Teacher Notebook: Back from Fall Break
It was the first day back today. We had a week off and it was much needed. I'm not going to complain about the life of a teacher, because I love it. However, it is a lot of work and I'm not sure I could keep doing it well if we didn't have breaks every so often.
I was rusty today though.
I got through most of what I wanted to get through in my first three classes today. The last two, I don't know what happened. Other than individual classroom management ate up a bit of time. Most of the kids were good though. Maybe they were tired, but we didn't have a bad first day back. I reminded them about the consequences and rules as well as our routine.
The kids didn't seem to mind.
I'm going to continue to focus on classroom management tightly for the first week back. After that, I expect we'll fall into a nice pattern to finish out the 2nd quarter before Winter Break. I put the results from my students' quarterly benchmark reading test scores into a spreadsheet (the template is attached if you'd like to use it.)
Benchmark Test Grade Book
I was ambivalent about the results before I created the workbook. I was really just staring at numbers and getting bogged down. Some of my students did as well as I thought they could and some really under performed. Too large a number of my students achieved far below their potential.
Overall, trends are positive though.
65% of my students (87 of them) did better on the 1st Quarter test than they did on the Pretest. The raw number, though, is only 45% of the kids in my class passed the first quarter reading test. That number is an improvement though!
My 1st period went from 18% passing the pretest to 42% passing the 1st quarter test. 2nd period went from a 45% pass rate to a 77% pass rate. 3rd period, 28% passed the pretest and 45% passed the 1st quarter exam. 4th period, 7% went to 18% and 5th period went from 28% passing to 43% passing. These numbers are not where I'd like them to be, but they're moving in the right direction.
I'm taking this as a good sign. I'm helping my students move the numbers and now I believe we are dialed into our routine. I expect they'll buck every now and again, but I also expect that they will respect our short time together and the routine. I strongly believe there is reading success in engaged vocabulary development coupled with reading all kinds of material that are of interest.
Studying persuasive text, we will be reading and watching George Carlin's bit about Baseball vs. Football. I think it should engage.
Amid the intensity of concentration required to energize the kids in anyway, I have made a pledge to ride my bike 4 miles every school morning. The last couple of years, I've ended up fat and out of shape at the end of the school year. Therefore, I'm up at 4:30 am to make sure I put in the miles.
So far I've kept my commitments.
I was rusty today though.
I got through most of what I wanted to get through in my first three classes today. The last two, I don't know what happened. Other than individual classroom management ate up a bit of time. Most of the kids were good though. Maybe they were tired, but we didn't have a bad first day back. I reminded them about the consequences and rules as well as our routine.
The kids didn't seem to mind.
I'm going to continue to focus on classroom management tightly for the first week back. After that, I expect we'll fall into a nice pattern to finish out the 2nd quarter before Winter Break. I put the results from my students' quarterly benchmark reading test scores into a spreadsheet (the template is attached if you'd like to use it.)
Benchmark Test Grade Book
I was ambivalent about the results before I created the workbook. I was really just staring at numbers and getting bogged down. Some of my students did as well as I thought they could and some really under performed. Too large a number of my students achieved far below their potential.
Overall, trends are positive though.
65% of my students (87 of them) did better on the 1st Quarter test than they did on the Pretest. The raw number, though, is only 45% of the kids in my class passed the first quarter reading test. That number is an improvement though!
My 1st period went from 18% passing the pretest to 42% passing the 1st quarter test. 2nd period went from a 45% pass rate to a 77% pass rate. 3rd period, 28% passed the pretest and 45% passed the 1st quarter exam. 4th period, 7% went to 18% and 5th period went from 28% passing to 43% passing. These numbers are not where I'd like them to be, but they're moving in the right direction.
I'm taking this as a good sign. I'm helping my students move the numbers and now I believe we are dialed into our routine. I expect they'll buck every now and again, but I also expect that they will respect our short time together and the routine. I strongly believe there is reading success in engaged vocabulary development coupled with reading all kinds of material that are of interest.
Studying persuasive text, we will be reading and watching George Carlin's bit about Baseball vs. Football. I think it should engage.
Amid the intensity of concentration required to energize the kids in anyway, I have made a pledge to ride my bike 4 miles every school morning. The last couple of years, I've ended up fat and out of shape at the end of the school year. Therefore, I'm up at 4:30 am to make sure I put in the miles.
So far I've kept my commitments.
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