Fools Rush In

So I've started Writer's Workshop. Not real happy about what I'm doing (at least not yet) but oh well, I'm going for it. :P It may get a bit messy, but hopefully nobody will end up dead or anything.

"Write Beside Them" is at this point an unattainable ideal. If I'm not up and policing the room, they're not writing. GRH. And during SSR, I have nooo problem walking around with a book in my hand, but writing while ambulatory is a skill that I have not yet mastered. Maybe if I had some kind of desk-harness, like the drummers get for marching band, I could do it.

Actually... that would be kind of cool. A wearable desk/podium. Even cooler, of course, would be a Segway with a podium up at the front of it... and a power outlet by the controls. Hm. Maybe that should be my next entry in my Writer's Notebook:

Dear Santa, I want a Ferrari and a customized Segway.

Day before yesterday I noticed that two of my students simply weren't writing. I felt my temper flare up... I mean, it just annoys me to NO END when I give clear, specific, SIMPLE instructions and they aren't followed. GOD that pisses me off.

But... I didn't chew them about about it. In fact, I didn't even say anything until the next day. See, they were reading their SSR books, and I could tell by their posture and their expressions that they were really into the story. So I didn't redirect them at the time.

I dunno. Maybe I should've. I did talk to them later and say "look, we have time for reading. And we have time for writing. I'd like you to show respect for our class and for your learning by following the directions I give you." And they seemed to be cool with that - they did spend writing time writing yesterday.

***

I'm tired of feeling like a n00b. It's frustrating. This is something I'm being pushed into, I'm not ready for it, and it annoys me to feel like I'm fumbling around, just kind of HOPING things work out. This is my fourth year! I should be past this stage, dammit!

But without being pushed into it, would I have incorporated a writer's workshop? I like to think so. I think I would've started out with reader workshops first, and then as I got more familiar with the workshop setting and became more comfortable working in it, I would've begun doing writing workshops as well.

And hopefully once I get this yearbook submission sent in, there'll be less all-around scrambling on that front and I can concentrate on setting up the rest of the WWs.

Image thanks to http://www.directortom.com/

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Harajuku Fun Madness

So after fondly thumbing through Little Brother again, I am suddenly wanting to watch Hackers. So. Frickin. FUNNY - watch them gush over a 56k modem! I so heart it.

Hack the planet, yo.

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Did I Not? I Thought I Did! (The Dirty Dozen)

So over the weekend I wrote up a list of ... ideas? themes? values, maybe? ... that I try to emphasize in my classroom. I thought I'd posted it over here, too, but I guess maybe I just meant to and then forgot in the madness of Ninny.

1. You should always be kind. No matter what.
2. You should always work hard. No matter what.
3. You should usually follow directions, and you should always make sure you're prepared to accept the consequences when you don't.
4. Reading doesn't have to suck. Even if you've always hated reading in the past, you can find reading materials you enjoy.
5. "Truth vs. falsehood" does not simply parallel "information vs. imagination."
6. You have ideas of value, and they're worth sharing.
7. What you believe matters, so consider the support behind ideas before claiming them.
8. "Being yourself" sometimes means "being different." Sometimes.
9. The choice between doing something for yourself and doing something for others is often difficult and almost always important, and it's a decision that should always be made carefully.
10. Others are more likely to take you seriously when you communicate your ideas in a way that shows a good understanding of language conventions and literary techniques.
11. Cause and effect is not a one-step process, but a chain of inter-related actions and events.
12. You should always consider the possible consequences of speaking or acting (and of not speaking or acting) before you do so.


What ideals do we need to teach in English class? Why are these standards important, and what should we teach beyond the skills?

What do you think?

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Reminder

On the off chance that someone at my school actually reads this blog:

Do NOT go around singing "We're gonna go a Ninny Whirl" or you will totally out yourself!

(But a little doo-dah here and there will probably go unnoticed.)

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So TRUE!

"Everything is amazing right now... and nobody's happy."



I think that's going to be my new thought-insult for students when they slack and it pisses me off: "you non-contributing ZERO!"

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Stink, stink, stink, stink, STINK!

First, the good news: WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD THIS SUMMER!!! I am so psyched! (Can't you tell?)

It makes me feel like dancin'... c'mon, sing along now!

But alas! There is also BAD NEWS. And it is ALL MY FAULT.

I have spent just about the ENTIRE WEEKEND thinking about this vacation. Do we want to stay at the resort where there are LIONS IN THE BACK YARD OH GOD! or Jetson Palace? (Okay, so it isn't really called that, but THE MONORAIL GOES THROUGH THE FRIKKIN HOTEL!)

What rides are fun classics? which have fastpasses? what food places will we like best? which offer the best value if you're on the meal plan? if you're paying out-of-pocket? multiple-day ticket, or annual pass? how many days at which park?

And on and on...

I did finish getting research papers graded - wuhu! - but I haven't (yet) uploaded pages for the yearbook.

Bad Clix, Bad! Very Bad Clix! (I'll go have the Hunk smack my piddies after I post this.)

But I just CAN'T FOCUS. You have NO idea how hard it was for me to sit down and grade papers when every fifteen minutes or so, my brain goes

We're gonna go a Ninny Whirl!
Doo-dah! Doo-dah!
We're gonna go a Ninny Whirl!
Oh, doo-dah day.


... wait for it...

Oh, doo-dah DAAAY!
Oh, doo-dah day!
We're gonna go a Ninny Whirl!
Oh, doo-dah day!

Mostly it just distracts me for a little bit. But there's times when it requires skipping around the house, singing at the top of my lungs. And then giggling.

But now I'm off to go proofread those yearbook pages. I doubt I'll get them all uploaded tonight, so I'll have to burn them to CD and FedEx them tomorrow. (They're proofs, so I need to send them all together.)

Ta!

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Totally, Like, Whatever! (Y'know?)

Your Preppy Name Is: Foxhall Phinney Armitage the Sixth

But most people know you as Bunny

What's Your Preppy Name?

Thanks, cupcake!

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Deep down, I've always KNOWN that I was EVIL...

Wow! I thought I'd hidden my inner psycho a little more successfully, but it seems like the folks at the BBC know me all too well, alas!

For now...

To channel a little of Joss Whedon's Faith: "It's simple, B: Want. Take. Have!"

Image thanks to http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/shakespeare/quiz.shtml

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OW.

Nothing major today - the past couple of weeks have been CRAZY as we approach our final copy deadline AND put out another issue of the newspaper. I'm hoping to have the last 14 pages handed over to our rep today. Then all that's left will be the proofs!

Paper is on sale at lunch today, but we haven't advertised at ALL because all of our time has gone to the Darn Book. Ugh. ;p

Anyway, got this via cupcake:

Created by Train Horn

I can tell how out of it I've been. I couldn't hear a thing - and then I realized that I had the computer on mute! If you can hear a monitor hum or the faint whine of fluorescent lights, you'll probably hear this. The clip is maybe a second and a half, and I couldn't let it play through. It's PAINFUL.

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Drives me nuts

So the students are supposed to be doing their self-selected reading. "Reading, NOT talking" is my mantra. And the substitute for my cooperating teacher is chatting with a parapro.

Fortunately they're being quiet, but... this drives me NUTS. And I'm not sure what to do about it. Oh well. I'm gonna go back to MY book.

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ARGH.

JMJ. I am honest-to-God sick of students asking me if I've graded their crap. Especially when they turned in research papers to a sub while I was away at the GCTE conference and they ask me the DAY I GET BACK. Um, hello, I just got the folders out of my mailbox thirty minutes ago?

There is a related discussion over at the English Companion ning. The consensus seems to be that specific feedback is much more useful/helpful/taken seriously by the students than a grade. Give feedback regularly, and grade only the final draft.

WTF? Where are these students and how do I get some? Because if they have the slightest INKLING that an assignment isn't going to be graded, they don't do it.

It just feels like this is the way we're supposed to do things because it works - yeah - it works for everyone EXCEPT ME. I'm sick of it. I'm tired of being confused and feeling helpless and incompetent.

Maybe it's because we're smack in the middle of February and I'm not going to get a break until April. I dunno. But I'm getting really annoyed at having to answer the same brainless questions over and over again. You know how they say "there are no stupid questions?" They're right.

