Student Aides

Hank vs. Prince. (Also: “Lean meat?”)

October 1, 2009
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Hank vs. Prince. (Also: “Lean meat?”)

Most of the classes finished the pivotal chapter 4 today. We listened to Hank Williams sing “Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used to Do?” My Hank bobblehead rocked, even headbangin’ a little. Most of the kids squirmed and looked at each other nervously. “Pony feels the same way.” I did have a few cowgirls confess to me on the way out the door that they liked it. Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used to Do? Hank gets mentioned three times in chapter 4. In Pony’s description of Buck Merrill, he says that Buck is “out of it…He dug Hank Williams. How gross can you get?” Then Dally adds a few choice adjectives after “Hank Williams.” That always draws a laugh, now that most of them know what an adjective is. And then Pony says that the farmer he asks for directions from sounds “as corn-poney as Hank Williams.” One of the questions on tomorrow’s test is: The early death of Hank Williams was a great loss to the music world.  a) True  b) False They had better get it right. We also rocked out to some Prince. One of

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“…more than I can chew.”

September 24, 2009
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“…more than I can chew.”

I’ve already said something about how silent my two student assistants are. But a couple of days ago… Interruption: I’ve had a few people contact me, very surprised and dare I say, jealous, that I have any student aide at all, let alone two, in these troubled times. Let me just say again that my hand-picked student aides are my ace in the hole, as they say. And I’m sorry you can’t have one. Back to the story. This year I have a mixed pair of aides, boy and girl. Since they’ll probably turn up in future posts, let’s give them pseudonyms right now. How about Chris and Tracy, after the two Partridge Family members who never got any lines. Anyway, during my prep period, once they get their instructions and start working, if I don’t initiate a conversation, we could almost go the whole 54 minutes without a word being said except, “I’m done.” This is a new thing for me. Usually I have the opposite problem. I once even had to “fire” an aide for jabbering too much; (s)he wasn’t getting anything done. Not to mention the fact that I couldn’t get anything done either. Last year, my

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Make the Kids do the Work. (Tips III)

May 11, 2009
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We’re in the library now, just starting the actual looking-for-sources-this-library-doesn’t-have-anything-on-my-topic-now-the-librarian-has-an-agenda-too-with-a-bunch-of-lessons-and-what?-homework-and-no-you-can’t-search-Google-here-you-can-do-that-at-home-I don’t-know-what-notes-to-take-I-left-all-my-sources-at-home-did-the-librarian-just-have-to-give-one-of-my-”children”-a-timeout?-OMG-I’d-rather-be-teaching-than-this-whole-”coaching” process. Well. I think you get the idea; it’s a little draining. So I’m going with another installment of the (not so) regular feature, Tips for New Middle School Teachers. (Here’s round 1, and here’s round 2; wow, it’s been since November since I ran this “feature”?) 1. Vocabulary is EVERYTHING. I tell the kids all the time, “If you don’t know the words, you can’t think the thoughts.” We do a vocabulary list every week, that comes from whatever we are reading at the time, but we also have a lot of vocabulary in disguise. Academic words, spelling and roots, slang and dialect. Grammar. It’s all about the vocabulary. They can’t write if they don’t know the words. They can’t understand what they’re reading if they don’t know the words. They can’t do the job (any job) if they don’t know the words.  The comma fanatics and don’t-begin-a-sentence-with-a-coordinating-conjunction people can take a hike, so to speak. It’s all about the vocabulary. 2. Make the kids do the work. I swear, next to the phrase, “as lazy as the day is long,” my second most used comment at Open

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Random Featured Post

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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  • 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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