Having Favorites in Your Classroom

I've always had a selfish goal in my classroom. I've always wanted to be the fun teacher, the favorite teacher. On the first day of school each year, I lay all my cards on the table:
- I'm young
- I love Marvel and D.C. comics and movies
- I love anime
- I love videogames
- I love reading YA novels
- I listen to the same type of music they do
- I love playing sports

It's earned me the liking of the students, as I can relate to them (it also helps that I have a sister their age).

Then, I start demanding earning their respect, while still gaining trust and like with a great, and well-thought out classroom management plan with rewards and negative consequences.

As the year goes by, students begin to show their responsibility, potential, and personality. There are some that my feelings and likeness start to gravitate toward. It's not my fault. It's just like making friends--not that my students are necessarily "friends" since they are 10+ years younger than me. But, same personalities tend to like each other.

Typically, the students that I tend to really get along with and like are the ones who love the geeky stuff I do, are respectful, have a good work ethic, and have the higher grades in the class.

Not that grades have ANYTHING to do if I like a student or not. There have been plenty of students that have had poorer grades that I have absolutely loved because they try their best and that is all I can ask of them.

So, I will be honest: I have favorites in my classroom.

These favorite students and I love chatting before class, during class, and after class about our common interests. I have pictures drawn of fantasy animals we enjoy. They leave inside jokes on my board from our favorite sitcoms. We discuss upcoming movies and our videogames while waiting for carpools. Today, three of my favorite girls who are huge anime fans decided they are going to compile a list of animes for me to watch over the summer. These favorite students also really help me with the rest of the class--they always are the first ones to participate, they are willing to help others in their assignments, and they are shining examples.

Now, I try my absolute hardest to not be biased towards them when it comes to classroom management (or biased against the misbehaving ones as we, too, have great geeky/nerdy conversations). But, I do find it hard sometimes to be one hundred percent completely fair with both grading and management. I think I do a pretty good job of being fair.

Although I have had a lot of struggles with management of a lot of 7th graders this year (as all the other teachers have, and the 6th grade teachers last year!), I will still miss all of them (but, especially my favorites) next year! None of my students know yet that I won't be returning. I'm not sure when or if I will tell them...they deserve to know, but it'll be heart breaking because I love my students (even if they stress me out!).

Do you have favorites in your classroom? What do you think about having favorites? Is there a way to not be biased when it comes to discipline and grading if you do have favorites?

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Jess from Bookworms in Dresses

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How did you come up with the name to your blog?

I've always been a bookworm, so that was the main inspiration behind my blog name. When I first named it, I was planning to be a fashion blog, but then I ended up being more of a book blogger! I guess I couldn't stray from the bookworm inside me!

What is your blog's mission or goal?
I want to share my love of books with everyone, make friends, and hopefully I can help someone out, even if it's in a small way, from my blog.

Besides blogging, what are some other hobbies of yours?
Reading, drawing, designing, cosplay, and photography. I've always been very creative, so my hobbies tend to sway that way! Sometimes I play video games on my 3DS too! Pokemon is my favorite!!

What is the best thing about blogging for you?
What I love the most is certainly meeting new people and making friends through the blogging world! Everyone is so nice and supportive, I love it! I also love being able to share my favorite books with people and getting new reading suggestions from people as well!

What are 3 of your favorite posts you've written?
Hmmm, that's a hard one! Probably these three!
Introverted Bookworm
The Advice I Never Gave
Editorial Calendar

Being a Teacher Is...

- Hard. No lie. It is one of the hardest things I've ever done.

- The best job in the entire world. Even though it is hard, it is the best job in the entire world.

- Continually learning, exploring, and discovering and loving it.

- Loving children and celebrating their successes with them.

- Loving children, and thus, crying over their struggles, inattentiveness, apathy, disappointments, challenges and trials. And then praying for them.

- Exhausting physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.

- Means always talking about your job: your curriculum and district's policies (both the good and the bad), subject content, and students (good, bad, funny).

-  Using your teacher voice on your spouse, relatives, and friends.

- Wanting to read but not having time because you are grading or prepping literature lessons (ironic, no?).

- Eating a lot of feel-good food (Big Gulps, Sonic drinks, Diet Coke--whatever your fancy and chocolate--a lot of chocolate.)

- Learning, using, forgetting, losing, repenting, and praying for patience.

- Rewarding to see the lightbulb go off over your students' heads.

- Not a 40 hour a week job. Nor does it mean having summers off. Or weekends.

- Not babysitting.

- (I believe) A calling from God. It's like the Marine Corps motto, "The few. The proud." Many may want to be teachers, but only a few were made and meant to be teachers.

- All I ever wanted to do. It's my dream job.

- Getting up early in the morning and going to bed early (hopefully...at least I try).

- Putting others before you.

- Gaining friends of all ages.

- Trying to find the balance between mentor, coach, parental-figure, friend, confidant, boss, tutor.

- Loving to read others' writings and being inspired by pre-teens and teenagers almost every day. Seriously. Kids are smart and can pick things up in literature that you never have!

- Social. Parents, coworkers, students. There is always someone to talk to!

- Time consuming. 

- Gets easier in some ways as you continue, but also gets harder in other ways.

- Almost like going through puberty all over again.

- An excellent way to use your imagination and creativity.

