Today, I found out about a great example that I can share with students about the importance of variety in sentence lengths. It would go great with the example I have called “The Power of Short Words.”
It is called, “This sentence has five words.”
Tag-Archive for » Teaching «
26
Apr 2011
What greeted me as I entered my classroom this morning....
It was quite a surprise since my classroom is usually empty and not a violent space.
The number of things that can go though my mind in just seconds is amazing. I had this whole debate about whether it was a dummy or a real human and what I would need to do if it was real.
I didn’t scream, and my heart didn’t start pounding. Before the lights were truly on, I figured out it was a dummy. And yet, I wondered what happened to cause this type of event.
Snapping a picture, I uploaded it to facebook, took off my coat and went over to examine it closer. I debated whether to leave it there for my students to see, but I knew it would freak a couple of them out. Plus, it was kind of creepy seeing the body (even a fake one) sprawled out across the floor. I lifted the body up into the wheelchair (and it WAS heavier than I expected).
As I did so, a note slipped out of the dummy’s pant’s pocket. I opened it up and read a suicide note from Thomas saying he couldn’t take it any longer and would someone take care of his dog. I folded the note back up and placed it on his body and went next door to the instructor I figured was more than likely responsible.
“Your dummy appears to have committed suicide in my classroom,” I told him. He chuckled and asked if the light was on in my classroom when I found it. Apparently, his class had staged a crime scene in my classroom yesterday. He came over and collected the dummy, noting that he was having a hard-time cleaning up the fake blood from the dummy’s skin.
After he left, I righted the chair and once again my classroom was ready for class.
And I’m glad cleaning up the “crime scene” was relatively painless. Of course, I had to share pictures with my students to let them know about the excitement they missed.
11
Mar 2011
Autumn
Frankly, I am not thrilled with this. I was even less thrilled when the oldest was in eighth grade, and I worked on the day the school dismissed early. It meant that my child was left to wander around town unless I went to extremes to get her home. I always did because my oldest child as a freshman was She-Who-Could-Not-Be-Trusted. OK, I may be overstating that a little bit, but I was not going to allow her to wander around town. It is somehow because of trimesters.
The oldest is now a junior, and I am still not enthralled with this whole half day for high schoolers idea. I now have three children in the high school, and one in the middle school. I cannot understand how the school can dismiss three of them and not provide them with a ride home and require them to leave the school building. It boggles the mind.
But what has changed is that the oldest has a driver’s license, so she can bring home the wayward children when the school dismisses them. Except, she didn’t want to go to school today because she only had one test, which she felt she would have done in less than an hour.
That’s where the “parental permission” comes in. She arranged a scheme that would let her sleep in today, and she hounded me and the teacher involved until we caved. She still has to pick up her siblings though.
All it required for me, other than my permission, was a note saying she had my permission. And so yesterday, I wrote the note. My daughter couldn’t read it. My writing, she said, was sloppy. It wasn’t sloppy; it was written in cursive, which is apparently a foreign language that children can no longer read.
The parental permission note is apparently something that is disappearing from our culture — at least the handwritten kind. My parental notes mirror the notes that my mom wrote when I was a child. I have always used my mom’s notes as the pattern for my own, so they tend to start out like this: My daughter insert name has my permission…. Or, Please excuse my daughter (insert name) for her absence….” Those sentences are exactly like the sentences my mom used to write on my own permission slips.
But yesterday, when I sat down to write the note that my daughter had been badgering me about, I decided to go off script a bit. The teacher involved is the one who when I talked to him at parent teacher conferences told me that my daughter was a high maintenance drama queen. I wasn’t offended since 1) he was accurate and 2) he and I are friends, and he really didn’t have any concerns about my daughter. He knew her long before she was his student, and his assessment made me and my daughter break out in laughter, and I tell you, the ability to have a good laugh at a parent teacher conference is priceless. Even if the news isn’t bad, the entire process is soul sucking..
