Writing a Memoir

The next project in Reading Workshop will be to write a memoir.  Although somewhat like an autobiography, a memoir is slightly different.  It focuses on an event or personal experience and frequently shares a life lesson or special meaning caused by the event.

The first step to writing a memoir involves making some decisions.

What event sticks out as life changing, or memorable to you?
Who was involved?

Where did this take place?

When did this take place?

What happened?

What problems did you face?

How did the problem get solved?

What moral or lesson did you learn?

Start Here

1.  List the people involved including yourself and the character traits that impacted the incident.

2.  Describe the setting.  Where and when does the story take place.  How does the setting impact the story?

3.  Describe the problems or conflicts?  What minor problems built tension leading to the climax?  How did you react when faced with the main problem/conflict?

4. What crisis occurred? Was there a point when you weren't sure about the outcome?

5. How did you solve the problem?  What positive attributes like courage, creativity, or intelligence do you possess which helped you succeed/survive?

6.  Finish with style.  What lesson did you learn?  How will the reader connect and learn from the moral?

And now, WRITE!

Writing a D.A.R.E. Essay

After several weeks in DARE class, students have to write an essay about the class.  Students are instructed by Deputy Dale Thomas from the Pickaway County Sheriff Department.  Deputy Thomas has taught students about resisting drugs and peer pressure for the last 15 years.  Deputy Thomas does a super job helping students learn valuable life skills, in a fun and interactive way.

The essay is a time for students to think about what they have learned in D.A.R.E.  The essay should include how students feel about the program, what they learned that will help them be drug free, and why it is important to make good choices.

The format should include:

1.  Introduction tells what knowledge and skills students have learned;
2.  Body with details about the class and why it is important;
3.  Conclusion that summarizes the essay and includes a pledge statement.

The D.A.R.E. book is a great resource to help remember important facts and information.

You Are A Success Story

Students in Reading Workshop have made amazing progress this year.  You should feel good about your success!  What has made you successful?

Free Advise or Advice

Here is some free advice--take a little time to check your spelling.  In the previous post, I used the wrong word, leading students to use the wrong word.  Needless to say, not exactly a shining moment for a teacher but at least it was a teachable moment.

As stated on Zozanga English Forum:

Advice & Advise

The words advice and advise are often mixed up, which is quite understandable since they have similar spellings and meanings.

'Advice' is a noun: you can give someone a 'piece of advice'. For example, let me give you some advice about travelling in China.

'Advise' is a verb: He advised me to always keep my passport on me when I was in China. His advice was very useful.

Image from http://www.erikaliodice.com/career-advice-i-wish-someone-had-given-me/

Are You Ready to be Tested?

In Reading Workshop, students have read passages, wrote and rewrote answers, and been "practiced up" into submission.   They dream at night of "back in the day" when language arts was about reading and writing, thinking and discussing.  Their dreams are of a time before legislators decided schools and their students should be controlled by torture/testing. 

Students have been working hard, preparing for the Ohio Achievement Assessment and they are surviving.  Not only are they surviving, but they are getting smarter.  They are reading critically, and attacking questions to find the point.  They are shredding selections to find those details that earn all 4 points on  an extended response question.  Best of all is they are learning words, and they are much better than the words they learned on the back of the bus in third grade.

Good job students!  Tuesday is the day and your success on the test will make me smile.

Here's a chance to help your peers, Reading Workshop students.  What advise advice do you have to help your classmates on the reading test?

This post had been edited.  See Free Advise or Advice for details.

Image from http://atalante.co/fitness/motivation/persistence-determination-hard-work/

Why You Need to Use Your Strategies

She told the teacher giving her the practice test, "I don't need to look back.  I know the answer."  And maybe she did.  I will know today when we start to score the Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment practice tests.  She might have gotten a perfect score, but probably not.

The OAA doesn't test how smart you are.  It doesn't test your reading.  It doesn't show if you are a good student or not.  It doesn't show if I am a good teacher or not.  The OAA shows how well students can use test taking strategies.  That's pretty much it.  When the whole achievement test process is over, basically the student, the teacher, the school, and the district will be judged on how well students used test taking strategies.

Don't get me wrong, being a good reader and writer helps, but without using test taking skills, it won't get you a good score.  Why else would a lot of teachers drill and kill all year using achievement test passages and questions?  They want to get you "practiced up" so you can score well.

So back to this student.  Do you think she scored well?  If she didn't use the most basic strategy of going back in the passage to find/verify her answer, then I have to wonder what other strategies she ignored.  And knowing this is a test of students' ability to use test strategies, I know she could score higher than she did if she had used all of the strategies she knows.  

What about you Reading Workshop students?  What strategies did you use?   How did it work out for you?

