The Importance of Teachers in the Lives of Their Students

In addition to my duties at Hopkins Middle School, I also am adjunct faculty at a local university. This year I needed to spice up my lessons on recognizing child abuse in our students. As you know, teachers are mandated reporters of suspected child abuse. We are required by law to notify Child Protective Services the moment we think a student may be experiencing abuse or neglect.

I wanted to bring an actual protective services worker into class. So I interviewed my niece and videoed it for presentation later. She has been in the field for several years and has a real heart for kids.

I learned so much from talking with her. But one statement really stuck with me. She said,

"Teachers are our best ways to help protect kids. Their students spend more time with them during the school year than some do with their parents. Our referral numbers are way down in the summer."

She went on to explain that child abuse doesn't slow down in the summer but the teachers who interact with their students daily are no longer making calls about suspected abuse or neglect.

Teachers-you may be the lifeline for one of your students this year. You may be the only adult who is recognizing the signs of abuse.

If you have any questions, this handout, Mandated Reporters Resource Guide will answer the questions of what to look in children who may be abused.

3 Ways to Read a Book for Middle School

Three Ways to Read a Book was first posted on this blog in February 2011. I've had many requests for the Powerpoint that went along with the lesson. I am happy to share it with anyone who would like to see it.

I'm not sure how to post it as link, so just email me and I'll send it right along.

I would love to hear about your experience with Daily Five & CAFE Menu in the middle school age group. So in return for my Powerpoint, briefly tell me how you are using Daily Five-if you are.

Thanks. Let's work together to help our students grow in skill and their love of reading.

The Countdown Begins

Finding books in a student's interest area is important to the success of my reading program

Good afternoon to all,

If you are like me, the days from the middle of August until Labor Day are always filled with apprehension. Here in Michigan, we cannot start school until after Labor Day. This is to help our tourism industry but assuring that families are still available for travel through the end of August.

But teachers start their work long before Labor Day. Most school districts have teachers report the last week of August. Many districts conduct their professional development days during this time. In fact, I'll be presenting to Wayland Middle School, Wayland, Michigan on the use of the Concept Mastery Routine which is part of the Strategic Instruction Model from the University of Kansas.

I've received several emails this summer from middle school teachers who are implementing Daily 5 this year. Every one has questions about how to do this.

I will share what I have done in 2 years of use of Daily 5 in grades 6 - 8. But I'd love to hear from you-questions you have about Daily 5 in middle school and stories of success and challenges you have faced as you seek to implement Daily 5 & CAFE menu in these crucial middle grades.

Looking forward to hearing from many of you.

AIMSWEB Testing

Reading more brings stronger readers. I want to shout it from the rooftop.

This past week we completed our universal screening instrument for all our middle school students. It takes considerable time and dedication of personnel. But the results allow us a snapshot of how our students are progressing. It also helps us be proactive with students and make certain they are offered an intervention when their progress is not what we would like it to be.

The results have been very encouraging for our Reading Essentials Class students. The average gain for the Reading Essentials students was 2 - 3 times the average gain for each class.

I am so happy for our students. I had assured them that if they followed my suggestions, their reading levels would improve. And it did!!

Reading more brings stronger readers. I want to shout it from the rooftop and now I have the data from our school to prove it.

Goodreads.com Book Review

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I haven't read a more powerful book for a long time. The story is skillfully woven by Sal, a thirteen-year old girl who is facing some of life's most difficult situations.

The surprise ending combined with the understanding and acceptance the characters had for each make this a must-read for all middle school students.

I would especially recommend this for children dealing with loss and grief because of the honest way in which each character reacted to life's hard moments.

View all my reviews

DISSECTing a Word

This week we have been studying the Word Identification Strategy and applying it to words we find in our daily reading. The Word Identification Strategy is designed to help adolescents read the multi-syllable words that are found in Social Studies, Science and Math classes. We are learning to take the words apart or DISSECT them. We found many words in Hunger Games, which is a popular choice of many of the students. These words include:
pained
valor
synonymous
retrieved

We then moved on to look at Social Studies words including conservation, conversion, accurate, accumulate. I'm asking the students to located words in their own reading for us to practice reading. I"ll let you know what they come up with this week.

DISSECTing a Word

Today all three classes worked on putting the DISSECT strategy to work on some words that they didn't know. We took our words from The Hunger Games-page 22 & 23. That story is full of hard words and several students weren't understanding them as they read.

Here are the words missed by a student as she read orally to me from Hunger Games-Page 22 & 23:
tribute synonymous
corpse pained
recognition occasion
huddled presented
valor

We looked for prefixes and suffixes to dissect off and then examined the stem (root word that is left).

The students did a good job breaking the words down to be able to pronounce them. But they need more practice using skills to determine the meaning of words. Here are two words that they learned the meanings for today: redolence & kin.

Vocabulary is going to be our focus this week especially using the context to help look at word meanings.

Look for words that are difficult as you read. They add so much to your reading.