Funny Teacher Story: Call Me Dan

 

This happened to me after I'd been teaching about 10 or 11 years, so I really should have known better. 

At the beginning of school each year, one of the things I always asked my students is what name they preferred to be called. Now, I refused any ridiculous nicknames like "Bowtie" and "Spaghetti-o," but there were often kids who went by shortened versions of their names (Bill instead of William) or their middle names, or even initials.

I was going around the room in my advanced 9th grade English class asking what name they wanted me to call them, and this one boy tells me to call him "Dan." Well, his name was Peter James, so I thought...that's weird. Just to check, I looked around the room. No one was smirking or grinning or laughing. I asked them, just to make sure. They nodded. "Yes, that's what we call him," one girl told me. "It's a family name." Okay. Not impossible. My brother's nickname is Jordy but his given name is Jonathan Reginald S. III.

All year, I called him Dan. He always answered. No one laughed. For the next three years, whenever I saw him in the hall, I called him Dan. He always responded politely. I did hear other teachers call him Peter occasionally, but that always happens when students go by nicknames or middle names. Some teachers just refuse to call them anything but their first name. Or they don't bother to ask. (I think you can see where this is going.)

A couple of years after he had graduated, I saw him in a local grocery store and walked up to him to speak. I greeted him as Dan. He grimaced, shook his head, and told me, "You know, that was just a joke for the first day of school. No one else ever calls me Dan."

No shit. 

New Year's Goals-for Students

 

Looking for a great way to ease your students back into the swing of things after Christmas break? Here is a quick and fun activity to help them start thinking about the new year and to set up some attainable goals (some educational, some not) so they can finish off strong. You can find it here as a freebie in my TPT store.

Favorite Books to Teach: Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin

When my advanced ninth grade students came to me, their knowledge of Greek mythology was sketchy. Some knew a lot. Some knew a little. Some knew nothing. I didn't have time to teach the entire pantheon, but I needed them to have background in Greek mythology for several reasons. So I decided to assign a mythology refresher book as part of their summer reading.

1. We were going to read The Odyssey later in the year.

2. We were going to read Shakespeare, which, as everyone knows, is full of mythological allusions.

3. We were going to read poetry (same as #2).

4. I knew that in future years students would need some familiarity with mythology in order to identify additional allusions. I mean, these are advanced students, for Pete's sake.

I searched around and discarded several possible books on Greek mythology: Hamilton's Mythology (too dense and hard to read for summer reading), Bulfinch's Mythology (same), etc. I finally stumbled across this little gem and knew it was just what I needed. 

It covers most of the important myths (except for Hercules). It's very readable. It's very short. 

Now, you might think this book is too basic for advanced ninth graders, but I would heartily disagree. I don't want my students to have to slog through some impossible book during the summer. I want them to read something that won't take all their time and turn them off of reading altogether. 

This book was a great success. It refreshed the memories of my students who were somewhat familiar with mythology and gave a great intro to students who were complete mythology virgins. lol!

This book is accessible for everyone from 6-12 grade. Even your struggling readers can get through it. 

EASY MEALS: Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken

 

1 ½ lbs chicken breasts

1 cup teriyaki sauce

1 cup water

2/3 cup brown sugar

3 cloves minced garlic

Sprinkle of ginger.

 

Freeze until needed.

DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING: 

Thaw the night before.

Add everything to crockpot.

Cover and cook 4-6 hours.

Serve over rice. Add some steamed broccoli as a side. Yummy!

Getting Rid of Those Horrid White Walls

 

DID YOU SAY COLOR?

One of the things I always hated in my classroom were the white cinderblock walls. They were just so...blah! A lot of teachers did nothing to break up that "blah-ness." Oh, a few might slap up a post or two, but many many just could not be bothered. Honestly, I don't know how they could stand it. We teachers are the ones who have to put up with it all day long. At least the students are only stuck in there for a class period. Now some of you may be able to paint the walls in your classroom, and I say, "Hooray!" But if you're like me and cannot paint the walls, you do have some options.