It's not the QUESTIONS that are the problem. It's the people askin' em. ;p

Image thanks to www.t-shirthumor.com

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A Matter of No Consequence Whatsoever

I have fairly long hair in a classically plain mousy-brown color. You know, the kind that girls in books always complain about (excepting Anne Shirley). It's thick and coarse, there's a lot of it, and it has juuuust enough body to be unruly.

There are, however, a few exceptions.

A few strands here and there are nappy. I can't think of how else to put it. This ain't curls, yo.

And this isn't because I pulled it and split it, either. You can tell when that happens, because the frizzy bit is all at one end, and the rest is straight - it's like curling balloon ribbon.

My hair has been this way as far back as I can remember. Every now and then I'll notice one of these. Anyone have any ideas??

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The Hero's Journey: Stage 8 - DEATH!

Let's just say that this week has definitely qualified as Epic Adventure material.

So. We've been behind on yearbook foo. Wednesday's entry, which should've posted at 10 AM rather than 10 PM, was correct when I wrote it. Wednesday and Thursday are club days; we usually stay after for a few hours & I order pizza.

HOWEVER.

I start hearing whisperings of a Code Gray, which is a tornado drill. I'm incredibly annoyed, because why do they have to do these things during Journalism, darnit?! As it turns out, though, there is no drill, so we keep going around and getting interviews and photos to put on our pages after school.

Only there is no after school. During afternoon announcements - right before the bell - we are informed that because of the storm (there's a storm? *peek outside* yep, raining pretty hard) all sports practices are canceled. Students are to go home.

Hm. Usually they don't add that last bit, so I call up to the main office just to make sure that we're okay for club.

Line's busy.

I try the secretary's direct line, and she says she's going to check with the principal. A few moments later, the PA system comes to life and we hear that ALL after-school activities are canceled. Students aren't even supposed to stay for make-up tests or detention (which I'm sure is a tragedy). They are to GO HOME NOW.

And so they leave. And I try to find out who's saved what where, but it's a lost cause, and I've just lost several hours of work time.

But wait! THERE'S MORE.

So then Thursday we try to spend getting caught up with what didn't get done on Wednesday as well as what we'd wanted to do on Thursday and I'm juggling getting information and checking the spelling of names and meeting with the senior superlative winners and two of them graduated at the end of last semester and I can't seem to track them down.

Fortunately the Hunk and I drove separately, because I end up staying until about 7:00 - even then I only leave because I've got a class at 7:30. I get home around 9:00 and manage to upload the rest of what I'd meant to on Wednesday night, and I still have 24 pages left when I go to bed.

However, several of my Journalism gremlins also make plans to stay after on Friday, so we should be able to get caught up. Right? Hahahahaha...

Friday was fine up until class began. We had honor graduate portrait retakes in the morning, and one of the students who needed his portrait made was caught behind a wreck on the way in. But he made it, so I thought nothing more of the matter.

It turned out that the crash was somebody hitting an electrical pole. So right at the beginning of JOURNALISM CLASS, we hear over the PA system that the power is going to be cut off in a few minutes, so that the electrical pole can be repaired, and all computers should be shut down now!

The email we received about this said "normal operations will continue." Yeah, RIGHT. When not only can we not work on our computers, but administrators send my Journalism gremlins back to class and tell them they're not to be out in the hall?!

It was a total loss. I've got students coming in over the weekend, but I'm just SO FRUSTRATED.

I could not make this s*t up if I tried.

Image thanks to http://www.freewebs.com/mavrin_v/

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I don't MEAN to be negligent

So two more of my donorschoose proposals have been funded! yay! I am getting MORE BOOKS for my classroom library. I can't tell you all how psyched I am about that. Now I just need to come up with a good list of current paperback YA nonfiction for my next proposal. Suggestions?

***

I have been staring at the computer all evening, willing my uploads for the Darn Book to transfer more quickly. Go. GO, darn you! This is after testing the limits of my laptop. Apparently it does not like to run InDesign and Firefox and Graphic Converter and Microsoft Word and Preview and TextEdit all at the same time.

HOWEVER.

As of the start of the week, we had like 90 pages of proofs out way late - I'm not even going to admit to how late they were - with another set of like 32 on the way to us, and a near-untouched 64-page deadline this coming Monday. OH! And we've got a deposit due on the 23rd and when I checked our account, we're about a grand short of what we owe for THAT BILL, not including we need to buy toner for the printer and there's a final deposit to pay when the books arrive.

Stressed? Me? Plenty.

HOWEVER.

When I go to bed tonight, there will be 24 pages left to upload (roughly). They will be ready to upload tomorrow night. And I will upload them, and all the photos that go with them. And all our proofs will be caught up.

Our school's business manager called today to inform me that more checks had cleared and we would be able to cover the deposit.

My class full of Journalism Gremlins are clunking away at the new proofs, which will be printed out and given to the AP on Friday for approval. We get them back Tuesday, make changes, upload Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday, if we have to talk to someone who's absent) evening.

They are also selecting layouts and interviewing students and typing copy and scheduling photos and loading and saving - our new photo organization system RULES! OMG! - and editing and placing the pictures and our new pages WILL be ready to go on Monday because anyone whose pages aren't done by Friday can come in over the long weekend! I mean, really. That's what long weekends are for, right? Yearbook work!

Ah well. In a month? This will ALL BE OVER!!!

Image thanks to http://fineartamerica.com/

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Session F

Making Research Relevant – Multigenre research papers

There's a wiki up where you can see the presentation, as well as several others from the conference:

What does multigenre mean? we're expanding our definition of a research project to include alternate or additional types of artifacts; they can get into higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy with synthesis and evaluation

it's a collection of different pieces written in a variety of genres that illustrate a perspective informed by research. They sound simple, but when you look at examples, you can see the depth of thinking and understanding shown in seemingly "simple" genres.

MGRs allow students who don't do well in a particular format to show understanding in other ways, while still pushing to improve in their areas of weakness.

Why should we do it? (My question: why NOT?) It gives students more choice, allows for more freedom and creativity, and helps them to understand the similarities and differences between genres. Part of the project is that students explain why they chose a particular genre for that particular piece. It gives an opportunity for new and alternate perspectives. It includes traditional writing as well as the alternative genres.

We're going a LOT into why we should do this, and I guess that's valid for those who need to promote it back at school, but I want to hear more about HOW to do this.

Aha!

1. Work with the librarian to develop the resources necessary for the students to get the information they need.
2. The librarian can provide mini-lessons about research strategies, evaluating sources, and using information in an ethical manner. (Theoretically! Of course it depends on who your librarian IS.)
3. Encourage students to use many different types of sources, so long as they're authoritative!
4. Organize the task carefully; provide instruction and practice before jumping in!
5. Provide "enough" time – give students a bit of "wiggle room." (How do you know how much is "enough?")
6. Give concrete examples of alternate genres and completed papers. This will help students understand what's possible.
7. Have a timeline with a series of steps so that students know where they should be in the process at all times. They will need some help staying on track.

"Repetend" – a repeating or continuing element in the project? I don't really get this – it's a theme, repeated phrase, or "something" that gives the project as a whole continuity.

Ideas for alternate genres:
- Pageflakes
- Blogging
- Delicious
- Class commons?
- Class wiki

I noticed that all of these are online, which IMO seems as limiting as the traditional paper.

Evaluate what resources you have, and survey the students beforehand to see what they feel comfortable with and what they know they need help with.

The presenter's going over the documents – worksheets, rubrics, instruction forms, etc – that are available on the wiki. It's incredibly thorough. There are also sample projects and she's going to upload more of them as she gets permission from the students.

This sort of project allows students the freedom to do research that is more authentic – five-year-old books aren't the best resources these days – as well as personally relevant. Rather than something they suffer through, this can be something that helps them see research in a new way, something that they remember for years after they graduate.

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Session E

Standards-Based Education

Yikes! I started talking with one of the vendors about how much I haaaate Julius Caesar and now I'm coming in to this session LATE. Gah. I hate that. So now I don't have a handout. Fortunately there were seats in the back! ;D

Step 1: Identify desired results - What do I want my students to know and be able to do? This is reminding me a LOT of UbD.

Step 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence - How will I know whether my students have acquired the requisite knowledge, skills, and understandings?

Step 3: Plan Learning Experiences - Yep, this is "backward design." He clicked past the slide too quick. :(

And he's continuing to talk about what is and is not an essential question... so I'm ducking out. We also still have two teachers from our department in the session.

