Writing – Teaching The Outsiders (and more)

Maus, Stories of Seventh Grade, Writing

Ouch Indeed

mrC

This is a flashback to last spring. I had intended to post this right after it happened, but you know how things can get a little hectic in junior high in the spring. I was an astronaut for awhile there. But I remembered this one yesterday while I was telling the family the cereal killer story. […]

blogging, Writing

Blog It Baby! (Proud to be a “Thief”)

mrC

OK, I stole this one. But as all of you know, in this profession, good thieves are almost as valuable as innovators. In fact, I would posit (you see how I just dropped that one in there, getting all debatey on you?) that the thieves are the ones who really spread the good ideas to the […]

grades, Writing

Que Milagro! No Five Finger Discounts on Red Pens!

mrC

Yesterday something happened that has never happened even once in my 20 years here. I knew these kids were nicer than usual. When we correct shtuff in class, whether it’s trade-and-grade or grade-your-own, I almost always hand out red pens. They are paid for by our department. Even if kids are holding their own, I […]

Rerun, Writing

Writing is Easy!

mrC

The wife just sent me a link to a very boss article in The Atlantic about teaching writing in secondary schools. It talks about how all that write-about-yourself and express-yourself and peer-editing (gawd!) shtuff assumed that by just writing and enjoying writing and talking to each other about writing, kids would somehow just “catch” the mechanical […]

Book List, Special Ed, Writing

Rants and Raves

mrC

I have been illin’ on and off (mostly on) for over a week. I have attended an exquisitely useless meeting, forced to grind my molars to powder in order not to make enemies of an entire department, the kids are on glue, and Modern Family was a rerun after I stayed up to watch all […]

Outside links, Seventh Grade Behavior, Writing

Failure Story

mrC

Usually I like to highlight my many and various triumphs in the classroom, and offer tips for the unwashed masses; you know, success stories. 😉 Let’s call this one a failure story. They say that in science, a failed experiment will teach you as much as one that succeeds, maybe more. Hmmm. Let’s hope so. […]

Follow up, Seventh Grade Behavior, Writing

Be-er?

mrC

I’m going to try to tie together a couple of loose ends here. A couple of weeks ago (see how laggy I’m getting?) I was showing how long it takes me to actually finish some of these posts (haha, ironic), and I was telling the story of teaching the vocabulary word brusque. Let us resume […]

Writing

“Can I use the?”

mrC

OK, I am officially buried. Behind. Lagging. Flaking? Behind the eight ball? Freaking out? Well maybe things aren’t that bad. I still have (a little) time for my homies here at this blog. I’m finally giving back shtuff my eighth graders gave me on February 9. Hello, my name is mrC, and I am a […]

Tips, Writing

“My brain hurts!”

mrC

One of my favorite things about teaching junior high is blowing their minds. One of my fave parts of the week is Fridays before the test, when we do Mental Floss. Middle schoolers: they can’t hit the curveball. Like this: “When the day after tomorrow is yesterday, this day will be as far from Friday […]

Me, Writing

Sox and Brewskis (The Writing Process I)

mrC

My long posting drought has reminded me of another classic seventh grade three-word phrase. They always use it when they come back from an absence. “Didja miss me?” “You were gone? THAT’S why it was so quiet and peaceful yesterday.” OK, so. Today’s “long-awaited” entry will offer a glimpse into the “writing process” for this […]

8th grade, Mailbag, Writing

Mailbag: Writing.

mrC

We had today off for some reason. All hail Columbus the Conqueror! I was camping down at beautiful Refugio State Beach. 85 and postcard perfect, right down to the dolphins frolicking 50 yards from the beach. Anyway I’m back, and one of our loyal readers needs a bit of collaboration. I don’t know how many […]

fruitbooting, Snow, vacation, Video, Writing

Maybe I could get used to this. Maybe.

mrC

I voted against the two-week spring break schedule. The union put it to a vote last year, and the two-week break won out 51-49%. I liked starting later in the fall, and spring around these parts is pretty windy, while fall is postcard weather. And it puts a big Christmas-like hole in the middle of […]

Langston Hughes, poetry, Seventh Grade Behavior, student work, Writing

Easy…yet not. (“A Page” Part Two)

mrC

“This will be both the easiest and the hardest writing assignment of the year.” “I’m confused.” OMG…If there’s a motto for this year’s crew, that’s it. When last we met, my kids and I were reading Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B,” and I was assigning them the same task that introduces the poem. “OK. Let’s look […]

Langston Hughes, poetry, web-quest, Writing

“Go home and write a page tonight…” (Part One)

mrC

(I can’t believe I didn’t talk about this one last year. This is one of my fave writing assignments. Though the range of quality is all over the map, even the “not so good” ones are usually entertaining to read. Anyway…) “Hi, my name is mrC, and I’m an English teacher who doesn’t especially like […]

Seventh Grade Behavior, Writing

600 Words a Week? Easy. (Part II)

mrC

Almost a week since the last post. So much for New Year’s resolutions… Last time we met, I was introducing the kids to the idea of writing 600 words/week of “whatever.” They were at the first stage of seventh grade grief/learning; unable to cope-ness. (Aside: Another teacher at my school, made semi-famous here for her […]