To Journal or Not To Journal?

I always had a problem with having to journal when I was a student.  I never knew what to write about.  Worse, I never understood what the point was.

This perception carried over when I started teaching.  I had the impression that having my students journal was simply busy work.  It was something that I could have them do while I was taking attendance, passing out papers, or talking to students individually.

Boy was I wrong.  Journaling can be an excellent tool for your students - 
IF it is set up right!

This summer while I was teaching summer school, I started to implement journals as part of the daily routine.  But my students weren't only writing about what they would do if they had $1 million.  They weren't only writing about which 3 books they would take with them if they were on a deserted island...

Yes this was my elementary understanding of journal prompts.

Instead, they were writing about their past experiences in writing classes. They were journaling about what part of the writing process was the easiest for them.  Which was the toughest for them.  Journaling became a reflective part of the learning process that was essential to their learning.  

Better yet, their final exam turned into a reflection of their overall growth in the semester.  They were able to look back through old journal entries and see where and how they were struggling.  They were able to scan through their challenges and triumphs.  

I compiled a list of 14 Journal Prompts along with the Reflective Collage Essay for you to try out in your classroom.  You can utilize these prompts every day in class for 3 weeks or have them done once a week for an extended-writing project.  Either way, they promote reflection in the writing classroom.  

I don't know about your experiences with journals before.  But I do know that journaling has been a way for my students to truly reflect, both short- and long-term, in ways that I hadn't seen them do before in my classroom.  Try them out and let me hear how it goes!  I look forward to reading your reflections of their reflections!

What's In My Bag?

One of my favorite Beauty Guru YouTube tags is "What's in My Bag?"!  I love to see what my favorite YouTubers are carting around with them on a daily basis.  So why not take a look at what a teacher carries around with them everyday?  As schools start up again this week, I thought I'd give you a look into what I'm currently carrying in my bag.  

So here's my new bag.  It's my first Vera Bradley and I LOVE IT (thanks Mommba)! My meetings started up this week and I already had tons of compliments.  I got mine at the outlet mall but here is the closest I could find! The bag itself has two outside pockets and plenty of inside pockets. It's great because I have compartments for my pens/pencils/dry erase markers, phone, and any other random items.  Also, my favorite feature is the clip on key ring!  That way I don't have to worry about my keys falling out!

Inside of my bag I have a binder, agenda, notebooks, books, etc.  Here's a closer look...

Teacher Binder:  This binder has tabs for the classes that I teach and the classes that I take.  I love that the dividers have pockets for me to quickly file away extra handouts or newspaper/magazine clippings I've read that may be useful for class!  I use the front pocket to house urgent paperwork.  That way I don't forget it because it's always the first thing that I see.

Agenda, Portfolio, & Notebooks:  This is my new agenda from Office Max.  I love this one because it's the Week-at-a-Glance style and is set up hourly. The older I get, I find that I have more and more appointments.  I have way more scheduling to do.  Stay tuned for a post on how to use hourly planners as a teacher!  Then I have my portfolio.  This bad boy is from when I visited MIT. LOVE it!  In it I just have notebook paper and resumes.  Hey, you never know when you'll need to pass out a resume!  Lastly, a notebook.  I'm always taking notes in meetings.  I carry one 5-subject notebook: 3 sections for the classes I take, 1 section for the class I teach, and 1 section for programs that I am a part of.

Random Books:  Lastly I have a collection of random books.  I don't teach out of one particular book.  I usually utilize a collection of readings from various books.  At the moment, I am carrying around books for some research I am doing on Onomastics.  You'll also see there a notepad for leaving friends notes when I miss them.  Love that too!  I believe this is from Target, but it was a gift from my Sister-in-Law.

So that's what's in my bag right now.  What's in your bag?  What am I missing?  Tweet me or comment down below!

Reflection in the Classroom

As teachers, we know how important it is to reflect.  We reflect every time a lesson goes good, bad, terrible, or horrendous.  But how often do we have our students reflect?

Typically we set aside time for our students to reflect after they've written an essay, right?  This is usually part of the peer review process where they think about what they did well in their essay and the areas that they struggled in.

But what if I told you that our students should be reflecting all of the time?!

What if I told you that having our students reflect before our units would enable them to succeed?

It's true.  Having students reflect on their past experiences, what they expect out of a situation, or what they hope to get out of a learning experience teaches them to frame the learning process in a different light.  It also allows them to buy into the learning. If they have already invested time and energy into reflecting on the unit before it begins, chances are they will be more engaged throughout the unit.  

