An archived stack of papers: 'Instruction'
3 On Txtng
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- May
- 13
- 2008
Students feeling a little disconnected? Find it hard to get them reading? I have just the thing. There are three rounds to this conversation and it all leads up to some in-class writing. I’ve spread this out across a few days. We began on Friday, continued Monday, will pick it back up on Wednesday, and complete the writing on Thursday. Each day was twenty to thirty minutes, allowing time for us to... read more
Been Up To: Quick Version
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- May
- 10
- 2008
More details about all of this to come, but I’ve been really busy with work the last few months and want to at least get the beginning of this idea in front of your eyes. I feel like I’ve been cooking something up for the longest time with nothing to show for it along the way. Here’s a peek.
ROI
The biggest return on investment of my time has come from a very simple... read more
Can I Get An Interpreter?
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Apr
- 12
- 2008
Instead of watching cooking and home improvement shows on PBS, I’m off to the district office. Several other department chairs and I will be working together until early afternoon. We’re creating curriculum maps, laying out all the standards that need to be covered at each grade period in English 1 and 2. I’m sure I’ll be the first to ask what skills those standards translate to... read more
The Importance Of Clarity
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Dec
- 31
- 2007
Something about an easy message, this video stuck out to me. The rest of The IT Crowd is hilarious and worth watching, from what little I’ve seen, but this piece should be in all the teacher ed schools. Imagine if something simple like 911 (or the even simpler 999 in England, apparently) changed to something difficult:... read more
Abstract Art And English
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Dec
- 03
- 2007
On Friday, I collected a piece of writing (another paragraph) based on “Young Goodman Brown” (Word) (PDF), the short story we just read. In an effort to turn my... read more
Lil Wayne Or Snoop Dogg
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Dec
- 01
- 2007
What do you do when you start thinking that your subject is worthless? “You know, maybe the students are right. Maybe this is all completely irrelevant to their lives.” What do you do when you look at your content standards and think, “why would the average person need to know any of this?” What happens when you decide that what you are doing in class is not going to prepare... read more
Visual Essay: Sharing
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Nov
- 30
- 2007
With the Visual Essay (VE), the images need to communicate the bulk of the message because words can’t. That’s not to say that words don’t play their role, but images make up the difference between the words and the meaning. The visuals should help students come to terms with what our two authors (Ralph Waldo Emerson and Harold Bloom) mean. The VEs will serve as a resource to help... read more
A History Of Cheating
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Nov
- 18
- 2007
A student transfered to my school recently because he was kicked out of another school in my district. Legal issues come into play here so there’s a lot I don’t know. I do, however, know that computer... read more
Visual Essay: Classroom Application
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Nov
- 15
- 2007
Before we arrived at the visual essay, we read a few texts and talked about ideas. We gathered quotations, listened to music, I drew pictures, it was a great time. Here’s what we did:
The Handouts
Emerson: from “The American Scholar” (Word) (... read more
Visual Essay: Sneak Peek
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Nov
- 14
- 2007
All of these grow every day. What I’m showing you is just where several groups are so far. Last Thursday was an introduction to the Visual Essay assignment (teaser #1). Friday was mostly used for planning and groups getting their feet wet with the resources for this thing (teaser #2). Mad props to Dan for a quick email basically saying “Yeah, this looks... read more