ISI 2006

The Homework for August 18th is as follows:
Period 1: None
Period 2: Map of Maya Empire/Yucatan Penninsula
Period 4: None
Period 5: Timeline of your life (prewrite) Just complete the Time Line
Period 6: One page, three paragraph rough draft story of an event from your timeline.

Labels: First Week of School 2011

The first day went well with the exception of one glitch. I collected the Procedures and Rules from the students and there is a quiz on the information tomorrow. I am posting it here and will allow time for review tomorrow. Here it is!


What do I do at the beginning of class? Wait quietly outside in a line. Ms. Marshall will invite you into the classroom and you will take your assigned seat quietly. Bring out your Time Trackers and write down the homework.

How do I know what the homework is? It is written on the board under “Homework.”

How do I know what we are doing today? It is written on the board under the word, “Agenda.”

What if my pencil breaks? Hold the pencil up and when Ms. Marshall says it’s okay, sharpen it. Please do not sharpen a pencil while Ms. Marshall or a student is talking.

What do I do when I hear an emergency alarm? Wait and listen for directions from Ms. Marshall.

What do I do if I finish my work early? Place the completed class work in the tray for your period and return to your seat to work on homework for this class before you do work for another class. You may also read a book.

What do I do if I have a question? Raise your hand. Please be respectful of the need for quiet in our classroom and never call out answers or questions.

What do I do if I need to go to the bathroom? I prefer that you make every effort to go to the bathroom during lunch; however, if you find you need to be excused, raise your hand, sign out and back in on the clipboard at back of the room.

What if I’m absent? Check the “While you were out,” file for the day you missed. Check the website for the homework.

What do I do when class is over? Ms. Marshall will say, “Go in peace.” Please do not pack up or get out of your seat before those words are spoken.

Rules for Room 28
1. Please raise your hand before you speak.
2. Please stay in your assigned seat when Ms. Marshall is speaking.
3. Please do not chew gum or eat anything in Room 28. Water is allowed so feel free to bring a water bottle.
4. Please be respectful of Ms. Marshall and your classmates.
5. Please take pride in your work and always do your personal
best.
Consequences for breaking the rules:
First: Warning --Name on board and you come after school
Second: Name on board, fifteen minutes after school and complete a behavior reflection sheet
Third: 30 minutes after school and complete a behavior reflection form
Fourth: Referral to Vice Principal and phone call home.
Any severe disruption will result in an immediate referral to the Vice Principal.
Rewards:
You will learn more and become successful
No names on the board will earn your class thirty minutes of free time on Friday

I, _____________________________ understand the rules and agree to follow them.

Labels: First Day Adendum

Greetings Students and Parents,
I am ready and excited about the on coming year. Parents often ask how they can help their students. I am the adult mother of three college students, formerly middle schoolers,and I've given that request some thought. I think what is difficult is not knowing what the homework is or when a large research project is due. So . . .
Homework:
Mine follows a pattern. On Monday it is always a green Rebecca Sitton Spelling and Grammar worksheet and your student us ti complete the Review side.
Tuesday is always the back of the same worksheet
Wednesday it is a journal entry in response to what your student read in S.Q.U.I.R.T. (Super Quiet Uninterrupted Reading Time) . The journal entry is written in your student's Source Book which is provided by me.
Thursday is always a journal entry written into your Student's Source Book. Friday there is no homework.

Research projects: Late September: Maya, Inca, Aztec Posters are due.
Late September we will read The Outsiders and write an essay in response to it in class.
Late March we will do research on jobs in the Middle Ages.
Late April we will research Renaissance Men

I hope this is helpful. I will update this blog every Friday to let you know what we're doing. The best way to contact me is by email and I welcome your comments. I can be reached through Mycabrillo.com at Cmarshall-smith@scusd.net.

I look forward to hearing from you and having an enriching year with your student in my room.
Catherine Marshall-Smith

Labels: Fall 2011

So dissappointing to get my hopes up that my little school district was going to do something more sensible about writing instruction and assessment. More of the same old same old and next week I have to sit through another inter rater reliability training. Those don't work. I want to send the research that proves how wishy-washy inter rater reliabiltiy is, if I had it at my fingertips, to all the staff and to the curriculum director.

I didn't even get an answer to my email when the proposal for an afterschool writing workshop for teachers went by the wayside with starting school. I had to write and say let's try again next year when there was no plan or calendar confirmation. I felt very under-valued and can still work up a bit of a pout about it, except that I am too busy.

So much inertia in education and it is one of the forces that exhausts people. It drains the creative spirit, that's for sure. That's why veteran teachers and surviving new teachers often hole up in their own little classrooms -- just to get by and not waste bullets on ridiculous ideas like educational reform.

I feel like I was taken. The most gullible Pollianna this side of the Mississippi, I'd say.

My consolation? At least writing is beginning to happen in an organic way in my classroom, though this week we had to jam in a district prompt that wasn't appropriate for the beginning of the year...but, what else is new?

Why bother trying to improve things around you? I notice some of the best "collaboration" is when my teacher cohorts and I accidentally talk about something at lunch and a book gets shared or some bit of idea...

Writing Cats & Dogs: Mini-series Teachers Writing Project

Hi ISI writers,
If you want ideas for warm-ups and drama exercises in mime see my blog, Writing Cats and Dogs.
How are you doing on planning and getting ready for school? Remember the SUNSHINE!
Laura

I have to admit, I feel a bit lazy. My summer habits do not extend to the adventures that I have seen written about here. I read (and this year I am doing the internet surfing thing, as I think I am ready to make the jump to a blog and podcasts this year). Has anybody read Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, by Guy Claxton? It was published in 1997. Interesting stuff. He proposed three kinds of thinking; split-second decisions, reasoned long-range thought and musings. Of course, the book is about the last. He claims this is where creativity comes from. This undefined, introspective, non-linear comtemplation. Further, that school learning does its best to snuff out this kind of thought. I am not finished with the book yet. I wondered if anyone else had heard of it.

Hi ISI friends,
I am writing a proposal for my district to have an invitational after school writing workshop for K-8 teachers. Besides building in a budget for vast amounts of fruit salad, I'd like to hear from you what elements to make sure I include. I'm thinking we'll meet whole group and then in small (ala afternoon writing groups) groups for a time period in the fall and in the early spring. Then have a celebration, maybe in May.

Our curriculum supervisor mainly wants more collegiality and the experience to filter into the classroom and positively affect student writing. I want to try out some of the best of Lucy Calkins.

What, besides offering units or hours of professional development should I say? If it were yours, what would you do?
:-) Thank you for feedback.