Stories of Seventh Grade

CSI?

May 17, 2010
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Every year, I threaten to stop putting myself through this. As I have said before, let social studies or someone else teach the research paper. Let someone else slog through in-text citations. (“What? After every fact? There’s gonna be a ton of them.” Yes, I know.) Let someone else read another encyclopedia paper about the “History of…” Let someone else nitpick over the latest MLA format for the works cited list. Because, you know what? I don’t really care. My thing is to try to get them to stop with the old putting it your own words thing, and to stop relying on one source so much. I want them to know how to take notes on what they read, and be able to explain what they’ve learned to someone else, coherently,  in writing. My French teacher back in high school used to say that if you can’t explain it to someone else then you don’t really know it. I tend to agree. The kids can’t cope when I say this. (Aside: Yes, I took French in high school…only because it was the only language, besides English and Gaelic, our nuns back at St. Mel’s knew. So our foreign language

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Whatever it is…it ain’t working.

May 12, 2010
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Prologue: “Nancy” (she of fraternal twin fame) announced yesterday, “They changed my medicine, and I’m supposed to be able to pay attention better now.” Let’s see how that goes. Here on Earth. That dreaded time of year is at hand: Research. We’re going into the library next week, and we’re trying to get topics dialed in. I make them put their topic in the form of a question, and then their thesis is their prediction for the answer to that question.  I’m trying to eliminate the dreaded “all about” paper: France, Soccer, Hitler, Cheese, Dolphins. Anyway, we were going over the first handout today. It’s the one with all the technical requirements and length  and suchlike. It’s the only part anyone (especially parents) thinks is important. How long does it have to be? What size font? (Do I look like an idiot? Does ANYONE actually believe that the old giant-font-size trick works?) When’s the final draft due? Do we hafta have pictures? And etc. I was at the part in my speech about the old “putting it in my own words” method of research paper writing. “I’m betting that for you guys writing a research paper looks a lot like

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This is what I’m working with this year.

May 6, 2010
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This is what I’m working with this year.

29 mo’ day.  Never has that seemed so far away as this year. Here’s the sort of crowd I’m dealing with… We’ve been practicing with outlining in preparation for (shiver) research projects. More on that later. One of the in-class activities we did involved a brief excerpt (I actually got it from the textbook!) from an article about twins. The excerpt talked about the differences between fraternal and identical twins. I. Identical twins A. One egg splits into 2 B. Identical genes 1. 2 girls 2. 2 boys C. Occur once every 250 births II. Fraternal twins A. 1. 2. 3. B. C. Their job was to fill in the second half of the outline covering the part about fraternal twins. Of course, in seventh grade, nothing is as easy as it sounds. Immediately we veered into, “I knew these twins who…” and etc. Then… “I’m a fraternal twin!” “Yes ‘Nancy.’ I finally realized (only about two months ago!) that your brother is one of the pains in my heinie earlier in the day. I hadn’t realized you were even related you are so different.” Now Nancy is one of those people (in my experience they’re usually girls – sorry)

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Twits

May 4, 2010
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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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I Got Nothin’

March 27, 2010
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After almost 20 years of doing this job, I’d like to think I sort of know my way around the junior high psyche. Plus I remember 7th  and 8th grade like they were yesterday, and some might still accuse me of being a seventh grader yet. But every now and then…well, I got nothin’. Sometimes I have no idea what is going on in their heads. It’s actually one of the fun things about this kind of work. Last week we were again slogging through prepositional phrases. I was going around checking their pink sheet homework. The pink sheets are about the only thing I use from the vast array of materials provided with our hefty literature anthologies. They are basic grammar and punctuation worksheets, and after we go over them in class, we use clickers for other exercises, and watch some grammar rock and such. This week’s sheet on prep phrases had a section on placing them near the words they are modifying. You veterans know from the old misplaced modifiers and “dangling participles.” (“Don’t let your participle dangle” is right up there with “Don’t let your meat loaf.”) You know like, Johnny mailed a letter to his gramma

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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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Recent Comments

  • Meg commented on Rants and RavesI have the same problem with no name papers and it drives me nuts!!! Trust me, if there is someone out there with a good solution let me in on the secret as well.
  • 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

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