Yesssssss, as the kids say when we’re checking a quiz or something, and they get a few in a row correct. If they’re on a streak as we go over it, it’ll be… “Number seven… D – savvy, the opposite of naive.” “Yesssssss.” “Number eight… E – none of the above.” “Yessssssssss.” It gets longer each time. “Number nine… there there… let me help you with that… C – patronize.” “Yesssssssssssss.” “You sound like you’re leaking air. Puh-leeze.” “Number ten… C – aghas–” “Nooooo!” “I mean E – none of the above. ” “Yessssssssssssssssssssss.” “Would you just stop it? Now?!” “Yesssss.” But anyway… Yesssssssss! The intervention was a success. Thanks for the update Mr. M. We are all glad to hear that your colleague has seen the light, and if she actually reads Readicide and gets it, we might see some real change. Just think how many kids we saved. (Do the math.) And I guess great minds think alike; I was just going to start blogging my way through Nurture Shock . I’m going camping this weekend, and we have a Survivor, Modern Family, Psych triple shot of tv love tonight that is like a long-awaited fix for a tv junkie
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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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I was working on a post about a book every teacher should read. It’s called Nurture Shock, and I will finish the post about it later. We have a bigger issue to deal with here right now. Over yonder in the comments sections, Mr. M appears to have a rather pesky coworker, and he’s also looking for a little help in the independent reading program department. First of all… O. M. G. I can see why you have “disagreements” with this person. She is obviously insane. She should seek out a mental health professional at once. A 140 page per week quota? What is this, a sweatshop? Do the kids earn piecework for every book and notecard they churn out? Your word exorbitant is not even sufficient to describe this. What does she do with the notecards? How does she prevent lying–both parental and student? (That book I mentioned says that 97% of adolescents lie to their parents about 3/4 of their real life activities.) Is it tied to what she does in class, or is it there just because she’s supposed to have an independent reading program, and of course “mine has to be ‘rigorous’ because I don’t want
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Whoa baby, this is fun. The comments area has had a bit of controversy about my thing for reading Outsiders (or anything we read in class) aloud to my seventh graders. We got people saying they don’t like to be read to, we got people saying the book is predictable and Ponyboy annoying, and that as far as I can tell, they find being read aloud to beneath them. OK. It’s only really two people and me. But still, it gives me an opportunity to climb back up on my soapbox. (When will that metaphor go away? Answer: When people like me stop using it because we’re tired of explaining it to the young ‘uns.) I guess it’s all in the delivery. I Googled “reading aloud research middle school” just now. (Here’s another one of my Asides: I swear I invented that word. Google as verb that is. I have proof…well, sort of: Hi Mr. Coward! I was in your 7th grade English class around the year 2000 or 2001 and now I’m about to graduate college. My little sister is now a student at Laguna and I told her that you were a great teacher and that you showed
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Woo Hoo! The first week is in the books. You gotta love those three day weeks. First week shtuff: I’m a bit worried. I herded them into the computer lab for the STAR reading test today. (Aside: It’s from the same people who make Accelerated Reader. We still have the old version, not the web-based Renaissance Learning version. We’ll have to go to that next year as we migrate to Windows 7, but for now it’s refreshingly old-school. You don’t even get to use your mouse. ) And the bottom line is that I have more kids reading at a 4-5th grade level or less than ever before. But I also have almost as many kids reading at a “12+” level. So while my mean is about 7-8, the reality is that “teaching to the middle” just ain’t gonna work. I don’t have a whole buncha kids actually at grade level; they’re all way advanced (the few who didn’t get siphoned off to “accelerated”) or well below. D’oh. Also, the boy aced it. I haven’t had a PHS (Post High School) instructional reading level in years. Hard to say at this point if that’s necessarily a great thing. Will he
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First off: Ok, Ok. I’m starting to find my happy place with research. Thank you for the comments and suggestions; I think next year will be better. You guys gave me some good ideas. We’re working on outlines this week, prepping for research. Among other activities, I give them partially completed outlines and word banks to fill them in with. I strategically place a few clues in the outline, and they have to determine the hierarchy of the various entries I provide, and fill in the blanks. Like this (the stats are kinda dated, but it’s a topic near to my heart): Topic: The automobile has become the American Nightmare kills 265,000 and injures millions annually, road rage and reckless driving have increased, better city design to decrease auto dependence, leading source of air pollution, alternatives to the automobile, main means of transportation, too many people dependent on the car, large SUV’s: rollovers and danger to smaller cars, more cars and more roads mean more traffic congestion, average car: 5 tons of carbon dioxide each year, contributes to acid rain and smog, leading cause of death and injury, new dangers with 2 recent developments, public transportation I. Main means of [...]
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