Accelerated Learning

This article provides 5 ways to promote learning new information. I especially like the idea of mind mapping since there is no right or wrong way to do it. While the article focuses on educational technology to help with learning new information, none of these strategies require the use of technology.

Do you have a favorite method? Do you use any of these techniques in your classroom?

Implementing Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated instruction remains one of the prominent theories in education today. Progressive education promotes individualized learning, and therefore, differentiated instruction has taken root in our educational system. No longer just a strategy that applies to special education classrooms, differentiation aims to meet the learning needs of everyone and has become the standard in many education programs and schools. Kelly Hedrick (2014) describes how the Virgina Beach City Public Schools included differentiated instruction as part of teacher evaluations district wide.

            Adopting a standard of differentiated instruction is often met with resistance, especially if teachers have been successful teaching by “traditional” methods. The resistance is not due to a lack of knowledge on the topic but in a struggle of how to implement it effectively (Hedrick, 2014). Powell & Kusuma-Powell (2015) refer to implementation struggles as adaptive struggles. Adaptive struggles force teachers and administrators to reevaluate values and assumptions about learning. In other words, information on instructional strategies is not a sufficient solution; teachers and administrators must participate in transformation learning and reevaluate their subconscious beliefs about teaching.

            The Virgina Beach City Public Schools prepared their teachers for effective differentiated instruction through transformational learning that focused on the curricula, assessments, and pedagogy. The first step was the clearly define the curricula. In the wake of No Child Left Behind and Common Core Standards, teachers became consumed with meeting the standards; not developing a curriculum. Hedrick (2014) points out that standards are not designed to be a result, but rather a jumping-off point for curriculum. The curriculum must adapt to students’ needs and interests. This adaptation can be part of the planning stage, but it also occurs in the moment as the teacher identifies learning needs that were not planned for. (Parsons, Dodman, & Burrowbridge, 2013). Teachers who are willing to adapt material are more effective in their instruction. Hedrick (2014) also stresses the importance of a strong curriculum to effectively differentiate, pointing out that weak curriculum leads to “multiple versions of that same weak curriculum” (p. 396).A strong curriculum relies on assessment In order to adapt curricula during instruction, teachers must constantly be gathering formative data (Doubet, 2012).  By predetermined points to gather formative and summative data, studying the data, and adapting the material and instructional strategies as appropriate, differentiation becomes the foundation of the curriculum (Hedrick, 2014). Differentiation is more than an instructional strategy; it is an integral part of the curriculum.

            Since I teach small classes, differentiation is easier for me now than when I taught large classes. I have much more freedom to adapt the curriculum and can quickly analyze formative assessments. I could volunteer to teach a session at the beginning of the school year to inform the other teachers how to adapt their instructional strategies to address the technical struggles and encourage the principal to closely examine our school values to promote differentiation.

Although differentiated instruction is a philosophy closely tied to progressivism, I think that it is especially important for Christian educators. By differentiating instruction, teachers are acknowledging the diversity that God created. The body of Christ has different parts, and this can be applied to how individuals learn. Talents and interests are recognized outside of class, but they should be acknowledged inside the classroom as well.

References

Doubet, K. (2012). Formative assessment jump-starts a middle grades differentiation imitative: A school focuses on formative assessment to support its efforts to differentiate instruction. Middle School Journal, 43(3), 32-38.

Hedrick, K. (2014). Differentiation of instruction: A strategic response to student needs. School Administrator, 5(69), 26-30.

Parsons, S., Dodman, S., & Burrowbridge, S. (2013). Broadening the view of differentiated instruction. Phi Delta Kappan, 95(1), 38-42.

Powell, W., & Kusuma-Powell, O. (2015). Overcoming resistance to new ideas. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(8), 66-69

Professional Learning and Student Achievement

When student achievement steadily declines, a teacher can become less motivated. But what happens when the whole school district is underachieving? Teachers feel helpless and lose confidence in their ability to make a difference and kids are not able to learn. Myers and Rafferty (2012) describe a similar situation from their school district in Illinois. Their district began implementing professional learning communities, or PLCs. Over a period of seven years, their school district has seen a steady rise in student achievement.

