Back to School Night 2020 Style English 9 Lab

hi and welcome to back to school night 2020 style

online. I hope that at least a couple of you

actually watch this as this is the fourth time that

I've done it.

So I'm gonna get started here because I tend to

get long winded.

My name is Jennifer Roberts.

I am special education teacher here of the Freshman Academy

for Language Arts and Oklahoma History Essentials.

I have been in this building for 20 years and

work that drinks for 22 years.

I actually started here as a teacher of community for

community education and, um, started working with some kids with

special needs.

My degree from Oklahoma State University was actually an elementary

education and history, so I didn't really know all about

special education and the large number of students that air

served by special education.

When I started to learn about that, I thought that

is definitely that student group that I want to work

with. And so I went and receive certification in my,

um P K through 12 mild to moderate disabilities and

also received, um, my certification in English so that I

could teach English also, So I currently have elementary education,

uh, special education, P k through 12 history and English

language arts as certifications.

And I've been around for quite a long time.

So I hope that I am able to, um, do

the best job for your student that I can.

As I said, I have been here 20 years.

I've been the coordinator for the building.

I have taught every subject except for science.

And I have been, um, part of special Olympics for

a long time and also worked with all the different

peers. And, um, now, I also helped sponsor key club,

so I tried to stay busy.

I love being here and being part of the community.

I do live in jinx.

So it is a privilege to get to work and

live in the same community and see my students grow

up and be members of the same community.

Um, I have second our plan, which means that from

you Look at the time.

10 15 to 11.

05 I am available to, um call you or email

you back.

I would suggest emailing me at jennifer dot roberts, jinx

p s dot or ge and then coming back.

And, um letting me call you if you need me

to call you or just answering it that way.

Um, that's the fastest and easiest way My phone extension

is 2546 But I'm not gonna lie.

I don't check it all the time because, well, it

just doesn't work that well.

So, uh, email is definitely the way to go.

Um, we do have tutoring available.

If your student needs it, I would prefer to help

them myself, at least if I can, if they need

extra tutoring.

National Honor Society, Key club.

And there are several teachers that help with tutoring.

Uh, not sure the students will need a lot tutoring

in my class.

But if they do, then please let me know.

And I can help hook you up with some sources.

Um, all of my, um, subject matter, everything that we're

doing is on the canvas calendar.

I kind of posted right here a picture of what

the class link page looks like.

That's where the students confined pretty much anything they need

to any programs through the district and then on canvas

itself, which is that very first right there.

Little one is canvas and um they should be able

to find out their courses on there and my calendar.

I only really have Goto week for for the module

or things like that, um, in the modules area of

my classes, where they confined what we've done.

It's a lot of work sheets or anything like that.

The way I run my class is very personal, which

is why, um, it was very hard to do distance

learning. But, um, do whatever I have to do that

make things successfully for your child this year.

Um, I do wanna throw in here really quickly.

Um, I've been really impressed.

They've been wearing their masks.

They've, you know, every once in a while I see

them start to slip down, and I have to ask

them to police pull them back up.

But they they've done a great job.

Luckily, the largest class I have is 15 students, so

that's not, um ah lot.

And I'm actually able to social distance a little bit

better than some of the other teachers.

Still not the 6 ft apart that I would like

it to be.

But we do have a little bit of room in

here um, to not be on top of each other.

I am cleaning in between classes or giving the students,

um, something to clean with us.

They come and if they want and have plenty of

hand sanitizer.

But if you just feel like spending some money and

getting me some hand sanitizer or paper towels or Clorox

wipes or Lysol, um, I sure would love it.

I do have a wish list on Amazon that I

will have on my canvas page of books and different

supplies. Since we're not sharing supplies, it's really important that

your child gets to school with their backpack with, um,

something to write with from my class.

They need their chromebook, a writer's notebook and a independent

read book.

Um, they all know Thetis, but they may not have

them. Um, their writer's notebook is just this, Um, I

did a video while we were on distance, learning on

how to set it up and eso that's still available

on canvas.

If they need that, um, you might ask them to

see their writer's notebook.

Is there private thoughts?

So I check it to see that they're working in

it, but I rarely will sit and breathe everything because

I do want them to have the flexibility and the

ability to just sit down and write what they need.

Thio Um and then we try to work on some

of those things.

The way my class is set up is they come

in every day and they're supposed to have their chromebook

and the writer's notebook and their independent read, um, sitting

on their desk when the bell rings and then the

first five minutes is, um, my doing a book talk

which justice?

Something for me to, um, share different books that I

have in the classroom.

Tell them about them.

And some book talks are longer than others, depending on

how much I like book.

But just to let them know what I have and

what's out there, Then we go into independent reading time.

They only have 10 to 15 minutes to read independently,

so I don't assign homework.

I assigned reading.

I really, really need them to read at least four

days a week.

20 minutes a week obviously were in kindergarten anymore, but

we're not gonna log that, but we're logging books that

we finished and I would like them to have actually

read six books by the end of the year.

Um, really, it should be more, but, um, hoping that

six is the least and it can be audiobooks.

It could be graphic novels.

It could be magazines.

It can be, um, fiction, nonfiction, anything that will get

them reading than that they enjoy.

I want them to get back to that place in

their life like a first grader, where when the teacher

says it's book time or reading time, they're super excited.

I want that feeling to come back into their lives

because there will be other classes that they have to

read things in that they won't enjoy.

So my thought is, if they enjoy it and they

can better their reading skills, then they will be able

Thio do better in their other classes.

I try to tell them that the most important So

a ZAY said they have the independent reading time, and

then we moved into, um, Writer's notebook time, and we

do different things in there.

Um, right now, my biggest thing is getting them to

put pencil to paper and writing anything out.

Um, as they do that I model doing it, and

I bright in my writer's notebook also, um, they're told

right now to write anything they can think of or

draw or whatever.

Then, after we've done that, then I moved into a

mini lesson.

I try to only teach 15 to 20 minutes of

actual lecturing so that they can, um, have time to

practice Whatever skilled is we're working on, we're getting ready

to move into elements of story.

Will use short stories so that they have just a

very small thing to work with, but dialogue and tone

and all those great things that they need to know

about being a writer and a reader.

Um and then we try to practice that skill and

then we debrief and then the class is over, so

it moves really quickly.

We have a lot of things to dio.

Um, that's why I tell them Thio, we don't wanna

waste a lot of time trying to find pencils or

find things.

You know, if they can keep it all together, it's

just gonna be a lot easier.

And also this year we can't share supplies, so please

make sure they have their own pencils and their notebook.

And, um, if they can't or you need help with

that, please let me know.

I did give about 10 notebooks out Friday.

So the students that didn't have one yet, Um, other

things. Um, man, I just, um really, really, really ask

that you keep them reading, talk to them about what

they're reading.

Um, do some questions with them, you know, Tell me

about what you're reading.

Oh, you're not reading the same book as you were

yesterday. What happened?

Did you don't like it?

Um, all different kinds of things like that Just, um,

talk to them and ask them to do the reading.

And I promise that they will really, really, really, um,

grow in that throughout this year.

If we can get them to do that.

Um, that's really it.

I look forward to having a great year with them,

and I look forward Thio meeting some of you hopefully

and please let me know if you need anything from

me. I am.

Just email away is I can do anything to help

you make your lives easier with teenagers.

Tha kn that's what I'm here for.

So have a great night and Thank you for listening.

Please. Please make your kids read and have all their

stuff. Um, it's gonna be a great year.

I promise.

Thank you.

Back to School Night 2020 Style English 9 Lab

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