As an ELA teacher, I had a lot of different types of information I could put on my walls. And believe me, I took advantage.

1. Posters With Quotes: Pretty easy to find, actually. Most are inspirational. Some are actually from famous authors. You can even find quotes about reading, writing, literature, etc. They come in all kinds of sizes. 

2. Posters From Movies: There are a lot of movies based on literature, and sometimes you can coax your local movie theater to give you one for free!! Or you can find them on line in places like ebay. I had a poster of Troy (yummy Brad Pitt), King Arthur (equally yummy Clive Owen), and Thor (yes--Chris Hemsworth). lol! 

3. Posters With Song Lyrics/Musicians: Some song lyrics are quite poetic and some songwriters are poets. I had a poster of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Bob Marley. Again, these can generally be found in music stores (if you can find one) or ebay. Or possibly in your teenager's bedroom. lol! I would print song lyrics that I especially loved and post them on bulletin boards, doors, etc. Things like "Sound of Silence," or "Stairway to Heaven," or even "The River" by Springsteen. 

4. Posters of Famous Authors: Most educational catalogs have a lot of posters with famous authors.

5. Maps: If you're like me, I always liked to have maps of parts of the world up, especially Great Britain, ancient Greece, and the U.S., because I would show students where the authors we were reading came from.

6. Student Art Work: I generally put art-type projects on the wall outside my classroom for display. But if there were some that were really great, I would move them into my classroom when it was time to put up something new. My students did things like coats of arms, book posters, body biographies, hero's journey posters, timelines, etc.

7. Grammar Rules Posters: Again, you can usually find lots of these in educational catalogs. Or you can make your own.

8. Writing Style Posters: Same as #7.

9. Posters of Literature Being Studied: Educational catalogs usually have some pictures to accompany various literary works, such as Shakespeare plays, short stories, novels, etc.

10. Anchor Charts: A lot of schools require you to put up anchor charts. Usually I've seen this in elementary and middle schools, but I think it's a great idea for high school as well. I would put up lists of dead verbs, great adverbs, word substitutions (like a mini thesaurus), tone words, etc. Just whatever my students worked on in the classroom and needed to reference.

There are many ways to mount posters on your walls. I had the most success with hot glue, mounting putty, clear packing tape (doubled over), and mounting tape (although your school may not allow this because it is a b*#%h to get off the walls). It really depends on the surface of your walls.

A FINAL NOTE:

With all of these ideas, if you have a really good materials center, you might be able to create your own posters and have the peeps at the materials center blow them up to whatever size you like. They can usually laminate them, too. Our materials center could take something we created in PowerPoint and blow it up to a full poster. If you laminate them, they will last you for YEARS. And you are only limited by your imagination and whatever images you can find online.

Just say no to boring, plain, white walls in the classroom. lol!

Below you will find links to some free mini-posters I offer in my TPT store. 

FAILURE

DIFFERENT MEANINGS

NEW BEGINNINGS

HANG IN THERE, BABY

Great Christmas Short Story

 

BERNIE'S CHRISTMAS EVE

by

Saki

Need something with a Christmas theme to use in your classroom but want students to stay on task. Are you going to be out a day or two near Christmas and need an activity for your students to do that isn't a waste of time? Here is a great little Christmas short story that is set up for use with a substitute but can also be used just as a way to celebrate the Christmas season.

The activity consists of an oral reading of the story with questions to answer during the reading. This is followed by two additional activities: critical thinking questions and a writing response. The directions for all activities are easily laid out for a substitute or provide you with an easy day or two of lessons if you're having to do a lot of last-minute grading before the Christmas holidays and don't have time to do a lot of planning.

The story itself is humorous and engaging, and my students always enjoyed it. 

Find it here in my TPT store.

