In 7th grade, in addition to the usual read alouds and the individual reading time, the mini lessons were focused on reading a play from their literature textbooks in class (which was also read as an audiobook). During this time, they read along and made inferences along the way. The play that they were reading was The Monsters are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling. This was actually an episode of The Twilight Zone, an cool, old show that can be fairly creepy at times. The play in their book was the actual script with stage directions and everything! Throughout the week they had been reading it and answering analytical questions on a worksheet of their own. On this question worksheet, they were required to answer the question and provide textual evidence. I find that very helpful, for when these students enter high school and college, it is so crucial that they cite evidence from the text to make their argument strong. If I end up being a middle school teacher, I will definitely drill A-E-C (Assertion, Evidence, Commentary) into their heads. My goal for the week was met; I got to walk around and work with the students if they had questions about the questions they had to answer! It was really cool to be able to help them!Back in 8th grade, the students were still writing their License Plate papers which were due last Friday. In my future classroom, that would not be acceptable at all. I believe that if you are not at least somewhat stern with students, they will never grow and learn. Sometimes, it takes that zero for them to realize that they need to work hard and put effort into their tasks. Real life will not be that simple.
During Mrs. DeGonia's classes, I did a lot of grading papers and assignments for completion and helped out with putting together an online grade book for the teacher called Zip Grade. She needed help inputting the students' names into the system, so I spent much of my Monday doing that. Zip Grade also has a fun feature where you can print out scantrons and have a mobile device or tablet scan them and give an immediate grade. I will have to look more into Zip Grade to see if that is something I can utilize in my future classroom.That week, the 8th graders also had a vocabulary test coming up on Friday, so Wednesday was spent playing vocabulary games like Heads Up so that the students could continue to practice before they are assessed. I believe that vocabulary games are so beneficial. When I was a student, I found it very helpful in remembering vocabulary words and committing them to memory. Also, they got to read the license plate papers in class. When Friday finally came, the teacher had spent too much time helping them review. When they eventually got to taking the test, they maybe had 30 minutes, and not everyone finished. So, she told them that she would let them finish the tests later that day, which I did not agree with. I believe that she should have just given them the entire class period to work on the test. They had two weeks to memorize these vocabulary words. It is their fault if they do not know the words by that time when she had given them sufficient time and practice.
Let's go back to 7th grade Reading. Finally, on Thursday, Mrs. Largent's classes got to watch the episode of the Twilight Zone. Their goal on Friday was to compare their visualizations in text to the show. She had a class discussion and assessed them based on that. She introduced a 321 Comparison: 3 things that are the same, 2 things that are different, and 1 character visualization (text vs. tv show). Many of the students, from what I could gather, enjoyed the tv show, but were frustrated that some of the things were not the same. the book lover in me was very pleased with this thought. The students gave great insight and recognized a lot of differences.
In my future classroom, I will definitely integrate this into my curriculum. I think it will help my students think analytically about the content and better understand the content. It's one thing to visualize what is going on in their heads, but many times, seeing a visual representation through a movie can help articulate their thoughts. The true challenge is helping them to understand the differences between the text and the movie. Making these differentiations can help students compare and contrast more difficult texts in the future. It is both foundational and fun.
So, what's better the book or the movie? I will always say the book, no matter what. The visual representation in a movie is helpful in understanding the book more, but I will admit, at times the movie can be super awesome. I mean, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games did a pretty good job. It made me more passionate about what I was reading and watching.
As I finish off this week, my goal is to get to know more students and get to walk around the classroom a lot more. I also want the opportunity to read to the students during the read aloud rather than listening, that way I have something to do, and the students can get to know me a little more.
See you next week. Miss Kliora, out.
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