A Few Ideas for the New Year That I Am Trying

Every year, a few new ideas surface over summer that I just cannot wait to try. A few ideas that make me even more excited for the kids to come, if that was even possible. These ideas are not tried and tested yet, how can they be since summer still beckons, but I thought I would share them anyway in case they are ideas that maybe others want to explore as well? Or perhaps you want to share some of your own ideas as well? Either way, here are a few things happening in my head and in our classroom, room 203.

Ready-Set-Go conferences. These conferences are nothing new, but I have never done them at the middle school level. The concept is simple; offer up a 15 minute time slot ( or longer if you can) to every family that would like to meet with us before the year starts in order to give us a sneak peek into their child’s hopes and dreams. This is not for us to talk, but for us to listen as we meet the families that will be impacted by their child’s school experience with us. I also am pondering offering up “open office” time at a local coffeeshop for those who do not want to go into the school – thank you, Mindy, for that idea. I cannot wait to see how many are able and want to take this opportunity.

First writing unit is all about writing identity. While I do a lot of work with the kids surrounding reading identity, our exploration into who we are as writers has been piecemeal in the past few years. Not this year, our entire first exploration is an inquiry into who they are as writers, being mindful of privacy and how comfortable they are sharing anything, and picking up their journey wherever they are. This will center around personal essays/memoir and also feature a portfolio rather than one finished product. We will go slow, and hopefully, develop trust for writing instruction to truly be centered around not just the needs of each child but also how they hope to grow. And, it will take the time it takes.

Writing Circles. I was thrilled when I learned about the use of writing circles as a way to develop authentic writing partnerships in the book Comprehension & Collaboration by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey “Smokey” Daniels. Now, I want to implement this great idea into our writing throughout the year. Centered on the same concepts as literature circles, writing circles offers each child a unique opportunity to write with others around the same topic, or in the same format, writing alongside each other offering up critique and feedback throughout the process. This is trust based and so the students will get to select their first writing circles to see how they work for them and then I will help them adjust as we go. I am hoping this will provide students with a more natural collaborative group throughout the year that can help them grow as writers, rather than only having a few opportunities throughout the year to work with others. I will probably write more about this as I go.

Pairing book talks with author videos. Every day for the first month, I do a very short book talk every day in the hope that students will find great books to read. (After the first month, students start to do them as well, but they continue all year). This year, after our quick book talk, I will show a short video of the author speaking about the book, their writing process, or just being interviewed in general. This will serve a few purposes; students will see what the creators look like and hopefully connect with their work on a deeper level, seeing authors speak about their books can generate further excitement, and also, representation matters. When I am searching for author videos, Youtube or TeachingBooks.net are great places to start, I am further reminding myself that we should be highlighting the works of underrepresented authors and creators. With older works, I will search for audio recordings.

Supplies for all. I have always had extra supplies ready for kids, but in the past they had to ask for them because I didn’t really have space for them anywhere. Not this year, after heading to the Dollar Store, I am ready with several hundreds of pencils, erasers, post-its, markers, glue etc and they will be set out for the students to just grab when they need. No more needing to ask the teacher, just get what you need, bring it back if you remember, and then get to work. Most kids won’t need them, some will need them a lot, and others will need them once in a while and I am okay with that.

Group writing. We offer up a free writing prompt every day at the end of class, so that kids get a chance to either work on writing of their choice or do the prompt displayed, this is a way for them to continue to develop their writing and also dive into topics that they want to write about. This year, I am purposefully adding in opportunities to write as a group on Friday’s, I am hoping this practice will strengthen their writing circles as well as they will create together. (Writing will take many forms – acting out, drawing, and other multi-media expressions will also be included).

Incorporating an often overlooked history focus. I used to do a meme a day on our morning slide, which most of the kids found mildly amusing, but realized that the morning slide that greets kids is yet another opportunity to highlight the important work of historical figures that may have been overlooked in some of their lives until now. So every day, along with my welcome, will be a historical fact that abut an event or a person that they may not already know. On Fridays, we are also incorporating a small segment called Overlooked History where I use videos to start a discussion about historical events and people such as the Doctrine of Discovery, The Navajo Code Talkers, Henrietta Lacks, Japanese Internment Camps and many others.

While there are many more ideas being explored this year, these are just a few that I am slowly developing in order for them to feel naturally embedded into our classroom culture. I am hoping that this year, once again, is a year filled with questions, curiosity, and also work that means something beyond “just” reading and writing. I hope that what we do will matter more than just the grades, but time will truly tell.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.