Life and Classroom Updates

I find that as a teacher my life is now non-stop, even more so than before. Every moment of each day needs to be scheduled so that I get everything done. So I have tons of updates since my last post, despite the fact that it was only a few days ago.

Firstly, I finally got our class big goal poster up in the classroom. I made a poster of the big goal that I shared with all of you and I had all of the students sign it so that they were committing to our goal.

I've been having some frustrating car issues, and I got the car you see a picture of here for a rental car. This car is a

cross between a grandma's car and a gangster's car...I am embarrassed to be anywhere near it. I can't wait to get rid of it, but the jokes about my grand marquis don't seem to get old. For

example: last night I went out for Indian food with L, and they gave us an extra entree...we are pretty sure we can attribute that to the grand marquis.

I went on a baking and cooking rampage today to let off some steam and relax before grading and some yoga. As the weather cools off in Charlotte I can't help being excited for fall. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies... a family favorite that reminds me of my sisters!

Lastly the classroom blog is going to be fully launched tomorrow! I posted our first post tonight. As I am trying to adapt technology into our classroom, I am always seeking out advice and ideas. so email me if you have ideas! My newest idea (thanks to a brilliant coworker) is that each of my students will actually have a personal blog that will be linked to our blog so that they can have an outlet to express themselves and explore their own interests. So check it out http://classroom432.edublogs.org/

Classroom Revamp!

So today I did my first afternoon of tutoring. I guess it was more like an evening because it was from 4:30-6:30. I was able to spend some one-on-one time with my students and get them to help me set up my classroom even a little bit more. I am really getting to know all of my students and of course getting more and more attached to them. I will give my first assessment Friday and am looking forward to seeing how they all do. I will let you know how that goes, but first take a look at some pictures of the classroom!
I found these hilarious posters at the dollar store. I don't think they are really that great, but they make me smile. If you can't read it the quote on this one says "If you never stick your neck out you'll never get your head above the rest"

This corner of the classroom looks a lot different than the last time that you saw a picture. The computers all are named after famous baseball players, because the sixth grade theme is baseball (shout out to lower school GFS computer room for that idea). Our word wall is growing, and under the sign that says "our goals" students wrote their career goals and names on name tags and stuck it to the wall.

This is a new organizational system that I am trying out. It took me a very long time to get set up so I hope that it works. Each student has a mailbox in the bin for their block, and this is where they keep their notebooks and where I hand stuff back. Classes are also color coded.
And finally some student work on my wall!!!! These are posters that my students made out of "book covers" that were created on Friday. The book covers are based on the setting from the first chapter of our book. The students did a wonderful job with this, I wish I could show them all to you individually they are just beautiful.

Inspiration

First of all I would like to thank you all for your responses to my blog post and emails! Please wait patiently while I figure out all of the details. I did announce to the students today about this project and the excitement in the room was palpable. I used a few students as examples, because I've already found good matches for them and their faces lit up.

I find daily inspiration in my students, and I hope that as you all email and chat with them you will feel the same. As the southerners say, "I get chill bumps just thinking about it." This morning I downloaded Obama's back to school speech and listened to it on the way to work. I was moved to tears as I was driving for a few reasons: firstly because it took place at Masterman in Philadelphia so it really seemed like it was close to my life and second of all because it was all about goal setting just like we are doing in our classroom. He told the students of America that "the future is in your hands." So of course I wrote that on my board today and as I introduced our objective mastery tracking binder I made a direct relation to this quote (this is a little too complicated to explain through blog post, but of course email or call with questions).

In addition to feeling inspired by my students' goals and aspirations today I was also impressed with their reading. TFA has us do all of these reflections that answer the question, "when you look forward to May on the last day of school what do you want your students to say to you, and how do you want it to feel?" I always talk about how my dream is that my students will all love reading and will feel that they have the tools they need to succeed in academics and life. Today my students loved reading. We read aloud by color (more on this later or email me for the strategy) and as we were reading Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and really getting into it I looked up at the clock and saw it was time to go. When I stopped the students in the middle of our read aloud I got responses such as awww man, and noooo it was just getting good. They love the book!!!!! I couldn't be more happy about this, especially since we have to get through all 200 pgs of it, and it is not easy for my little 6th graders. I hope this feeling will carry on throughout. Keep checking back because our classroom blog should be up and running soon!!!

Looking For Mentors

Inspired by a mentorship program between my school and UNCC I would like to match every single one of my students up with someone who can be a mentor to them over the internet (by gchat, email, skype, etc.). The vision is that my students will get to know someone who is in college, or a college graduate and who is on the path to success. The conversations they have can be about anything from hw help to mentoring, and in the beginning they can start by talking about goals, and what a goal is and how you plan to get there. If you are interested in being a mentor please email me zoesam2@gmail.com and I will give you more information when you email me.

This will mean so much to my students, and it will be a great way for them to practice writing for someone other than me. Thank you for your continuous support!

Dear Mr. Rushdie

Yesterday I decided to put myself out on a limb and try to contact the author of my students' first novel. Our first novel is Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie, so naturally I emailed Rushdie's agency. Much to my disbelief I got an email back this morning! The news, however, was not good, Rushdie I was told did not have enough time to write my students an email as he is deep in the writing process. I am not going to take no for answer so easily though. I emailed them again today with this African Proverb:

http://archive.uua.org/re/reach/fall00/social_justice/how_are_the_children.html

and asked that the agency asks one more time (or for the first time probably) and as they ask, they should consider themselves as people who are looking out for the children. So hopefully Rushdie will sign on, write me 6 sentences or less about why he wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories so that I can have a 1st person account to give my students Monday, and he will forever ask himself from now on "how are the children?"

No Longer Teach For Free!

One of my friends cleverly exclaimed this week that we are no longer Teach For Free, as she pulled our first paycheck out of her mailbox. Oh how right that sentiment was. The motivation to teach can easily be pinpointed on the children that you are teaching, but when you only have about $30 in your bank account and an empty gas tank that pay check feels pretty great.

So yesterday marked my first full week as a teacher. I came straight home and got in bed to finish my homework for my grad classes, watched a movie and went to sleep. A lame Friday night you may be thinking, but quite necessary. I am losing my voice because I am not used to talking so much and most days I spend over 12 hours at school. This is not because I absolutely must spend those 12 hours at school, but it feels like it is necessary. I also am there because I hope to inspire my students as much as they inspire me, and to do that I have a lot of work to accomplish.

Here you see the wonderful window in my classroom acting as a temporary bookshelf. I decided this week that I would like for my students to read 20 minutes every night. I presented a reading log that I borrowed from another teacher, and showed them how to fill it out. As soon as I finished what I interpreted to be a very clear explanation hands shot up in the air to ask questions. I then got this terrible feeling in my stomach and realized what it was they all wanted to know: where to get books if we don't have any at home? My heart dropped and I told them to try to read anything they could find until I got them books. I asked my principal that afternoon if I could take my students to the media center to check books out, and he told me to see him after school because he had a better idea. Well you can see the result above. Scholastic at some point last year or at the beginning of this year donated 100s of books to our school and because I asked I got to take some of them. I spent the whole evening cataloging every book that was given and creating a library log. When I went home that night I couldn't sleep because I was so excited to see my student's faces light up when they saw the books. The next day was just as rewarding. I wish I took a picture of the books before I left this weekend, because you would see that there are only about 15 left. Almost every single one of my students took out a book and was reading at every moment they got! If that is not inspirational I don't know what is.

My goal is to get ahead this weekend, so hopefully that means more blogging! Happy Labor Day weekend.