Favorite Books to Teach: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

 

J.R.R. Tolkien's own description for the original edition: "If you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take an interest in a humble hero (blessed with a little wisdom and a little courage and considerable good luck), here is a record of such a journey and such a traveler. The period is the ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men, when the famous forest of Mirkwood was still standing, and the mountains were full of danger. In following the path of this humble adventurer, you will learn by the way (as he did) -- if you do not already know all about these things -- much about trolls, goblins, dwarves, and elves, and get some glimpses into the history and politics of a neglected but important period. For Mr. Bilbo Baggins visited various notable persons; conversed with the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent; and was present, rather unwillingly, at the Battle of the Five Armies. This is all the more remarkable, since he was a hobbit. Hobbits have hitherto been passed over in history and legend, perhaps because they as a rule preferred comfort to excitement. But this account, based on his personal memoirs, of the one exciting year in the otherwise quiet life of Mr. Baggins will give you a fair idea of the estimable people now (it is said) becoming rather rare. They do not like noise."

I taught this book for years to my incoming Honors 9th Graders. It was one of their summer reading novels and the first unit I taught every year. It is an awesome book for so many reasons. My top five are below.

1. Summer Reading-It's a high interest book and most students are somewhat familiar with the story already, recently anyway. However, it's not like the movies (as all who are real fans are aware), so they can't just watch the movie instead of reading the book. It's not too long, but it does offer enough of a challenge for there to be some meat in there for teaching things like tone/mood, character development, importance of setting, theme, archetype, etc. 

2. Hero's Journey-Here's a great example of a hero's journey. Students find it easy to locate the journey in this book, and it's the big archetype that I teach in ninth grade. 

3. Gateway to LOTR-I'm going to confess here that Lord of the Rings is my favorite book(s) of all time. I am a huge fan from waaaaay back in the day. Usually at the end of our Hobbit Unit, I let my students watch The Fellowship of the Ring. They can see the connections to the book but also the new journey Frodo is going on. 

4. Fantasy Genre-I think this is a terribly neglected genre in most high school classrooms, and I think that is such a shame. It is a genre that led me into more and more reading. 

5. Tolkien Himself-What an interesting guy. And there is so much material out there in which he explains what he meant when he wrote his books. It's a great way to introduce papers with secondary sources using letters from Tolkien to defend their points.

Here is a link to my Hobbit Unit Bundle. 

EASY MEALS: Crockpot Easy Cheesy Chicken

   

 

    

 

         3-4 skinless chicken breasts or ½ pkg frozen chicken tenders

         Salt and pepper to taste

         1 teaspoon garlic powder

         1 can cream of chicken soup

         1 can cream of mushroom soup

         1 can cream of cheddar soup

         ¼ cup water

         

          ----------------------------------------------------------------

         Sour cream

 

DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING: Mix all ingredients except chicken and sour cream together before putting into freezer bag. Add chicken and freeze. After thawing cover and cook 6-8 hours. Stir in sour cream before serving.

NOTE: I usually add some shredded cheddar before serving. You can never have too much cheese. lol!

Participation Grades-Yea or Nay?

 

I've been on both sides of this issue at various points in my teaching career. My final decision: heck, yes!

There are often times when we need students to complete a task or help a group out, but you do not want to give them a grade for whatever reason. But, as we all know, some students just WILL NOT participate if they are not going to get a grade for it.

I have found that giving participation grades helps keep (most-sigh!) students involved and motivated. It's pretty easy. Just say to the students: "This task can earn you a maximum of (x) participation points." 

You'll need to find somewhere to keep track of participation points. Maybe a certain spot in a teacher gradebook, on a clipboard, on your computer, etc.

I always graded pretty leniently on these. For example, I would have my students write diagnostic essays at the beginning of the year. This would allow me to evaluate where they were on their writing journey and where I needed to pick up or remediate. Now, this isn't something I wanted to give an actual grade for. I haven't taught them anything yet, right?  So instead, I would say, "This essay is worth 50 participation points maximum." For the most part, if students followed my directions and seemed to be putting forth the effort, they got the max points. 

