Happy Folder: A Teacher Must

The unfortunate truth is that as teachers have days where we feel defeated. Maybe a brilliant lesson didn't turn out right. Maybe a student acted inappropriately. Maybe we are tired and looking for a break. As teachers, a lot happens in our classrooms that we cannot always control, but just like we remind our students, we control our responses.

As my classmates and I were about to embark on a right of passage, student teaching, we had a college professor who told us to create a "happy folder." She told us it did not have to be fancy, but a folder for us to place "happy memories" such as a thank you from a student, a drawing, a note from a fellow teacher, or anything that reminded us why we joined the profession of teaching.

For the last two years, I have utilized my happy folder frequently, whether adding memories or cheering me up. At the end of the year, when students are ready to be done, it truly helps me reflect on the positive influence we teachers have on our students.

In the last two and a half years, I have letters, thank you's, pictures, and poems in my binder.

Some of my favorite highlights in my binder: (Yes, I take photos of some items just to keep in my binder!)

• A reminder of supportive administration, and all we can do as a team!

• A prom invite, because we (advisors & the junior class) pulled it off and the students had a blast!
• Photos of reading to students
• Photos of my 8th grade basketball teams and my track teams
• A student literacy essay where he describes how his favorite English teacher encouraged and inspired him

And some things that just make me giggle:

• This myth inspired monster my student insisted I have!
• An overheard comment: "I need, like, six brownies to keep from being anorexic."
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Unfortunately, I will not be with this same group of students next year, so I've also had to include some farewell notes and generous gifts:

• This one melted my heart...they did understand the poem and apply it to their own lives!

• This student gave me the first three books in the series, because she had to make sure I read them, even if I'm teaching somewhere else.

• What teacher doesn't appreciate when their students give them a little extra sugar?

• This student remembered that roses are my favorite. Can kids get any sweeter?

After all, we choose our own attitudes, and I—for one—know that I am a better teacher when I'm optimistic and energized. This happy folder helps me do this.

What do you do to stay positive? How do you choose happiness?

Letters to Express Opinion: A Lesson for Me

Over the summer, I was given the opportunity to rewrite my curriculum maps for my classes. Earlier this year I shared with you my success unit of Writing Personal Narratives with my 8th graders. Unfortunately, my first unit with 7th grade didn't go as well.

Feeling inspired through my readings of Kelly Gallagher's Write Like This, I wanted my 7th graders to have a first writing assignment that was meaningful for them. I thought to myself, "Junior High students always have an opinion! They should know letter format, so we can review. Writing a letter allows them to share their opinions with others." Not such a bad plan, perhaps.

I started the unit introducing the Six Traits of Writing. To help us narrow our topic, I use a mini lesson from The Traits of Writing: the Complete Middle School Guide that demonstrates a specific topic.

After demonstration and practice together, I asked my students to narrow their own topics. I was quickly disheartened. My students had dismal opinions about school and the teachers there. I went home exhausted and near tears because of the negativity. 

I didn't know what to do. I want my students to feel as if their opinions matter, but I could not handle the negativity, especially about colleagues and topics that I truly value as important. 

After talking with other junior high teachers and fellow English teachers, I created an instruction sheet that narrows the letters down to two topics. I also included a rubric and discussed with students how their work is to be graded.

I shared with my students why I was changing the assignment and we discussed the importance of being positive.

You can find this handout here.

My students and I had to brainstorm, again. Practice, practice! 

I then used an online resource as a reference for letter format. As a class, we discussed how this is a form of organization. We discussed what other formats we can put information in and decided what reasons a letter format best fit the information we are trying to communicate.

Using demonstration, I created this  example letter for my students to read.

For revising, I ask my students to complete a basic peer review. I provide these written instructions , and I also role play with another student prior to assigning partners.

We practice paragraph editing each Thursday, so they are familiar with the editing process.

Students who completed their letters on time also submitted them to the appropriate addressee. Those who wrote to our superintendent received responses back in letters! They were excited by this and pleased that their opinion did matter.

Articles to Ponder

This past week, my district so kindly sent our English department (all four of us!) to the NCTE Convention in Minneapolis. It was amazing! I can't wait to share with all of you my experience and what I learned while there. My students were very excited to see the pile of books that I brought back with me!

This got me thinking about professional development and how it looks during the busy school year. I try to read texts about pedagogy, teaching styles, and adapt unit plans. The reality though, is that I only have time to read bits and pieces. I often find myself reading articles online that are shorter and I am quickly able to relate to. Below are some articles that I've read this fall and a short reflection as to why I think they are important to share with other educators.

Minnesota Students' Scores Mixed on Nation's Report Card
I will admit, my principal forwarded this article to me, but I strongly believe that we should be aware of how our students are performing and what's being reported about them. I may not be a fan of testing, but I'm also a realist and understand why administrators and legislation look to statistics to measure student progress. As an English teacher, I can see how each of my student increases their communication through writing, reading, and speaking each year, but I am grateful that I don't have to write individual reports about each of these students. That would be an unrealistic feat to complete each spring.

There are some positive highlights in this article, including 8th grade scores: third-best in math and seventh-best in reading. Our 4th grade scores took some dips, but math is still second-best and reading is higher than the national average.

Declining Student Resiliency
This article from Psychology Today intrigued me because we had a training about resiliency this fall. This article explains how professors and other college faculty have noticed a drop in college student resiliency. Students are professionally visiting with mental health services and are visibly, emotionally upset in their classes.

I find this interesting because my career goals include preparing students for life outside of high school. The article suggests that "helicopter" parents are to blame for this. This may be true, but it is also societal. I also can't help wondering what role middle and high school teachers play in this. Are we meeting the expectations of society and holding the hands of our students too much?

Writing Workshop is Hard
I can't agree more with this article title. The days we have writing workshop in my classroom are the most exhausting. They don't seem to take too much prep as I try to limit to one or two mini lessons, but moving from student to student for individual conferences is a workout for my brain. I try not to limit my students' topics, so my mind is doing gymnastics as I go from essay to essay.

I think this article gives some good tips for sharing this process with parents, which I think is fantastic! It's also relatable to anyone who teaches using a workshop menu.


What have you been reading?