready for a new day with as many obstacles as a middle school could throw at me.  Everything that I felt throughout my Monday was left on the pages of my journal and it felt awesome.  It is exactly the reason that I write, and it is exactly what I need to teach my students.  I will be reading them my entry today.:)

When teaching writing, I get caught up in making sure the students get their ideas on paper and that they do it while paying attention to the conventions of their writing.  All of those things are fine, but I never teach them about the wonderful way writing can make you feel.  It can help to release stress.  It can help to release anger.  It can help you to relive the happy time.  Plain and simple, writing can help.

Yesterday, I started class (after the read aloud) by sharing a poem that I had written over the weekend (this was actually on a suggesting by a fellow slicer – thank you:).  It took less than five minutes.  I was able to share with them the figurative language that I utilized in my poem, and most importantly, I reinforce the fact that I write outside of the classroom (for fun).  The kids asked all kinds of questions and still we kept it under five minutes.  The highlight was the girl who showed up at the door during the closing minutes of ninth period with a poem that she had written after ELA class (I’m guessing it was during someone else’s class, so I should have scolded her, but there was no way that I was going to do that – I just thought in my head that I was sorry to the teacher that was teaching during her poetry writing session – that has to be enough).

So, when I woke up this morning, I decided that I am going to share three pieces of my own writing with the kids (when it fits into a lesson or discussion) a week.  I will even show them paper receipts, napkins, and the back of church school flyers (that my kids get) that I write story ideas on when my writing notebook is not handy.  I won’t tell them that it is while I’m sitting at a traffic light.  I will show them my errors, my scratch outs, and my ideas that I am still struggling to make into a story.  I will show them the fun of writing. 

The goal will be to show them my love of (constant) writing in hopes to hook a kid (or many) to writing (example: girl writes a poem after seeing my poem).  This will be an ongoing goal, like my reading goal, of turning every student into a writer who enjoys writing.  The sky is the limit if I can make them love both reading and writing.  

We start with a low.  This week was a four-day week due to a Superintendent’s Conference Day.  This is a low because we have had so many snow days and delays this winter that I cherish EACH and EVERY five-day week.  We have a five-day week ahead of us and the forecast looks good, so it is likely that we will have five full days of school this week.  I plan to utilize each and every minute of the time spent with the kids.

My highs:

1. The final poems were AWESOME.  The kids have such a wonderful way with words, and they utilized everything that they learned during the poetry unit.  Their poems included metaphors, similes, repetition, personification, onomatopoeia, and vivid sensory details.  The coolest part is that the students wanted to share their final poems aloud to the class, so each student will have a chance to share this week.  I am really excited that they were so invested in their poems.  I was also very impressed.
2. We had a great review lesson on story plot, theme, mood, and making inferences.  Whenever we read a story, we are locating the elements of story plot, identifying the theme, reading between the lines, and discussing the mood, but each review lesson that we engaged in this week was awesome.  The kids are turning into active readers, and more importantly, they are turning into students that enjoy reading (my goal from the very first day of school).  This week, we are going to read another short story (I love short stories because I can design a lesson that can be accomplished in one or two class periods around the story).
3. The second Kate Messner literature circle meeting was fantastic.  The group that is reading Capture the Flag had to be reminded a number of times to quiet down (I didn’t want to, but all seven groups were meeting in the same room, so I had to control the volume).  The group created a sheet to try to find out who stole the flag.  The paper looked like the map that you would find in the game of Clue.  They had a list of suspects.  They had a list of motives.  They listed ways that the suspects could have done the crime.  They were out of their mind with excitement.:)  It was so exciting to watch (and listen to).  This week, we will have our third meeting on Wednesday.  I can’t wait to hear all of the discussions.