            Myers and Rafferty (2012) describe PLCs who are dedicated to student success.These teachers set high expectations and were committed to helping students reach the goals the PLCs created. Leane (2014) also worked a with a fellow math teacher to create a PLC to raise math scores. They began using the advisory period for math remediation and tracked student progress. Every student in the grade knew what was expected of them, and Leane and his fellow PLC teacher worked together to help every student meet those goals by the time state testing was administered.  Myers and Rafferty (2012) also acknowledge that successful PLCs constantly review student achievement data and plan the next steps and strategies that will be used to meet the goals. Leane (2014) followed this model and tracked student progress individually and across the grade. Grade-level data was displayed outside the classroom. By displaying this information, students were able to take responsibility for their learning and see how it affected the grade-level data.

            By forming PLCs, Myers and Rafferty (2012) point out that teachers can build a shared knowledge of not only content but also the students they are working with. By collaborating together, members of PLCs are able to better meet their students’ needs.  Teague and Anfara (2012) found similar results in Miami; members of PLCs were able to improve and strengthen their instructional strategies and direction their own professional development by working collaboratively to resolve struggles each teacher faced in his or her classroom.

            Strong and effective PLCs do not form overnight. Myers and Rafferty (2012) acknowledge that in order for PLCs to be successful, all educators must believe that all student can learn and be willing to commit to helping every student succeed. It also requires measurable goals and support from the school leadership. Poekart (2012) emphasises the important role that school administration bears when implementing PLCs saying that it is the duty “as visionary leaders” to develop an organized change process for collectively building 'community' in the organizational structure of the school” (p. 58).

            Although my school only has five teachers, I would say we still form an informal group of collaborative learning. Since our school is small, we all have a shared knowledge of the students we are working with, and following the advice of Myers and Rafferty (2012) and Teague and Anfara (2012) we work together to solve situations as they arise in our classrooms. I think I will suggest to my principal that next year we give up one staff meeting a month and use that time for a formal PLC. If we were to set school-wide goals for student achievement and discuss strategies to meet those goals, the experiences of Myers and Rafferty (2012)  and Leane (2014) prove that student achievement would increase.

References

Leane, B. (2014). How I learned the value of a true PLC. The Phi Delta Kappan, 95(6), 44-46.

Myers, N. & Rafferty, E. (2012). Moving up from mediocre. School Administrator, 1(69), 21-26.

Poekert, P. (2012). Examining the impact of collaborative professional development on teacher practice. Teacher Education Quarterly, 39(4), 97-118

Teague, G., & Anfara, V. (2012). What research says: Professional learning communities create sustainable change through collaboration. Middle School Journal, 44(2), 58-64.

Standardized Testing

It's that time of year again. While spring means Easter activities, spring break, and lots of flowers (and all the pollen that goes with them), it also means it is time for standardized tests. Once again, parents and students across the nation are protesting the number of tests that students take. This article presents the challenges that Georgia lawmakers are having in finding a national test to replace their state test in order to reduce the number of tests students take each year.  Do you think students are over-tested?

Personalized Learning

This article from The Atlantic discusses a personalized learning program in Rhode Island that has had great success. The article points out that with the national recognition the program is receiving, education could potentially migrate to personalized learning across the board. "Personalized learning" and "individual instruction" are buzzwords in education right now. Do you think this is a fad, or do you think this is the path education is heading towards?

Learning Styles

Everyone prefers to learn in a different way. Educators hear a lot about making sure we are creating lessons that appeal to a variety of learning styles, but what does that look like in an ELA classroom? More specifically, what does that look like in a grammar lesson? Here is a quick guide I have created demonstrating a few ways grammar can appeal to different learning styles.

The Problem

My Junior High English students struggle differentiating between the eight parts of speech. I am not sure why this is a problem, but I have had to think outside of the box to get them to understand this basic knowledge.

The Solution

I created multiple actives that each engage different learning styles. I figured the more ways my students could interact with the material, the more they would understand. They might even enjoy learning a little along the way.

