#TeachersWrite Day One

Day One Lesson/Prompt

Galilee (Point Judith), Rhode Island Description Take 1 
(Excerpt from story I'm working on entitled The Letter)

From the steering wheel of Cal’s lobster boat, nautical dawn has allowed us to faintly see the stone wall entrance to Point Judith. Cal promises that going past the Coast Guard base right near the docks is easier than what we just did.  As we quietly glide past their hub, a wave of relief begins to rush through my veins as I realize that we are almost home free.  It may have been nerve wrecking at the moment the barrels dropped, but now it feels like I made it worse than it was.  A thousand dollars for this instead of three days at sea and not seeing my wife is a good deal to me. 

            Just past the little white shack of the Coast Guard base, Cal bears left towards the Great Salt Pond.  Before twilight is over, we have to quickly off load the barrels and store them in the grey shack.  From the start of the main wall where visitors wave to the passing boats, these shanties are one after another.  They go around the corner as far as the eye can see.  Many of them are grey from the weathering of the salt air.  We approach one that has a crack in one small pane in the window to the left of the door.  A burly man exits the door and goes on to the dock.  Cal approaches the dock as I grab the rope at the bow and toss it up to the burly man on the dock.  He wraps and ties it around the post while I run to the stern.  I grab the rope, jump up, and tie it up.  Cal cuts the engine and goes towards the hidden barrels.  The burly man puts the ramp down into the boat.  We go back in and begin to roll the barrels up the ramp and into the shack. 

            We continue on for fifteen minutes with no one speaking.  Everyone moves as if it is a dance that we have been doing for years.  Cal brings the last barrel into the shack as I put the ramp back on the dock and start up the engine.  Cal releases the ropes and hops in and takes his position at the helm.  We head over to Champlin’s restaurant to drop off the few pots of lobsters we collected.  The money they pay us is a drop in the bucket compared to the payday we already received.  I can see it bulging from Cal’s pocket of blue Dickies. 

Hear Details

• swishing of minimum wake waves entering port
• low hum of practically idling diesel engine
• absence of seagulls noises 
• rolling sound of blue plastic barrels on metal ramp
• creaks in the old dock as barrels and people move along it

Smell Details

• salt water
• diesel gas
• old fish gut smells wafting from nearby boats and boat deck
• sweat mixed with salt on cotton clothes

Taste Details

• salt water mist on lips
• gas fumes from slight wind blowing them into face/mouth

Feel Details

• steady movement of boat gliding through flat calm bay water
• smooth plastic of barrel
• pounding of heart in chest
• salt water on skin 
• stiffness of clothes due to the salt water

Galilee (Point Judith), Rhode Island Description Take 2 

        From the sea-misted metal steering wheel of Cal’s lobster boat, nautical dawn allows us to faintly see the white spray of seawater crashing against the stone wall entrance to Galilee. Cal promises that going past the little white shack of the Coast Guard base right near the docks is easier than what we just did.  As we quietly glide through the smooth bay water and past their hub, a wave of relief begins to rush through my veins as I realize that we are almost home free.  It may have been a nerve-racking experience at the moment the barrels dropped into the boat, but now it feels like I made it feel worse than it was.  A thousand dollars for a few early morning hours instead of living at sea for three days and not seeing my new bride is a better deal to me. 

         With the low hum of the engine, we pass the Coast Guard base.  Cal bears left towards the Great Salt Pond.   From the start of the main wall where visitors wave to the people on passing Block Island ferries, there are tiny one room shanties one after another.  They go around the corner as far as the eye can see.  Many of them are now grey-shingled siding from the weathering of the salt air.  We approach one that has a crack in one pane in the eight pane window to the left of its door.  A burly man exits the door and goes onto the dock.  The boat approaches the dock as I grab the rope at the bow and toss it up to the burly man.  He wraps it around the post while I run to the stern.  I grab the rope, toss it around the post and tie it up.  Cal cuts the diesel engine and goes towards the hidden barrels behind the lobster pots.  The burly man puts the metal ramp down into the boat.  We begin to roll the barrels up the ramp trying to keep the squeaks and scratching of the metal dock to a minimum.  One by one, we glide the barrels up the ramp and onto the dock that begins to creak and sway under all the weight.  

      We continue on for fifteen minutes with no one speaking.  Everyone moves as if it is a dance that we have been doing for years.  Cal brings the last barrel into the shack as I put the ramp back on the dock.  I start up the engine with its diesel smoke immediately wafting about me.  Cal releases the ropes and hops in to take his position at the helm.   

      The breeze of seagulls circling close to our heads begins to draw attention to us as we head over to Champlin’s restaurant to drop off the lobsters we harvested.  We pull up to their cement dock which is covered in so much seagull droppings that is seems to have been painted white.  I slide the orange plastic buckets onto the dock.  The worker, who came out at the sound of soft purring of our idling engine, grabs the buckets by their white handles and tosses the lobsters out onto the metal belt.  He inspects the sizes and moves them down the line to the scale.  "What a great early catch.  Guess you wanted to get in ahead of the others," he said as he continues inspecting bucket by bucket.  

