I decided to do something a little different this year. Something that one of my professors did that was amazingly helpful in setting me up for success for the remainder of the semesters, and indeed, the rest of my university career. I decided to devote the first 2 weeks of school to boot camps in my Social Studies and English classes. In these boot camps I focussed on the 4-6 MOST important skills that I wanted students to have prior to diving into course content. In the past I have struggled with remediating learning loss and filling in gaps in knowledge that was covered extensively in elementary school, but had fallen by the wayside by junior high and beyond. I felt that I wasn't really doing these skills justice as I frantically took advantage of "teachable moments" to explain how to use commas or to mention a couple of reading strategies. I wasn't sure if students understood, let alone retained, these brief explanations, and I often found myself having to revisit the concepts over and over due to the fact that they never really seemed to get the due care and attention they deserved.
With all of these thoughts rattling around over the summer I stumbled upon a post from Sarah at Kovescense of the Mind about the boot camp she uses to kick her year off in her AP classes. Hers is structured much differently than I wanted mine to be, but I loved the idea. It was a way to ensure that all students received the same information at the beginning of the year regarding integral skills they would need to be successful. Furthermore, since I am also using Smash Books this year, not only am I ensuring students hear the information, but I know they have an easy reference for them to use whenever they need a little push to apply these skills.
With all of these thoughts rattling around over the summer I stumbled upon a post from Sarah at Kovescense of the Mind about the boot camp she uses to kick her year off in her AP classes. Hers is structured much differently than I wanted mine to be, but I loved the idea. It was a way to ensure that all students received the same information at the beginning of the year regarding integral skills they would need to be successful. Furthermore, since I am also using Smash Books this year, not only am I ensuring students hear the information, but I know they have an easy reference for them to use whenever they need a little push to apply these skills.
So how did I decide on the most important skills I wanted my students to master? For the sake of brevity I will use my English class as my working example for this post. I also did a boot camp in Social Studies, so I will provide a brief summary of that at the end of the post. First, I made a list of all the skills I felt students needed to be successful in English. I used the Program of Studies to ensure that my expectations were in line with what they should have learned in previous years. Once I had my list (it was quite lengthy) I narrowed it down to my top 4 to make sure I didn't spend too much time on boot camp. In the end my top 4 were:
1.) Using context clues to define unfamiliar words
2.) Basic reading comprehension strategies
3.) Commonly misused words (i.e. homonyms)
4.) Proper use of Commas
Now that I have taught the boot camp once, in the future I will add a more comprehensive writing conventions review. However, I am pretty happy with what I came up with. Once I had my list I began creating my Smash Book materials. In keeping with the structure of the Smash Book, for each concept I had notes/input handout where I would work with students on the "rules" of the concept and work through examples as a class. Paired with the input would be an assignment that would allow students to practice the new information using their notes. For example, I had a notes page where the students and I created tests and tricks for figuring out how to use homonyms properly (its/it's, your/you're etc.), which was paired with an assignment where students applied those tips and tricks to practice their new skills. Both the notes and the assignment are glued into the Smash Book to allow for quick reference later on. To purchase my English Boot Camp materials click here.
1.) Using context clues to define unfamiliar words
2.) Basic reading comprehension strategies
3.) Commonly misused words (i.e. homonyms)
4.) Proper use of Commas
Now that I have taught the boot camp once, in the future I will add a more comprehensive writing conventions review. However, I am pretty happy with what I came up with. Once I had my list I began creating my Smash Book materials. In keeping with the structure of the Smash Book, for each concept I had notes/input handout where I would work with students on the "rules" of the concept and work through examples as a class. Paired with the input would be an assignment that would allow students to practice the new information using their notes. For example, I had a notes page where the students and I created tests and tricks for figuring out how to use homonyms properly (its/it's, your/you're etc.), which was paired with an assignment where students applied those tips and tricks to practice their new skills. Both the notes and the assignment are glued into the Smash Book to allow for quick reference later on. To purchase my English Boot Camp materials click here.
In the 2 weeks since boot camp has ended I have noticed that students are still needing me to explicitly remind them to refer to their Smash Books for help in these areas. However, I am doing my best to maintain consistency in that once I teach them something that is in their Smash Book I require them to first refer to their Smash Books for help before I help clarify their problem. This teaches students to be a bit more resourceful in the classroom and translates well into study skills.
In the past week or so students have begun writing a personal narrative - their first writing project of the year. We are about to embark on the editing stage of this project, and I have full intentions of requiring all students to make constant reference to their Smash Books to correct all comma and homonym errors to further reinforce the utility of their Smash Book.
In the past week or so students have begun writing a personal narrative - their first writing project of the year. We are about to embark on the editing stage of this project, and I have full intentions of requiring all students to make constant reference to their Smash Books to correct all comma and homonym errors to further reinforce the utility of their Smash Book.
As promised, below is a list of the concepts I covered in my Social Studies boot camp. The materials for this boot camp can also be purchased from my TpT store. All materials are included except the current events review. Here are the topics covered in Social Studies Boot Camp:
1.) Using evidence-based phrases
2.) Analyzing political cartoons
3.) Source analysis (images, quotes, documents, graphs, charts etc.)
4.) Map skills
5.) Current events review.
I would love to hear what others have done to remediate learning loss or to give students that extra boost to set them up for success for the year. Comment below!
1.) Using evidence-based phrases
2.) Analyzing political cartoons
3.) Source analysis (images, quotes, documents, graphs, charts etc.)
4.) Map skills
5.) Current events review.
I would love to hear what others have done to remediate learning loss or to give students that extra boost to set them up for success for the year. Comment below!