Katelyn Today

Accomplishment 4-15-2010

kehancoc — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:19:58 +0000

I had a really good day today at school! First off, it is free coffee day at Starbucks which put me off to a good start… Then I implemented a new management/rewards system in the computer lab which worked wonders, and I ramped up my old rewards system in my classroom which also helped. Also, only one student showed up to my Period 3 class. I was able to talk to her about why we don’t always get along and hopefully through that conversation we came to a better understanding of each other. Then, we looked up Purdue University’s Veterinarian School on my laptop since she is interested in someday maybe becoming a vet. Then, we sat on the couch in my room and read Keesha’s House, a high interest book, together (I read a chapter and then she read a chapter, etc.) and discussed what we read. It just ended up being a really refreshingly nice day at school without a lot of drama!

Accomplishment 4-7-2010

kehancoc — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:09:54 +0000

J’s answers for a reflection worksheet on her reading growth made me smile as I was going through all of the papers today. I thought I would share her answers. (NOTE: The SRI refers to the Scholastic Reading Inventory which is a computer-based assessment that evaluates students’ reading ability.)

1. Look at your December SRI score. Are you on track to meet your April SRI growth goal?

No Im not on track

2. If you are not on track to meet your April SRI growth goal, what are you going to do change in order to meet your April SRI growth goal? If you are on track to meet your April growth goal, what are you going to continue to do in order to meet your April SRI growth goal?

I will change my focus, be more focus, be more involved on the task at hand so that I will make 2 yr growth

3. What can you do during the actual April SRI exam in the computer lab to stay focused and perform to the best of your ability?

Try an sit by my self, by no one I conversate with

4. Why is it important for you to meet your April SRI growth goal?

So that I can be a bigger 2 year growther, to move on from reading to something more challenging.

Thank you letters

kehancoc — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:09:34 +0000

This evening I went through the thank you letters that my students wrote to our Donors Choose donors. I am only supposed to send in seven letters per donor, but I may send in more because they are so cute. Below I have included some full letters and some experts from their thank you letters. Enjoy!

P.S. The spelling and capitalization mistakes, lack of punctuation, etc. are all as they wrote.

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Hi To: Jeffrey and Karen

Thank you for the new book cart. I can’t wait to read does books and look’s good the book that have chapter’s and I don’t have more word to say thank you a lot for everythings. you are the best 4 ever love u you

From: D (One of my ELL students)

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Thank you for new book and book cart. Thank you for Donating the Book of Lebron James That was Thankful of you

And P.S. I can’t wait to Read LeBron James Book It will Important to Read Every Book you like

Your friend

E (Can you tell that he likes LeBron James?)

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Thank you for the great Books to read when I got here there was no great Books. Some Books was not intersted in them But when I heard that we got new I was so Excited that I wanted to read The Book a Thosand time.

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…My big goals this year is to be the best reader, I can be, I can do that now, because of you gave my class this stuff…

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Thank you for the books The best book that you gave us was “The Hip Hop House. I can’t wait to read it again.

Did you know that I am doing a book report on it. This is a really good book. I learned a lot about it. I learned different rappers and R&B people that I never even heard of before. All I remembe is Lil Wayne, Boosie, Beyonce, R Kelly, Keri Hillson, and Alicia Keys By the way, Thank you.

P.S. Keri Hillson is my cusin.

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…I would also like to thank you for the book cart it is very useful. The book cart keeps most of our book all pretty and nice and neat. Thank you for the good deed you do for my teacher and the other people you help out.

Sincerely,

A thankful person- I

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…I’m looking forward to reading this book Just because you gave it to us. We needed new books so thank you. There must be reason you sent them.

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I just wanted to say thank you for the new lcd projector. My teacher Ms. Hancock has been using it since you gave it to her.

It’s more upgraded than that old boring overhead projector we used to use. This projector we use now is not as boring as the first. And it’s making my learning more fun.

