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Literature Teachers Chatboard

Over my head, drowning in work!

by Meg

Jan 15, 2009

Hello out there.

I am a Languange Arts teacher who has been trying to keep her head above water! Can anyone help?

I teach multiple grades, 8 through 12th. I am in a small charter school and was just hired before the Christmas break. My principal came to me and said that the school's philosophy is that each grade level be reading...See More

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I recommend you adjust your scheduling if possible... What you may want to do is rotate your classes so that only one group is doing novel reading at the same time if that is currently the biggest stressor.

For example: 9th grade is reading their three novels for a month. 8th/10th are doing writing units. 11th/12th are doing units on their respective American Lit/British Lit time periods out ...See MoreWhat you may want to do is rotate your classes so that only one group is doing novel reading at the same time if that is currently the biggest stressor.

For example: 9th grade is reading their three novels for a month. 8th/10th are doing writing units. 11th/12th are doing units on their respective American Lit/British Lit time periods out of their textbooks. All groups get vocabulary/grammar/SSR time.

The next month, the groups rotate so that everyone is getting everything, just not at the same time. (I'd probably go on and plan my curriculum maps for each class from now until the end of the year to ensure that this is the case.)

I definitely wouldn't try to teach three novels for each grade at the same time (12 novels at once?) unless I set it up as more of an independent reading project.

On 1/15/09, Meg wrote: > Hello out there. > > I am a Languange Arts teacher who has been trying to keep > her head above water! Can anyone help? > > I teach multiple grades, 8 through 12th. I am in a small > charter school and was just hired before the Christmas > break. My principal came to me and said that the school's > philosophy is that each grade level be reading a variety > of novels at the same time, for example, I have a lot of > split classes so the 9th graders would have to have > material for 3 novels and they rotate which one they read, > and so on. > > Here is my problem: my head will explode. If I have to do > three novels per gradelevel all at the same time. I don't > know what to do about this, as this is unfamiliar > territory and right now I have all the highschoolers > reading a particular novel and the middle schoolers doing > another. Did I mention that half of my upperclassmen are > low level readers and that I just had to teach them > capitalization? And on top of that, I haven't taught much > high school since by student teaching days 5 years ago. I > have a lot more middle school experience. > > I guess I need to figure out how to differentiate > instruction between all of these different grades without > my head falling off. I feel like I have no personal life, > as I am always doing school work and trying to catch up! > > Any advice would be so appreciated from the bottom of my > heart. Today after my conversation with the principal, I > felt so overwhelmed and clueless...its an awful feeling! > > MC >

Jan 18, 2009

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Journey Home by Uchida

by Diane

Jan 28, 2009

HI, Journey Home by Y. Uchida Desperate for lower level materials for some LS studens in my 7th grade, I found some copies of this book languishing in the bookroom. If anyone can post/send test, literary units or other material used with it in the past I'd appreciate it. In 1989 it was in a Houghton-Mifflin Literature series. I've searched the publ...See More

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s I have literature discussion questions for the first book that Uchida wrote, "Journey to Topaz" that I can email you if you wish, though you may not have multiple copies of that title. These questions could be used as writing prompts or as a 'literature circle' type activity, as these are open- ended questions, designed to stimulate a higher level ...See More

Jan 30, 2009

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Persuasive writing

by Shane

Feb 5, 2009

Does anyone have any links/books of good persuasive writing to use for read alouds/examples/mini-lessons? Thanks.

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Heidi R. Take a look at Persuade Star, ReadWriteThink Persuasion Map, and Writing Materials from the OWL at Purdue, all described here.

Feb 5, 2009

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Heidi R. revious link was bad. Let me try that again: > Take a look at Persuade Star, ReadWriteThink Persuasion Map, > and Writing Materials from the OWL at Purdue, all described > here.

Feb 5, 2009

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demo lesson

by CTteach

Feb 5, 2009

Hello all. I am hoping someone here can give me some tips, advice, hints, or something to that effect.

I have yet to give a demo lesson, but it looks like I will have to do this at some point -- assuming I get another interview. Truth is, I have no idea how to go about this. Yes, I have taught before, but I do not have any one English les...See More

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Help for a new teacher in Bolivia

by Paula Lee

Feb 9, 2009

My daughter just started teaching high school 9-12 Eng Lit in Bolivia. She is a college grad but has no specific teaching experience. She is looking for a general book that could help her with topics like characterization, irony, points of view, genres, etc. She may not even know what to ask for so ANYTHING you can recommend for someone that has no...See More