My lows:

1. We ended the week with a conference day that focused on some interesting topics, but lacked the depth that I was hoping for.  During the morning sessions, I found myself thinking about all of the schoolwork (grading and lesson planning) that I could be doing if I wasn’t sitting in the conference session.  In the afternoon, I was thinking the same exact thing, but I was also thinking of all of the things that I could be organizing in my classroom.  Unfortunately, I truly felt like it was a lost day (the funniest part, if there was a funny part, is that before the day started, I predicted exactly what would happen – unfortunately, it all came true).
2. Since ending the Matter unit in science, there has been no flow in the class.  We are focused on health, and tomorrow, I show the “Growing Up” video to the boys.  Last week, I was supposed to have the guidance counselor visit the classroom to talk about Internet safety, but she was sick with the flu.  I believe that we are rescheduled for this Wednesday, but I am not definite, which bothers me because I love to have a plan (for the week, for the month).  We will continue to work on the research of women scientists, but with the video and the Internet safety lesson, I feel like it is breaking up the flow of our research.  I am hoping that the kids can stay focused on the research project, because when we started it, I was imagining it being a highlight.  I am not losing hope for the highlight.

The students have had a three-day weekend, so I am hopeful that they are well rested and ready for a great week of learning.  We have so many things to look forward to in science and ELA – the literature circle meeting on Wednesday and the presentations of the women scientists on Friday.

Madness

The crowd gathers

around the television.

Excitement is building

in the air.

Ten point run to start,

cheers erupt from the couch.

The Rams begin

their comeback.

Tension is building

in the air.

Dribble, drive, basket,

cheers erupt from the couch.

Finger roll for two,

three pointer, three pointer, three pointer.

Our team is pulling

away.

Break away for two and foul,

cheers erupt from the couch.

Thirty-two points to their twenty-two

in the second half.

More crossovers, two from the baseline,

their in complete control.

Buzzer sounds, onto round two,

cheers erupt from the couch.

Our favorite team is victorious.

Go Syracuse Orange women!

Our favorite men’s basketball team lost on Thursday, but our favorite women’s team advances to the second round of the tournament.  The girls and their friends (eight in all) were jumping off the couch, high-fiving, and fist bumping the whole four quarters.  This is one of my favorite parts of March.

As I write on this sunny Saturday morning, I am torn because I have so many things to write about, but today is the day that I write about an ELA lesson, so I’m staying on task and writing about a descriptive writing lesson.  Descriptive writing is difficult for sixth grade writers because it requires providing more details to sentences, which is difficult for 11(12)-year-olds to do.  In fact, descriptive writing can be difficult for writers of all ages (I know that I struggle with being descriptive in my own writing).

My favorite descriptive writing lesson (lasts a few class periods):

I start by asking my students if they know the difference between snorkeling and scuba diving.  Some of the students know the differences, but others struggle, so I first show them pictures of the equipment, and then, I show a short video about each.  We discuss that the snorkeler sees the beauty of sea life from the surface.  I love when the kids compare this to writing in third person.  Then, we discuss that the scuba diver emerges to the depths of the sea and witnesses sea life as part of the setting (with the sea life).  Additionally, I love when the kids compare this writing to first person perspective.  Finally, I ask the students which writer (the writer that snorkels or the writer that scuba dives) will have an easier time showing their story.  We make the connection to the advice that many authors that we Skype with give us, “It is easier to write from experience, so get out and experience things.”

It is time to put the SCUBA Descriptive Writing poster on the whiteboard and on the other three walls that surround the classroom.  The poster states:

Show the reader the story

Conventions – be careful with spelling, punctuation, and capitalization

Use sensory details

Be organized – sentences and paragraphs should flow

Authentic voice – your own writing style

Now, the students are ready to practice, so I place two different examples on the monitor screen.  The first is the snorkeling example:

The kitchen smelled like turkey.  The dinner was enjoyable.  The relatives told stories about the past and it was funny.  We ate salads, turkey, and mashed potatoes.  Everything was good.

The second is the SCUBA example:

Laughter and the sleepy smell of turkey filled the air as twenty members of my family ate Thanksgiving dinner together.  Stories of past holidays and other memories were shared from table to table.  At the same time, mouth-watering salads, creamy-smooth mashed potatoes with hot gravy, and moist slices of delicious turkey were passed from plate to plate.

