Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What we've been doing:  This week we studied Renaissance artists.  It started back in December when I bought a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask from La Sirena.  I love using costumes and props, but it has been difficult to do that here in the DR.  The boys love TMNTs, so I figured I could use the mask for something.

I threw out the question on Twitter, asking for help.  I wondered if anyone had any ideas for how to incorporate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into teaching middle schoolers.  One lady suggested I use it for teaching the Renaissance artists.  What a brilliant idea, I thought.

MONDAY: Michelangelo

This was my favorite day.  I put the mask right next to the white board.  I asked the boys what they thought we would start learning about.

We started off by taking some notes about the life of Michelangelo.  We watched a video of the Sistine Chapel that walked through the intricate details of the panels on the ceiling.  Michelangelo also wrote a poem about what it was like to paint the ceiling.  This website has the lyrics and audio of a gentleman reading the poem.  Then I told them we would also be painting like he did today.

I had taped paper under their desks/tables during lunch.  We used story dice for inspiration of what to paint.  They laid on the floor and painted there masterpieces.  Here were the results.

Andrew made a star.  Joseph made a black helmet.  Isaac made a bloody ax, and a sunset.  Next time I might have them paint something more Renaissance-y.  But it was still SUCH a fun day.

TUESDAY: Leonardo

We began the day by reading a mini article about the life of Leonardo and about the Mona Lisa.  Then, I showed them 20 different parodies of Mona Lisa.  In one example she was a balloon animal, in one example she had short hair, in one example she had duck lips and an iPhone, in one example she was a Lego creature... The boys loved looking at the different samples.
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Then I told them they were going to update the Mona Lisa.  Here were there final products.

WEDNESDAY: Donatello

Donatello was a sculptor.  After learning briefly about his life, the boys sculpted using aluminum foil.  Here were the creations they made.

Isaac made a duck/dragon with poop.  Joseph made a knight/soldier on a horse.  Andrew made a creature with a cigar.  I made a ballerina (thank you Joanna for adding the skirt to her!).  

THURSDAY: Raphael

Today we looked at the life of Raphael.  I am learning so much along with the boys.  Raphael mysteriously died on his 37th birthday.  At 11-years-old he was running his father's workshop after his dad died.  We looked at the pictures he painted in the Vatican, as well as some of his architecture and portraits.

I found this awesome website with lots of lesson ideas for the Renaissance time period.  I used this lesson plan and adapted it to fit Raphael.  I had the boys write two mini-essays.  One from the point of view of the artist (Raphael) and one from the point of view of the subject.  I gave them three different portraits to choose from.  They were really creative.  If we had more time I would have had them type them and put them on their blogs.  I might have them do that next week, actually.

The boys really wanted to do self-portraits like Raphael, which next time I probably would spend an extra day or two to complete.  I will fit those in a different unit somehow, because they were very excited to paint themselves.

Another change I would have made was to start the week by looking at the clip from the TMNT movie where April talks about the names of the turtles.  This would be a neat intro and connect to the lives of my students.

Taking Risks

What we've been doing: Last month we did one of the neatest things I've tried as a teacher.  The Reyes Academy participated in our first Mystery Skype.  I connected with a teacher a month ago in a #sstlap chat.  Each person participating has to introduce themselves.  I always state I am teaching in the Dominican Republic, and @Kristierinkle replied and told me she traveled here last year.  She asked me if I wanted to do a Mystery Skype with her class.  I had heard the name tossed around, but I didn't know much about it.

I started looking online at how Mystery Skype works.  It's a guessing game.  Using yes or no questions each class tries to figure out where the other class is.  The boys brainstormed questions and looked on maps.  We used an atlas and figured out about hemispheres and geographical locations.

The boys had the greatest time connecting with a class from North Dakota.  Once each class figured out the location, then the students got to ask other questions.  We were asked if we ate bugs here in the DR!  They asked us about weather and languages and if they could come visit.  It was such a neat experience, but boy was a I nervous before we did it.

I had hoped the following week we would do a Mystery Skype in Spanish, but the school dealt with some snow issues, so we weren't able.  Hopefully before the end of  the year we will have another opportunity to do a Mystery Skype.

Happy Birthday to Me!

What I'm thankful for: I have the GREATEST people in my life here in the DR.  I was brought to tears multiple times on Tuesday when I got to celebrate my 23rd birthday out of the country for the first time.

