Do you Close Read?

I'm pretty sure I've never been apprehensive about any pedagogy. Being a new(er) teacher, I usually embrace new ideas. I'll try anything once!

This was far from the case with Close Reading. I attended a workshop last summer on NMSI and AP English. A good part of the workshop focused on close reading. It seemed cumbersome and confusing. If I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around it, what was going to happen to my eighth graders? YIKES!

Listen carefully - this does not get said often - I was so very wrong.

My kids loved it! My advanced students and my inclusion students were on a roll. They had so many ideas. Synapses were firing. Communication and collaboration were on happening without prompting! Education on steroids! If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend it!

That is the best summary of close reading I have found. There are many different 'steps' or 'approaches' to close reading. The key is finding/creating steps that fit your students' understanding and standards. Below are our steps:

1. Read the passage silently.
2. Listen to the passage read aloud.
3. Circle details in the text that make an impact (on your understanding, your views, your imagination). Make a note next to the circle that tells why this stands out to you.
4. Underline words with connotative diction (positive or negative meaning to you). Place a plus (+) or minus (-) sign about the word to illustrate the meaning.
5. Block off imagery (words appealing to senses). Make a note next to the block on what imagery is brought to mind - what image appears in your mind? what emotion does it make you feel?
6. Highlight comparisons (similes, metaphors, personification). Make a note to explain what is being compared and what information is gained from the comparison. 
7. Put an asterisk next to word(s) that illustrate the point of view.

Writing these steps out remind me why I tried to hide from close reading. It can be a lot to take. It can have several large words that may require a bit of reteaching, but it is worth it! 

The typical student response to "read this piece of literature and tell me what you think" is to read it quickly and say it was "nice." Close reading removes the ability to do this. It requires the student to think deeply on several levels. The end result is a deeper understanding from analyzation and creating your own opinions. Many parts of close reading cannot be copied from a friend because your emotions and understanding is not the same as someone else's emotions and understanding. 

Yesterday my students close read "Masks" independently. Today we reviewed as a class. This is what they came up with:

In previous years, my students have read the poem and replied "she doesn't show people the real her, and she wants someone to try to see the real her." Well … this is a general summary, but you are missing SO MUCH when you only read the surface. 

This year my students came up with the theme that is written in black on the sheet. "Every person you meet is facing problems you can't see. Love and encouragement from you will help others feel better and overcome their problems." I'm so proud!

Through close reading they had a good ten minute conversation on the power that "love is stronger than strong walls" brings into the poem. Their ideas brought me to tears! They also noted that you can't say "he" or "she" because the author is unknown and the last stanza blatantly states that the poem is about everyone. 

Earlier I noted that it is hard to copy someone else's close read. This was definitely brought to light with the term "masks" in this poem. Some students thought of Mardi Gras masks (fun, playful, party). Others thought of Halloween masks (scary, hiding things, monsters). Another group thought of masks as covering something. Your history shapes what you bring to the conversation. 

If you close read or you try close reading, please comment below and let me know how it goes! 

Currently

A friend introduced my to Serial yesterday. I haven't stopped listening to it! If you haven't heard it yet, get a podcast app and start listening! 

I'm in my second (of four) semester of grad school. I'm working towards my MA in Gifted/Talented Education. It's always been my dream to teach Gifted, but grad school is a lot of work! Reading, analyzing, writing, preparing - oh my! Thankfully, I do enjoy the material. The program I'm completing is a hybrid program - both online and in the classroom. I travel five hours once or twice a month on a Saturday for a full day of classes. It works out great because I can still teach! 

I'm taking twenty-one eighth graders to Disney in ten days! We are completing two Disney YES (Youth Education Series) programs: Global Citizenship at Epcot and Disney Imagineering: Gravity at Hollywood Studios. I can't wait! Check back in about two weeks for a full report on this field trip. 

Newspaper & Yearbook Field Trip

I have a newspaper staff of nine students and a yearbook staff of twelve students. These kids are ah-mazing! I really can not brag enough on these students. Both staffs are student center and student led. The all have wonderful attitudes and motivation. They work extremely hard and produce amazing work!

My newspaper staff writes weekly articles about the school and community. Their work is published in a blog on the school website and submitted to local newspapers and news stations. They are publicly published each month! Each month they put together an interactive e-newsletter of the articles they have written. My newspaper editor (eighth grade student) keeps track of each staff member's progress and edits articles before they get to me. 

