Launching HIgh Wire

Friday we had a book launch thanks to Melanie Jackson and Orca Publishing.  One of the best parts of being a teacher has been the excitement of having authors visit our school.  Living in Vancouver we are fortunately to have many authors who do live here and many who come to visit the city.  As an adult I have always been thrilled to get to see an author reading their own words or in the case of an illustrator, talking about their illustrations.

I first got to know Melanie as a result of her volunteering her services to help us with the formatting of a cookbook of BC authors and illustrators that our British Columbia chapter of the International Reading Association put together.  It turned out that she worked at the time for the British Columbia School Trustees Association  right across the hall from me at the school board.    After that she did a couple of workshops for me and became involved in the British Columbia Literacy Council.

She is always generous with her time and books!  When I went back to teaching, she became a favorite of my students with The Big Dip and Fast Slide, local mysteries, written for the the Orca Currents series.  The Big Dip is based on the favorite wooden roller coaster at our local amusement park, Playland.  Fast Slide takes place in a water park resembling our local one, Splashdown, and both these settings are familiar to our students.  Melanie has visited our school before but this class of students was hearing her for the first time on Friday. 

Her new book, again a Orca Current book (a high interest series for reluctant readers) is about a boy who is performing in a summer circus for young people.  His dream is to be a wire walker like Phillipe  Petit, who walked between the Twin Towers in New York City.  Things become problematic due to a roommate that hates him, a dog his aunt dumps on him, and the disappearance of a valuable necklace.

 Prior to Melanie's visit, I briefly introduced the book to students in our three other upper intermediate classes and in my own class, I read the first chapter and students wrote and drew responses about it that we presented  to her.    I had also given them a bit of background about high wire performers.

It was a fun afternoon with Melanie doing two sessions, each with two of our upper intermediate classes.  Students were also buy an autographed copy of the book, just like a real book launch, with a generous portion of the cost being donated back to our school.

I think I have mentioned before how the Orca Current series has been wonderful in my class in the past, enabling students with English as a Second Language or with reading problems to find books they could enjoy and read successfully.  Even my best readers enjoy a good simpler read at times.

This year, I am sure that I have students who will one day be professional writers and illustrators, and these author sessions really are an inspiration to them.  And there is much talk about boys being reluctant readers but writers like Melanie are able to bridge this gap.  I honestly don't have reluctant readers in my class. 

Remembrance Day Projects

I am back.    I had a cold that seemed to last from Thanksgiving Day until Halloween.   Life became hectic with Halloween and Remembrance Day and things just didn't seemed to be going quite right with my class.  I felt really ready to retire.

Last week I decided what was needed was a project.  Last year my class did a project I have done a few times before, War and Peace Newspapers.  They did an excellent job.
Now since I had half my class last year, I didn't want to repeat this project but I have to admit I kind of threw this year's project together.  I discovered an excellent website and basically told them to be creative, that they could make prezis, glogsters, newspapers, do top ten booklets etc.

 I basically gave them a week to do the project and only a couple of periods of class time.  It was the long weekend as well.  They could do the project on their own or with a partner.  I made the projects due on Wednesday but did give them an extra day.

 I really wasn't sure what they would be like.  And then I have to admit I was kind of amazed.  I arranged for them to present to each other in the classroom.  Half the class presented and the other half looked at their projects.  And they switched.  They were given post its and they had to write a positive comment and then they could write suggestions.  I gave them about five minutes at each station and then they moved to the next.  I have found this an easy way to do this and having a wireless classroom and ipads makes this quite easy.  On this page you can see some of their great work.
 

Since the projects were so good-we moved to the library and computer lab Friday afternoon and they presented the projects to seven other classes, generally two classes at a time.  I am not sure how much the first graders understood, but they love to see the older students' work and have their attention.  Those who had prezis presented in the lab and those who didn't were spread out in the library.
The kids were quite tired by the end but feeling proud of their work.  The adults were touched by the power of their words and the art.

Once again I felt the power of projects! And the joy of teaching!

End Poverty Day and the power of seventh graders

I am afraid once again I have been neglecting this blog.  On Thanksgiving Day I got the flu that turned into just a cold that persisted and kind of wore me out a bit.  Also I was busy recreating my Moodle site for the class etc. 

Last week due to my cold I was kind of dragging.  I was also getting bogged down with forgotten homework etc.  The kids seemed to be dragging as well.  The weather turned ugly at the end of the week after months of sunshine.  And once again I had signed my class up for something and I realized I had better get moving.  Friday afternoon stretched out endlessly. 

Wednesday, October 17th, was End Poverty Day and in the summer I was told about this event by Janey Lee, an amazing and dedicated teacher at Thunderbird School (one of our inner city schools).  I registered our school as an official site and only vaguely thought about it since then. 

In Social Studies we had been studying the age old problem of not enough food so it all seemed to fit.  I had fallen in love with a book, Almost Home, by Joan Bauer, about a girl who becomes homeless, and was reading it to my class.  We also started lit circles this week about children who have faced poverty.  Our fundraising for Terry Fox had been disappointing so I decided that it was time to light a bit of a firecracker. 

I told each class group (they sit in table groups of four) that they had to come up with projects to make the school aware of End Poverty Day the following Wednesday.  I gave them the website to go to for information and told them that each group had to report with some kind of plan in about 20 minutes.  Good thing we have those ipads in the classroom. 

Well as you have heard me say before nothing this age level likes better than a project.  They came up with ideas galore (my least favorite was the car wash one) and I pushed them for details and definite plans. 

I was working in my classroom after school, the first day that week I had lasted very long, when a couple of the kids came in with money.  They had been hitting up teachers after school for money and succeeding!  I at least convinced them to let me keep the money and showed them how to set up a deposit form.  My idea had not been to do this and I probably would have told them not to harass my colleagues but they were in motion and I figured this wasn't the time to stop them.  I think we had 80 dollars before I knew it.

Monday they made more plans.   Some groups were getting together and holding bake sales Wednesday (we had a field trip Tuesday).  Signs went up and announcements began to be made.  More money kept coming in as they told friends and family about the project.  Tuesday we discussed a goal and decided the money would probably go to the Food Bank.  We may look at some other causes as well.  I suggested 500 dollars, they thought that they couldn't raise that much so they decided 300 dollars and  on Wednesday a couple of people made a thermometer to show this. 

Food poured in on Wednesday, two tables were set up and the rush was on.  By Wednesday afternoon between the bake sale profits and donations they had received the class had made $302 dollars.  The bake sales continue today although about seven students are at We Day.  There are other plans afoot.  They have to make another thermometer.

I can honestly say other than giving a website link, some critical advice, counting money (to make it official) and supplying a few supplies and doing a little supervising,  I have done nothing.  This is all coming from 27 twelve year olds. And they are feeling the power of being able to do good and being in control. 

I am behind in Science, haven't finished the first unit, but hopefully they are learning  important lessons and skills, that they will take forward in life. 

The information that I learned from the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition is quite shocking.  Our government has no plan to reduce poverty in our province for instance, even with the highest child poverty rate in the country.   I ask you to read more and sign their petition available online and share  this information with your friends.