As the students take their Gateway exams this week, I feel relieved to be done with the preparation for them. I honestly lost sleep over worrying about whether I was teaching them enough and giving them enough practice to do well. From what the students told me, their science and social studies teachers thought it sufficed to give the students 1 practice Gateway prompt the week before the test. They didn't even practice together - the students recieved the assignment and had to complete the essay. Which means (as always), the other core area teachers are relying on the language arts teachers to teach the majority of the test-taking skills. That's not OK, but I've accepted it as reality. Therefore, to follow up on the work my SOPH LA students did on their whole group essay (the one we wrote together on the overhead), I had them work individually on an essay to practice and refine those skills.
First, I gave them their new practice Science Gateway topic and a handout of the work we'd previously completed together. Then, each day, I asked them to complete a portion of the Gateway process on their own. Monday, they had to complete an outline of the topic they chose. Tuesday, they had to complete an introduction and 1st body paragraph; Wednesday-their 2nd and 3rd body paragraphs; and Thursday-their conclusion, Gateway Checklist, and final draft. On Friday, we used a rubric to peer review and comment on each other's essays.
This process was great! The students asked so many great questions, helped each other, and improved so much in such a short time. On their peer review rubrics, a couple of students even wrote comments like, "You did a great job, and I actually learned some things from reading your essay!" I am so proud of them all for working so hard, and the cool thing is that they actually seemed to enjoy being pushed to write well on difficult topics! No one complained about our prep work being "too hard," or "too much work." They were determined to do well, and I constantly reminded them that failure was not even an option. :)
I know that teaching my students to write chunk paragraphs and giving them so much practice was key to them learning to write a Gateway essay so quickly. Next year, I think I will introduce the chunk paragraphs at the beginning of the year, and will try to require a document-based essay for each unit. ...Of course I say that now, but it's always so hard to fit in everything we need to do.
The students have taken the Science/LA Gateway and will take the Social Studies/LA test tomorrow. Overall, they have told me that the practice we did in class really helped them on their tests. They said:
1.) They thought about me repeating "Hook, Background, Thesis" when writing their introduction paragraphs.
2.) Even if they didn't completely understand the topic, they remembered how I showed them how to highlight key words in the Scenario, Task, and Bullet points, and to use those key words to help them write their introduction.
3.) Writing the thesis was easy because they thought about using the Bullet points to create the main idea of their essays.
4.) They felt like they new exactly how to organize their essays so it made sense and flowed well.
To me, this is the best part of my job. The students rarely ever say "thank you" for teaching them something, but when they are excited to tell me that they thought of my class or something I said while they were completing their test, I know I did my job well. :)
I only wish I recieved results from these tests, too. I'd like to know how many of my students passed and how many failed. If they failed, I want to know why they failed so I know if I need to alter or abandon my strategies. I want my students to do well, but I also need to be told if they are doing well if I am going to be the best teacher I can be. Who do I talk to about that???
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My JR LA students have been introduced to Of Mice and Men, and (only one chapter in) they are already in love. I read each chapter aloud to them, and I do different voices for the characters: slow and high for Lenny, short and gruff for George, etc. The students laugh out loud at the funny parts and mummble audible "Aww's" when George is mean to Lenny. It's great. :)
Some of my JR LA students are also in my SOPH LA class, so they were Gateway testing yesterday. A couple of students stopped by my room at the end of the day yesterday and asked if we had read Chapter 2 in class while they were testing. When I said no, they were so happy and said they were wondering what will happen once George and Lenny get to the new ranch. I love teaching this novel....
Moment that Made me Smile:
R____, who I taught last year for LDC II (level 2 English Language), was hanging out in my trailer in between classes. He looked at my poster of Subordinating Conjuntions and asked, "Miss, what is a subornitating conjunshion?"
"A subordinating conjunction usually starts the dependent clause of a sentence."
His face became concentrated and his eyes focused while he thought. "And, a dependent clause can come at either the beginning or end of a sentence. Right?"
"Good, R____! Where did you learn that?" I was so excited that a level 3 English student would know such a thing!
"Um.... Lemme see. Ms. W___? No. She don't talk about grammar. Hmm... I think you, Miss. You taught me last year." He smiled.
"Well, then I'm very proud of you for remembering! That's impressive!" I beamed back.
He laughed and humbly but matter-of-factly said, "I know, Miss. I have to do my best because I want to go to college."
