An archived stack of papers: 'Instruction'
Was This A Good Or Bad Year?
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Jun
- 04
- 2011
I don’t know where you are in the school year, but we finished a week ago. There are a ton of other things going on in life right now, so I haven’t even started processing how the year went. A big part that I certainly did not like about this past year is that I rarely reflected on classroom experiences here, on this blog. That could be a strong reason why my first impression of this past... read more
Next Steps
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Feb
- 03
- 2011
So I told my students today all those things I’m feeling that I wrote about yesterday: that feeling of “ugh” and how I don’t like the way things are progressing. I read a passage from Fahrenheit 451 to my English 2 today wherein Montag gives an impassioned plea to his wife that she needs to feel... read more
The Feeling Of “Ugh”
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Feb
- 02
- 2011
The feeling of “Ugh.” You know the feeling. The feeling that you get when plans do not pan out. The feeling of “it’s too late to change now!” The feeling that things were not supposed to go this way. The feeling that reality does not match the vision. The feeling of not being entirely sure why. Are those the feelings of an average day for you, too?
In both of my... read more
Not Just For Presentations
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Jan
- 31
- 2011
Wait, wait, wait… Why didn’t anyone tell me that I can use PowerPoint simply to present a writing prompt? Daily agendas in PowerPoint? Sure, why not? I feel like such a huge idiot since it’s nearly a decade and a half into my career and I only now started to think of PowerPoint for this. Here’s the run down:
What I Used To Do
Type the question into Word. Now make... read more
Deflating The Grade
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Jan
- 06
- 2011
The semester is over for us and I’m thinking about last semester, strangely simultaneously too much and not enough. The thing that got me thinking was the general decline in the number of Fs earned this semester. I’m usually right around a twnety-five percent F rate and this year it’s at about fifteen percent. When I looked at what I did differently to try and account for that change,... read more
The (First Semester) End Is Nigh
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Nov
- 22
- 2010
We have about fourteen school days left and I am drowning. I’ve got two sets of essays from my three sections of English 3. We are only about a quarter of the way into Lord of the Flies in English 2 and I have to move at breakneck speed to make it through before the day of the final. My Read Journals are backed up to two weeks ago. Vocabulary has not been as prominent as it should be. We... read more
New For 2010: Timing
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Sep
- 27
- 2010
We’re going with a lot of two weeks on, one week off pacing this year. Of course, it’s not that we take a week off and watch movies or anything. It’s all about having time to play around with and review what we’ve spent the previous few weeks working on. We’re moving a touch slower, but I feel more focused in my instruction and assessment. I apply this timing to vocabulary... read more
New For 2010: Theme
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Sep
- 18
- 2010
It’s something I’ve always heard about but never tried. Ideas have popped into my head about it over the years and it’s never seemed like a good time to make them happen. This year, though, I’ve started. I’m going through both English 2 and English 3 thematically. I’m sure that sometimes we’ll fall out of that theme. That could even be a healthy thing. But for... read more
Routines
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Jul
- 21
- 2010
What happened? Why is summer almost over already? How come I haven’t started thinking about what new things to put in place?
Maybe you have some ideas to share with me about what you do with reading and writing in the class everyday. What do you do to create reading routines in class? What about setting up writing routines? How do you put things in place that make strong reading and writing... read more
TTTC: Focus
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Jun
- 22
- 2010
This would have been more successful if it wasn’t the final unit and piece of writing of the year. That brings with it a certain degree of scattered students and work, no matter how well planned you are. I decided we’d finish off the year with The Things They Carried, something that seems to appeal to a fairly wide audience. I’m thinking of starting with this novel next year.... read more