InstaDigest: Sept. 30-October 11

What we did and what it looked like

A few years ago at NCTE, Heinemann hosted a breakfast, and the theme was Antidotes to Orthodoxies.

To be honest, I thought it was stupid. What in the world? At the time, it felt like more nonsensical educational jargon by people far removed from daily classroom life.

But I’ve been thinking about it.

I love routines and habits and rituals, but I am trying to be responsive enough to also let them go. To be able to read a room and take a break when needed. To go where the lightning is striking instead of demanding we stick to my plan book no matter what.

If you look at my plans from the last two weeks, I think you might be able to see that tension — the push and pull of orthodoxy versus inspiration.

We had standardized testing for an entire week last week, and so you’ll see that ten days of school really amounted to six days of instruction in 7th and seven days of instruction in 8th. Ridiculous.

In the midst of that — in the midst of everything — I’ve had trouble finding a rhythm in seventh grade. Things feel a little too loose and inconsistent for my comfort. But perhaps my comfort isn’t the most important factor in my classroom, right?

This two-week stretch also saw the grand finale of our community learning wall, inspired by summer reading, field trips, 8th grade research, and an author visit. More on that some day, perhaps, but I’ll include some images for you below to see what the learning wall ultimately looked like. I’ll probably never take it down.

Take a look at my lesson plans from the last two weeks + some pictures and videos of life in my classroom.