- Remembering to smile and always be positive.
- Constantly reminding young teenagers to put their names on their paper.
- An excuse to talk about geeky things like Marvel Comic movies, videogames, Comicon, etc.

- Is what I am meant to be.

Random Thoughts of Procrastination

To make me feel less guilty of writing this post (especially when one is scheduled for 12 hours from now) when I have lesson planning to do, including a new UNIT PLAN for a novel I START ON THURSDAY, here is a "Outfit of the Day" picture of me!

~ Not that I'm on there yet, I'm too tiny a blog still, but really, why would anyone spend there time tearing down someone's blog on Get Off My Internets, or any other site?. Why are people mean just for the sake of getting attention?

~ One of my male colleagues, who just had his first grandchild born the last month, said I had a really cute tummy forming (he knows I'm pregnant) and that made me smile.

~ There are some days I want to quit being a teacher and devote my time to my blog to grow it as well as becoming the house-wife I want to be and not have to wait till June to do so.

~ For the first time ever in my life, I've been considering working part-time as a mom, and that scares me. Not because I want it, but because my life-plan that was 24 years in the making, is crumbling, and to a Type A personality, that is a trial.

~ I want to blame pregnancy for my lack of motivation to do my lesson planning. I also want to blame the high and strict expectations put on the English teachers. I don't see this strictness on the other junior high teachers.

~ I want to go running, but I just don't have the time. With the warm weather starting up again, I see people running, and my body yearns to be out there, pumping as well.

~ I am sick and tired of being exhausted all the time.

~ I've had less breakdowns recently (maybe I'm finally getting control of pregnancy hormones?) but, I've felt more like a subtle bi-polar-ness take over. One hour, I'll feel like I can tackle anything and everything on my plate, the next hour, all I'll want to do is watch netflix, read blogs, and day-dream and feel a little sorry for myself.

~ I really, really hope Justin gets a good paying job when he graduates in April. I actually have a minimum wage I'm hoping for, which is pretty reasonable with his education. I also really, really hope it's in Utah, which surprises me because I never thought I'd actually want to live in Utah past college. I sort of hate myself for wanting that, but I want to be close to his and my family.

~ I miss hanging with friends. This is Justin's last semester, so he's super busy, and being a pregnant teacher who teaches 45 minutes away eats a lot of time.

~ As always, I worry about finances. This summer, we'll have baby finances, a move and a house/townhome/condo to pay for, car payments, and other adult finances.

~ I don't like coming home to an empty house since my husband is either at dance class or work.

~ I don't understand how this post on My Personal Pensieve got 1000+ likes on Stumbleupon.com and has made my page views soar from an average of 180 a day to 400 page views two days ago to 800 page views yesterday to over 1000 page views today, but still not gain any followers.

~ Justin was finally able to feel Rhys kick last night. That made me so happy that Justin could share experiencing the pregnancy with me. His smile and surprise at the kick almost made me cry. I'm already watery-eyed when he is tender with our unborn son.

~ I really want to skip forward to this summer to stop all the uncertainty about jobs and movings, but mainly, because I want to hold our son in my arms.

~ I am really nervous about state writing testing for my students--for those of you who are Utah teachers, the SAGE testing. Now, my students are smart and know how to write, but the whole hooplah over the SAGE testing, especially the hooplah our department head/writing curriculum director is making over it is freaking me out. Also, the fact that I've never had to help practice, proctor, and supervise state testing before.

~ I'm already ready for another weekend.

~ Also, I absolutely love the song "A Thousand Years" and think it is so gorgeous and beautiful, but hate the fact that it is the Theme/Credit song for a Twilight movie.

~ I published this post about 3 times, then edited it to add more. Hopefully, I'm satisfied now.

Students Write the Darndest Things--Poetry and the Monkey's Paw

So excited news:

Yesterday I was able to hear the heartbeat of my baby and see it wiggle its arms!

In other news: 

All of my students are working on an essay answering the question, "What is courage?" They just finished their outlines today, and they were absolutely the best outlines I've seen all year! Yaaay for student progress in writing!

Without further ado, another installment of 

My 8th graders finished their short stories before Christmas break. It was so interesting to read all their different stories and seeing their imaginations.

However, one student had a plagiarism problem with their short story. Now the thing is that I didn't catch it earlier in the process. This student never actually finished any prewriting activities or rough drafts. So, when I read the entire final draft, the characters, the setting, and the events seemed pretty familiar. I knew that this students loved anime, and her story seemed vaguely reminiscent of an anime I've watched before...so I took a leap and googled this anime. The characters had the same names, the events just like in the anime...Black Butler. Now, I've only seen a few episodes, so I don't know if it was plagiarism of a specific episode or more of a fan-fiction. But, either way, she didn't follow the assignment parameters (which I specifically mentioned no fan-fiction), so I had her redo it.

My 9th graders finished their Jekyll and Hyde compare and contrast essays. I was blown away every step of the way--they are some gosh darn good writers! Most of the final drafts were better quality than higher classmen in high school!

The 7th graders finished reading "The Monkey's Paw" today, so I had them write 3 wishes they'd want to make, then tell me how they could possibly go wrong, or turn out differently than expected:

- no homework--it's pretty self explanatory. something that could go wrong is i might get dumb .

