Yesterday we had a professional development day as our first quarter came to an end. Overall the day was structured with quite a bit of freedom so we could meet with our department and grade level. Since Pierz is a smaller school there is typically one teacher per grade level per content area. This means I am the only 8th grade English teacher in the building. My frustration has been increasing every year due to being voluntold to take on new classes or switch grade levels every single year. During the meetings yesterday it came to light that a new class that I am teaching this year more than likely will not be offered next year. This means that yet again I will be asked to teach something new, develop curriculum, and let my work from the last year go. I am getting so burned out. I want to deliver the best content possible to my students but if I don’t have a chance to refine, reflect, and remediate, I don’t think I’m going to be able to. Aside from all of that, it takes time and effort to put together standards based engaging lessons with the right amount of technology. Perhaps it’s the busy time of year or the fact that I feel like I am the one getting the short end of the stick, but is anyone else feeling the same? Or experiencing something similar of switching grade levels and therefore content? P.S. love my kiddos but I don’t get to enjoy them or what I am teaching with all the extra “stuff” happening . . . .

Here is one of the final projects turned in for the Horror Genre Unit (Student and parent gave permission for it to be shared). A more detailed overview of how this unit turned out will be shared in a follow up post. For now here are the project expectations and choices that the students had:

Visual Representation Project Options

Pick one of the following options to complete a visual representation of the second story you read. If there is something that you want to do that you don’t see on the list chat with your teacher! Make sure to read the directions carefully to make sure you don’t miss any parts.

Visual Element Needs to Include:

1. Three out of the five horror story elements need to be incorporated
   1. Theme, Setting, Characters, Parallel Worlds, Suspense
2. Key plot events from the short story you are representing
3. A quality product was submitted in a timely manner.

Project Options:

1. Movie Poster 
   1. Alone or with one other person
   2. Create a movie poster for the story you read
   3. Include the title and author somewhere on the front
   4. Posters should be colored and try to lure in viewers
   5. Your teacher will have the right sized paper available 
   6. Examples here
2. Film Trailer 
   1. Up to four people total
   2. Using a movie app (I recommend iMovie on an apple phone) create a trailer
   3. Trailer should have the effect of a real horror movie trailer
   4. Trailer needs to be shared with the teacher as a youtube video link or upload it to google drive then shared with the teacher
3. Creative Writing – Children’s Story
   1. Independent Project
   2. How can you incorporate the storyline elements so that a child could understand? 
   3. Minimum of 10 pages
   4. Colored illustrations need to be included on every page 
   5. Think creatively to make it appropriate while still adding the story elements
4. Other
   1. Other options need to be proposed to the teacher
   2. Need to have a plan as to what you are doing and how it is visually represented