Monday afternoon I didn't have any obligations after work, and I desperately needed a haircut.  I asked Rosa if she would take me to her salon.  I figured she would drop me off, and I would take a taxi home.  Little did I know that she was going to stay with me and pay for my manicure, pedicure, and haircut.  I felt like I was in a movie.  I was getting read for some fancy ball.  I just need to find my prince.  :)

Tuesday morning we pulled up to the Reyes' house, and I walked in.  I found my boys and Rosa in the classroom with a cake and a giant candle!  They had decorate the whole place with balloons and tissue paper flowers.  They sang me happy birthday.  It was SO SWEET of them.  And I was so surprised.  Little did I know that the day would be full of surprises.  

After teaching the boys, and eating cake for lunch, I headed over to Amalie's house to teach her.  Amalie and I share a birthday, so I brought cookies for us.  She opened her present and we played with some play doh that afternoon.  She learned how to say 'happy birthday' in English.  

I got home from teaching Amalie to find Joanna and Amanda busy making dinner.  I had no idea what they were making.  They told me to go in my room and not come out until they told me to.  Amanda had e-mailed my mom asking about my favorite foods.  My mom sent her the recipe, and they made one of my favorite meals.  It was like having a piece of home with me here.  The garlic bread was also super yummy and led to lots of laughter and jokes about not kissing any boys that evening.  

After dinner they told me to put on my shoes.  Then, I was blindfolded.  What an experience.  I had no idea where they were taking me or what was going on.  I thought we were going to stay at the apartment all night and make Valentines cards for the girls at the girls home.

Joanna did a lovely job blindfolding me...  Amanda looked over at me while she was driving and started laughing.  We needed to capture the moment.  I have never actually been blind folded before, or at least in a long time.

We finally arrived to our destination and I got to take off the blind fold.  A bunch of friends surprised me at Sweet Frog!  Amanda has planned it all.  It was fun to spend time with people.  Ruthi made me this cute cookie, Michelle got me the best smelling body spray, and Amanda put together this notebook.  She went around and had everyone sign and write notes to me in it.  That's when the tears came.  She remembered that I had said I love notes from people.  It was the most special gift.

I could not have possibly asked for a better birthday.  I felt so very loved.  What a special day to remember.

Con mucho amor.

Valentines Day

What we did to celebrate:  We spent the week making watercolor Valentines for family and the help in the house.  The boys did a great job using white crayon and pretty color schemes when they were creating.  Some of them wrote sweet little notes, while others looked up poems and quotes on the internet.  We talked about how you are supposed to sign and start notes and letters.

Today began with a graffiti wall about chocolate.  Then, I used a short article about the history of chocolate with the boys.  I found Tweet Tribune on Smithsonian website that I love using.  They e-mailed out the article and some lesson plan ideas, which I tweeked to work for us.  Instead of printing out the article, I just posted it to Edmodo, and we took turns reading it aloud.  We talked about what surprised us from the article.  Did you know Americans eat half a pound of chocolate a month?  Did you know that chocolate was used as part of the rations and salary of soldiers in the Revolutionary War?

Then, I read aloud a short article about the chocolate shortage.  Lastly, I read aloud some chocolate facts.  The boys added to the graffiti wall more words about chocolate.

The Tween Tribune suggested the students create a skit where two book characters meet.  The scene must include chocolate.  I turned it into a creative writing assignment instead of a skit.  I specified the boys needed to use characters from the two books we just finished, In Search of Honor and The Sherwood Ring.  I really love The Tween Tribune, and they just started doing weekly e-mails with articles and lesson plan ideas.  What an awesome resource.

One of my boys even wrote his story in the style of one of the novels we read.  The Sherwood Ring is set up with flashbacks to the past written from a different character's perspective.  He mimicked that style for his own assignment.  I was filled with so much joy when I found that out.

Here's a resource from Hershey's with more lesson plan ideas about chocolate.

In the afternoon we played Loaded Questions, and we snacked on chocolate and cookies.

Tomorrow I am going to New Hope in la Vega to make Valentines with the girls!  It will be a day filled with love, I hope.

Con mucho amor.

