Books: Way of Kings and Words of Radiance

These two books by Brandon Sanderson are my favorite books I've read all year! They might be two of my all time favorites! I stumbled across these somewhat by accident. I knew of Brandon Sanderson and his connection to Wheel of Time, which I haven't even read his writing for WOT. I saw these two books on Amazon as a recommendation based on past purchases. I bought them for my sister's birthday, because she also enjoys fantasy. The more I looked at them the more I wanted to read them. Thus, I bought my own copies.

Yes, the books are long. However, these are not books that feel like they drag! I think they move quickly and offer a new world that total becomes spellbinding. I found WOT to be very slow, and I really didn't fall in love with any of the characters. I instantly became enamored with the characters of Way of Kings. The only character issue I have with both books are the female characters. I'm not sure Sanderson can write a strong, female protagonist. The few women included come across as weak and whiny. I do not like to listen to pages of whiny inner dialogue.

Despite that problem, the plot motors on! The magic is a bit difficult to grasp at first, but that really is because it takes a while to wrap your mind around the bindings that take place and how the characters accomplish this. That is revealed a lot through Kaladin and his journey, which was my favorite character to follow.

One really nice feature of these books is the artwork. The details of the art is amazing! It contributes to the story, and I was always looking back to see if the creature described was featured in a drawing. 

The structure is interesting. You follow the POV of several main characters, and then you experience interludes, which update you with some minor characters in other places in the world. It was a nice structure, and I'm sure that those characters will make bigger experiences in the other books. There are 10 books planned in this series, and I can't wait to read them!

Way of the Kings by Brandon Sanderson


Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Happy Reading! 

New Testing; New Vocab

This school year will be the first year of the new generation testing. The computer based common core PARCC assessments. I am not looking forward to this transition, but it's not up to me or anyone I personally know. We all have to adjust.

The common core standards in themselves are a good thing. I enjoy what they expect, and I like what I'm teaching. I enjoy the collaboration and speaking and listening focus in the standards. I think these standards lend themselves much better to how I was trained as a teacher.That being said...

The testing is beyond anything that should be expected of middle school (and elementary) students. I don't believe that one test should measure the growth of a child, and I really don't think that the results should be linked to how well I teach the material! There are so many complex issues that come along with a student. How can we be pressured to differentiate all the material for students, but when it comes to this testing, it's one size fits all? As I said before, we must adjust.

One issue that I have found with students is the vocabulary of the standards. The "I Can" statements and even some of the organizer I used sometimes used language that students were confused about. I am not talking about all those lofty ACT words. I am talking about main idea verses central idea. They are the same term, and the standards use central idea more often. My students thought of central idea as "theme." That surprised me, because I thought that main verses central would be an easy transition.

That situation got me thinking. How many other students had this same problem, but didn't ask? That would be quite a few once I started looking for this problem when circulating. For the upcoming year, I am going to adjust further, because there are more words (tier 2) that need to be explicitly taught.

I had to rearrange several other word study components to make this happen. I would teach vocabulary (for context, antonym, and synonyms, and word origins) for two weeks then one week of spelling. In addition to this I taught one root word each week. I decided to take these critical academic words to teach each week. That meant shifting the root word study to someplace else. I had to come up with a new root word system, which I will share later.

I derived my Critical Academic Word Lists from a new book called 55 Words that Make or Break Student Understanding. I found this book on Amazon.

The book has a lot of good ideas on how to explicitly teach the words to students. I created lists with two words and no more than four words a week. After two or three lists, I built in a review week, which ends with a short assessment. I created a note-taking worksheet for my students will a place for notes, mnemonic devices, and a list of activities completed.

I have never done a word wall, but I plan to use one this year for these words.
I didn't think I would need to teach some of these words, so I left a few out. For example, retell seemed a very simple word for seventh grade. I was very surprised to learn out of the first 30 words--29 should be mastered by sixth grade! Again, these words are not highly cerebral. However, they have do need to be taught just for the understanding of the questioning that will appear in the new tests. A word like analysis or analyze would probably stump some of my students. They have heard it, but do they really "get" what steps they must take to analyze? I wasn't sure they would know what to do with that.

 We'll see how it goes this year!   

