Make the Most of May with this Independent Novel Study Plan

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

These lessons students want to complete

When the crazy testing schedules of May

Cause learning to take a back seat.

(Thanks to Lewis Carroll for his Jabberwocky inspiration)

Between  A.P. exams and the state standards of learning tests, May is a crazy month to teach. In my three decades teaching at the secondary level, every day anywhere from three-fifteen students missed English class due to the testing schedule. Plus, my colleagues and I had to monitor tests during our "Free" periods. Keeping teenagers inspired and the learning momentum smooth while maintaining my sanity made this month of May not so very merry.

Before I created Making the Most of May, trying to teach that one final required novel unit before the school year ended, while making sure that all of the students were up-to-date with their class work, was nearly impossible. 

I likened it to putting a straw hat upside down on the floor, tossing 25 balls in the air and waiting to see which ones made it into the hat without my being clobbered.

With this independent study plan, though, students are responsible for completing the assignments and projects and for being prepared with the work that they have finished for the mini-conferences. This enables them to be the leaders of their learning while the teacher takes an advisory roll.

The lessons and activities included in this packet ensure that the learning doesn't stop just because test review and reinforcement is done. Plus, students not only know that their fourth quarter grade is dependent on their work, but also they truly are engaged and inspired because they chose what to read and what assignments to complete.

The flexible plan takes absences due to testing into consideration, too, since students choose the novel that they will study, and they also create a daily reading and writing calendar that coincides with their scheduled exams and the teacher’s due dates. This creates a learning environment that engages students and promotes responsibility.  

To begin, teachers have two options. They may select six to eight grade-level novels from the book room for students to choose to read - up tp 4 students may opt to read the same book, or students may choose a book that meets the teacher's length and genre requirements. 

Once this aspect of the unit is completed, students will set their reading and activity completion schedules.The required activities included in the packet are:

1. General Novel Packet with four aspects: Book Notes, Plot Diagram, Memorable Quotes and Theme worksheets
2. Full-length Projects or Essays 
3. Group Project: Threads-Making Connections.

Every day the students will either 

• read for half of the period, or 
• work on their packets for half of the period.

The second half of the period, they will

• participate in a whole class writing session, concentrating on a facet of writing, or 
• discuss various aspects of their chosen novels with peers. 

NOTE: Each student in the group should be reading a different novel. Members take notes on the discussions. These will enable them to complete the Threads-Making Connections activity.

By managing their class time wisely, students will only have to complete any typing they had previously begun, and compile the required activities at home right before the final packets are due. They should bind all of the components together in some way - a folder with pockets is best.

Teaching time won’t be interrupted and chaotic because of testing when teachers choose this unit plan as their May learning keystone.  Its effectiveness stems from dual factors

• students hold the ownership for what they are learning, and 
• when they are learning. 

Teachers do need to 

• specify minimum length, genre and anything else they deem necessary for their charges.
• mentor students’ progress with mini-conferences where students bring their partially completed required work to discuss.

And you, my teacher friends, will appreciate the fact that your students are challenging themselves mentally as they increase their reading comprehension, their critical thinking and their writing skills with substantive activities and no loss of learning continuity.

Making the Most of May, which is aligned with Common Core Standards and Bloom's Raxonomy, includes detailed Teacher Notes and a Project Grading Rubric.

Download Making the Most of May from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Comprehension-Activities-Making-the-Most-of-May-681650 ($), and


Enjoy a month of Teach It Now days,

Three ELA Activities that Nurture Students' Writing Gardens

To paraphrase an old adage, "Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, it's time for students writing to fizz!" These three lessons, each with more than one activity, offer endless possibilities for middle and high school students to blow away the doldrums that entangled their brains during winter's dullness.

In Writing: Write Right! Time for Spring Cleaning, students have the opportunity to

• expel the roadblocks that stymie their chances for writing success before they can mine their hearts and minds for ideas where they can incorporate sensory imagery with the Writing Hang-Ups activity,
• mine their hearts and minds for the ideas and the emotions that they want to express with the Airing Out Musty Memories activity, and to
• choose the sensory imagery that will help them to accomplish their writing goal with Making Sense out of Scents.

Students may use these activities to sweep away the cobwebs that have clogged their creative endeavors.  Now, their analytic and creative writing pieces will blossom. As for these tasks where students had to spring clean their writing homes to erase fears, to find ideas and to allow the sense of smell to permeate their pieces? Consider them done.

Download these three Common Core and Bloom’s Taxonomy aligned activities that come with detailed Teacher Notes from

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Write-Right-Time-for-Spring-Cleaning-656412  for $2.00.

April, National Poetry Month, is the perfect time for teachers and students to take an excursion on the Lesson-Up Express.  Poetry Activity: April Excursions-Poetry in Motion offers two tickets:

Option 1- A Literary Connections Tour
This ticket offers students the chance to find poems, poets and lyrics that fit the themes of any novel or narrative non-fiction book that they are studying.  To complete this trip, students will work individually or in teacher-chosen groups to analyze a poem (teacher or student selected).  See the Teacher Notes for finding poems that connect with story themes.