I suggest that you start the school year and every major unit off with reflection. Remember, reflection doesn't end when you call time.  It is something that students should be readdressing throughout the learning process. When "problems" come up, have students look back at their expectations.  Have them imagine what they were thinking then and how they would've expected to handle these "problems".  After the unit, have them look back at their reflections to see how accurate they were.  In what ways?  There should be a constant cycle of reflection during the learning process.

To make your life a little bit easier, I created Reflective Window Frames. These window frames are set up to have students reflect on what they want out of their teachers, partners, and group members.  Better yet, they're Copy & Go.  No work required! 

Print 'em off and hand 'em out! 

Brownbag Back to School Blog Hop

Welcome Brownbaggers!  Yep!  It's that time of the year again.  July is coming to an end and August is just around the corner.  It's back to school time already! Can you believe it?!  Teachers around the country are already planning curriculum, designing materials, and collaborating with others.  Some of us never even stopped!

Well we want to help you out with that awkward first day of the semester.  What should teachers do for their first day back?  How do we make it interesting without losing our own sense of pedagogy?  This blog hop will give you a great list of First Day of School Activities that can be put to use in all different classrooms for all different content areas!

So what am I doing you might ask?

I like to start my semester off with some reflection and future telling!  I'm not a big PowerPoint person.  I don't do a ton of front-of-the-classroom teaching as I don't find it conducive to my own teaching style.  Enter Michael Scott's take on PowerPoint.

However, I do like to have a visual of what we will be covering... and no, not just me pointing at them!  So here's a layout of what I cover in my Welcome Back Interactive PowerPoint!

1.  Reflection:  It's important to me that my students are able to reflect on past experiences in similar classes.  I want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly!  

2.  Connection:  So why do those past experiences matter for this class? Because they know how they learn best!  As a class we can draw on this knowledge for activities, policies & procedures, and so much more!

3.  Examination:  What do they need to know today?  Together we check out the syllabus and the room set up.  We go over the meatiest info - we like to call this part "Syllabus Day" in higher ed.

4.  Analysis:  Even though we just read through the syllabus, it's important that my students can see the value in it for them at that exact moment.  I have them pick out the 3 most important skills they will learn and argue which will be most useful for them.

5.  Questioning:  I want my syllabus ingrained in my students' heads.  I want them to know how many essays they're writing, what the grading scale is, and what my policy is on late work.  So we make a game about it!  Students testing students!

Want to get your hands on my Welcome Back Interactive Powerpoint?! 

(click me!)

-> Like my Facebook page and you'll see a tab on the top that says "Freebie Grab Bag!"  (If you don't, it's either because you haven't liked the page or you'll find it under "More").  Click the Freebie Grab Bag tab and you'll be rerouted to free content just for my followers!

Check out what other teachers are doing on their first days back to school by clicking the links below!  You will get PLENTY of tips that you can implement right away!  You'll see the links right below the link up information!

____________________________________________

Link Up Info 

Field Trip to the Art Exhibit

To change things up in the 4-hour long summer school class that I teach, I took my students to the art exhibit on campus.  After visiting and observing, students were to write a back story on a piece of art of their choice.  It was, in a way, a multi-modal essay because it included both text and photo.  They were to include a photo of the artwork that they chose and reference it in their essay.  Aside from that, there weren't too many restrictions.  This was an opportunity for them to be creative!

The exhibit, called Plop Art by Erik L. Peterson, was interesting to say the least.  I'm not an artie by any means but I would assume that this would be considered contemporary art... I know that only because I Googled it. It seems to only be defined by the time period that it is produced in.  In reading the Peterson's description, he mentioned that the art was to serve as commentary on various norms in our culture including narcissim and ADHD.

While I won't tell you about all of the art work we saw, I'll mention a few. We saw a Reflecting Pool which at first we all thought was a pile of sand...Then we realized that it transformed colors as you looked at it.  After realizing what it was, the iPhones popped out.  Everyone wanted a shot.  It was hard to capture the rainbows on film, though.  As you can see, mine looks a little bit more ghostly.

We also saw a tapestry created out of the two billboards.  It took us quite a while to figure out what it was but, once we realized, we understood the large amount of time and painstaking attention to detail it must have taken to create.

We saw another piece known as the Cooler.  It was just as you would think. It was a cooler with two ice cream cones inside.  I'm not quite sure what the purpose was but I'm sure it's ironic in some way.  Students joked about it being a "grab-and-go" and not a piece of artwork.  

