Today's Root Word Test

Today at the beginning of class, students will take a rootword test worth 15 points. There are 16 questions, and if a student gets a perfect score, she/he will earn one extra credit point.

The root words being covered today are: multi, nat, col, cumul, iso, micro, ped, port, giga, cide, scope, pept, cert, phil, card, and pop.

I am anxious to see how they do.

FORMER STUDENT OFFERS ADVICE

At just about midnight last night. I put the word out about my root word program. One of my former students who responded had this to say:

"Murph, tell your students that if they can put a word with the root word then it makes it much easier... for instance alter-other-alternative or ann-year-anniversary... if I remember correctly the list you gave us had examples on them... so if they focus on only one example for each root word it really does help... hope that was a good enough tip:-)"

Kaylee
freshman at Marion College

I am fretting about some of my students.

I wasn't going to post any more today, but I'm at home and worrying about some students I had to reprimand today. I lost my cool with one of them -- it was like I couldn't take it any more negative vibes. Even though this student needed to quit disrupting others' learning processes, I should have maintained better control of my emotions.

I need to be mindful that many of my students have not had very many English class successes and some have not been able to continue on past the ISTEP testing requirements. More and more I think the problem is about how these students feel about themselves as learners. Repeatedly, students have indicated their belief that what I am asking them to do is impossible. I have studied the progress of each student and (THANK GOODNESS!) every one of them is dead wrong about him/herself. They can all do this. They just want to avoid what they think is impossible and that is causing the disruptions to learning and the futility I sense from them.

I am sitting here conjuring ways for them to see that mastering a list of root words is not only possible, but will be very beneficial to the rest of their lives. One conclusion I HAVE made is: Some of my students may have given up, but I never will!

Last night Darian worked on his short film/short story lessons and I got a brain storm that would "change up" things in the class, especially fifth period. Yesterday, I asked, "How many students have another English class besides this one?" All but one person raised his hand. (It's no wonder these students have trouble concentrating in my class at the end of the day.

Anyway, last night I made several versions of crossword puzzles and word searches so the students might have another option to learn.

In my third period class today, students did the work but were quite chatty about stuff that had little to do with the class. I did, however, have fun teasing several students and I think they had fun getting back at me.

The forth period class was great yesterday with the word associations, but not so good today with the crosswords. I'm planning on doing more stuff like the association activity.

The fifth period class was great today with the puzzles. I also announced that each individual will have to decide how they are going to learn root words. They were given three options:

1. Do more structured activities like the puzzles.
2. Make flash cards and get spot tested by Darian or I.
3. Author a personal plan in their journal and have it approved by me.

Well, some teacher friends from Northeastern and Winchester are waiting to have dinner at Little Sheba's. More later.

Yesterday was not a fun day.

On Wednesday the 26th, I instituted a no talking/no-sharing answers policy in the classroom. For two of my classes, Darian Jones and I worked together to model word association as the next step towards mastering root words. Here is how it worked -- first, Darian would read the word and meaning and the students were supposed to repeat what he said. Then I (with help from the students and while Darian kept time) displayed word associations on the boards with words, symbols and pictures for thirty seconds on each word. I have to say that some of my drawings were kinda good. After that, the student spent 30 seconds made a record of their experiences in the book. We accomplished 30 words in about 44 minutes.

That last class of the day went differently because of the mix and quantity of students. Several students don't get along well. I told them that in the classroom they don't have to like each other; that they must live in society with each other. A society is a place where everyone (no matter how diverse) has agreed to live together in peace. The students were then afforded time to work on root words independently.

Welcome back, J-man!

Today, I got some great news. J-man has become a student in my class. Last year we worked together in two classes and we have a great time teasing each other.

Hey, I didn't post a blog yesterday, so I am going to to yesterday's blog today in order to catch up. See next blog.

Welcome back, J-man!

Today Many Students Improved.

The first thing I wrote on the board this morning was, "It is time for you to hate Mr. Murphy for a while." I wrote this because I am frustrated by how little my students work during the class period when I give them ample time to work.

Students took the Body root word test for a second time today. The scores vastly improved because the stakes were higher. Tomorrow is the numbers quiz.

Tomorrow will be a no talking day.

We will be working on learning root words for the rest of the week. Starting next week those students who are not making adequate progress will not be allowed to continue on with class with the rest of us.

Eric Murphy

Students were asked to submit their body diagrams for a grade. Some students are not finished. Although there will be no penalty for late work, zeros were entered in the grade book until the work is submitted for a grade.

Today in class, students took the test for the root words covering body parts. Although a few students got near perfect scores, most got less than 50%. Student will be offered the opportunity to retake this test tomorrow and I will give the best of the two scores.

Once students submitted their tests, they obtained a grided sheet of number word in order to help them learn the root words for numbers. There will be a test on the root word for numbers on Wednesday.

During the middle of the class, students were asked to journal the day's activities in their Js. They also drew a diagram of the Theory of Communication in their Js. Students were informed that their first written composition will be about this theory of communication.

Students should become familiar with: noise, field of experience, encoder, decoder, sender, receiver, and feedback.


Students were asked to write five journal entries that will eventually be used in their first compositions. Each student was asked to describe five time when he or she had the urge to communciate with someone.

Well, it's been slow starting this blog because, after all, it's the beginning of the school year. I'm cheating a little bit here because I am using one of your (Thanks Jordan!) journals for notes. Here is what Jordan said:

• Murphy said memorize 349 root words! Wow!
• Warning- Don't ask, "How long does it have to be?"
• No Fluff. (No Bulls**t)
• We got journals

When asked what he thought about the classroom, Miguel said, "I think it is a very creative and not a boring room."

The Class Rules according to Sha'Q:

• Leave Opinions about people outside room.
• Be on time / ready to work.
• Work in society with others.
• Don't disrupt the learning patterns of others.

Welcome to Murf Notes, a blog about the classes I co-teach with Mr. Jones at Richmond High School.