oral reading

Da dum…Da dum Da dum Da dum…Da dum…

January 4, 2011
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Da dum…Da dum Da dum Da dum…Da dum…

I’m trying to phonetically represent the theme from Jaws. You know, the whole approaching shark thing. Da dum. The dreaded 120 Seconds is coming! It’s January, and time for my crew to publicly display their mad oral reading and public speaking skills. Da dum, Da dum, Da dum. “Has anyone ever peed their pants?” “No, but I had one run out the door…’I'm going to be reading from…uh…’ and BAM, she was gone out the door. I sent somebody after her after about five minutes. I think that one came close.” “What’s the record for likes and uhs?” “120. We had to give her another chance the next day. She got it down to 11.” “What if I read from Winnie the Pooh?” “Did you really like it?” (sheepish) “Yes.” “”Well then, you read from Winnie the Pooh.” “What if your friend is in the audience making you laugh?” “One: Get rid of him as a friend. Two: He’d lose points on his, and you’d get to start over. Three: There is no third thing.” “Can I really get into it? And like, wear a wizard’s hat and have a magic wand for reading Harry Potter?” “That’d be beauty. Too

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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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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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“I near pi_ _ed myself.” (120 Seconds II)

January 14, 2010
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“I near pi_ _ed myself.” (120 Seconds II)

We had missed a few days of reading The Midwife’s Apprentice, so I told a couple of the kids scheduled to read to us today for their 120 Seconds presentations that they were postponed until tomorrow, so I could carve out a little more time for reading MWA. You’d have thought I was the governor calling in their pardons, seconds before the warden pulls the switch. I wanted to get to the end of chapter 6, where Alyce/Beetle saves Will, one of the boys who’s been taunting her, from the river. It’s also the chapter where she asks the cat what he wants to be named. It’s also one of my favorite parts of the book, and if I were a seventh grader doing my 120 Seconds, it would be the part I’d read out loud.  When Will says that Beetle “were brave” because she didn’t run away, Beetle replies, “Naw, I be not brave. I near pissed myself.” I always have to pause for the pandemonium. Sometimes I repeat the line, milking it like a bad comedian. “I guess she was scared… ‘I near…’” The line is all too appropriate for the way some of them are looking forward

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Random Featured Post

Twits

I just read a webnews headline that read: “Twitter is the New CNN.” Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket? If Mr. Coward were to “tweet” his way through a typical day period (which is about as likely as, oh let’s see, Hell freezing over is too cliche, how about…Bill Gates going broke.) 8:21- the homies r screaming since vp said hand over your heart 4 the pledge – oh the pain! I left the door open: some poor late kid in the hall looks alarmed 8:22- I gotta put a switch on the speaker: more drivel from some underprepared kid talking 2 close 2 the mic…sounds like the bus station back in the day 8:26- blue slip. since it doesn’t say NOW, I set it next 2 the Popple…probly forget it later 8:30- finally!! “share” time is over and we can start – don’t remind me that I told Vero she could share first tomorrow about something she will have forgotten by then if we’re lucky 8:32- checking vocab hw, 1/4 not holding…”why is my grade so low?” it ain’t rocket science people 8:38- correcting warm up…let one of them try to write on the shmartboard …you [...]

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

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  • 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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