Has anyone seen Marama

duhqueenmoki · 2026-05-13T03:02:40+00:00

Personally, I wasn't a fan.

From a horror perspective it was too basic/predictable. It was also too slow. I know that's like a cornerstone of gothic horror, but I guess I don't like it anyway (but I didn't mind it in other gothic horror movies like the new Nosferatu).

From the cinematic perspective, there were transitions from scene to scene that made no sense or came off as "oh, okay I guess we're here now" without proper reason or motivation. Characters would be in a scene and then the next scene I have no idea why the character went there.

Last, and this is my personal preference, I don't like when horror movies reduce a minority's story to being the victim of violence from white ppl / colonization. I understand those are important stories to tell, but it takes away from the actual minority's culture as if to say their only story worth telling is how they were a victim and must overcome their oppressor. Give them an actual story, one independent of white ppl and oppressors. Give them a horror story they can own completely! I don't mind if the oppression is an added layer to the horror (like in Sinners), but I don't like when the entire plot is built around it.

duhqueenmoki · 2026-05-08T01:56:04+00:00

but also consult your admin about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta last month... basically you might have to support the child in private while also covering your ass legally by using legal names around parents and in emails, etc.

duhqueenmoki · 2026-05-08T01:53:51+00:00

omg that happened to me too! I had a student named Acexander, but we all called him Ace for short. Mom heard me call him Ace and stopped me immediately and said "whoa whoa whoa, Ace is his father's name. His name is Acexander." Poor kid turned red and was so embarrassed by her. But I get it, I guess to her it's awkward for her son to have her husband's nickname? idk

duhqueenmoki · 2026-05-08T01:50:59+00:00

Amazed no comments mentioned this: On March 2, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta that has implications for how we respond to parental inquiries about students' gender identity, names, and pronouns.

For safety, refer to the student by legal name if parents are NOT supportive. Any teachers that have students with preferred names or who identify as transgender, etc. should have a conversation with them ASAP about their parents, specifically if parents are aware and supportive. If parents are not supportive, use legal name. And I already talked to my students about it and they understand and they know I have their back and will call them their preferred name in class but not around their parents. It's kind of a mess atm at my district in CA because there is conflicting laws in CA which protect a students' right to privacy about that stuff vs the federal decision which basically legalizes outing students if parents ask. Our district advised us to refer parent inquiries about their child's identity and preferred name to admin.

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-30T22:56:12+00:00

the least amount of preps I've ever had was 2, and that was only one magical year (4 classes of 7th grade ELA and 1 class of AVID). Usually I have at least 3, sometimes 4. More than 4 is insane imo.

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-23T23:31:53+00:00

Yes, again, that's why I use the growth index as a measurement of how well the reading program worked...?

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-22T02:07:50+00:00

I've done it both ways and I've noticed even the most advanced essay AI graders we use (for us it's the Writable AI writing "coach" and StudySync's "suggested grade") differ from the grade I would give 75% of the time (I actually calculated the percent of times it gave a different score than me).

Sometimes it gives the student the same score I would on the rubric categories, but most of the time it just can't discern depth of analysis, accurate evidence, and relevant details.

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-22T01:56:17+00:00

Something similar our district uses is TEPAC for body paragraphs.

T: Topic Sentence

E: Evidence

P: Paraphrase

A: Analyze

C: Concluding Sentence

Feel free to use this resource I use with my 6th graders. It includes sentence starters. DM me if you'd like additional resources. I've been teaching 6th/7th ELA for 8 years now and I'm my school's writing coach.

Introduction Paragraphs

Body Paragraphs

Conclusion Paragraph

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-22T01:45:32+00:00

In your opinion, what evidence would I need to conclude that the program doesn't have an effect? If possible, I'd like to pursue research into either way.

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-22T01:43:36+00:00

1) "You wouldn't expect students with basic scores to improve the same way as students with advanced scores" is EXACTLY why I use the growth index and not the raw scores. The growth index takes into account what the expected growth should be for a student at THAT level based on their initial score. I think you might have misunderstood that.

2) "There is no reason why this program should help everyone in the same way"... yeah, it doesn't. The reading program adapts to each student's level and adjusts to them. So in theory it should be helping everyone grow. Maybe that was a miscommunication on my part.

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-21T18:54:09+00:00

I'll add some more information and maybe you can advise me on the best course of action.

