Month: June 2018

Reflecting and Moving Forward

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This is my stack of summer reading.  A mix of professional teaching books and YA books others have recommended to me.  Regarding the professional books, some I read last school year, but want to take a closer, not-so-rushed approach, and some are new. Reflecting right at the end of the year is the perfect time to tweak and make changes for the upcoming year.  What worked well and what didn’t work so well are still fresh in my mind.  This is the second year I have used writing workshop and so far, I have really enjoyed it.  The book Hacking the Writing Workshop and Writing Workshop in Middle School are new to me this summer.  I am sure I will find lots of new gems that I can try with my 8th graders this next year.  Workshopping the Cannon I bought after attending last year’s NCTE conference (and if you have never gone, I encourage you to do so–amazing!).  It’s the foundation I used for using our core text The Secret Life of Bees to center around social justice.  …

5 End-of-the-Year Ideas

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We have a week left of school and every year I feel hard-pressed for time.  There’s so much to do and so little time in which to do it!  As the school year comes to a close, I give students time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the coming one. Reflecting is a good way to showcase the hard work students did this year, and for them to see where they started in September and ended in June.  Because growth in reading and writing is slow, oftentimes students don’t see it.  As teachers we see our students grow in leaps and bounds, but when you’re in the thick of it, it doesn’t always feel that way.  Regardless of whatever final essay, project, or assignment they are completing as the year winds down, I remind students of this and encourage them to push themselves a little harder as we approach the finish line.