Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde -- November book choice

Pay It Forward

By: Catherine Ryan Hyde

As I was sitting here trying to figure out what book I needed to tackle for the month of November I came across the book 'Pay It Forward' that some how did not make it from my bedroom book pile into my classroom. 

I began doing some research about the book and found some really good discussion questions on www.litlovers.com. 

Discussion Questions
1. When Trevor first presents his Pay-It-Forward plan—as a way to change the world for the better—many dismiss it. Why? What does their dismissal say about Trevor's plan and what does it say about those wrote it off? Would you have dismissed Pay-It-Forward? (Be objective—pretend you've just learned of Trevor's project for the first time. What would have been your initial reaction?)

2. Eventually, Pay-It-Forward begins to work, creating a chain reaction and becoming a Movement. Why does the concept take hold? What is it about the plan that inspires people? Describe its basic idea and give it another name (rather than pay-it-forward).

3. Talk about Reuben St. Claire. What kind of teacher is he...and what kind of human being? Why might the author have created a character with a severe facial disfigurement? And what's the irony behind the name, St. Claire? Does he live up to his name?

4. What about Arlene, Trevor's mother? What kind of character is she? What does Trevor see in her that makes him believe, at heart, that she's a worthy individual who deserves better than she's got.

5. The story is told through various point-of-view devices: first- and third-person narrators, book excerpts, interview transcripts, journal entries, and central character shifts. Do Hyde's narrative techniques work? Do they enhance the story or make it confusing? Why might she have chosen to structure the novel in the way she did?

6. What about the book's ending? Sad, yes, but satisfying? Does Trevor become a martyr? Would you have preferred a different ending?

7. The figure of Chris, the journalist, and his role in the Movement is curious. Given our media culture, would Trevor's Pay-it-Forward plan have become a Movement without media attention? Will people recognize the inherent goodness of something, give it significance, unless it's surrounded by hype or media saturation? (A cynical, but perhaps an important, question.) Can you find examples either way?

8. If you were asked to come up with a project to make the world a better place...what ideas would you come up with?

9. Do you personally follow the Pay-it-Forward philosophy? Does this book inspire you—make you more aware of what you, individually, or all of us, collectively, could do—to improve the world?

10. Is this a religious book?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

Best I can tell there are a couple of versions of the book, one that is recommended for upper elementary students and one that has been adjusted for high school students. Since I teach 5th grade I am going with the version pictured above.

Of course I purchased my book from www.scholastic.com. It is clearly a site that I have an unnatural addiction to and will probably one day cause me to go bankrupt (kidding)! 

I am thinking this will be an excellent read aloud for my 5th graders for the month of November. Sticking with the theme of Caring (our Character Word for November) I think that this book will provide us with some great life lessons, character education opportunities, writing lessons in that the teacher gives her students the assignment of coming up with a plan to change the world. 

Stay tuned to find out what we do with this book!!!! 

Gearing up for some Honesty...with a capital H!

I HATE Daily 5 in my 5th grade classroom.

There I said it. HATE...HATE...HATE! With a capital H!

To me this is not a reading program but a classroom management system that just doesn't seem to work for me or my students. It feels like a waste of time. It feels like a lot of lost opportunities and busy work. It feels like a complete failure everyday. It feels like a gimmick. 

Now please do not get me wrong, I think the Daily 5 concepts work great in lower elementary grades. I think it provides a great structure to get them use to stamina and provides a break in the reading hour and a half that we have to do this but in 5th grade it just seems a little "childish". Move to stations, read for 20 minutes, if you look around too long we have to stop and practice (because we have time for that), you need to be writing for 20 minutes...write the whole time.

Well what do you do when you have students that just can't.

It isn't in their genetic make-up to be able to focus for 20 minutes.

They practice great. Practice for 20 days and in that 20 days it looks great but what do you do and how do you monitor what they are doing when you are working in small groups and they are in a corner? 

Am I just doing it wrong?