At the end of the grading period, simply total up participation point maximum and divide by what the student got. 

Example:  420 points achieved out of 515 points = 420/515=.82. Then simply multiply that fraction by 100.        .82 x 100 =82.      So the student will get a total of 82 for their participation grade. This works with any total points possible. I like to give this as a major test grade so that students understand that there is real value here. 

Possible uses for participation grades: read-alouds, group work, helping other students, volunteering, helping in classroom, homework assignments, bell ringers, journal entries, etc. 

Hope you find this technique helpful.

Halloween Ideas

 

FUN AND EDUCATIONAL!

Looking for some activities that fit the Halloween theme, but still keep your students on task? Here are a few products from my TPT store you might find useful.

HOCUS POCUS MOVIE GUIDE

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS 5 DAY MOVIE UNIT

BOARDED WINDOW SHORT STORY GUIDE

Favorite Books to Teach: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

 

BLURB: 

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

This is an awesome book to teach. I used this as one of my summer reading books for my incoming ninth advanced students, and I had a lot of success with it because it was a book that they would actually read. The writing is awesome, and the characters are kids, really smart kids. 

Here are some of the reasons I enjoy teaching this book so much:

1. Hero's Journey: The story has a great hero's journey arc, which is an archetype we emphasized in our freshman classes. Students are able to see it pretty clearly and begin to recognize it in other texts as well. 

2. Character Development: Several characters in this novel have great development. Pay close attention to Ender, but also Peter, Valentine, Petra, and Bean.  

3. Themes: Alienation, Coming-of-Age, Leadership, Technology, Friendship, Morality, Survival, Manipulation--I could go on. 

4. Allusions: There are tons of historical and biblical allusions.

3. Science Fiction: This is also an opportunity to introduce students to the science fiction drama which, IMHO, is terribly neglected in the ELA classroom. Card has won numerous awards for his writing and this book is one of his best. Additionally, there is a series for students who want to continue in the Enderverse. Card also has a companion series. The novel Ender's Shadow is an interesting text which occurs during basically the same time frame as Ender's Game only from the point of view of one of the secondary characters, Bean.

WARNING: The author, Orson Scott Card, is a Mormon and has made some problematic statements about the LGBTQ community. However, that is not seen in the books.

You can find my Ender's Game unit here.

EASY MEALS: Crockpot Pork Roast

 

1 onion, sliced

Pork roast

1 cup water

¼ cup sugar

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon pepper

1 small bag carrots

Put into freezer bag and freeze until needed.

 

DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING: 

Thaw the night before.

Put everything into crockpot.

Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.

Add some rice or mashed potatoes for a yummy, filling meal.

Book Report Alternatives

Book Reports? Ugh!

So, maybe your experience is different from mine, but I have had subzero success in assigning book reports, either oral or written. And I HATE grading them. Makes me want to scream!

Here is a list of alternatives to traditional book reports. Hope you find something you can use.

1. Reading Journal

2. Booktalk Presentation

3. Book Posters

4. Quotation Booklet

5. Story Timeline

6. Book Review

7. Character Poems

8. Stage an author's day.

9. Create a board game based on the book.

10. Reading fair

11. Have a bookseller's day.

12. Create a diary from one character's perspective.

13. Design a quiz for your book.

14. Write a scene from the book from another character's perspective.

15. Create an obituary for one of the book's characters.

16. Create a scrapbook for the characters in the book.

17. Create a collage for your book.

18. Create a powerpoint presentation for your book.

19. Create a comic strip for your book.

20. Interview a character from your book.

 

Journal Topics and Ideas

 

WRITING CAN BE FUN!

I love using student journaling, either weekly or daily. I find it's a great way to either start or end class. The problem I always had was coming up with topics. Below you will find some topic idea products from my TPT store that are different and fun. Hope they work as well for you as they did for me. 

Quotation Response Prompts

Would You Rather?

