Growth in the new year

I can't believe January is already over!  Christmas break was truly wonderful, and the few snow days were nice after all of the traffic craziness died down.  I have definitely felt more rested this month, so that always helps me be a better teacher.

Something new and exciting this month was the start of the implementation of our Action Research projects.  Although my project is still very much in the beginning phases, it's already been inspiring to hear my kids talk about the change that they want to make in their communities.  My students have spent a lot of time picking out specific articles in the U.N. Rights of a Child that they care about the most.  This week they are starting to meet in groups to begin the first stage of their service-learning projects: investigation.  Although it can be a little daunting when I think about the unpredictability of the outcome of my Action Research project, it is also exciting to think about how much my kids are going to rock it.  I have introduced my Action Research project through the start of a persuasive writing unit, and so far, this interconnectedness (Dr. Fisher word!) has been great.  I feel empowered to teach my students about persuasive writing that matters -- instead of having them write to their parents to persuade them to do something or buy them something (I'm pretty sure I did something like this with my kids last year), it has been so much powerful to frame persuasive writing in a democratic way.  The students are going to persuade others to care about the problem that they select for their project, and they are going to persuade others to help and make a difference in their community.

This month I have spent a lot of time reflecting on book clubs -- they have been up and running for many months now, but there a lot of things that I want to change and tweak to make sure that students are engaged and challenged.  I have been talking a lot with Kelsey (and now Allaisia!) and we have shared some reader's response resources so that our students can be held accountable for their reading.  Some groups have made a lot of progress and exciting things are going on in their clubs.  For example, the girls in my highest reading group wrote a skit (they had props and everything) to represent their favorite part of the book.  Luckily Dr. Fisher got to see it -- it was hilarious!  Another group has been struggling with group dynamics and communication, while another group struggles conducting deep conversations about the text.  So sometimes book clubs are a success and sometimes they're a hot mess.  I am brainstorming with Dr. Fisher about how to make them better.  I am going to switch up the groups, make the groups smaller (2 of the groups have 6 girls in each -- let's just say, DRAMA!), and establish a structure for reader's response.

Some other patterns that appeared in my connections are some mini successes in my math block and in my reading planning.  As I have mentioned many times before, math has been especially stressful this year (in terms of the scheduling and the groups) and there have been several days this month where I finally felt like I was making some gains in my math block.  My biggest strength is probably putting together engaging math centers that steer the students away from using pen and paper and instead, using manipulatives, practicing vocabulary with flash cards, playing games, etc.  Actually, Taylor Ramsey, Erin Quackenbush, and my MTLD visited my classroom during math a few weeks ago and they were impressed with how engaged and excited my kids were about math centers (really, I think a lot of it was that they were excited to get some attention from visitors...haha).  So it has been important for me to celebrate that success.  Something else that I have been very intentional about this month is pacing my reading instruction by connecting Common Core standards to one or two of the reading strategies in Strategies that Work.  This has helped my reading instruction feel more important and relevant, and I feel less worried about the actual standards.  This freedom allows me to plan lessons that I love to lead and teach -- particularly social justice-related lessons :).  I have also been working on incorporating the reading skill of the week (i.e. summarizing, questioning, making inferences) in book clubs so students practice the skill independently.

January has been a pretty good month!  It's crazy to think where I was last year and where I am this year.  I am in such a better place emotionally which has helped me in my teaching and my personal life.  I am excited to grow even more and feel more confident about my teaching and life here in Georgia.