Censoring Sophomores

When I begin a new unit or novel in my English classes, I like to spend about a week studying/introducing the historical context of the novel and the author's purpose/background. This semester, I have started my Sophomore English classes off with Fahrenheit 451; therefore, we have been exploring the ideas and context of censorship. We have also dissected our First Amendment rights as American citizens. My students have really enjoyed learning about all of the "scandalous" books/movies that have been banned over the course of many centuries. There is so much information available about banned books that it took me a while to decide what was most important to the introduction of Fahrenheit 451.

 Here are a few of my ideas below:

What do you think?

I love to provide anticipation guides for my students to complete before we begin a novel. This allows them to talk about their feelings and ideas of various topics. The anticipation guide that I used for this activity is located here: Novel Links . I allow my students about 15 minutes to read through the guide and answer it. Because most students like to express their opinions, I allow them to participate in an open discussion. I enjoy calling on each students at random and allowing them to contribute their thoughts/ideas. Some classes are really good at participating in this activity, but others are too immature, so I just have to figure out what works for each individual class.



What do you know?

I love to find out what my students know about the topic being introduced with each novel. It is amazing how so many students have no idea what censorship is or what it means. It is also dumbfounding that many students have no idea what their First Amendment rights are. They know that they have "freedom of speech," but they do not know what that actually means. In order to engage my students into the lesson, I like to use Poll Everywhere . I create a series of polls to ask my students and they use their devices (phones/ipad/ipod) to text their answers to the questions. Here is a list of statements that my students had to determine if they were true or false.

1. Music is the most banned artistic medium in the United States. (answer: false)
2. Most books are banned because of sexual content.  (answer; true)
3. The First Amendment protects pornography and obscenity. (answer: false)
4. Any book that is "banned" from a library must be burned or properly discarded. (answer: false)

I also included this statement:

My parents allow me to watch any type of movie or tv show without restriction.

After my students respond to each statement, I tell them the answer to each one. I usually provide an explanation or example to go along with each response. This turned out to be a great activity for my Sophomores.

What do you want to know?

Sometimes it is really difficult to get through to empathetic or indifferent teenagers. Most of them answer any question such as, "what do you want to know about censorship?" with a shrug of their shoulders and an "I don't care." Many of them struggle to see past the walls of their high school or the realms of their social circle. I have spent many hours trying to plan lessons that make my students want to know about a certain topic or situation. For my "what do you want to know?" lesson, I gave each student a post-it note. I asked each of them to write 3 ways that censorship could impact their lives in the future. I collect each note and post them to my dry erase board. Then, I pull a few at random and ask questions as to why a student what be concerned about the answer provided. After this activity, I give the students a list of "banned books" from over the course of the past 100 years. I ask them to pick out 3 books that they would be interested in learning as to why they were banned. As they select their books, I create a chart on my Promethean Board and allow them to contribute their responses. This allows for the students to see what the majority is interested in and it allows them to take ownership of what they want to know.

As the study of Fahrenheit 451 continues, I will be adding lots of lesson plans! Stay tuned!

One more crock pot favorite...

Over the past few weeks, several teacher friends have asked me to post more crock pot recipes. I love to come home to find my dinner ready to be eaten. By not having to stay in the kitchen for a long period of time every night, I have been able to really focus on my AP class preparations and relax a little bit after school. The recipe I am sharing with you today is one of my most favorites! My dear friend, Tara Wardrup, gave it to me last year and it quickly became a go-to recipe when I don't have time to plan for multiple guests. I hope you enjoy!

Italian Roast Beef Sandwiches:

Ingredients:

For the crock pot:

1 chuck or sirloin roast
1 can of pepperoncini peppers
1 package of dry Italian seasoning
1 cup of water (this allows for extra moisture)

                                    For the sandwiches: 

Monterey Jack Cheese or Havarti Cheese
Hoagie Rolls or even Hamburger Buns

Instructions:
 Place roast in the crock pot (I like to sear my roast before putting it in the crock pot. I just put it in a frying pan with just a little bit of olive oil and kosher salt. I sear every side of the roast, because it helps keep the juices inside the roast when cooking.) Pour water and 1/2 of the can of pepperoncini peppers onto the roast. Sprinkle the dry Italian dressing mix onto the roast.   Cook for 6 hours on low.

