Reading Workshop Week 6: short & sweet (or..sour?)

well, another week, another blog. Things are still going relatively smooth...I reckon. ha. 8th graders are just loud. well, at least my class is. And there is nothing I can do about it. The teacher still has the 'trouble makers' grouped together! silly lady. This week we talked about plot, and the plot characteristics of a story. So for next week (our final week) the kids, split into 3 groups, will be dramatizing a fairy tale. (3 little pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and Goldilocks). So for the record, every story is taking place 'in the hood' haha. ohhh this is going to be a hoot! Not much to report on this week, next week will be longer ;) I do have to say that I am having mixed feelings about next week being our final time there, its a little sad, but at the same time, I am doing a happy dance. Its been such a stressful quarter. These kids can be very trying at times, but really, underneath they are good kids just looking for attention. :]

Reading Workshop Week 5: setting and candy

okay, so week 5 went okay..for the most part :) things were loud, things were a littleeee chaotic, but we got things done! Yes, after we left I had to take some ibuprofen for a headache before it turned into a monster, but it went fairly good.

This week we learned about Setting and Mood. The who, what, when, where, How, and the infamous pych eval question, How does this make you feeeeeelll.. hehe. I took in 9 of my scenery photography and had the kids split up and take three pictures per group. They had to tell us what they thought the photo was representing, and all the setting details. I hafta admit, they did a great job. After they told their stories, I told the real ones, and also found out that one of a lighthouse up by Lake Erie (Marble Head, to be exact) is one that my partner, Ami, lives by! She's from Sandusky and goes to Wright State (duh..obviously..). I thought that was an interesting tidbit! And the kids seemed quite in awe of the library picture...haha..they told us that it was the "Dayton Library in the scary section.." In reality it was the WSU library in the reference section...at least they got the scary part right...haha ;)

splitting the kids up was pretty fun too. We had three types of candies (tootsie rolls, regular hershey kisses, and the kind of Kisses that have both milk and white chocolate), and each kid got one; whichever they received, that was their group for the day.

Our last activity involved music, relating to mood. I played about 5 different clips ranging from Cajun to Blues to the Pink Panther to Beethoven. It turned out fun!

I think the kids are finally done testing us so much. I feel bad for yelling so much, but sheesh, they just dont know how to shush! But, they are in the 8th grade..and the classroom culture is loud and talkative, but things are going smoothly! And to think, we only have two more weeks left with them!

Tune in next week for: Plot..perhaps a dramatic story? ;)

PS..as for the leftover tootsie rolls..well they got taken to my last class of the day and shared among my small group in there...HA..lets just say some people should not eat chocolate and drink Mountain Dew..haha..oh how much fun we have ;)

Reading Workshop Week Four: Character

well, I have a fabulous update...today went SO much better than last week! yay!! I was so incredibly happy walking out of the school today. Sure, we had a few minor bumps, but these are 8th graders, not adults.. :)

Today we focused on Character. We talked about protagonists, antagonists, and what makes a good character. All those things that go into a good book! So for the activity, Ami and I set up a mini crime scene with the items seen in the photo:
-cowboy boot
-bottle of perfume
-CD
-a dried rose
-crime scene tape
-a golden button
-Army hat (well, actually its the Marines..but anyway..lol)
-a mask
-skull
-a key (which i forgot to add to the photo..oops!)
-three scrabble pieces, the letters R, N, P

The kids were to make a story and develop the character in the crime scene using at least 8 of the 11 items; and had a contest as to which group told the best story. (there were so many good creative ones!!) They LOVED it. So now I owe the wining team a candy bar! But it is SO worth it!

Now I'm off to re-write our lesson plan for the day and write a reflection for the day, as well as start lesson plans for next week! I'm definitely excited for next weeks lesson: Setting! :)

Reading Workshop Week three: Oh My Gosh..

I don't even know where to start..honestly I don't. I've almost been dreading writing here about this week's adventure. To put it plainly, It was horrible. Ok well maybe not Horrific, and it wasn't a disaster, but it was bad. walking out of that classroom, I was so discouraged. I have never felt that way with kids before. It was a new feeling and I did NOT like it. If I hadn't had my partner in the car with me for the ride back, I think I would have ended up in tears. This all sounds so horrible, but its how that cookie crumbled..

We found that our group of kids do not work well in groups. So, no more group work for them. They are loud, they are rude, they are mean, they are obnoxious. BUT, they are eighth graders. I got called the infamous "B" word a few times..sigh..(I wanted to tell them they had no idea what me being one of those looked like, and they really shouldn't cross that line, but I held my tongue..) I told them if they were going to act like third graders, I would treat them like third graders. We didn't accomplish what we set out to do, and I was told I should have been an art teacher (..cause I spray painted a foam board in a tie-dye kinda way so that we could post our reading rules).

Most of the girls have an attitude problem, and Donte challenged us by asking if we could sign their folder (a form of racking up detention 'points'). Ami said, "well, uh..no, probably not" and of course me, miss I-dont-take-crap says "well I have no problem getting the permission too". I think I'm too forceful sometimes...I felt like the parole officer...

They set their goals too low, and we have a 16 year old eighth grader. The cooperating teacher in the room with us is a Math teacher and doesn't like to read; and doesn't have control over her classroom. She informed us after the room had finally gotten quiet again after group work, that "these kids just need a rigid structure, groups don't work for them" ( NO KIDDING blondie..A little late on the relay of info) sigh..ok ok, so I'm venting. :) sorry! haha I'm not this mean to people, I promise! Usually its only a few little comments within my own head..

