Great Gatsby Archives - Faulkner's Fast Five

End-of-Year Reflection: Top Five Classroom Success Stories of 2019

One of the most important things we can do as teachers is reflect, and so that’s why I love this annual blog post. It’s been my new year tradition for the past several years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), and choosing only five memorable teaching moments is always so hard, but here goes: My top five classroom success stories of 2019!

This year in review…

Teaching Gatsby for the first time in forever and writing the unit plan for it. A little bit Disney Frozen on the brain here, but it works. In the past, I had taught The Great Gatsby mainly in parts or just as a movie-viewing experience. So this time around when I was able to teach the novel as a whole to my group of junior honors, I was very excited to unpack everything it has to offer. Most students love the idea of the 1920s and the mystery of Gatsby, so I just played off of that enthusiasm. I started the unit with problem-solving questions and station rotations that introduced the time period and the novel. Once we began reading, I loved having students track the colors, do guided close reading exercises, and analyze the characters. We closed with a “My American Dream” project, and it was really incredible to see what students aspire to become. I was very pleased with the way the unit turned out. Check out my complete unit, my movie-viewing guide, and my escape game here.

Island challenges for Lord of the Flies. I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun teaching The Lord of the Flies was after I decided to create the challenges. I had wanted to do something like this for a while with Flies, but never got up my nerve. Finally, I just dove in and did it. I am SO glad I did. Read more about all the challenges on this post. Get my entire unit plan here.

Vacation Bible School. It seems like VBS makes my greatest hits list every year, and that is fine with me. I enjoy the themes, the decorating, projects, crafts, and energy created by a week of studying the Word with kids. This year’s theme was The Incredible RACE. We traveled all around the world learning about different cultures and God’s love for us. We decorated our hallways like an airport and our classrooms like the inside of an airplane and the country we traveled to each night. What an awesome trip!

First Chapter Fridays. As soon as I saw this idea from my friend Lauralee over at The Language Arts Classroom, I knew I had to work it in somehow. Each Friday, I would start class with one chapter, or a piece of a chapter, from a book that I thought my students would be interested in. I related the books to holidays as well. See all the books I shared over on my Instagram, and I also took it up a notch by including pictures of our weekly destinations because my classroom library theme is “Books are an Adventure.” See the video of me explaining my weekly process here, my classroom library set up here, and get my classroom library materials free here.

Christmas Nativity bible escape games with the younger students. If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you know how much I love escape games for the classroom. I create them every chance I get, and my high school students love them. This year, I was working with the PreK-4th grade students on Wednesday nights at church, and we were planning to study Paul’s escape from prison. I was in charge of the activity rotation, so of course, I thought – escape game! Since it was December, it only made perfect sense to do an escape game for the Christmas Nativity story. I ended up creating two games: one for the PreK-K level and one for the 1st-4th grade level. It was completely worth it. I always enjoy it when my high school students are playing, but I can’t even tell you how much fun it was playing the break out games with my “littles.” None of them had ever played one before, but they figured it out quickly and ran with it. Grab these two games here.

I would love to hear about your greatest teaching moments and classroom success stories this year. Share below!

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Best of 2017

It’s been my tradition the past few years to reflect on my best teaching moments of the year. I’m so fortunate to get to work with such amazing students, so it’s hard to pick just a few moments that have been amazing! But I have selected five times throughout the year when I have been most proud of my students! Plus you get to see some more snapshots of the resources from my store that I use in my classroom.

The American Dream Project – There are SO many possibilities for teaching Gatsby. When I have time in my schedule, I love to have students complete the “Making Your American Dream Come to Life” project to end our Gatsby unit. The details, instructions, and rubric are all in my Gatsby complete movie guide. I do hope all their dreams come true!

Vacation Bible School Maker Fun Factory – This year my husband, mom, sister, dad, and I had the task of teaching the nightly lesson to our church’s vacation bible schoolers. Our church had chosen the theme of Maker Fun Factory: Created for a Purpose. We knew we wanted to convey the message that each kid was created for a purpose and God is working on them – shaping and molding them to be something great. So… we transformed our classroom, where students could come and hear the lesson every night, into the inside of a machine! I crafted the lesson each night to tell the story of an important bible character who did great things because they were sensitive to God’s call and were willing to fulfill the plan and purpose He had for them. Those people, our precious church members, dressed like the bible characters, entered as a special delivery, and told the story from their point of view. Each night, the students couldn’t wait to enter the Fun Factory, and they were talking about going into the machine forever! See my entire catalog of kids for Christ materials here!