- 30 yoga monkeys that could not harm, hurt, or cause sorrow. 

- to be a time lord. to have a TARDIS that goes back in time.

- my own monkey. a monkey will rip your face off.

My 9th graders are participating in something called Poetry Out Loud. They have to memorize a poem from this website and compete in a competition. I allowed them to chose the poem and then I would teach them about the poem, so they'd have a deeper understanding about it.

Today, we studied Question and I Am Offering This Poem. They are both post-modern poems and it was very interesting to analyze them with my students. I asked them to write a reflection saying which one they preferred:

- Quite frankly, my poem is confusing

- i like question the best. it i about a flea. it wasted useless time as we tried to crack the code. i can't believe people got as morbid as death with nowhere to hide. it is just insane. but honestly, i don't care. (I guess he was having a bad day)

- The two poems are interesting. They are post-modern. This makes them strange poems.

I've very excited to see the other reflections after studying more poems of my students' choice!

How Much is Expecting Too Much of Our Students?

Teaching at a rigorously academic school has been amazing. Education is one of the most important things in life to me. I am a life-long learner and thoroughly believe that more education is always better than less. I love how my school focuses on classic education! Because of this rigorous curriculum, the expectations are set quite high for our students. However, often I remember just how young the students are. The oldest is only 14. I look at the curriculum set down for our students, even in kindergarten, and I sometimes start to wonder.....

I do believe that not only because of the harsh and punishing cyclical policies of No Child Left Behind and the downward spiral of our culture of not wanting to "challenge" or "hurt" a child's feelings, the bar in expectations, including in education, has lowered quite a bit in the past decade. It saddens me how little we expect students to be able to do, how little we actually teach them, and how much we continue to stroke their egos.

Which is why I am so happy that there are still some schools that don't teach to the test, that do allow F's, that challenge students. Because, if a person, especially a child whose brain is still molding and malleable, is challenged, they are more likely to do more and better. We are stretching their ability. We are focusing on growing the muscle of the brain--just as a coach would push athletes with conditioning, or running suicide after suicide.

Charter schools are a great example of this. They are ruled by a charter--a document created by a bunch of parents who have common goals in education for their children. This charter lays out school policies and procedures, as well as setting down the curriculum and methodology for teaching. My school's charter wanted to be very professional--to mold young minds to love learning and be mature. We use a curriculum called Core Knowledge, which focuses on important items that all students should have a common knowledge of. That is the basis. Added on top of that is writing solely in cursive, using Saxon math, grammar knowledge, the ability to write strong argumentative papers, and Latin Root Vocabulary (for the elementary students: common phrases, sayings, and idioms). 

It is quite a lot. The first graders begin grammar--they are able to label the subject and the predicate (verb). The fourth graders are able to label and diagram Subjects, objects, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases! They start doing 5 paragraph essays in 6th grade!

I teach English. I have my students for two periods: Literature and Language Arts.

This is my curriculum for Literature: 

- 5 novels (including 1 Shakespeare)

- 30 Latin Root vocabulary words per month

- a poetry unit

- 3-4 short stories

- at least 2 5-paragraph essays

My curriculum for Language Arts:

- grammar (labeling and diagramming that I didn't know how to do until college!)

- mechanics

- writing skills, varying from building and supporting arguments with facts and evidence, elaboration and sentence fluency, different types of intro paragraphs and their corresponding concluding paragraphs, claim/evidence/warrant format, proper citation, and transitional phrases

Sometimes, it gets a little overwhelming for my students. They almost always have reading and writing homework, as well as studying their Latin Root words, on top of daily math homework, as well as whatever their other classes have. It's a lot of homework. But, they do it--for the most part, and they understand it--for the most part.

I taught the same grade levels last year in history at a public school. Hardly any student did the homework, they all talked and texted during class, never studied, and only a handful would get A's or B's on the tests. Throughout the year, I began expecting less and less from them. Maybe it was because they weren't expected to stretch with their other classes, maybe it was because the school itself wasn't united on policies, grading, etc, maybe it was because they just didn't care about history. I don't know what it was, but I had to dumb down my lessons, lower my expectations and requirements, and I hated it.

I was so excited to teach at this school, where the students try. But, after almost an entire semester, and talking to some of the teachers whose own children are in the lower grades here, I'm starting to wonder. Are we expecting too much of them? Are we putting too much pressure on them?

I remember the first writing assignment we had--a paragraph that used elaboration techniques we taught the first two weeks. The students had to do a prewrite, get it approved, do an outline, get it approved, two drafts each edited by the teacher, and then a final. A little overkill, right? But, also because the entire English department was new this year, the Writing Coordinator of our school wanted to check our edits and suggestions to our students each step of the way. When I gave her the rough drafts with my markings and suggestions (and I was quite impressed and proud of my kids comparing them to my kids from last year), she said, "No. They can do better. They need to fix this and this. They are expected to do that and that. They aren't writing to our standard." I was honestly a little shocked, and I've continued to be that way every now and then at this school.

