I love switching up the way I teach lessons. Last night, I had this great idea of changing how I teach the vignettes in House on Mango Street. What if I made my students and I switch roles? What if they were the teachers for the day? What would they teach me about the given vignettes? Continue reading
Today’s focus for Book Club is on the book, Sarah Plain and Tall, which is an easy read I selected to read with my students during the M-Th 30 minute class sessions. Continue reading
One of my students showed this website to me: Smore. This is a place where students, teachers, anyone can easily create an awesome-looking newsletter. FOR FREE! Continue reading
The role of women is a huge theme in House on Mango Street, even in the early vignettes. Today’s lesson focused on “Marin” and “Alicia Who Is Afraid of Mice” and my eighth graders compared/contrasted the two girls and related their stories to the already existing theme of the degradation of Mexican women. Continue reading
Today I had my eighth graders focus on the idea of friendship–What is friendship? What does friendship mean to us? What defines a solid friendship?–I had my students write their ideas all over the white board in a silent-discussion format and then we talked through them. Continue reading
Figurative language is so complicated, yet so much fun! I created this AMAZING (okay, I might be bragging just a little, but I’m super excited!) resource to teach students. It is a scaffolded set of notes that includes examples, pictures, and even song clips for learning figurative language in more ways than one! Continue reading
To introduce my students to House on Mango Street, I knew I had to teach them about the book’s format: vignettes. Continue reading
Today my 6th grade co-teachers and I held a Boring Words Funeral for the overused, boring, ‘2nd/3rd grade’ words in our vocabulary. This was a very somber event. Students and teachers wore black. We brainstormed a list of words that we would bury and no longer use for the remainder of the year. We wrote these words on note cards, placed them in burial shoe box, then lined up outside the door. Continue reading
Okay, Marisa. You can do this. I coach myself as I begin my first Standards-Based Grading. Just be honest. Be consistent. And be smart.
