Tips – Teaching The Outsiders (and more)

Student Aides, Tips

Make the Kids do the Work. (Tips III)

mrC

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 […]

cartoons, CPS, RaffleKing, Teaching

Cartoon Fun II.

mrC

A “typical” period in Mr. Coward’s class in “pictures” Part II. After they have completed the warm up, we go over it. I use my wireless slate to circle the correct answers on the screen and write hints. I can also flip the pen over, and use the built-in laser pointer to emphasize (or annoy). […]

cartoons, CPS, Follow up, Teaching

Cartoon Fun! (Also: The Popple)

mrC

This cartooning for a living is hard work. I only have four (well really only three) panels done, and I’m already exhausted. Maybe it’s just Christmas. Anyway, here is Part One (minutes 1-6) of a typical day in Mr. Coward’s class, doodle stylie: As the kids come in, they know to take out their notebooks […]

Keeping Up, Teaching, Tips

Mailbag I: The Paper Load

mrC

My seventh grade web site has been up since 1997, and I have received quite a few e-mails over the years. Many people have questions. I try to answer all the questions (and I really appreciate the kind words), but I’m sometime sort of lame about returning e-mails (I don’t answer the phone much either […]

CPS, Monsters on Maple Street, RaffleKing, Teaching, The Giver

“-isms” (Also: mucous)

mrC

All this sleeping in this week is making me a little laggy… When we were talking about idiosyncrasies and -isms the other day, one of the kids brought up the fact that I have a lot of “Mr. Coward-isms.” Point well taken. Examples follow. (Some of them already have their own entries.) 1. MYOB – […]

CPS, Teaching, testing

“It works!”

mrC

Today’s test was the second go-round with the new “70% or SSI” rule. I had about 35 not make the cut last time, and I’ve still been wrastlin’ with how best to use the 10 minutes I have them for each day. Originally, the plan was to keep them all in at break for a […]

Teaching, Tips

Mix It Up (but not too much).

mrC

No school today. Or tomorrow. A 4-day weekend for Veterans’ Day? Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Weekends mean sleeping in; 9 am instead of 5, and I’ll take two extra days of that any time. It’s a good time for another (irregular) installment of tips for middle school teachers. (Here’s a link to the […]

homework, open mouth quizzes, Teaching, testing

Guinea Pigs

mrC

I guess the term these days would be lab rats. Maybe Guinea pigs were too cute. Seventh graders make for good experimental subjects too. Kids think we do the exact same thing every year. And being seventh graders, they are of several minds. They think that would make things so easy for us (which is […]

Presenting the Book, Quiet Stick, Random Featured Post, Seventh Grade Behavior

You Gotta Have a Shtick (or a stick).

mrC

One of the things I like to say about teaching junior high is down at the bottom of this page in the footer. You’re too lazy to scroll, aren’t you? Fine. “Five shows a day, 180 days a year.” And there aren’t many crowds tougher than 7th graders. “This is boring.” The worst of all […]

Moodle, Other activities, Outside links

Moodle Time.

mrC

I usually spend about 8-10 days each year in the computer lab. First, I like to do at least one on-line type project. Most years lately, it’s usually the Langston Hughes WebTrack (through TrackStar, a beauty service I should probably talk about later). And until last year, I usually also got in wikis or a […]

Presenting the Book, Seventh Grade Behavior, The Outsiders

I hate “make-up” work requests. Also, silence.

mrC

I was going to talk about the absolute silence that reigned when I turned them loose to read silently today. OK I will anyway, then I’ll rant about make-up work requests. I told them today I was going to read aloud up to the bottom of page 146, and then they were going to read […]

Seventh Grade Behavior, Stories of Seventh Grade

The Bubble

mrC

There is a lot of hugging in junior high. The school handbook says: “Refrain from showing affection physically while at school. Holding hands is permitted, while hugging and kissing are not.” But, as with a lot of things in junior high, there isn’t much enforcement. Most of the time it doesn’t bother me… but when […]

Seventh Grade Behavior, substituting

Only in Middle School… (Also, Subbing.)

mrC

Before I started student teaching, I “knew” I wanted to teach high school. I figured I ‘d have classes of juniors writing witty recreations of “The Nose” By Gogol, and other suchlike fantasies we only see in movies starring Robin Williams. My part-time student teaching (1988, I think) at a junior high (Legit! They were […]

Stories of Seventh Grade

Timer

mrC

Holding an even more hallowed place in my classroom than the Raffle King, is The Timer. “How much time do you think you need for the warm up? Six questions, five you have to copy… six minutes?” “Seven.” “Five.” In my class, almost every activity, except the reading/discussion, is timed. In the upper corner of […]

Tips

Be the Alpha… (and other tips for middle school teachers.)

mrC

First in an occasional “series” of tips for teachers of junior high – sorry, middle school. Because we all know that middle school is different. From almost anything. 1. Be the Alpha. Middle schoolers in groups are, in many ways, like dogs in a pack; they are always looking for the Alpha, and there’s chaos […]