September approached quickly and a sense of sadness was in my eyes when I realized I was leaving behind beautiful summer memories. However, excitement mounted as I drove off to school September 6th to meet new groups of high school students and to discover what memories they made for themselves during the past two months. Ed Sheeran’s song Photograph (we made these memories for ourselves) was playing softly in the background when students walked into my classroom.
To begin each semester, it is imperative that we focus building rapport with our students, establish expectations and provide strategies to motivate them to learn in engaging and meaningful classrooms. Introducing myself to kids through the use of photographs taken during the summer created a sense of story for them. Later, students wrote in their writer’s notebook their story about who they are as individuals and included information about themselves as a reader and a writer. I wanted to establish the first day that reading and writing matters and through this process I would discover something about them as a learner.
The second day I read two books to my students namely: The Little Boy From Jamaica and What Do You Do With an Idea. These two children’s books include powerful messages that everyone can relate to and provides a sense of inquiry to our learning. Students engaged in meaningful conversations to me about someone who has believed in their learning and has been a positive support to them in their educational journey. These stories provide a landscape for us to be open and honest in our daily writing. A semester goal for us to work through together is to incorporate a technology-based three minute digital biography presentation which includes details about their early childhood years, hobbies, interests and future goals.
Motivating students to read daily for 20 minutes in each of my classes establishes the idea that reading is important. Students visited the library and signed out a novel of their choice. I also read a book during this time. Later in the week students share with their table group the highlights of their novel and how making connections to what they are reading is important.
One week of classes and memories were made for each of us. It was a busy, productive and fun week. I am looking forward to what the year holds.
Uncommon Beauty in Writing 