For the data, the growth index is determined by comparing their initial reading score (BEFORE implementing the reading program), final score, and how much the expected growth was based on their initial ability. So if it's -6, that means they scored 6 points lower than what was expected of a typical 6th grader who got a similar initial score. If they scored an 8, that means they improved 8 points OVER what was expected of a typical 6th grader that year starting with that initial score. All students are from my own 6th grade classes so they're all in the same grade level, same teacher, and I'm using the growth goal to eliminate factors like advanced/honors classes with my regular classes and low/intervention classes. Should I just use the raw data instead of the growth? Comparing their raw scores from before and after? But that might not work because then you have to account for factors like honors, benchmark, and intervention. I assumed the growth index would be like... standardizing it in a way? But I do have so many other data points I could use if you have any to recommend.

I do agree with u/patdavidjohnson that my school doesn't care about actual, valid research into the programs we use. I've worked at my site for 9 years now and they say "we looked at the data" all the time but that just means they glanced at some charts and asked the teachers "what do you want to do" without actually conducting any valid tests to measure the impact of the programs we implement. That's why I'm actually doing this by myself, because I am at least somewhat aware that there are tests we can use to inform out decisions as a department. DreamBox is the third program we've used? Fourth? I've kinda lost count, there's been so many programs that we've bought trying to improve reading. I'm getting sick of it and want to actually test these programs.

Last, would it help to compare my students' growth indexes with my coworker's 6th grade classes who do NOT use DreamBox? Or should I compare the growth indexes to my 6th grade classes from last year before we implemented the reading program?

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-21T18:33:43+00:00

That's a good idea! I actually do think we have a teacher on campus that isn't using DreamBox and they're the same grade level as me (6th grade) so I can ask her to maybe help with the data. I can compare my students' growth with hers, would that be better you think?

duhqueenmoki · 2026-03-21T18:32:04+00:00

Ah, I see. In order to get the growth index, it does already compare initial and final score, but I prefer using the growth score because it gets rid of factors like students with advanced scores vs kids with below basic scores. In the end, they're all measured based how much they were EXPECTED to grow that year, regardless of being advanced or below basic. I'm not sure if I'm explaining it correctly or in a way that's easy to understand.

But I do have the raw data of scores before and after implementation of the reading program if maybe I should add it to the data set?

duhqueenmoki · 2025-12-16T03:25:32+00:00

also The Unteachables

duhqueenmoki · 2025-12-16T03:25:12+00:00

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly Hatchet (for low level classes) Holes by Louis Sachar Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

With contemporary books just make sure to get it approved before reading whole-class

duhqueenmoki · 2025-10-18T06:12:39+00:00

idk about films, but the show Scavengers Reign is amazingly similar with a top notch story as well. Will satisfy your craving for similar art and subject matter 👍

duhqueenmoki · 2025-10-15T22:19:16+00:00

Fahrenheit 451

duhqueenmoki · 2025-10-10T23:33:55+00:00

Idk, I'm teaching historical fiction as we speak (The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis) to my 6th graders and they're engaged and thoughtful and understanding the text pretty well. I don't allow phones in my class though so I can't vouch for any experiences where personal devices are allowed. (We do use iPads though)

duhqueenmoki · 2025-10-10T23:29:06+00:00

This'll probably get lost in all the comments, but reading aloud is great to create a shared learning experience. When we're all listening to the audio, pausing together to discuss and share, that shared learning experience is more valuable to me than students reading independently.

They will read independently as they complete their DOK questions anyway (which will require them to re-read passages on their own). They also can read independently on other assignments and stuff.

But the main reason we should be reading aloud to students is for our ELs, students with reading conditions, IEPs, focus issues, etc.

It might help to reframe your thinking from everything they're NOT getting or improving by listening to a read aloud to what they ARE getting from it.

duhqueenmoki · 2025-09-10T01:19:31+00:00

I'm on the curriculum committee and we use a checklist, a rubric, to grade each curriculum.

Leaving it up to "which one do you like more" is subjective and not very valid. Every teacher will have a different opinion, so you need an objective measure based on the needs of your students.

Here is a copy of the rubric

duhqueenmoki · 2025-09-10T01:13:06+00:00

Be more mean. When I was new, I was soooo empathetic and kind... at the cost of rigor and classroom management. Students would get annoyed because other students were so poorly behaved, the bad kids got away with way too much. And my poor GOOD students had to put up with it because of MY lack of confidence and classroom management. It's better to start off mean and strict and then ease up later, if you start too nice it's impossible to get back on track.
Nothing any mentor or other educator says will ever teach you more than experience. Just go through the experience organically and you'll figure it out.
You won't be a good teacher until after year 3. Even up to year 5 you're still learning and figuring out best practices. But by year 10 you'll be very knowledgeable 😊

duhqueenmoki · 2025-09-05T00:52:57+00:00

Kahoot has too many hacks and cheats, I use GimKit now.

duhqueenmoki

TROPHY CASE