Mailbag

KBAR Part I

September 28, 2011
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I was going to tell the whole story about how my KBAR program came to be (the granddaughter of the inventer of the name is in my class this year), but since it’s Wednesday and it’s ten minutes until eight, I’ll save the back-story for later and get right down to the nitty-gritty, as someone used to say sometime. Here’s a short version of how I deal with reading the responses and checking the charts. I ass-u-me (seventh graders love that one) that you have already familiarized yourself with the KBAR concept. What? Fine. Click the link. Then read the rest. I’ll be back, as our former governor used to say. This is from July, 2009′s mailbag. What is your experience with doing the KBAR notebook? I have found that during my student teaching, the students rarely turned in homework if I wasn’t checking it (worksheets or whatever) at the end of every week. Also, is it used just for KBAR work at home? I’m nervous about leaving them to do something at home on a notebook (that many of my students wouldn’t buy since it’s 75% free/reduced lunch). Any alternatives to that issue? During the first week of doing KBAR, I check daily, just to make sure they

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Mailbag: Writing.

October 11, 2010
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We had today off for some reason. All hail Columbus the Conqueror! I was camping down at beautiful Refugio State Beach. 85 and postcard perfect, right down to the dolphins frolicking 50 yards from the beach. Anyway I’m back, and one of our loyal readers needs a bit of collaboration. I don’t know how many of you scroll down and read the comments unless you’re looking for a response to yours, so this might be a rerun for some. Hey Mr. Coward. A long time reader here, and I’ve also posted a few times. I still can’t believe you keep up on this great blog, posting materials for the kids, teaching both 7th and 8th graders and like, um, seem to still have a life. Sincere congrats. Anywho, I am looking for some advice. I plan on posting something on the listserver later today, but I thought you would be a good source to start since I’m typically on board with your ideas. I teach 8th grade language arts, and each quarter we have at least one major process writing piece. The other 3 quarters are pretty solid, but quarter one needs a revamp. According to the new common core

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We might need a second page in the dictionary.

September 28, 2010
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OMG. You people rock. Back in the day, when I started using the three-word phrase shtick in my back-to-school night gigs, I used to run through five or six for the parental units, just to illustrate my point about the way middle schoolers “communicate.” A couple of days ago, we were up to 16. Thanks to you, I think we’re headed for a top twenty instead of a top ten. 1. “It’s not fair.” – Used for anything they don’t like. 2. “This is boring.” – See #1. 3. “What’s my grade?” – “I am pretending I care.” 4. “What I miss?” – See #3. 5. “I don’t care.” – “I really do care, but I don’t think I can do anything about it.” 6. “I don’t know.” – “I might know, but can’t admit it, because then I would face consequences.” Or, if that is not the case, “I don’t even know what the question was.” 7. “I SAW you.” – “I can’t believe you exist outside the classroom.” 8. “I hate ____.” (math, you, cauliflower, etc.) – See #1. 9. “S’not my fault.” – “It really is my fault.” 10. “I’ve a question.” – “I really do (or

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More Mailbag and a New Tom Sawyer Fan.

May 3, 2010
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I like responding to comments over here. It gives me a little more room to “spread myself” as Mark Twain would say. That reminds me. We’re almost finished with Tom Sawyer, and I think more kids than usual are actually enjoying it. I had one kid come up to me at the Open House for my boy’s school (this kid’s alma mater last year), clutching his copy of TS. He wanted to laugh and talk about the Tom taking Becky’s punishment scene. There were several things that were unusual about that exchange: 1.  This boy is batting .480 in my class. (That’s 48% to you non-baseball people.) 2. He was three chapters ahead of the class. 3. He was getting most of MT’s irony, and about 80% of the language. 4. He  said, and I quote because it will forever be seared into my brain, “I’m liking this book so much that I think I might buy it when we’re done reading it in class.” I said he could keep that copy of the book when we’re done. Our department has 350+ copies in various states lying around. I think we can spare one. Especially since our sister school, the

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Classroom Mailbag II

April 28, 2010
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Classroom Mailbag II

So it’s not tomorrow… First, a correction. During the photo tour of my classroom, I said that I thought I had moved in about 10 years ago. My how time does fly. It was 1996 when I moved into my present digs. My 7th graders weren’t even born yet. (Scary thought, that.) I even found a photo of the room from the morning before the first day of school back then. The principal at the time was really stoked on our newly remodeled facility. She even took pictures of the rooms that didn’t get remodeled. Look how tidy! And empty. (Click for full-size.) I showed the kids this pic today. They all thought it looked “boring.” “Where’s the Popple?” Onward… I am not one of those teachers who says that there are no lame questions. I believe that we junior high teachers get asked plenty of lame and stupid questions. My standard response to lame questions from my 7th graders is, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” However, your question about the old “trade and grade” is definitely NOT lame. I’ve been wrassling (sic) with this for years. In fact, when I got my clickers a few years

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Random Featured Post

Quizzes for Dummies?

A few years ago, while we were reading Outsiders aloud, I was about to give them my usual “reading check” type quiz to make sure they were following along, thinking about what we’d talked about, connecting the literary terms to the examples in the book, etc. I can’t quite remember what my inspiration was (probably just to throw them for a loop like I like to do), but I decided to let them “cheat.” My quizzes on the books and stories we read are always open book, but this time I told them they could take the quiz, not only open book, but “open mouth.” I told them they could talk about the questions and answers as much as they want in any way they want, and decide however they want to, which of the answers to choose. “You can share what you know…or not. You can decide whether to heed the wisdom of the group…or not. You just can’t lie. You can’t knowingly tell everyone the wrong answer on purpose.” One class that day came up with the name Quiz for Dummies. The rest of the periods thought that was a little “mean,” so we’ve stuck with Open Mouth. [...]

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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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