Where English teachers go to help each other
Heather G's Page
Latest Activity
Heather-
I have taught elementary, middle and high school. One of my years in elementary was first grade. I also spent several years as a reading specialist. Based on my experiences, I think the answer is "yes" to all of your questions. I was in a d…
I agree about the importance of creating a reading atmosphere. That is what's easy for me to do. I love books, and my students can tell this. Whenever we end our silent reading time, they groan because they want to keep reading. They really do love…
I have to agree with Gayle. I teach eighth grade language arts and I'm the father of triplet boys who will enter third grade in the fall. My job, as I see it, is to help kids gain a love of reading and writing. Students seem to lose the love when st…
It's been a long time since I looked at beginning reader materials, but when I went to grad school to become a reading specialist, I realized why my jr high students never became readers: the material they were reading in basal series was stupid. It…
I see those as appropriate questions to ask the kids. I think the overkill would come in when you dissect the piece and question each individual line. Sure... we need to have kids learn to question the texts, but at this age we need them to enjoy th…
In the past I have done reading responses where we do a read aloud and then students write about a connection they had, about their favorite part, most surprising part, etc. We also write story summaries with a frame (This story was about (character…
Geeze, I am not an Elementary teacher, so this answer might be off kilter some. I am a high school level teacher. But, I am a parent of 6 wonderful people. As a parent, I took my kids to the local library every other week or so and had them pick out…
I teach 1st grade. For many years, I thought being a good reading teacher, besides teaching kids how to read tricky words, was teaching them comprehension strategies. I thought teachers who were in-the-know taught kids about schema and text-to-self…
Profile Information
- Where do you work?
- Michigan
- Choose all that apply to your job
- Elementary Teacher
- What is your blog, wiki, or website URL?
- www.ourclassnews.com
- What are you reading?
- Readacide, The Reading Zone
- How do you define your role/work?
- -
Comment Wall
- No comments yet!
About
Latest Activity
Michael writes:
Most often it's [constructivism in practice] not that extreme, but usually it tends to share in the general progressive antipathy to "mere" knowledge and hostility to the "sage on a stage" or any sage anywhere.
This is mere caricat…
It seems like a lot of kids don't care for details. Spelling, anyone? I have had the same problem especially with the transfer. You would think that after teaching students how to use parenthetical citation and then correcting their mistakes on thei…
I believe comedy is underrepresented. My students often complain about the depressing works we read (12 grade, but they also say that about previous English courses). We added Much Ado About Nothing a dozen years ago as something of a balance to Ham…
Hi Pat, I have never done these myself, but there are some great examples at VocabAhead Vocab Videos which also contains links to digital resources to help students create their videos. While most of the videos are done professionally, there is at l…
Hi Pat, I have never done these myself, but there are some great examples at VocabAhead Vocab Videos which also contains links to digital resources to help students create their videos. While most of the videos are done professionally, there is at l…
Thanks for your reply -- it was very helpful. I think I understand what you are saying -- kids do try to craft a dazzling sentence, rather than one with insight. And something simple can be insightful. But my concern is really the thinking behind th…
I would say comedy is underrepresented. My students have nicknamed my class "AP Sex & Death" as we tend to go to the dark side. I do try to use some comedy in preparation for a Q3 comedy prompt. We do use A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Color Purple…
Your "rambling" is fantastic. So much good advice. You know, I'm actually looking forward to writing now. I feel like I've got a handle on it.
Thanks for all of your comments.
I really like "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse. It is short and I think very accessible for struggling students. It won the Newberry Medal. Not only did it help me understand what the big deal was about the duststorms of the time, I thought it told…
And what about the fact that often writers don't know what their thesis is until they begin reflecting in writing about a subject or occurrence? Happens to me all the time.
Thank you so much everyone! I definitely have a better feel for how essential questions work. I've been able to brainstorm a few and included a few here. Feel free to tell me if I am way off base.
What does it mean to be an “Outsider”?
What makes…
Judith--
One opportunity is Teen Ink (http://www.teenink.com). This is a publication for teens only, ages 13-19, to submit and publish their work. The one draw back I found is that once accepted, Teen Ink keeps all rights to the work. This means ki…
Bill,
You have it wrong. I didn't say the theory has not had wide influence. I never said anything like that. I agree that it has had wide influence. What I said was I've never heard of teachers labeling themselves as constructivists or nonconstruct…
The Ugly Truth is that my number one goal for my students right now has to be to raise their 2010 standardized test scores.
I find it disturbing, off-base, heart-wrenching, and almost something shameful to admit. However, NCLB has my entire school'…
I am in search of a novel set during the Great Depression/Dust Bowl era. It will be used in a 10th grade history class; most of the students are struggling readers. The teacher would like to stay away from the "big name classics." He wants something…
Badge
© 2010 Created by Jim Burke on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