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L. Swilley On 2/09/09, Paula Lee wrote: > My daughter just started teaching high school 9-12 Eng Lit > in Bolivia. She is a college grad but has no specific > teaching experience. She is looking for a general book that > could help her with topics like characterization, irony, > points of view, genres, etc. She may not even know what to > as...See MoreOn 2/09/09, Paula Lee wrote: > My daughter just started teaching high school 9-12 Eng Lit > in Bolivia. She is a college grad but has no specific > teaching experience. She is looking for a general book that > could help her with topics like characterization, irony, > points of view, genres, etc. She may not even know what to > ask for so ANYTHING you can recommend for someone that has > not been trained would be helpful. Bolivians don't read and > my daughter's job is to inspire them to read. If you can > refer her to online resources, that would be great. > Shipping books to Bolivia is very expensive. Thank you for > any help you can provide. ====================================================

We inspire our students to read by discussing works - in this case, of literature - with them, asking questions of individual students about parts of the work, then asking another and another student to comment on the answer given, gently "nudging" the class towards what we ourselves know about the work: its main character, the advance or decline of that character in steps that lead to the end of the novel.

There is little hope for the teacher who, herself, does not know and love well the work under consideration, who does not see the cause-and-effect progress of the story, for that is the place to start. For resistant students ("Bolivians don't read"??) it is important - once the teacher is confident in her own knowledge of the work - to begin with a class reading of the first one or two paragraphs of the story, asking where the story seems to be going, what is it emphasizing and what might be made of such a direction, adding paragraphs in the reading and incorporating them with what has been agreed upon before. Once this is underway, subsequent classes might begin with simple quizzes on individual chapters (to be sure the students have actually read the material) - perhaps one at a time - followed by in-class discussions in the manner described above.

This cannot be hurried; there is little more destructive of good teaching and learning than the must- cover-the-material attitude. If we run out of time for the treatment of a work, it is better to summarize and move on to the next assignment than to accept the disastrous, stupid idea that *quantity of facts* is more important than *quality of careful judgement of them.*

L. Swilley

Feb 10, 2009

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Sara On 2/10/09, L. Swilley wrote: > On 2/09/09, Paula Lee wrote: >> My daughter just started teaching high school 9-12 Eng Lit >> in Bolivia. She is a college grad but has no specific >> teaching experience. She is looking for a general book that >> could help her with topics like characterization, irony, >> points of v...See MoreOn 2/10/09, L. Swilley wrote: > On 2/09/09, Paula Lee wrote: >> My daughter just started teaching high school 9-12 Eng Lit >> in Bolivia. She is a college grad but has no specific >> teaching experience. She is looking for a general book that >> could help her with topics like characterization, irony, >> points of view, genres, etc.

If Bolivians don't read - Bolivia is not a wealthy nation - then I wouldn't jump into characterization, irony, points of view, genres etc. Those ideas are based on the assumption that students have read and a fair bit.

She should find a book and start them reading, just reading. Get them talking about what they're reading, get them thinking or starting to reflect about the reading. Characterization etc can wait.

Your daughter is welcome to e-mail me - I've taught ESL for many years. Does your daughter read? Of course - what book in Spanish is her favorite? Have her tell them about the book and why. She should spend at least a month or maybe several months just helping them to build a relationship with reading and literature and in the ideal world, bringing them to a love of reading and a thirst to read more and know more.

Do Bolivians tell stories? This would be a VERY valid exercise - oral tradition is a part of literature - it just wasn't written down. What are their stories? Have them tell their stories and write them down.

Your daughter is to be commended for her willingness to go to Bolivia and work. I'd be happy to hear from her. Wish her bueno suerte - my Spanish isn't as good as hers - but I think that's good luck. > > We inspire our students to read by discussing works - > in this case, of literature - with them, asking questions of > individual students about parts of the work, then asking > another and another student to comment on the answer given, > gently "nudging" the class towards what we ourselves know > about the work: its main character, the advance or decline > of that character in steps that lead to the end of the > novel. > > There is little hope for the teacher who, herself, > does not know and love well the work under consideration, > who does not see the cause-and-effect progress of the > story, for that is the place to start. For resistant > students ("Bolivians don't read"??) it is important - once > the teacher is confident in her own knowledge of the work - > to begin with a class reading of the first one or two > paragraphs of the story, asking where the story seems to be > going, what is it emphasizing and what might be made of such > a direction, adding paragraphs in the reading and > incorporating them with what has been agreed upon before. > Once this is underway, subsequent classes might begin with > simple quizzes on individual chapters (to be sure the > students have actually read the material) - perhaps one at a > time - followed by in-class discussions in the manner > described above. > > This cannot be hurried; there is little more > destructive of good teaching and learning than the must- > cover-the-material attitude. If we run out of time for the > treatment of a work, it is better to summarize and move on > to the next assignment than to accept the disastrous, stupid > idea that *quantity of facts* is more important than > *quality of careful judgement of them.* > > L. Swilley

Feb 23, 2009

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Night Small Group Help

by Night Help

Feb 9, 2009

I was wondering if anyone has any good small group (3 - 6 students) lesson activities for Night by Elie Wiesel? Also, if you happen to know of any good unit plans or lesson plans online, it would be appreciated.

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