Spreading the good news! Star stories from the beginning of the year! By: #thehairbowgirls

Change of Plans by: Lauren Chi

One of my favorite experiences as a student is when my teachers change their lesson plans to let their students teach themselves. In one of my English classes, my teacher had originally planned for us to do a Socratic Seminar on a one-page story. We had twelve prompts to discuss and we took turns going into the middle circle to discuss the prompt. There was four people in the middle circle for each prompt and everyone else was on the outside circle writing down notes based on the conversation on the inside of the circle. The middle circle had eight minutes to discuss the prompt before the topic opened up to the outside circle. Once the conversation was open to the outside circle, we continued the discussion until we couldn’t come up with an idea or comment on the topic. My class got really deep into the conversation that we didn’t even notice the time. It started as an eight to ten-minute discussion to a whole class period, which is an hour and twenty minutes. My favorite part about this class was that my teacher let us continue the great discussion though the whole class and didn’t stop a great class discussion to continue the Socratic Seminar because we were running out of time.

My teacher even added information or questions to think about in our conversations. That’s how our discussion went on for the whole class. One of the best things for education, in my opinion, is when a teacher goes the extra mile for their students. My teacher wants every single student to understand our curriculum thoroughly. If I don’t pick up one of the topics at first, my teacher will slow down and explain to me. That’s one of my favorite things about this class. The classroom is open to any questions, comments, or concerns.

Love Your Teachers by: Sophia Coulopoulos

I’ve never hated a teacher. I’ve always been one to believe that hate is a harsh word. Yes, I have disliked some teachers, but generally I like all my teachers. There have been a few who I loved, and they all seem to have some things in common.  

These teachers have been my 6th grade social studies teacher, my 8th grade civics teacher, and my french teacher this year. They are all kind, they respect their students (although they still expected respect from us), genuinely wanted to create a bond with their students, and have a great balance of responsibility and efficient learning and having a chill, fun experience in their class. With all the stress from my other classes, it’s always nice to have a place where I can take a breath and have some chill fun, but still learn efficiently.  

I’m sure any student can relate to this. We love it when teachers find that perfect balance of learning and a chill environment, and that’s one of the main things that make teachers lovable. 

My favorite moment of this school year so far has been my french teacher making her class a stress free environment. She does an amazing job at making sure we’re learning, but not stressing us out, and students appreciate that. When you can walk into a classroom and just relax, you feel like you want to learn.  

It impresses me even more because it’s a foreign language class. It’s not like English or Math, which we’ve been learning our entire lives, it’s filled with completely new concepts. The fact that she chooses to balance efficient learning with a chill environment shows she wants her students to actually learn and enjoy her class. 

Thrilled about Theatre by: Gabi David

The beginning of high school was quite a scare for me, as well as many of my friends. It was my first day of freshman year, and I was on my way to theater class! I was excited to see what was in store for this year and when I arrived to the classroom, the chairs were organized in a circle with free choice seating.

The teacher began class by introducing herself and then we went around introducing ourselves and our dream role! She then began going over rules, and I was eager to get up and start working on something theater related! Later, we were told to stack our chairs out of the way, and form two lines facing each other. Once we were in our organized lines, she explained that we were playing a game called “Honey I love you, can you give me a smile?”. This was a game where one person says to the person across from them, “Honey I love you can you give me a smile?”, and the person across from them must respond without smiling or laughing, “Honey I love you, but I just can’t smile”. We went down the line one by one, and then the winners competed against each other! This game was fun for us, and you could tell everyone enjoyed it!

So many laughs were shared and new memories were made that we can laugh about later! It was so funny to watch each person use their unique and quirky talents to make the other person laugh. The atmosphere our teacher created was a place where people weren’t afraid to jump out of their comfort zone. I enjoyed this activity and I thought it was a great way to meet new people and bond together. Our teacher explained to us that in order to put on a good show, we need to be well acquainted with our cast mates! This game was popular for our class and I think all teachers should try new games to have the class get to know eachother!

Happy Birthday Homeroom by: Elizabeth Grace

I think my best memory from September is on the 14th, (my birthday is the 15th) my homeroom teacher got the whole class to sing happy birthday to me. This really showed me that my homeroom teacher was invested in me and cared about me.

I feel like if  more teachers built up relationships with students, I think more students would care. They would put more work into the class because they know the teacher on a personal level.

Now, I have had many very good teachers in my middle school, but when I am disconnected to them I do not care. But when a teacher puts in effort to make me have a good day, or say happy birthday to me, it really makes me feel like they care.

I think that if more teachers had personal relationships and really invested in their students, students would not just care more about the teacher, they would care more about the class. That way, the teacher would know that each student is really trying their best. Even doing something small, like asking how the students day was, or asking if they need help studying for a quiz or test. By doing a small thing, my homeroom teacher made me really happy.

That was my best moment in September. My homeroom class singing happy birthday to me. That just goes to show that even the smallest things can make a student very happy. And you want to know the funny thing? I have not been late to homeroom because I feel like she would be disappointed. That just goes to show that because I feel like she cares about me, that I put a little more effort into being early to her class. That alone shows that by putting effort into students, teachers will get effort back from students.

Just by doing something small, you can make a students day, and make them feel more invested in a class.

DRAMAAA by:  Sarah Lehner

I find it very important to get the students more involved by doing activities together as a class.  Coming from a growing young adult, getting involved is very important to me.  I attend Belmont Ridge middle school and I take 8^th grade Exploratory Dramatics.    