The kids need to identify the sensory details from the second (SCUBA) example, and then, they compare the two examples.  We discuss what makes the second example more descriptive and vivid.  We also discuss that the reader (of the second example) feels like she or he is part of the story.  Then, we create a list of other descriptive words that we could use to describe the dinner.  Finally, the kids are ready to practice by writing about their own Thanksgiving (or celebration) dinner.

Of course, I would love to read how others teach descriptive writing in their own classroom.  It is such an important skill for a writer (of any level).  Please respond and let me know.

This morning, I’m trying to build a relationship between my main character and his soon-to-be-girlfriend.  Considering I was up VERY LATE watching my favorite college basketball team play, it’s been a great morning of writing.  I’m happy (for now) with this scene.

Here’s an excerpt: 

Buzz…Buzz…Buzz… The phone is scooting across the desk.  No one ever calls.  I grab the phone, look at the screen and it reads Sweet Samantha.  When did she put that in my phone?

“Hey, Sweet Samantha,” I say and hear laughter.

“What are ya’ doin’?”

“I’m heading to the library.  It’s way too quiet around here.”

“You did just hear what you said?  A library is the quietest place I’ve ever been.  You do know that you’re supposed to be quiet in the library.”  I can still hear her smile.

“It’s hard to explain, but I love the library.  I have a ton of homework, so I’m heading over with hopes of getting it done.”

“I still have to finish the research for the water turbine project.  Can I join you?”

“Absolutely, but do you promise that you won’t distract me?”

“I can’t make any promises.  I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

“Perfect.”

The walk over is so quiet.  The snow has been flying around the sky all day, but it doesn’t seem to be sticking to the ground.  Almost every house is lit up with Christmas lights.  When I get to the corner with the library, Patty drives out of the exit and is waving frantically at me with a big smile on her face.  What a smile!  No wonder why Casey liked her so much.

The parking lot is nearly empty.  As soon as I walk through the door, I see Samantha lounging in one of the sofa chairs to my right.  She’s holding up a flyer.  I know exactly what it says.

“Grif, there’s so much that I don’t know about you.  How long have you been the special guest reader during story hour?” She asks while pointing at my name on the flyer.

“I’ve been doing it for about a year.  I love it.  The kids are a bit squirrely, but they love when I change the voices of the characters and get all into the story.  You should come.  I could use some help controlling the kids.”

“Oh, don’t worry.  I’ll be there on Saturday.  In fact, I can’t wait.” And she gets up and hugs my arm.

We head towards the front desk and the stairs in the back of the library.  All of my librarian friends are behind the counter.

“We were hoping that our favorite hockey player was going to stop in.” Mrs. Dwyer turned to get Ms. Madigan’s attention.  “Who’s your study partner?”

“Mrs. Dwyer, this is Samantha.” She comes around the counter and gives Samantha a hug and tells her that she better not distract me.  Before I can even introduce Ms. Madigan, she too comes around the counter with a pamphlet in her hand.

“We got this in the mail today and thought of you.” She hands me the pamphlet acting as if Samantha isn’t standing right next to me.  “It’s a state poetry contest and we thought that you could submit some of your work in the high school division.”

Samantha’s mouth is wide open and she has a look of shock on her face.  “Thank you, Ms. Madigan, I’ll submit the poem that I wrote about the Harvest Moon.  This is Samantha.”

Ms. Madigan is not a hugger, so she shakes her hand and shoos us downstairs to the study room.  While we head to the stairs, I can hear them whispering to each other and giggling.

“I’m learning SO much about you tonight.  And here I thought that the only thing you did was play hockey.”  She grabs my arm and we head downstairs.

Better yet, if a running sneaker could get into the head of a runner and talk, my sneakers would have a ton to say.  Right now, they are feeling a bit jealous because Wednesday afternoon they were left behind for my new pair of sneakers.  They are also angry because yesterday was sunny and in the mid 50’s, which is very rare in Syracuse, New York in the middle of March.  They have carried me many miles for the 224 of my 238 straight days of running.  I did not start the streak with them, and it is not at all likely that I will end the streak with them (unless I save them for day 365, which I’m not even sure will be my final day).  They have been so good to me.