      "It's always great to be ahead of the game," Cal replies.  He hands Cal our payment in cash.  The money they pay us is a drop in the bucket compared to the payday we already received.  I can see it bulging from Cal’s pocket of his blue Dickies. 

Why is this story worth telling?

I am writing this story to show the unending bond between parent and child and the forgiveness we all seek from past errors that were a learning experience yet effected others deeply.

#TeachersWrite

A Tweet in last week's feed has made me even more excited about this summer.  I was setting a goal for myself to get back to writing and finishing some of my stories.  For three summers, I attended a local writing conference with local authors.  It was an amazing experience which helped me learn more about what goes in to writing a story.  I also was part of a writer's group that broke apart once I stopped attending due having a child.

Now that a few years have passed and the constant desire to finish the stories I started and to get the new ones out from my brain, I've decided to write this summer.

Once I saw the tweet about #TeachersWrite, I knew this was the push that would help me with my goal.  It's free to join and has many authors giving advice and feedback.  It is in it's third year.  I wish I knew about it back then.

Jen, Teach Mentor Texts, blogged about its first day tomorrow and asks "Why are you writing this summer?"

My Reasons:
1.  3 incomplete manuscripts
2.  A love of reading
3.  A love of language
4.  A love of writing to create worlds that others love to be in
5.  A desire to learn more about writing and techniques from my first hand experience in order to share my learning with my students

Join me and all the others who have signed up at #TeachersWrite

Funtastic End of the Year

Every year, I have students write letters to next year students and grade me on a report card.  I wanted this exciting year to end with a "WOW" so I started my search on TPT (teacherspayteachers.com) for anything that was free.  I found many great ideas.  The first one I used was The Final Countdown.  I used it as a brainstorm for the letter to their locker pal who is the student who gets their locker next year.  I will tape their letters in the lockers before the new students are assigned their lockers.  I had student make a summer bucket list bookmark of all the things they hoped to do in the next two months.

I find that having my students grading me throughout the year and at the end gives me amazing feedback on how to improve next year.  This year I used SurveyMonkey.  I've used this website for years and love it so I don't know why I never thought to use it for this before.  As students wrote their letters, I had students complete the survey using the computer area in my classroom.

On our second to the last day, I decided to do a Minute to Win It competition.  On YouTube, you can get all the blueprints from the show, but I decided to use the written ones from Tonya's Treats for Teachers.  If you use YouTube and you have a Mac, you can download the blueprints and put them all together as one video.  I plan to make this during the summer for next year.  I chose 7 out of 25 games from the written ones.  I was able to get all the supplies for under $30 for four classes.  

All year I've wanted to do a lip sync battle like Jimmy Fallon! I borrowed a microphone and stand from the chorus teacher.  I showed the clip of Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd competing. I had students write down their favorite one to two songs so that we had a playlist for the day.  I put the song titles on strips of paper for students to randomly pick out.  I made the playlist using Grooveshark and listened to the songs to double check that they were appropriate for school.

To really get the students pumped, the co-teacher and I battled each other.  We cheated by choosing our songs.  I did Bust a Move by Young MC.  When it came time to bust a move, I danced like Elaine from Seinfield.  The co-teacher did the snowman song from Frozen since she has all the songs memorized thanks to her three-year-old daughter's infatuation with the movie.

As students left at the final dismissal bell of the year, I gave them all one of these to make a "Kool" treat for themselves.

Animal Research Infographics

In order to make research exciting for students, they were able to choose the animal they wanted to learn more about.  Students choices were limited to the animal books in our library, but we have a huge amount of books.  

To make the research easier, I had students use a gathering grid.  To have more than enough room to write, each student was given a file folder.  On the front, I stapled the directions for the Piktochart part of the project.  The back was for words that students didn't know and needed to define.  With each class, we decided what the most important questions were to guide our research.  the grid on the inside has the guiding questions on the left, the sources used on the top, and inside each box students jotted down their notes.

I found Piktochart to be the most user-friendly and had the most options for the creation.  I made all the students accounts ahead of time.  I highly suggest you getting a gmail account if you don't have one especially if you work with students under 14.  With gmail, you can sign up and create emails that all go back to your main account without students having to have emails.  To make the accounts, you use your gmail account name and +(a number).  For example, mrscurt+1@gmail.com.  I made all the passwords the same.  Piktochart only asked for a username, email, and password.  I made the username the email account so that I could copy and paste to make the accounts faster.  In order to understand how the site works, I researched about vultures and made my own infographic.  I showed my example to students so that I could explain my thought process when I made it and what it should look like.