Books That Help Make You a Better Teacher: The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease Seventh Edition

BLURB:

he classic million-copy bestselling handbook on reading aloud to children—revised and updated

Recommended by "Dear Abby" upon its first publication in 1982, millions of parents and educators have turned to Jim Trelease’s beloved classic for more than three decades to help countless children become avid readers through awakening their imaginations and improving their language skills. It has also been a staple in schools of education for new teachers. This updated edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook discusses the benefits, the rewards, and the importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by delightful anecdotes as well as the latest research (including the good and bad news on digital learning), The Read-Aloud Handbook offers proven techniques and strategies for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.
 

Don't be fooled by the cover, this isn't just for elementary teachers. Jim Trelease is one of the foremost experts on the importance of reading aloud for students. And that doesn't end when they step into a middle school or high school classroom.

Trelease says: “We read to children for all the same reasons we talk with children: to reassure, to entertain, to bond, to inform or explain, to arouse curiosity, to inspire. But in reading aloud, we also:

• Condition the child’s brain to associate reading with pleasure;
• Create background information;
• Build vocabulary;
• Provide a reading role model.

I discovered this book years ago, when I realized that assigning books and book reports was a complete and total waste of time. What an eye-opener it was. It completely changed the way I thought about reading in my classroom. Trelease also addresses the important of silent reading of self-selected books, which is one of my favorite things ever. 

The book includes a lot of research and statistics to support what Trelease is saying. Some of those statistics are shocking. He also addresses such things as Accelerated Reader (a program I despise), standardized testing, classic literature vs. not-so-classic literature, the teacher's as well as the parent's role, etc. 

Chapters include the following:

1. Why Read Aloud?

2. When to Begin (and End) Read-Aloud

3. The Stages of Read-Aloud

4. Do's and Don'ts of Read-Aloud

5. Sustained Silent Reading: Read-Aloud's Natural Partner

6. The Print Climate in the Home, School, and Library

7. Digital Learning: Good News and Bad

8. Television and Audio: Hurting or Helping Literacy?

9. Dad-What's the Score?

10. A Hyper Kid's Road to Reading

There is also a "Treasury" of great read-aloud books in the back that is worth the price of the book for that alone.

EASY MEALS: Crockpot San Francisco Pork Chops

 

 

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

8 pork chops (I prefer boneless)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cloves minced garlic

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup chicken broth

4 tablespoons packed brown sugar

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 cup water

 Makes two meals. Divide into two freezer bags and place in freezer. Thaw the night before.

DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING: 

Place thawed pork pork chops in crockpot.

Cover and cook on  low 6-8 hours. 

Great over rice with a side of green beans.

Help Needed Signs

 

HELP!!!

Don't you just love it when your students are working on essays? I mean, you're walking around the room, monitoring and offering help when needed. Everything is so calm and peaceful. Right? WRONG!!

I don't know about you, but it never failed. Practically every student would be sitting at his/her desk with a hand up needing my help. And none of them are working. They're just sitting there. Waiting. Wasting time. (Really wanting to have me tell them what to write, but that's another blog post. lol!)

A friend introduced me to the HELP NEEDED signs, and it was a life saver. Students can make them themselves out of plain paper, or you can print them up. Here's a link to the freebie I offer on my TPT page: HELP NEEDED SIGN

On one side, the sign says HELP NEEDED. On the other side it says KEEP WORKING. You fold the paper into a rough triangle so that the blank side sits on the table/desk top. Students who need help simply place the sign with the HELP NEEDED facing the front of the room (or wherever the teacher directs them). The KEEP WORKING side faces the student. Students know that while they wait for help, they need to continue working on their essays. Once the teacher has helped the student, the sign is folded and put under the desk or into their notebook out of the way. 

I tell my students they can only use the sign 2 times per writing session. This makes them understand that there are some things they are going to have to figure out on their own or else they'll have to come by after school for more help.