Avengers

What I'm watching: I have never watched any of the Marvel or DC Comic superhero movies, so this year in 2015 I'm trying to catch up.  Captain America was the first movie I watched, and I loved it.  Last weekend I finished The Hulk and Thor.  I've been telling my students (all boys) about watching the movies.

from: here

Last week I used this article to model questioning and connecting to a piece of nonfiction text.  The boys loved the article and had so much to talk about while we were discussing.  It's about changing famous superheroes

I also created an example one-page-paper to show the boys using that article.

Today I went to school and one of the boys brought in a Marvel book that contained all the different heroes and villains.  I scrapped what I had planned to start the day with and used the book instead.  We compared Patriot to Captain America.  We looked at their costume, charts, stats, strengths, and weaknesses.  Next time I would have the boys make their own individually first, and then come together as a class.

Then I was going to have them write their own stories using a superhero.  Andrew had the awesome idea of randomly opening the page and writing about that person!  I gave them ten minutes.  Isaac wrote a whole story, Joseph wrote from his person's perspective, and Andrew summarized the stats.  I loved that they were writing so diligently for the time given.  I loved that they came up with the idea about how to pick their character.  HERE is the POWER of incorporating what they love into lessons.  

One of the families purchased comic books for the boys to read, but they haven't been using them very much.  I want to figure out how to incorporate them into our classwork.  In Writing Thief, Culham talks about using mentor texts.  She emphasizes they don't have to be the typical novels.  She uses hotel signs, brochures, etc.

I have also thought about having the boys create their own comic book as a project.  Need to think more about that.

How do you tie in connections to your student's interests?

Links I love

What I've been reading:  

This post by @HollyClarkEdu about how Orlando schools are taking away recess in order to spend more time on test prep.  I am planning on using this article from Bay News 9 or this article from FOX News to have the boys write something persuasive or argumentative about having recess.

This Huffington Post article about what MTV is doing for MLK day.  Showed this to the boys this morning, and we had a good conversation about the symbolism behind making TV black and white for a day.

This article about how to develop writers.  I really want and need to work on writing with the boys.  I am also reading Writing Thief by Ruth Culham with some ideas about how to teach writing.

I also just downloading Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller.  I read Book Whisperer this summer, and I LOVED her ideas and philosophy.  The boys are reading much more this year once I figured out what kind of books they enjoy.  Thank goodness these books have Kindle versions.  Much easier to access them.  :)

This awesome article contains the secret to a no-fail prewriting strategy that I cannot wait to try.  In a few weeks we are going to take a stab at writing a "theme paper" looking at what The Samurai's Tale teaches about life.

Here's another article I am going to use with the boys as a springboard for a persuasive or argumentative assignment.  Why should teachers use Minecraft in schools?

What have you been reading lately?

History Mystery Labs

What we've been doing:  Fall of 2014 I was Twitter stalking a Social Studies teacher who had an amazing picture teaching about the death of Julius Caesar.  She had caution tape sectioning off part of the classroom where she outlined the body with tape on the floor.  The best part is that the whole simulation is about looking at evidence and citing evidence.  Students must use evidence to prove, in this case, who killed Caesar.  I contacted her and she referred me to another teacher Mr. Roughton who loves planning, creating, and implementing these labs.

We are studying medieval times this week, and there was a History Mystery Lab about the cause of the Black Death.  I put more caution tape up on the classroom door and a sign that said "BEWARE."  I had CSI crime scene music playing as well.  I also recorded my voice and changed it to sound like someone else.  I told the boys I had a voice mail from the FBI asking for their help.  Here are my reflections about how I could have done this in an even more interactive way.

I wanted to find a costume and look like the doctors did back then.  I would need a big black cape, some goggles, and a big beak for my nose.  This would have tied the activity more into the past.  Or I could have had a guest come and dress in that costume and emerge when we were discussing that piece of evidence.  I could also have dressed up as a real FBI agent with a jacket, name badge, and heels.  That would have sold the premise a little better.

I also should have gotten a big manila envelope and marked it with TOP SECRET stamp.  I could have pulled the evidence we looked at out of the envelope.  Or the boys could have pulled it out of the envelope themselves.

Here's the link to my post about the original lab I did with the boys.  Much more decorated and authentic than this one.

This blog post is all about how to create simulations.

Here's the list of all of Mr. Roughton's History Mystery Labs.

This is a list of other activities he calls Choose Your Own Adventure.

Now I need to try and create my own simulation activity.  Time to dream big and teach like a pirate.