It seems to never fail when my principal comes in to evaluate there is always someone "off task". Am I not providing enough engaging activities? 

Truth be told that my experience with this program and my training consists of...here, read this book and implement the program. 

I need help.

I need ideas.

I need to figure this out before I lose my mind.

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated because I am drowning!

P.S. We do DRA levels. I have 28-80s in my classroom.

DRA 28 - 1 student

DRA 30 - 1 student

DRA 38 - 5 students

DRA 40 - 2 students

DRA 50 - 2 students

DRA 60 - 2 students

DRA 70 - 1 student

DRA 80 - 4 students

A5 Filofax Malden with Erin Condren inserts!

Filofax: A5 Malden

     So I have been working out of my ECLP until recently when I decided that I needed to move back into my Filofax. My ECLP was working great, I was using it everyday and keeping it up-to-date the best that I could but I kept having this guilty feeling rush over me when I walked by my Filofax. 

     I think it was the fact that here I spent a lot of money on this planner, carried it for a few months and then abandoned it for another planner. So I decided to combine my ECLP into my Filofax! I had to watch a lot of videos to get my self psyched up to actually pull my planner apart. My last ECLP i pulled apart and used it for meal planning but it was over the summer, I just pulled apart a few pages, and it worked...however, I was planning on pulling EVERYTHING apart.

     I cut up my customized cover. gasp....stress....no looking back now.

     My from and back cover are now hole punched and sitting in my Filofax...I have to say that Erin Condren uses some really strong material to hold together her custom planner covers. I couldn't punch it. I had to have my husband punch it and even then it took him some effort to punch through. Although in his defense the hole punch I was using was a single punch that at times struggles to punch thru 5 pieces of paper. 

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!!!!

      I was only going to tear out a couple of months to get myself started but I teach 5th grade and I am a mother of two boys with very active Spring baseball and Lacrosse schedules I found that I needed to carry with me an entire school year. (I probably should carry June and July but I am holding out until at least January). 

     

     Thanks for stopping by, I would love for you to become a follower! Leave a comment! It all makes me smile!

Stay tuned for my walk-thru of my ECLP in my Filofax post!

     

Erin Condren products in Staples??? WTH?

     So I have purchased a few Erin Condren life planners over the years and I also use the Erin Condren Lesson Plan book. Each June/July I spend hours on her website shopping around trying to figure out exactly what I need and what I cannot live without. My bill usually averages around $175, give or take.
     I love her products. I love being apart of the Erin Condren community of teachers and planners. I love the quality of her work. I HATE that I walked into Staples earlier this week and discovered that I can purchase her items from a box store.
     I am very happy for this company for their recent expansion into the main stream market. I am very happy for this company that they have been able to work out a deal so that their product reaches more people. I am not very happy that this no longer feels like an exclusive club. Yep, I said it. Deep down inside of me I really liked that there was a community of people that knew about Erin Condren and for those that didn't they needed to do some research and find out. I liked that my planner would come in the mail. I liked that I would get emails about when the lesson plan books would be back in stock.
     I understand that when you walk into Staples, you get what you get. There is no customization. Product selection is limited. However, this year for my LP I ordered a customized cover...so why would I need to go back to her website to order my LP when I can walk into Staples and grab the plain generic one and walk out the someday?
     I know that this should not feel like a betrayal, it should not feel like a sale-out...but it does.

I LoVe Erin Condren products. However, I am going to have to do some research on the benefit of purchasing from her website versus going into the Big Box Store and picking up a generic planner. I mean, I have already purchased a customized LP cover.

All items pictured above were purchased by me on the Erin Condren website in 2015. I love everything that I purchased. I am not complaining about the quality of her product. I will be a returning customer.

My dislike is that her products are now available in a Box Store.

My dislike is that I no longer will have the need to anxiously wait for her products to become available on her website.

I JUST HAVE TO DRIVE TO THE STORE AND PICK THEM UP. UGH

I understand that in some regions her products have been in the store for sometime, please note that I live in Missouri and our store only recently started carrying her products. 