The Aesthetic Learner

First, we listened to many different songs that focused on each of the parts of speech. Then, we learned a few of them together, and we would sing them everyday in class. When It came time for the test, I could hear students humming trying to remember what was in the song. We also took a class period for students to write their own song that summarizes the function of each of the parts of speech

The Spatial Learner

Students were to create visual representations of each of the parts of speech without using any words. The pictures describe what each part of preach does or how it relates to other parts of speech. All of the drawings were hung on the “grammar wall” to reference throughout the remainder of the year.

The Verbal Learner

Each student created a presentation to teach the eight parts of speech. They then taught a lesson to other students in their grade or to students in the elementary school. Each presentation needed to be 10-15 minutes long.

Incorperating Discussion in the Classroom

In the webinar “Questioning for Classroom Discussion: Developing Students as Thinkers and Learners”, Jackie Walsh and Beth Sattes highlight the importance of discussion to the learning process. Discussion differs from questions and requires planning in order to be successful. Discussion implies collaborating with peers and sharing text-based ideas in order to deepen understanding.  As a skills-based activity, discussion requires higher order thinking skills such as speaking, collaborating, connection-making, and using knowledge. These skills are emphasized in the Common Core Standards, and discussion is a good way to meet many of the standards. An often-forgotten stage of a discussion is incorporating a time for reflection. In order for students to process what they have learned, they need to have time to reflect on the discussion.

Girls and STEM

This article addresses programs sponsered by Microsoft that keep girls interested in STEM. By the time they are in their teens, most girls have lost interest in STEM fields. Microsoct has develped two programs, #WhatsNextCampaign and DigiGirlz to encourage young ladies to pursue careers in STEM.

Does your school have a STEM program? Do you find that boys are more interested that girls? What can you do as a school to encourage girls to stay interested in STEM as they get older?

Promoting Kindness

In the article "Creating a Culture of Kindness in Your Classroom",  Shari Carter discusses several ways to promote kindness between students and teachers. My students struggle with being kind to one another, so we tried "Secret Encouraging Pals" for about 5 weeks. Each student had another student that they were supposed to do something kind for over a period of about 2.5 weeks. I think it worked well, I would like to do it again next year.

What do you do to promote kindness in your classroom?

Alternatives To Homework

I will be honest, I would rather my students spend 15 minutes reviewing what we covered in class than doing a worksheet, but sometimes homework is inevitable. In history, I try to assign homework no more than 2 times a week. (I don't count studying as homework). I am going to be covering the material in class, and most of the times they don't do it anyway, so I have decided that there are better ways to assess learning. In English, I do assign homework on a regular basis, but it is usually reading a story at home that way we have time to discuss it in class. If I didn't teach multi-grade classrooms I probably wouldn't assign reading homework. 

I came across this chart about alternatives to homework, and I really liked some of the ideas. 

click on the picture to be taken to the source.

Would you incorporate these ideas into your classroom? I would like to use some of them once a week to replace a traditional assignment. 

Low Tech Accomodations

While teaching in a Christian school has many benefits, one of the struggles can be access to technology.  In a world where many accommodations are provided through technology, it can be difficult to come up with effective differentiation strategies that don't require technology. Here is a list of some low tech or no tech options for accommodations that work to provide differentiation in the classroom.

1) Cooperative Learning- Students work together in small groups. Students share strengths and develop weaker skills. Promotes interpersonal skills and interdependence

2)Highlighted text- One of the easiest accommodations. Highlight key points in text. Allows students to focus on main ideas and not get lost in the details. A very good accommodation for ESL students.

3)Guided Notes- Handouts with blanks for key points and spaces for diagrams. The handout increases student understanding because less time is spent trying to organize information.

a sample of guided notes

4)Sentence strips/Sentence Starters- The beginning of a sentence to help students begin their ideas. This can help improve student writing and language proficiency by using starters that are just above their current comfort level.

5)Goal Setting—Goal setting promotes motivation and self-regulation, two of the major concepts of providing multiple means of engagement. Students work together with the teacher to set academic of behavioral goals. A worksheet is often used to list the steps needed to accomplish the goals.

A sample goal setting worksheet

What low tech or no tech accommodations do you use in your classroom?  What have you found that works best?

