Other activities

New Material, and OMG, Groups!

November 7, 2009
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I’ve been testing some new material lately. We finished Outsiders last week, and since S. E. Hinton managed to cram an example into the book of pretty much every single literary term we’re supposed to teach, I finally made a worksheet. And some new literary terms questions based on The Outsiders. (One, two, three) (Advertising: I updated my Outsiders CPS clicker database to include the three new quizzes about literary terms (30 new questions based on the book), AND three 20-question Challenge Boards. The CPS database is the only place you can get the answers to all the Outsiders quiz questions on the website. Hint. Hint. Go to clickers.mrcoward.com.) We played Jeopardy last Thursday as a finale to The Outsiders. Actually, now that I have the clickers, I’ve been using the built-in feature called Challenge Boards. (Here’s a screenshot.) You get four categories with 5 questions each, with game point values from 10 to 50. You take previous questions you have used, and drag them into the categories and amounts. Since I have waaay more than 20 questions, we do multiple rounds. I use this as a quiz grade instead of having a final exam (they also do a project).

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Only 35% New Shtuff (But it’s Gold.)

November 2, 2009
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…I’ve been a little laggy about posting (again) because I’ve been revamping my school’s website. Check it out: http://lams.slcusd.org. …While I was checking out the sites for other schools in the district, I happened across a feature that Charlie Perryess, one of the English teachers at our sister middle school (about 1/2 of our 730-something students), has on his site. I think I may have to steal it. He only updates his site every three weeks (!?) so he gives a rundown of the activities and such for that time. At the end he has a section he calls, “Questions parents might ask their wonderful,yet not terribly forthcoming kids.” That’s the 8th grade version. The 7th grade version is, “Questions parents might ask to get a little more of an answer than ‘everything’s fine.’” (This guy also has to teach home economics and drama! The curse of diminishing enrollment.) The questions are beauty. Designed to check to see if the homework is done, in a non-confrontational, encouraging way.  My wife is sooo good at talking to our son this way. I have a little more trouble with the proper…tone.  Example: 1. Which character from Beowulf have you chosen to make

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Moodle Time.

October 18, 2008
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I usually spend about 8-10 days each year in the computer lab. First, I like to do at least one on-line type project. Most years lately, it’s usually the Langston Hughes WebTrack (through TrackStar, a beauty service I should probably talk about later). And until last year, I usually also got in wikis or a web page of some sort. (Aside/Tip: Web pages and wikis (a type of reader-editable web page) are great ways to get kids to expand and revise their writing. By making them start with a 600 word word essay, and then requiring 5 links of at least 100 words each, I am getting them to add 500 words to their essays, and they hardly notice that they’re now writing over 1000 words. Many do more than 5 link pages. As long as they can also add pictures and graphics, you won’t hear many complaints. More on this later too.) Secondly, I usually try to STAR test their reading at least three times a year. That takes the slowest ones at least 25 minutes or more, not counting log-in issues: “You forgot your password again? You misspelled your name. Your CapsLock key is on. Not your student

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Mental Floss

September 5, 2008
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Friday is quiz/test day. That means mental floss. Here’s todays batch of brain teasers… What do reindeer have that no other animals have? A house painter paints numbers on all the new houses in a neighborhood from 1-100. How many times does he have to paint the digit 9? (Not a trick. I’m just betting you can’t count.) It takes three days to go from A to B, but it takes four days to go from B to A. Why? A man is holding a bucket of water (not ice) with no lid. He turns the bucket upside down, but the bucket remains full of water. How come? He is not spinning the bucket, nor is he in space. Which doesn’t fit. Seven, Button, Which, Battery, Run, This, Bounce, Is, or That? A pen and a bottle of ink cost $1.10. The pen costs exactly $1.00 more than the ink. What does each cost? (Not a trick. I know some of you have math issues.) If’n you want the answers, you have to go to Brainscramble.com and send me an e-mail.

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“It’s all about the love, then.”

September 3, 2008
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Already missed a day. Dang. Tuesday was big day. I introduced KBAR and our first Show not Tell assignment. First KBAR. You can read the KBAR page for yourself, but during the first part of the year, while we are reading The Outsiders aloud in class, I try to use my mutation of our school-wide independent reading program to show them how to read and respond to literature. So as we read live in class, I can demo what they should be doing at home with their books. Show not Tell is one of me fave ways of getting 7th graders to think writing can be fun…and of getting their writing to be a whole lot less boring to read. After all, I gotta read 140 of whatever, and if they’re not interesting, it’s going to be a slog. More on both of these later, but I just have to tell about this one before I forget. I think I already have a fave class this year. I know you’re not supposed to pick faves, but…some classes are just more…fun(ny). Today, reading The Outsiders, we were getting to the end of chapter one, and I’m asking them why they think

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Random Featured Post

You Gotta Have a Shtick (or a stick).

One of the things I like to say about teaching junior high is down at the bottom of this page in the footer. You’re too lazy to scroll, aren’t you? Fine. “Five shows a day, 180 days a year.” And there aren’t many crowds tougher than 7th graders. “This is boring.” The worst of all sins. Most of us who teach junior high have a shtick. A role we play, some isms we like to use again and again. Idiosyncrasies we play up for entertainment/attention value (oh the sharing I get when we talk about that word idiosyncrasy during “Monsters are Due on Maple Street“). The key is to make the shtick such a natural part of the classroom routine, that it doesn’t distract too much. Well, sometimes we need the distraction. There’s the Raffle King. There’s the Timer. There are the clickers. The Cage. Mental Floss. Nutty videos. MYOB. All of these are stalwart features of my classroom shtick. And as of a few years ago, there’s also the Quiet Stick. (four or five years ago – me visiting another teacher’s classroom before school) “Leenie! What the shiggy are you doing? Where’d you get this, and WHY ARE YOU [...]

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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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