So all these bad things happen, and I walk out of the room hitting a new low, what ARE we going to do? well, we have no idea. ha. We'll see how things go from now until next Tuesday. We're getting together soon to make lesson plans, so hopefully things will go a LOT smoother! (please cross your fingers for me..)

Oh, and i forgot to mention the little boy who had to pee very badly. "but I gotta go bad..real bad". The teacher said he could go, but she would have to sign his folder..of course he didn't want this..but while he was turning back around (cause he was turned plum sideways..) ...he farted...sigh...haha..it honestly took everything in me not to laugh, but I did keep a straight face..I think God helped me through that one.. ;)

So next week...we may be planning my funeral.. ;) What a ride...what an adventure..

Reading Workshop week two: controlled chaos..or something like that..

Where do I even start? haha..oh what an experience Ami and I had this week!

Things I learned on Tuesday:
1. 8th graders are not like what I remember from my own middle school years.

2. I do not have a problem disciplining students from my cooperating Teacher's classroom. Especially when the teacher doesn't look up from her computer while guests (us) are present.

3. something Ami and I are rusty on, two words: classroom management

4. two college white girls do not pick out the "right" books for colored children (according to a student)

5. be prepared for random questions at any time...(such as.. "do you like Chipotle?" when asking the student if they have a question about the reading)

Things did not go as smoothly as I would have liked to hope, but it was not a disaster! Looking back at it, it was quite humorous. I'm sure we looked like we didn't know what we were doing. And I got laughed at for butchering names..(how do i know what they are?? Parents seem to use their imaginations for names anymore...)

This classroom is one which is noisy and contains very busy kids. While a few kicked back with their book, others, as my mother would say, "shoo-ed and blowed" the whole time he was supposed to be reading...

Upon walking out of the classroom; I followed Ami out, closed the door behind me, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, while Ami collapsed against the lockers behind her in a fit of laughter. I'm sure we looked crazy to anybody watching. Our laughter and talking continued the whole way back to Wright State, and I even (subconsciously) took the longer scenic route back to school to de-stress some. (driving helps calm my mind)

This is certainly going to be a long ride! I think it will get better as the weeks move on, and hey, at least my purse didn't drop in the trash can this week! ;)

Reading Workshop, Week One: Introductions

[so to say the least, I've been away from Blogging for a while..its been way busy to say the least. But with everyone around me doing some sort of series, why not join in? not that I'm succumbing to peer pressure mind you... ;) So here starts my (hopefully) weekly blog on my 'adventures' working with 8th graders and their reading at Dayton View Academy here in Dayton, Ohio.]

To say that things went entirely how imagined would be a bold face lie haha. Starting off, all the kids in grades 6-8 came from an assembly, so they were wound up! Number two; alllllll the 8th graders were together in a classroom on this particular day. (our plan is two of us WSU students working with a classroom, and the other three students working with the other). I am in the group of two, with a fellow Senior named Ami. So here comes 5 students from Wright State University who have no idea what exactly to expect. For all we know, these kids are man-eating tigers! haha We finally got things worked out, and started to make our introductions to the entire 8th grade class. Somehow I managed to get myself first in the line-up and had to make my intro first..

"hey guys, I'm Andrea! I'm a Senior at Wright State, and eventually I want to teach High school kids! Something interesting about me is..."

at that moment, my purse, which I had set on the table beside me, decided to jump in the trashcan. (Ok ok, it didn't jump, it just fell.) And of course laughter came from all over the room. Ami jumped in at that time with a "welllll that was pretty interesting.." So I continue on with my 'interesting' fact..and stupid me, says...

"I've never worked with 8th graders before, so don't intimidate me too much!"

wow..way to tell them about your insecurity Andrea! what a winner! Ami and I had a laugh about this on the drive back to WSU. After we got the class split up into their regular classes, Ami and I did our 'trust building activity'. This involved a neon colored note card and a marker. Name, Age, Favorite movie/TV show, What do you like to read, Something interesting about yourself. after everyone got this finished, we all shared.

It was a fun experience really. It was just a 'wow' day. Not a lot to say about it, and a lot to soak in. In the first 10 minutes of being with the kids face to face, Ami and I got two hugs, an invitation to a track meet, and an invitation to their 8th grade graduation "since cause like, you're kinda like our Mentors now, ya know." (according to a 14 yr old Maddie). It's definitely going to be a crazy ride! But I am certainly looking forward to every Tuesday! :]

...back into the swing of things...

I've been MIA for the past two weeks i believe..how sad! its been rather crazy around here! With spring quarter starting this past monday, I have been swamped with all sorts of stuff to do! I've decided that this quarter will be a suicide mission for myself, and ask for my sanity to be kept in everyones prayers :) Im taking on 20 credit hours again, and it all evens out that I will be reading about 2 or more books per week..why did i want to teach English again? ;)

I am pretty excited about everything going on this quarter though. For one of my classes we will be setting up reading workshops for a local charter school in Dayton. After getting seated on Tuesday my teacher put 5 stats on the board..and we had to write down our biggest fear about these stats, then we talked about them...
-Urban School
-Charter school
-98% African American
-60% below poverty level
-1/3 have one parent incarcerated
and this is where we are going to work 4-8th graders..I'm a little nervous about it, but definitely excited too! I'll be working with an 8th grade classroom( since 8th grade is closer to what I want to eventually teach), and I'll be working with one other person every week. Tomorrow we are taking a field trip to the Dayton Public Library with a piece of roller lugggage to fill up for our 'class library'! how exciting! Maybe I can do my own mini series on my experiences with these kids :)

now I'm off to catch up with all my online shenanigans, finish some more homework, and read Shakespeare! be jealous! ;) (haha..riiiiight..)