Ring in the New Year with a Growth Mindset: Activities for Teenagers

When you return from break this year, take a moment to allow your students to reflect on the things they've already accomplished and look to what they hope to achieve the remainder of the school year. These activities can promote a growth (rather than fixed) mindset for students.

Self-reflection builds self-awareness--an integral component in developing emotional intelligence. My activities challenge students to really think deeply and stretch their minds. For example, one activity makes them come up with 20 things they do well. This is a perfect activity for developing a growth mindset. Even though coming up with 20 things is tough for a teenager, the exercise helps them not only reflect on their own skills and traits but builds self-esteem.

While developing a growth mindset is important, it's also essential to promote creative thinking in your classroom. Start the new year with some simple prompts that challenge your students to think differently. My activities include an acrostic poem using numbers rather than letters. That added difficulty pushes your students' critical-thinking skills.

Another activity adds a fun scavenger hunt (who doesn't like scavenger hunts?) and allows students to create their own. This can get your students moving around the room (and perhaps the school, at your discretion), promoting physical activity in the classroom while improving student performance.

I've also included a reading comprehension activity using the song lyrics to Auld Lang Syne. The creative component of that activity challenges students to write their own New Year-themed song lyrics.

Of course, I did not forget to include the old standby writing prompt, which asks students to think about how their new year resolutions (I define "resolutions" for them within the prompt).

All of my activities include both traditional "print & go" pages and interactive notebook foldable activities.   

The "2018" short prompts make a great bulletin board, classroom, and/or hallway display.

Administrators love to see students visually display a growth mindset and students love reading one another's goals and things they are looking forward to in the new year. I include blank ones so you can have your students decorate them with their Top 20 list if you wish.

Displaying your student's work gives them a daily reminder of the things they hope to improve, achieve, and look forward to throughout the year. I usually take them down after a month or so but at the end of the year I pass them back and ask students to reflect on whether they achieved what they hoped they would. It's another way to reinforce self-reflection and build emotional intelligence.

You can find all of these activities in ONE download (which is updated yearly, so it's a huge bargain!) here:

Literature Inspired Ornaments

I had a classroom set of very old, falling apart To Kill a Mockingbird books. They were in too poor of condition to resell or donate (many were missing pages). Some of the pages we used for a blackout poetry project. But with 100+ of these books, I wanted to find another easy way to repurpose my favorite novel. 

BOOK QUOTE ORNAMENT (Glued on outside of ball)
I was inspired by images on Pinterest of so many book crafts; one that caught my eye that I knew I would be capable of making was an image of a holiday ornament made from pages of a book. I gathered up some old plastic colored balls and grabbed my Modge Podge glue and scissors and started cutting and gluing.

I quickly realized that my strips were too wide. If you are gluing the pages on the outside of the ball, cut the strips into two- or three-line strips. The skinnier the quotes, the easier they are to wrap around the ball. I found wrapping them vertically rather than horizontally worked best. 

But this way does take a long time. I also found out NOT to glue your favorite quotes first, because chances are, they will be covered up. The first layer of quotes will probably not show, so feel free to glue blank pages first, then your favorite quotes after.

It took me several hours just to complete one. The more I made, though, the faster I became. Picking out the quotes probably took the longest.

They were pretty but needed a little sparkle. I purchased some Diamond Dust, clear glitter, and clear "vase filler" baubles that looked like little ice pebbles and figured I would experiment with each and see what I liked best.

Make sure to let the ornaments dry completely overnight or for at least 12 hours before adding any embellishments.

I found my favorite look was to glue the ice pebbles near the top, then sprinkle the diamond dust on top and down the sides. I didn't want too much because I wanted to be able to read the quotes through the dust and glitter. 

You can experiment with the amount of bling you wish to add. 

BOOK QUOTE ORNAMENT (Filled clear balls or other shapes)
I really love the look of the glued strips on the balls, but not the amount of time they took. So I purchased some clear balls and present shapes and decided to fill them instead. (This ornament is FAST and so easy!)

I took the quotes and wrapped them around my pinky, then stuck them in the balls. Most of them retained their shapes. I experimented with wrapping them around skinnier objects like a colored pencil or just rolling them into a spiral helped keep their curls better.  