Now, I love this school. I love what I teach. I love my colleagues. I love the support the parents give us--they are on our side, not their children's side, which is GREAT! But, I sometimes wonder--are we pushing them too hard? Our Writing Coordinator would say, "Of course not. They can do it." But, can they really? I do want to challenge my students. I do want them to develop the learning skills that will help them succeed in high school and college. But, I don't want them to become overkill. I don't want their parents and them to stress so much that they don't enjoy life. Many of my students have high C's right now. Now, for the vast majority of my students to have over a 75% makes me ecstatic, would make any teacher ecstatic. But, knowing that they have this C, when they are capable of a B or an A because of (mainly the Latin Root Vocab, which I hate because I believe it is above grade level), just kills me. 

Public schools are lucky. They can twist and turn and change their curriculum and methodologies for the most part to help their students, as long as they still hit the typically pretty generally/vaguely worded state/common core standards of learning. But, with a Charter, you have to obey what the charter says. You can't add to it, you can't change it, you can't leave parts out. That, I believe is the one downfall of charter schools--they are trapped by their charter. If only public schools could have the support, determination, and unity that charter schools have, that would solve most problems (as well as getting rid of the ridiculous laws that go with No Child Left Behind, but that is another post for another day).

What do you think? How much is expecting too much of our students? How can we find a balance of not teaching to the test and not lowering the bar, but also not overloading them with so much to learn in one year?

What's Bothering Me This Week

Halloween is the end of the term for my school.

That means grades are coming in, writing units are ending, vocabulary units are ending, literature units are ending. And, next week, we start again!

But, I'm completely frazzled! And it is making me sick to my stomach.

Planning is part of it, yes, but a minor, easily fixable part, although it will take quite a chunk out my my weekend.

No. It's the grades.

My school doesn't want "free days" which is completely understandable. But, that means, we need to have productive, meaningful lesson plans through Thursday. Which means, there is little time for catch up. Which means, it's kind of hard to stagger deadlines. Which means that is a lot of pressure on my little kiddies who have tests/projects for literature, Latin root vocab quiz, and a 3 paragraph essay for Writing due all on the same day. And that is just for me. Include 5-6 other classes on top of that.

But, these kids are used to it. My charter school is rigorous. It is tough and fast-paced, but doable. Almost all of my students have Bs or As. 

That is, except my 7th graders.

And therein lies the problem.

I don't know what it is about them. Last year, down in Springville, my 7th graders were angels, always wanting to please. My 8th graders were always the issue. Here, it's quite the opposite. My 8th graders are awesome. True, this is 2 of them that I have behavior issues with, but all the teachers are real on top of it (it's an issue in all their classes). My 8th graders get down to work, and are quite and put effort and quality into their work and do it correctly.

However, my 7th graders...

First of all, I have them 1st period. And there is construction on both sides of the roads for my school is. It is a carpool school only, so a lot of them are consistently late, although the school has sent out several emails and phone calls to parents warning them to come earlier due to construction. This means, they miss out on teaching.

Secondly, they consistently forget their homework. We have planners that we have the students fill out every single day for homework in every single period. The past two weeks, we've been doing poetry. So, their homework has been to incorporate that daily poetical technique into a short poem. Easy and creative! Well, I've had about a 25% turn in rate, even after I mentioned they needed all their poems for a packet and poetry slam we'll be doing on Thursday.

Thirdly, only about 5 of them participate. This is great for those 5, but that means the others aren't having the same learning experience.

Fourthly, because they aren't doing their homework, they aren't studying or retaining what we are learning. We finished up our final drafts for a compare/contrast essay for The Pearl. They had about 3 weeks to work on this, the whole time, me breathing down their necks about proper transition words, using specific examples, incorporating quotes, and citing them properly. Only about a half actually paid attention. Then, yesterday, we had our poetry quiz. They were study study Tuesday night and get a parent signature to prove they did. 3 out of 21 did. Then, I gave them 5 minutes (which ended up being 15) to study. Gave them their tests, realized they were going to do horrendously, and then gave them 5 minutes (which ended up being 10) at the end of the class to use their notes to help them. I finished grading them...maybe 5 got above an 80%. YUCK! 

Fifthly, they have forgotten how to behave. The entire school has the same policy for classroom management, the same rules and consequences. They have had this philosophy of how a good student acts and works in class since 1st grade. And yet, I am constantly trying to get their attention again, remind them every 2 minutes of not talking during individual work or when I'm talking, and having students move seats.

It is stressing me out. And the fact that then I'm in a bad mood when I finish school and seeing these piles of papers I have to grade after I drive 45 minutes home is not my ideal evening.

I'm almost to the point where I want to say to the 7th graders, ok, you win. I won't teach you. You can decide what assignments you do or don't do. I won't put any grades in the gradebook next term and when your parents or the principal asks why you don't have a grade, you can explain to them that you don't deserve a grade because you don't work toward a grade.

*Exasperated sigh*. There is my once-in-a-blue-moon soapbox rant for the Term. Tune in after Christmas break to possibly hear another.

Characters Going Crazy Everywhere! (Students Write the Darndest Things Link-up)

One aspect of being a teacher is having to change your plans on a minute's notice. This is either due to students not doing as well as you want (or much, much better), weather causing delays, or curriculum adjustments.

That is what is happening to me. I have to adjust my pacing and my scope and sequence for my 7th graders in both their Language Arts class and Literature class. It is very, super stressful and I feel under-prepared to do so, especially because this includes today and the rest of the week!

But, enough about that. 

