In the morning, bright and early, I will be back in the classroom. I agreed to do a long-term stint as a substitute for a young teacher who is starting her maternity leave tomorrow. Actually, she is having her baby as I type this post. Her due date was last week, so we weren't sure which of us would start the school year. She did make it through the first day of school today, but just barely!
So, it is back to the classroom for me in the morning! I am looking forward, with anticipation and a tiny bit of anxiety, to being back in the Middle School classroom and teaching 7th graders again. I expect to teach for at least the first 9 weeks grading period. I have been assigned several objectives to cover during that time, of course.
The Language Arts are generally taught in an integrated fashion, intermingling lessons on grammar, writing, and reading; but my emphasis during this time frame is supposed to be on reading and understanding the construction of the Short Story. We will read several short stories, discuss the structure, learn the related vocabulary, and write reflections on what we learn. We plan to tie in the use of the writing process to produce personal narrative essays. We will also review general concepts in grammar and the writing process. When the regular teacher returns to the classroom, the students should be ready for more difficult grammar understandings and for continued work on other writing styles.
Some of the specific goals for the first grading period include:
- Identify and write simple, compound, complex, and compound/complex sentences
- Identify fragments. Add, delete modifiers. Combine and revise sentences.
- Understand and use standard subject/verb agreement and pronoun/antecedent agreement
- Understand the writing process and produce a narrative writing piece
- Identify point of view, plot, setting, tone, mood, theme, etc. in narrative writing
- Use roots, prefixes, suffixes
- Acquire new vocabulary from content areas
- Understand comparison/contrast; cause/effect
- Be able to use graphic organizers, diagrams, captions, illustrations
- Read 25 grade-appropriate books, variety of genres
4 comments:
Sounds ambitious - and fun, too. We start school on Monday (just the teachers) and the kids go back the following Monday. I'll spend most of today and tomorrow at school getting ready for the meetings next week. Good luck!
The kids and the teacher on maternity leave are fortunate to have you!
I agree with Lyn, The students are fortunate to have you. As a matter of fact, It would be a great if I could be in one of your classes to learn just a tad of what you know about language...
You know what I need that class too!! I know you will do good teaching!!
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