The sneakers are road salt covered and the right one has a teeny tiny whole in the corner (near the big toe).  They have traveled 898 miles in seven plus months, which is about 79-years-old in human years (please don’t quote this because it is not at all based on scientific research).   I am feeling bad because I usually limit my sneakers to a little over 800 miles (this is my 23^rd year of running and I have found that sneakers are worn out after 800 miles).  They’ve been struggling to breathe because each night (after I go to bed) my wife stuffs dryer sheets in them.  She says that they smell like running sneakers.  I say that is what I love about them.  Isn’t it funny how people have different perspectives of smells?  To me, they smell like running roses.  Unfortunately, dryer sheets or no dryer sheets, the end is near for them.

Now, if they could talk, they would say, “I never want to run on a -25 degree day again.”  They would say, “I’m grateful that we do afternoon runs because I love to sleep in.”  They would say, “Does my owner know everyone?  He waves or says hello to everyone in Westvale.”  They would say, “I wish they would put in a soft-serve ice cream shop where the gas station once stood.”  Okay, maybe that is me saying that one.  They would say, “I’m not psyched about running on dirt because I don’t like getting all dirty, so I’m glad that he stays on the road.  Although, I’m not loving all of this salt because it gets in every nook and cranny.”  Lastly, they would say, “It has been an awesome seven months.  I’ve climbed hills, traveled down hills, skidded across ice, and got soaking wet, but I’ve always stayed upright.  And though my owner’s wife plugs her nose around me and makes me feel kind of bad, he’s been great to me.”

Now, if they could think, they would tell you that I’m always being extra cautious with traffic, even when I’m daydreaming.  They would tell you that when I’m not daydreaming because that doesn’t happen much, I’m thinking about my kids, my wife, teaching, events from the day (or night), coaching (plays), and of course, things to write about.:)  They would tell you that sometimes I start a run feeling stressed and almost always finish feeling calm and awesome.  They would tell you that I love when my kids run with me.  They would tell you that running has changed me as a person.

So, as they sit next to my new pair on the rug that runs across the mudroom floor, they would tell you that they had a good seven months or 79 years (again, not scientific).  They would tell you that even though they get a little jealous, they are happy for the new sneakers to continue the journey.  In fact, they are thrilled to have a little rest.  

When I got home from school yesterday, I was reading through many different blog posts, which I thoroughly enjoy doing.  After reading one about taking on different challenges, I wrote a response that I don’t like to take on too many challenges all at once, but later in the evening, I began thinking that I often take on many challenges (even though they are not called “challenges”).  Well, in March, I am challenging myself to write a blog post each and every day, but the other challenge comes in the fact that with the blog, I have been writing my story each and every day.  I’ve never thought of it as a challenge (outside of the challenge not to post part of my story each and every day – I have been good about posting only twice a week:).  After further reflection, my week is filled with little challenges, but I often don’t think of them as challenges because I enjoy doing them.

Here’s a snippet from the story I’m writing this morning:

“Reynolds, Evans, Cavanaugh, get out there.” Coach says after blowing his whistle.

We skate to mid-ice ready for the next play on coach’s whistle.

 “The freshman line.  Great!  Fresh meat.” Will Crowley, the senior captain, snarls as he skates a circle around us before heading into the defensive end.  Before he even turns around, coach gives a loud blow of the whistle.

The first play as a varsity player is a simple weave down the ice.  I race to the middle from the right wing and Cavanaugh zings the pass right onto my stick.  Keeping my head up, I dribble, and look to connect with Bradley, but as Bradley makes his way to the middle he is crushed by an open ice hit from Crowley.  Bradley hits the ice like a rag doll and Crowley lands on top of him.  Crowley grabs the back of his neck and pushes his face into the ice.  Bradley squirms while Crowley applies more pressure.