Drama is a way for students to be themselves and express their feelings in Art.  It isn’t just about learning about the history of plays or writing scripts, but it’s a way to connect with your peers.  On the first day of Dramatics, I was really nervous and didn’t know what was in store.  I sat down next to some friends I knew, and then, I never wanted to leave again.  I thought that Dramatics was all about learning about history and writing stories.  It was much more than all that.  On the first day, my Dramatics teacher got my class to form a big circle around some desks.  She handed out small cue cards, which really confused me at first, but I just ignored it.  They were all numbered 1-18 and everyone had a different number on it.  We had to work together to be able to put on a scene and use our common senses as a team effort.  

We learned how to work as a team and to be able to do something together that was very difficult for us young students to do.  My class was full of seventh and eighth graders so we had to learn how to get used to people besides our grades.  It was something that really impacted my life because I was forced to use my knowledge in a different perspective that I had never seen before.  Even though, I’ve worked with multiple grades in after school activities, I was able to learn more about the real world and its difficulties.   

Even though not everyone enjoys the theater, it is always a good idea to have a good perspective of learning on how to form a team and to be able to rely on your peers to get through tough times.  You’ll not just learn how to get along with other people, but you’ll be able to through things using a different perspective.   

Helpful History Homework by: Leila Mohajer

In a typical class you have a teacher, students, and a lesson. The teacher gives a lesson and the students listen to and take notes on whatever subject is being discussed. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with this method of teaching but can it be improved?  My Pre-AP World History teacher seems to think so.

            As homework every night, each student must outline a certain chapter from our history textbook. The text within the chapter gives information on something we haven’t actually learned yet which makes it all the more interesting. This means that we write down only the information that we feel is most important. However, this does not mean that we can write down two sentences and be done with our history homework for the night. The first thing we do when we come into the class is take a formative quiz on the material that was written in the chapter. The only notes we can use while taking the quiz are the ones that we wrote down for homework. This means we must read through the chapter thoroughly and take very detailed notes.

 When I took my first quiz on the homework section it didn’t go so well because I didn’t take enough notes. But as time went by, I got more and more used to reading comprehension and it really improved my skills as a reader. Not only did this affect me in a positive way as a reader, it greatly improved my writing skills which are used in other classes apart from history. I noticed a drastic change when writing my essays in English and started to get compliments on my homework papers from my teacher.

I, along with many of my classmates, believe that this is one of the best ways to teach us the material as reading something and writing about it is one of the best ways to obtain information. After doing this for a few nights, the information started to actually stick with me because in a way, I was teaching myself the lesson by reading about it. The history teachers at my school most likely took into consideration that this subject can sometimes be boring for students to learn for an hour straight. They then decided to come up with this way of having us teach it to ourselves.

It is a wonderful thing to see when teachers try to make learning as easy and fun as possible for their students. When my teacher explained this method to us along with saying that she felt it would help us learn the best, I truly felt rejoiced and knew that I was lucky to have her as my teacher. I hope to see more and more teachers like these come to our schools so that students can learn the way that they want in an easy, simple manner.

Games and Thrones by: Sabrina Rice

This school year is pretty good so far.  My favorite teaching moment of September has been playing interactive games.  Trying to remember quotes in order to get a prize really makes you think about the things you are learning.  When there is something to gain involved, the students will learn better because they are focused on getting the prize.  If they have to know the curriculum, they will spend more time learning and less time talking.  

Also, if a teacher does more enjoyable teaching methods for the kids, the students will respect the teacher more because they don't want the fun to stop.  I have experienced this first hand, as the teachers who do interactive learning get more attention and focus from the students.  My teacher is very interesting and connects things from the past to things of today, which makes us understand the ideas better, as we can see what it would be like in our own lives.

Engaged in English by: Chrysa S.

As the month of September comes to a close, I can say that a star moment for me came from my English class. My English teacher this year is a very eccentric, energetic, and enthusiastic person. She is the foundation for my star moment because her class exhibits a very close and caring environment. In class we discuss the book we are currently reading: The Glass Castle. When we do these discussions, she finds a way to include everyone’s thoughts and ideas, and even the shyest kids in class have their hands shooting in the air, with hopes to share their opinions. That gives me a lot of admiration for our teacher and hope for the future of our education. 

Success in Civics by: Madison Whitbeck

As a girl raised by a lawyer and politician, I have grown a love for history and civics. When I first walked into my civics classroom, I was a little skeptical. My teacher, Mr. Buttrick, was very down to earth and fun. He explained to us that he would hardly give out homework as long as we did the homework he assigned and let us leave class whenever we feel like we needed a break, but only for 5 minutes. This intrigued me. Mr. Buttrick swore to us that we would not only enjoy this class, but learn from it. I thought, there’s no way that this middle aged man could possibly know how to keep 13 year olds entertained for an hour and a half while teaching us history. He told us he understood that sometimes, class isn’t fun, but he tried his best to make it fun for every student.

About once a week, Mr. Buttrick changes our lesson to a fun competition and rewards kids with small things as simple as jolly ranchers. In his competitions, to receive the prize, you had to be not only quick, but accurate and in turn, students want to actually try. I thought that this was very clever. I find that it is much more motivating when you have something to work for, whether it be an actual prize, or just the satisfaction of winning, and I think my classmates agree.

I got to talking with my older cousin who also had Mr. Buttrick as a teacher when she was my age and she said that even now, at 22, she remembers him. She told me that she very much enjoyed his class and how much effort he put into entertaining his students in a way that will help them learn. She finished off the conversation about Mr. Buttrick by saying that I will learn a lot in civics and a lot from my teacher.

I look forward to civics class every day to see what the lesson is going to be about, and how Mr. Buttrick can put a modern and entertaining twist on it. I can confidently say that almost any student who has him as a teacher, enjoys him and his class.