And so, I penned this note:
My high-maintenance pain-in-the-a daughter, Autumn Sherwood, has badgered me into writing this note, and I have caved in the face of her unending requests. Thus, I give my consent to her scheme to allow her to take her exam early although I fail to see how I benefit from her presence in my home Friday morning. Thank you, Linda Sherwood 231-555-1212
And then my daughter attempted to read my cursive writing and couldn’t. She claimed my writing was bad, so I broke down and utilized 21st Century Communication Skills (aka a Facebook message) and sent the following message to the teacher in question:
My high maintenance pain-in-the-a daughter, Autumn Sherwood, has badgered me into writing this note, and I have caved in the face of her unending requests. Thus, I give my consent to her scheme to allow her to take her exam early although I fail to see how I benefit from her presence in my home Friday morning.because she is such a joy in the morning (not!). Of course, after I talk to my husband, I’m sure I can find ways for her presence to benefit me in the form of creative punishment, I mean, chores.
Sincerely,
The Mother.
To which, well before 8 a.m., I received this response:
This has been a most interesting note from a parent. I will accommodate her request with the the pre-condition that I mentioned to her earlier, if I get time to finish the exam in time.
That’s right. Not only did she want special accommodations, she was making the teacher create the test before he really needed to make the test, which is just wrong (says the teacher me).
As a highly-skilled procrastinator and a former journalist, I respect deadlines. I require deadlines. It is how things get done, but I hate deadlines (or due dates) that end up being pushed earlier than they need to be. It’s just not right.
I am assuming that the teacher finished the test and my daughter took it early because she is currently sleeping. I have plans for her to practice her dish-washing skills later, plus I am still planning to put her chauffeuring skills into use as she will be required to ferry not only children but children’s items required for sleepovers.
(Not about anything — I am shocked to realize that this is the first post I have ever tagged with the word “procrastination.” I must have procrastinated about that….)
17
Feb 2011
A high school teacher made the national news after her personal blog was outed by her students and/or parents of her students. Although the teacher kept her identity hidden and never mentioned the school or students by name, she did write blogs where she criticized her students. The school suspended the teacher while it investigated.
Her story, her lawyer argues, could cause a chilling effect on teachers everywhere. It will keep teachers from blogging, he argues. Of 84 posts, the teacher says only 24 mentioned teaching and some just briefly. And it is only the scandalous posts that are being mentioned, she adds.
Why does anyone think that “anonymous” is really anonymous?
I truly think someone needs to develop an educational program to help older people learn the impact online posts of any type can have unintentionally. People need to become more savvy. Of course, it is a class that can help students as well.
I don’t blog anonymously. I thought about it briefly, and I even bought a URL, but ultimately decided I didn’t feel comfortable doing it. That blog was going to talk about my struggles with managing money at a time when I finally am getting it under control (again). The thing is, there is so much about handling money that is unpredictable. People sign loans promising to pay and then the economy changes and jobs are lost or change. It is scary stuff. My secret URL, by the way, was MissManaged.com, which doesn’t exist. I just bought it, and I liked the cleverness of the title. I only posted once or twice before deciding it wasn’t for me..
I also don’t blog about my co-workers or work or students in negative ways. I am careful about what I say online. Even in my recent post about my crash with a semi, I was aware that people like my insurance company might read it. I didn’t want to say anything that was outright wrong without making it clear it was my feelings and not fact.
For that matter, I’m careful about what I say anywhere. I don’t generally complain. I also tend to not discuss religion or politics. This might have to do with my journalism background.
As a journalist, I know how hard it can be for people to realize that what they say might be put out there for all to hear.
28
Dec 2010
http://6-traits.blogspot.com/2007/11/methods-of-teaching-sentence-fluency.html
http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/
http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/grammar_mechanics/how-to-teach-essay-strategies/
http://penningtonpublishing.com/assessments.php
