Monthly Archives: January 2010

120 Seconds Book List (So far.)

January 30, 2010
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We’re pretty much finished with the 120 Seconds presentations, and my aide has typed up the list of books we heard from so far. Not everyone has remembered to add his/her book to the list on the board — I know I heard some Unfortunate Events and some Goosebumps (from the EL kids) and even some Hardy Boys and Heidi of all things– but this is a good start. Repeats have been eliminated. Harry Potter frequency was down this year. Percy Jackson was waaay up. Half my classes are ready to camp out for the movie premier (in two weeks) of  The Lightning Thief. (My boy is so excited about that, he can’t cope.) We also heard A LOT of Twilight (duh), and vampires in general were big.  So was Alex Rider. But no Lord of the Rings this year. (Yeah!) We also heard from Holden Caulfield, read by a girl. (Jerome RiP.) The Shakespeare one was a simplified version, but still rocked. I gotta find the video of the kid who did The Hunt for Red October. His Russian accent was classic. That was Then, This is Now -S.E. Hinton Interview with the Vampire – Anne Rice Touching Spirit Bear –

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More 120 Seconds Demos.

January 28, 2010
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More 120 Seconds Demos.

Here are a couple more good examples from our 120 Seconds presentations. My servants (sorry, student assistants) are typing up the list of books we heard from, so I’ll be able to post it this weekend. Here’s Deep M. reading The Cay, by Theodore Taylor, and he’s pretty stoked about it. And Dot (I love having a Dorothy in my class; so old school!) reading a new teen cult classic (whose author is from my neck of the woods, as Dot points out). This book, Thirteen Reasons Why, is pretty hot right now.

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600 Words a Week? Easy. (Part II)

January 27, 2010
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Almost a week since the last post. So much for New Year’s resolutions… Last time we met, I was introducing the kids to the idea of writing 600 words/week of “whatever.” They were at the first stage of seventh grade grief/learning; unable to cope-ness. (Aside: Another teacher at my school, made semi-famous here for her classic faux pas, has a big sign that greets the kids as they enter her room, that simply says COPE. I gotta get me one of those.) “So, the whole idea here is that you will get in the groove of writing all the time about whatever interests you, and with any luck, you’re trying to make sure that whatever fits into one of the approved categories. That way, in a couple of weeks (and about monthly after that), when I ask you for a 600 word essay that fits into one of the genres, you’ll be able to go rummaging through that folder and find some bits and pieces–or even whole essays–that you can use to work through drafts and turn into a final product. Sort of…’Oh look, last week I was on a roll about how stupid it is that we have to learn square-dancing

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600 Words!? Every Week?!! Wha? (Part I)

January 21, 2010
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One of the problems with having 150 or so students, aside from learning the names, is having to read 150 essays on the same topic. It has its purpose, that is assigning one topic to the lot of them, like teaching Show not Tell and suchlike. But then, the variety of “showing” makes the reading of 150 “messy rooms” or “soooo funs” at least bearable. But 150 takes on “the theme of…” or “persuasive essay on…”? I can’t cope. So many moons ago, I decided to change that, for at least half the year. I guess the best way to explain it is to try to reproduce the speech I give the kids when I introduce… 600 words per week. (scream) “In the second semester, which begins week after next, this class is going to have more of an emphasis on writing. In the first half, a lot of our focus has been on vocabulary and reading and the like; academic words, vocabulary, KBARR, reading checks, etc. We’ve been trying to build vocabulary and understanding. In the second half, we’re going to try to put that learning to use…writing. “But the problem with assigning you guys more essays is that if

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Joe Said Yes. (120 Seconds III)

January 15, 2010
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Just a quick one today, to post an example of a fine 120 Seconds presentation. Also to share a revelation I had yesterday for an improvement to the whole thing. It was actually sort of a duh moment; like, it seems so obvious now. Why didn’t I think of it 10+ years ago when I started doing these things? I had one of my student servants make a chart for the wall with four columns: Book Title, Author, Reader, Blurb. After the kids finish their presentations they fill in the info about the book they read. I told them the blurb should just be a back cover sort of thing, or a sentence or two about why others should read it. That way, after a whole buncha these presentations, kids who remember hearing Tina read from a cool-sounding book, but can’t remember what it was called can easily find out. With an luck, they might even go read the book. Which is one of the main objectives of the whole thing. Duh. The ones that had already read were pretty anxious to get their shtuff on the list. They were all pretty stoked on the idea. Duh. It seems so

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Random Featured Post

Oh Raffle King, Oh Raffle King…

(Sung — way off key, and sort of warbley — to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree.”) I guess we need to talk about the King. On Wednesdays, after we go over the vocabulary homework, and discuss the words, I give them a vocabulary pretest. If they ace it (100%), they are exempt from the vocabulary portion of the Friday test. I used to have one of them flip a coin to decide whether or not I let them use their “cheat sheet” — the homework page we just went over and corrected — on the pretest. What they don’t believe when I tell them — even though it’s true — is that, on average, their scores on the pretest are lower when they use the cheat sheets, and fewer of them get an exemption. But they like to think it’s a security blanket, so I play along. Then I discovered the King. I would give you the URL of his creator’s web site, but he has some other, shall we say, inappropriate shtuff. (You can do a Google search if you really want to check it out.) So I took the liberty of “cloning” the King. If you click [...]

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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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