Once the roast is cooked, pour the remaining pepperoncini peppers onto the roast and allow it to cook on high for 30 minutes. Once the roast has finished, the meat should just fall apart so you don't have to shred it. Place shredded meat onto the bun and cover with a slice of cheese. Toast the sandwich in the oven for about 3-5 minutes.

I like to serve salad with my Italian roast beef sandwiches, but chips work too! Happy cooking!

What's in my crockpot this week?

This week I am very thankful for my crock pot! After recovering from strep, I have had to play catch-up with all of my school work/planning, so I haven't had time to think outside the realm of my favorite crock pot recipes. Last night, I helped host a parent-student night for all of our AP students at Sardis, so Justin had to finish cooking dinner for me. He did an excellent job, as always! I am so thankful that God let me marry a man that knows how to cook and how to read a recipe. My mother-in-law raised him right! Here is one of my crock pot cookings for this week:

Beef Tips and Rice

This is a quick and easy recipe that always turns out great!

Ingredients:

2lbs beef tips ( I like to use filet tips or sirloin)
1 can of French onion soup
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 package of dry onion soup mix

Instructions: Put everything in the crock pot and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Serve over brown rice (I like to use instant rice)! Justin also cooked some fried okra to go with our meal. He used olive oil and fish batter to make some yummy okra!

Sick day already??

The beginning of every school year brings forth a number of  new encounters from one immune system to another immune system; thus, rendering me sick on the second Monday of the school year. Really? I am somewhat of a freak when it comes to keeping my house and my classroom clean and disinfected, because I just do not have time to get sick. I keep Clorox bleach/antibacterial spray on my kitchen counter, Lysol wipes in my bathroom, and GermX within my every reach. I know, it is a little psychotic and abnormal, but I just do not enjoy getting sick.

On Saturday morning, I woke up feeling more tired than usual (I suffer from Fibromyalgia, too...that is another blog post for another day) with a really sore throat. Having had my tonsils removed about a decade ago, I haven't had a sore throat in quite a while. This was very alarming, but I went on about my morning as usual. My sweet husband, Justin, got us some breakfast from Jack's and we watched TV just like a normal Saturday. After I ate breakfast, I decided I would take a shower in hopes that it would wake my body up and help with all of the body aches and the sore throat I was experiencing. After washing my hair, I got so weak that I had to sit down in the shower! I thought, "Lord, I cannot die in the shower with shampoo in my hair, help me out here!" I rinsed my hair and got out of the shower, but could barely get dressed or even dry off. I walked back into the living room, sat down on the couch, and broke into tears. Justin looked at me like I was crazy! I cried, "I can't dry my hair, I think I need to go to the doctor." My reasoning is beyond deductive...if I cannot make myself look presentable for the world, I must be sick! Justin, very patiently, dried my hair and put it in a pony tail for me. I got dressed and Justin took me to the doctor. Within 20 minutes and a quick throat swab, the doctor determined that I had strep throat. He gave me two shots and antibiotic along with orders to rest, rest, rest. I was not very happy about this.

I was not happy about being sick for a number of reasons. The first being that I knew that I had NOTHING ready for a substitute and that I had brought my sub folder home so that I could work on putting it together for the school year. Oh, the irony! The second reason I was unhappy about being sick, was that I was going to miss church on Sunday and lunch with our family.

I began the frantic search for a substitute for Monday and was able to find one in no time...that is a miracle, because no one likes to substitute for high school. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but I wanted more than just a warm body taking care of my students. I often feel like a mom leaving her kids with a babysitter. I needed someone who would be kind to my students and who would help them complete their assignments. I found a great substitute that I had used in the past, so I felt somewhat at ease knowing that my students weren't going to just watch a movie or do busy work.

