Monthly Archives: July 2009

Big Hat

July 28, 2009
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Big Hat

(more shameless self-promotion) During the summer, one has more time for hobbies and such. I’m not much of a traveler (except for Vegas); in the summer I usually do a lot of what they used to call, puttering around. I like to carve tiki heads out of palm fronds (sweet revenge for the puncture incident), build outdoor versions of games like Pachinko and Shoot the Moon, record songs, and make videos. Mostly I’ve been making sk8 videos these days, but this one is a music video for one of my songs. Those couple of regulars out there might remember that I also have a penchant for doodling. Hope you like it.

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Mailbag: The Holy Trinity

July 24, 2009
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Sr. Enda (my seventh grade teacher) would be appalled that I used the title phrase outside the context of the  Catholic Church. But in my seventh grade language arts classroom, my Holy Trinity consists of Father Vocabulary, Son KBAR (reading/writing), and the Holy Spirit of grammar/mechanics. (My ninth grade English teacher referred to the last as the Great Grammarian in the Sky.) Okay that’s a bit of a metaphor stretch, as I squeeze 5 things into 3, but I think you get the idea. A language arts curriculum can seem like it has a million things in it, and the task of trying to integrate them all so they somehow fit together seems daunting. And it’s not like we English teachers have a rigid sequence of skills/concepts that have to be taught in a certain order. I mean we do, sort of, but there’s a lot of overlap and repetition, and it’s not like  in math, where (the math teachers insist) you have to learn x before you can learn y and so on. In fact, most English teachers bridle under any outside attempt to sequence their curriculum. But this freedom can be a bit intimidating: What goes first? What

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CKD

July 22, 2009
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Yesterday morning I woke up to the following message written on the bathroom mirror: “Crush, kill, destroy – in his sleep.” Now let’s all date ourselves, and try to remember where we have heard the phrase “crush, kill, destroy” before. No cheating by Googling (or Binging – but that sounds loud). I’ll give you a minute. My wife says she wrote that on the mirror to make sure she remembered what I said when I was talking in my sleep. I have known since I was a kid, that though I don’t dream very often, when I do I usually talk about it in my sleep. Three younger brothers will let you know right quick. Anyway, all I remember dreaming about was a reenactment of my CTEL testing experience, with the lady asking me what was in my clear container (green tea). “Beer. I thought I might need a cold one while I was testing.” I remember the guy next to me laughing, and the lady making a funny look and setting my bottle on the back counter, but I don’t remember saying, “Crush, kill, destroy.” I hope this isn’t a sign; the results of the test are released Sunday

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Something New.

July 20, 2009
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(Pssst. It’s still summer. I still have 5 weeks until school starts again. So it’s not really considered lagging when I go so long between posts; you know, because of summer and whatnot. You really should check out Refugio Beach.) My regular readers (I think there are a few of you) know that I’m a big fan of wikis. If you’re not a regular reader, or if you need a refresher, check out the Tom Sawyer wiki we had going this year. It allowed the kids to collaborate on chapter summaries, and add related information or extra explanations. Wiki entries grew from a sentence or two from one contributor to hundreds of words written and edited by a dozen kids each. It worked out beautifully, without a lot of management from me. Here’s how it ended up. However, the downside (especially in a computer lab type setting where 20-30 kids are all doing trying to do the same thing at the same time) is that with a wiki, only one person can be editing the wiki at a time; everyone else is locked out. I wanted to try some real-time peer editing and writing collaboration, but the wiki format wouldn’t

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“Well at first, I was like…”

July 5, 2009
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“Well at first, I was like…”

I think I’m going to have a new -ism this fall. Usually, when the kids make outrageous suggestions (“You should give us all A’s on that test, it was so hard”), or come up with hare-brained ideas (“Let’s try letting us sit wherever we want”), I respond with something like, “Then you woke up.” The first time I use it on one of them, it usually takes a couple of minutes (and a couple of quicker ones helping) for him/her to get it. It’s also my private reference to their favored literary device (on the very rare occasion I let them write fiction): the dream. Their favorite “twist” ending is, “Then he woke up.” But now, I have a more visual way of indicating my opinion of their suggestions. I found this today, and I can’t stop chuckling. We have a poster-sized printer at school, and I think I’m going to make a couple of new posters for my classroom. My wife and boy, who like to tease me about being a bit crabby, say we should retake the pic, with my grumpy face. “How do I feel about that suggestion?” I can hear them already. “They’re the same picture.”