Now I'm in Teaching Writing

We're talking about audience appeal. One idea: advertising analysis. Who is the target of this ad? What is the promise? This teaches them not only to be good writers, but also to be an attentive audience.

Take them from images to words – what words could you use to create this image in someone's mind?

Sentence variety: it's more than just telling them that they need variety. Read examples of monotonous writing, and contrast that with works with varied sentence structure.

Voice: the idea that the author is a real person and really cares. The tough things is – what if they don’t?!! Sounds like it was written by a person, not a computer. Makes the reader feel connected to the writer & feel like the writer is an interesting person you might want to meet. Voice != attitude ;)

Give students lots of little on-demand writing prompts?? Writing On Demand – Presenter says that it's an excellent book. Ditto Prompt Analysis. Ask themselves questions to analyze the prompt. Some employers ask for you to write how you think the company will grow or how you can be of use to the company – they want to see how well you write, because good writing is evidence of good thinking.

Every state has help for teaching writing; Kentucky is a suggestion. Look online to see what's available.

Questions about grading – discussed the use of rubrics, but we're short on time so it's just brief.

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Rats!

In the room I'm at now, the wireless is a little wonky. Session C I went to a session about ways to offer students choice. We came up with some great possibilities for portfolios and how to grade them without getting overwhelmed! One of the concerns we had is if you're doing all these different things, how do you keep the students focused on their work? Management becomes more difficult when you don't have everyone doing the same thing at the same time in the same way.

We also talked about connecting the assessments, and thus the lessons, to GPS. I mentioned my GPS mini-unit and went to the UbD wiki and OH NO! all I have up for that unit is the handouts. Oh dear. I really do have a rationale and stuff. I need to update that.

I also need to get more yearbook pages uploaded. YIKES!!

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Session B

So I'm here at GCTE, liveblogging! yay!

Dana Huff is talking about how the world is "flattening" due to developments in communications technology, and how that creates more competition for our students as they leave school and become workers.

Many of us have Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) in our school. But there are only so many teachers in our school. Where do you go when you're the only person with a particular interest, or when you've exhausted the resources your school? The internet gives opportunities to connect and share with new people!

Blogging is great for
- sharing opinions, news, commentary
- journaling, researching, describing, observing
- generating ideas, reflecting, starting discussions

Over on her blog, Dana does a weekly reflection that I really like; mine isn't nearly as organized! She looks over what works and what she'd like to change for next time, and because there's an audience, there are people who respond to what she's posting, and give her NEW ideas based on what they've said. Even if it's not something you agree with, someone else's comment can set your thoughts going in a new direction you wouldn't've found on your own.

Wikis are different from blogs.
- more like a webpage
- less linear
- great for getting a lot of people involved.

Because the format isn't linear, it's easier to change what's currently posted. Blogs are more about staying current by adding NEW material; the old stuff gets archived.

Blog or Wiki?
- One writer/small group? or large group of writers?
- Sharing ideas and opinions, reflection? or collaboration, editing, sharing
- close community? or wide community?
- steady updates? or final project?

RSS
- "Really Simple Syndication" - think like getting syndicated comics in your local paper. RSS sends updates of your favorite pages to a "local paper" like Google Reader or another RSS reader. Typically it'll send a mini-blurb of the update, so you can pick and choose which ones you want to click on to read the whole post.

Twitter
- People share things on twitter that are shorter & may not warrant a whole blog post.
- Great for link-sharing and asking/answering questions!
- Quite often you get replies REALLY QUICKLY.
- In many cases, people who keep a very professional blog will be more personal on Twitter, helping you get to know them.

Ning
I'm still unclear on how this is different from a wiki, except possibly the additional features the software offers. It's a social networking site, like Facebook, but the person starting it shapes the format. It combines a lot of the features of different social sites, because it has internal groups, blogs, bulletin board forums, and even chat.
- NCTE
- English Companion
- Literacy Lighthouse

Facebook
We often see Facebook as a huge time suck. But it's a great way to connect with people professionally as well as personally. It's neat because it does a lot of the networking FOR you - it checks the friends of your friends and says "do you know this person?"
- Be careful about friending students
- Use groups to limit what some of your friends can see
- Be aware of what your friends are posting on your wall (you can delete these; they're not cached! yay!)
- Create a POSITIVE online presence; model this for your students!!

Delicious and Diigo
Delicious lets you bookmark a site, and share the link and a description with others who've chosen to subscribe to your bookmarks.

Diigo lets you put "sticky notes" on the web! You can also do bookmarking and link-sharing as well.

!! Now you can use Project Gutenberg and annotate the text! WOW!

You can also use public/private/group settings so that only your 'friends' can read your stickynotes, or so that certain groups can read certain notes or not others.

Important cautions

- Anonymity - Sometimes it gives people license to complain more than they would if their names were attached. If they really, really want to, people who know you WILL find you, or people who know your alias WILL find out who you are.
- Access - Do what's reasonable for you. If you have reliable access from school, count your blessings! See what you can find out about grants.
- Spam - Yuck! annoying. Most blogging software has spam filters; they're fairly easy to use.
- Blocking and filters - Schools block a LOT of content that maybe doesn't need to be. (Dana's pretty passionate about this, so go read what SHE says!) There are lots of ways around most of the blockers. Still, be aware of your school's expectations, and be the professional you claim to be!
- Trolls - People who post mean stuff anonymously. I don't have much of a problem with this, because if someone is unreasonably nasty, it tends to be pretty obvious. And if someone has reason for being nasty, well, then, we need to come to an understanding.

Great quote: "If you let the trolls keep you offline, it's like letting the terrorists win!"

Dana also created a wiki for the seminar, so stop by and join the conversation!

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On Not Writing

It has been said that not writing is the easiest thing in the world.

Anyone who believes that has never had book-buddies. Because when you start talking about books and why an author did this or that and character motivation and unintentional allusions and layers of meaning, all of a sudden you have people saying, "oh, YOU should write a book!"

And it has taken me years to come to the point where I am quite comfortable replying "no."

Don't get me wrong - I love story. Story and conflict and action and drama (within a story, that is) are YUM. But I'd ever so much rather pick it apart and daydream about it than actually go through the work of making a story.

Now, when it comes to creative mostly-non-fiction, I can create what others think of as "good writing." I still have a piece from ninth grade that my teacher read out loud to the class because the sensory detail was so vivid. But when I think about that piece I feel somewhat uncomfortable - because I made it up. The experience did happen (it was a day at the beach). But the details that were so highly praised came not from my memory, but from my imagination.

I did it again in college. We were supposed to go watch a performance and describe it. That time, I made up the whole darn thing. In fact, my grade probably wouldn't've been nearly as high if I'd followed the instructions, because I had a lot more freedom to create "good descriptive writing" since I wasn't constraining myself to what I might actually have observed.

In reflection I only feel a LITTLE bit guilty (like when I think about how as a Christian I should show respect for our government by NOT SPEEDING) because if truth was that important to the assignment, it should've been checked.

But isn't good writing supposed to be about not faking it? These sorts of experiences leave a bad taste in my mouth. Why is it a good thing to sacrifice honesty for artistry?

So these days, this is the kind of writing I do. Blogposts and other conversationalish niblets: book reviews, comments, forum replies, emails, donorschoose proposals, that sort of thing. And I'm good with that. To my recollection, I have never written something so important to me that I worked on it extensively Nor have I ever felt the desire to write something like that -- except when it's a case of the "oughtas." I do draft my posts, but that's more a case of typing up notes on the fly and then going back to explain them more clearly.

Oh, also, I write lists of things that I better not forget to do. I have LOTS of those. And speaking of my lists, I have one telling me I better put my flash drive in its little pocket while I'm thinking about it!

Yeep!

Image thanks to http://nogirlydrama.com/ and http://flickr.com/photos/leafblower/

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Take the Challenge

So my Traveler IQ has improved! Not that I've BEEN to any of the places I can find on the TravelPod map - but I can find them (or at least click pretty darn close).

I still haven't been able to reach level 12, though I can get pretty close. The upper levels are MEAN - trying to find the Territory of Christmas Island is really stinking hard! I've got a fairly high resolution monitor, and it's still hard to see anything smaller than, say, Cyprus.

But learning the names and locations of foreign countries just makes me more aware of what I don't know. I can tell the difference between Latvia and Lithuania on a political map, but I don't have the foggiest when it comes to history or culture or topography. That's one of the things I like best about learning new things - it always leads to new questions and more learning!