And then we saw my favorite.  The neon plop cone with spilled ice cream (it had no name).  Isn't it amazing? Surprisingly, we had a lot of conversation about it.  I say surprisingly because this isn't an art class and none of us have any idea how to discuss art.  Students argued about the focal point - "It's the cone.  It's on the wall.  How could it not be the focal point?" - "No it's the blob of ice cream.  Is it melted or did it fall off?  I think it melted because it's so much bigger." - "It's neither.  It's the light that catches your attention. The light and the color."  I was impressed with the amount of conversation that they had.  They enjoyed it, observed it, and didn't take the art viewing process too seriously. 

So what did I learn from this experience?  Take your students out of the classroom!  We all need a change of pace.  It doesn't have to be serious!  It can be fun and enjoyable but still educational.  While there, students took notes on the art work of their choice and later they wrote an essay on the back stories for how the art came to be.  Perhaps taking our students out of the typical classroom fires up their creative impulses.  One thing's for sure though, they were able to experience something new and creative, use a different part of their brain, and interact with one another in a way that encouraged discussion and collaboration.

So where to next?  Maybe the Student Center Coffee Shop?  Maybe the lake in the courtyard?  Perhaps even the observatory!   I'd love to hear any suggestions that you may have!

Should We Be Teaching Phonetics in K12?

Phonics you say?  Nope.  Not phonics.  I'm pretty sure Hooked on Phonics screwed me over for life.  To this day I read aloud in my head.  I literally cannot read with out hearing my own voice say the words out loud in my head.  It's kinda sad actually.  I know many people who just read, without hearing voices, and understand the information.  It's magical.  I cannot even begin to understand what that would be like.

But we're not talking phonics here.  We're talking phonetics.

What is phonetics you might ask.  Phonetics is the study and classification of speech sounds.  There are two major phonetic alphabets, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and the American Phonetic Alphabet (APA).  The difference between these alphabets and the alphabet we teach in school is that each symbol only represents one sound.  

How is that different you might ask?  Well, for our traditional alphabet, the letter k can represent several sounds.  It might be silent... it be be vocalized. Don't even get me started with the vowels.  The vowel a can be long and short... and I still don't understand the difference.  Depending on what word it is in and where it is placed within that word, it would be pronounced differently.  With the phonetic alphabet, each symbol represents one and only one sound. It's a simpler system to learn.

Even better, the article "Texting Improves Children's Spelling and Grammar" discusses a study that found "Texting may improve children’s spelling and grammar because using abbreviations such as ‘gr8’ makes them think about language phonetically."  While texting itself is not using the phonetic alphabet, it is more centered around sounds.  By using abbreviations in texting, students and adults are thinking more deeply about language and it's patterns.  Isn't that a good thing?

So why not allow text lingo in school?  Why not teach the IPA alongside or even before the traditional English alphabet?  Obviously others argue that it is not as practical.  These people would say that it doesn't prepare them for the Standard American English that they need to use in college and the work place.  True, but is that a legitimate argument against teaching IPA in addition to the traditional English alphabet?  Probably not.  We should encourage deep, critical thinking not just memorization.  When students are learning and using the IPA and/or text lingo, they are examining their knowledge about language and learning the patterns that exist in their language.  More so, it's an equalizer between native English speakers and English Language Learners.  If all the IPA does is focus on sounds and their patterns, native speakers and language learners should be on more of an even playing field.  Both can examine sounds in any language.  After all, that's one way they know the difference between their language and another.

Perhaps we do need to start teaching the IPA in American schools.  It seems as though the cognitive, social, and academic benefits outweigh the cons. Well...we should at least start with allowing text lingo in our classes.

How do you contact parents?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!  Please comment below or tweet me with the ways you keep in contact with parents!

Five for Fraturday: Random Teaching Tips I've Discovered

Let's look at some random things I've discovered that I plan to implement in my curriculum.

I'm obsessed with using technology in the classroom to create social awareness.  I do a collaborative research project each semester.  During summer school this year, I plan to beta test a Facebook Awareness Page assignment where group members will post annotated sources, surveys, pictures, videos, etc. about the given topic!

In class I like to have my students display their research in unique ways. What's better than to have them create an infographic?!  Easelly is a *FREE* website that provides templates and graphics.  Students just have to plug in their information.  How cool?

Frequently we make students write LOOOOOONG research papers.  In the real world, though, management likes to see the Cliffs Notes.  While employees still need to know how to do long, time-consuming, in-depth research, they also need to be able to summarize their own work.  I'm planning on having them write 1 paragraph long summaries for each of their essays to practice this skill.

