Teaching RL.7.3-How Story Elements Interact

As I have made my change to 7th grade and am hearing all the best ways to teaching ELA to middle school kids, I am trying to figure out what works for me. I am con "teaching to the test." I am not someone who just gives passage after passage to build testing stamina. I am pro "explicitly teaching reading skills." I have learned to be aware of how you say "I explicitly teach standards."

Back in my elementary days I did a lot of Google Slides as my lesson planning/actual lesson. I did most lessons as an I do, We do (class and teacher), We All do (students in a group), You do (independent) work for the different reading strategies. Why was I not doing this same thing just because I was now working with super-cool preteens?

My first attempt at adapting this to 7th graders wasn't my best, but it wasn't terrible. Here is the slideshow presentation I used. I started with RL.7.3. This is the story elements standard, so I was hoping it would be a fairly easy place to start.

First, I introduced the standard and had each of my classes come up with some simple definitions to add to the tier 2 vocabulary in the standards to make it  more understandable. We reviewed these slides every day before continuing with the lesson. I added in a slide with content specific vocabulary about the standard and found and awesome Prezi (which is linked on the slideshow) to review story element background knowledge. I created this notes page to guide students through the review Prezi.

Next, I used a passage with multiple choice and written response questions using RL.7.3 question stems to practice the skill. The first practice slide I did for them, the final slides they did together in groups and we discussed as a class. This brought us to the end of the slideshow part.

For the "We All Do" step I gave printed a passage with only RL.7.3 questions and students worked in groups to complete the multiple choice questions.

Finally, I assigned each student an individual passage with multiple choice and written response questions to complete the assignment individually.

Some other things I didn't fully mention here that I will go into more detail about later was that the independent work was a passage they had to read online. Our state testing has moved to online testing and we are working on how to annotate and cite evidence without actually being able to do it on our passage. I also was reading "The Giver" during this time and did multiple open ended written response questions with the RL.7.3 stems to incorporate this into something other than successfully reading passages and answering multiple choice questions.

Finding My 7th Grade Identity

It is true that we are a semester into the school year, but it I finally feel it clicking. Even with 8 (or maybe its 9) years of teaching under my belt, it has still been a transition to figure out my new teaching job in middle school. 

Besides the obvious change of moving from elementary to middle school, I have also made a transition from a high needs school to a high performing school. It has been one of the best career decisions I have ever made. It has been different. I just now feel like I am getting back to teaching like me.

I don't know about anyone else, but I really found myself gravitating toward doing what other ELA teachers on my 7th grade team were doing. I think I was trying to get my footing and get the feel of a new school before I really jumped into my style. It was partly motivated by fear of not doing what I "thought" was expected of me. Don't get me wrong, I was definitely following in the footsteps of some AMAZING educators, but it just wasn't ME. 

But.....a couple of weeks before our Christmas break, I finally got the boost of confidence I needed from a fellow teacher who was a new teacher at my school last year. She shared that she had experienced a similar situation. She supported me in going for it. In being me. In using my talents in my classroom. In feeling confident that I know what I am doing. In encouraging me to get back to my style because it just makes teaching so much more enjoyable.

So. That. Is. Exactly. What. I. Am. Doing.