2nd Week Recap Plus Writer's Notebook Setup

The second week of school was one filled with lessons of accountability for my 7th graders.  They realized that Mrs. Barr does not tolerate the excuse, "I can't think of anything to write" at all.  My response went right back to last week's "Idea Bank" that students created in the front of their Writer's Notebooks.

Each student created a title page in the front of their Writer's Notebook that serves as the beginning of an idea bank that will grow throughout the year.

 

 

Last week, I received several e-mails asking for pictures of the Kernel Essay strategy, Quick List, and the Quick Write that filled the Idea Bank, so I will include them here.  The links to the resources are in last week's post. 

Kernel Essay #1: Even sad things can be important.

Kernel Essay #2: Every family has its heroes.

Quick List and Quick Write Strategy for the Idea Bank

I cannot explain how powerful it is to write alongside my students.  For some reason, it is a major motivator for them.  One kid said that it felt like I was challenging them to write more than me.  That wasn't the purpose behind it for me, but if it gets that particular child writing, then I am glad they accept the challenge.  The Abydos training I took this summer applied this strategy and I figured that if it works for a room full of adult learners, surely it will work for my 7th graders.  I was right, plus if gave them a glimpse into my life and showed that I have life experience just like they do.  So, I challenge you to write with your kids... the entire attitude of your classroom will change.

On Tuesday, we discussed different levels of writing through a set of notes in the Writer's Notebook.  This is another Jeff Anderson strategy from Crunch Time and were led through a Kernel Essay  using the personal narrative prompt being used district wide for 7th graders.  Students then applied the strategy to the 1st draft of their personal narratives from Wednesday.  I challenged them to raise their paper from a Level 1 to a Level 2 or a Level 2 to a Level 3.  I love that they are able to self assess their drafts by looking at the characteristics of each type of topic level.

Choosing a Strong Topic

After writing the 1st draft of their personal narratives, students participated in a writer's workshop involving editing and revising a piece of writing.  I want to teach my kids to not depend on test questions to guide their thinking, so I took the questions off of the essay that they were editing.  I told them how many mistakes they were seeking and they worked with a partner to find all of them.  Each mistake was recorded on a chart on the left side of their journal and on the right, I printed off a shrunken down copy of the text that they could glue in.  The following day, I gave students the questions that went with the story "Out of This World Wedding" and allowed them to use their Editing and Revising notes to answer the questions.  They were amazed that they had caught all of the errors before even seeing the questions!

Writer's workshop over revising and editing

Friday, students participated in a workshop on Hooks and Leads.  We completed notes on each type of lead: The Action Lead, The Thought Lead, The Descriptive Lead, The Problem (Question) Lead, The Dialogue Lead, The Narrative Lead, The Anecdotal Lead, and The Flat Statement Lead.  I typed out several different types of leads from various types of books and cut them apart.  Students worked with a small group to determine which type/types of lead they had been given.  One group member read the lead out loud, another discussed which type/types their group chose and why, and another placed the lead on a growing chart I put on the board.  The pink Post Its set apart the leads that fell into more than one category.  Monday students will be revising their own personal narrative lead and will have their class chart to use as a resource.  I was so pleased with how this activity turned out!!!

Class Hooks and Leads chart that we created.

From my classroom to yours, have a wonderful next week!

The Best First Week Ever!

Words cannot express how much FUN I had with my new 7th graders this week.  The Abydos training that I took this summer equipped me with some fabulous brainstorming strategies that my students loved.  Along with learning how to open lockers, my kids completed several brainstorming exercises, and by Friday, learned how to annotate a piece of writing for the first time.

Where the magic happens :)

The lesson frame including "Today's Objective" and "Today's Product".  We have a routine of reading the objective and product out loud together at the beginning of each class period so that everyone is on the same page.

 

Tuesday, we discussed goal setting as a class and students created a personal goal paw print, since our team is the Baylor Bears.  Each toe represented a subject goal and the center contained a 1st six weeks goal.  They will be displayed in the hallway outside of our rooms.  (Picture to come) The students then found an accountability partner, who is a peer they have in various classes.  We talked about appropriate responses and conversations they can have with one another if they observe their partner veering away from their goal.  We will be referencing goals often in my class.

 

Wednesday and Thursday, my classes completed a Kernel Essay, a Quick List, and a Quick Write to build the "Idea Bank" in their Writer's Notebooks, which are used daily in my class. 