I've got the game loaded at the bottom of the page. If it takes a long time to load, try following the link through the widget on the right. You might be surprised at both what you do and don't know!

What's your Traveler IQ?

Image thanks to http://www.sonofthesouth.net/

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Never Again

Have you ever been completely, utterly, and miserably disappointed in yourself?

Last Thursday was it for me.

I'd had an AWFUL day, everything was going wrong, and then during the last period I had six or seven students each trying to ask me something at the SAME TIME, AFTER I'd asked everyone to sit down so that I could address the class as a whole. And I closed my eyes and I wanted them to sit down and listen, but what came out was "Everyone please shut. Up."

Dead silence.

(As one of my students pointed out today, it did work!)

To top everything else off, nobody from my department was on planning, so I called up to the library and asked for someone to come cover my class for a few minutes, and I went into the bathroom and BAWLED.

I meant to apologize on Friday, but things were still pretty hectic and in the rush, I just didn't remember. So I talked with the students about it yesterday, and told them that while it might not seem like a big deal to them, it was important to me to be a model of what I expect them to be. I said something similar in a comment to a post over at the English Companion ning:

...while I introduce these to students as my Classroom Expectations, I really think that they're expectations for MYSELF more so than my students. I don't expect these things of my students - I hope for them, certainly, but I'm also certainly NOT shocked or horrifically distressed when I see students act contrary to them. I guess my expectation is that if I emphasize the importance of these behaviors and model them consistently, students will BEGIN to follow them.

Image thanks to http://www.parconline.biz/photoart/

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It's WEDNESDAY!

And that means it's CARNIVAL TIME! Yay!

HUR-RY, HUR-RY, HUR-RY! The 209th Carnival of Education is already up and running at the Steve Spangler blog. Hurray!

I have a post included again, so if you've already read it, the Carnival will be a wee bit less of a time sink. There's still lots of other brilliant posts, though, so be sure to budget a good chunk of time. (Don't say you haven't been warned!)

Be back before dark, and don't take candy from strangers!

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This is where I make my stand

However, when I say "this is the hill I'm willing to die on," I don't mean it literally! But it sounds ever so much better than "this is the hill upon which I will sacrifice my career."

Anyway. Over at the English Companion ning, there is a discussion about classic texts. Now I'm pretty firmly anti-canon. I don't think there is any work that is so definitive or so meaningful that it absolutely MUST be taught to EVERY student who studies English literature.

I had to stop commenting on it, because I just got so mad! The comments that totally steamed me have somehow disappeared, which is annoying, but someone actually said something like 'you can't be culturally literate without having read Shakespeare.'

!

My poor Hunk bore the brunt of my sputtering reply to that statement, so I won't go into detail here. Suffice it to say I disagree. Strongly. But imagine my surprise when, less than a day later, I found myself having to DEFEND the classics from our literacy coach!

Wait. WHAT did you say? I hear you gasp, after a few moments of shocked silence.

Yeah! Our literacy coach. She was arguing against teaching classic literature. I just have a hard time getting my brain wrapped around that.

I mean, I totally know where she's coming from. Her point is that many of our students are unintentionally learning that 'reading is really hard,' along with the companion lesson 'and boring.'

"Did you know that there's nothing about Shakespeare in our state standards?" she asked me.

Oh dear. I'm not too shabby at picking up on vibes, and she was sending off, like, laser beams. I think I said something along the lines of, "Oh? Hm. That's unexpected." Something so bland I put vanilla pudding to shame.

I listened for a bit as she kind of vented about how we dredge students through four years of Shakespeare and novel after novel with lots of dialogue and description and little action, and the consequences that has for their reading habits. I did end up being a LITTLE less weenie; I said something about how it is important to challenge the students - to push them past where they're already comfortable. But I kind of felt like this wasn't a discussion. Not yet.

A person's "book diet" affects mental health in much the same way that nutrition affects physical health. It's important to eat - and to read - things that are good for you. But there's LOTS of good food, and lots of good books! Within the category of "things that are good for you," there's plenty of room for personal choice.

There's also no reason to exclude books (or foods!) that aren't good for you, as long as they aren't poisonous. Sometimes it's just nice to have something sweet, mindless, and calorie-rich!

I'm so glad I got to participate in the voicethread conversation awhile back. I think Kelly Gallagher has the right idea with the 50/50 approach. Like in other aspects of life, it's important to find balance in what we read.

Images thanks to www.biblebelievers.com and flickr.com/photos/weissrichardson/

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I am a Cheaty Cheating Cheater!

As I am currently suffering through For Whom the Bell Tolls, I am not real KEEN on Hemingway. However! The Scholastic Scribe has blogged a Six Word Saturday post.

Since I have NINETEEN posts in drafts (including this one, so, I guess, eighteen by the time you read this) I figure I darn well better post SOMETHING this week. Special characters can stand in for words without counting as words, right? Right!

Yearbook + Newspaper + Research Projects = 2 much 2 do!

It's kind of fun! Stop by Show My Face to link your post!

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The Interview: A Reverse Meme

Okay, so like with most memes, the person currently posting chooses who the meme gets passed on to. You know, "tagging." Anyway, this one's different.

If you want to participate (and be warned - you don't know WHAT you might get asked - heh, heh!)

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I got my questions from Pseudonymous High School Teacher. Find the questions - and, natch, the answers - behind the cut. If you'd like me to interview YOU, just include your email address in a comment to this post. It'll help if you also somehow connect me with your blog so that I can look over it for question ideas. Also? I would LOVE it if you'd comment back here - or on whatever my latest post is - letting me know once you've answered the questions!

1. If you could time travel back in time or forward in time for an afternoon of hanging out and chatting, what time period would you visit and who would you visit with?

Hm. Stink. I'm stuck - I'd love to find out what happened to Agatha Christie when she disappeared. And I can't help wondering what would've happened if John Wesley had ignored his brother Charles and married the chick he liked. Oh! And I would've liked to meet Charlotte Corday before she killed Marat, and talk with her about what would happen as a result, and see if she still wanted to do it.

2. You are going to be given one superpower. What do you want and why?

Telepathy. I would RULE THE WORLD. Seriously, it is like MAD useful! I'd just have to make sure I did a quick scan for any OTHER telepaths... oo, the things I would KNOW!

3. You are housesitting for a friend and you are far from the store. As you open the pantry or fridge, what five items do you hope are stocked there for you?

Really, it depends how long I'm going to be there. If it's just for a weekend... hm. Well, Sunkist Fruit Gems, of course, which are darn near impossible to find, these days. Several nice slabs of filet. Mashed potatoes made with heavy cream. Several gallons of Goya Champagne Cola. All of this high in iron, B12, calcium, vitamin C, and fiber. And calorie-free, of course.

And... a winning PowerBall ticket.

4. How did you come to be an English teacher?

Dumb luck? Pig-headed obstinacy? I enjoyed reading and writing as I was growing up, and both my parents are teachers, so of course I wanted to be a teacher. And then I darn near flunked student teaching. I was... yeah. I was pretty sorry.

But - you know, I don't think I've ever thanked my mom. You see, I graduated from FSU. And then I moved back to Pennsylvania. And I'd had ENOUGH of teaching. But somehow my mom verbally wrangled me into taking the Praxis...es? anyway, the exams I needed to get my PA certificate. I sat on it for another ... year? maybe two years? before I started subbing.

Substitute teaching was a great way for me to get over my fear of the classroom. No, really! Because it's just ONE DAY. Seriously. I didn't have any gun trouble - if I had, things might be different - and sure, the kids were little pishers, but I can deal with that for ONE DAY. And it was great training - because the kids were little pishers!

No grading.

No planning.

No commitment.

And best of all? I could unplug the phone. God, that was wonderful.

I'd still be a happy sub if it weren't for my pride. Not being a "real" teacher pinched awfully. When I started talking about applying, the Hunk asked me to consider the area he was from, and I said ok. They hired me here, and so we moved, and now I am a DAMN Yankee, rather than just a Yankee.

Damn Yankee. Damn Right. Damn Proud!

5. Where is your favorite place you have been to on vacation?

Ninny Whirl!

(for those of you not familiar with DorkSpeak, that's "Disney World.") Seriously. Disney is just... it really is a Magic Kingdom. I can still sing along with the record - RECORD! - I have of the Electric Parade. I even know where it'll fade out because you have to flip the record. We haven't been there since our honeymoon but we paid off the Hunk's student loan in November, and we'll pay off the house-needs-a-new-roof loan this month, and I think we'll pay off my student loan next month. And so this summer we are GOING BACK TO NINNY WHIRL!! EEEEEEEEEE!!!