Plant Problems

I have a bad records with indoor plants. I love working outside and gardening. That is more my style, but I live in an apartment, so outside gardening is not an option. Last summer, I did try to grow a tomato plant. It was an upside-down version. The only problem was that the hook that I used wasn't strong enough to hold the plant (duh!). The only place that I could place it was up against the house, and that meant less sun for the tomato! I only yielded three or four very small Romas!

Here it is with Milton in the window!

Anyhooo, I had three indoor plants die this year. I have a problem with correct watering and with my plants getting enough sunlight. I had plants upstairs on a small bookshelf in front of the window. That didn't work at all. I fear that the combination of not enough light and my non-watering tendencies killed these poor little guys off! One was named "Little Herman Ivy!" Who would kill a "Little Herman?" I certainly didn't want to!

Excuses are useless at this stage in the game! I decided to try to mend my plant killing past by trying again. I bought some new plants and read the tags thoroughly, and I checked online to find out what "medium watering" even meant. I also put the plants up on the windowsill this time. The only problem will be to watch Milton. He loves plants (even though he's never lived outside), and he tries to bite the poor leaves! He also loves to sit in the window. I think there's enough room for him; he'll just have to deal!

Here's to being optimistic!

 
 

DIY: Teacher Planner!

It will soon be school time again! I didn't go on a vacation this summer, so I interspersed school work with reading and relaxing. I also had some meetings this summer about our new PBIS system (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support). That didn't take much time, but I still was at school, which just gives me the itch to plan and organize!

One issue that I have dealt with in the past is my teacher planner! I used to have a Ward lesson planner and record book. It worked really well, and it was recommended by my aunt (a long time high school English teacher). However, I grew tired of imputing my grades into the record book and then again on the computer. I decided I didn't need that extra work. I gave up this past year pretty early on in the year! I used the lesson plan book religiously, and I used some of the boxes for reflection notes. 

For the upcoming year, I decided to get a new planner. I didn't need the record book, so I looked online for a new lesson planner. I even bought one (not my best idea!). When I received the planner, I was instantly disappointed. This was not what I wanted, so I looked to the Internet for ideas. That led me to Pinterest and this amazing blog (Life in Middle School). I instantly knew that this would be a great alternative for me! Hellloooo? Why didn't I think of this before? SUPER easy. I can't wait to use it! Well...I can wait a bit. :-)

It took me a large amount of time to determine what I wanted in my planner! I am excited to see how it goes this year and perhaps make some changes. I decided on five sections: pacing guide, calendars, academic word lists, weekly plans, and notes. I found these great editable page dividers on teacher pay teacher. I had to use some of the colors again, because not all pages were editable. I didn't like the titles that were available. You can find them here.

For my calendar section, I included our district calendar and then a blank month calendar. I had to use two, since I teach reading and English. The blank calendar is free available here.  

I then had to design my own lesson plan format. This took the most time. I am confident that it will work, but I will be on the look out for ways to change it for my next planner. 

After I decided and made my pieces, I had to do some copying. Several of my pages had to be side by side, so I had to figure out which dividers needed to have pages copied behind them. It worked out without many mistakes. I then had it bound at Stapes! It took a few hours and it was only $4.82!

The last part to add was my ribbon to keep my spot in my weekly plans. I used Scotch adhesive dots to pin the ribbon in place on the back cover. 

The planner turned out so well! I am so happy with it! I hope you try to make your own planner next year!

Turning to a New Page

Hello!

I am starting this blog as a place for all of my teacher adventures. I hope to keep up with things that are going on in my seventh grade classroom over the school year. I want to chronicle my triumphs as well as my mishaps in the classroom. This will be my fourth year teaching, but as I am finding out--things are constantly changing! I am always looking for new ideas to try that will enhance student understanding and motivation. I am also constantly trying to become more inspired and creative in the classroom. I take ideas that I see on other wonderful blogs and tweak those ideas for my own classroom. After-all, education is a profession of stealing and making it your own.

My other purpose for this blog is to create a space for my interest of reading and all things books. It is a part of my chosen profession, but it is more of my number one hobby! I am a self-named book nerd. I like to share my thoughts on books, so I thought this would be a good place to do this. My favorite genre is fantasy. I read more of that than any other! This is not the same as sci-fi. That genre is not one of my favorites. I enjoy magic, other worlds, and most often a series set in the medieval time period.

A third topic that will come up on this blog is any of my creative endeavors. I enjoy some sewing, knitting, and creating.

Anyhoo, I hope you stop and enjoy!