Straight Talk: They have a life outside your classroom.

 

Let's talk. 

One of the things that has frequently bothered me about teachers and students is the fact that some teachers seem to get some kind of strange joy out of overloading students with homework. I don't get it. 

I ALWAYS tried to remember what it was like to actually BE a student. Students have anywhere from 3 to 7 classes in addition to your own. They also have after-school activities that we encourage them to be in like sports, band, clubs. Many have jobs and/or chores when they get home. And don't forget they need some free time just to be young. 

Please, teachers, try to remember that students do have a life outside of your classroom. We want them to be well-rounded individuals, and yet, all too frequently we don't give them the time to do that. 

Think carefully when assigning after school work. Make deadlines reasonable. Don't just give work for the sake of giving work. Ask students when they have other upcoming tests/deadlines/commitments and do your best, if possible, to schedule around those. It's  not always possible to do it, I know. We've all been there. Sometimes the test HAS to be on that day, or the project MUST come in that week. 

Talk to your students about it. Let them see that you CARE about them and that you are doing your best to help them be successful. They will appreciate it. And, really, it's the fair thing to do. 

Quotes About Writing

 Here are some awesome quotes to use in your ELA classroom to inspire student writing.

"If you have a minimum of talent, but you sit at the typewriter long enough, something will emerge. All I had was this burning desire to be a writer and all these emotions."  Robert Cormier

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." Elmore Leonard

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." Stephen King  

"Write what makes you happy." O. Henry

"Every writer I know has trouble writing." Joseph Heller

"The moment of change is the only poem." Adrienne Rich

"There's no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly: sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges." Ernest Hemingway

"Don't say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream." Mark Twain

"If you wait for inspiration to write, you're not a writer. You're a waiter."  Dan Poynter

 "You can't edit a blank page." 

                             Jodi Picoult

Books That Help Make You a Better Teacher: In the Middle by Nancie Atwell

 If there is any one book that I think helped me re-think my teaching methods, 

it is In the Middle by Nancie Atwell.

If you are a language arts teacher, and you haven't read this book, run--not walk--to your nearest bookstore (or Amazon) and grab a copy. It opened my eyes to what was possible in a classroom with a teacher who really cared and who was not afraid to try new things and keep her students' best interests in mind at all times. Her classroom focused on authentic learning for her students...real world writing and reading. And her students prospered. My copy of this book is so battered and worn because it became my teacher's Bible. It's underlined, highlighted, dog-eared. Highly, highly recommended. 100 out of 10 stars!!! Well, what are  you waiting for? 

Add to cart. 

Buy.

Embarrassing Teacher Moment: Fake?

 

This is probably one of the more idiotic moments I've had in the classroom. 

I had a student who turned in a paper to  me, and in it he had written the word "fake" only he spelled it "faque." I called him to my desk at the back, kinda laughing at the mistake because...well...really? lol! 

I told him how to correct the error. Then he asked, "Well, what does this spell?" 

I said, "Maybe fu-q?" And I just kept saying it, trying it out in different ways. 

Slowly the other students would turn and sneak looks at me as if I had lost my mind. And well...say it out loud and I think you'll see why. When I realized what I had done, I turned beet red. Ugh!! I had to tell my principal about it in case any parents called to express concern. Luckily none did. 

Seriously...FU-Q??????? 

Quotes about Reading

 Here are some quotes about reading that you can add to a bulletin board 

or anywhere in your ELA classroom. Enjoy.

"If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry." Emily Dickinson

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.       If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."      Albert Einstein

"'Tis the good reader that makes the good book." Emerson

"There were no books that showed what was going on with teenagers. I wrote The Outsiders because I wanted to read it." S.E. Hinton

"The moment of change is the only poem." Adrienne Rich

"My education was the liberty I had to read indiscriminately and all the time, with my eyes hanging out." Dylan Thomas

"Literature is no one's private ground, literature is common ground; let us trespass freely and fearlessly and find our own way for ourselves." Virginia Wolf

  "Wherever I am, if I've got that book with me, I've got a place I can go and be happy." J.K. Rowling

"If you think reading is boring, you're doing it wrong."

"She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live." Annie Dillard

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." Frederick Douglas

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go." Dr. Seuss

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it." Oscar Wilde

"I think that when you can escape into a book, it trains your imagination to think big and to think that more can exist than what you see." Taylor Swift

"Sleep is good, he said, and books are better." George R.R. Martin

"Pens and books are the weapons that defeat terrorism." Malala Yousafzai

"The ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be  mentally alive." Malcolm X

"The man who does not read good books has no

 advantage over the man who cannot read them." 

Mark Twain