presentations

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 – The Two-Minute Book Report. (Remix)

January 13, 2010
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120 Seconds – The Two-Minute Book Report. (Remix)

This time (and next), it’s not quite a rerun. It’s more of a remix. Yeah, that’s it. Right now we’re in the midst (today was day 2) of our two-minute book reports. I posted about this last year about this time, so I’m going to use that previous post as the starting point, and embellish… I have always hated “book reports.” (Wait, I told my wife I would try to stop using that word.) I didn’t like writing them (took all the fun out of the book), I didn’t like reading them back when I thought I had to assign them. I don’t like the summarize kind, the analyze kind, the combo kind, the form letter kind, or the “make a diorama” kind.  (Well, some of the dioramas I used to get WERE pretty cool; the Lego version of the murder in the graveyard in Tom Sawyer was very detailed and boss, and I still have a shoebox/popcicle stick Tom Sawyer whitewashing scene from 1995, a matchstick Outsiders hide-out church from 1994, and Tom and Becky lost in a shoe-box cave, complete with bats. But still… If you do like book reports or feel the “need” to assign them , here

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It’s only 120 seconds. (Of terror. Also, more cartoons.)

January 2, 2009
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It’s only 120 seconds. (Of terror. Also, more cartoons.)

I have always hated “book reports.” (Wait, I told my wife I would try to stop using that word.) I didn’t like writing them (took all the fun out of the book), I didn’t like reading them back when I thought I had to assign them. I don’t like the summarize kind, the analyze kind, the combo kind, the form letter kind, or the “make a diorama” kind.  (Well, some of the dioramas I used to get WERE pretty cool; the Lego version of the murder in the graveyard in Tom Sawyer was very detailed and boss, and I still have a shoebox/popcicle stick Tom Sawyer whitewashing scene from 1995. If you like book reports, here are some less boring ideas.)  I figure KBAR takes care of most of my “need” to make them read/respond outside of class, and I certainly don’t need more work to grade. But I do see a large value in having the kids share with each other what they are reading and enjoying. They always need new material to try out. I have always disliked “presentations.” Especially long ones. After 15-20 minutes of whatever riveting presentations are being performed, the rest of the class (including

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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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