I can't tell you how much easier this made my life. 😎

Direct Grammar Review Minilessons

 

Ugh! Did you say GRAMMAR!!!!

Grammar is never fun to teach, but it's incredibly difficult to help students fix problems in their writing if they don't have a basic understanding of how it all works. Right? For a long time I struggled with explanations, but my students weren't getting any better. How could they figure out where to put commas if they didn't know what a compound sentence was or an introductory dependent clause? How could they make subjects and verbs agree if they couldn't even find the subject?  

To save my sanity (and theirs) I created some short, easy minilessons to review basic grammar for my ninth grade students. Since they were coming to me from two different middle schools and several different teachers, I never could be sure what they had or hadn't been taught. So I decided that I really needed to just start from the beginning. 

I dusted off my grammar books and went all the way back to the eight parts of speech. You would not believe the moaning and the groaning and the "We already know this" whining that I got. But guess what? They didn't really know it very well at all. Some of the worst grades I got were on the eight parts of speech quiz. 

The minilessons didn't take a lot of time...just about 10-15 minutes a day. We went step by step in a logical manner. And guess what? My students would tell me....this is the first time I ever understood how it all went together. 

So...if you've experienced something like this, check out my Direct Grammar Review Minilessons. They cover the following skills:

identifying the eight parts of speech

identifying the parts of a sentence

noun and pronoun usage

verb and modifier usage

subject-verb agreement (includes parallel structure and wordiness/redundancy)

phrases

clauses and sentence structure

punctuation

capitalization

There are enough lessons to last a semester. If you're on a block schedule, that may be all you can cover for the school year. If you are on a year-long schedule, the second semester is a great time to cover some grammar in context skills. You might want to try my On Target Grammar and Vocabulary Skills in Context. 

For the grammar review minis, you can use the whole bundle or you can pick and choose those areas your students seem to have the most trouble with. Keep in mind, this is intended as a REVIEW, so your students should not be encountering these for the very first time with these lessons. That is why they are so short. These lessons are also cumulative, meaning when students are looking for the parts of a sentence, they should already be very familiar with the parts of speech. They are in the order they are in for a reason. The lessons give a logical, step by step progression into an understanding of how grammar works.

By the way, these make great bellringers for the beginning of class.

I hope these lessons help you and your students have a better understanding of grammar and how a command of grammar helps to improve their writing. 

Student Summer Reading Book Recs

 

I have really mixed feelings about summer readings. You're not going to agree with some of them. That's fine. These are just my own personal opinions from my own experiences. Yours may differ.

First, I don't think regular students should be required to do summer reading. If you're trying to turn these kids onto reading, this is not how to do it. Students who sign up for accelerated/honors classes are making a commitment and are going to be moving at a much faster pace. It makes sense for them to get some reading done so they can jump right into analysis at the beginning of the year.

Second, I think more than two books for accelerated/honors summer reading is too much.

Third, I don't think summer reading requirements should begin for accelerated/honors students before 8th or 9th grade.

Fourth, I don't think requiring ridiculous amounts of work to go along with books is necessary. Small activities that help students understand what you want them to is better. No big projects please. We do want students to have time to actually enjoy their summer. Other honors/accelerated classes may also require summer work, and your students will probably be in additional honors/accelerated classes, so be kind and reasonable.

Fifth, I like the idea of testing students on reading comprehension the first week of school. It holds them accountable more than any project they may do.

Sixth, I think summer reading books should be short if possible, very readable, and interesting. (Not interesting to you, teacher. Interesting to the students.) If books are long, boring, or too difficult, students are just going to read online summaries or watch movies. REAL TALK.

Finally, I think teachers should actually teach units on the summer reading books. Otherwise, students tend to perceive it as a waste of time. And rightly so, IMHO. I've known teachers to assign incredibly difficult books for summer reading and never mention them once school starts and summer assignments are turned it. WTH???

So with all that controversial stuff said (lol), here is a list of summer reading suggestions I have had good success with.