How did I plan for a substitute on the fly? Well, I thanked God in an improvised prayer for allowing the creation of the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy for Etowah County to be in place and ready to go! I was able to upload all of my students' work onto Edmodo and interact with them from the comfort of my couch! I set up my AP class a reading/response activity that allowed me to evaluate the student's individual understanding of the close reading assignment. I was also able to answer questions that they had about the reading. It was such a relief to know that my students were actually learning even though I wasn't present! I was also able to post assignments/email activities for my other classes.

Even though my sick day went really well for my students, I still have to prepare a substitute folder that contains activities/information for my students in the event that the wireless network is not available. So what will I include in this magical folder?

1. Class Rosters- This seems like a given answer, but my class rosters always include information about seating arrangements, problem students (yes, they do exist), and special needs for any of my students.
2. Class schedule- I keep a very detailed class schedule in my substitute folder, because consistency helps with classroom management. My students know that they will always have a spring board activity (bell ringer) to begin each class and that they are only allowed 3-5 minutes to complete it each day. This routine allows me to take role without interrupting instructional time. By having my class roster with a seating chart, my substitute can pick out who is absent or missing.
3. Rules/Procedures- Even though my rules are posted on my classroom walls, I like to give footnotes for my substitute. If one of my students just can't stay in his/her seat, then I need to offer a solution for dealing with said student that doesn't always result in a discipline referral.
4. Practical classwork- In the event that our wireless network is down, I have to prepare a go-to lesson that can be adapted quickly. It never hurts to review grammar, so I often include a comprehensive grammar quiz and or literary device activity. In my AP classes, I always include a new/unread essay for them to complete a close reading.
5. Class notes- I like to create a "notes" sheet for my sub to report any instances of both good and bad behavior. I really like to reward my students for good behavior and I make that very clear on the first day of school. If a substitute leaves a "good" note for a particular class, I will allow them to either have a snack during one of our reading days or even allow them to complete an art project that week. My high schoolers take art very seriously! They LOVE it when I bring out the markers and color pencils!

I am always looking for ways to improve my substitute experience, so please share some ideas with me! I can't wait to return to my classroom tomorrow and see how great my students were while I was sick. 

Getting to Know Your High School Students

During our inservice week, the Alabama State Superintendent, Dr. Bice, challenged us to spend our first week of school getting to know our students. This through me for a little bit of a loop, because I have always started my school year with grammar reviews and summer reading discussions. In an effort to be a team player, I began looking through my old writing files and activities for ideas on how to get to know my students while laying the foundation for my school year.

In the age of social media, high schoolers have become somewhat narcissistic. Because they constantly update their every feeling on Facebook, take pictures of their every move on Instagram, and record every 6 seconds on Vine, they often forget to engage in conversation or dialect with the people around them every day. Many times, I have students who assume that I have read all about them on his/her Facebook page or that I follow him/her on Instagram, so why should I dare ask him/her to engage in conversation that forces him/her to explain who he/she is in more than just a Tweet or status update. In an effort to narrow the gap between my students' public persona on the world wide web and get to know their story, I found a few fun/easy writing projects for them.


                    The Worst Song I Ever Loved

I stumbled across this assignment a couple of years ago when I was teaching English 101 at Jacksonville State University. I had a particularly difficult class that did not enjoy classroom participation, so I tried to pull them into the writing lessons by assigning this paper topic and adding a speech component to it.

I assigned this to my 10th grade Pre-AP class and they loved it! They were so excited about sharing their songs and stories at the end of the week that many of them finished their final draft in record time in hopes that I would pick them to share first.

A very un-detailed lesson plan:

Day 1- Review of the writing process/brainstorming. Students used their mobile/computer devices to find the worst song they every loved. For homework, they had to find the lyrics to the song of their choice.

Day 2- Outline and rough draft. The students had to create an outline/brainstorm of their choice. Many of my students enjoy the freedom I give them to create an outline that makes sense to their personal writing process. After my students finished their rough drafts, they asked a classmate to proofread their writing.

