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“How cute. Like hobos…” (Also: Hank Williams.)

September 17, 2008

Wednesday. Vocabulary Pretest. Talk of facades and irony. Both figure large in The Outsiders. More on that later. Today I have more insight from my friendly class. We’re reading chapter 4 (the death of Bob, Dally helping with the getaway, jumping the train out of town), and we get to where Dally is telling Pony and Johnny to “hop the 3:15 freight to Windrixville.” We pause and talk about how it’s only been less than 36 hours (book time) since the beginning. They find it hard to believe until we start to do the timeline. Figure that Pony gets out of the movie in the late afternoon, and gets jumped and saved. Pony and Johnny and Dally go to the Nightly Double the next night, and it’s now 3:15am that same night. Then I make sure they know that a freight is a train. And one girl says, “How cute. Like hobos…” Hobos maybe. Cute? Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used to Do? When the boys run to find Dally at Buck Merrill’s house, Pony offers a brief description of Buck that ends with, “…he was out of it. He dug

Quizzes for Dummies?

September 12, 2008

By mrC

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.

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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mrC commented on State Testing–Tips for Teachers… Interrupted@ Heather - Ouch. 'nuff said.

mrC commented on State Testing…and etc.@ Kelli - Texas. 'nuff said. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Heather commented on State Testing–Tips for Teachers… InterruptedRequired. Every department does one, usually the released test from the previous year, so by the time the school year is over the students have actually taken 8 standardized tests.

Mrs. M~ commented on State Testing…and etc.Standardized testing is one of the banes of my existence as a teacher. We each give our own subject's state test during our class time, so by the time we are done with all subject areas, the kids have been testing for about three weeks straight. (But we all prefer this method--we have

Kelli commented on State Testing…and etc.In Texas, 5th and 8th graders can be held back if they fail their state tests... this year, however, we have a fancy NEW test, so they've given us a reprieve on that requirement for this year. (Oddly, the new test looked just like the old test, but with a different logo on the

Meg commented on State Testing…and etc.I will say that testing is a great time to get caught up and lesson planning done. AMEN! We do SAT 10 at our school for K-8th and it's a nightmare. Especially since the Social Studies part is about 1/3 US history, and we're an international school in China that doesn't teach US history

mrC commented on State Testing–Tips for Teachers… InterruptedI'll bet if you were at the high school, you'd hear kids joking about that acronym, especially AFTER scores were released. Did you just say that your practice tests are required. Ouch. Good call with the change in plan.

mrC commented on State Testing — Tips for Teachers IICali tests spelling like I do: pick the wrong one or say they're all correct. Your approach is fine. I use spelling lists as a way to talk about roots and origins and use analogies. The actual spelling of the words is sort of secondary, and a small part of the grade.

Heather commented on State Testing — Tips for Teachers IIFor the spelling section of the California tests, do students have to provide the spelling from scratch or choose the best spelling from a list? Our spelling questions are multiple choice and there are usually only a few; I spend a little class time on spelling rules, make sure they know how Spanish letters

Heather commented on State Testing–Tips for Teachers… InterruptedSOL = Standards of Learning. Clearly, the department of education did not think the acronym through. For high schoolers, the "real" meaning of the acronym is appropriate - they have to pass, I believe, 6 of the tests to graduate. Totally with you on this post topic - I worry that the required practice

mrC commented on The Titanic Finally Really Sinks! (Also: Sidekicks.)@Mrs. M- I had forgotten all about those. I just spewtubed them...hahaha. Luv it!

mrC commented on The Titanic Finally Really Sinks! (Also: Sidekicks.)@Anna- Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Mrs. M~ commented on The Titanic Finally Really Sinks! (Also: Sidekicks.)Those "psychic mediums" would be great to research, right?

That reminds me of those great SNL skits about the Sofa King. You know, how the prices are "Sofa King" low, the deals are "Sofa King" great, etc. (You obviously have to say those phrases out loud to get the joke.)

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“How cute. Like hobos…” (Also: Hank Williams.)

Quizzes for Dummies?