Image thanks to http://www.thecosmicwomb.com/

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I've got ATTITUDE!

I'm often bad about acknowledging awards in a timely fashion, BUT not this time! Melissa, aka the Scholastic Scribe, has honored me with the Lemonade Award! This is handed out for 'great attitude or gratitude,' which is especially lovely, because I do try to aim for both, but I'm not always sure I make it!

Of course, as with all things memeish, there is a bit of administrative procedure to follow. As I am a new awardee, I must do the following:

• Put the logo on your blog or post. (check)
• Select at least 10 blogs which show great attitude or gratitude!!! (check, sorta, but you'll need to follow the link below to see!)
• Be sure to link your winners with your post. (check)
• Let them know they received the award by leaving a comment on their most recent post on their blog. (check)
• Share the love and link this post to the person who gave you the award! (check)

It didn't take me very long to figure out how I wanted to handle these awards. It's a bit unorthodox, maybe, but in my opinion completely justified.

So, without further ado, I give my ten awards to:

• California Teacher Guy
• California Teacher Guy
• California Teacher Guy
• California Teacher Guy
• California Teacher Guy
• California Teacher Guy
• California Teacher Guy
• California Teacher Guy
• California Teacher Guy
• California TeacherGuy

CTG has embarked upon his own Epic Adventure, and recently completed another leg of his Hero's Journey. There have already been a lot of ups and downs, as is the case with such quests, and CTG has soldiered on marvelously!

As he says in his most recent haiku (another skill at which he rocks!)

Steadfast

These tortured tree trunks
have seen seasons of despair
and yet they endure.

As a result of one of the Trials he went through, California TeacherGuy's blog is friends-only. If you leave a comment here and request to be added, I will pass it on to him!

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WARNING!

Do not follow the link below unless you haven't eaten in awhile. I laughed so hard that I nearly barfed!

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told Sarah how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had. Then I found one more in the back room, and several people were fighting over who would get it. Sarah's picture does NOT show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

Hat tip: http://community.livejournal.com/1st_yr_teachers/1562392.html

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You Might Be a Teacher If...

...when the phone wakes you out of a sound sleep at 5:45 AM, you know immediately why:

SNOW DAY! WAHOOO!

(of course, now I'm wide awake :P)

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Briefly

UGH. Thanks a LOT, Mr. Ferriter. I'm completely blaming that awesome Voicethread for not having my grading done! I'm SUCH a geek - I've spent wayyyyy more time than I should at the moment reading and listening to some really insightful comments about reading instruction.

Seriously. If you're here, why are you here? Go! Go conversate!

Also, I put a map game down at the bottom of the page. If this takes a long time to load, let me know? It's a lot of fun (or at least I think so) and having it on my blog is convenient, but I can take it down if it's causing problems.

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Reading the Day Away

Sooo sleepy. I didn't get any of my grading done today (though I did get the next three weeks of lessons sketched out, with this week's finalized).

OTOH, I did read several of my library books:

What I Saw and How I Lied
The Rising Star of Rusty Nail
Tennyson
Unwind

Plus I got dishes AND laundry done. So, all in all, a pretty productive day.

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Overheard

In my class, at the front of the room, right beside where the digital clock is hidden (I cover it with a small poster that has a Twain quote on it), I have a nice big poster with my three classroom expectations on it:

1. WORK HARD
2. BE KIND
3. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS

So one of my Double Gremlins (who has me for both English II and Journalism) waved me down during class and said, "Ms Clix, if I got suspended for fighting, would I get kicked out of Journalism?"

I thought, 'Oh, my.' I said, "Well, I don't know that we'd transfer you out of the class, but you might get kicked out of the club."

"Yeah," said Double Gremlin. "That's what I kept tellin' myself. So I just cussed her out, but boy, I wanted to punch her in the face! But I kept sayin' Rule number two! Rule number two! in my head."

The Shiny Gremlin sitting in front of her turned around and said, "Yeah - I hear you say it under your breath back there all the time!"

Dear Reader, I lost it.

But really, I was tickled. I am SO HONORED that she remembered my expectations for my students, and that they mattered enough to her for her to follow them, and that they helped her to make a good decision!

(I did, however, point out that while cussing people out is certainly preferable to punching them in the face, it still doesn't qualify as being kind!)

Image thanks to http://www.womenkickboxing.com/amyduttonvsjustinekeen-pics.htm

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Carnival! YAY!

Step right up an' git yo' tickit!

The newest edition of the Carnival of Education is up at Education Examiner! Huzzah! Looks pretty good, too - lots of spinny rides and Games of Skill and Chance. Go win a big stuffed panda!

I was NOT slack this week, and the post I submitted, "Running around like..." actually made the cut! *blows kisses* You can see it through the Carnival, or you could just scroll down here.

Also - I need to think about what I've got planned for today in English class, because if the past two days are any indication, I need to skinny it down even further.

So anyway, there's one more part to the sentence starters, but I think I'm going to scrap that and begin by going over the parts from yesterday and the day before. Colored pencils and all.

I need to emphasize the importance of having their library books. And of turning in their information sheets. I think if they don't have 'em for me tomorrow, I'm going to have to assign some, ah, "visiting hours."

Then we'll go into SSR. I'm HOPING that going over those six questions won't take more than 15 minutes. So another... ten... for SSR.

Then go over the first stanza of "Jabberwocky," discuss the meaning of "brillig" and how it sets up our expectations for the poem and how that stanza should be read. We'll talk about the cinematography of horror movies, ... something ... and funerals, and how the weather "matches" the mood of the scene. Then I'll read the stanza in three ways: scary, happy, and sad.

I want them to notice WHAT I do with my voice to create the mood. We'll talk about it.

After that, we're going to split up into two lines - guys and girls - and read, line by line, "The Southpaw."

IF there is any time left, they can continue the mini-posters. If not, those will have to be "on hold" until tomorrow or Friday. *sigh*

Image thanks to http://shiraconsulting.com/v2/lader.asp - some other interesting images on this artist's page, too!

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Day 4 Reflection

It still didn't (quite) work. The grammar starter which seems so BASIC to me takes them 20 minutes, so it's 35 minutes into the period before we did the next activity, which I wanted to be short but it wasn't.

On a 3x5 index card, the students list name, favorite color, favorite foods, and songs they like. Then they got up in front of the class and read from the cards. It's about as non-threatening as I can think to make public speaking, and since we're going to do reader's theater of "The Southpaw" tomorrow, I wanted to get some practice in today. I only had one student flat-out refuse to do it (well, actually, I had another one say there was no way I could get her to do it, it was stupid, and she'd just take a zero, and that was stupid too! but then when her TURN came after I'd asked for volunteers & then started calling on people, she said, 'awh, I guess I will' and DID!) which was very encouraging.

So then we VERY quickly reviewed some figurative language (metaphor, simile, imagery, symbolism) and there's half an hour left and they didn't finish the story or their miniposters yesterday and AUGH! AUGH!

And this is AFTER I cut out the story that I'd wanted to have them read today. AUGH. Why does everything have to take for EVER?

I am so tired.

Image thanks to http://www.whole-person-counseling.com/Public_Speaking.htm

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Running around like...

So last Friday's lesson went well. Today's lesson went... well, not terribly poorly, but not so well. I don't think we can do reading workshop and writing workshop on the same day. There's just too much to do.

Today, for example, we did a grammar starter, looking at three model sentences for prepositions & capitalization/punctuation & writer's intent. Silly me, I thought it MIGHT take ten minutes. O no. It takes 15-20. AAAURGH.

So then I extend SSR time, because there's really not much point in having, say, 5 minutes of reading. It's way too easy to fake. Half an hour into the period, we start the minilesson, which is feedback on their friendly letters, which they did for homework due Friday and I gave back today. (Supposedly.) Maaaybe a quarter of the students turned them in. (There is definitely a "you can't flunk all of us" mentality here - although I don't sense resistance, just... inertia, really.) Anyway. So after explaining that I want the letters to be more personal and use specific details & examples, I model writing a letter to the dear BRAT who is insisting that I read a BORING BOOK!

I can't believe it took me as long as it did. It was like … fifteen minutes JUST for the letter! And then we discussed it – what I did and why, and how I might've made it better. Another five minutes there. Yikes!