It's time for another link-up of:

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.morrellfairytale.com/search/label/student%20writings" title="Students Write the Darndest Things"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHe-kTIcPR8Rs8PHpCHydZJfw6II7-s0CkEmXi_xS09SsgLdeVA6FdNYv3GqvgsXVe37O0DAQ8cJnd9N2IrdIGM1DvdzYrQRX6oiFy0nc9EoE1kzGaU-65chYS8BiQ8XK6r_h2E1Qca4y/s1600/kids+say+the+darndest+things.jpg" alt="Students Write the Darndest Things" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

(7th grade) Question on the final test for The Pearl by John Steinbeck: What is the moral of The Pearl? How does that make it a parable?

 "Greed takes you nowhere because if you have greed, you want more than you have. Alma (book of Mormon) was greedy and it took him nowhere, but to listen to Abinadi"

Reference here: Mosiah chapter 17 in the Book of Mormon

(7th grade) Describing the character and personality of Kino, in The Pearl.
"Kino is just like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. He went insane"
(points for comparison to Lord of the Rings, but...sadly, it was incorrect as the character didn't go insane...)

(8th grade) Describing the Macbeth feast scene in which he sees Banquo's ghost:

"The lords act like: what's going on?"

"Lady Macbeth says it's ok everyone, he's been seeing things forever. Macbeth flipped out."

"Macbeth is basically hyperventilating and freaking out."

This student loves to add these half-smilies to all her papers!

You can tell what's on this student's mind.

 This picture is about two weeks old. My 8th graders were able to gloss this much info on characterization, symbols, and themes in Macbeth after only reading 1 out of 5 acts! Yaay them!

 My 7th graders learned about the Sea of Cortez pearls as they read The Pearl. They learned how it was a symbol, so they wrote about how it evolved and changed what it represented throughout the book, and drew the pearl with something it reflected into the hearts and minds of the villagers.

My students are pretty much awesome and have wonderful brains! I love teaching them, even if I have absolutely no free time to myself and cry alot due to stress... =)

What are your students saying, writing, or drawing? Link up here!

The Best Thing About Parent-Teacher Conferences...

...is the day off afterwards! 

Here I am on a Friday, sitting in my sweats, watching my favorite shows on Hulu, eating pumpkin donuts for a late breakfast.

But seriously...

All teachers know about the dreaded Parent-Teacher conferences. After a full day of teaching, we still have another 6 hours at the school. Teachers sit around the gym and parents race from desk to desk to desk grabbing their child's progress report. More often than not, it is the parents with the perfect kids who come and demand what more their child can do (nothing, they're already perfect) rather than the parents who should come. Last year, I had about a 30% attendance rate. Most who didn't show were parents of students who were struggling and/or needed parental support in their studies and their behavior. It broke my heart to see how few parents were involved with their children's education. Not only that, but knowing that many parents gang up to blame the teacher for the child's disrespect, misbehavior, and poor grades. I was talking to a teacher friend who is in her early 30s and we decided that we are always going to hold the blame: When we were kids, it was our fault if we didn't do our work and misbehaved and our parents punished us. Now that we're teacher, it's our fault if our students are doing poorly and misbehave and their parents want to punish us.

That is why I absolutely love love love working at a charter school! (I'm not against public school...it's just that there are a lot of downsides and more often than not, downward trends with public.)

Yes, I have fewer students, which means fewer parents, but parents send their children to charter schools for a reason. Which means, they care. And are involved. 

Because the families for my charter school come from all over the Jordan, Taylorsville, Sandy area, we had two nights of Parent-Teacher Conference to accommodate transportation and work schedules. So, Wednesday, I left home at 6:30AM and didn't get back till almost 9PM. Yesterday, 6:30AM-8PM. But, I had a 75-80% attendance rate with my parents!!! Teacher's dream come true!

Of course while all the elementary teachers had private, individual appoints, all the junior high teachers were in our "mulit-purpose room." There are only 10 of us who teach all junior high kids, so it wasn't chaotic at all. It was very organized, with lines of chairs so parents could sit as they waited. There was actually enough time to discuss academics, behavior, and examples of work for each student! It was wonderful!

I loved being able to meet the parents of my students--other teachers were able to recognize them right off the bat (due to the small but tight community at Navigator Pointe). I am very excited to get to that point. Each parent was very thankful of me coming to teach. Many mentioned that their kids loved my class. That made me feel ecstatic--not only did that mean I was a good teacher, but that also meant these parents wanted to know what their students were learning. Many families mentioned they discussed the books we read together over the dinner table and are reading along or are going to rent the movie afterward. They were very excited to see that I was catching on to their children's strengths and personalities and how I was helping them to develop it more. They were excited to hear the effort their child made in my class in learning, especially the new 7th grade families (we have a rigorous grammar and writing program that students do since like 1st grade, so coming to the school as a 7th grader automatically puts you behind your classmates). When we talked about weaknesses of the student, whether academic or behavior-wise, the parents were very understanding and agreeable. They didn't glare or yell at their students (like some did in front of me last year), but smiled and said softly, "Yes, we will work on that."