While just the book quotes looked nice, they tended to just roll up together into one big curl. So I realized I needed another element inside the shapes to keep them from doing that.

I added a mixture of the diamond dust, clear glitter, silver glitter, and some of the little ice pebbles. This worked well. Adding another paper element that wasn't rolled into a curl, however, worked the best. I had some crinkles--I don't know what you call these things, but they are like shredded paper folded in zig zags--left over from a gift, so I added some of those, and they worked. They kept the quote strips apart and added some color, too.

There are so many possibilities you can try with this type of ornament. As long as it fits in the ball, you could add charms, beads, and anything that fits inside relating to the novel.

I hope you enjoy this little craft and are able to repurpose your own old novel sets into beautiful ornaments.

Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments.  

Celebrate the Holidays in Your Classroom

Thanks so much for visiting my blog for Day 12 of the 12 Days of December Holiday Blog Hop! 

Incorporating comfort and joy into your classroom during the holiday season can be as easy as a lesson relating to the holidays or announcing a contest or challenge to your fellow staff members.

REGIFTING: YAY OR NAY?
Regifting: most of us are guilty of regifting something at least once in our lives. What do your students think about regifting? You can have some engaging arguments in your classroom on the topic.

My nonfiction argument lesson on regifting contains "pro" and "con" articles on regifting. Students read both sides, analyze both arguments, then decide which side of the debate they fall. It also includes a role-play activity, an infographic assignment where students collect their own data and create an infographic based on their findings, and a writing component in which students form their own arguments on regifting using the data and research they collected.

HOLIDAY COLORING PAGES
Coloring and doodling aren't just for children. CNN reported last year that coloring can "...reduce anxiety, create focus or bring about mindfulness." We all know students (and teachers) who can benefit from less tension and improved concentration and mindset. 

My Christmas and Holiday coloring pages are geared toward teens and are perfect for decorating your classroom for the holidays. The winter-themed pages can be used for the entire season.

Students who like to doodle will love the doodle pages included.

DOOR DECORATING CONTEST
Last year when some teachers at my high school decided to have a holiday door decorating contest, little did we know how much joy it would bring to not only the students but the entire staff.

The guidelines were very simple: decorate your door for the holidays and complete it within a week. You could do it yourself or have your students help you during our common 8th period study hall.

Since there weren't any stipulations, pretty much anything holiday-related was acceptable. Some teachers used their content area for inspiration, like my fellow English teacher's "Winter PoeTree," complete with poems written by students:

Or by our P.E. teachers on the locker room doors:

 

And by one of our math teachers:

Others made their doors warm and cozy with fireplaces:

Our computers/business teacher's door.

One of our science teacher's door. Names on the stockings are students from Physics class.

While others used iconic holiday characters like the Grinch, Snoopy, and Olaf:

A math teacher's door.

The special education room.

Another math teacher's door.

Even our principal and office staff got in on the fun:

Our principal's office door.
The student office workers and secretaries made the "Nice" list;
our principal and athletic director made the "Naughty" list.

The door to the main office.

For my door, I decided to go with one of my favorite holiday movies as inspiration: A Christmas Story. I debated on whether the leg lamp would be appropriate but thought I would take my chances. I decided I wanted the outside of the box on the outside of my door and the lamp on the inside of my door: 

 

I used large rolls of printed paper in woodgrain patterns for the box and the window frame and stars for the sky. (Most of the supplies I used were leftover from Homecoming float-building and Prom decorating supplies or Christmas decorations I happened to have.)   

Our school has an excellent color photocopier with an enlargement feature that will print a giant image on several pieces of 11x14 in. paper (you just need to piece them together). I used this feature to print the leg lamp and the larger images of the characters. I made two copies of the lampshade so I could tape battery-operated fairy lights under the top layer of the lampshade. To add another three-dimensional feature, I taped real black fringe to the bottom of the top layer lamp shade. 

Then things got a little out of control...