Each time I plan to have a class discussion, I am going to have a 5-minute prep session.  These 5 minutes will be devoted to looking over notes, skimming readings, and preparing thoughts.  No one likes to feel under prepared or unorganized.  This prep session will put students at ease before the discussion begins.

So I'm reading a book called BRIEF, more to come on that later, and I read a tip that I CAN'T WAIT to employ in the classroom.  The book talked about business meeting huddles.  So, why not have a quick teaching tip huddle where, for 5-7 minutes, we review information as a class and I give them reminders/tips/instructions?  I'll work out the kinks but I think the physical change will be nice!

Freshen Your Commitment

As the end of the year approaches, many of us already have our minds on the upcoming school year!  Even though we have our mind in the game with finalizing grades, calling parents, conferencing with students, and tidying up our classrooms, our hearts are in the new year.  

~We think about everything we did this year, what worked, and what didn't.

~We think about the assignments and activities that our students loved, and   the ones they didn't love so much.

~We think about the new units we wish we would have covered but may not     have had time to prepare.

~We even think about how we can spice up our classroom decor for next year.

With all of this in mind, let's think more deeply about our commitment to teaching.  Let's create mission statements that describe us as teachers. Having a mission statement will refocus our teaching and clarify who we are with course development, unit creation, and daily plans.  While we often times create statements of purpose for the courses that we develop, frequently we forget to create these for ourselves.  These mission statements should incorporate our philosophy of teaching & pedagogy, typical daily activities, and what is most important to us in our content area (links are to my examples).  For example, my mission statement is:

I will facilitate learning, encourage creativity, 

and develop student-questioning through oral and written medium.

After you have that mission statement, create your own contract for teaching success!  Just a brief statement that describes why are you are recommitting yourself to your teaching.  It could look a little something like this:

I am writing this mission statement because I know how important it is to continually focus on developing myself as a teacher.  I believe that I am an effective teacher, but I also know that there are many distractions in teaching that can redirect my efforts.  I will commit myself to actively practicing my mission to _________(mission statement)___________.

It might be a little bit cheesy...okay a lot bit cheesy... but I think that actually taking the time to think about who we are as a teacher, or who we want to be, can really calibrate our teaching compasses.  Even better, post this somewhere that you will see it every day.  Maybe as a sticky note on your computer, on your desk, or even on the front of your lesson planning notebook.  Where ever you place it, make sure you read it daily and make sure you take measurable steps to making that mission statement a reality.  For more on writing your own contracts for personal success, see the post on Spark People!

So what are your mission statements?  Please comment below and you might win my SPARK Teacher Mentorship Program for free!  The program includes a Guided Booklet & 5 Podcasts focusing on Intention, Presentation, Communication, Engagement, & Collaboration!

In order to qualify for the free program, you must:

1. Follow my blog/Subscribe to my posts using the icon on the right 
2. Follow me on Twitter @mac_ker1
3. Comment below with your own mission statement - make sure to leave your Twitter handle in the comment so I can contact the winner!

Good luck and thanks for reading!  If you like this post or found it helpful, please use one of the icons below to like or share!

End of Year Procedures

Not too long ago I posted about activities to continue building community in our classrooms through the end of the year.  It's important to keep that as a key goal for our classes so that our students can forge relationships with their peers that surpass just our class.

That being said, there are plenty of tedious checklists that we as teachers must go through at the end of the semester.  Lots of paper work is involved when finalizing grades.  

For me personally, I like to make sure that grades are finalized a day or two before the semester ends.  This way, my students are well aware of their grades and they do not have any surprises when grades are posted. The following are tips for keeping yourself organized and covering your toosh at the end of the year:

1. Print out individual grade sheets.  I like to print out 2 grade sheets for each individual student.  Typically, I just include all of the major assignments on this grade sheet (not smaller homework assignments).  This way I have a copy of the grade sheet and so does the student.
2. Conference with each student.  A day or two before the end of the semester, I meet with each student individually.  I usually do this while students are working on a community building assignment like those mentioned in the post "End of Year Ideas".  In this meeting, I go over each of the major assignment grades.  After discussing the grades, I have each student sign his/her grade sheet agreeing to the final grade. Make sure to notify students about this process about a week ahead of time.  That way they can check grades online, check hard copies, and make sure everything is matching up correctly.  Then they can come prepared with any questions, comments, and concerns.
3. Send home a letter.  Writing a letter informing parents of the grade finalization process in your classroom gives them information.  Parents like to be informed.  Often times the most complaints or phone calls come from parents who aren't aware of class procedures like grading.  In your letter, discuss how the grades are weighted (syllabus policy), your end-of-the-year conferences with students, and how/when they should get in touch with you if they have any questions.
4. Make your phone calls.  If you have students who are failing or who will have to retake the course, call their parents!  Parents want to know that you care. They don't like to be surprised especially if there is a chance that they didn't know their child was failing.  If you don't feel comfortable calling, send out parent emails notifying them of their child's grade and directing them to summer school information.  The more info you give them, the easier and less surprising it will be for them.  Also, call students' parents who did a great job!  We shouldn't always call parents with bad information.  Some of the best parent phone calls I've had were the ones when parents got to hear something exciting about their child. For more tips on making parent phone calls, check out The Educator's Room's article "Scripting a Parent Phone Call - A Skill All Teachers Need."

