In my classroom my students think twice about asking me for an extra piece of paper unless they’ve filled both sides of their first piece, or a clean, new sticky note. They know my tirades.
Example: I keep a box of used sticky notes handy, so that if a student wants a note with which [...]
Entries from June 2008
June 26, 2008
With Apologies to the Rainforest
June 19, 2008
Poetry or Bust
In my afternoon class we are reflecting on poetry, what it means to us, and why it should (or shouldn’t) be taught in school. Students have been interviewing one another on this topic. Among the questions they are asking each other are these:
Should people write and learn about poetry in school? Why or why not?
H. [...]
June 12, 2008
Vocabulary Lesson II
A teacher in my school, hearing about my latest efforts to increase our students’ vocabularies, shared with me how she is trying to crack down on swearing in her classroom. She told her students they can’t use the word B**ch anymore.
”That’s great,” I told her.
”Except now they’re all just calling each other female dogs,” she [...]
June 11, 2008
Vocabulary Lesson
As I was introducing a poetry lesson this week, S. was calling across the aisle to C., who was removing the foil from the shish kabob she’d bought (but not eaten) during her lunch break. Another student was working on an assignment for her next class, and still others were passing notes and whispering loudly.
“Ladies, [...]
June 2, 2008
Poetry Diet
Today was my first day of poetry class with a new group of students. As I always do, I started by asking the class to brainstorm possible benefits of writing poetry. Usually we come up with the usual suspects: Telling their stories in their own words, stress relief, practice reading and writing which will help [...]
