Top 10 Things I Want To Do This Summer

Memorial Day weekend is always the unofficial start of summer. Unfortunately my summer break doesn't start for another 10 days this year because of all our snow days. Usually, I'm also off work by the time Memorial Day rolls around.

But nevertheless, it has been an absolutely gorgeous weekend here with lovely weather and we are visiting family this weekend. It has been a good time. And no work tomorrow!

So I am linking up with Mrs. Jump's class for her linky about the top ten things I want to do this summer.

 

1. Trip to Tennessee:  We are headed to the Smoky Mtns. in July, and I cannot wait! We're staying in a nice cabin in the mountains and have plenty of exploring already planned.

2. Projects around the house: We have some small (and bigger) projects in store, like landscaping, paining our fence, redecorating and possibly looking at new living room furniture.

3. Save money: Unfortunately summer is the time we seem to spend the most because I'm not working and have all the time in the world to shop, go out to eat, and do other activities that cost a lot of money. So we hope to put a lot in the bank this time instead.

4. See friends more: We want to make a conscious effort to hang out with our friends as much as we can and really enjoy time together.

5. Outdoor concerts: Our city has outside concerts by the river every weekend during the summer, and it's a favorite activity of ours. We hope to make it to many concerts this year.

6. Be more active: My husband and I are trying to do brisk walks around our neighborhood at least 4-5 times a week to get in a little better shape.

7. Read more: Summer is the season of reading for pleasure on my patio. I've already downloaded a few books on my Kindle I have yet to read.

7. Upload more to my TpT store: I've sold a lot of one of my products but only have about 6 products total. I really want to build it up this summer when I have more time.

8. Attend some professional development: There is already a workshop I plan to attend at the end of June, and I hope to get more knowledge on 1:1 programs, since we are going 1:1 next year.

9. Plan for next year: I always end up waiting until August (or late July) to think about next year's classes. I hope to work on them more throughout the summer instead of procrastinating it.

10. More quality time with my husband: I really should put this at #1. So often, at night or on weekends, we both sit in the same room not even talking: I'm reading, he's on the computer, etc. I want to make it a point to really BE together when we are together and do more fun things outside the house together, like going for hikes, trying new restaurants, etc.

May Currently

Wow, can't believe it is already May. Sure doesn't feel like it, what with our 45º weather and rain.

Linking up with Farley.

 

Listening....My husband is wonderful and ran to get me Starbucks this morning before work. It's so quiet in the house right now, except for the birds right outside my window.

Loving...Oh my gosh, such a long week! Even though my weekend is filled with grading, I'm glad it's the weekend.

Thinking....I have 40 essays to grade by next Thursday...because next Thurs, 40 more come in that have to be graded by that Monday. So yeah....my next 10 days will really suck.

Wanting...We got a glimpse of spring a couple weeks ago, but now it's crappy and cold again.

Needing....We're having a big garage sale May 17, and I have done exactly zero to prepare for it.

Surprise....I love Mrs. Orman's blog for secondary English ideas. She has a lot of neat lesson plans and good ideas. Check her out!

Conducting mock interviews with students

It's been awhile since I did a content-heavy post. It was a long first week back at work after Spring Break and then a whole week off for my father-in-law's death/funeral. I had a lot of catch-up to do last week, but I survived.

One of the things I did this past week was mock interviews with my English IV/Technical Writing students. There are a few ways to give students an interview experience in class, and I have done all three of these. It really depends on the resources you have available and how much time you want to spend/put into doing them.

1. Mock interviews with professionals from the area. This is my favorite, and in my opinion, is the most beneficial. I have gotten into contact with area professionals from all fields--preferably people who do interviewing and hiring as part of their job. I have gotten a manager from the bank, a worker from one of the area labor unions, a fire chief, librarian, the superintendent of our district, and many others to come in and actually conduct practice interviews with my students. I provide a list of questions they can ask, but they can, of course, ask their own.

The students each have about 7-8 minutes for their practice interview (I have about 6 professionals per class period). Students are asked to dress nicely that day, come with a copy of their resume, and take the mock interview seriously. Afterward, each interviewer fills out a quick survey on each student's interviewing skills.

I love doing it this way because it's as close to a real interview as you can get without actually interviewing for a job. I've even had a couple of the interviewers offer my students jobs they had open because they did so well! The downside to this method is that you obviously need to spend a lot of time calling people and finding those who would be willing and have time to do this. The nice thing is, once you've done it once, you can keep those same contacts for next year.

2. Another method is to interview students yourself at the front of the room and have their peers write down suggestions as they watch the mock interview. I set up two chairs at the front of the room and introduce myself, shake hands, etc as if it was a real interview. I keep it to 3-4 questions per student. This usually takes two class periods.

Students at their desk have a slip of paper with each student's name on it. They write down positives and suggestions during the mock interview, then pass them forward. I always read through them before giving them to the students to make sure nothing is inappropriate or mean. This way, a student gets 20+ pieces of constructive criticism from peers.

The plus to this method is that there isn't as much time and effort to planning it. The downside is that it isn't as authentic as having other people interview them. They are more comfortable with you as their teacher.

3. Finally, if you are short on time and just want to give them a quick glimpse at possible questions, I have used myinterviewsimulator.com before. It is free to use and requires no signing up.

Students should have ear buds or head phones while going through this website. They can click on different categories of questions and hear the computer ask them the questions, as well as show what some good responses to that question would look like. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a free service that allows students to type or speak responses and then give feedback. I think some college career centers have something like this, but you must be a student to use it.