My yearbook staff runs without me. The editor (eighth grade student) was on the staff last year. Last year (as a seventh grader) she designed the theme, cover, colors, and fonts for this year's yearbook. She also sat with our yearbook rep and ordered the yearbooks. The staff splits up the one hundred full color yearbook, so everyone is responsible for specific pages. They have been rocking out deadlines this year! Meeting them weeks before they are due! I am so proud!

To reward all of their hard work, we recently took a field trip! We toured a local news station. My students were able to speak with reporters, photographers, and producers. They were given a tour of the station with many behind the scene looks. It was a blast! It was a wonderful way to put into perspective how what they do in the classroom is relevant in the real world. 

We finished our trip with a lunch at Steak and Shake. Everyone was happy!

My newspaper staff has the idea of creating video articles with written articles. They hope to display photos, interviews, and footage from events. I can't wait to see how these turn out this semester! 

Bad Blogger

     I can not believe half the school year is gone. The first half flew and kept me on my toes daily. On top of teaching eighth grade Language Arts, I teach and produce the school yearbook, I teach and produce the school newspaper, I am the school PR pro handling all website, news source, and social media, I am the STC (School Technology Coach) helping teachers with technology issues (we are a 1:1 school, so we have technology everywhere), I am the PTSO teacher rep, I am the Den Leader for my son's Cub Scout den, I am a 'soccer mom,' I work part time running the online end of my mom's business, and I am working on my MA in Gifted/Talented Education through a hybrid program that requires me to travel four hours away between one and two Saturdays each month plus a good chunk of online work. As you can tell, it's run-run-run! Thankfully, I enjoy every second of every thing I have the opportunity to do. 

      Blogging will be my New Years Resolution! Let's see how well this goes. 

Busy Beginning

The school year is in full swing! We have officially completed three weeks of school, and I survived picture day (I'm in charge of picture day - it goes with yearbook territory). These weeks have been a HUGE success! I am unbelievably proud of my students and their hard work. 

We started off the first week with the general 'getting to know you' activities, but by the end of the week, we had jumped straight into the deep end!

My students deconstructed their standards. We worked through the Common Core/College and Career Readiness Standards to make them understandable for everyone. Now we are all on the same page about what needs to be accomplished this school year!

By the end of the first week, we began Close Reading. I was VERY hesitant about attempting this with my eighth graders, but I was also VERY wrong. They rocked it! Completely took over and ran with their thoughts! We barely scratched the surface on day one, and day two was even more incredible. I teach a regular ed class and an inclusion class. Both classes were remarkable. They really took the texts and made relevant, interesting connections. Many that never occurred to me!

During the second week of school, we began our first PBL unit: "How can we use history to solve a current issue?" Students will end the unit by creating a proposal to solve a current issue in society. 

We kicked it off with QFT (Question Formulation Technique)). My students ran with this activity too! They got so much out of it. Their ideas and creativity were more than I could have ever hoped for. 
They worked in groups to narrow down their questions to their best open ended questions. Then they worked as a class using "Keep it, Junk it, or Cloud it" to narrow down their final questions. 
Their final questions go into the "Want to Know" column of our unit K-W-L. (They were so enthralled and ON TASK with the QFT, we never made it to the K-W-L that day - and our class period is one hour forty-five minutes long.)

This year has so much to hold! It's fantastic!

As a part of our first unit, we are reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Prior to reading the story, my students used a virtual tour of Anne Frank's Secret Annex to complete a virtual quest. They enjoyed seeing everything first hand and hearing how everyone lived. It was eye-opening for my students to see, travel through, and hear the living situation and conditions that surrounded the Holocaust. It was a great opening activity!

We are only three weeks into this school year, and it is already incredible. It will be a fantastic experience to see my students grow this year. I look forward to continuing our student-center classroom using project based learning!

Social Butterly

I have a thing for social media. The connections, network, and education it provides are incredible! Don't get me wrong - I am ALL for face to face communication, but social media is a great tool!

I am the PR Pro for my school, so with school sites, personal sites, and educator sites - I run:

2 Twitter Accounts

1 Facebook Account

2 Facebook Pages

1 Yammer Account

2 Blogs

3 Instagram Accounts

1 Pinterest Account

1 Remind Account (with 3 classes)

+ Youtube, Teachertube, ETC!