Stops on this tour include:
A. Atmosphere Alley
B. Poetry Junction
C. Imagery Island
D. Theme Mountain
E.  Project Pass: On this final leg of this tour, students must prepare the final draft that includes the analytic results of each of their stops on the tour in a poster or in a travel brochure format.

and

Option 2- A Poetry Camp Trip
If students choose this ticket, they will create five original poems from the types written on the tree branches on the cover of this offering and/or types they choose with the teacher’s approval. After they have composed the poems, they will put them in a literary magazine that they created, and will illustrate  each one with original or found images.

Activity 3- Poetry Performance Buffet is Required
All students will present either the results of their Literary Connections Tour or two poems from their Poetry Camp Trip at the Poetry Performance Buffet at the end of the month. See the download for complete details on how to manage this aspect of the project.

This packet also includes Teacher Notes and is aligned with Common Core Standards and the Bloom's Taxonomy thinking skills.  The last page reveals tickets to the Poetry Performance Buffet.

With this packet, April will be the Coolest, not the cruelest month. Download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poetry-Activity-April-Excursions-Poetry-in-Motion-639372 for $3.00.

Finally, to strengthen the roots of students' comprehension and writing skills, check out  Reading Comprehension - Writing About Reading.  Teachers can never have too many ideas for secondary students to explore when their brain isn't sparking any thoughts, or when we want them to write to a prompt.

This packet,Writing About Reading, offers teachers two new activities
1. Quotation Journals: What did the character say?  What did the character mean? (Note: this is terrific for nonfiction pieces as students can explore the author's point of view, tone, etc.), and
2. Writing Journal Topics (30 writing ideas).

As always, a Teacher Notes page details the Common Core Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy objectives that apply to this packet. Download it from
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Comprehension-Writing-About-Reading-1118924 for $2.00.

When students have the chance to read text, to write about it and then to speak about what they wrote, they will remember so much more about what they are studying. At the same time, they will add depth to their comprehension, writing and thinking skills.

These eight lessons which offer almost a complete 9-innings, coincide with another Spring rite-the start of Major League Baseball.  Teachers, here is your triple play! Have a powerful  teaching season.

Enjoy a Teach It Now day every day,

News Flash – "Journalism Activity Bundle" Simplifies Teacher Planning!

"It's that time of year

When Fall course schedules appear,

And some teachers scramble to see

If newspaper sponsors they will be."

by Keith Naquin

Whether you have chosen to take on the responsibility of teaching journalism and sponsoring the school newspaper, or whether you have been asked to do so, between now and the opening of a new school year, your emotions will run the gamut from , "I can't wait!" to "What did I do?".

Saying, "Yes," to shouldering any new course, no matter the subject area can subdue the staunchest classroom leader, but taking on the obligation of a publishing class can be downright daunting. Teachers who are veterans of their own high school or college newspapers find that when sitting on the other side of the desk, questions blossom quicker than spring pollen. 

Where do I even start planning?

The school has only outdated texts and won't buy new ones. 

What do I teach? In what order of importance? 

Where do I find lessons?

How often should the class publish a newspaper- once a quarter, once a month?

Let me start with that last question first. When I became the school's journalism teacher and newspaper sponsor, my predecessor's student staff had been putting out one paper a quarter.  The incredibly motivated staff that I inherited desperately wanted to aim for once a month, so that's what we did.

Needless to say, that first month I felt like a hamster on a wheel that kept spinning faster and faster as Deadline Day loomed, because I had to create lessons for the separate Journalism 1 class and teach them while I inspired the Journalism 2,3,4 students through their planning and  researching articles and designing the layouts.  But we made deadline, sending the layouts to the printer with an hour to spare.

Oh, did I mention handling old and new advertisers, dealing with the printer's contract and learning the school's policy regarding financing and administrative review? Since these three topics differ from school district to school district, you will need to find answers to these very important questions. Let me suggest that you clarify these matters before this school year ends. You will be busy enough in the fall settling into your teaching and publishing routine to deal with these vital issues.

Now, for some relief from all of your concerns about creating lessons, browse through my Journalism Grades 6-12 category in my Teachers pay Teachers store

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie/Category/Journalism-grades-6-12. You will find 15 products that you may purchase separately - ranging from my Journalism Whole Course Year Overview and Lesson Ideas  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Journalism-Whole-Course-Year-Overview-and-Lesson-Ideas-45173 

to  Journalism: Reporting Practice Worksheets 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Journalism-Reporting-Practice-Worksheets-38551 

to Journalism Article & Layout Rubric & Guidelines https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Journalism-Article-Layout-Rubric-Guidelines-83579.

Or...or... you can purchase all 15 in my 94-page Journalism Activities Bundle 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Journalism-Activities-Bundle-1775930, and save yourself $10.00.  All of these lessons and activities are direct results of my decade as the Journalism 1-4 teacher and newspaper sponsor. I  tested, revised and retaught them  many times over the years.

When you add any or all of these lessons to your repertoire, send me some Feedback if you would like my email address.  I will be glad to talk with you about any teaching or publishing concerns you have or that might crop up during your first year teaching this course. If you would like to see a lesson on any journalism topic, let me know and I will create onet. Right now I am working on one about headlines.

On a very important note, be sure to check with the current journalism teacher for any lessons and activities. If this person will still be at your school in the fall, also discuss whether he/she will mentor you for the first few weeks or so until the journalism gene settles into your system.

Most of all, enjoy this exciting, energizing and yes, even the deadline stress. I hope that you will fand it as rewarding as I did.

As Edward R. Murrow would say, 

"Good Night, and Good Luck,"

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day - Every Day