City Teacher Blog
Teaching in the Inner City

After all these years, I’m finally reading Bringing Words to Life. It has been recommended to me for ages, and now I can see why.

Reading Bringing Words to Life really validates much of what SRA Open Court wants us to do during the vocabulary portion of the day’s lesson (though it is always our responsibility to make it relevant and engaging, don’t forget.)

Open Court hands us a short list of selection vocabulary words which we are to introduce and teach our students. There is an overhead sheet with two sentences and the selected vocabulary underlined. The first sentence is the word in natural context, usually a sentence from the week’s story or selection. The second sentence is the word in the instructional context, which means a sentence written specifically so that the meaning of the vocabulary word is obvious. This is why many teachers complain that the first sentence is difficult and the second sentence is easier. It’s designed that way. Using these two sentences, students are to develop their own meaning of the vocabulary word, using Context Clues, Apposition, or Word Structure.

The whole structure of Selection Vocabulary is Chapter 3 of Bringing Words to Life and the rationale for these strategies is clearly laid out in the book.

Ah ha! I see! says the blind mice to the cow with mild hernia!

Now that I understand this much, I’m ready to enhance my vocabulary instruction with “short and lively activities that require students to process meanings..and be engaging for students.”

Technorati Tags: vocabulary, education, words, open court, teachers, students, learning

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I glanced at my blog statistics and am struck by the fact that many, many people are finding my blog by searching for "motivating inner city students" or variations thereof.  Others type in these exact words "Why can’t inner city kids learn", which funny enough, is the title of one of my most popular post.  That particular post is very negative, in the sense that it’s all about what teachers are doing WRONG.

So, I’ve started thinking about what teachers are doing RIGHT and have started composing a post about motivating inner city students.  I don’t think I can give specifics for middle school and high school students, but I can certainly give more specifics for elementary school students.

If you have any ideas, suggestions, or thoughts on the matter, hit the comment button below!

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I use a lot of math manipulatives in my class.  In order to do it successfully, I spend the first few weeks of school teaching my students how to use manipulatives appropriately so that I don’t spend the rest of the school year harrassing them about it.

One activity that I like to do with my second graders to let them explore the use of snap cubes is "How to make sums of ten".  This activity builds the concept of addition, the value of 10s, and helps them begin to understand regrouping.

Day 1: Students play with snap cubes for the first and last time in the classroom.  Students count cubes.  Students learn how to pass out and put away cubes.

Day 2: Students use cubes to make "sticks of ten".  Students count by 10 using sticks of ten.

Day 3:  Students use sticks of ten to make sums of ten using two colors of snap cubes.  Students learn how to write number sentences to go with the sums.

Day 4:  Students now transfers snap cube models into strips of ten, which they color in, and create a poster that shows "How to Make Sums of Ten."

Day 3: Students listen to word problem stories, model problems using cubes, and form sticks of ten to solve problems, thereby regrouping.

Day 3: Students make up their own addition problems with a partner, model problems using snap cubes, and learn to write addition sentences that goes with problems.

All of these activities take 15-20 minutes because my primary goal is exploring manipulatives, and teaching procedures.  My secondary objective is to develop number concept and begin to teach math skills.

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For SRA Open Court teachers, one time consuming chore, especially for the primary teachers, is tearing out and stapling decodeables.  Last year, I had a parent do it for me and I think she hated me by the end.

This year, because my students are so much calmer, I tried teaching them how to do it themselves.  The first attempt was touch and go.  The second attempt was better.  The third attempt went smoothly and quickly, taking us less than 5 minutes before everyone had their decodeables ready to read.

Give it a go!  Teach your students, at least second graders, to do this tedious chore for you.  Call it a small motor skill instruction.

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One of my top post is "How to Start the Mornings - Getting Students on Task".  I got quite good at it last year.  My students were on task, working at their desk on an independent activity by 8:15.

This year, I bested myself!  By 8:06, my students have:

• recited the flag salute and school creed
• took out homework and placed it on their desk, homework monitors have collected the homework
• put away their backpacks
• started their independent activity

All this in a quiet, calm environment in the inner city, in a school with 100% free lunch, extreme poverty, and high transiency. 