Social Media in the Classroom

Students are connected through social media more than ever these days, and often social media can be our biggest competition to hold student attention. Can social media and instructional time exist in harmony? I say a wholehearted YES! Social media can be a powerful tool to engage your students, but you have to know how to incorporate it in a meaningful way.

Instagram

A fellow teacher I know is on Instagram as @grammarqueen1. She posts pictures of grammar errors in public to let her students see how uneducated you look when you make these types of errors. She even lets her students turn in photos to her to post. Her students love it when their picture is shared, but they love it even more when they are the first one to identify the error.

Facebook

The same teacher mentioned above also has a bell ringer activity that she has named "Facebook Friday." On Fridays (obviously) She posts a series of real Facebook comments and/or post that have come across her newsfeed with spelling and grammar errors. The names are blacked out to protect the innocent. Her students must find and correct all of the errors. She has said that sometimes she will even put a Facebook Friday question on a test. I love this application of  Facebook in a practical way.

Facebook could also be used to connect with students (or parents depending on the age of your kids), but personally, I like to keep my school life and my personal life a little more separated than that. I would rather use Edmodo or Google Classroom to connect with my students.

Twitter

I used twitter in my student teaching classroom, and my students loved it! I used it mainly as an exit slip where students summarized what they learned from that day's Socratic seminar. As a class, we would come up with a hashtag for the novel we were reading. I required that I be tagged in tweets and that they include the novel hashtag. Students told me that it could be challenging to summarize with only 140 characters, but it made them think carefully about their word choice, and the tweets were usually very creative.

In this article, Kristen Wideen shares how she created a class Twitter account and allows her students to post what they are learning. I found the article to be super inspiring, and I am considering incorporating Twitter into my classroom in this manner.

YouTube

YouTube is by far the social media channel I use the most in my classroom. I use it to show TED Talks, poetry recordings, music that connects to the theme in literature, etc. Basically, if there is a video in my lesson it generally comes from YouTube.

This year, though, I want to move away from just using YouTube as a way to show videos to enhance learning. Yes, I will still use it to add multi-media to lessons, but I want it to be more focused on my class. I am planning to create screencasts of presentations and upload them to a class account so that students can review material. YouTube can also be a great platform for students to create and share their own videos.

What social media do you use in your classroom? Has anyone found a way for SnapChat to have a place in your teaching? I am interested to hear and learn from all of you.

Classroom Managment Tips

This past Monday I completed a classroom management webinar hosted by Linda Kardimas at Teach4theHeart. The webinar provided 5 basic tips for regaining control of your classroom.

1. Don't be a friend, Be a mentor--This one is probably the hardest for me because I am so close in age to my students and I knew many of them before becoming their teacher. It is hard to find a balance. Somedays I feel I am too hard and other days too soft.

2. Develop systems to get attention and eliminate distractions--This tips included using callbacks, elements of whole brain teaching, and using a warning system that doesn't disrupt the flow of teaching.

3. "Shake-up" problem areas--This means identifying the area of your routine that causes the most behavioral problems and completely changing them up to get the attention of students. This allows for reteaching and practicing of procedures.

4. Deal with problems when they are small--Small problems become big problems when left unchecked. Dealing with the problem could be as simple as a warning as long as you follow through the next time. I know this is an area that I struggle with.

5. Build strong relationships with students: Often behavioral issues go deeper than disobeying. As teachers, we will only get to the root of the problem if we have the relationships with students.

This webinar was a brief refresher on classroom management. Linda also offers a classroom management course. It is a paid class but right now it is on sale. I signed up, and I can't wait to start watching the videos this summer when life slows down a tad.

Answering "Why?"

"Why do I need to learn this?"  

All teachers hear this question. I know some days I hear it more than others. In lower grades an answer such as "Because I said so" might work, but as students get older answers of that type will only frustrate students even more. 

It is true that you can look up basic facts on Google. I am really bad about whipping out my phone and googling something in the middle of a conversation. But can Google teach students how to think? 

Education  is more than just learning a collection of facts. It is what we do with those facts that is important. Facts are good, but if you do t know how to use them they become worthless. 

