An archived stack of papers: 'Reading'
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
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
What’s Working?
In a stack of papers called Reading.
- Mar
- 17
- 2010
Every Tuesday and Thursday are read days. Students bring in their outside reading book and we read for a spell. It was ten minutes at first. In English 3, we’ve stepped that up slowly to twenty minutes and they are doing fine. We’re about ready to bump up to twenty-five minutes, actually. In English 2, we’re anywhere from... read more
Ten Minutes
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Sep
- 26
- 2009
I feel like I’m going to be able to breathe again so writing more often will come after that. We all have our struggles. I have a bunch of ideas to share and am starting to lose track of where to start. Here’s my first contribution to your school year that’s already well underway, but maybe you still have time to implement this. Consider doing it in October.
Students read for... read more
What I Won’t Do This Year
In a stack of papers called Reform.
- Aug
- 15
- 2009
Collect writing and then ignore it for a month. Expect study questions answered every night. Give daily reading check quizzes worth tons of points. Skip grading blogs on a Saturday morning. Wait until April to institute a classroom after-school writing lab. Circle every single grammatical error on a given page. Assign just one piece of writing that involves student conferencing and that happens to be... read more
B&N Studio
In a stack of papers called Reading.
- Oct
- 23
- 2008
Why wasn’t I informed that Barnes & Noble started to put together cool videos about books? Given that my English 3 class is all about Why Read? right now, it would be a shame if I didn’t show at least one video.
Reading from ... 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
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
Explosions In Word Clouds
In a stack of papers called Reading.
- Jul
- 04
- 2008
Glancing at the design blogs today, SimpleBits brought me two things. I’ll discuss the other one later.
Be Saul Bass!
Wordle creates word clouds from any text you... read more
2007 In Review
In a stack of papers called Personal.
- Jan
- 12
- 2008
I spend a lot of time on teaching. From grading papers to puzzling out tomorrow’s lesson to just being at work, there’s not a lot of free time in my day. But there is some. How do I spend that time? And what do I have to show for 2007? When not standing in front of a group of students, I’m reading, writing, running, or watching.
Table Of Contents
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