Middle School: Week 3

            This week my class got switched around. The 8^th grade finished their common assessment and the 7^th grade started taking a practice PARCC test which I got to watch the students do and see what kind of questions are going to be on the PARCC.

            To start off with the PARCC, the 8^th grade was given packets with biographies on Amelia Earhart. This is unlike the real PARCC which will be digitally given. After the students read the biographies on their own, they then had to answer questions which had the students making inferences and removing in formation from the text, then they had to give a short written answer to a question about the struggle that Earhart had to go through. This PARCC test is looking pretty tough and involved and I wonder how the students will fare in the future when they have to take the real PARCC test.

            Moving on to the 8^th grade, this week they started a book called Nothing but the Truth by Avi. This book poses some questions about school rules and student-teacher relationships. It also poses the question of “What is truth?” Each class started off with an activity called a carousel where they walk around the room in groups answer questions posted on chart paper around the room. The questions read, “What is patriotism?”, “What is Truth?”, “What is respect?”, and “What are some rights as a young adult that you think you should have, but do not?” The first time this lesson was done my cooperating teacher was being evaluated by the Vice Principal and the lesson went very well. I was walking around the room helping students to answer the questions and prepare for the discussion on the questions that would follow the activity. The students were also given home-made writing journals that the students could use to answer questions on the text. My cooperating teacher learned how to make these at the RIWP Spring Conference!

            When the next 8^th grade class came in, I got the opportunity to run the carousel and the following discussion. This class has some behavior issues and during discussion it got off topic a few times, and I was able to corral them back into the lesson pretty well. Overall I think I had a lot of fun doing this and I am helping my fear of middle school a little.

            On Friday the class I was in split up into their reading groups that are dictated by their reading scores. I sat in with one of the groups and even read a few parts myself a loud. This was a lot of fun and I got to see students helping each other figure out hard words that they fumbled over. They were doing this in such a nice way that warmed me right up and I’m smiling now that I’m reflecting on it. I’m really excited to teach my self-made lessons this coming week!