"...And Now I'm in 7th Grade!"

When I picked “The Cat Ate My Gymsuit” to teach, I didn’t realize that would be so full of lessons that I could lift off the page and bring into real life! I must be a genius. Or maybe Paula Danziger is. The point is that since Ms. Finney (from the book) is the new English teacher with wacky ideas and teaching methods, this means that I can almost take advice from Ms. Finney in my own classroom!

Chapters 3 and 4 of “The Cat Ate My Gymsuit” address Ms. Finney’s first classroom discussion- communication. “Ms. Finney said that to communicate is to begin to understand ourselves and others”, Marcy explains at the beginning of Chapter 3. Once I read that, I knew I could do something with it- especially for my shy students.  Here’s the plan:

OBJECTIVE: To build a sense of “community” in the classroom, so students feel more comfortable with the idea of “communication”

MATERIALS: Pen and paper

ACTIVITY: “And now I’m in 7^th grade”

Ask the students to arrange themselves in a line by birthdays. Once in the line, have them turn to the person on their left or right- this is their new partner. This also breaks up cliques.

With one minute each, have the pairs take turns talking about their lives up to this point. The only rule is that the last sentence must be “…and now I’m in 7^th grade.” Once each student has shared their story, have the group reconvene and give them the next instruction.

Using what they know about their partner, give them one of 3 options: they can write a haiku poem, a facebook status, or draw a picture of the story of their partner. I’m trying to appeal to multiple intelligences here, so I hope that offering more than one option will satisfy the majority of the students. Allow 5 minutes for this activity, then share the poems, statuses, or pictures.

Close with a discussion- how it feel to have your story read out loud by another person? Do you feel like you know something now about someone else that you didn’t before? Segue the discussion into Ms. Finney’s philosophy on “communication”, and assign chapter 3 and 4 for homework.

            Ok, lesson plan number 2 is finished! I'm really hoping that since my students will have already seen me act like "Marcy Lewis" in the previous class, they'll feel more comfortable around me, and in turn, more comfortable engaging in my activities. Something that's always worked for me is showing students my silly/awkward side. It's usually worked in the past to put people at ease. Enjoy, everyone, and as always- comments/concerns/questions/suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

The Role of Marcy Lewis Will be Played by...

        Well, I took Paula Danzinger’s book out of the library, and ideas just started exploding out of my head the minute I started reading. Even though it was written in 1974, a lot of the issues in the chapters still pertain to teens and pre-teens today. Minus the groovy, slightly outdated language, you would never know it wasn’t written recently. I think this is the book to start my first unit in my English/Language Arts class. Although...maybe I'll try to find a more updated cover. I can just imagine what jokes will ensue if I hand out 22 copies of this groovy one:

So retro, jive turkey.

Summary:
        Our book features Marcy Lewis- an overweight and shy 13 year old girl, trying to make it through school. Because of her insecurities, she won’t participate in gym (the title of the book is an excuse she uses with her gym teacher), and has very low self esteem. She does have one friend, Nancy, who she believes only likes her before their mothers are on the PTA together. Marcy also has a difficult home life- her father verbally abuses her and her brother, and her mother has become sort of a doormat. Some of the lines the father says in the book are pretty appalling.


       Everything in Marcy’s life is pretty boring until her class gets a new English teacher, Ms. Finney. Referred to as a “radical new teacher” in the book, Ms. Finney takes a new approach to not only teaching English, but also building a community in the classroom. She encourages students to get to know each other, discuss their feelings, and become a team. Ms. Finney is also a gifted teacher, and throughout the book we see how the students apply things like “similies” and “metaphors” to everyday life.


       Unfortunately, Marcy’s life is turned upside down when Ms. Finney is suspended from school for her radical ideas (the biggest being her refusal to say the pledge of allegiance). Marcy finds her own voice, stands up for what she believes in, and sacrifices a lot of time and energy fighting for Ms. Finney. Through this adventure, Marcy realizes that she isn’t the mousy, clumsy girl she once thought she was!

         So I know I have to get my students interested in the book, and I have a pretty good idea of how I want to do that- the “Nan” exercise.

        The “Nan” exercise is something we did in my Drama as Education class, where we (the students) were told we were going to play therapists, working with a new client named Nan. Nan (played by a faculty member) was here to discuss her problems with her marriage, and we were to ask her questions to the root of her problem. The exercise is there to get kids thinking about specific topics, and to also have fun with a role reversal of teacher-student.

        I’m going to change this exercise up a bit, and play the role of Marcy Lewis. But before I get to there, I'll ask the students to write down any question they would like to ask a new student. Then I’ll transition, and say something like “we have a new student joining us for the year, and her name is Marcy. She’s very shy and quiet, and doesn’t feel like she’s going to make any friends, so you’re all going to help her feel welcome. You can ask her anything you want- I promise she’ll be very honest with you. Let me go bring her in.”

        I’ll then leave class, put on some kind of different outfit, and return as Marcy, with her mannerisms and characteristics.

..........

        .....ok, maybe not so drastic. But I'll put on something different to show that I'm not Ms. Aniano.

        One other thing I’m going to do is try and guide their questions a little bit, and to help any shy students come up with questions. So I’m thinking of having a list of questions on the board that have to do with things they’ll be reading about in the book. For example:

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Do you get along with your parents?”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“What do you do for fun?”

       Just so we don’t stray too far from the book. I’ll let the students ask what they want, but the questions will be up for anyone who wants to use them.

        I figure that since my students are probably dealing with cliques, wanting acceptance, shyness and insecurities, that giving them all the chance to be in charge might be a good idea. We’ll see.


LESSON: The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danzinger

OBJECTIVE: To engage students in the book for our unit, and to help students realize that everyone is dealing with similar issues. We are not as different as we think.

MATERIALS: Copies of book, to hand out after activity. Costume accessories for “Marcy”. List of questions on the board.

ACTIVITY: “Nan” exercise

                 What I'm hoping is that the students will want to learn more about Marcy, and want to explore the adventures and troubles she goes through in the book. The whole point of this is to get them to say "wow, that was a really fun class! I can't wait to see what happens with Marcy", and hopefully engage them in the reading material. We'll see what happens! Wish me luck!

I'm An Adult!

HOLY CRAP, I'M EMPLOYED!

 Well, the planets have aligned, the moon is in the correct house, the heavens have smiled upon me and I have achieved the sign of ultimate adulthood- a job. A real life, grownup job, and it doesn’t involve waiting tables, serving coffee or flipping burgers.

I’ve just been hired to teach 7^th grade English/Language Arts. For those of you that know me, you know that I’ve just completed my masters in Theater Education. However, there’s a shortage of teachers at our middle school, so it was either “take the job not quite on your subject area” or “keep eating Ramen noodles out of a hot pot for dinner”. Ergo, I will be starting work next week, and I thought I’d keep this blog for a while to document my progress.  According to my class roster, I have 22 students of a variety of ethnicities- 14 girls and 8 boys.

One of the reasons why I really like middle school age is because it’s very much a transition stage in life- hormones, body changes, insecurities, friend drama etc. I think those things create a lot for a teacher to work with, and hopefully provide the chance for some rich discussion in the classroom. I’m also hoping I can use my theater background to create some interesting lesson plans. I’ve never really been one for worksheets, anyway.

My curriculum says that I have to do a unit on this book titled The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danzinger. Since I have no idea what it’s about, I’m off to the library to read it. More later!