Dead Guy Walkin’

I’m not much a fan of state tests. I write about them quite a bit. More often than is appreciated, that’s for sure. And last night I was visited by bad dreams and worries about today’s reading test. Last week the students took the Language Test (read: grammar, vocabulary, and [...]

Friday Haiku

Strange to have to borrow from myself, but this is the one bit I’d like to carry over to this reinvention. Here’s your Friday Haiku.

Holy Living Eff!

Next year, I get the opportunity to join a group of educators in opening a new school. I spent about four hours tonight at the new school putting together desks and cabinets with my trusty drill, and I also sneaked in a little tour of the building while I was there.
It’s unbelievable. It’s [...]

Dissecting a story (look at all them dogs and ponies!)

Tomorrow is my final observation before reaching some form of tenure, and while I’m not too worried about the whole process, there’s always something on my shoulder pouring poison into my ear. Meanwhile, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to get away from the simple exercises I’ve been putting my students through, and decided [...]

Whatever Happened to Paul Harvey?

This, my third year of teaching, is by far the most trying. I find difficulties in planning, in preparing, in follow-up, and in finding ways to make these students connect to what we read and how we learn to write.
This is a difficult thing to describe, and I know that I am [...]

What an Opportunity

Today we had the opportunity to chat with a real live author. Granted, he’s just starting out, and he’s not one of the voices we’ve encountered in our class readings, but he’s an honest to goodness author whose son attends our school.
One of the downfalls to teaching English is that we rarely get the [...]

Eleanor Roosevelt — American Hero

It was one of those “Kids say the darndest things” moments, yesterday, as I read through a student’s essay comparing the play “The Diary of Anne Frank,” to the novel Jacob’s Rescue. One of the first lessons I taught was that, in writing, the author/artist should always be named directly following the in the [...]

Tips and Tricks — Cram Sessions

We all have cram sessions. We prepare our students for national tests, for state test, and for our own in-class tests. While we all have similar goals, I think our methods differ.
We should share.
And don’t be afraid to share. You might not be inventing the wheel with your methods, but just mentioning [...]

Rawk!

By the way. After using these videos for teaching grammar, I think my favorite SchoolHouse Rock song is Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla
Please to enjoy:

Simply magical in the teaching of grammar through song. And such a wonderfully playful tune, to boot.

Powerful Powerpoints — State Testing Time again

There’s a downloadable PowerPoint Presentation at the end of this post.
Yep, that’s right — state testing time again. And however you approach your version of “drill and practice,” it’s always helpful to have a supply of information at hand. For myself, I always find it troublesome deciding which questions will get the most [...]