Why We Ask Our Students to Write

Thinking about how students often do not see writing as a way to learn, but how they think of it as a way to be assessed. Writing involves so much of our brain! We need to ask our students to wrote more short responses to what they read.
Read this synopsis of a national report for ideas:
http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Synopsis%20Writing%20to%20Read.pdf

Fun Object Lesson

Today was the first day for homework responsibility. I had a few students who failed to do it. They had great excuses. So I picked up a desk and lifted it over my head and asked them to think of the desk as homework, then asked the students how long they thought I could carry it. After an hour I'd probably collapse. If I could carry it until 10:00 p.m. I'd probably have to be taken away in an ambulance. The longer I carried the desk or put off the homework, the greater the burden. So, better to get home, do the homework early and put the desk on the ground where it belongs.

I Just Have to Say...

How much I love teaching! Day 2 and my kids are brilliant.
I love the Socratic method-if you don't know what it is, I challenge you to find out. The students make their own discoveries which can be the most powerful way to learn.

How are you all doing after your first few days of school (for some)?

Another Web Resource

If you like to peruse education websites, I found an interesting one today--Star Wars famous, George Lucas, appears to have a passion for education. I only read one article but found that it rang true: What's the Secret to Effective Classroom Management?
By Maurice Elias.

Basically, trust between student and teacher is what creates the most effectively managed classroom.

Where I am From poetry activity

One of my student teachers, Kristen, did a fabulous job using this poem by George Ella Lyon as an introduction to House on Mango Street.

Yet Another Discovery

I previously wrote about poetry or essay cafe because I was pleasantly surprised at how much harder students worked on their writing pieces when they knew they would be reading to the class. This past Friday, I discovered another reason to have essay read-alouds. It is an amazing tool for teaching editing.

I had several students that stumbled over sentences, words or phrases or even did a stand-up-editing-comedy-routine.
I usually edit their work and students must return their polished copy for a final grade. This time, I gave papers back with instructions to edit their own work--they already knew where changes had to be made from reading out loud.

The Library of Imagination

I wanted to pass on one of my favorite journal prompts.

http://www.walkerdigital.com/video/ The musical accompaniment is splendid.

Questions I ask for the prompt:
How much do you love to learn? Value learning? How important was creativity in the creation of this library and the success that provided the means to build this library? What original manuscripts would you want in your library? What artifacts?

Jay Walker can also be found at ted.com with a personal explanation of his Library of Imagination.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jay_walker_s_library_of_human_imagination.html

Teaching Literature and Reading Wiki

If any of you are interested in materials on literature circles and reading topics covered in Eng 378, feel free to join the wiki for access to materials after you finish at BYU. :) I am adding a lot of fabulous teacher handouts to the site. Also, I am working on getting Novelinks onto a wiki or blog that is accessible off campus as well.

Technology is more than Wordle

A really thoughtful site to follow!

Best Thing I've Ever Done

Just a quick note on teacher blogs: best thing I've ever done. I have two. The first blog communicates assignments due, afterthoughts, a re-cap of the day etc. If a student is absent and asked what he/she missed, I can say, "Check the class blog." This blog also serves as my journal and helps me to self-reflect and see what is needed.
It isn't all business either; students see that I write and reflect too-I do what I ask them to do.
The second blog is for posting student writing. Each student is required to make 5 comments on other writers' work. When I visit the writing blog and see the comments that students are making about each others' writing, I see that something positive is happening. Students have an audience.

Evaluating Blogs?

My colleague, Gideon, talks about how blogs should be evaluated. How does your blog measure up? :)

The Digital Writer: Criteria for Evaluating Research Blogs

thedigitalwriter.blogspot.com

Looking for a wonderful poetry explication group activity?

I found this on English Companion Ning and plan to use it. Let me know if anyone else tries it out.

Are You Done?

For about five years now, I have had to wear reading glasses. It's gotten progressively worse and during my last eye appt., I decided to try contact lenses. Last night was horrendous trying to get the invisible, clear disk out of my eye and I finally had to have my daughter operate. I resolved to never wear contacts again, but this morning with my memory of clear-up-close vision, not having to pull out my glasses to read everything, that simple pleasure will drive me to try contacts again.

Here is the most amusing part and the place where I will try to drive the topic of this post: When I went to school yesterday, (the first time in my up-close contacts) I noticed that my adorable, little ninth graders had acne and facial hair.

I'm glad I spent the year seeing them through my softened lenses. Acne and pubescent hair begging for a razor is not.....................that pleasant.

So the point is, we must look at our students through clear eyes-- we must see their potential, their weaknesses, their need for discipline, love, and appropriate challenges, but is it such a bad thing to see them a little better, sweeter, cuter, than they really are? Isn't that how we want to be seen?