This is obviously the least realistic option, but it is good for a one-day activity or for a class where you just want to give them a brief introduction to interviewing skills. If your class is doing a whole interviewing unit, I'd recommend options 1 or 2.

Have you conducted mock interviews with your classes? How did you do them?

Currently April

Linking up with Farley for this month's Currently.

A few days later on this Currently....it's been a long, rough week. My father-in-law passed away last Wed.

So I was off work all last week ( and we had Spring Break the week before that), so I've been off for TWO weeks. And I have approximately 58239 papers to grade and things to plan and do and make-up, etc., as you can see from my Currently above. Very stressed out.

And as you can tell from my first answer, I am doing none of that right now :)

Here's hoping the rest of this month improves. We can only go up from here, right?

A Peek at My Week {March 22-29}

I decided to link up with Mrs. Laffin's Peek at my Week this week because...HOLLA! I'm on Spring Break!

Well, first of all, today is my birthday! I am getting dangerously close to the big 3-0.

So today my husband took me out to lunch at the winery, which was delicious. And we went shopping so I bought an outfit for tonight and my first pair of TOMS shoes (they are so comfy! Why didn't I buy them earlier?) And I am also going to order this pair online because Jonathan Adler designed them and they are adorable.

 

Tonight we are going to my favorite seafood restaurant with friends-yum!

Later this week, we are headed back home to spend time with family and also celebrate my birthday with them. Rox is excited to spend a few days at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Then Wed-Fri we are headed to Chicago. It'll be nice to get away. We're staying at the Palomar and have a city view room. We got tickets for the Second City comedy show and plan to hit up Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Modern Art. Hopefully the weather isn't too horrible while we're there.

I love that city so much!

So it looks to be a pretty fun week. I did not bring home any grading or planning--I plan to just relax and spend some time with family.

What do you all have going on this week?

Banned Book Celebration

I have mentioned many times before that we are studying censorship, specifically of reading material, this semester in my English III class to go along with our reading of F451.

My students each chose a banned or challenged book to read third quarter (I directed them to the ALA list of banned classics to start with. They didn't have to choose a "classic," but I told them it should be one that has literary merit. For instance, I accepted The Hunger Games but would not allow 50 Shades of Grey).

Later this year, they will write argumentative essays either supporting or disagreeing with banning their book of choice using support from outside sources.

They had to finish reading these books by last Friday, the end of 3rd quarter. Their weekly blog had to do with posting a book review of their book, and on Friday in class, we celebrated their books. I had each student do a 2-3 min. book talk, where they gave a brief synopsis of the book, followed by a summary of why/when the book was banned and whether or not they agree with banning it for these reasons. The vast majority of my students said no, they didn't agree with banning it. If anything. they thought some shouldn't be taught in the classroom, but rather made available for independent reading.

After each book talk, I snapped their photo holding their banned book. A couple kids chose to not have their faces in the picture, which was fine, so I took a photo of them holding the book which showed only their hands. I passed out colored slips of paper and had them write the title and author on it.

So here is my new bulletin board. I took it from a distance on purpose so that you couldn't see students' faces. Their photo is next to the slip of paper with their book title on it.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out! My students had fun looking at all their photos on display the next day. I thought it was a fun way to celebrate the books my students read and brighten up my classroom.

Do you teach any units on banned books?

Fahrenheit 451: Using Lit Circles

451 degrees Fahrenheit...the temperate at which paper catches fire.

On Monday, we're going to start one of my favorite novels to teach - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

I am teaching this book in the context of a bigger theme I've woven throughout this whole semester--censoring and banning books. I have mentioned on here before that my students read a banned book of their choosing third quarter. I actually have an activity I did with that that I will be posting on Monday. I'm excited to share!

In May, they will be writing argumentative essays on this topic as well. So we will be using Bradbury's novel to discuss censorship of reading material, not only today, but in the context of the 50s, which is when he wrote this book. Some of the predictions he made in that novel are creepily accurate today ("Sea shells" in everyone's ear all the time? What does that sound like ? Ear buds constantly plugged into our kids' ears?)

We haven't started it yet, but I plan to use lit. circles and discussion groups throughout our study of this book. Often, lit circles are used when different students are reading different books. However, I think it can work with one novel as well.

I split the kid into groups of four. They get to choose who has which role for each discussion; they can keep the same role the whole time or switch it up--they get to decide.

The roles are as follows (I have given an abridged description below):

1. Discussion leader: Comes up with seven critical thinking questions about that day's reading to ask the group. They cannot be simply comprehension questions. This person is in charge of keeping order in the group and taking questions to me.

2. Vocabulary wizard: Find ten unknown words in the reading to define, name the part of speech, list synonyms/antonyms and describe in context of the book. (Great role for the lower-level students in each group).

3. Quote selector: Find 5 meaningful or significant quotes in the reading, write them out, and write out the significance of each.

4. Summarizer: Write an original two-paragraph summary of main events and characters from that section.

On days when reading assignments are due, students will get in groups to discuss their writing assignments from above. This should take about half an hour. They have a form to fill out for this with an added section for group notes that they should take during discussion.

I wanted to make sure they were understanding the book and really getting as deep as I wanted them to. I worried that leaving ALL the discussion up to them might leave some necessary gaps. So for the last part of class, I will put 5 discussion questions on the board that I came up with, and they will first discuss in their groups, and then move to a full-class discussion. This way I can make sure we're all on the same page about what's going on. But hopefully the discussion groups will get more kids engaged in the discussion.

I'll report back on how this goes after we've tried it! What other tactics do you use for discussing a class-wide novel?