So fellow teachers, take the time to ask yourself why your students are learning this material. If it isn't relevant past a chapter test, is it really worth spending a majority of your time on? Evaluate what you are teaching. Make it relevant to your students. 

Students, trust that your teachers have a purpose for what they are teaching. Put your best effort into learning what they have prepared for you. If you aren't sure why something is important, it's ok to ask, but make sure you do it in a respectful manner. You never know what God has for you. The information you are learning now could become vital for you down the road. 

Teaching Responsibility: The Implied Curriculum

Curriculum is more than the textbook that a school uses or the subjects they teach. Curriculum also includes the philosophies and values of an institution. Inlay (2003) remarks that teachers and schools teach values, and this is often seen in the way teachers and students interact with one another. Inlay is the director of a charter middle school, River School, that emphasizes the values of personal and social responsibility. This is done mainly through teachers modeling these values in their own lives and associating everything that goes on in school with character development.

River School teaches personal responsibility by viewing mistakes as chances to learn as opposed to “bad behavior.” The do this by creating a safe environment for students to make mistakes and be held accountable. The ideas of creating safe spaces is not a new one. According to the National Education Association (2017) learning cannot take place if students do not feel safe and welcomed in a classroom. The River School creates safe spaces for learning by constructing learning activities full of choices. When students make a bad choice, it is used as a teachable moment to teach students to own up to their mistakes and how they can fix them. Inlay (2003) emphasizes the fact that the faculty aims to treat the middle school students like adults whether they are acting like an adult or not. Gish and Markham (2013) point out a similar method used in Gish’s classroom that while it is important for students to know the rules and the theory, they must also be coached on how to handle and use this rules. Both Gish and Inlay uses their classrooms as a platform for mentorship and promoting personal responsibility.

Additionally, the River School promotes social responsibility by teaching its students to accept differences and be responsive to one another. Wolk (2013) claims that by designing education to be community-centered, students take an active role in learning and work together to better themselves and the world around them. At the River School, teachers take the questions of students seriously, and both parties practice active listening. This seen most clearly in their process for conflict resolution. Conflict resolution involves asking a third party to mediate, and after each party voices their concerns, the other party repeats the concerns in their own words in order to see the other person’s point of view.

I appreciate the goal of teaching responsibility to middle school students. Responsibility and responsiveness are character qualities I am constantly promoting to my students. One of the reasons why I think the program is successful is because everything is tied back to that. In order for a values curriculum to be successful, it must be highlighted at a school-wide level, not just in individual classrooms. This means that parents are onboard with the curriculum and how it is being implemented as well, and that is a change that does not happen overnight. I am also interested in using a similar method of conflict resolution in my classroom. So many times not listening is the cause of disagreements, and then everything gets blown out of proportion.

While I applaud the work at the River School, I would disagree with some things, especially when it comes to teaching responsibility. Inlay (2013) claims that they “trust in our students' innate ability to make good decisions for themselves” (p 70).  As Christians, we know that we cannot trust our flesh to make the right decisions because we are all sinners. Therefore, mistakes still must be punished even if they are used as a learning experience. The River school also allows students to participate in deciding what is a part of the explicit curriculum. There is nothing inherently wrong with giving students a choice but left unchecked it can lead to the student becoming the source of knowledge. With careful planning and alignment with the Bible, I think the values enforced at the River School, could be successfully implemented into a Christian school.

References

Elizabeth Gish, & Paul Markham. (2013). Living well together: Citizenship, education, and moral formation. The Good Society, 22(2), 151-161. doi:10.5325/goodsociety.22.2.0151

Inlay, L. (2003). Values: The implicit curriculum. Educational Leadership,60(6), 69-71.

National Educators Association. (2017). Take the pledge: Safe learning environments for every student. NEA Today, 2017, 1.

Wolk, S. (2013). Reading democracy: Exploring ideas that matter with middle grade and young adult literature. The English Journal, 103(2), 45-51

Repost: I Corinthians 13 for Teachers

Once again, I am sharing a post from Grace4Teachers.This is probably my favorite post from Rachel. It is such a needed reminder. I have it printed out, and I keep it in my desk at school. I spend time focusing on it at the start of each semester. I hope that it is as much of a blessing to you as it has been to me.