ACCELERATED HONORS BOOKS

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kid

My Dog Skip by Willie Morris

Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

1984 by George Orwell

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Alchemist Paulo Coelho

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

EASY MEALS: Crockpot BBQ Country Ribs

 

IT DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER THAN THIS!

2 lbs boneless country ribs

1 bottle BBQ sauce

 

DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING: 

Thaw ribs night before. 

Place ribs in bottom of crockpot.

Cover with barbeque sauce of your choice. I use the whole bottle!!

Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Fix some quick sides and you're ready to go!!

Favorite Books to Teach: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

BLURB:

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate. This far from civilization they can do anything they want. Anything. But as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far removed from reality as the hope of being rescued.
 

My students love discussing this book. Not reading it. Discussing it. lol!

This is a great little book for introducing deep diving into a text. I used it with my advanced ninth graders, and it provoked some of the greatest class discussions we had all year. Why? Several reasons. Here are my top 5.

1. The Theme: Is man at heart a beast? Do we need rules to make us civilized? Wow! Talk about being able to relate literature to reality. You can pull in headlines, youtube videos, songs. So much. And there are legitimate arguments on both sides, so there is rarely a consensus. 

2. The Symbolism: The conch, the island, the glasses, the fire, and of course, The Lord of the Flies...I could go on. Golding's text is full of rich symbolism that the students can really see and understand. I get some great papers on this one.

3. The Setting: A deserted island. Who hasn't thought about what it would be like to be stranded on one? I have a great activity for creating a map of the island that encourages some close reading. The kids love it and always produce some amazing maps.

4. The Characters: Ralph, Jack, Simon, Piggy--So diverse and interesting. And each representing a different aspect of society.

5. The Ending: Talk about a deus ex machina ending. You have it here. But it leaves such large questions to discuss. What happens next? Are the boys really rescued? How can they go back to their lives after what has happened? 

I can't say enough about this book as an addition to your classroom. As an extra note: It is included on the AP list of recommended texts. 

Check out my Lord of the Flies bundle here.

EASY MEALS: Freezer Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

 

2 lbs. ground beef

2 cloves garlic

½ tsp onion powder

1 lb chopped and cooked bacon

1 6-oz can tomato paste

1 8-oz heavy cream

8 eggs

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

12 oz shredded cheddar

 

DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING: Brown ground beef with garlic, onion powder, and bacon (cut up). Drain. Spread beef mixture into 2 8x8 freezer pans. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, tomato paste, cream, salt, pepper. Stir ½ cheese into mixture. Pour over meat, dividing equally between two pans. Top w/remaining cheese. Divide in half and put in freezer safe pans. 

Thaw and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden on top.

NOTE: I usually double this again so that I have four quick meals. :)

Using Children's Literature in the High School Classroom

 

Kid's books in high school? Sound crazy? Think about it. There are some amazing children's stories out there, and they all (well, many) contain elements that we want our high school students to understand and recognize. Plot, character, setting, point of view, conflict, theme. Okay, I'm sure you get the idea. And they are very short reads. You can even read them aloud to your students. You might be surprised to learn that high school students LOVE to be read to. They'll recognize the stories. You can point out things they missed when they were children. 

Some great stories to use with your high school students:

Stellaluna by Janell Canon

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Exclamation Mark by Rosenthal and Lichtenheld

Unspoken by Henry Cole

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

Tuesday by David Weisner

There are many many more. Check out the Caldecott and other award winners here. Try it. You won't be sorry!!

5 Day Movie Units-Substitute Friendly

 

We all have those unexpected occasions when, for whatever reason, we need to fill in several days at the end of a unit or quarter, or we have to call in for a substitute for multiple days at the last minute. I always like to keep a lesson plan available if either of those things happen so that I am not scurrying around trying to throw together something that will keep my students occupied and out of trouble and that will also be a legitimate educational experience and not just busy work.

