Blocking out a block

Each beginning school year, I put a lot of thought and effort into planning and structure.  Especially switching  from 60 minute periods to 90 min blocks, I played a lot of trial and error over the years.   This past school year, I feel like I implemented a plan that works and is worth sharing.  I spent a lot of time exploring options and compiling resources with my professor and friend, Emily.  She challenged to do what I know works with kids and trust my instincts.  I believe it is important for every educator (& professional for that matter!) to have a person who does this for you.  Find someone to talk through ideas, flesh out your creativity, and challenge your thinking. 

The end result looked something like this:

90 minute block Reading-LA (grades 6-8)

20 min SSR (silent sustained reading) students read silently and completed varied forms of accountability). I conducted individual reading conferences or circulated the room asking questions or asking students to read to me.

15 min warm up- alternate vocab/ grammar or combination 

I used Caught Ya Grammar: Giggles in the Middle, I also like Everyday Edits

5 mini TCAP review-1 daily grade & subj specific multiple choice question to review test taking strategies... Gradual release from teacher led to student led

50 min mini lesson- content specific mini lessons

This portion of the day varied depending on our classroom goals. 

Typically, a week looked something like this-

Day 1- hook- guiding questions to peak interest, and/or digital hook 

Intro vocab... (Vocab pulled from text to be read hat week and/or greek/latin roots) Discuss students' prior understandings of word meanings prior to exploring meaning, flashing images/videos for students to develop a definition as a class, students create a chart or table to record word, meaning, image/symbol, related words/ideas. (Revisit vocab daily during warm up or ad we encounter these words in the text)

Day 2 & 3-  introduce text to be read that week, preview length of text, genre, images 

Develop a purpose for reading, it could to explore, for entertainment, to gather and sort info, etc. this purpose ties into the objective and standard being taught. 

Begin by modeling. Usually, I would read the first paragraph of the shared text and demonstrate how I would sort and record the information I found. Then, students may join in reading and together we would practice the skill. Finally, students try this in partners or groups. 

We continue this structure with checkpoints as we go.

Day 3 & 4- putting it all together. I assign students a project- based task.  Usually, this was a writing task or a chart with textual evidence. It may have been a group project or research skills.  Either way, I introduce the task on day 3, providing a checklist or a rubric. Students continue reading the assigned text and complete the task by day 5. Day 4 would act as a working day, I would meet with groups to checkpoint their progress/ address questions/ clear misconceptions.  

Day 5- rotating small groups/assessment/complete weekly task(s) depending on what needed to be done. I usually created my assessment based on the vocab from the text, grammar skill, and reading skill taught that week.  Once finished, students could have time to complete, or fix, any weekly tasks with my input.  

While there  is much more to each part, this became my bare boned structure each week.  The routine itself became second nature and my students were the ones who kept me on track and on time.  I would vary the genre and try to blend fiction & non-fiction.  Challenging students with tasks that crossed over texts and genres blended well with Common Core.  Because of this structure, I noticed an increase in student time on task, more work placed on the students, and I was less burned out come Friday.  I would use this same structure again in a heartbeat.  I encourage other teachers to try and shift pieces of a class structure around until it fits your teaching style and the needs of your students. Flexibility and innovation are key!

No one likes to talk about the bad days

It's easy to blog about the good days, the joy of life. It's not so easy to be honest about the real emotions and hormonal pinball machine your heart and mind are thrown into.

The joy of motherhood is real.  It is the most amazing gift on earth.  Her little hands and feet mesmerize me.  Every noise or interaction is like a first step.  I am incredibly thankful to be home with my daughter for the first months of her life.  I know these are moments I will never have again. 

The bad days are real too.  It doesn't discredit the joys mentioned above... I won't let them. They are real for everyone, but for a new mom the baby blue days happen. You don't want to talk about it.  You don't want people to think you aren't joyful and happy and on cloud 9.  I was! I am! but, I still had/have bad days.  The more we don't talk about those days, the more everyone else feels like they are crazy and alone.  

I have learned to claim my bad moments and days.  To own them, to admit them, and to talk about them.  Then, I try to counteract them.  Does this always work? No. But usually it helps just a little bit.

My bad days are on rainy days... like yesterday.  I don't like to be stuck inside or to get wet in the rain.  Lately, getting outside is a big deal. (But I can walk in the mall and park under a parking deck!)