I race over and tackle Crowley off of Bradley.  As he tries to stand up, I grab his shoulders and slam him into the glass.

“Evans, are you outta your mind?  You’re a dead man.”  His glove is off and he grabs my throat.  I level him with a right arm jab and he lets go.

“You’re kiddin’ me, Evans.  Reynolds has been punkin’ you all season and you’re stickin’ up for him.  Not on my team.  You’re both goin’ down.”

He grabs me again, but I slap his hand away.  And now Coach and his whistle, which has blown for the hundredth time, is standing next to us.

“Crowley, Evans, stay after practice.  You’ll be doin’ red line sprints until I see your breakfast and lunch.”

Coach heads back to the bench.  Crowley is following close behind pleading his case.  Bradley skates up from behind and hands me my stick.  He reaches out his hand.

“Thank you, Grif,” he says while shaking my hand, “I owe you big time.”

Forgiveness.  He’s been riding me all season and our first play on the varsity team, he’s sorry.  He knows that if I didn’t jump in, he’d be in the hospital.

*This snippet is raw and unrevised, but I’m out of time and need to go to work.  I don’t like hitting “publish” without a little more time to revise, but I’m taking a chance this morning.:)

We are less than a month away from my favorite essay of the school year – the persuasive (argumentative) essay.  The persuasive essay unit will be five weeks long.  This is one of the most important essays that the students will learn to write in sixth grade.  It is likely that they will write many more persuasive essays in the rest of their middle school years and their high school years (in both English and history class; possibly even science class).  With it being a little less than a month from the start of the persuasive essay, I will spend the week preparing for this writing unit.

The persuasive writing basics (strategies that I will teach the students):

1. Know your purpose/reason for persuading (Know your opinion)
2. Keep your audience in mind
3. State the facts/reasons clearly and well
4. Look at the other side’s opinion and prove them wrong
5. Connect with the audience’s head and heart
6. Say what you want, or ask for action
7. Think about “quality” words, not quantity.” (Keep it short but powerful)

As we prepare for the persuasive essay, we will learn how advertisers persuade.  We will read an article entitled “How Advertisers Persuade” from Writing magazine (September 1999).  The article may be twenty years old, but the strategies and tactics are still relevant today.  We will visit (in Google Hangout) with a director (from Hero Status Films) who produces commercials, short films, and one full-length film about the strategies he uses when producing commercials.  We will watch and analyze commercials (looking for the strategies used).

Then, we will learn how lawyers persuade a judge and/or jury.  We will watch the court scene film clip from the new Miracle on 34^th Street.  We assess the lawyers on their closing arguments with the persuasive writing strategies (listed above).  The students will then be assigned specific court cases (school uniforms, year-round schooling, curfew), and working in small groups, they will write and present closing arguments.  They will need to use the strategies that we learned at the beginning of the unit to develop their closing arguments.  The presentations will happen in class (court room setting) with their peers being the jury.  Their peers will assess their closing arguments on how well they presented the closing argument while utilizing the persuasive writing strategies.

Independently, the students will write a paragraph answering the question, “Who is the greatest ___________?”  The students will pick a topic (example: basketball) and a person (LeBron James), and then, they will use the digital resources within our school’s library to research the person.  They will write a paragraph about why the specific person is the greatest at the specific topic.  The paragraph will only contain details that are relevant (example: no details about the person’s birth) in persuading the reader.  The students will be assessed individually on their paragraphs (and utilizing the seven strategies).

Using the same digital database, the students will choose a topic and begin researching.  After doing thorough research and gathering three (or four) articles about their topic, they will begin writing the persuasive essay.  They will be encouraged to use the “Opposing Viewpoints” as part of their research.  They will write a four-paragraph essay persuading the reader (their peers and myself).  Each student will work through the writing process to write, revise, and edit the essay.  This will serve as the final assessment of the persuasive writing unit.