To the Parents of Navigator Pointe Academy in West Jordan, Utah:

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have been fantastic parents. You are supportive of your child first and foremost. You are supportive of the teachers. You are excited to see all that they have learned. You want to help them achieve their full potential. You put so much time and effort into serving our school, helping it run the best it can. You are wonderful cooks, providing the best dinner and desserts I have had as a teacher. You make such sacrifices to come to Parent-Teacher Conferences when many of you work and have to drive 30 minutes on Bangerter Highway and have to deal with construction on both of the only ways into the road our school is on. You are the type of parent I want to be. You are shining examples to the rest of the parents in the country. Thank you so much for making my job so enjoyable and so fun! Thank you for sharing your children with me!

September's Favorite Things

So, I'll be honest. I still suck at remembering to take pictures. And I didn't wear a skirt of Friday. I just didn't want to. And Saturday was a lazy day without me worrying about lesson planning or grading at all. I sort of regretted it on Sunday, but, it was a much needed break.

Since today is the last day of the week, that means it's another Favorite Things link-up hosted by Ashley from Dancing With Ashley

1) My School

I absolutely love working at my school. Still absolutely hate the commute, but even with the fact that I have to work on lesson plans and grading everyday, all day, I love my students and my subject.

2) BYU Football

The first year I've ever been able to go to football games and watch without having to work! And Justin is so happy that I am actually beginning to understand football!!!!

3) Spending Labor Day Weekend with Justin's sister and family in Virginia! And running my first ever race!

4) ComiCon!

Justin and I are such geeks!

5) Going to the Temple and deciding on a new tradition.

We went to the temple last Friday and then went out to eat. We decided that we are going to make that an official monthly date: dinner and Temple trip every 3rd Friday of the month. October's will involve us eating at Red Robin to enjoy their Oktoberfest burger! Yum!

Students Write the Darndest Things Link up!

Junior high students have some wonderful ideas, albeit sometimes not transmitted well into the written word. This makes it really funny to read their writings and is probably my favorite part of grading (aka the only part that makes it bearable!)

Like, there was this one time I had them write on responsibilities and rights of citizens of the U.S.
Or the time they wrote time travel diaries about events in the Old West.
As well as other funny, random writings.

Well, now that school has been going for a month and I finally feel like my head is above the water, I started searching for these gold gems again. And I've started to find them. But, I know that numerous of you are teachers as well and find a wonderful trove of hilarity and deepness. So, that is why I am introduced this new linkup:

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.morrellfairytale.com/search/label/student%20writings" title="Students Write the Darndest Things"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHe-kTIcPR8Rs8PHpCHydZJfw6II7-s0CkEmXi_xS09SsgLdeVA6FdNYv3GqvgsXVe37O0DAQ8cJnd9N2IrdIGM1DvdzYrQRX6oiFy0nc9EoE1kzGaU-65chYS8BiQ8XK6r_h2E1Qca4y/s1600/kids+say+the+darndest+things.jpg" alt="Students Write the Darndest Things" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

The rules:
Mention your name and your blog. What subject and age/grade you teach. What assignment these "quotes" are from.
Write down funny, silly, "no-duh", wonderful, inspiring, deep things your students say. Don't use any student names. It doesn't have to be long at all. There can be any number of quotes!

Link up is every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month. If you are interested in co-hosting, let me know!

Here are some of my students' writings!

First of all, one day last week, we practiced writing paragraphs that compared and contrasted. Our prompt was given to us by my class of six 9th graders. We were to compare and contrast Plankton and Mr. Krabs (from Spongebob Squarepants). These paragraphs were hilarious, but they got the idea!

My 7th graders are reading The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Kino is part of an indigenous tribe in Baja California. This tribe has a special musical culture. Everything is described as a song (The Song of Family=his baby cooing and his wife making breakfast. The Song of Evil=scorpion about to poison his baby.) So, we talked about how music influences us.  Here are some examples:

~Most music can affect people in more ways than one, and they can symbolize more than one thing. Like my Song of Evil would be things that can hurt me, like homework.
~ I listen to dub-step. It tells me stories in the rhythm and melody. It could either be a crazy party or a morning sunrise.
~ Music is important to me because when I'm sad or angry in playing videogames and I need a little music to turn on to inspire me to kill more zombies in Black Ops or something. (one of my female students wrote this! shocked me and made me laugh and do a fist-pump that I'm not the only female gamer)
~ Courtney inspires us to go camping and go to school.

Dub-step as a morning sunrise? That's a bit of a stretch for my imagination...but hey, who knows, it may be that inspiring to my student!
I also asked them what they would do if they had the Pearl:

~ If I had the pearl I would tie one end of a string to the pearl and the other to my hand then I would thrown the pearl at people and it would come back to me.
~ If I had the pearl, I would pay for my mission then college then tithing and then I'd rub it in my brothers' faces.

Some of them have high aspirations, huh?

Why Does Different Have to a Disorder?

I was very lucky to be a part of a really neat meeting last night. My friend Danica, from Black with a Chance of Cheetah. invited me as a +1 to go to a meeting hosted by Mark Patey about people with ADD/ADHD. Mark was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and it has been a very important part of his life ever since. Right now, he is a very successful man, working with search and rescue, managing his own businesses, hosting personal and professional development seminars, flying his small arsenal of personal planes, and writing a book on ADD/ADHD called Addicts or and Millionaires: The Gift and Curse of ADD/ADHD (to be released October 1st this year).

