A Bittersweet Back to School Season

This is the first year in five years that I'm not stressing out about getting my classroom reading for the first day of school. I miss the nervous excitement of that first day, an endless list of names to pour and memorize (hopefully by the end of the month...or by October). I miss hanging new posters in my room, re-arranging the desks, adding new books to my shelves. I miss seeing other teachers after the summer break, hearing about what they did during their time off.

My view this time last year.

However, I am so glad I get to spend time with my baby boy. Last Sunday night, I was up feeding him at 2:30 and so grateful that I didn't have to be up at 6 to get ready for work. I never truly appreciated working mothers until now.

I will still be teaching. I will teach two writing classes at a local community college. So, two days a week, I will be a working mother. I am grateful for that, too. I like working, so I feel like I get the best of both worlds.

My favorite moments.

I'll also have more time to work on my Teachers Pay Teachers store, which was severely neglected during my maternity leave.

Here are some of my (recently spruced up) products that I always used to start out the year:

I always started with short stories because I felt it was the best way to teach so many of the concepts that we hit so hard throughout the year in ELA. I taught theme, plot structure, characterization, symbolism, and so much more using some of my favorite short stories ("The Most Dangerous Game" and "Thank You, M'am" included).

I want to wish everyone a wonderful back to school season! May it be full of inspiration, teachable moments, and hopefully no office referrals until at least after fall break ;). 

End of the Year Activity for Seniors

This is my first year teaching seniors. I have absolutely loved it. As we're nearing the end of the year, however, I'm having difficulty having them do/write anything of substance. Senioritis is in full effect. One way I've been motivating them to keep working is giving them tasks that directly relate to their lives.

I used this activity this week for a few reasons. First, I wanted them to reflect on their time in high school. They will be done in a week and I don't want that to be a jarring transition for them. Second, I thought about how invaluable their advice could be to the upcoming seniors. No matter how much I share my words of wisdom based on my experience, there will always be that age gap that prevents me from fully putting myself in their shoes and vice versa. This was an easy way to relay the advice of the current seniors to those next year.

The worksheet (click for the link) includes reflection questions which helps students organize their thinking before composing a letter to an unknown upcoming senior. I would stress this fact, especially if you teach at a small school like me where everybody knows everybody. If they don't know who the letter is going to, they are more likely to take the assignment seriously. 

I can't wait to give my upcoming seniors the letters!

Link to my TPT store

The Poisonwood Bible Unit

One of my all time favorite units that I've taught is over Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. I fell in love with this novel when I first read it and dreamed of one day sharing it with students. This year, I started teaching AP Literature and Composition and pretty much got to design my entire curriculum from scratch. I knew from the beginning of the year that I wanted to include PB, but waited until spring to teach it.

This unit was my AP student's favorite by far. One boy recently told me that this was the only book he read in its entirety in his high school career. It's not a short book either. My copy had 576 pages! I was impressed with how well-prepared they came to class each day and how engaged they were in our class discussions.

In my TPT store, I have copies of the reading check quizzes I gave (a must for holding students accountable!). The first one is free too!

I also have a bare-bones unit plan, which includes a pre-reading research project, all five quizzes, a creative writing assignment, and five essay topics. 

Something I did not include in the unit bundle is my non-fiction connection activity. I pulled articles from the archives on the The New York Times archive. I pulled articles from this time period that touched on the political turmoil in the Congo. We compared these stories with the coverage of the events in the novel. Finally, we looked at what really happened. There are several (more recent) articles online in which the author wades through the biased accounts to find the truth. It was definitely an eye-opening lesson!

Link to my TPT Store