Image from http://school.discoveryeducation.com

What's Sad is They Think They are So Cute

Students in Reading Workshop are taking the Practice Sixth Grade Reading Ohio Achievement Assessment.  We attempt to make this as realistic as possible just to give students a chance to go through the process, see how they do, and give us some data for final preparations for the actual test.  This practice run through has proven beneficial to teachers and students.

Most of the twenty students that I monitored worked hard and the results will show them and me their ability and potential to pass the actual test.  I took a look across the hall though, and saw a different story.  Two boys spent the last hour of the test goofing around.  They were obviously bored, so they spent the time trying to distract peers.  

I am not sure why they thought they didn't need to work.  I am not sure why the teacher didn't notice their repeated attempts to distract peers.  The bottom line was they thought they were so cute and so funny.  And that's sad because they were just unmotivated and unsuccessful.  Is there any chance they will grow up in three weeks?  I guess we can always hope.  

What about you hard workers?  Why did you choose to press the success key?

Image from http://www.onlinecollege-degrees.net/blog/

Don't be Nervous

Students are presenting their project they researched and then created on Google Docs about an ancient civilization as part of their social studies class.  Naturally, some of the students are a little nervous.



However, there is no need to worry.  Just follow a few simple rules and success is guaranteed.

1.  Be prepared--If you know what you are going to say it will show.
2.  Get to the point--What are your main points?  Focus on what is most important.
3.  Think about your audience--Worry about your audience and not yourself.
4.  Speak clearly--This is accomplished so much easier with practice.

Just following these steps will make your presentation a success.

Books in a Series

Kids love series books. Frequently good readers choose to read books in a series. With books in a series, the reader gets to know the characters and gets involved with their problems. It is easier to imagine themselves in the story. Students that are reluctant readers find it easier to read in large quantities when reading a series.  They are also less likely to fake read.

There are many excellent series available to adolescent readers. The poll below lists a few series that have proven to be popular.  What is your favorite series of books?  

Thank you for voting using Poll Everywhere

Do you read books in a series?  Do you like them?  Why or why not?

Want to see the results?

Teacher as the Student

Being a student is a lot easier than it used to be.  If class gets a little boring, you can just check your email, text someone, or surf the Internet.  It's also easier to not get bored because you can check out sites and information the teacher discusses.  At least, that's how it was for me this week when I was a student at the Etech (Ohio Educational Technology) Conference. 

In every session I attended, participants were on their laptop, IPad, or smart phone.  I did see one or two note takers with their legal pad, but they stuck out.  A lot of sessions were interactive and presenters made it a point to share links and involve attendees.  Sessions were obviously planned by the presenters to encourage the use of technology.

Admittedly, as a student, I haven't always been attentive and have been challenged with being a little too hyper to sit in class for very long.  One of my goals when I started teaching was to shut up, keep students busy, and let them learn through their own hard work.  I have always hated classes where the teacher stands in front of the class and talks and talks and talks and talks. 

I couldn't help but think about how different adults are treated than kids.  Maybe it's about having a captive audience with our students.  Imagine how involved they would be if everything they did was interactive.  Imagine how different teachers would be if their students could start texting or surfing the net when they got bored.  It might not be totally a good thing, but it would sure liven up some classes.

The best part of an opportunity like the Etech Conference is the chance to hear about what other teachers are doing and what is working in their classes.  This year's conference had a lot of excellent sessions and ideas for the classroom.  I am anxious to try them in the Reading Workshop classes.

  

Jim Basketball Jones Says . . .

Students were treated to an excellent message during an assembly today.  Jim Basketball Jones focused on applying kindness and care to everyone around you. He encouraged students to look for the good in classmates and to have each others' backs.

In addition, he performed an array of basketball tricks that excited the school, and kept everyone engaged.  His ability to spin and juggle basketballs amazed everyone present. 

Jones pulled a lot of students up to the front to help with his demonstration and utilized them to help with his message of  becoming successful through hard work, responsibility, and making good choices.

According to Jim Basketball Jones Website:

In first grade, Jim Jones was diagnosed with dyslexia. Jim’s struggles were so great that he immediately found himself placed in a special education program. It would take Jim five years working with his tutors and speech therapists before he would make it into a regular classroom.

This adversity fundamentally shaped Jim’s view of the world, and provided him with many early life lessons about the good of accepting help from others, overcoming adversity, and learning to appreciate difference. These would later become the cornerstones of his career as a public speaker.

One of the main motivations in Jones's life was wanting to be like his brother, Mike.  This makes me wonder, what is your motivation?  What makes you like you are?  Who do you follow?  What did the assembly mean to you?

Reading is . . .

How do your thoughts about reading compare to your classmates?

If I was the Best

Image being the best.  Imagine having such an advantage that no one could compare.  Think about being so superior that three million people watched you perform on Youtube.  That is how it is for Mamadou Ndiaye'.

