You give me 88 minutes of classtime, and I'll give you 15 different things that we're trying to do. I'm trying to get better at it, honest...but sometimes I have so many ideas that I can't scale them back! It's like choosing a favorite child or naming your favorite ice cream flavor - impossible and totally unfair!
Today, then, it's important to note just how much we did:
1. Practiced our NF THIEVES reading strategy
2. Read the article about CIA Spy Gadgets
3. Completed a vocab task
4. Answered questions about the NF article
5. Reviewed how to write topic sentences using words from the question
6. Sorted clauses and phrases
7. Read a portion of the novel (or a portion of their own novel, depending on the class)
8. Met individually to discuss student writing from a few weeks ago and set goals for our next written assignment
9. Organized our binders and inserted the new article into the correct section
10. Filled out assignment books
You may be thinking "only 10 things?" well...yes...only 10 today! (Mid-way through 1st hour I eliminated a few items that I just KNEW we wouldn't fit in!)
I love every part of my day, but today I especially enjoyed the conferences I had with students about their writing. This is something that I never had as a kid - I wrote essays, turned them in, got a grade, and started the process all over again. It wasn't until the end of my high school career that I discovered the power of meeting with my teacher to talk about my own skills and weaknesses in writing and how to set goals for improvement. I'm hoping the kids enjoyed it, too, or at least found it valuable.
It was important to meet with them today, too, so we could discuss the rubric and the scores they were receiving. We are 6 weeks into 7th grade, and we wrote this piece two weeks ago, so it's impossible to expect students to be writing at the 100% level...or even the 80% level! Talking with kids individually today gave me a chance to remind them that writing is a work in progress - that all education is - and that our goal is to be "at grade level" by mid-May...not mid-September!
Please ask your child about the writing goal that we set up for Friday - I hope they're able to tell you all about it and how it will help their overall writing! Also feel free to ask your child about the edible exploding flour and the cigarette guns that the OSS developed for WWII spies. THEN you can ask them how those same items are being used in our historical fiction book!!!
Homework for today: Read chapter 6 of The Darkest Hour and complete any unfinished work from class today!