    

 Once I started decorating around the door, I just couldn't stop. And there were so many parts of the movie I wanted to include! So I added the Bumpus dogs, Scut Farkus, the famous "You'll shoot your eye out" quote, Ralphie in his cowboy outfit, his C+ essay, the Little Orphan Annie Decoder and Ovaltine message, Ralphie in his pink bunny gift, Randy's zeppelin, the Old Man's bowling ball, the Red Ryder BB gun, the Old Man's "Fra-Gee-Lay" quote, Ralphie's mom correcting him, Ralphie dropping the lugnuts and saying "Oh Fudge," LifeBuoy soap, Randy in his snow suit "I can't move my arms," the triple-dog dare, Flick's tongue on the pole, and Scut and Grover Dill. (The "retweets" comment was because a student had recently said he would tackle a Christmas tree if his tweet got 150 retweets.)

Here's a video of my "A Christmas Story" door:


The total cost of this door was less than $3 (the black fringe was the only thing I purchased) because I was able to repurpose leftover decorating supplies and use holiday decorations I already had on hand. Of course, being able to use our school's photocopier helped keep costs down.  

I'll post pictures from this year's door decorating contest in a separate blog, so make sure to follow me to get updates. This year's theme is any holiday song; I'll be helping my husband with his social-studies classroom door. 

GIVEAWAY
Bringing comfort and joy into your classroom doesn't have to be complicated, of course. A simple string of lights, playing of a holiday song as students walk in the classroom, or wearing an "ugly" holiday sweater can be enough to bring a smile to your students' faces.

Make sure you check out Hello Teacher Lady and Write On with Miss G's blog posts, as well!

Thanks so much for stopping by AND don't forget to ENTER to win the final prize: a $200 Amazon Gift Card! You can enter to win here:

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Or by clicking here:  12 Days of December

I hope you obtained many great ideas from my fellow bloggers for bringing comfort and joy into your classroom!

In case you missed any, you can find all the blog posts here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Using Holiday Ads in the Classroom

During the holidays, advertisers ramp up their advertising, luring buyers to their stores. They'll use colorful, vivid words to snag new customers, which actually works in YOUR favor, English teachers! You can use their ads to teach a number of lessons.

1. CHANCE (or DADA) POEMS: Cut up the words and use them for an impromptu poetry writing session. I like to store the words in little plastic baggies and use them when we have time left at the end of the period. I'll have students work in groups and prompt them to create a poem based on the lesson we just practiced (or the book/story/character we are reading). Or if there is a fun event coming up (a holiday, a dance, etc.), have them create a poem related to the event. Give them a limited time to create a poem, then have each group share with the class.

2. PARTS OF SPEECH REVIEW: Have students cut out the words themselves*, only with a twist--require students to find an example of each part of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection). You can make it a contest and see who can come up with the most (and the most interesting). *If the words are already cut out, they can just each take a baggie full and sort them by part of speech.

3. REVIEW IDIOMS AND CLICHÉS: Ads are perfect for containing overused idioms and clichés. Introduce and/or review the figurative phrases with your students. Have them find their own in the ads, old magazines, or in newspaper headlines.

4. ANALYZE THE MERIT OF MARKETING: Have students look over the ads, analyzing the marketing techniques used, including the word choices and design/aesthetics (colors, font, and placement of words and products on the page). Which phrases stood out to them? Which did they pay little attention to? Were others more effective? Why?

5. ANALYZE TARGET AUDIENCES: As students look over the ads, ask them to evaluate who might the target audience be for the ad. How did they come to that conclusion? Which words and/or phrases did they use as clues? Do the ads stereotype?

I've been using ads and newspapers in my classroom for years. If you do not have access to a newspaper or magazines, check with your media specialist to see if she/he has older copies that can be saved for you. Also, your school may be eligible for Newspapers in Education. It's a wonderful program that supplies classrooms with copies of newspapers, which are paid for by donations from local businesses.

My Magnetic Poetry Kit is also an option for activities #1 and #2 if you don't have access to newspapers or magazines.

You can keep collecting the ads through the spring: Valentine's Day ads are perfect for love-inspired poems; there's also President's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and so on... Each holiday will offer different flavors of language to suit the occasion.

COMING SOON: Handouts for each of these activities, which will be included in my POETRY BUNDLE (a bundle of ALL of my poetry-related resources...past, present, and future!)