It’s 5:35 on Tuesday night. I am in a room of pre-service English teachers — some a semester from student teaching, some two. The class is the teaching of English: methods. I start class with a mid-term Google survey. I ask students to take a …
Nurturing the Being and Becoming of a Reading Life
On September 30th, Kylene Beers posted a memo to teachers on Facebook with advice on how we can talk to administrators about the value of independent reading programs. She includes three research articles that teachers could share with principals. Then, she goes on to say …
Student-Led Text-Based Discussions
Silence. Seven seventh grade readers are sitting together at the center of the classroom revisiting the scene in The Outsiders where the greasers are getting ready for the rumble. It’s their first fishbowl, and they are the fishes. As the fishes reread and formulate their responses, twenty-two …
Writing Assessment is a Personal Process
“Hi, how are you?” I ask as a student takes a seat beside me. “Fine. You?” he says averting my eyes and looking at his biography narrative lit brightly on my computer screen. We’re sitting in a dark corner of the classroom to discuss the …
Conversations Made Possible: Classism
“Why are the socs so mean to the greasers?” one student asks. We just finished chapter two of The Outsiders. This is the required whole-class text for seventh grade at our school. We listened to chapter one together to hear the southern voice of Ponyboy, to listen …
Small Group Discussions and Self-Assessment
I try to keep Fridays a low-tech, relaxed, community day in our class. In reading, that means time to get into groups to discuss books. It’s our third week together, and I want to know how students think, talk, and behave in small groups. I …
Do you really read a book a day?
Why do I read a book a day? I didn’t become a teacher because I played school as a kid though there were enough kids in our home growing up to do so (eleven of us). I didn’t want to be in charge of anything, …
A Conversation about Characterization (without Worksheets or Slides)
“And that’s our ‘Read for 15.’ Find a good place to stop and mark your page with a sticky. Make any notes you need to help you pick it up at home,” I say in a low voice, hesitating to interrupt their reading because it’s …
Flipping the Classroom, Flipping the Mindset
Nameplates help teachers learn the names of students efficiently. Lesley Roessing posted an enhanced version of the nameplate strategy on Ethical ELA last year, which incorporated interest-imagery and art (see example on the right). This year, I opted for flipping the nameplate activity in order to …
An Announcement of Change and Changing
Take a good look at this pic. Your eyes do not deceive you. Indeed, that round red tag says “I’m a stroller strap” (and in French, too). But don’t get too excited, I will not be buying a stroller anytime soon. It’s just that, as …