Day 3- After having their rough draft proofed by a classmate, I met with each student individually to assess their progress and talk to them about their presentation on Thurs/Friday. I really enjoy getting to talk to each one of my students about his/her writings, because most of them really do want to write well. While I was meeting with each student, the remaining classmates either completed their proofing, began preparations for their presentation, or completed their journal entry assignment for that week (I will add that file to this post.)

Day 4- Final draft is due and presentations begin! For their presentation, the students had to provide the lyrics of the song on either a power point or handout. Many of them also brought a CD or Ipod with the song so that we could listen to a little bit of it. We had a wonderful time listening to their stories about how much they loved Hanna Montana or why they know every word to any and all High School Musical songs.

Day 5- Presentations continue.

This was a really fun activity for my students, because they got to tell their story about a small part of their past that sticks with them even today. We laughed a lot and sang a lot during presentation day!

Information:

The Worst Song I Ever Loved

This assignment is to write a personal essay on The Worst Song I Ever Loved. Just how you define The Worst Song I Ever Loved is an important part of the assignment. Some might use the term “guilty pleasure,” something you liked but somehow thought you shouldn’t like it for any number of reasons. Maybe you really love the theme to Rocky II, Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” It might be a song most other people hate, or one that runs counter to your own usual tastes. You and your friends might like emo rock music, for example, but when you’re alone, you find yourself singing along to Fergie’s “Girls Don’t Cry.” It could be a song you heard over and over again at a job, and eventually found it to be “your jam.” It could be a song that, although horrible to your ears, brings back a poignant or meaningful memory in your life.
Either way, your job in this assignment is to answer the question: What was the worst song you ever loved?
When, where, why, how, and with whom did I first hear the song? If you don’t remember, try; write “I must have first heard this song “when/where/because]…”
What did you do back when you loved this song? Activities? Friends you hung out with?
What kinds of clothes was I wearing when I heard this song? What group of friends did I have? Did I dance to this song?
Why did I/do I love this song? Try: “I think I loved this song then because…”
Do you still love this song, even though it is now considered horrible/not hip/differs from your current tastes?
When and how did I realize or teach myself that this was the worst song I ever loved?





Other Fun and Easy Essay Topics

* A childhood event that shaped your attitudes about a person, school, a sport.
* An incident that exposed you to danger.
* A work situation where your role as employee clashed with your personal values.
* Your first day at a job.
* The key play of an important game.
* A story repeatedly told by a friend or family member.
* The incident that caused you to quit a job, end a relationship, or make a decision.

What I am loving in technology...

Etowah County Schools has adopted a Bring Your Owen Device policy that allows our students to use their own mobile devices, laptops, iPads, tablets, etc. The school provides wireless internet that does have restrictions, so that these tools can be used for learning and not just social media. Many teachers have been very apprehensive about BYOD, because most of us have worked in an environment where cell phones in school resulted in some sort of punishment. The students absolutely love this new policy and sometimes ask, "are you sure I can use my phone?" It is quite endearing. In an effort to be proactive, I have implemented a few really awesome websites/aps in my classroom.

1.  Diigo - This website acts as a "binder" or "folder" for all my favorite websites. I spend a lot of time researching new ideas and new lessons on the internet. I love to read blogs and bookmark them for later use. Up until this point, I have just bookmarked them on my home computer and prayed that this machine lasts forever. Well, Diigo has changed everything for me! This website offers a free service that allows me to import my bookmarks on my home computer, school computer, and iPhone to my Diigo account. I can log in anywhere in the world and have access to my favorite websites. This was a life changer for me!

2. Remind 101 It is so hard to keep track of students' and parents' emails from year to year. It is also very difficult to keep in contact with parents when most of them do not have a local/home phone number. Well, Remind 101 is an amazing tool for teachers to use as a quick and easy way to contact parents and students outside of school. This website and ap assigns each account member a "phone number" or email address and pass code. The students text the code to the "phone number"  or email address provided and are automatically listed in the teacher's ap. The teacher doesn't have the students' numbers and the students do not have the teacher's number. The students cannot respond to a text message or email. I used it just this morning to remind my students to bring their headphones to class!