Students had to use a book, a specialized encyclopedia, and at least one web site.  Once they gathered their facts and pictures, students logged into Piktochart.  I had students choose the infographic tab and the make your own choice.  The most important parts students need to use on the web site were the text boxes, uploading pictures, changing background, graphics, and knowing how to add another block.

I was amazed at what the students created.  The second student (Jackals) was homebound due to a broken foot and through Edmodo and Piktochart, she was able to still participate in class and do the project.

Tree Kangaroos:  https://magic.piktochart.com/output/2093029-tree-kangaroo#

Jackals:  https://magic.piktochart.com/output/2138642-jackals

If you decide to do this project and need help or have questions, don't hesitate to ask for help in the comments.  The most important thing is to have fun while learning!

Book Commercials

For a second culmination project for our persuasive advertising unit, students had to create a book commercial of a favorite book.

While at the library, students chose their favorite books.  They created storyboards using only key details that would grab a viewer's attention.  They had to decide what pictures they wanted and where they would go.  Once the storyboard was done, students used the computers to access Animoto.

Animoto is an amazing web site to use to make simple videos.  As an educator, you can get their plus account for free which allows you to make videos over 30 seconds long.  Once you apply for the account, you will receive a code.  You can use the code for up to 50 accounts.  Since my students are not old enough to have Google accounts, I made Animoto accounts.  If you have a gmail account, you can use "fake" emails to make the accounts by using your email name then + and a number (mrscurt+1@gmail.com).

Having over 50 students, I have found that they have always done a great job in sharing the log-ins and not ruining each other's videos.

First students find pictures to use in their videos.  Then students must choose a theme and song to fit their book.  They upload the pictures and add the text.  After previewing the video, they can choose to produce it or fix it.

In the end, I had the students copy the link to their video and share it in Edmodo.  This allowed all the students in the class to view the videos right in Edmodo, give a reaction, and comment to each other.

This is one of my favorites that I'm especially proud of the ELL student who created.

Invention Madness

Years ago, I listened to an amazing speech at a local conference about advertising that always stuck with me.  Slowly I created and tweaked a persuasive unit on advertising.  Last year I read the book, Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom by Frank Baker.  Two of my favorite parts were the analysis of print ads and cereal boxes.  For homework, students had to bring in an empty cereal box.  Since I don't get many magazines at home nor do my students, I put out a mass email to all the staff asking for old magazines.  I spent days combing though finding appropriate ones and pulling them all out.  Now I have more of each than I can ever use.

Many teachers tweet on the #TLAP Twitter chat about doing March Madness contests.  I was always disappointed that I couldn't find a way to incorporate it into one of my units. Finally, I found a way although it is May.

As one part of the culmination of this unit, students had to create their own inventions using two items that you can buy in the store today.  They had to draw what it would look like.  Using all the persuasive techniques they learned, they had to create a print ad along with a testimonial.

I made a cut off day to be in the competition in hopes that it would boost more students to hand it in early or on time.  I needed 64 inventions to fill the entire madness board but with 72 students I came up short.

I still moved on with the contest.  I put them in plastic sleeves so that each sleeve was the "game".  I liked that no one could see others names and not just vote for their friends although I know they told each other about theirs.

The first round was quite lengthly since students rotated around the room to read and analyze all the inventions.  Between each round, students had to wait two days since we were going to the library every other day to work on our next project that I'll be blogging about next.  They would ask me who won and tried to sneak peaks of the score card.

Each round the students found it more and more difficult.  Some of the ones who made it to the final rounds were great ideas.  I was really rooting for the Washa-Drya-Fold Machine that does all the laundry for you.  I also loved the fact that the name has a Rhode Island accent.  Students favorites were the Glamera (glasses that are also a camera), Conti-Color (contact lenses that change with your mood), Hoverstar (a hoverboard for you and two of your friends), and the Pillorder (a pillow that records and plays back your dreams).  Since we didn't have all the slots filled when we came to a "game" without a competitor I gave students a chance to vote for one that had already lost.

Many winning rounds came down to 2 to 3 votes different.  In the end, the Pillorder won by a landslide 44 to 18.  The winner won a $25 gift card to a store of their choice.

The Winner

Snapshot App in Edmodo - Snapshot not Snapchat

Edmodo just released Snapshot for practice with the Common Core.  I immediately wanted to try it out.  It took only minutes to set up an assignment for the class.

I polled the students to see what they thought of it.  They thought it was easy to use, and they enjoyed it.

I thought it has just enough practice questions for the each standard.  There are more standards ready in math than in English.  To me it is a huge undertaking to have both subjects and all the grades.  Kudos to Edmodo for releasing it while they are still working on it so that we can check it out while we have students in class.

I was most interested in the data that I would receive.  You have your choice to view it by student or standard.  It is color coded to show meets, borderline or below.

I joined a Twitter chat they held about it to give my feedback.  I am hoping that they will make it so you can assign standards by students and not just the class group.  This is would be great so you can move students along at their pace just like the NoRedInk app.