Wow.  I have an extra 10 minutes to teach!  At this point, I can grab a couple of students for a quick small group re-teach/pre-teach lesson.

Don’t believe me?  Look at the photo!  Holy cow!

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I wrote a series of blogs on writing using Thinking Maps and this quickly became a favorite for many readers. So, I decided to organize the blogs onto one post to make it easier for people to find all the articles and to clarify the sequence of our process.

The writing process was taken directly from a supplementary program, Write from the Beginning, from Thinking Maps.

1. How we do it in our class - an explanation.

2. The pre-writing process part 1 - using Circle Maps

3. The pre-writing process part 2 - using Flow Maps

4. First Draft - some samples

5. Flow Map - explanation of the parts of the Flow Map and how we use it for writing.

6. An example from my Special Ed student showing success for all students - The Pre-Write

7. A first draft from my Special Ed student - The First Draft

8. A second grade, friendly thank you letter - The entire process

9. Oral Rehearsal using a Flow map

10. Teaching Complete Sentences Using a Tree Map

Please leave a comment to tell me what you think! Thank you!

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We have been in school for less than 2 weeks, and already, my second grade students are trained and using think-pair-share several times a day.

Think-Pair-Share is a tried and true method of getting your students to talk with each other in a focused, academic manner.  It is an excellent strategy for developing oral language, fostering community, and giving everyone a chance to share and communicate.

The procedure for Think-Pair-Share must be explicitly taught, modeled, and re-taught to be effective.

My T-P-S procedure is pretty straight forward:

T: Okay students, let’s do a Think-Pair-Share.  Everyone think about _____.  If your hands are raised, you are not thinking.  (Because there’s always the eager hands.)

PAUSE

T: Now, turn to your partner and ask, "_____".  You can answer by saying, "____" (The blanks are filled with academic language, gives the students a form to communicate in, or else they may sit there blankly, not knowing how to start.  Also, I want my students to get used to communicating in complete sentences as it carries over into their writing.)

PAUSE

T:  Let’s share out!  I will call on 2 hands to share out.  (Because everyone already had a chance to share with someone, I also had a chance to listen in on conversations as an informal assessment, and I want to emphasis a particular idea)

How do you use T-P-S in your classroom?

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I just pulled out the reading and homework files again and thought I should re-share them with anyone interested in using these simple, thinking map style reading and writing homework.

Technorati Tags: homework, reading, writing, thinking maps, second grade

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I started my Concept/Question board, ready for student input. What I did was took a book cover and pinned it to the board, creating a 3-D effect. I posted an image of students sharing a book. I also made a red riding hood out of an old t-shirt as a realia for one of our first story. The board is fairly bare and blank because I want my students to take over the board.

For more ideas, check out Matthew Needleman’s Open Court Resources. Matthew is a brilliant teacher and now a literacy coach with LAUSD.

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Going on the traditional calendar has been an amazing experience. Wow!

My long term readers know that my school was a year round school with four tracks of students. At any given moment, the school is occupied by 3/4 of the students and teachers. Transitioning between one academic year to the next was always the biggest headache.

This is the first year that we are on the traditional calendar. We actually experienced a summer vacation, the entire school! Everyone was away, and the custodial staff was able to clean the classrooms properly. All of the teachers stored their materials in their proper room for the next school year.

When I entered my class for the first time this week, it was completely empty, with all my stuff in the closet. That was a new and enjoyable experience, let me tell you!

I easily pulled materials out of the closet, assuming I knew which box contained what, and started setting up for my students.

My first priority was to have the seats, pencils, and materials ready for the first day of instruction.

It didn’t take me more than a day’s work! There’s lots to be done of course, but this is a much easier process than last year!

Here are some photos of what a classroom looks like…without the students.

Look, a new whiteboard! Our school finally joined the 20th century! Now, for the 21st…

Here, I have students’ work ready for when they first arrive, their Morning Activities.

Their first writing assignment, write a friendly letter to me.

And the rules posted, ready for discussion.

My favorite Circle Map to start the students thinking about behavior…

I am very excited about this school year!

Technorati Tags: teacher, students, school, teaching, education, first day of school, inner city

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