Journaling surprise

Remember this number... it will be important later on in the post.

Earlier in the school year, I had every intention of my students doing journaling.   I wrote out pages of prompts in my supa fly Erin Condren Teacher Planner.   I got hype, ya'll.   Hype.   We were gonna do this!   

But then... I soon discovered that the kids really needed help.   REALLY needed help.   The writing at the start of the year was no buenos.   Bad.   Needed work.   Needed love.   I also had to teach my students HOW to write in a notebook.   Such as, "This is the first page, now turn to the next page and write here...." because I had students who would just open the notebook to any random page and scribble.   It wasn't good.    So my dreams of journaling went away.  

As writing improved, I decided to talk to the kids about journaling again around Thanksgiving.   Would they be willing to give it a try?    I had about 80% of the kids willing to give it a try.   This was a victory.   By December, confidence had increased and I was almost at 90%.    At the end of the marking period/semester, I asked the kids to let me know if they'd be willing to try it again.   This time, no quitting, we power through.   100% of the students agreed.

Last week we decided to really open up and have the conversation about journaling.   I had students research the benefits of journaling.   We read articles.  We annotated.   We discussed.   We had those conversations that you wished would not end.   We had those Mr. Holland's Opus smile file moments.  Good times, good times.

We came up with a list of ten main benefits of journaling and discussed them.

In addition to this, we came up with a list of topics that they could write about at any point and time to prepare for a "pop quiz" via Free Writing.

So here's how it goes down.

Students were each given a journal.   The journal is in a top secret hidden location so that their privacy is respected.   At the start of EVERY class, my para gives them their journals.    There will be a prompt on the board.   Students must write the prompt and date and then WAIT to discuss/brainstorm together.    

Once they are ready to write I just want them to write.   Just write.   At this stage, I just want the kids to unload.   Let it out.   Write.   I don't care about anything on the rubric other than the fact they write.   Just write.    Use whatever words you want, just WRITE.    Once they are done with their writing, they turn it back in.   We will take a quick look at the writing just to make sure there's nothing in there that needs to be reported.   Students are well aware of this.

On the last day of the week, students are going to be given their journals and they must review their writing from the week and choose one entry to "publish."    They will peer conference with someone!  It doesn't have to be me; it can be a classmate.    They are to take one of the entries they wrote and clean it up and make it as wonderful as they possibly can.    They will then evaluate themselves.  By the time the entry is complete they will have gone through the entire writing process and will also sign their name in cursive.  

The kids were totally down with this entire process/plan/lay-out.   In fact, signing their name in cursive wasn't even my idea.   It was theirs.   

So after building up this journaling task... after launching ... after discussing....

I asked my kids three questions.

And to be honest... I had no idea what to expect in response.

Here are the questions:

1. What are your experiences with journaling?

2. What do you hope to gain from the journaling experience?

3. What questions do you have about this process?

The responses blew me away!   So much that I compiled a list to review with them.  

Take the time and click each image to see their responses.   

Experiences with journaling:

These responses caused us to discuss even MORE.   So many students spoke of trust issues, their fears, their insecurities, etc.    

Hope to Gain...

Wow.   The honesty.

Questions

After going over these slides with the kids and having some really awesome conversation, we spoke again about privacy and the benefits of journaling.   I told kids that they don't need a fancy schmancy leather journal to do their own private journaling.  I straight up told them that if they want to write and write for themselves ... DO IT!    

Since having this discussion, I've had FIVE students come to me for their very own journal to keep with them at all times.   And today when I was walking around the building, I saw one student curled up against the wall, listening to their music, and just WRITING.

I am so excited to see where this goes.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my job?

Edit:   I just received a message from a student.   I'm now up to 6 kids wanting their own journal. 

Symbolism

Confession:   I can't stand being bored.

Can't.
Stand.
It.

IF I can't stand being bored... I can only imagine how my students feel throughout their day.

I wanted to make sure my students REALLY understood symbolism.   However, I didn't feel like forcing a writing on them... I didn't want to give them something B-O-R-I-N-G.

So what did we do instead?

We just sat around the table and TALKED.   You know... had a conversation.   

And then we decided to each choose our favorite character from the class novel and design tattoos for them given what we know about their pasts as well as their actions through-out the novel.

The results are coming in.... and they are B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!!

One Word 2020 Update

Look at the awesome door display!

The kids LOVE it, and I do, too!

One Word 2020 Activity

Coming back to school on a Thursday is... weird.    I knew that I'd definitely need to have something planned for students where they could interact to the max utilizing as much of their learning style as possible.

I decided we would chat about New Years, Resolutions, New Beginnings, Etc. 

After our chat and some laughs, I had students write down their initials on a piece of scrap paper.   I them put up the #OLW and #OneWord2020 Hashtag and discussed what the Internetz is going crazy over right now.

I had students do some research to find a positive word that stands out to them and that they'd like to be a focus point for 2020.   I've got to say... WATCHING this process was so much FUN for me.  Students were on their laptops, writing things down, crossing things off, tapping pencils, chatting with friends, etc... Creativity was finally in the air!    I had my kids back!    No more back to school grumps!

While working, a student in my 3-4-5 class made a REALLY profound point.   She said, "You know, sometimes I don't understand why people even bother with resolutions.   Because you'd almost have to move and start over for people to understand the new you."    When I asked her what she meant, she said this:  "If I met someone, say you, B, and when I met you I found you to be very rude... I'm always going to look at you as a very rude person, you'd have to work really hard to make changes because if not, that first impression I had will always be the same."   WHOA.    Deep.

Students then were talking about how WE as teachers tend to judge students before even knowing them.    One student in particular said to me, "Come on Mrs. Geib, you told me straight up on the second day of school that my reputation from middle school means nothing to you and that made everything like so different."    Ya'll.   I could have cried.   Heck, I probably will later. 

Here are some work samples of what the students have created.   Tomorrow students will then finish their writing assignment paired with this.   Students will be putting their word into ... WORDS.   Ha!  I have requested that they write to me DEFENDING their choice.    I want to know not only their word, but what that word means to THEM and WHY they chose it.   I'm really looking forward to reading their responses.

My students are often highly misunderstood.    High School Special Education is a busy place, that's for sure!   I am so blessed to be their teacher and to have their trust.   

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

2020 .... I have to say... when I was kid, I really thought we'd be at this point of life right now:

But let's be real here... shall we?

I'm really much like Rosie when it comes to the self checkout aisle, so I'm totally cool that my car isn't flying right now.   

As we're all surrounded with the reminders of a New Year, a New Start, resolutions, etc... I'd like you to take some time and read this blog post by Dave Burgess!   I absolutely love it and I referenced it in my lesson today with my students.     More on THAT in the next post!