Stock Up on Paperclips!

If you're anything like me, you hate passing back papers and assignments once they have been graded. It takes forever, students must be left to their own devices on independent assignments (just something else that needs to be graded), and there are always those students, who know they didn't do the work, asking why they got such and such a grade on the assignment. In fact, you might even put off this task until the stack of paper is so high that it takes an entire class period to complete.

Well, after a couple months of doing it this way, I had enough. It actually completely stressed me out. I hated those days and my students weren't getting feedback in a timely manner. How are they supposed to improve when they don't know specifically how they're doing?

After a little brainstorming, I started this process:

1. Create a student packet for all the assignments from the previous week.
2. Paperclip the papers together.
3. Go around the room once (which isn't a big deal because I'm constantly moving anyway).
4. Once all packets are distributed, make a second lap to answer any questions students might have.

I typically do this on Article of the Week days, when students are annotating or working in partners. I don't have to plan anything differently than I already do AND it keeps up a routine that they're used to, so I don't have to constantly redirect of repeat instructions.

These are the results:

• Students go through the packet, piece by piece.
• When I go around the room a second time, they have all their questions organized, so I'm not running around.
• Those students whose confidence plummeted at the sight of a  not-so-good mark can build back up with a good grade/comment on something else. I don't have to deal with bruised egos as much and I can focus on actual productive questions that will help my students in the long run.

I was concerned at the beginning that sorting the papers and creating these packets was going to take way too much time. However, I've found that in less than a plan period, I can get all 5 of my classes sorted, clipped, and ready for distribution. I typically do this the day before, so I can just grab a stack and go!

Extra Perk: I'm forced with this routine to keep up with my grading, so it doesn't stack up and stress me out when final grades are due!

SSR Accountability

Since I decided to become a teacher, I have read probably over a hundred scholarly articles about every literacy subject I can think of...  but none so much than the benefits of reading. Often.

I am a huge fan of SSR, especially in 9th grade. In fact, I spend the first 8-15 minutes of class EVERY DAY on SSR. The only exceptions to this rule are Assessment Days and Half Days. Part of the problem that I ran into last year for this was accountability.

I had a quarterly project, which worked fine, but I often felt like students would waste the actual class time and just cram the project in the night before it was due. Typical. To try to combat this, I had a daily reading log, where students would record the title and pages read in one column and give a brief response in the other.

Sounds great in theory, but here are some of the most typical responses I would get:

• This book was ok today.
• I don't really like this book.
• This book seems really cool.

I had to change it up for this year. I wanted something that couldn't faked as easily - and even if a student just did each activity based on something they read in class, it would still be beneficial. I found this elementary Weekly Reading Log on Pinterest and adapted it for my secondary classroom.

Here are the results:

They turned in the first log today - I haven't graded them yet, but from a couple glances, they look pretty promising!

Ice Cream in the Classroom!

With the Common Core (not so) slowly taking over, I've found it very helpful to implement strategies, such as exit slips, in my room as formative assessments. It's really easy to tell if a student has mastered a particular standard when I only have to focus on one a day.

In my English I class, we're reading The Odyssey and yesterday we finished the Cyclops Adventure. The standard for the day was:

I can cite thorough textual evidence to back up my analysis and inferences about the text.

I was trying to think of an interesting way to introduce an exit slip to test that theory - and beyond reading a ton of really boring summaries, I was lost.

Then, very luckily, for both myself and my students, a colleague sent me this Buzzfeed List. It totally saved the day! "6 Ice Cream Flavors Inspired by your Favorite Books!"  How perfect is that?!

I had the students create an ice cream flavor based on the Cyclops story. They had to name it, explain what the flavor was, AND explain the significance of their choices. Below are some of the more clever names:

The best parts of this activity, at least in my opinion, are these:

• I could VERY quickly discover whether or not the students understood the material.
• The activity took exactly 4 minutes at the end of class.
• The kids got to be creative and seemed to really enjoy it.

Reading in the Hallways

While surfing for ideas this summer, I came across a picture of a small whiteboard a teacher made - it showed her reading activity.