I hope you had a great year and I hope you will post your reflective experiences, both good and bad on this blog so we can all learn from each others' triumphs and mistakes. Please?

Technology Find

A colleague at my school recently introduced our department to a great website called Edmodo. It's very Facebook-esque, but designed for school use. The basics:

1.You create a class group, which your students then join. This is great because they can't really wander to any other pages because you can only see groups you are invited to join (which a teacher is administrator over).

2. You can post assignments, links, polls, etc. to the group page. The students can turn things in via the website (and it notifies you ever so conveniently), or you can have conversations through the note feature.

I've used it with my 10th and 12th grade classes and they have loved it! Other teachers who have used it have also had a lot of success. One immediate perk is that they enjoy the familar layout- the assignment stays the same, but it seems so much cooler now. Also, the turn-in rate went up a lot for assignments that could be handed in via the website.

I'm by no means an expert on the site, but it's been a lot of fun and very helpful. We also created a department page which is a nice place to share ideas or just talk :)

An Accidental, Wonderful Discovery

An elementary teacher/friend told me that she held poetry cafe on Fridays. She read poetry, students read poetry... I decided to incorporate poetry cafe on Fridays and let students bring food. They loved it. Then after two weeks of working on a "This I Believe" essay, I implemented essay cafe. I really had no idea how it was going to pan out. Then the magical consequences took effect. The students worked really hard on their essays because they had an audience that they cared about. Each other. They were attentive, respectful and listened because I expected them to make comments about their peers' work.

We finished up a poetry writing unit today and I have to admit, I was surprised at how they worked on their poems, but then I remembered--poetry cafe on Friday! They will be reading their own poems to each other. Once again, they have an audience that matters. Because they are only allowed to make positive comments, they know the writing environment will be positive, supportive and encouraging. Exactly what a ninth grader needs.

I've been pondering this. We have set up this teacher/audience environment. For several years they've been writing for us and only us. Give them a real audience and the passion to write well is born.

At the beginning of the year, writing assignments were met with phrases you recognize all to well: "Mrs. Martinez, how long does this have to be? Do I have to do this?" I cannot remember one of these questions damaging my ears in the last few months.

Writing With the Class

When I assign a writing piece, I do the assignment too and show the class my drafts. It has created a whole new enthusiasm for writing. Students see my passion, they see that I can write bad stuff too, they see the need for several edits. It makes me vulnerable and more compassionate to the students.

For my next class, I will show my final draft of a personal narrative along with a color coded example of everything I wrote-red for all the cuts I made, green for additions to text, blue for the same text re-written or re-worked,yellow for student suggestions I took note of and implemented.

If anyone would like the color coded example just send me an email: pat.martinez@maeserprep.org

Object Lesson for Teaching Editing

I am currently focusing on writing in a writing workshop. Writer Tia Nevitt suggests a great way to understand the importance of cutting unnecessary words/paragraphs etc. from our work.
Bring in a favorite DVD that students love and know well. Go to the menu and show the deleted scenes option. Look for director commentary that illustrates the importance of cutting. Remind the students that they don't have to spend six figures in writing and cutting-allow students to interpret the clip toward their writing.

Grammar question

I can't even figure out how to look this one up, so of course I turn to your fabulous brains for help.

My husband just wrote the following sentence in a formal email:

"I've attached my resume in case either you or he needs a copy for reference."

Should that word in Italics be "needs" or "need?" (And did I put that question mark in the right place?) In other words, does a verb after nouns/pronouns joined by "or" agree with the first or second noun(/pronoun)?

I wait with baited breath on your brilliant responses. :) Thanks all, and hope you're having a great semester!

English Companion Ning

Love this site! Lots of great discussions and areas created by Jim Burke.

Young, High-Level Readers

Hey, all. I'm teaching 6th & 7th grade English at a charter school out near Tooele this year, & I've got a question for all of you: What books (/authors, /series, etc.) would you recommend to very young (mostly age 11), very high-level (12th grade +) readers? I've got about a dozen kids that fall into this category, and I'm having a very difficult time recommending texts that will challenge them reading-level wise (or at least not bore them) without having content that's inappropriate for kids that young. Every time I think I've got a good pick, I skim the book again and find that there's too much swearing, adult topics, intense violence, sexual innuendos, etc. It doesn't help that many of the parents of my kids are really sensitive to anything you could remotely call "inappropriate." My only fallback recommendation right now is Shakespeare, since I assume that the adult content will go way over the kids' heads and their parents won't remember it's there. :P Any ideas?