I learned about the Kernel Essay in my training this summer, but if you want to check it out, I highly recommend purchasing Gretchen Bernabei's Reviving the Essay. I didn't expect them to love the Kernel Essay as much as they did.  The basic purpose of the Kernel Essay is taking a picture or phrase and breaking it into small questions for thought.  Students get 3 minutes to answer each small question, or kernel.  By the end of the 12 minutes, they have a page filled with a detailed memory. 

The Quick List and Quick Write strategies come from Jeff Anderson's Crunch Time.  Several of my students preferred these two strategies as opposed to the Kernel Essay.  Students number their paper from 1-12 and you give them a topic for each number.  They have a few moments to jot down a word or phrase the triggers a memory related to the topic.  Students choose the top three topics that they could write about, but have to put a star next to their top idea.  The teacher allows 10 minutes for students to complete a Quick Write on the topic that they chose.  To get their ideas rolling, I let them know that grammar and spelling were not essential during brainstorming, but getting all the details of their topic was the priority.  The kids left exhausted, but they learned so much.  One girl said, "My brain and my hand hurt, but I finally get it."

Friday, my students learned about the PROVE IT reading strategy and annotated a short personal narrative.  They closed class by posting an answer on the "Why do we write?" anchor chart.

We wrapped up the week with students posting an answer to "Why do we write?".  The responses were awesome!

On the agenda for next week: My students begin writing their own personal narratives and will be participating in a Clocking session!

A Tour of my Functional Walls

Every year I strive for my walls in my classroom to be as functional as possible for my students.  This year, they have turned out even better than I could have hoped.  The only two things left to add are the "Noteworthy Work" area and my "Question Stems" area.  Here is a look at my boards so far:

The 6 Traits of Writing are located on the front wall of the room and are easy for students to see daily as a reminder.

Cute display of "The Writing Process", again at the very front of the room easily in view for students.  They will be given a clothespin with their name on it and it can be clipped on whichever phase they are in.

 

"Parts of Speech" with illustrations on the side board, right above the weekly agenda and the daily lesson frame.  The red labels say "Today's Objective" and "Today's Product".

 

"10 Types of Literature" board right above the bookshelf.  Each poster contains a definition for the type of literature with illustrations as examples.

 

A closer view of the "10 Types of Literature" posters.  These are my favorite.

I like to call my table at the door "The Command Center".  Only 3 crates are pictured, but I actually have 6, one for each class period, where writer's journals and a pencil bag containing scissors, glue, notecards, and pencils are stored.  Students grab all their supplies at the door.  I also keep trays on top of the table with any printouts for the day that they can grab on their way in.  This has been my most important established routine the past four years.  Once students have it mastered, so much time is saved by not having to pass items out anymore.

I am not sure where this teacher desk came from, but it is the smallest I have ever seen with only one drawer.  It works well with a small room though.  I covered the otherwise beat up front of the desk with fabric that matches my file cabinet.  The red filing system stores all extra copies and make-up work.

Covered a clipboard from the Dollar Bin at Office Max with scrapbook paper, Mod-Podge, and ribbon that I already had at home.  I'll talk more about my clipboard system in a future post.

Desks will be delivered next week and we will be ready to roll.  Now I get to focus on content for the first six weeks.  

I've always felt that it is beyond important for students to understand the connection between reading and writing, so the reading teacher and I are trying something completely new in place of the dreaded Reading Log.  Stay tuned for my next post including the "Punch Card" system I have designed for our kids.  :)

Word Nerd

Recent staff development and discussions of the shared appreciation we all have for the words of the English language inspired the title for my "Word Wall" this year.  I have a few goals involving this wall that are much different than they were in my math classroom.

We are building this wall together, as well as categorizing.  It will include weekly vocabulary from the district curriculum that guides our writing and the process, as well as words we come across in our reading together.

I plan to invite my students to look for new vocabulary by using a few strategies from Abydos training.  My students will have a paper sack glued in the front of their Writer's Notebooks.  They will have small notecards readily available for writing down unfamiliar words that they are then invited to share with the class, explore, illustrate, and use in a sentence.  They will be able to store these notecards in their paper sack "Word Bank".  Each Friday we will add the most popular words of the week from our banks to the class wall.