You can view the original post here: I Corinthians 13 for Teachers

If I am an entertaining and articulate teacher, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I have all wisdom in dealing with student and parent issues that arise, and have not love, I am nothing.

If I give  my free time grading, creating exciting lesson plans, and designing stellar bulletin boards; and have not love, I am nothing.

Love is patient

It does not get annoyed with the drumming pencil or the millionth time a student asks, “what page are we on?”

Love is kind

It speaks to students with kindness, even in times of discipline. It looks for little ways throughout the day to show students care.

Love does not envy or boast

It does not “show off” bulletin boards, lesson ideas, etc. to show up other teachers.

Love is not arrogant

It listens respectfully to the opinions of others and is willing to admit that it is wrong. It is even willing to ask forgiveness from students or other faculty when necessary.

Love is not rude

It finds ways to discipline students without belittling or embarrassing them.

Love does not insist on its own way

It does not get out of sorts when its lesson does not go according to plan or when scheduling does not work out in its favor. It does not consider its way the only way to do things.

Love is not irritable or resentful

It gives students a clean slate daily and doesn’t hold grudges. It doesn’t take student behavior personally. Its mood is not dictated by outside circumstances.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth

It looks for the positives in the students instead of focusing in on their weaknesses. It doesn’t feel smug or justified when the student “gets what’s coming to him”. It is heartbroken when a student makes wrong choices, not because those choices affect the day, but because those choices are displeasing to God.

Love bears all things

It sets aside its constant to-do list to really listen to what’s on students’ hearts and minds. It finds time to listen to the looong stories, pray for a pet guinea pig, and counsel the friendship drama at recess. These problems that seem so trivial to most are very real and heavy burdens on our students’ hearts.

Love believes all things

It believes the best about the students.

 Love hopes all things

Even after a rough day, it is still hopeful knowing that it was a day in which God was working His grace and perfect plan.

Love endures all things

It keeps going day in and day out. It doesn’t give up on any child because God never gives up on us .

Love never ends.

If you are like me, I see so many areas that I failed in loving my students today. Can I tell you a secret? There is no way that you or I can daily show that kind of love to our students without God’s grace!  We need God to work in our hearts and give us that spirit of love.

II Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power,  and of love, and of a sound mind.

When I realize that I am not loving my students as I ought to be, I need to look back to the love of God for me. He has loved me despite my sinfulness, and He has offered me grace to love my students in the same unconditional way. It’s all grace!

Cultivating Discipleship in the Classroom

In the article 9 Truths You Need to Know to Create Powerful Discipleship in Your Christian School by Linda Kardamis of Teach 4 The Heart, Linda shares what makes Christian education different: Discipleship. She introduces 9 truths to cultivate discipleship in your school.

Discipline: Discipline issues are great opportunities for discipleship.

Interactions: The rapport we build opens doors for discipleship.

Spiritual Walk: The only was to make a real impact is to be led by the Spirit

Classroom Managment: Without order, litter learning or discipleship can take place

Integrity: Students learn more by what we do than what we say

Partnership with Parents: God has given parents the primary responsibility for their children's discipleship; we are partners with them in this process

Lessons: Leaders who think Biblically can change the world (and we can teach them how to do just that)

Energy: If you want to be effective, you must take time to sharpen the saw.

Synergy: When we work together, we make a bigger impact in out students' lives

Curriuclum Orientations

There are 4 main curriculum orientations. This chart gives examples of what each one might look like in a high school English Classroom