It's a lot of work keeping those up! Thankfully with an iPhone, iPad, and MacBoook it's easy and typically does not take up that much time (except for pinterest - I'm pretty sure I've lost entire days in there!). I use Instagram to update students on a lot of announcements. Apparently, "Facebook is for old people." 

I'd love to share my Educator Social Medias with you! Please feel free to like/follow/share them all! Of course, this blog is the first one!

Click here for my Teacher Twitter!

Click here for my Teacher Instagram!

Please comment and let me know what you use for your classroom! Keeping students and parents involved and informed is very important in our current technology age.

Setting the Mood

I love to decorate, but decorating for a middle school bunch is hard!

My first year of teaching I had five different preps, and I wasn't hired until two weeks before school started. I spent my time cleaning up and out the last teacher's belongings. There wasn't any time to make the room mine! The second year of teaching I moved classrooms. The new classroom had a bigger room, better view, and tables! (I am NOT a desk fan.) I spent my time moving tons of stuff back and forth across the school. Again - no time to make the room my own!

This year is different! I'm teaching in the same room at the same school, and I am excited! I have more mature posters (not little fishes with bubbles in bright colors talking about parts of speech), colors, bean bag reading area, and chevron washi tap!

The classroom came with the giant red curtains and blue cabinets. I can't get rid of the blue cabinets and living in the south - heavy curtains to keep out heat is a God send! So my classroom colors are red and blue. No choice. Theme: mature Cat in the Hat (without letting my students know!).

I have very strong beliefs in being responsible for oneself and taking charge of your own future. If you can not stand up for yourself, you can not rely on others to do it for you. My door poster sums up my feels in one place. I love my students, but I want to make sure they are ready for life! I can only protect them for one year. We are the dolphins, so naturally - the door hanger just fits!

Last year I had a Mark Twain floor runner - this year is Shakespeare. The students seem to love a poster stuck to the floor. (No lie - I do too!) It just makes coming in more fun. 

My classroom has two white boards, a Promethean board, and a bulletin board. My bulletin board contains all the class information (schedule, lunch menu, rules/requirements, flyers, and overdue library book list). My front white board is split into two sections by the Promethean board. The right side (smaller) holds our daily agenda with objectives. The left side I use during class time. Above my Promethean board I keep our Essential Question(s) posted throughout each PBL. The white boards are outlined with red washi tape. Due to my blue cabinets and large red curtains, my room colors are red and blue.

My second white board is the central location for all Yearbook and Newspaper information. Both staffs have a large calendar to keep track of events and who is responsible for what - as well as deadlines and goals. The yearbook calendar is outlined with camera designed washi tape!

Right inside my door is the main station for students. I use a photo frame as my Weekly Agenda. Here students can see the entire week and anything they may have missed. I have two purple tubs for lost/found. This is where I keep pencils/paper I find too. Students check here for supplies they forgot to bring! This 10 colored drawer organizer rolling cart is my in/out box. Each period is assigned a color. The top box is where they turn work in, and the second box is where I put graded work that needs to be handed out. It's easy to roll over to my desk for grading too! On top of the cart is my tardy and detention binder. Students sign in if they are tardy then leave any notes in the binder pocket - easy entry - no disruption!

I'm so happy! I painted my bookcase, and the black looks so much better! I try to have new, trendy books in class for students to read and borrow. Even though I teach middle school, these kiddos love a good reading corner. I refilled the beanbags with fresh beans and made a tree. I hope they enjoy it!

This is MY area! When I say 'My' area - I mean it! It is set up so students have no reason to be behind my desk. There are too many horror stories and important things missing from a teacher's desk, so I put myself in the corner and made my teacher area. I also painted the filing cabinet with chalkboard spray paint - now it matches the desk and bookcase.

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No matter how many times you say "don't forget your name," someone will - always - forget their name. This is my "No Name" board. I pin all no names here. Whenever I do not receive an assignment (absent, no name, no effort), I automatically put a zero into our online grade book. Students know to always check the no name board if they received a zero but did the assignment. These papers are throw away at the end of each quarter.

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Thankfully, last year I was able to order posters that did not have an elementary feel to them. My students genuinely seemed to enjoy being in a classroom that felt 'older.' I preach all the time about preparing for high school, so it's high time I started making them feel like high schoolers!


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I am beyond excited to start the 2014-2015 school year. I feel organized and ready for my students. Three cheers to a rocking' new year!