Showing knowledge through peer editing

A few weeks back, Dana Huff wrote a post on Best Practices for Teaching Writing, and I’ve gotta say: I’m a sucker for teaching posts. This one is well worth the read, and I’ve definitely taken to heart the ideas she brought up in her post. And the best part is that she [...]

So, how does this school really work?

After yesterday’s discussion about the Caste system in school, I whipped up a little handout to help the kids get their ideas flowing and in order about how the actual Caste systems that work in our schools.
Click the image below to download the handout, or click here to see the big picture.
See, the [...]

Compare and Contrast — What worked v. What didn’t

Ever had a lesson go wrong wrong wrongwrongwrong? Just awful. Just bad all around? how did you know it went bad? What were the tip-offs? What led you to understand you were teaching it incorrectly?
For me it was the fact that my kids spent the entire hour talking during the [...]

Setting a standard for reading

UPDATE: Several people have said the handout below turns out all wonky. A text-only version is available right here.
Today we began reading the short story “Raymond’s Run,” by Toni Cade Bambara, and I knew the kids would like it. I knew they’d enjoy the main character, Squeaky, and that they’d find ways [...]

They keys to life

First assignment of the year? A short essay.
(click the image to the right for a downloadable version of this assignment)
I wanted to get a handle on the kids’ writing styles and their ability to handle a lengthy discussion on one topic, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. The [...]

Feel free to download, change, and share

One of the things I’m doing outside of school that’s keeping me busy lately is working with my administrators and other teachers across the district to align our curriculum. We’re working to share all the work we’ve done throughout the years in order to meet our state standards. While I think it’s a [...]

Search and Destroy

While I take the time to go over the students’ research papers for a quick grade and check for authenticity — there’s still a little worry within me that somehow my students have completely plagiarized their work; even though, every. freaking. day. I have to explain to them that I’m not plagiarizing when I write [...]

Try out MLA style in the comfort of your own desk

Had a little more time today to devote to the MLA Handbook I’m creating for my students. The first two (or four) pages are discussed in the link above. The handouts in today’s post are more geared toward how to summarize, how to paraphrase, and how to integrate quotes into a research paper.
Each [...]

I need a little input, if you have the time

I’m trying to build a little handbook to help my students with their upcoming research papers. This handbook will take the students through a variety of tasks to help them focus on taking information and making it their own, as well as inserting the words of others into focused essays.
But this ain’t an easy [...]

MLA citation made easy

Research and writing is hard work. It’s difficult to sift through information to find interesting facts, and it’s even more difficult to turn that information into your own words. Kids have trouble with it all the time. What’s worse is that kids rarely cite the source of their information, and that’s where [...]