Ready for Day 3? Yay!

When you come into class, please do the following immediately: Welcome to Mrs. McMath’s English class! When you come into class, please do the following immediately: Get a book from the classroom library. It can be the same as yesterday or a different one. Have a seat in a desk. Begin reading your book. If you brought your spiral, put your name inside of it and put it in the correct basket at the back. If you have any questions at all, write it on a sticky note and put it on my computer screen. Students are getting used to seeing this by now! Remember students can always talk to you via the sticky note procedure modeled on the first day. http://www.imthatteacher.com/the-sticky-note-solution/

What do you think will happen next? It’s a great day for a read aloud! Middle grades students are NEVER too old or “cool” to be read aloud to. Do you have a special place in your room they could sit while enjoying an excerpt from a great book? Do you have a book you’ve been dying to share with them? Now’s your chance. Read just until you know they will scream Noooooo! when you stop. I choose one that will definitely leave them at a cliff hanger! WHY: Build Relationships: Bonding over books is key! Establish Expectations: We are readers! We will talk about reading every day! Either hop on board or be miserable all year. Gather Data: If you have students make predictions at the end of an excerpt about what will happen next, observe the level of inferences they’re making. Also as you read gather data on the listening habits of your students. What are they looking at, fiddling with, trying to get away with, as you read?

College Algebra Syllabus: What do you notice? Hand out a syllabus from a high school or college class. Preferably use one that your students might actually have some day, like a math syllabus from a local community college. This is the one I am using this year: After giving students some time to look at it, ask them what they notice. Encourage them that no observation is too small or “stupid.” Collect responses on the board. Discuss everything from the purpose of the document, confusing parts of it, and even what was bolded or underlined. If they don’t bring it up, be sure and point out other text features like bulleted lists or diagrams. This will be helpful for their next exercise. WHY: Establish Expectations: You as the teacher are not the primary transmitter of information. Let go of that role. Let them tell you what they notice. Fill in the gaps when they need it, but their observations will help introduce the concept of text features. Establish that they’ll be doing most of the talking this year. Gather Data: This is their first chance to read something and talk about it. Gather as much data as possible about the kinds of things they notice, how fluent they are at explaining them, how wide a vocabulary they have to discuss a text, etc.

Create Your Own Consider these questions: What do you love to do? What are you good at? What would you enjoy teaching? Use the model of the syllabus to create your own. Use the text features we discussed. Headings Subheadings Lists Pictures That’s right! Before you even think about handing out your own syllabus, let them have a shot at making their own as if they’re the teacher of their own course. They can do this on paper or digitally. Atavist is a free platform where they could go crazy personalizing it and making it look good. Google slides would be another alternative. Following this, you could hand out your syllabus for them to take home. Many teachers utilize a “scavenger hunt” for students to get familiar with the policies and procedures. I prefer to use an activity that’s covered in Day 4. WHY: Build Relationships: As they work you’ll have the chance to go around and talk to them about what they chose. This relationships built over their interests is a great way to start! Establish Expectations: This is the writing workshop model. Without explicitly teaching it, you’ve established that as writers we look at a mentor piece and then create our own. Gather Data: You’re finding out what they’re experts on! If you remember nothing else about them, I know you’ll remember what they did their syllabus about.