My bad days are when I don't feel like a good mom.  When she cries and I don't know why... when I go too long without feeding her.  When I miss my freedom.  When I just can't lift/load/carry that incredibly heavy car seat.  (But I am doing the best I can every day.  I have people in my life that I can text or call and admit I don't feel like a good mom.)

My bad days are when I can't wear anything in my closet pre baby.  When I read that pinterest blog "I was thinner than pre pregnancy at 4 weeks" and I secretly hate that girl I don't know.  (But I look at this sweet baby girl and know my body held her for 9 months and she is healthy and beautiful and I stick with my T shirt and thank god for those elastic black pants.)

My bad days are when I actually find time to run an errand and the lady at Walgreens is having a bad day too.  (I forget I'm not the only one who has them.)

My bad days are when I accidentally spill just a spot of that liquid gold and I cry a little. (There is nothing that counteracts spilled milk.)

My bad days are when I think about going back to work because I love my job and cry thinking about it. (Then I'm thankful for a husband who supports my decision and loves me because I am wired to be a working mom.)

My bad days are when I cry. For no reason in particular and I don't want to cry, but I cry, then little one cries and crying doesn't actually feel foreign anymore. And it can be anything really. That stupid Mother's Day publix commercial or someone dying on Grey's Anatomy or anyone having a baby in a movie or on tv. (Tears are purposeful, but sometimes have no explanation... So I let them happen.)

My bad days aren't days really... they are moments. They don't counteract my good days and my good weeks.  I don't let them. My joy is so much bigger than my bad moments.  I had this huge realization when my daughter was about 3 weeks old and I was in the hardest days... this is the most joyous time of my life.  I can let it pass by in a blur of my tears or I can embrace these days that are joyous.  Joy was my choice.  It is daily.  It isn't easy and perhaps I am writing this to remind myself of my choice. Some days my choice is to cry and to have a bad day.  It. is. ok.  Tomorrow is new and different and it might be another bad day, but at least it's a new day.  I wish I had the perfect verse for the exact moments of these days. And of course there are many, but the only one that came to my mind over and over again was He makes all things new.  Newness doesn't erase the previous.  It just starts over.  Life is new. Babies are new and sweet and smell good. Days are new, moments are new.  I can't make them new. I can't start the day over, or produce life on my own.  But My God who is so great and mighty can.  He can start it over and start new life and it is amazing and fresh and beautiful.

He makes all things new.


*Disclaimer- Every woman is different and experiences emotions in different ways. This is simply my journey in trying to cope and figure it all out. 

Pause

Being home on maternity leave has allowed me time to love on my sweet girl and has surprisingly allowed me to learn so much about myself.  If you know me, you know I love to be around people.  I crave conversation and relationship.  I hate quiet or stillness.  I am that girl.  I don't like awkward silence or nap time.  I want noise and fun and entertainment.

Until recently.  Being home causes me to be still.  Every day I try to limit my tv/Netflix time as much as possible.  Those things will always be there, these days will not.  I read this devotional blog this morning about rest and the Sabbath outlined in the bible...

"It's all about pausing and connecting with God without the distracting chaos of our everyday routines. For one day a week, we step out of the fray and let God direct our day according to His rhythm, not ours....  Taking one day for rest gives my soul the freedom it so desperately needs. Freedom to breathe. Space to breathe. Inhaling and exhaling in a gentle rhythm set by God." Lisa TerKeurst 

It totally hit home with me... Our society, our world, thrives off busyness.  We find silence and rest uncomfortable... I sure do. When God has prescribed medicine for our addiction to that busyness of life- it's rest and quietness.  In that is when we are actually able to soul search, we allow God to set that pace of life that is so contradictory to what we are told is good.  

So in this phase of my life, I find goodness in the quiet of our little home.  A house is being built two doors down and I actually enjoy the sound of hammering and trucks in and out.  The little coos and squeaks Sydney makes during her nap fill my heart.  That noise machine is soothing for both of us!  I actually listen to birds chirping and rain or wind outside.  And in those sounds and moments of my new mommy days, I am reminded of how great and powerful our God is. Breathing and listening and not doing a lot is just as fulfilling as my busy life once was.