The Bully Book by Eric Kahn Gale

 At the end of school this year I was flipping through the scholastic book order to see what I needed to purchase for next school year and I came across 'The Bully Book' by Eric Kahn Gale. Our school district will be implementing a new Character Education program for the 2015-2016 school year so my first thought was, "hey, maybe this could be something I could use." but didn't really give it much thought after I placed the order.

 I have had this book sitting at my house since May and it was only today that I picked it up to see what it was about. Curiosity got the better of me when I was searching for the DRA level and discovered it is a DRA 50, which is what 5th graders need to be at by the end of the 5th grade year (score one for this purchase).

 Eric Kahn Gale does an amazing job of drawing you into the character, relating to the character and eventually routing for the character. I am now in search for his other book, 'The Zoo At the End of the World'

http://www.erickahngale.com

Eric Haskins, the new sixth-grade bully target, is searching for answers, and unexpectedly finds them in a chilling manual for bullies. "Gripping."—Publishers Weekly

Illinois Reads Selection 2014

"A compelling and unusual look at a complex and intractable problem that succeeds admirably as story as well."
- Kirkus Reviews

"A layered and attention grabbing mystery, Gale's accounts of bullying are subtle and chilling, but readers will finish the book believing that the humiliations Eric suffers can be conquered."
- Publisher's Weekly

Note: At the beginning of the book the characters have a couple of questionable comments that if using this as a read aloud I will skip over or rephrase so that I can avoid 5th graders comments and/or the use of that verbiage in my classroom the rest of the year. Questionable comments: 1. page 12 "He put his hand over his crotch and said, "Don't look at my nuts, man." 2. Throughout the book the term "gaywad" is used in reference to the main character by the bullies.

Tech conference happiness = I'm a big nerd!

I have been invited onto a Tech committee for my school district. We are going to meet once a month to discuss different ways we can incorporate technology into our daily classrooms. I have also been given the opportunity to become a Google Certified Educator! So with that being said I got to go to the 26th annual RCET Conference in Springfield, MO on March 3rd and 4th held at Missouri State University -- my husbands alma mater.

The first day was great, the weather was cold but they had made arrangements with Missouri State University to shuttle us from the parking garage to the student union so time spent in the cold was very minimal.

Pre-conference Session:

8:30-10:00
Give Your Reading and Writing a Tech Boost
Presenters: Larissa Bray and Melissa Golder from Washington Public Schools

These girls were amazing! Their energy was high, their passion was inspiring and I walked out of there with a fire in my belly that I didn't want to go away! AND everything they showed us is FREE!
(smore.com has some cost involved)

