The battle between the turkey and the lesson plan

Consider me a glutton, but I love Thanksgiving.  I look forward to this one day of eating all year long.  I eat so much food all day long, that by the end of the day I am paralyzed by tryptophan and almost put into a food coma on the couch for multiple hours before I have the strength and will to get up and move to my bed.  This year was no different, but in the back of my mind was the looming unit plan.  As I lay incredibly uncomfortably on the couch it was not only my stomach that was bothering me, but my brain focusing on all the work that waited for me this weekend.  Be it ill planning on my part, or procrastination I am not willing to say, but my lazy weekend quickly became not so lazy.  While slaving away on this project I felt like I was following the rubric to the T, and I thought my work was well thought out.  The unit plan took a bit longer than I had anticipated, and interfered with my weekend long food hangover from leftovers, but in the end the lesson plan won out and I will just have to save my gluttonous weekend for the winter weeks off!

Debates

This past week the 8th graders in my dyad placement began a unit on debating.  At the end of the year there will be a select number of students that will be able to go to Olympia and participate in a state wide debate with hundreds of other 8th graders.  To get them prepared they will gradually build up their debating skills over a 20 week period of time.  The goal of of this unit is to slowly build up the students knowledge about debates without overwhelming them.  The first day was all about debating "fun" topics.  I do not think that the students even knew they were debating.  The topic was "Twilight" who is the better man Edward or Jacob? This topic was accessible to all students and they had to really back up the reasoning behind their responses.
Over the next few weeks the language and topics will become more serious and relevant to the world around them.  By the end they will create their own bill and fight to get it voted into a law by their peers.  I wish I could have seen how the unit and the students will continue to grow.
 

slam poetry

I have always been a fan of slam poetry.  There is just something about it that speaks to you in a way that no other type of poetry can. It is relatable and accessible to everyone, specially the students that do not think they enjoy poetry.  Because there is not format or rhyme to follow, just about anything can become poetry. The 8th grade block classes that I am working with are just about to start a poetry unit.  Everyone will have the opportunity to create a poem and present it in front of the class.  This at first may seem like a daunting task, but it become something that the student love to participate in.  Every class nominates students that they think came up with the best poems, and they will go on to compete against the other block classes.  In years past this has become on of the student favorite activities because there is no pressure to up with a certain type of poem.  This project allows all students to tap into a creative outlet that they usually do not get to use or even think about. 
I would start out by showing some slam poetry that I have enjoyed in the past to help the student relize that every idea can be turned into something brilliant.

Read alouds

I remember how much I loved read alouds when I was in grade school, and to be perfectly honest still love to be read to today.  Reading was always a stressful part of my schooling, and being read to allowed me access to many worlds and information that I could not get to on my own.  This year I have been forced out of my comfort zone a bit by doing the read aloud in my 5th grade placement every day, and reading aloud to my 8th grade dyad placement.
I thought I would feel a bit more comfortable reading to the 5th graders because they did not have the exact words that I was reading in front of them.  Because of that, I figured if i stumbled, no one would know but me.  When reading to the 8th graders, they have all of my text in front of them.  I thought I would going to sweat bullets.  But, to my surprise, my stumbles were noted just as much as the 5th graders without the text...not at all!  I think that just like me, everyone just likes to be read to.  They are not trying to be overly critical about my skills (or in the case my faults), but about what they are able to get out the reading when they are not under pressure to read it themselves. 
The more I read aloud, the more comfortable I become.  (Thank goodness!)

Conferences

Last week was a great opportunity to sit in on a few conferences.  I was surprised that the middle school even had conferences.  At the school I am placed at for my dyad all the conferences are student led.  They plan and build their portfolios for weeks before they meet with their first period teacher and their parent/guardian.  I think I would find it a bit difficult for the students that do not have one of their core teachers to start the day.  Some of the students had conferences with their PE, music, or other elective teachers.  Even though they are student led I would think the parents would want to have some insight from the write/reading block teachers, or math/science teachers.
For my main placement it seem like a pretty traditional set up.  With the students only have one main teacher (with the exception of specialists) the parents met with the teacher with the options of bring their child.
It was nice going back to my main placement and seeing some of the students, and being refreshed on what they were learning. All in all the conferences were a great learning opportunity.