This short seminar included friends of Mark's, prominent Utah bloggers, Utah bloggers with ADD/ADHD (or had someone in their family with it) and a few teachers bloggers. Basically, the point of the seminar was trying to help us understand the thought-process of people with ADD/ADHD and why it really shouldn't be considered a "disorder."

The first thing that Mark talked about was that the label of ADD was kind of a downer, causing those labled with it to have lower self-confidence. Attention Deficit Disorder. Deficit= lacking of something (attention in this case). Disorder=there is something wrong with you. See the negative connotation? Thus, it becomes a curse.  In fact, that is probably the most damning thing you can do to a child, Mark says. But he also says there are plenty of millionaires and very successful people who have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, thus it becomes a gift.

The way to change it from a curse to a gift is by the perspective we look at it with, as well as helping those souls to learn how to use their gifts and believing in themselves. Instead of thinking of it as an attention deficit, think of it as hyper-awareness.

 Distracted become multi-tasking.

Impulsive becomes spontaneous.

Scatterbrained becomes creative.

Emotional becomes enthusiastic.

Hyper becomes energetic.

Mark mentions and acknowledges the troubles that those with ADD/ADHD have: addictions, time management, "wandering brains", etc. He also acknowledges that there are those children in school, who are "evil ADD'ers" that will use their "label" as an excuse. If you are a teacher who has had a student with ADD/ADHD (or any "disorder" or "disability") you see this happening sometimes. That is because they have been lead to believe they aren't "normal," so why even try. Mark mentions parents who claim they are "good parents" because they can't control what their child does because "he has ADD" and that's "ok." But, there is a positive side to this. But, there are also some people who need the crutch of medication until they can learn to handle and use their skills.

For those with ADD/ADHD, they do have gifts. They can be thinking of numerous things at numerous times--they are some of the best multi-taskers. He showed us a study which said that those with ADD/ADHD have a better working memory than "normal" people. Those with ADD/ADHD can become ADDers--self-made successes who add to society. He says the most important step of this is to believe that you can!!!!!

There are some healthy addictions for those with ADD/ADHD because, Mark says, they biologically have addictive personalities:

1) ADD/ADHD occupies your brain for you, so you must have something to think about/do

2) It must have an end (the end must be controlled by factors other than you.

Mark mentions that his healthy addiction is running. He listens to music that speaks to him while he runs (#1) and there is always an end to his run, time-wise or distance-wise (#2)

3) It is helpful if movement is included

4) Measured in tangible results (praise works, too)

5) pick more than one--recommended!

Danica and I are both teachers of Jr. High students. We love our rascals, but we struggle sometimes. We can see their abilities, but sometimes there is a disconnect in getting themselves (and their parents) to see their abilities or having it actually show. We want them to be themselves and develop their own personalities rather than be automaton drone students, but there is also an importance for them to understand social norms and being a respectful and diligent student. Our group talked a bit on different strategies teachers can use to help. One of the other teachers that was there is an English teacher from Lone Peak High School. He said that he also has ADD. At the beginning of the school year, he tells his students right out that he has problems concentrating. He has his own "fidgets" to help him--things he can hold, grab, squeeze to occupy his mind while doing monotonous tasks. He has clay he holds as they read together, sometimes he'll grab his guitar and just hold it. He suggests giving them little tokens to occupy themselves. I mentioned that I had a student with ADD last year and I gave him a notebook to write all he was thinking about in it. I wasn't going to look at it or grade it or anything, but it was a quiet technique that allowed his mind to go 100mph but not distract that class.

Mark also focused on partners of those with ADD/ADHD, whether the partner is a spouse, teacher, business partner, friend, or family member. These partners are called equal opposites. They have opposite personalities and strengths. Thus, they work well together. Many ADD/ADHD people are right brained and those with left brain (Type 1 personality) can't ever see eye-to-eye. They have to learn about it. They can't change the other person, but learn to live with and work with the other's strengths and weaknesses. Mark mentioned that his business partner (who has been in business with him since they were 16) is his equal opposite, but is definitely Type A. He struggled with Mark a lot until finally, instead of deciding to argue and push Mark to do what he felt was important, he allowed Mark to work on what he was working on and went to tour around for a few hours. When he got back, Mark had completed that task as well as two others and they were that much further ahead of schedule. Now equal opposites aren't born. They are learned. You have to become an equal opposite after getting to understand the person with ADD/ADHD you care about. And, ADD'ers must recognize their equal opposite for their symbiotic relationship to work.

I found this whole meeting very interesting because I have always thought of myself as Type A personality. True, I have right brained characteristics, such as creativity and imagination, but I was mainly left brained. A few members of my family have been diagnosed with ADD, and seeing their behavior, as well as having it described by Mark, I can see a few pieces of it in me. My husband tells me that he doesn't understand the way my mind works--it never shuts off. I am always thinking about something I need to do, make, plan, see, read, write. I am always jumping from one topic and going off on a random tangent to another. I talked to my Mom and she even agreed that I may have some characteristics. Now, I'm saying I'm ADD, but I do have a few characteristics. But, I am also very diligent, organized, focused, and on-topic. So I wonder if I am my own equal opposite and that is how many ADDers are able to be so successful? 

