Light speed — NOW

I made an error in my planning. While I think the Caste System assignment was good and smart, and that the students produced some fantastic materials (both written and visual), I did it without thinking about the upcoming paper on the elements of literature.
Every year we teachers have the students write to a common [...]

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 [...]

shhh….

(this trick got me 140/160 essays)
If you happen to have, in your pockets, something which can be plugged into your ears and which holds all of your illegally downloaded music, and you promise not to let them become the focus of your time in class today, then I don’t see them. If these [...]

This is Bullshit!

Or, Beating a Text to Death
A conversation with the science teacher led to this: we think our kids would profit from our classes if we could be more up front. And not just in the cussing realm, but in the personal honesty realm. If the two could coexist, we might just be able [...]

A little inspiration from a science teacher

During a conversation at lunch the other day, a science teacher mentioned using Haiku in the classroom to spice things up. The first time he brings it up, his students complain and cry: “Why are we doing language arts in science class?!?” And his answer is always the same: Why not?
It’s not like [...]

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 [...]

Editing without a lesson

Today we worked on how to edit a paper for clarity and correctness. But I like to do this without much instruction, and again treat it like a warm-up exercise. I read the following paragraphs (available to download, if you click the picture) to my students and asked them to find the mistakes. [...]

the Fives

While most students really grasped the concept behind the Keys Assignment yesterday, there was a pretty large group that found it difficult to connect with a metaphorical key, or to choose for themselves a representative key. I tried to just throw out the “Key to life” or the “Key to your heart” aspect, but [...]

What do you do at the end of the year?

Add to that: What do you do for the coming year?
Now that we’re at the end of the year, I’ve been giving my students a lot of computer lab time — time to finish writing and printing their short stories, as well as time to help me build the final. I’m looking to the [...]

Big things comin’

A few days ago, in the Friday Haiku, I mentioned a ouple of things that I’d just like to outline now. It’s a time of big change and more work, and a time to reflect on just how well I’m doing with my classes.
Evaluation = perfect (but one caveat)
Those first two lines just talk [...]