So then we started "The Last Dragonboy," which SHOULD have been an easy read. Apparently not so much. They chose small groups (another five minutes there) and read it round-robin, out loud to their group. While they did that, I paced the room, encouraging them to stay on task and saying things like, "well, instead of telling me what you DON'T know, tell me what you DO know! whose story is it? what does he want? why?" and such. That sort of thing goes well, and the super-reluctant ones kind of got back into the story. But I feel like if I get into a conversation of any length, the group across the room is goofing off.

The IDEA, then, is for the groups to create mini-posters for terms (like dialogue, conflict, protagonist) that include the term, the definition (on the board!), an example, the name of the source the example's from, and a brief explanation of how we know the example fits the term. By this time we are EASILY an hour into the period, and bugger it all, I didn't remind them to write down their homework assignment, nor did I explain how what we're doing fits in with the standards, or go over our Focus Question (I've always thought that "Essential Question" – which is what we're SUPPOSED to call it – sounds incredibly pretentious).

At this point I'm merrily cussing inside my brain, and trying to remember that they're supposed to write the first 20 prepositions on our list from memory before the period ends, so, like… fiveish minutes before the bell, they've MAYBE gotten one mini-poster done, so I tell them we'll come back to it, hang onto those, I collect the markers and the stories, they put the desks back in order and get out notebook paper and something to write with and start scratching away...

UGH! Of course the bell rings and they're not done. Maybe that's a good thing, because all of them except for one student out of both classes stayed AFTER the bell, presumably to keep working! So as long as I don't do that regularly, they'll be used to working bell-to-bell.

Tomorrow's reading assignment has been scratched; I'll use mini-lesson time to go over a few more literary techniques - these SHOULD be review - and then have them read the story some more and continue working on the mini-poster. I'm keeping the performance read of "The Southpaw" for Wednesday - developing a strong read-out-loud voice is one of my main goals for this semester. And then Thursday I'm going to scrap the story and just workshop their business & friendly letters all period.

I think I need to have something on the board that says "today during workshop your job is to da da da." Only filling in the das.

We'll see how it goes.

Image thanks to http://www.projectstrategy.com/ and http://www.reuniondatabase.com/

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O My!

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

* sex (4x)
* hell (2x)
* gun (1x)

Apparently they didn't count words in post titles...

And it looks like you can say this word and it won't affect your rating!

Special thanks to Threads from Henry's Web, where I saw the link (his is a bit cleaner than mine, apparently).

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Useless Trivia

No, really. How is it that only two out of every three people answered the following MULTIPLE-CHOICE question correctly?

In the book Bloody Jack, what is Jacky's real name? Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy

I so heart goodreads.

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Charter Concerns

Ugh, I hate finding out about stuff late! But it's nice to know that I was RIGHT - even late. A 2008 study described in an Education Week article finds that KIPP schools result in teacher burnout (emphasis mine):

Annual turnover rates for the Bay Area KIPP schools ranged from 18 percent to 49 percent from 2003-04 to 2007-08, the study says.

“Teacher turnover, a result of both ambitious young teachers’ moving on and the demanding nature of the job, poses challenges for Bay Area school leaders and may have implications for the sustainability of the model,” it says.

The article doesn't give turnover rates for public schools in the same area, which I'd be interested to see. But if we go by the pseudo-statistic "half of all new teachers leave within five years," okay, bear with me, I suck - does that mean 10% a year?

Results were posted at SRI International, which added:

60 percent of students who entered fifth grade at four Bay Area KIPP schools in 2003-04 left before completing eighth grade.

It says "left," but my guess is that students who CHOOSE to leave are outnumbered by those who are disenrolled from the program. And where do they go? Public schools. If we were able to dump students who did not perform up to our high expectations, then I can guarantee we'd meet those expectations! I didn't see what the report said about students with disabilities; I don't know if that's even addressed.

Actually, I think that's why our test scores are so high - it's because our dropout rate is ALSO high. *sigh*

Image thanks to http://www.enasha.com/article.php?id=1119

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Life is SO UNFAIR!!!

So yesterday (technically now today is Saturday, after all) was a really good day as far as teaching went. But as with all of my best days, "brilliant" doesn't mean "easy." I got home around five - too late, really, for a nap - and tried my darnedest to stay up until bedtime, but it didn't work. I was in bed by 6:15 and unconscious by 6:30.

So now it's TWO-thirty, and I'm awake enough to be fidgety, so I got up. And... I want something to nibble on. So I'm eating cheese puffs. I love cheese puffs!

And I love Twizzlers! And creme brulee! And mashed potatoes! (GOD, do I love mashed potatoes - especially ours, cuz we make 'em with butter and heavy cream!) And steak, and sweet potato casserole, and pie - all KINDS of pie - and chocolate, and Rice Krispy treats, and Skittles, and Starburst, and pizza, and popcorn...

DAMMIT! Why does everything I like have to be SO BAD?!!

*sigh* Despair. O, the despair.

Image thanks to http://healthinmotion.wordpress.com/

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Carnival!

Wuhu! The newest edition of the Carnival of Education is already up over at Right Wing Nation! :D

I made the cut - yay! you really love me! - and I really would like some feedback on that post. I want to try to avoid becoming a teacher who, rather than teaching for thirty years, "taught the same year, thirty times." (Who did I get that from? I don't MEAN to steal, I'm just working from memory here, and it's never been that great!)

OTOH, I don't really see that it's easier to keep teaching the same thing. I mean, if you find problems, wouldn't it be easier to address them so the next time you get to that point you don't HAVE them?

Anyway. :)

We are OFF today - first day back and school got cancelled "due to inclement weather." Apparently we're on a flood watch, though it's stopped raining. Sunrise is pretty! :D It was interesting to be awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of hail, though.

So I've got a BIT of a reprieve, though I still need to go in and work on the DARN BOOK. Gah.

Now to find my keys...

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Boiling Over

OMG!
WTF!
SRSLY!!

I don't believe it. (Well, I do, but I was stunned.) Not ONLY is twitter blocked, but so is ning and pbwiki (which I've used for class assignments before!)

I mean - honestly! WHY bother giving us new computers when they're nothing more than glorified word processors??

It doesn't help that I got like four hours of sleep last night. Evernote will NOT sync. Oh, and lovely. Now my gradebook won't load either.

Forget Ishmael. Call me Dante.

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Made it... so far

So I just finished getting my grades in .. technically they're not DUE until 4 tomorrow, but I just put things off so damn long. UGH. What is WRONG with me? I mean, I pretty much had to spend this weekend grading. I could've done this the weekend before Christmas and then been free & clear all break!

Well. Except for the Damn Book... which I'm incredibly behind on. I don't even want to think about that.

I hope to goodness I'll be able to work on that tomorrow. Ugh.

Image thanks to http://flickr.com/photos/lausanne/787931134/

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It is ten past two in the afternoon

... and I still have not finished the grading that I intended to have completed last week.

EFF.

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Reviewing ideas & how things went - hope it isn't too painful!

Added 1/1/09

18. Post SSR responses on a wiki. Hopefully the Beatles (my new-to-me first-generation iMacs) will be new enough that a good response can be crafted and saved in the 15 minutes(ish) students have for SSR. I'll probably want the sidebar to have interesting/useful links - like to goodreads and shelfari, other student blogs or wikis, that sort of thing. Haven't found a good way to organize this. How often are these responses due? How do we schedule & share time? Still an idea.

19. Log and record daily participation grades; these can be saved in the online gradebook in a category that doesn't affect the average but allows parents who log in to keep track of the student's behavior. Also shows up on progress reports! I think this will be tough to do on a daily basis, but I'm going to try. Didn't happen. I found myself trying to remember & I didn't want to go by that. I've created a chart that I can carry around with me on a clipboard so I can make notes as I go.

20. Department-wide reading group: I really enjoyed discussing our reading at the America's Choice training workshops. I'd like to continue doing something along those lines at our department meetings. Maybe we could rotate through - each time we meet, a different teacher brings a short article or story or poem or something with enough copies so each of the other teachers can have one, and then we read them, and then we talk about what we've read. I haven't brought this up. I still feel like the bumbling n00b of the group. I need to be less of a weenie.

21. Teach effective paragraph writing more thoroughly before beginning essay writing. Yes, they should know this, but they don't. Out of my hands now; I'm to follow the America's Choice curriculum.

