Time is really flying; I cannot believe that it is almost Thanksgiving break.
I do have to apologize for being so delayed in blogging; it just seems that there is so much to do and so little time to get it all accomplished. I need to rewind back to the first week of November and talk about our trip to Washington D.C. before coming forward. As we were getting prepared for our departure it became clear to me that our students thought they were "going on vacation." I felt as if something needed to be done in order for them to realize the relevance of this trip; it was more than a vacation....a whole lot more. Maybe all of my time spent working on my graduate degree is paying off. I wanted to be sure that our students had a vision for the trip; a goal if you will. The problem was that I couldn't quite wrap my brain around the vision, therefore how could I expect them to. I studied the 7th grade curriculum, all the goals and objectives and kept drawing a blank. The more I worked, the deeper I dug, I kept coming back to the idea of our place in the global society. What are the implications of us, citizens of the United States of America, being a part of a global society. On our trip we visited the Lincoln Monument, the WWII Memorial, Jefferson's Monument, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, along with many other sites. It became very clear to me as we traveled that I had chosen the right goal; every memorial, every monument was in some way representative of our interactions with people outside of our native land. Take Thomas Jefferson, for instance, born during the Age of Enlightenment, he was known in Europe as the author of the Declaration of Independence, a title that gained him fervor in the eyes of the Revolutionaries in Europe and the Americas. Thomas Jefferson became the US minister to France when the French Revolution was gaining momentum, Jefferson was a supporter of the French Revolution he even allowed his home to be used as a meeting place for the rebels. As we move forward this school year it is my desire for my students to have a better understanding of our place in the world. I hope they understand that our spoken words, printed words, and our actions do leave a lasting impression on people. It is my hope that we all have a positive impact on our society and not a negative one.
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I apologize for the delay in my last blog; it is such a busy time of year.
Boo Bash was a huge success for our school. I really think that the students embraced our change in activities this year from traditional "scary" theme to the Wizard of Oz theme in honor of the 75th anniversary. One reason that I had delayed in posting was I have been waiting on a copy of a picture of a project that my students made for Boo Bash. I am very proud of their work. It was quite the undertaking, however they managed to pull of a creation of tremendous proportions. My students took an 8x11 photo from the internet of a scene from the Wizard of Oz and transformed it into a 10ftX9ft masterpiece to cover the double doors on the hallway. The piece was gorgeous. The grand thing about the design was...there was no design; it was all free hand. There were about forty different students that worked on the piece, they used construction paper, colored computer paper, and there were a few drawings added in. In the end it looked like a huge patchwork quilt. It was amazing!! The only thing that we decided we would have changed in the end was the size of the yellow brick road, we felt it was not an exact scale considering the size of the final portrait. But, all considering I think it was pretty awesome. Last week we dove head first into writing. We had two pieces that were very important to us. The first was for fun (or so they thought). Our first piece entitled, How to Carve a Pumpkin worked well to prove to students the importance of including details in our writing. When I first gave the assignment on Monday, some laughed and commented they could have that finished in two or three sentences. I politely smiled and said, "Really I am on my third paragraph and I have not even got to the cutting part yet." After removing the look of shock and surprise from their faces a student chimes in, "But Mrs. Bradshaw you put way more detail in your writing I am sure." to which I replied, "Bingo! I am glad you figured it out." Needless to say it did not take long for us to realize that carving a pumpkin is a very detailed process. |
AuthorI am a 8th grade AIG Language Arts teacher. Sometimes I blog about the wonderful epiphanies we have in our classroom and then sometimes I blog as a means to reflect on my teaching. Archives
December 2015
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A few words from me...
I appreciate you stopping in to read my thoughts and opinions on various things including reading strategies, tips and tricks, the things that went right, and the things that went horribly wrong.