What a weekend!  My oldest daughter didn’t have lacrosse practice and my sixth grade daughter has walking pneumonia (she texted her friends that she couldn’t go to the Saturday night sleepover because she had walking phenomenon – the crazy thing is that all of the girls in the thread wrote back feeling really bad because walking phenomenon is terrible – UGH!), so no where to drive them.  My youngest had a birthday party up the road from where we live and my son had musical rehearsal at the high school, which is four miles from our house.  This was the first weekend in months that I did not have to drive all over Central New York, so I got tons of school work done and did lots of reading and writing.  I also spent tons of time reflecting.

So, here are my highs and lows from this past week.  After two full weeks with snow delays or closings, I feel like we have a steady rhythm of learning going on in my classroom.  It feels good and gets me excited for the weeks that lie ahead.

My highs:

1. A few weeks back, a friend that I work with was telling me about her husband making a trip to Europe and taking tons of pictures of important places/buildings in Jewish history.  He visited many cities and areas impacted by the Holocaust.  She offered for him to come into my classroom and speak, and I said YES, YES, YES.  On Monday, he came in and presented his beautiful pictures with Jewish history and history about the Holocaust.  He had the audience’s (my class) attention the entire time.  Obviously, his presentation was very sad.  At the end of his forty-minute presentation, a few kids asked questions but I could tell that they understood (for the first time) the impact that the Holocaust had on Jewish history and European history.  My class can be very chatty (especially when they come back for lunch for ELA class).  After the presentation on Monday afternoon, you could hear a pin drop.  It was eerily quiet.  They were reflecting, and there was no doubt in my mind that they all learned something new during the presentation.  I am really hoping that he will come back in next year.
2. On Friday, the class had the opportunity to see and listen to a storyteller.  Ms. Johnson is actually a Griot.  She tells stories from Africa and from African-American culture.  For the morning presentation, she told stories from the Civil Rights Movement of the twentieth century.  In the afternoon session, she told stories from Western Africa.  She was absolutely amazing.  The kids LOVED her and her stories.  It was such a special event for my sixth graders.  They spent the entire day talking about Ms. Johnson and her stories.
3. Our first literature circle was a success.  I wrote about the literature circle meeting on Saturday.  This is the third time of the school year that we are doing literature circles, and each time, I give them more freedom to talk about the book (and less of the literature circle role sheets).  They complete a close reading bookmark, and then, during the discussion they use the bookmark to guide their conversation.  During the first literature circle meeting, only one group used the bookmarks to guide their discussion.  The other groups just discussed their book, and the discussions were AWESOME.

My lows:

1. I have struggled with time management in science throughout the year.  The matter unit had sixteen weeks of information to cover in twelve weeks.  Well, on Friday, I was out of time.  I needed to send the materials to the next school building to use.  I made it farther in the unit than my colleagues, but I did not make it as far as I had wanted.  Over this coming summer vacation, I am going to review all of the notes that I have taken during the unit and recreate a unit where I can get through more information.  I am not confident that I will make it through the entire unit, but I will get far enough to cover all of the standards with time to master the skills.  My colleagues and I went to training in November, and we started the unit in December, so we had very little time to work with the materials prior to using them with the students.  I will write that I had great success with many of the investigations (including this past week’s electrolysis of water lab), but next year, my goal is to get farther in the unit (with even more investigations).
2. Over the last few weeks, I have been struggling with my teaching of grammar.  I am teaching it in isolation of writing.  Of course, when the kids are writing, I am reminding them of the grammar and convention rules, but I am doing my grammar lessons before or after writing time.  Next year, my goal is to incorporate my grammar lessons into my writing lessons.  I have also decided to only do grammar lessons on topics that the students need.  This year, especially the last few weeks, I have been wasting time doing lessons on skills that the kids have already mastered.   I am already in the process of individualizing my teaching of the skills.  In my reading notebook, I keep track of the books that the kids are reading.  I am putting together a grammar notebook to track the student’s grammar and convention skills.

As a teacher, you always have work to do (teaching and learning is never perfect), but while reflecting over this past weekend, I discovered that we’ve had many highlights in both the science and ELA classrooms over the last few weeks.  I am hoping for another week of highlights.