Added 7/11 (technically!)

17. Bring in my stash the day after I go to the library. Take out each book, one at a time, and explain why I pulled it from the shelf and why I decided to check it out. Revised; see #27.

Added 6/5

16. Idea: categorize books that are in student library? create info sheets that provide basic plot hook, description of main characters, the problem faced, and the setting, grade level reccomendation & reason, who might like the book & why; I liked/disliked (or would/would not read) this book because ___. Didn't do this - but I might be able to work it in as part of their SSR responses. STILL didn't do this; it just sounds like it would be great if it worked, but that if students weren't already trained to use their time wisely and work together EFFECTIVELY in groups, it could just be a disaster.

Added 5/29

13. A new curriculum that doesn't suck. Julius Caesar with making hard choices (friendship/patriotism) and dramatic techniques as big ideas; Night with supplemental material from The Hiding Place and hopefully literature pertaining to other genocides; an Arthurian unit; and shorter drama, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. I want to do more with short pieces that we can read out loud, especially with this new group. A lot of them are "reluctant readers," and I want to focus on skills rather than struggling through content. Continued improvement here.
14. More books for the class library. Possibly some beat-up armchairs. I've got a new classroom, and it is FRICKIN' ENORMOUS. Yay for used bookstores! Of course, there's always room for more - plus I think some of my books grew legs... Also got quite a few books from donorschoose. Yikes! I need to finish up my thank-yous.
15. MS Word installed on the new-to-me computers - I heard there were copies of Office 2000 that were not thrown out when the computer lab upgraded. Heh - right. I can't seem to get much cooperation lately; I've sent in a tech request to install Linux on the computers. From there I'll see about Open Office. No luck here, but I've gotten some Macs that have it.
16. No repeater-repeater-repeater class... only "true freshmen" will be sequestered in the academy. This means that while in most cases students who repeat English class are sort of scattered throughout the next set of English classes at that level, the English I repeaters will be in a class of their own, quite literally! I really, REALLY don't want to deal with the additional motivational/management issues that come with that class, on top of the new curriculum and the yearbook. Well, I got moved to sophomore English, so this didn't apply to me - and it's not like I can do anything about it anyway.

Added 5/9

10. A grammar quiz EVERY WEEK. This has definitely been in the use-it-or-lose-it category. I like the grammar starters better; we did continue to re-do preposition & HV quizzes. Still liking starters.
11. Start each class with SSR (self-selected reading). 10 minutes? Amazing. This rules. Transitioned to SSR on M/W only for 30-40 min to build stamina. Works even better - students can f* around for 10 minutes without too much difficulty.
12. Technical Document: Literature Guide. Explains & analyzes elements of literature, figurative language, and sound techniques using student selected literature and student created examples. (This is an expasion of the poetry project. I'm thinking I may want to move it to the end of the term and put the essay unit in the middle. We'll see...)I did this and am hoping to make improvements for next term! yey! Like this. Tweaking for next term.

Added 4/17

7. English Binder - stays in class. Includes notes (pages numbered) and a folder for returned work. I think (hope!) it will be easier to keep things in order when there's not the temptation to store papers for other classes in it. Didn't work; some stayed in class, others didn't. They do what they want. Revised; see 24 & 26. There's not enough room under the desk for a literature book and two binders.
8. English Notebook - spiral-bound, goes home. Pages numbered. Includes ToC homework list; start homeworks from the end of the book. We may glue/tape/staple an envelope or something to the inside of the cover for any papers that need to be taken home.Didn't work; got forgotten. I'm scrapping this.
9. I have a course calendar that shows how long each unit is and gives an idea of what we'll be doing each day. I'm not sure if I want to give it to students or not. I think it will definitely help them see the big picture, but I'd want to be certain that I could keep up with updating any changes - I couldn't just make adjustments as I went. I'd want to keep them informed.Didn't do this, and glad I didn't - I think it would've been overwhelming. Putting a list of units and rough dates on the back of the syllabus.

Original post (4/11)

1. I need to keep up with my bulletin boards. I did ... better ... with this. Still need to improve. More improvement! yey! let's continue. :D
2. I've done fairly well with parent contacts. I want to continue that. Ditto. *wince* Ok, this one went downhill. :( Hopes for improvement next term (see #22).
3. I need to make sure grades are updated every week. Done! Yay! Though I don't know that I'll ever master this. Is it possible to grade all research papers over a weekend?! Still dislike grading.
4. I would like to showcase more student work. Definitely done, but still room for improvement. Okay, the struggle here (for me) is assigning student work that is "showy" without becoming arts & crafts.
5. I want to assign immediate detentions for uncompleted work. Not allowed; must contact parents before assigning detention. This sucks. However, I think I can NOTIFY them of the detention right away, contact the parent that day, and then inform them of the detention date the next day?
6. At the start of the term, I will have students identify what they learned in English class in previous years, and what they expect to encounter this term.Done, but not as smoothly as I'd like it. The students definitely saw the connections between the skills they learned at different levels, but there was a definite sense of "where does it go from here?"I've put it as a homework for next term; that way I can look over their responses & decide how to address the issue.

What you said previously:

cupcake said... I like your list. I especially like the last point and will steal your fabulous idea. Given some of the darling students I've had this year, I wouldn't be surprised if their answer was "Nothing and nothing."

Good luck with the bulletin boards. I loathe - loathe, I tell you - creating bulleting boards. 4:02 PM

Clix said... Hi cupcake! Mostly I want to show off student work. I really don't care about them looking good, but I wanna brag on my peepz. ;) 6:50 PM

cupcake said... I am laughing so hard. It's always nice to show off the kiddies, because if THEY look good (bless their hearts), WE look good.

And it's all about US. 7:07 PM

Clix said... *furious blush* Oh dear. I really need to be more careful about pronoun/antecedent clarity... by "them" I meant the bulletin boards! *^.^*

Although I'm not doing it to give them warm fuzzies, but to have one more way of encouraging slackers to DO THEIR DARN WORK! 5:25 AM

mybellringers said... Can't tell you how thrilled I am that at my level we don't have to have bulletin boards… :-) You go girl! 11:44 AM

HappyChyck said... I'm not a bulletin board person, either. Sure, I'll use it for student work, but I forget to change it for MONTHS! My student teacher did 3 different bulletin boards this spring. Overachiever.

Course calendar...At my last school we had to post our curriculum. Mine looked like a time line (used 2 poster boards) with the months across the top and the subjects on the sides--literature, writing, grammar, vocabulary, etc. (You know, because teaching English is like teaching 5 subjects.) You could use quarters instead of months. Across from the subject and under the month, I drew a line and wrote the name of the unit. I also wrote the numbers of the standards addressed under the lines. Continuous things like vocabulary simply had a line across the whole poster. Students knew the upcoming units ("What books are we reading this year?") and we could all see if we were on track. 7:11 AM

John said... I actually started a post last night about reflections of the school year but then deleted it thinking it was a bit too early. I think after reading your ideas it has pushed me to try, try again.

Oh, by the way...I teach 5th grade where we are literally surrounded by bulletin boards while walking down the hallway of our elementary school. Too funny. 6:34 AM

Melissa B. said... Bravo on the "to do" list! My journalistas keep what I call a "stringbook" in filing cabinets in my classroom. This is basically a running portfolio of all their work in the journalism program. They start as 9th-graders with a little ol' 3-ring binder, and are up to 3-4 inchers by senior year. They complain a lot, but by June of the senior years, they're very impressed with themselves. It's also a good way for them to look at the progression in their writing. Not my original idea. My high school journalism teacher did this many, many moons ago! 5:55 PM

Earlier ideas & comments behind the 'continue' link.

Continue...

Reviewing ideas & how things went - hope it isn't too painful!

Added 1/1/09

18. Post SSR responses on a wiki. Hopefully the Beatles (my new-to-me first-generation iMacs) will be new enough that a good response can be crafted and saved in the 15 minutes(ish) students have for SSR. I'll probably want the sidebar to have interesting/useful links - like to goodreads and shelfari, other student blogs or wikis, that sort of thing. Haven't found a good way to organize this. How often are these responses due? How do we schedule & share time? Still an idea.

19. Log and record daily participation grades; these can be saved in the online gradebook in a category that doesn't affect the average but allows parents who log in to keep track of the student's behavior. Also shows up on progress reports! I think this will be tough to do on a daily basis, but I'm going to try. Didn't happen. I found myself trying to remember & I didn't want to go by that. I've created a chart that I can carry around with me on a clipboard so I can make notes as I go.

