Trash Ball

Grammar lessons in seventh grade were never fun. I have noticed that the students get very bored when we are talking about comma rules, capitalization, or sentence structures. I decided to play a game in the middle of one of my lessons a few weeks ago. One of my good friends told me she used it while she was a student intern. I have found that trash ball is an excellent way for students to learn grammar rules and have fun at the same time.

This game keeps their attention and also puts a competitive spin on learning. I usually will offer a couple of bonus points to the winning team when we play this game. This drives them to want to win even more.

The Rules:

1. Divide the kids into teams. I usually will number them off, and I generally only have two teams.

2. Let them make their own trash ball! They love this idea...they get to crunch up a bunch of papers or anything they have in their backpack to create either a small trash ball or a huge trash ball. I noticed some of the boys were even competing to make the best trash ball!

3. Once you have decided who goes first, kids must shoot their trash ball into a trash can to answer a question. If they miss, they forfeit their turn to the opposing team. If they make the shot, they get to come to the board and correct a sentence. If they completely answer the question and/or correct the sentence then they recieve a point.

4. With this game I mix up if I am going to let this be group oriented or if I want only individuals answering questions. The kids like to play it either way.

I have already used this game several times in class. The kids now beg to play everyday we have a grammar lesson! I usally will let them play the last ten or fifteen minutes of class if we make it through all of the lesson. When I first tried this game I didn't realize how much the kids would love it. I am very glad to have found something that makes them WANT to LEARN grammar!

Time to "fall"

Just a reminder...no class this week in honor of Fall Break!

I hope you are having great success utilizing a graphic organizer (or two) within your classes.

Enjoy!

Too Graphic?

No way! Remember this week we are using at least one graphic organizer so that we can each report on our experience in class this week.

Sites abound where one might find such tools. Here is a link to my Delicious bookmarks for some sites that I have discovered.

Also please feel free to check out my wiki where on the 8th Grade Lit Lab class I have posted the graphic organizers my students and I are completing during my mini-lesson on whatever the literary term for the day is.

Enjoy!

Accommodations

As I am sloooooooooowly assuming responsibilities in my 10th grade class, I'm finding it very difficult to teach those students who have learning accommodations in the classroom. Since most of the students are on close to the same level, I find myself teaching more toward them rather than toward the lower level minority.

I have one student in particular that asks me to explain quetsions from the book in further detail or explain a passage from an Accelerated Reader book. When I do so, he still finds it hard to understand. I try to break it down to the lowest level I possibly can and he still struggles to understand.

I hope as time goes on I will get better at breaking things down. I would hate for students to struggle or make poor grades just because I cannot break it down to their level.

When I Grow Up...

Senior year is now in full swing, and I am finding it harder and harder to believe that I will be graduating in the spring ready to set off to begin a new career in teaching and coaching. As each day comes and goes, I realize I can't say "when I grow up..." anymore. Instead, I am now finally coming to understand that my adult life and career are about to take off.

It seems like only yesterday I was starting freshman year at Lyon College attempting to figure out which direction I wanted my life to go. Now, as a senior and in the middle of my student teaching experience, I look at my young, bright-eyed seventh graders that I have begun teaching and think "Guys, the "real-world" is knocking at your door...and you have no idea how soon you will be right where I am!"

These hopeful kids have their who futures in front of them. I only hope I can help lead them in the right direction this year in both teaching them and also in being a good role model for them.

Oh, the Stress!

Stress is the middle name of interning...okay, maybe stress is the first and the last name...with some good times placed in the middle (you just got to love seven graders, right?!).

Reflection time with a little hope mixed in...
When I student-taught (as we called it then) for what was Arkansas College (okay, I'm a traditionalist, for there's a part of me that will always belong to good ol' AC!), I spent one semester in the classroom...every day, all day. (As we discussed last week, perks do exist to both ways.)

My classroom: English 10 at Batesville High School

My memories from interning include

1. returning to BHS and walking into "my" classroom...nearly twenty years later! At that time, it was still an English class; now, drama and oral com have moved in.
2. my mentor teacher Mrs. Kimes having to have surgery...and my becoming THE teacher.
3. meeting some great kids...those adults I now meet and greet as I see them at Wal-Mart and sporting events and could it be...their children walking through my classroom door?
4. copying all Mrs. Kibe's resources that I could get my hands on!
5. learning more about teaching in that one semester than all my college classes had taught me.

Number five is where the hope lies, for with application comes learning and retention.

My hope? That this class will be one of those tools that makes this internship be less stressful.

Keep me posted!

Thanks for the Seat in This Class!

As my two grand students in Secondary English Methods are reflecting and writing about those people in their lives that have helped earn them a seat in this class...a class that signifies the end of one adventure in life and the soon-approaching new adventure...yes, teaching!...I, too, would like to take a moment to thank those who helped mold and make me into the professional I am today.

First, to Mrs. Smith...my high school English teacher, to the one who worked us, believed in us, and held us to very high expectations, may I strive to achieve even a little of what you accomplished throughout your career at Mammoth Spring High School. I know that if I needed that lady today...she is just a phone call, just an email away. Some bonds truly are thicker than blood. Thank you!

Next to Dr. Tebbetts, a professor at Arkansas College...okay, Lyon College! What an inspiration! My goal? To have half the energy within my classroom that you displayed, demonstrated for us and to all your many students since and to those those in your classes today. So knowledgeable, so friendly. Such a role model. Thank you!

Finally, to Lisa Huff, my technology mentor and friend. I tell her I am always about ten, twenty, maybe even fifty steps behind her, but she is always so willing to help. To her, this blog is a tribute, for none of this blogging for my personal reflection and for and with my students would be occurring had it not been for her patience and encouragement. Thank you!

Yes, there are many others...and to all I say thanks.

I truly enjoy my job, my profession, my hobby. Thanks for giving me my passion for teaching!


Please check back here for soon-to-be posted entries from the seat-takers in this class!