No matter what you do, make sure that you have a procedure.  It's important to plan it out before this time comes.  If you have a procedure in place, you'll have fewer mistakes and be more effective... and, let's be honest, you'll cover yourself by having documentation.

Good luck with the end of the year!  If you know anyone who is having difficulties with planning the end of the year or who is thinking of ways to make the end of the year process run more smoothly, please share this link with them!

What It's Really About

A few weeks ago I was at church and listening to the Pastor talk about being a servant.  It was the weekend following Easter, so it was not a surprise to hear about extending your faith from passive to active.

The Pastor talked quite a lot about how people in The Church can often times miss the point.  He said, "You can ruin a church by making it activity-oriented instead of Jesus-oriented" and it reminded me of the most profound thing that I learned during my time teaching at the high school level.

I remember sitting in a meeting with my Department Chair, my student teacher, and my student teacher's advisers.  You see, my Department Chair and myself were co-cooperating teachers.  As we sat in this meeting we were discussing the use of activities in the classroom.  He said:

When you wake up in the morning and are thinking about your day,
 are you thinking about the activities you will be doing in class?  

If so, you're missing the point.

Of course what he meant was, we need to be thinking about what our students will be learning.  That needs to be our focus.  The exciting activities we use or cool technology we have implemented means absolutely nothing if we have not really focused on our learning outcomes for the day.

So my question to you is: 

what do you think about when you wake up in the morning?  

It's important to remind ourselves of the purpose of education and why we are teaching who and what we are teaching.  Let's remember to focus on what it's really about in the classroom... our students, their development, and their learning.

If you like this post or found it helpful, please like & share using the links below!

End of the Year Ideas

As the end of the year approaches, many of use are reconsidering what we do to wrap up the entire semester/year.  Some of us have weird end-of-the-year schedules.  Ya know, the ones where final exams are a week before the end of the actual year?  Or grades are due on a Wednesday but you still have class on Thursday and Friday?

DON'T FRET!  We, here at Brownbag Academics, have some great suggestions to get you designing your End-of-Year Curriculum!

Remember please that all of education is simply a reformulation of ideas.  These are ideas that we have used in our classrooms and have found to work very well!  We've collected these ideas over the years: some were developed by ourselves, some were inspired by lessons found online, and some were collected from colleagues.  Feel free to use and abuse these suggestions!  No sense in recreating the wheel.

1.  Create groups and reflect on the year.

• One of our favorite activities involves separating the class into groups to have them reflect on the course's objectives.  Have each group reflect on one of the following: 
• syllabus & course outcomes - did the outcomes match what happened in class?
• readings - favorites?  least favorites?
• assignments - which did they learn the most from?  least?
• activities - did they prefer group work?  partners? individuals?
• advice - what advice can you offer to next year's group of students?
• Then, have the groups present their findings and have a whole class discussion!

2.  End of the year slide show.

• Have students create a slide show welcoming next year's group of students.  Have them work together to include the following:
• welcome notes
• course introduction
• syllabus review
• what to learn
• what to be prepared for
• what they liked best about class

3.  Reflection essay.

• Having students write a reflection essay is a great way to see how each individual student has grown.  Start with having the students review the syllabus and course outcomes.  From there, have students look back at their work - for English teachers, this may mean looking at old essays; for Math teachers, old tests and assignments; etc.  Then have students write about the growth that they have experienced.  What are their strengths?  What are they still struggling with?  How do they plan to continue improving?  This should be a reflection of them and their work, not you and your teaching.

These ideas should get you started!  We like to think that the end of the year is a time for a reflection - a time for students to begin thinking about what they have learned.  With reflection comes growth and that is what we hope for and expect of our students.  Have a wonderful end of the year!

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