I 100% stole the idea, but have since lost the original link... so if you come across the OP, let me know, so I can link to her!

Anyway, this is right outside my classroom door:

You'd be surprised how many kids (mostly students I had in class last year) come by and ask about the books.

Travel Themed Classroom - the Cheap and Easy Way

The minute I got the idea to go with a travel themed classroom for this year, I did what any sane person would do - I went to Pinterest. While most of the ideas were for an elementary room, I did find a couple good ones to adapt for my secondary classroom.

Since I was trying to find ideas on the cheap - I'm really not the type of person that will spend a $100+ decorating my classroom - I found lots of idea for printables, such as for signs in the classroom. I even looked at some birthday party themed sites. Evidently "airplane parties" are a lot more popular than I would ever imagine - and people PAY a lot more for those parties than I could ever imagine...

• Party Frosting's Airplane Party
• CandyShoppe's Atlas Airplanes
• Sparklebox's Airport Role Play Signs
• Pez Junky's Airplane Party
• Passport Invitations

Anyway, here are the adaptations at work in my room:

"Upgrades" are book recommendations for the students. This board is next to my classroom library.

By the door, I have the sign for "Exit" and my class hour list was creatively made into "Arrivals and Departures."  This is one of my favorite subtle pieces of decor I made. It cost just enough to print the sheet of paper - almost nothing - and the kids that are the most observant get a chuckle out of it.

This bulletin board is in the front of my classroom and it's reserved for student work, which is why it looks so sad and empty now.

The binder rings hold "I Can..." statements for the Common Core. It gets changed every day, depending on the goal for the day. It's called the "Destination" because it's where we're aiming.

Finally, the "FlightPlan" is the plan for the day. I filled out the calendar for the month and the daily agenda is written before school.

And if you go to my previous post here, you can see the room as whole. There are a couple larger details that go with the theme as well :)

Procedure Review and Book Pass

Before we get into curriculum tomorrow, I did a final review-introduction activity with my kids today. Tomorrow, we're going straight into the Article of the Week, so this was a nice cap to the end of my first days activities.

Procedure Review Game

Going over the procedures in class, I had the kids get into groups of 2-3. Each group then got a whiteboard and markers for each person. I called out a category (Example: SSR) and the kids had to write down everything they remembered from the syllabus on that topic. The catch was that only one person could write at a time and EVERYONE had to write something. Set the timer for a minute and see what they got!

Musical Book Pass

I try to encourage reading as much as humanly possible. It's the key to success in English, whether the kids like it or not. To introduce the students to my classroom library, we did this activity.

I set a book under each desk in my room. Students received a book pass form with sections for title, pages, and comments. I played music and they had to move around the room, not hovering at any particular desk. When I stopped the music, just like musical chairs, they had to race to the nearest desk. The last person standing had to stand up in front of the class and tell about their favorite book.

The book pass portion came after each round. Students took the book beneath their desk and recorded the title on their sheets. They then read silently for a minute and commented in the space provided. Some kids really found some books they were interested in reading!

Make-Up Work Stations

It's only the first day of school, but due to the lifestyle of those I teach, I already have some absentees to worry about. In any given week, I could have 2-3 students per class absent at least one day (and this is with class sizes no larger than 25). I do not have enough time to keep track of all those papers.

Last year, I had a small bin with Monday through Friday folders for each class. The problem came in with students that were gone for longer than a week (or were not quite responsible enough to ask for an assignment within the week).

So I got an idea from a website on Pinterest (yes, Pinterest, again). Unfortunately, I lost the original poster, so if you can find it, I'd love to link to them.

Let me introduce you to my Make-Up Work and Supplies Station!

I have a bookshelf in the back of my room, where these two bins are placed - one for each of my preps.

Upon closer inspection, each bin is filled with hanging files, numbered 1 - 31. You got it! One for each day in a potential month. I place each make-up assignment in the respective date. For example, my CCSS Self-Assessments will be going in the 19th :)

On the shelves below are the supplies and dictionaries. Students are responsible for their own - they don't both me and I don't bother them.