An archived stack of papers: 'Writing'
The Conversation
In a stack of papers called Grading.
- Nov
- 11
- 2008
The Conversations started two weeks ago. Not a single student grabbed hold of my offer; no one has met me during break, lunch, or after school to discuss the trouble. A lot of head shaking and shrugs of shoulders, but no plans of action have been drawn up. I can’t have The Conversation during class. But I simply must have The Conversation with just about every student.
“How can I... read more
Preparation
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Oct
- 08
- 2008
We just finished our zombie writing in English 3, so this is the start of another unit. For this one, we’re writing about writing, reading, and thinking. It’s pretty tough for teenagers to spell metacognition, let alone actually perform it. Starting with a discussion of these ideas is smart, but it can’t be a class discussion because there are two sides to teenage opinion on books and... read more
Give A Little Bit
In a stack of papers called Writing.
- Sep
- 26
- 2008
I walk around the room and give one of two lines to struggling writers. We have five minutes to write each day (actually, ten minutes today) and some want to stall the whole time. Staring at the blank page that is even more intimidating than the actual assignment, “I’m thinking” being the excuse du jour for not writing, The Shrug meeting my questioning glance, these are the students... read more
From Rubric To Percentage
In a stack of papers called Grading.
- Sep
- 21
- 2008
How can I take the scores from my assessment on a six-point rubric and turn them into a percentage? 3, 3, 4, 4: that doesn’t convert very well to a score out of one hundred. I have this problem every year, with varying and inconsistent solutions. This time, I’ve set Excel in place to keep my evaluations constant.
... read more
Moving Through Some Changes
In a stack of papers called Reform.
- Sep
- 12
- 2008
I hate doing the same thing every year. It’s boring and implies, “Yup, that was perfect; no need to change that one!” I’m still looking for those lesson plans. There are a few I have that are pretty close to “good,” but “perfect” is a long way off.
Some of these are small but... read more
Encourage Risks
In a stack of papers called Grading.
- Sep
- 06
- 2008
I like the ideas under “Creativity” on the Flickr Assessment Rubric and am thinking of something like this to emphasize risk taking in student writing. This means I’ll need to separate style and content when I assess, not letting errors in one impact the grade of the other, but I think I... read more
Writing Assessment By Numbers?
In a stack of papers called Grading.
- Sep
- 01
- 2008
Having just finished grading a small writing sample from my English 1 Support students (those students who we’ve identified through test scores and grades as in need of a little extra for them to make it through English 1), I figured I’d share how I did this first one and welcome any evaluation of my method.
I struggled with how to grade this. Since this class counts as an elective... read more
Day One
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Aug
- 23
- 2008
Syllabus? On Day One!? Are you nuts??
Seriously, consider ditching that dry bit of talk. Push it off as much as you possibly can. The students only need to know certain things right now and chances are that info isn’t on your syllabus. It can wait until later. For now, you have a stage to set and what you do today will impact the rest of the school year. Not irreversibly, but this is... read more
Could Your Kid Paint That?
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Aug
- 11
- 2008
After I wrote about King of Kong, I went on to watch another documentary that shows equal promise for the classroom. My Kid Could Paint That presents the question of Marla Olmstead as child prodigy. Like all documentaries you ever bring into a classroom should, this shows both sides of the argument, leaving... read more
First-Draft In Video
In a stack of papers called Writing.
- Aug
- 08
- 2008
I’m sure this gentleman is a nice fellow, that he’s got lots of things to tell the world, that he’s incredibly smart, and that he could teach me a thing or nine about how to better use my computer. However, this is the video equivalent of a first-draft essay being turned in as a final draft. As it ends up, that’s great because this does a nice job in making the point about the... read more