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Hello Readers! When I started this blog a few months ago I had some grand plans about posting once a week. However.... life got in the way. =) Nothing major happened, but we all know how busy the testing season and end of the school year is for teachers. For July, I am recommitting myself to posting at least once a week. No promises for August, as I go back to work August 3rd. (Eeeeek!)

Today I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade:

Listening

We have been getting a TON of rain here in central Texas. We had some major, flood-causing rain in May and early June, and now it seems like every day we get a short rainstorm. Oh well, we still need the rain and it breaks up the heat.

Loving

I read Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz on the recommendation of some teacher friends and some blogs that I read. At first I was disappointed, because it seemed like many of the ideas would not work for me. When he talked about having a 15-20 minute class meeting every day, I remember thinking, I only have 120 minutes to teach ELA and Social Studies, how could I find time to do that? However, then I started thinking about ways I could modify his ideas to work for me... so maybe I can't have a class meeting every day, but I could have a class meeting once a week. And really, when do I ever using anything (a lesson, idea, curriculum) as it is, unless I made it myself? So now that I have a different mindset, I am slowly rereading the book and loving it!

Thinking

Teachers at my school return August 3rd, so my summer's about halfway over! AHHAAA! I'm sure some of you can relate to this feeling.

Wanting

I'm painting my new classroom, and I spent most of the afternoon today taping everything off. I'm exhausted. Does anyone know of any elves that specialize in classroom painting?

Needing

Team USA needs to win the world cup. Because we're awesome and so is soccer.

All Star

This kind of goes back to what I said earlier in the Loving section. I'm not great at coming up with ideas on my own, however, when I see or read about an idea I'm great at modifying it to fit my needs (or my students' needs). This is one of the reasons I started reading teaching blogs in the first place-- to get more ideas!

Well, that's it for today, but I will be back sometime next week.

Happy July,

How I Teach Poetry

Whew! I had lots of post ideas to get my blog started, but then life got in the way. First there were practice STAAR tests, then I was out sick for a few days, and then we had a "snow" day (there was no actual snow, just ice). Crazy! So for my second post I'll talk about poetry, which we finished just in time for Spring Break this week.

I'm not going to lie: poetry is not my favorite unit to teach. For a few years I actively disliked it. I think this is mostly because the level of poetry the state expects intermediate students to analyze is hard. So many of them still think in concrete terms, and poetry is the opposite of straightforward. Last year I revamped my poetry unit to make it both fun and challenging, and it went really well. Here's what I do:

First, I spend a week or so teaching/reviewing figurative language using song lyrics. I got the idea from Erin at I'm Lovin Lit's Interative Literature Notebook, but I use different songs. As we study figurative language I guide the students to notice that many times figurative language does not mean what the words literally say. I think this helps gently lead them into the idea that poems are not always literal.

After that I introduce the Poetry Scaffold. I learned this technique at a professional development a few years ago, and I believe it is based on a lesson from the Comprehension Toolkit. I've tweaked it from what I originally learned. The steps on the scaffold are:

1. Meet the poem- read the poem once
2.  Read the poem closely- read it slowly, stop and think, notice figurative language and important words, use annotation marks, draw what you visualize
3. Determine the mood- what is the feeling created by the poem? Does it change?
4. Notice the form- is there rhyme scheme? Meter? What type of poem is it? (Narrative, Free Verse, Ode, etc.)
5. Make the poem your own- have an emotional reaction, share your favorite line

Here's what a poem looks like after we've read it using the poetry scaffold.

 We read several poems using the scaffold as a class and then I let them try a few with a partner. Occasionally I have to remind students that all of their thoughts should be on their poems, but most students have no problem writing all over their poems by this point. We discuss how many poems don't always mean what they literally say, and that using the poetry scaffold helps us read deeply.

After I'm sure they have the poetry scaffold down we dive deeper into the different parts of the scaffold. We do minilessons on rhyme scheme, meter, types of poems, sensory language, etc.
 
I really like how the poetry scaffold gets the students to slow down and think deeply. (Now if I could just force them to use it on the test.....) By using the poetry scaffold and by choosing appealing yet complex poems, I no longer hate teaching poetry.

After we read poetry for a few weeks we move on to writing! I'll save that for another post.

Happy teaching!

Confessions of a Former Blog Stalker

I have a confession to make. I read teacher blogs. A lot of teacher blogs. But I never interact with any of them. I read their ideas, try them out in my classroom, sometimes even buy their products. But I have remained silent and in the shadows, just like that student in our classroom that works quietly but never raises their hand.

Today, that ends.

I've decided to enter the world of teacher blogging, and I couldn't be more excited! I have benefited so much from reading about other classrooms, so now it's my turn to give back and share my own successes and struggles.

About me...

My name is Amanda, and I am a 5th grade English teacher in Texas. This is my 5th year teaching. In the past I have also taught 4th grade English and a 5th grade English/Social Studies combo. Reading is my passion, and I try my best to pass on a love of reading to my students.

I'm very much looking forward to starting this new blogging adventure. Happy teaching!