Adventures in Alaska: Language Arts Curriculum (for next year's teacher)

We are officially moving back "home" and it's no secret. So, I have a goal in mind before I leave: to help next year's teacher with the transition coming in. We felt totally lost when we got here, but after two years, I feel like I've got the village life figured out.

This year, Lower Yukon School District adopted a brand new Language Arts curriculum: Prentice Hall Literature, and I have seen huge improvements with student achievement.

7th Grade, 8th Grade, English I and II, English III and IV textbooks

Each book has two volumes. We went through the first volume during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grading periods. This last, 4th grading period, we began using the volume two books.

The top two rows are the volume two books which we are using now. The bottom two rows are the volume one books, ready to be packed for the new school.

All the teaching resources and guides that come with the curriculum. I have never run out of things to use. It is great getting to pick and choose which resources I want to use as a supplement. I never have to create anything from scratch!

Each set comes with a pack of "Hear It!" audio cd's which reads the text from their textbooks. The students focus much better when I play the audio while they follow along in the book.

Every teacher gets a district issued laptop. This year we got to use a Macbook Pro. Before leaving each summer, we turn them back in to the district.

This year, our district adopted the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support) behavior program. In addition to professional development trainings, each school created a matrix of behaviors and consequences. This yellow and white chart clearly maps out each infraction and it's consequence for Alakanuk School. This has GREATLY improved consistency concerning classroom discipline, and has kept students accountable for their behavior.

Last year, the district created English Language Arts Curriculum Maps to keep curriculum consistent across each school in the district. This has made my lesson planning very efficient.

I printed out the curriculum maps, and tabbed them according to each grade, and move the green tabs to hold the place where I currently am teaching.

The curriculum maps are a guide to where I should be within the textbook. I still have the freedom to choose which resources I want to use, but Language Arts teachers across the district should be generally in the same selections in the book.

All the courses have the same Unit topics:

Unit 1-Fiction and Nonfiction, Unit 2-Short Stories, Unit 3-Types of Nonfiction, Unit 4-Poetry

Each unit aligns perfectly with our four grading periods.

School supplies: the school orders and provides virtually all the supplies you will need. I am going to pack all the desk supplies to leave for next year's teacher. We usually get to individually order supplies at the end of the year (for the next school year) for items like clipboards, posters, paper trays, etc.

This year, since we packed up the school and had to unpack it all back into the old school, I had only about 1/2 the amount of books available. Half of the books I kept in storage because I ran out of shelf space. However, here are just a few of the dozens of class set novels:

Going back to PBIS, each teacher was required to create a "CHAMPS" poster in their classroom. (A visual of your classroom expectations) These words are laminated, so I am going to take them down and a teacher next year could use them. The students are now familiar with the CHAMPS expectations, which helps me repeat myself a lot less.

Laminate everything! The students have a habit of writing on posters on the walls, so laminating rules helps them last a lot longer. Also, throughout the year, I posted rules for the smaller problems I experienced with student behavior.

Information center. I post the date, bell schedule, basic rules, and objectives up on the main board.

The students this year have THRIVED on routine. Keep it consistent. Mondays-we work on the vocabulary of the week (provided in the curriculum), Tuesdays- we read the selection from the textbook (the audio cd's help them focus), Wednesdays- we work through questions or a writing activity from the book in pairs or independently, Thursdays- we have a test, quiz, or some sort of assessment, and Fridays- I keep flexible to check grades, pass back work, catch-up on missing assignments, silent independent reading, buddy read with elementary classes, team up with other classes, etc.

The classroom has dictionaries and thesauruses.

Occasionally on Fridays, my 7th and 8th grade classes visit the Kindergarten class to buddy read, help with writing/spelling, or to work with them one-on-one with arts/crafts.