3. Edmodo It is about time someone created a "Facebook-like" website for teachers and students. This website is set up very similarly to Facebook, but it doesn't give students the freedom to post on students' walls or create statuses. I use this for every class I teach, including my courses at JSU. My students really enjoy completing their homework on this site, because it is quick and easy.

4. Web English Teacher I love this website and I have been using it for years! It is an amazing collection of resources for all levels of Language Arts instruction. It has AP resources and ACT resources too.

Quick and Easy Recipes

The first week of school is quite overwhelming regardless of how long anyone has been in the classroom. For me, I really struggle with just being up so early and on my feet all day. I also find that my brain doesn't always want to adjust to "school-mode" where I have to be a creative decision maker. When I get home, I just want to lay down and regroup for a few minutes. I often feel like a slug around 3 in the afternoon! This week has made me very thankful for my quick and easy recipes, but mostly for my crockpot. I really love cooking, but it is very difficult to create an elaborate meal when I have so many things to prepare for the following day. Contrary to popular belief, teachers don't finish work at 3 or on Friday!

This past week, we invited some friends to church and asked them to join us for lunch afterward. Because I had spent most of my Saturday in my classroom preparing for the first week of school, I needed to create a very quick menu for Sunday. Luckily, my dearly beloved husband offered to smoke a Boston butt for me, so I just had to come up with some quick and easy side dishes. I have a collection of go-to sides for various meals that always seem to be crowd pleasers. I have shared a couple of them below:

Asian Coleslaw

Ingredients:

3 green onions, chopped
1 (6 oz) bag of coleslaw mix
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 cup toasted almonds
1 (3 oz) package chicken-flavored Ramen noodles, reserve seasoning packet for dressing

Dressing:
1/4 cup oil
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
seasonin (reserve packet)

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix coleslaw, noodles, almonds, and sesame seeds. Mix dressing ingredients in a smaller bowl. After the dressing ingredients have been stirred well, pour over slaw and toss the cabbage well so that all of the dressing is spread equally. Refrigerate for an hour for best results!







Easy Peach Cobbler:

Ingredients:

1 box of Jiffy yellow cake mix
1 can of peach pie filling
3-4 fresh peaches
1 stick of butter


Instructions:

1. Set oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray 9x 13" pan with oil
3. Peel fresh peaches
4. Place pie filling and peaches in the pan, spread evenly
5. Pour cake mix over peaches, do not mix
6. Cut butter into peices and place on top of cake mix
7. Cook for 40 minutes
8. Serve with ice cream!

Banned Books! Gadsden Reads

I love that in my community, Gadsden, Alabama, the local library and center for cultural arts come together to participate in the National Education Association's Big Read programs. Gadsden has participated in The Big Fish read, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Prince of Frogtown, and The Shawl. During this community-wide event, various opportunities to discuss or learn more about the book are available to the public. For The Prince of Frogtown, the author, Rick Bragg, came to Gadsden and participated in a question-answer session, as well as signed books for the public.  Most of these events are hosted during the school year, thus allowing teachers and school                                                         librarians to become involved in the activities offered.

This year, the Gadsden Public Library (GPL) will be celebrating "Banned Books Week" (September 22-27) in partnership with the NEA Big Read program. The book they have chosen to read is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The wonderful librarians at GPL invited the English teachers and librarians from local schools to participate in a workshop about all of the events they will be hosting for the Big Read program.

Alice in Wonderland Book Art

I really love that the GPL offers art workshops for teenagers after school from 4:30-6:30pm. The students come together to create art based on books or about the structure of books. For the Big Read program, the students will be creating "Sticks and Stones Boxes." This will consist of a box full of quotes from their favorite banned books. At the workshop that I attended, the librarians has some amazing art on display.




 I have a lot of fun activities planned for my students during Banned Book Week, so stay tuned for some exciting lessons!

In an effort to help teachers to have as many resources and support as possible, the librarians provided us with a lot of online resources. I will share them below, happy reading!

Fahrenheit 451 NEA Big Read

American Library Association Banned and Challenged Books

Read, Write, Think Censorship Lessons

http://www.gadsdenlibrary.org/