Here is their link: www.techboost.weebly.com

We learned about:
Structure and Organization
blendspace
schoology
google classroom
Reading Tools:
NEWSELA - Newsela is an amazing resource if you are looking for non-fiction articles for your students. There are two types of accounts: Free & Pro.  The pro version does give you some excellent features (assignment creation, quizzes that are aligned to reading standards, annotation features), but this version is quite pricey.
Diigo - Diigo is a great resource for teaching student to annotate or to use Close reading strategies when they read. Diigo has a bookmarklet also that students and teachers can add to their web browser toolbar for easy and quick access. You can also use Diigo with Newsela (free version) and still have the ability to annotate grade-leveled non-fiction articles! Diigo can also be used when researching with your students so all of their important facts are all located in one spot.
LearnZillion - Learn Zillion is a great resource to use when in need of a lesson on ELA or Math concepts.  All lessons are created by teachers for teachers and are all aligned to CCSS.  It is super easy to set up classes and students.  Once students are put into a course then you can assign students specific lessons completely individualizing their learning.
Literably - Literably is an amazing resource to help with running records for teachers. Students read a passage that is recorded (via a microphone or a computer with a microphone). The teacher sends that in to Literably and within 24 hours a running record is sent to teachers with specific information about that student's miscue analysis, accuracy, rate, and comprehension.
Storyline Online - Storyline Online has well-known celebrities who read a children's book to students.  The reading is recorded and teachers can choose from many different children's book titles, specific authors, and even readers. This resource typically goes up to about a 4th grade reading level, but could easily be used in other grades also as a listening station or a compare/contrast lesson.
Lit2Go - Lit2Go is a free online collection of short stories and poems in an audiobook format (MP3).  With each passage there is an abstract, citation, playing time, and word count. In addition, many of the passages have a specific reading strategy that can be tied to that story or poem. Each passage can be downloaded as a PDF and printed. This would allow for Close reading strategies and analyzing of the passages.
Writing Tools:
LinoIt - Do you love "Post-It" notes? What if you had a digital version of a "Post-It"? That is exactly what Lino-it is; a digital cork-board where you can put "Post-its". Lino-it takes it even further, though, and allows you to collaborate with others and then what you have is a great brainstorming tool for students.  You can also add images, videos, and other items to the cork-board to share ideas. There is also a Lino-it app for both Android and IOS devices!
Padlet - Padlet is a lot like Lino-it. This is an area where multiple people/students are able to post ideas, thoughts, or to house information on a specific topic. Padlet is embeddable and has just created a Padlet Backpack version for teachers.  The Backpack version is $45 per year, but has unlimited amount of student accounts for free. 
Schoology - We have talked about using Schoology as a way to organize your class, but it can also be a great tool for writing. In Schoology, the teacher has the ability to create a discussion board where students can respond to a prompt, an open-ended question, or to one another on a topic. If you create a discussion board it is recommended that you talk with your students about appropriate behavior and writing standards before just letting them go.  This will help you with less headaches later! 
Storybird - Storybird is an amazing tool that allows students to create their own stories or books! Storybird has artwork available to use from illustrators around the world. Students can choose an illustration to help them get started or even create their own to use. This resources will have students excited about writing.
WeVideo - WeVideo is a video creating tool that anyone can use with ease.  There are three different views depending on a students skills with video editing. WeVideo uses drag-n-drop technology that allows for quick and easy editing. 
Smore - Smore is a great tool and allows you to use it in many different ways. You can have students create an infographic, digital poster, newsletter, movie poster, and the list could go on and on. It is very easy to use so no matter what grade you teach your students will be able to use this! 

Now do you see why this presentation would be SO exciting to attend!

I do hope they present next year and I get to go!

@braylarissa and @melissagold

#techboost

10:15 - 11:45

What Google Can Do For You

Presenter: Klista Rader - 21 Vision Education

Link to presentation: www.toolsbygoogle.weebly.com

We  learned different ways to search within Google. We created Custom Searches that would be safe for students instead of giving them free range of the internet. 

I did learn that you can search based on reading abilities:

Basic is 5th grade level text

Intermediate is 8th grade level text

Advanced is Post-Secondary level text

**To be honest, this presenter spoke so fast and clicked through the screens that myself and those sitting around me got so far behind that we will have to venture out on our own to put together the ideas she was sharing. I thought this was interesting because she kept referring to how fast she was talking but never slowed down.

***Needless to say that fire in my belly was starting to extinguish, this session was frustrating and I was lost. On a teacher note -- I got to feel what some students probably feel in my class when I introduce a new concept that others pick up on right away and they didn't. HOPELESSNESS was a very frustrating and depressing feeling. 

1:00 - 2:30

Getting Stated with Google Classroom

Presenter: Amy Layton Walker - Marionville Public Schools

Link to presentation: http://goo.gL/88z8s5

She also discussed YouTube Downloader. If you work in a district that blocks student access to youtube, this app allows the teacher to download the video and then attach it to a document so students can watch the desired video.

She also discussed iRubric app -- this is an amazing app!

Other discussion topics were QR Codes (probably not something I can use in my 5th grade classroom but a great tool for secondary teachers and also a great way for administration to get notes out to faculty.) She also showed us how to use URL shortener and extensions. 