Break Out Escape Box Games – I had been seeing and hearing about break-out games and escape rooms and even people using them in the classroom, but I’d never seen or done one before. I knew it was something I wanted to try, but I have to admit, I was really apprehensive. So, I attended a training, and the facilitator conducted a game with us, and after that, I knew it was something I had to try with my students. This semester, I’ve done several, and my students are crazy for these games! Since I felt there was such a huge learning curve for me to figure out how to conduct one of these games in my classroom, my escape box games are super user-friendly. They include a simple print-and-go pack of clues for students, three ways for you to play the game, and a video tutorial where I explain everything to you! I have several already prepared for you in my store, so if you are ready to unlock some fun, check them out! All my escape games can be found here!

Canterbury Tales Puppet Show – I’ve never done a puppet show before with my secondary students, and certainly not any seniors. But when I was deciding how to teach the Tales in a modern and engaging way, for some reason a puppet show came to mind! I assigned students in my class one of the tales, and they had to read (from the Prologue) about that character. Everyone took notes on his/her travel log during the show! Then using the super cute clip art puppets I made and a puppet show curtain I borrowed from my nieces, voila! We had a puppet show. My students really got into it, and other teachers have shared their success stories with it, too! The puppet show materials can be found in my Canterbury Tales complete teacher’s guide.

Generational Interview Project with Fahrenheit 451 – When my seniors read 451, the project I assign during part 3 of the book is inspired by the passage where Granger reflects on how his grandpa influenced his life because of the things he was able to do and leave behind. I ask students to close read that passage and answer a set of questions. Then they are required to interview a person several generations older than them and write a report of that interview to share in class. I encourage them to interview a grandparent, and most do. When my seniors presented this year, it was overwhelmingly impressive how many of them took it seriously… and personally. When your seniors cry during a class presentation, you know it just got real. All the materials to conduct this close reading lesson and interview project can be found in my 451 Close Reading Lessons pack or in my 451 Complete Teacher’s Guide.

Please share in the comments below what you tried this year that worked!

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End of Year Reflection: Best of the Best 2016

Last year at this time I did my first ever “Greatest Hits” linky as a reflection of the moments from 2015 that stuck out to me the most, and I kept track all year waiting to do it again! Needless to say, I am super excited to share these ideas with you – and this year they happen to all be things I tried for the first time. And… they are all things I fell in love with and will most definitely do again! So yes, even after 13 years in the classroom, I am still adding, tweaking, and trying new things! I hope these ideas inspire you to try something new in 2017!

1) The Green Light – Sometimes when I teach Gatsby, I get to teach the entire book, and other times I’m crunched for time and only show the movie and do close readings. Either way, I get my Gatsby fix and the kids love it! This year I just did the movie because our town was ravaged by an F3 tornado, so we missed several days at the end of the year. I knew I wanted to amp it up just a little and bring something special – as a little highlight – to the end of the year since our students had been through so much this month. I have to say I am IN LOVE my Gatsby green light display. Here’s how to DIY:
a) I projected a picture of the light on the dock that I found on Google images onto a piece of butcher paper taped on my Activboard. Once I traced it onto the paper, I just painted it with acrylic paint. It’s cheap and dries fast. I used black and gold to make it Gatsby-glam, of course. I painted the bulb inside green and added green glitter. The dock was even easier to make. I just drew lines with a Sharpie and painted in between with brown acrylic paint. I laminated the light and dock. Next, print the quotation “Gatsby believed in the green light” on green paper. Make the display and hang it up before the beginning of the movie/unit so students are curious and aware the entire time. For the “rays of green light” I just trifolded pieces of green construction paper and cut them.
b) As we neared the end of the movie, I gave students a sheet of excerpts to close read from the novel with all the green light passages. (This sheet and lesson, along with several American Dream exercises, can be found in my Gatsby movie guide.) I sent the sheet home with the QR code to a video link, which is a compilation of scenes with the green light from the “new Gatsby” movie. Students had to complete that assignment and be ready to discuss the next day. Boy, were they ready…. I had been talking up the green light the entire time and had my wall display ready all along, so they were itching to discuss!!
c) After the discussion, students completed the American dream prompt, and then I gave them the ray to write their own “hopes and dreams” on. Some wrote what they wanted to do after high school, and others wrote how they wanted to bring light to others’ lives. They did an amazing job.
d) Hang up the green rays and stand back and enjoy!