Imagine for a moment, Reading Workshop students, if you had an amazing ability.  And then take it even one step farther.  What if you had an amazing ability and it wasn't in sports.  What would your talent be?  And how would you impact the world?  Describe your success.

If You're Happy and You Know It . . .

Some cause happiness wherever they go, others cause happiness whenever they go. Which one are you?



What are your thoughts about happiness?  When someone looks at you, do they think of you as a happy person?  How does being happy make your life better?

Step for Reading Nonfiction

Want an easy guide to reading difficult text.  Here are steps to follow.

1.  Skim the entire article FIRST
2.  Look at the title, headings, subheadings, and bold print
3.  Does the introduction give facts or just get the reader engaged?
4.  Visualize and make connections
5.  Stop and think. Ask yourself, “does this make sense?”
6.  Reread sentences, paragraphs, or the whole article to help you understand
7.  Focus, know when you don’t know
8.  Wonder, ask questions, predict and confirm
9.  Look for capitalization of names and other proper nouns
10. Find the W’s (who, what, when, where, why, and how)
11. Mark out and substitute hard words
12. Cross out words that don't matter
13. Highlight only the important parts (BIKINIS ONLY)

Vocabulary Games

Want to play a little Pinball?  Check out these Pinball Vocabulary games from Ms. Amanda's 6th Grade Language Arts Class.

Red A1	Red A1 cont.	Red A1 cont.	Red A1 cont.
Red A13	Red B7	Red A4	Red A4
Red A13	Red A15 Red A5	Red B9	Red A15 Antonyms Red B10 Antonyms
Red B7	Red A15	Red B9	Red A15 Antonyms Red B4 Antonyms
Red B7	Red A15	Red A3	Red A15 Synonyms
Red B7	Red A2	Red B9	Red A15 Synonyms Red A4 Antonyms
Red B7 Red A6	Red B1	Red A2	Red B9 Synonyms Red A4 Synonyms
Red A5	Red A13	Red A3 Synonyms Red B4 Synonyms	Red B9 Antonyms Red B4 Synonyms
Red A13 Red B1	Red B8 Red B10	Red A3 Synonyms Red B10 Synonyms	Red B9 Antonyms Red B10 Synonyms
Red A13 Red B10	Red B8 Red A4	Red A3 Antonyms Red B1 Synonyms	Red B9 Synonyms Red B1 Synonyms

Want to See What is Going on Here?

There is nothing like a picture to show something soooooooooo  if you want to see a daily picture from The Reading Workshop, just check out Ink361.com.  You can also check out the photos on Flickr.  If you have an Iphone, you can get on Instagram @jmcguire14 (you can download the free app) and see our daily photostream.  Unfortunately Instagram is like everything else Apple and you can't access it from a PC or Droid.

Enjoy the pictures of our stars and more.  :)

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing items in a set called School 2012. Make your own badge here.

Are You Brave Enough to Dream?

What do you want to do?  What do you want to be?  Do you have the guts to dream?  Do you have the courage to make it happen?



Reading Workshop students, your assignment is to do a picture scrapbook on your blog of what your life will be in the future.

When I was a Star

I have been reading Guys Write for Guys Read, a collections of stories edited by Jon Scieszka.  These stories are from successful writers sharing their story of growing up trying to be a guy.  Some stories are funny, some not so.  Some stories are adventurous, others just make you think.  But almost all of the stories are interesting.

One of my favorites is by Dan Gutman called Let's Go to the Videotape.  In this story, Gutman tells the tale of himself, the skinniest, most unathletic kid in his school playing kickball.  Through shear anger and luck he manages to kick a homerun and be a hero for the day.  This moment of glory has stuck with him throughout his lifetime.

He says:

But sometimes, when I'm lying in bed at night before I fall asleep, I roll this mental videotape I have of the time I kicked a basket in gym class. In my mind, I watch myself kick that basket over and over again.  

I'll bet every kid has at least one of those moments in his life when he did something really, really great, something really unexpected.

Close your eyes and think of that moment from time to time. Remember it just the way it happened.  Never let that video fade away. Someday, forty years from now, when you're lying in bed at night, you might want to replay it.

What about it Reading Workshop students? Your assignment for today is to tell me of a time when you had a great moment. Tell me of a time when things went just right.

The Bloggers are Back

Christmas break is over and students are getting back in the groove.  Students spent some time today working on their blogs publishing drafts and working on new posts.  Although we were all a little fuzzy-brained yesterday, the brain cells have awoken and quality work is coming out.

Molly posted over the break recommending a few of her peers' blogs.  You can find links to blogs she thinks are great on her blog, Molly's Mystery Journal, or links to all of the students' blogs on the sidebar on the right.