She was a great presenter and very enthusiastic, made me want to be a student in her Spanish classes!

She was so good I stayed for her second presentation...

2:45 - 4:15

Google Sites + Google Classroom = Virtual Classroom Resources

Presenter: Amy Layton Walker - Marionville Public Schools

Link to presentation: http://goo.gL/DrVYsu

Link to her personal blog: www.walkerstechtips.blogspot.com

We created our classroom site, I had already created one before attending this seminar but she was able to help me tweak it a lot!! 

Tips, Tricks, and Tidbits she shared:

Google Drive allows you to share an entire folder with students, not just a file.

lucid chart, lucidpress, docs, sheets, forms, slides, and drawing allows collaboration between students and teacher.

Chrome Time Savers:

Alt + Enter = open new tab for websites

Ctrl + W = Close all tabe

Crtl +Shift + T = Reopens tabs (you can do this over and over if you accidentally close out of too many tabs) 

Ctrl + H = access browser history 

Select the desired tab and click and Hold the back button to access individual browser history.

To search in the same tab highlight text and drag to Omnibox

Extensions:

Voice Search

Clearly

Magic Scroll

Panic Button

Nimbus Screenshot

Non Chrome Extensions:

Plickers

Kahoot

Lingt

Remind101

deMobo

MoveNote

VideoNot.es

Another link to a presentation: http://goo.gL/xdwTvv.qr

Day 2 of the conference was CrAzY

We had a winter storm system that hit early that morning. Our keynote address was suppose to be delivered by a group of high school students from Green Forest East in Arkansas, however due to weather they were unable to make it. They did send a video of their presentation and they did an amazing job. 

That morning they gave us a list of all the seminars that were cancelled due to the weather and unfortunately most of the ones I wanted to go to were on that list. 

Overall, I had an amazing experience. It probably would have been more enjoyable if other teachers or staff from my district were there. I did see one of our tech people and got to talk to her for a minute . I ended up leaving after lunch due to the fact that the presentations that were left I had either  gone to the day before or they were geared toward administration and tech controllers. Also, my boys schools called off school early due to weather. (I am sitting here on a snow day because the roads were so bad).

Brave enough to admit it, strong enough to change it!

Happy New Year! It is officially 2015 and I woke up this morning with a new fire in my belly. This is the year for some changes, not sure why I have targeted now to make changes I mean I have said this year after year after year but for some reason 2015 feels like it will be different. First off I have now taken to talking about my changes with my family and posting it on Facebook, Instagram, and now my blog (although I have no followers at this point on here I know that one day if I build it you will come!).
I have signed up with AdvoCare to complete their 24-day Challenge which I am very excited. I am using this challenge as a jumpstart or actually a kick-in-the-ass that I need to get me going! #Advocare

So I am brave enough to admit a few things this morning:
I am 40 years old
I am a wife
I am a mother to two boys
I am a sinner
I am a believer in God but not the Bible
I am a teacher to 5th graders
I am opinionated
I am a supporter of equal rights to marry, adopt and love
I am an anxious person
I am a smoker
I am a little lazy when it comes to housework (I want to be outside)
I am determined when I set a goal
I will prove you wrong when challenged
I weighed 147.4 this morning
I am 5'3"
I am madly in love with my husband
I question if I am a good mom at least twice a day, if not more
I am socially awkward
I am shy around new people unless you are new to a group I am with then I will speak to you to make you feel welcome (and I wish people would do the same for me in those situations)


I am strong enough to change:
I will hold my tongue and not give my opinion on everything all the time
I will see myself through this goal I have set:

• To complete the Advocare 24-day Challenge www.advocare.com/140349780
• To gain energy by exercising
• To work on my cleaning schedule by using www.flylady.net
• To prove that I am get on a lifestyle program and stick to it regardless of what some in my family might think.
• To begin to put myself out there socially

This is a new year and this will be a new start!www.advocare.com/140349780