Where English teachers go to help each other
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Russ Weems
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- Smithville, NJ
- United States
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Russ Weems's Groups
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Teaching Writing
1107 members
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AP Lit and Language
536 members
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Department Chairs
156 members
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Graphic Novels and Comics
163 members
Russ Weems's Page
Latest Activity
Great choices here. I use V for Vendetta, and Batman: the Dark Knight Returns to great effect with my 12th graders. Also, in my Graphic Literature class I use the whole Bone series. Don't make the mistake of figuring it to be "too young" especially…
If you can get a hold of a copy of Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud, it gives you a language whereby you can teach graphic novels. We all know the literary devices of fiction, but not many know much of the language of comics as much, such as p…
Yes, Lit Circles works great! I used them with manga, when they were all reading different ones in different groups. I teach a graphic lit course. If you look up some of my posts you will see some details. If you want to contact me, I would be more…
Cool beans! Thank you so much. Lit Circles worked so well with Manga at the end of the year, I want to do more of it.
I would be interested in seeing this lit circle role description file, but it is a .wpd file, which, of course, MS Word cannot read. Could you translate it into an .rtf file? Thanks.
I think that the visuals add a component to that. You can write about sexual, obscene, or violent acts, but visualizing them adds a different dimension.
Wow, one of the few times little parental involvement is awesome. My parish is deathly afraid of lawsuits so teachers don't really push the limits too much for fear of the repercussions. Its funny when one considers that many of Shakespeare's works…
Quite frankly, one of the "benefits" of my district with little parental involvement is that they don't get too involved in curriculum. Parents generally in our district aren't too hung up on violence and nudity issues at the 12th grade level.
Out of curiosity, how were you able to teach Watchmen? I've considered using it for my seniors, but there's the nudity and gore issues. I just can't think of any way I could get the parents to approve of it. I'd love to know how you were able to.
Actually, the American Library Association and other related Library organizations have very actively embraced graphic literature. In fact, my initial interest in using graphic literature and actually designing a course in it originated in a worksho…
One great activity I found with using Hind's "Beowulf" is to take Seamus Heaney's translation of "Beowulf" and have them sketch the panels from the Hind's rendition of the battle between Beowulf and Grendel, then to find quotes from the text that co…
I have Comic Life on my laptop but haven't used it yet. Did you need to provide much instruction to students? Comic Life is definitely on my "to use" tech list for next year.
Cool idea, though I am not sure I have the time to set it up. The sites you mentioned would be great, except our tech department have locked up computer use as of today. These are ideas I will plan for next year. So let me see what I can come up wit…
You could make your survey in the form of a graphic novel rather than a typical survey format. I also think it would be fun to have the students reflective response in a comic format. You could use ToonDoo or some other comic-creator site. My studen…
Hi everyone,
I am finishing up my pilot year Graphic Literature course for my 12th grade honors course. They are presently doing manga in lit circles. I am putting together a reflective assignment for the course to get feedback from my students as…
I deleted the honking big file I had and added the "optimized" file here. Thanks to the person who did that, and I would love to find out how I can optimize in future.
Profile Information
- Where do you work?
- Pleasantville High School
- Choose all that apply to your job
- High School English Teacher, Department Chair
- What is your Twitter ID
- khatruman
- What are you reading?
- Fledgling by Octavia Butler
- How do you define your role/work?
- I work in an urban district as a department chair for the language arts literacy department, teaching mainly 12th grade.
Comment Wall (6 comments)
- At 7:43am on May 28, 2009,
Clix said…
- awesome! there are a lot of teachers who go, & it's a LOT of fun!
- At 5:05am on May 24, 2009,
- Would Dragon*Con be any easier to get to? IIRC, schools in the NE tend to start a bit later, & it's over Labor Day weekend down in Atlanta.
- At 2:27pm on May 21, 2009,
Barbara Potter said… - It was from you, but the address was Khatruman. What does that mean or stand for?
- At 2:03pm on May 21, 2009,
Barbara Potter said…
- Russ,
I can't figure out who sent me the invitation. I don't know the email address. I saw Jen's name and figured it was good.
Barb
- At 9:47pm on May 20, 2009,
Chris Hale said… - Hey, how did a picture of my dog end up here? Golden's are the best dogs ever! As a joke one winter I wrote a blog about my dog's captive life --- a fun activity!
- At 7:43pm on May 20, 2009,
erin albrecht said… - yeah, she's a gangster. ....just like me.
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…
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