Welcome to Patty's High School Classroom

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Welcome to my world of words!  My name is Patty Blome and I am a 9^th grade English/Read 180 teacher at San Ysidro High School. I just wrapped up my third year at San Ysidro High - proudly returning to my childhood community to teach - after teaching middle school in central San Diego for 12 years. Working with adolescents is right in my "wheelhouse", you might say; I thrive on the energy, humor, and the challenges that come with working with this dynamic age group. 

When I was a permanent on-campus substitute teacher, I remember how I felt each morning upon learning which teacher I was assigned to cover. Sometimes I felt great, others, not so much.  What largely swayed my mood was the classroom environments those teachers had set up and how I'd exist in their rooms for hours at a time.

I think we've all experienced entering a business, office, or classroom and becoming uncomfortable, anxious, or even mildly sickened. I can recall specific times when I covered for teachers and could not wait to get out of their room. The feeling was so overwhelming, that on occasion I regrettably admit to disregarding my entire purpose for being there to begin with, which was to teach. Imagine this outlook with your students in your classroom. Do they arrive enthusiastic and focused on learning or are they tardy, listless, or do they request to use the hall pass regularly? Do they disregard their purpose for being there, which is to learn? The physical appearance and arrangement of my classroom is an open declaration of my attitude towards teaching and student expectations. Before I open my mouth on the first day of school, kids innately know who I am just by looking around my room.  

The first thing you would notice about my classroom is how the seating arrangement reflects my advocacy towards student collaboration. Although I have independent chair desks (sigh...) I have figured out a way to create a seating arrangement that affords students chances to confer with each other and participate as active learners in a variety of activities. No student's back is ever to the front board and the desk "groupings" are organized to accommodate small group instruction at the front of the room when students are in rotations. There really is not a bad seat in the house.

Looking around the room, you will see student work on the walls, along with the "living words" that came to life during our explorations in reading and writing. I proudly display pictures, letters, and/or cards from students throughout the years in my "teacher area". No trash is ever on the floor, the day's objectives are clearly written on the front board, and the desks are cleaned at the end of each period to welcome its next learner. This year, I have added table lamps to the room to soften the harshness of the room's overhead fluorescent lighting upon reading a variety of research articles purporting the benefits of such. Interesting enough, I have noticed a few of my most fidgety students settle into a calmer routine. Does that work on husbands?

In a nutshell, my goal for my classroom is to provide a place that is of comfort to my students; a place where questions fly freely without being shot down, where everyone who enters it immediately recognizes it as a setting where learning takes place daily, and most importantly, as a place my students and I look forward to returning to each day.

Patty Blome is the high school 2008-09 Teacher Advisor. She uses authentic assessment, such as conferences, word sorts and journaling, with her 9^th grade students to accurately differentiate instruction in her San Diego, CA classroom.

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LESSON PLAN

Literature Analysis Students will discuss literature with their peers, identifying the character, plot, and setting of the book and analyzing them.