	TRADITIONAL	PROCESS/MASTERY	EXPERIENTIAL	CHRISTIAN
Education’s Purpose	*Students should be able to know and recite core set of facts *Ideas are more important that actions *Teachers are the source of knowledge	*Step-by-step instructions for knowledge *must meet measurable objectives. *Prepare students for the work place.	*Children are the source of their own truth * Whatever you can experience with your senses can be trusted as truth	* Bible is the source of all truth *apply knowledge to your life *we are to be imitators of Christ
Essential Questions	* What are the elements of Romantic literature? * What were some of the historical causes for the romantic movement?	* How do I find the theme of a poem? *What in the poem guides the reader to discover the theme	*How does nature inspire you? *What can you learn from nature?	*How does Romanticism differ from a Christian worldview *Because God created nature, how should I respond to him?
Procedures	Before reading the selected poems, the teacher will explain the terms of simile, metaphor and synesthesia, as well as explain the historical events leading up to the Romantic period. Teacher will lecture from the textbook highlighting important facts. The student will take notes during the teacher lecture. After the lecture, students will answer comprehension questions from the text.	The teacher will read a selected poem out loud as the class follows along. The teacher will then model the process of finding the theme by asking the following questions. --What is the main idea? Give Proof. --What is the author’s tone? Give proof? --What message does the poem have for the reader? Proof? Combine them all together an get the theme. The class will work  together through the next poem using the same process. The student will complete the same process for 4 more poems.	The students will read selected poems by William Wordsworth. After reading students will work in groups to discover the meaning of the poems. They will write their answer in their journal. The class will spend 15 minutes sitting quietly outside. Students will write their thoughts about how nature makes them feel in their journal.	The students will work in pairs to complete a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting a Biblical world view to the tenants of Romanticism. After students, have filled out their Venn Diagram we will have a discussion about the differences and similarities.  The teacher will emphasize that God created nature for us to enjoy, but we need to worship the creator more than the creation. The students will watch a presentation of pictures set to “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”
Assessment	Drill and Practice worksheets over terms and vocabulary Multiple Choice tests Essay explaining how history affected the Romantic Period	The teacher will grade the student individual work. The student must get 3 of the 4 themes correct. Test would include a new poem and students must find the theme.	The teacher will grade the quality of the poem analyzes. The students will turn their feelings about nature into a short poem. They will be graded on creativity,	The teacher will grade the conversations that take place during the discussion. The Unit test will include an essay asking students to compare and contrast Romanticism with a Biblical Worlview

Repost:Finding Peace in the Chaos

My friend Rachel over at Grace4Teachers wrote this beautiful article about finding peace as a teacher. Despite all of the mess that comes with teaching, God promises us peace.

Check out the full article Finding Peace in the Chaos on her blog, but you can enjoy a sample right here.

Don’t you love stock photos of teachers?

The teacher with every hair perfectly in place…her beautiful unwrinkled button-down shirt. Her glistening white smile. The beautiful chalkboard behind her. Her students sitting in spotless desks with their hands eagerly outstretched, waiting patiently for their turn to talk.

It always looks so calm and peaceful. It doesn’t look like me or my classroom.

My hair is thrown back in a messy bun because I just don’t feel like dealing with it anymore. My shirt is covered in pen marks and fruit cocktail juice (from tearing off those plastic coverings on fruit cups at lunch). I choose to not look at the desks because they give me nightmares. My whiteboard is covered with marker residue, and I have forgotten to change the date at the top again. And the kid with the eagerly outstretched hand…he is already talking and just about falling out of his seat from waving it.

Some days, it’s just a little bit of chaos.

God’s Word has so many examples of people whose lives are in chaos – men and women just like us who feel like they are spinning out of control. Yet many of these men and women still found joy and peace amidst the storms raging around them.

God lovingly and ever so carefully brings us through storms to grow us closer to Him. No gust of wind or wave can break over your ship without Him knowing and allowing it. No storm is faced on your own. In fact, He has already successfully faced every storm that you will ever come up against and is waiting to help you to do the same.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are,yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Dear friend, whatever you are facing…you are facing it with Christ right by your side. He is growing your faith by bringing you to the point where you can do nothing else but turn to Him. He wants you to get to know who He is.

In your storm, turn your gaze to whom your God is. Remind yourself of His promises. Cling to His character. Your chaos is not too much for Him to handle.

Peace, just like joy, is not a feeling that depends on circumstances. It’s a fruit that the Spirit grows in our lives as we get to know our God more and more.  Run to Him – knowing Him is the true and only source of lasting peace!