The plan in these units use the 2001 film Shrek (the first one) starring Michael Myers and Cameron Diaz, Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and A Series of Unfortunate Events starring Jim Carrey. I absolutely love these films and so do my students. They are easy, fun, and keep students engaged while at the same time allowing for some close analysis. Hopefully, you won’t feel like the time was a complete loss. There are FIVE days of activities here for each film, plus some additional ideas if you wish to extend the unit. The lessons are designed to last approximately 50-55 minutes each.

Each film is divided into four sections, which last from 20-30 minutes each. The first four days follow the same basic format:

a.      Students complete a previewing activity. The first day this consists of getting some of their ideas about fairytales. Every other day, students complete a type of mad-lib activity which serves as a review of the previous day’s viewing. (This is helpful especially for students who are absent on any of the viewing days. It helps them catch up on what they missed.)

b.      Students view the section of the film for that day and answer some during viewing questions. These are easy questions designed to keep students paying attention.

c.      After students have finished watching the assigned day’s section, students complete the after-viewing questions. These questions require a little more thought and serve as a great springboard for a whole class discussion. Students will need to be able to defend their answers.

d.      Students will complete a different focus activity each day. 

The fifth and final day students will complete a project of some type.

Additionally, there are a pages of writing topics and  of additional projects that students can complete if you wish to extend the unit. T

If you use these with a substitute, there is a letter for him/her with detailed instructions for implementing the activities. Since this unit is a no-prep one, it is pretty to use with a substitute if you're going to be out for several days.

Click on each link below to see and/or purchase each unit.

Shrek

Emma

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Books That Help Make You A Better Teacher: Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels

BLURB:

Two potent ideas - independent reading and cooperative learning - come together in this practical and exciting book.

This unique model of literature circles was developed by a team of midwest teachers who combined local inventions with models appearing in the national professional literature. Daniels and his colleagues have been especially concerned with the issues of management, the preparation of students, and enacting the principles of classroom democracy and group dynamics. Their special contribution has been to add to literature circles the key formal elements of collaborative learning-particularly through the varied roles used to guide students in newly-formed groups.

The book presents a particularly effective way of getting started, using temporary role sheets to create quick, successful implementation of student-led discussion groups. Also offered are a variety of structures and procedures for managing literature circles over the long run, strategies which solidify and deepen the contribution which this special activity can make to balance the curriculum across grade levels.

Drawing on stories from twenty-two classroom teachers who work with students from kindergarten through college, this book delivers ample guidance and inspiration for teachers who want to implement literature circles for themselves.

This book is an easy-to-follow guide on how to get literature circles up and running in your classroom. Students are divided into groups and each student is given a role that changes with each session. There are handouts and instructions on how these roles should function. 

I used this with each group using the same book and also with each group reading different books. The kids enjoyed directing their own discussion and reading assignments.

The one caveat I have for using lit circles is that if you have a high rate of absenteeism, it is going to be more problematic. I had more success with advanced classes simply because their attendance was better.

I will say that this book made me look harder at how I was assigning independent reading and how I was leading discussions. I love the idea of giving students some autonomy over what happens in the classroom. It isn't always possible, of course, but this book offers a great way to do that.

EASY MEALS: Crockpot White Chicken Chili

 

Here's a delicious hot meal that's quick and easy.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces

2 15-oz cans white beans (undrained)

1 15-oz can white corn (undrained)

1 cup chopped onion (I like the frozen chopped onion you can buy. So easy!)

1 clove minced garlic (I like the bottled chopped garlic. Again, easy peasy!)

1 pkg chili seasoning

1 7-oz can green chilis

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

--------------------------------------------------------------

tortilla chips

shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients above the dotted line in a crockpot. Mix well. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove lid and shred chicken pieces. Use potato masher to mash up mixture. Consistency should become thick and creamy. Serve over tortilla chips and top cheddar cheese and other favorite toppings, like sour cream, bacon bits, etc.

Yum! Delish!