A major goal I have for this year is building schema and worldly ideas in the minds of my students.  I plan to use a website that I recently fell in love with to add this into the weekly routine of my class.  Wonderopolis offers a "Wonder of the Day", including a vocabulary list and a neat short video that students can watch that relates to the topic.  Our warm-ups on Wednesday will be special as my class participates in "Wonderopolis Wednesday".  Students will read through the short passage for the wonder of the day and make note of any words they are not familiar with on their notecards, which will be placed in their Word Bank.  We will discuss the passage and how it relates to our lives, talk about the vocabulary, and students will then be able to visit our class Edmodo outside of class, where I will have the corresponding videos linked.

Nothing like building schema with a short warm-up that is interesting.  I really hope my students look forward to "Wonderopolis Wednesday" this year!

Getting Crafty With a Small Space

Finally I have reached the point of the summer where my thoughts primarily involve prepping my classroom and lesson plans for the beginning of school.  This year I have been presented with an interesting challenge of having a classroom that is significantly smaller than the room that I had for the past 3 years.  On one hand, this is helping me purge the things I do not need and organize.  On the other, my walls are metal... I'm talking solid metal that could serve as a bomb shelter.  Armed with various adhesives, magnets, and Velcro, I am determined to make this work.

Here are a couple of things that I have done so far:

 

I turned my file cabinet into a magnet board for memos, while the back side serves as a space for student make-up work.

 

I am loving the pennants I made that say "WRITE", which will be the topper for my welcome board beside the door.  I scored a great deal on cute scrapbook paper at Joann Fabrics this week, an it happened to be perfect for this project.

 

Since my desk is tiny and only has one drawer, I made a "Teacher Toolbox" that holds all of my supplies.  It eliminates the clutter factor that I came across with my old desk drawers.  I actually got this toolbox at Home Depot in April when they ran great deals on their organizational tools.  This one was only $15.

 

Some Mod-Podge to the top allowed me to customize my toolbox.

My next project for the week will be painting a bookshelf and hopefully finishing the set up.

"And let the words fall out..."

Today marked a temporary ending to our Abydos class.  We will meet monthly throughout the year to share ideas and discuss implementations in our own English classrooms, which is great since I have really grown close to our special group.  The final lesson was amazing and I plan on using it in my own classroom during the first week of school.

The desire to create a writing environment for my students that is a comfortable community in which risk taking is encouraged is of utmost importance to me.  I plan to do this through a series of team building exercises, short bursts of writing, and daily readings from the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  In order to adapt our lesson from today for my 7th graders, I will be providing them with the word "BRAVE" and having them write about how they think bravery and writing are connected.  We will share ideas and they will then watch the music video that has absolutely become my own anthem for the year, "Brave" by Sara Bareilles.

I will then have them reflect on how their connection of bravery and writing may have connected to the video and they will be welcome to add anything they like to their quick write. 

Mine looked something like this:
"Bravery is a characteristic crucial to create change.  It is required in order to attempt something new and often times goes against the norm.  If your attempt doesn't work, that is completely fine.  What is important is that you did everything in your power to try.  Writing works this way and I am reminded of this when Sara Bareilles says, "Maybe there's a way out of the cage where you live."  Many of my students are trapped in the "cage" of their home life and need the escape that writing offers.  More importantly, "Let the words fall out..."

As my kids embrace the release of writing and create a classroom community, I will be letting my words be heard in my life as well as we all become a bit more "Brave".

New Beginnings and Ideas

I am beginning this blog primarily as a tool for myself and my own classroom, but if it can help others along the way, then feel free to borrow ideas.  And before you ask, yes, "Barr's Room Blitz" carries inspiration from the 1973 hit "Ballroom Blitz", since along with teaching, oldies hold a special place in my heart.

For the past three years, I have been a middle school Math teacher, who just happens to hold a degree in Journalism... long story that had much to do with the state of the economy during the time I made the transition into teaching.  However, a math position taught me that I can truly do anything I set my mind to. 

In April 2013 my wish was granted to make the move to 7th grade English at another middle school campus in the district.  This adventure is something that I am beyond excited about.  Not only that, but I have just completed some PHENOMENAL training in writing through our district.  Abydos, formerly The New Jersey Writing Project, has completely changed my perspective of the way my students think and the psychology behind it.  I am eager to put many of these skills and strategies to use in my own classroom this year and I'd love for you to follow me through this process.