20. Department-wide reading group: I really enjoyed discussing our reading at the America's Choice training workshops. I'd like to continue doing something along those lines at our department meetings. Maybe we could rotate through - each time we meet, a different teacher brings a short article or story or poem or something with enough copies so each of the other teachers can have one, and then we read them, and then we talk about what we've read. I haven't brought this up. I still feel like the bumbling n00b of the group. I need to be less of a weenie.

21. Teach effective paragraph writing more thoroughly before beginning essay writing. Yes, they should know this, but they don't. Out of my hands now; I'm to follow the America's Choice curriculum.

Added 7/11 (technically!)

17. Bring in my stash the day after I go to the library. Take out each book, one at a time, and explain why I pulled it from the shelf and why I decided to check it out. Revised; see #27.

Added 6/5

16. Idea: categorize books that are in student library? create info sheets that provide basic plot hook, description of main characters, the problem faced, and the setting, grade level reccomendation & reason, who might like the book & why; I liked/disliked (or would/would not read) this book because ___. Didn't do this - but I might be able to work it in as part of their SSR responses. STILL didn't do this; it just sounds like it would be great if it worked, but that if students weren't already trained to use their time wisely and work together EFFECTIVELY in groups, it could just be a disaster.

Added 5/29

13. A new curriculum that doesn't suck. Julius Caesar with making hard choices (friendship/patriotism) and dramatic techniques as big ideas; Night with supplemental material from The Hiding Place and hopefully literature pertaining to other genocides; an Arthurian unit; and shorter drama, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. I want to do more with short pieces that we can read out loud, especially with this new group. A lot of them are "reluctant readers," and I want to focus on skills rather than struggling through content. Continued improvement here.
14. More books for the class library. Possibly some beat-up armchairs. I've got a new classroom, and it is FRICKIN' ENORMOUS. Yay for used bookstores! Of course, there's always room for more - plus I think some of my books grew legs... Also got quite a few books from donorschoose. Yikes! I need to finish up my thank-yous.
15. MS Word installed on the new-to-me computers - I heard there were copies of Office 2000 that were not thrown out when the computer lab upgraded. Heh - right. I can't seem to get much cooperation lately; I've sent in a tech request to install Linux on the computers. From there I'll see about Open Office. No luck here, but I've gotten some Macs that have it.
16. No repeater-repeater-repeater class... only "true freshmen" will be sequestered in the academy. This means that while in most cases students who repeat English class are sort of scattered throughout the next set of English classes at that level, the English I repeaters will be in a class of their own, quite literally! I really, REALLY don't want to deal with the additional motivational/management issues that come with that class, on top of the new curriculum and the yearbook. Well, I got moved to sophomore English, so this didn't apply to me - and it's not like I can do anything about it anyway.

Added 5/9

10. A grammar quiz EVERY WEEK. This has definitely been in the use-it-or-lose-it category. I like the grammar starters better; we did continue to re-do preposition & HV quizzes. Still liking starters.
11. Start each class with SSR (self-selected reading). 10 minutes? Amazing. This rules. Transitioned to SSR on M/W only for 30-40 min to build stamina. Works even better - students can f* around for 10 minutes without too much difficulty.
12. Technical Document: Literature Guide. Explains & analyzes elements of literature, figurative language, and sound techniques using student selected literature and student created examples. (This is an expasion of the poetry project. I'm thinking I may want to move it to the end of the term and put the essay unit in the middle. We'll see...)I did this and am hoping to make improvements for next term! yey! Like this. Tweaking for next term.

Added 4/17

7. English Binder - stays in class. Includes notes (pages numbered) and a folder for returned work. I think (hope!) it will be easier to keep things in order when there's not the temptation to store papers for other classes in it. Didn't work; some stayed in class, others didn't. They do what they want. Revised; see 24 & 26. There's not enough room under the desk for a literature book and two binders.
8. English Notebook - spiral-bound, goes home. Pages numbered. Includes ToC homework list; start homeworks from the end of the book. We may glue/tape/staple an envelope or something to the inside of the cover for any papers that need to be taken home.Didn't work; got forgotten. I'm scrapping this.
9. I have a course calendar that shows how long each unit is and gives an idea of what we'll be doing each day. I'm not sure if I want to give it to students or not. I think it will definitely help them see the big picture, but I'd want to be certain that I could keep up with updating any changes - I couldn't just make adjustments as I went. I'd want to keep them informed.Didn't do this, and glad I didn't - I think it would've been overwhelming. Putting a list of units and rough dates on the back of the syllabus.

Original post (4/11)

1. I need to keep up with my bulletin boards. I did ... better ... with this. Still need to improve. More improvement! yey! let's continue. :D
2. I've done fairly well with parent contacts. I want to continue that. Ditto. *wince* Ok, this one went downhill. :( Hopes for improvement next term (see #22).
3. I need to make sure grades are updated every week. Done! Yay! Though I don't know that I'll ever master this. Is it possible to grade all research papers over a weekend?! Still dislike grading.
4. I would like to showcase more student work. Definitely done, but still room for improvement. Okay, the struggle here (for me) is assigning student work that is "showy" without becoming arts & crafts.
5. I want to assign immediate detentions for uncompleted work. Not allowed; must contact parents before assigning detention. This sucks. However, I think I can NOTIFY them of the detention right away, contact the parent that day, and then inform them of the detention date the next day?
6. At the start of the term, I will have students identify what they learned in English class in previous years, and what they expect to encounter this term.Done, but not as smoothly as I'd like it. The students definitely saw the connections between the skills they learned at different levels, but there was a definite sense of "where does it go from here?"I've put it as a homework for next term; that way I can look over their responses & decide how to address the issue.

What you said previously:

cupcake said... I like your list. I especially like the last point and will steal your fabulous idea. Given some of the darling students I've had this year, I wouldn't be surprised if their answer was "Nothing and nothing."

Good luck with the bulletin boards. I loathe - loathe, I tell you - creating bulleting boards. 4:02 PM

Clix said... Hi cupcake! Mostly I want to show off student work. I really don't care about them looking good, but I wanna brag on my peepz. ;) 6:50 PM

cupcake said... I am laughing so hard. It's always nice to show off the kiddies, because if THEY look good (bless their hearts), WE look good.

And it's all about US. 7:07 PM

Clix said... *furious blush* Oh dear. I really need to be more careful about pronoun/antecedent clarity... by "them" I meant the bulletin boards! *^.^*

Although I'm not doing it to give them warm fuzzies, but to have one more way of encouraging slackers to DO THEIR DARN WORK! 5:25 AM

mybellringers said... Can't tell you how thrilled I am that at my level we don't have to have bulletin boards… :-) You go girl! 11:44 AM

HappyChyck said... I'm not a bulletin board person, either. Sure, I'll use it for student work, but I forget to change it for MONTHS! My student teacher did 3 different bulletin boards this spring. Overachiever.

Course calendar...At my last school we had to post our curriculum. Mine looked like a time line (used 2 poster boards) with the months across the top and the subjects on the sides--literature, writing, grammar, vocabulary, etc. (You know, because teaching English is like teaching 5 subjects.) You could use quarters instead of months. Across from the subject and under the month, I drew a line and wrote the name of the unit. I also wrote the numbers of the standards addressed under the lines. Continuous things like vocabulary simply had a line across the whole poster. Students knew the upcoming units ("What books are we reading this year?") and we could all see if we were on track. 7:11 AM

John said... I actually started a post last night about reflections of the school year but then deleted it thinking it was a bit too early. I think after reading your ideas it has pushed me to try, try again.

Oh, by the way...I teach 5th grade where we are literally surrounded by bulletin boards while walking down the hallway of our elementary school. Too funny. 6:34 AM

Melissa B. said... Bravo on the "to do" list! My journalistas keep what I call a "stringbook" in filing cabinets in my classroom. This is basically a running portfolio of all their work in the journalism program. They start as 9th-graders with a little ol' 3-ring binder, and are up to 3-4 inchers by senior year. They complain a lot, but by June of the senior years, they're very impressed with themselves. It's also a good way for them to look at the progression in their writing. Not my original idea. My high school journalism teacher did this many, many moons ago! 5:55 PM

Earlier ideas & comments behind the 'continue' link.

Continue...