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…Thank you for the new LCD Project. Its really cool and help my favorite teacher to make our work more viewable…

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…This year has been so awesome with that LCD projector. My wonderful teacher Ms. Hancock loves it. She talks about it all the time. She really appreciate the wonderful gift you as a whole donated to us. (L originally spelled “whole” as “hoe” and asked me if she spelled it correctly… I steered her in the right direction of the spelling!)

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Thank you for the LCD Projector. It is nice to know that somebody is out there trying to help us learn more. Thank you for everything you have done for us. Thing you again.

Accomplishment 3-26-2010

kehancoc — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:31:45 +0000

I never thought the 2:30 bell would ever come today… But it finally did, and I made it to my first Spring Break as a teacher!

Accomplishment 3-22-2010

kehancoc — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:43:42 +0000

I am personally really excited for my students to work on this Dr. Seuss Short Story Project that I introduced to them today. I have specific guidelines, directions and even a rubric for this project! I am assigning each student to a group with a Dr. Seuss book. They then have to fill out a worksheet with various questions about the book including identifying the plot elements (exposition, rising action, climax, etc.), mood, theme and writing a summary. They then have to create a poster which they will present in class on Friday. We will see how it all goes… I have my fingers crossed that it will turn out well!

Accomplishment 3-18-2010

kehancoc — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:18:53 +0000

Today, I found out that some of my students actually do care about me! My birthday is today, and my roommate, Steph (who also teaches at John Marshall), told all of my students about it and decorated my classroom doorway with a “happy birthday” sign. Thus today, many of my students said they were going to be “good” because it was my birthday, and they actually were better behaved than usual. For example, every time I told L and D a direction in second period, they (like usual) would initially not comply. But then, today, I could hear L tell D, “Come on, it’s her birthday- we got to do it.” If only it was my birthday everyday!

Throughout the day, I received several hugs from students and a lot of guessing of how old I’m turning (the guesses ranged from 16 to 80). Of course, I didn’t tell them my actual age (23). Steph also gave some of the 8^th grade students the option of making me a birthday card. I received several different handmade cards which are quite humorous along with a standup desk card made by L herself. Steph told me that L was apparently obsessed about making it and was quite fascinated with the idea that it could stand on my desk forever. Very cute.

Accomplishment 3-17-2010

kehancoc — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:14:58 +0000

Two of my Period 4 students are so into their Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) books that they came into one of my afternoon classes in order to get their books out of my book bin so they could read them in their last period class.

After school, we had a Teach For America/Eli Lilly event at the Slippery Noodle Inn in downtown Indianapolis with our Eli Lilly advocates. It was fun to hangout with other Teach For America corps members, staff and my Eli Lilly advocate, Janie.

Accomplishment 3-16-2010

kehancoc — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:05:08 +0000

I didn’t have to tell J to take out his gold grillz once today.

Almost all of my Period 7 students were in attendance today. However, no one got in a verbal altercation and everyone followed directions for the most part and stayed focused on our work… This meant no one got removed from class!

D, one of my ELL students, wrote three paragraphs in English today for an essay he is writing for my class.

Accomplishment 3-15-2010

kehancoc — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:26:09 +0000

Nothing was thrown at me today.

My Period 4 students picked out their Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) books today and seem to be really into reading them. Hopefully, this eagerness to read and focus during SSR in class will continue…

Accomplishment 3-12-2010

kehancoc — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:13:33 +0000

Friday morning was utterly horrible. However, Friday afternoon ended up being very enjoyable. The students who showed up to school on time for the two days they took ISTEP (the state standardized test) two weeks ago and didn’t get in trouble during those two days were rewarded on Friday with the opportunity to go roller skating during the last three class periods of the day. When I first heard about this “field trip” that I was going to be chaperoning, I thought this it was going to be a disaster. But only the really good students ended up going and it ended up being a lot of fun. Steph, Julie and I (the three Teach For America teachers at John Marshall) put on skates and went out on the rink with the students. Some of the students were really good skaters! My highlight was when one of my students took Julie and me by the hand and took us around the skating rink really fast. It ended up being a nice afternoon away from school!