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Random Featured Post

Three-Word Phrases

Seventh graders “communicate” mostly in three-word phrases. If the phrase isn’t really only three words long, they can usually pare it down. “What’d I miss?” It sounds like  “Wuddeyemiss.” And it always comes right as you’re starting class. Raise your hand if you have had this happen in the past week. Past three days? Today? AAAAAARGH.  They want 54 stellar, well-planned and executed minutes of instruction summarized for them in 30 seconds as the class bustles in.  What did you miss? “Absolutely nothing. You might as well take the rest of the year off. CHECK THE WEB PAGE! COME BACK AT BREAK!” “Oh yeah. I forgot.” LOL (These days, they’re getting it down to three-letter phrases.) “What’s my grade?” This one is usually from the kid whose grade is in the bottom 15% , and s/he finally turned something in, and wants immediate gratification. And it always happens right in the middle of something else, something totally unrelated.  Yesterday we were talking about how Charlotte is finally seeing Captain Jaggery for what he really is. (Aside: If you haven’t read The True Adventures of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, I highly recommend it. I picked it up a few years ago [...]

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Mr. Coward has been teaching on the beautiful central coast of California since 1989.

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Recent Comments

  • mrC commented on It’s Go Time!@Sarah-Most excellent! Keep up the good work, and don't let any of them talk you out of it. Glad to hear your kids recognize the value too. Fight the good fight!
  • Mrs. M~ commented on Illin’Feel better soon! There is nothing worse than being at school and trying to be "on" when you feel like death.
  • Sarah commented on It’s Go Time!I just came across your blog...I am a second year teacher and I am currently reading The Outsiders aloud to my seventh graders. I read it to them last year, too. I catch a lot of criticism for reading it to them...but they LOVE to have me read to them. I actually had a group
  • joan commented on Illin’I'm on day two of out-with-the-crud. I needed the rest. Hope you're in tip top shape by Monday!
  • mrC commented on “The Sub Used One of Your Sticks!”That one oughta be strung up like they used to do to horse thieves.
  • Heather commented on “The Sub Used One of Your Sticks!”The last sub I had left no note at all and broke the arm of my spinny chair by leaning back in it so far that he fell in the floor. The kids all said he was the best sub ever. I politely asked the school secretary to never have him sub in
  • mrC commented on The Future of Space Travel@Heather: Gawd I hate that. I think I even posted about it awhile back. @Kelli: This reminds me of high school. I went to a Jesuit high school (all boys) and for our Friday football rallies, we would import cheerleaders from other schools to be a part of the rally. And the girls would always begin
  • Heather commented on The Future of Space TravelMy eighth graders just have the habit of prefacing every question with, "I have a question." And announcing "I'm done" when they complete an assignment.
  • Kelli commented on The Future of Space TravelIs it bad that I sometimes start my stories with "Okay, so...."...? I guess the kids have rubbed off on me. Sigh.
  • Kelli commented on Blogging the Scoring Session (Part I)Ugh! Been there. I have been to those "Scoring and Rubric" type meetings in two different states now... Not fun, and not entirely informative, either.
  • Meg commented on No Groove Yet (Also: The Giver and No Homework Returns)There was a district I student taught in that hand the no fail policy. I child could not be held back a grade, even if they did absolutely nothing the whole year, until they were in high school. It took most of the middle schoolers about 3 seconds to realize they didn't have
  • Kelli commented on No Groove Yet (Also: The Giver and No Homework Returns)You know, that whole "no-zero" policy goes hand-in-hand with the "no-failure" or "no-retention" policy, and my school district is a definite contributor to this madness. I can understand the desire to stop giving zeros and MAKE the kids do the work (giving countless opportunities until successful), but I have been in a situation where
  • commented on Obligatory Santa VideoWe have an unofficial "no zero" policy. It takes a little extra effort on the teacher's part to get all of the students to complete their assignments but we have made it work. The thing that was most helpful was instituting a "homework detention" that is separate from discipline detention. If a

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