2) Yearbook Light Bulbs – Every year my yearbook staff does some sort of holiday event for everyone to enjoy. Last year we had a Halloween YearBOOk celebration with fun games. This year we made Christmas light bulbs for everyone in school: students, faculty, and staff. Each yearbook staffer has a list of students (so every student in the school is personally tracked for coverage), and they personalized every bulb by hand-writing the names. I scored a sale at Family Dollar on mini candy canes, so we stapled one to each bulb, too. We stayed for an hour after school one day and taped them to the correct lockers (our AP gave us the locker list), and teachers’ classroom doors. The next morning when the students came in, they were really surprised and thankful! It was a small way to say, “Hey, we are thinking of YOU, and we wanted to brighten your day!” Here’s how to DIY:
a) Get a list of everyone in your school and divide them up. Also, get the locker and room numbers!
b) Find a cute light bulb clip art and place them two on a page. Write in a cute note, and copy and copy and copy.
c) Find candy on sale!!
c) Cut, cut, cut and sign, sign, sign and staple, staple, staple! Another tip is to write the locker numbers of the back of each bulb before hanging them.
d) Organize a day to tape up the bulbs!

3) Lord of the Flies Crowns – This year I taught Flies for the first time with my regular track seniors. I wasn’t sure how they would like it, but as we got into it, we all realized how perfect the timing was to make text-self and text-world connections. I’m sharing about one of the final projects we did because, honestly, it give me cold chills. I wanted them to truly get the theme and title connection juxtaposed with their own lives, so I came up with this crown idea. (Everything can be found in my NEW Lord of the Flies unit plan!!) Here’s how you can DIY:
a) After reading Chapter 8, we did a paired info text reading to get some background on the Beelzebub allusion. (paired reading and notes included in my plan)
b) I gave students a crown (template included in my plan). They wrote/drew things on the crown that are “lording over” their lives. I told them to be honest – even knowing they are 17-18 year olds and being aware of what I could get. However, I did tell them they could be anonymous. Then they cut out the crowns, and we hung them up in the room for the remainder of the book.
c) On the day – or next day – you finish the book, get a paper shredder in your classroom. Once the boys are rescued, they are not only physically rescued from the island, but also they are symbolically rescued from those demons in their lives. Students take their own crowns and we had a shredding ceremony to symbolically indicate that they can be rescued from those demons in their lives, too. — Cue cold chills here. —

4) Macbeth “Witch-Inspired” Tasting Party – Who isn’t always looking for a way to bring snacks to class, right??!!? This year I decided I would surprise my seniors with a few little snacks one day! In fact, my students actually inspired my choices with their creativity during the first part of Act 1 when they were making their text-based Witches’ Party Invitation (included in my Macbeth unit plan). Here’s how you can DIY:
a) After reading the opening scenes of the play where Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches, I have students complete the Party Invitation activity. They are always so intrigued by the weird sisters anyway, and this gives them a chance to close read and be creative! They have use the text to inspire the food, games, decor, and more!
b) Shop for Mountain Dew (Witches’ Brew), Bugles (Witches’ Fingernails), and thumbprint cookies (Pilot’s Thumbs). Local bakeries usually have these you can order. BTW: Only followers of my monthly email newsletter got the cute food labels for free couple of months back! You’ll want to sign up HERE so you don’t miss anymore goodies!
c) After reading Act 1 and 2, I always pause to show a on-screen adaptation of the play. When students came to class that day, they were surprised, delighted, and thankful to see I had brought their ideas to life!

5) Writers’ Notebooks – I’ve actually tried the writing portfolio thing a couple times a couple of ways. This time around, I’ve improved my process, and it worked wonderfully. It’s kinda of a morph between a portfolio, data tracker, and interactive notebook. The premise is simple: Students keep all their writing in one place so they can keep up with it, and we can all see growth. Here’s how to DIY (the new and improved way):
a) Students buy – or you can provide – a one subject spiral notebook. I took a piece of ribbon and a large plastic coated paper clip to make a bookmark. I needed a bookmark because each time they wrote an essay or paragraph in it, I wanted to be able to flip right to what I needed to grade without flipping forever. I had them put their name in Sharpie right on the front.
b) Here’s where the “interactive notebook” piece comes into play, but not really. It’s just some cutting and gluing! On the first day, I gave them some key sheets I wanted them to keep up with: the data tracker (sold in my TpT store and pictured below), my marking codes annotation sheets, state writing rubrics, self-evaluation sheets, and graphic organizers. That way they always had them in one place. Throughout the semester, we added notes here and there. Even when it was a bigger task and I used the rubrics I make to give points based on state rubrics (pictured below), they just stapled those at the end of the essay, so it was all in one place.
c) As students wrote essays and constructed responses, I left marks right on the pages. One tip is to have them write on the fronts only if you are going to be giving feedback. It made it so easy for me to flip back to previous writing to see if they were gaining and taking my advice from previous tasks.