The main point that Mark wanted to leave us with was this:

"Magnify the beautiful things of ADD/ADHD or all you are left with is the curse."

Be understanding. Try working with, not against. Don't fix, they aren't broke. They are just different and we "normals" need to understand, or better yet, become equal opposites. 

*****

If you want to join the Crusade on ADD/ADHD being a gift:

Follow the ADHD Gift Blog

Follow Mark Patey's "Distracted" Podcast

Buy and read ADDict and Millionaires

First Day of School

So, what if it's Wednesday? 

That means, another So What, Wednesday hosted by Shannon from "Life After I Dew"!

So What if....

~ yesterday was the first day of school?

~ I forgot to take a picture of my outfit on the first day

~ all 11 of my 9th grade literature class love the sci-fi and fantasy genre!

~ I only have a total 56 students at my charter school (23 7th grade, 6 and 11 in different ability level 9th grade, 16 8th grade).

~ my 7th graders are complete angels, writing in cursive without being asked, actively participated, and being exciting!

~ I got up at 5AM yesterday morning to begin my drive at 6AM to get to the school at 7AM.

~ I didn't do any planning yesterday for today (I was too exhausted)

~ So what if I'm still nervous about staying caught up?

~ I'm super stoked about how my classroom looks!

Around the World in Eighty Days

This was interesting to read and I have already thought of some activities for my students to do. (But, I'm not going to lie--a lot of these I am stealing from the teacher I am replacing!)

Before reading Around the World in Eighty Days, I had seen different variations of it in cartoon and movie.

Now, the movie with Jackie Chan does hold some similarities to the book. But, the book does not include China (other than a quick stop in Hong Kong) nor an ancient Chinese artifact with ancient Chinese kung-fu legends. Also, Fogg is not a goof, but a very quiet, stoic, calm man and Passpartout is the one who is clumsy and a goofball. 

The book is about Phileas Fogg, an anti-social man who's passion is exactness in everything he does. He has just hired a new valet, a Frenchman named Passpartout. He has made a wager with some socialites that it is, in fact, possible to travel completely around the world in 80 days, including the possibility of delay. They set off. But, unrelated to these two men, the Bank of England has been robbed and the robber happens to look like Fogg, so Detective Fix believes it is Fogg and follows him around the world, trying to delay him in British colonies as to arrest him. They save a woman's life in India and Ms. Aouda becomes their companion. I won't spoil the end for you, but it definitely has a few twists.

I love how Verne describes each place that Fogg and Passportout stop at. He certainly must have done his research on each part of the world to be that accurate. True, there is a bit of exaggeration due to legend and myth that followed exotic places back to civilization. But, he does a great job and I barely had to use my imagination to visualize their journey. I also think he tastefully describes the polygamous Mormons in the Territory of Utah during the time in which relations between the Mormon and the Federal Government were strained.

A fun activity to do with my students is to keep track of Fogg's travel itinerary to see how long it took for him to get from place to place and with what mode of transportation.

Another fun activity is to keep Fogg's money log to see how much he spends where and why.

I think maybe even a mini-exploration project in groups to discover more about the different places they traveled in the book.

It is a very interesting and exciting read. Definitely pick it up if you have the urge for a vacation but don't have the time nor the money.
4.5 out of 5.

Renard (Throwback Thursdays)

I feel this is a perfect time for this post. School is starting, I am a teacher, and now I am teaching English for the first time.

Today's throwback, hosted by The Life of Bon, is about a teacher or high school class.

My favorite teacher is Lisa Renard-Spicer.

I first met Renard in my creative class in tenth grade. Now, I had been very into poetry and short stories and had even started a fantasy novel in middle school. So, to get instruction and guidance, I was very excited. (I was also definitely in my bohemian phase at this point in time.)

 The first poem I turned in for credit, I was very proud of. But, now I realize it was very mediocre writing. I had a large C written over it. I thought I was being poetic, but I wasn't using any skills. There was no craft to my writing.

Renard was a quality teacher. She had us write every single day with different kinds of prompts and assignments. She expected us to step out of our shoes and not only be influenced and inspired by the world around us, but be able to communicate our thoughts and feelings to the world around us.

My creative writing skills made leaps and bounds. I was a writer. I felt good about my skill. I took three years of creative writing with Renard and got to especially know her during my senior year when I had both Creative Writing and IB English 12.

Renard likes the Buddhist philosophy of life--"it's about the journey, not the destination" is something she tried to instill in us as we prepared to go to college. She taught us to think outside the box and make connections between different pieces of literature, as well as our own lives. She inspired me to be an English teacher. (I already knew I wanted to teach history.) I'm so glad I can network with her now for advice on my first year of teaching English!

But, as you can see in this conversation, Renard didn't only influence me. She influenced many, many others in their love of writing or literature. Remember that one scene in Dead Poet Society when all the students stand up to honor their English teacher by repeating a favorite poem of his?

Shivers every single time I watch it. Well, one day, we were watching this movie (but not this scene) in Creative Writing. Renard went out as we were watching (we were a small group and she trusted us) to make some copies or something. We all stood on our desks and when she returned, in unison called out "Oh Captain, my Captain." She influenced so many of us at our high school. Helped so many of us. Cared about us. And now, I just wish I can live up to those standards and have someone, someday say the same to me.