PE4_Strip Design

The RILS (relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario) project has come at an interesting time in my teaching career.   On Wednesday, I gained a new teaching assignment.  I am teaching at Robinson Elementary School, 8th grade. This school is a SIG (school improvement grant) school for Toledo Public.  This is extreme poverty, and the school has never achieved AYP (adequate yearly progress).  It is designated by the state of Ohio to be in Academic Emergency, and has been since the ratings were established in 1998.  Here is a snapshot of the latest report card:

basically a lot of data to show what the first page stated:

The classroom that I am walking into has had a revolving door with no less than a dozen substitutes all school year.  These students have not had stable instruction at all.  The behaviors exhibited by these 15-16 year old 8th graders can not be mentioned in a non-mature rated blog.  I have my work cut out for me, and me being the eternal optimist hope that I can make progress with them and turn this pattern around.  However, it is NOT going to happen in the week that I am completing this RILS assignment!  So I am going to show what I plan to do in my classroom when routines and expectations have been modeled over and over again, and I start to have some control and authority in the room.  Determination and time will be needed for this to happen.

Amanda Rhymer and I are working together on this RILS, and she has posted a fantastic summary of the  2.0 tool we are using, Strip Design.  Please check out her post here An Apple a Day to view her blog.