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Middle School Teachers Chatboard

Stressed

by Chloe

Feb 7, 2014

I taught 11th and 12th graders for several years. Recently, I moved to 8th grade, and I am having a real hard time adjusting! I am accustomed to a much more mature audience!! I really do not know what to do with these strange creatures! Group work is out of the question since the students can't stay on task. I tried to do an activity which required...See More

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Vet Teacher On 2/07/14, Chloe wrote: Are you the only 8th grade teacher? Your best answer might come from a building colleague. And all administrators are going on and on about "hands on learning" these days - none of then I think have done it themselves. If your kids sit still while you are teaching, how wonderful is that. One reason to do "hands on learning"...See More

Feb 13, 2014

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Lauren Google: Kagan Cooperative Learning Strategies. On 2/07/14, Chloe wrote: > I taught 11th and 12th graders for several years. Recently, > I moved to 8th grade, and I am having a real hard time > adjusting! I am accustomed to a much more mature audience!! > I really do not know what to do with these strange > creatures! Group work is ou...See More

Feb 20, 2014

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Students editing their own work

by Naoma Armstrong-Manz

Feb 18, 2014

What are your best strategies for getting students to self-check their own essays? I have taught run-ons, fragments, punctuation, capitalization, etc. I still have students turning in work that has these errors. Any ideas?

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Madame Suzanne On 2/18/14, Naoma Armstrong-Manz wrote: > What are your best strategies for getting students to > self-check their own essays? I have taught run-ons, > fragments, punctuation, capitalization, etc. I still have > students turning in work that has these errors. Any ideas?

I am wondering when it is a test, do you let someone else ...See More

Feb 19, 2014

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is insightful - Vet Teacher On 2/18/14, Naoma Armstrong-Manz wrote: > What are your best strategies for getting students to > self-check their own essays? I have taught run-ons, > fragments, punctuation, capitalization, etc. I still have > students turning in work that has these errors. Any ideas?

Debbie's point is an insightful one - and it's why experie...See MoreOn 2/18/14, Naoma Armstrong-Manz wrote: > What are your best strategies for getting students to > self-check their own essays? I have taught run-ons, > fragments, punctuation, capitalization, etc. I still have > students turning in work that has these errors. Any ideas?

Debbie's point is an insightful one - and it's why experienced and long-standing authors have editors. Writing is one thing - editing is another and it's a skill unto itself separate from writing.

And these are students - if they could perfectly spot a run-on sentence they should be teaching the class not taking it. From what you're saying - and it makes perfect sense - these are student writers still learning to write. As time goes on if they continue to write they will get better at spotting their punctuation errors etc but Faulkner never did stop writing in run-on sentences.

Until then have them use Grammarcheck but that's far from perfect. I don't much like peer editing but peer editing for punctuation errors wouldn't hurt and it might save you some time.

Or offer a prize - incentivize them to the max in a light- hearted way - a special prize to the person whose paper is error free (a run-on sentence is a very different kind of error than a punctuation error but I've made that point already)

Editing is a skill that depends completely on reading - not everyone is programmed to read for detail - it's why editors become editors and not writers. You need to have a reading style that sees the trees and is not distracted by the forest to be an editor. Some kids come to the table with that kind of reading style but not many and overall it takes some time to read for details like punctuation.

Last but not least there's research that suggests there's a kind of firewall in the brain between where certain information is stored and writing is produced. Elementary school teachers teach spelling and punctuation rules and then pull their hair out when kids write misspelling words that they got a 100 on in the spelling test. It's that firewall thing. With that understanding, teachers of young children are using 'word walls' so kids can look up, see the spelling of the word and use it in their writing.

You can't really do a 'word wall' for capitalization, punctuation or those pesky run-on sentences but you could have them try to edit each other's papers for such errors and in doing that you're giving them practice in reading for detail. As Debbie pointed out, the brain picks up details of error in the writing of others far more readily than it does in our own writing.

Feb 20, 2014

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Managing systems for block classes

by Looking Forward

Feb 20, 2014

I am possibly moving into a 7th or 8th grade 90 min block scheduled classroom next year. I am curious to find out how you set up a filing system for student work, behavior, etc and what I might need in supplies to do this.

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Writing prompts for this week now posted!

by Kathleen

Feb 16, 2014

This week's prompts are now posted! Here's a sample from the dozens available!

In 1930, the first cow flew on an airplane. The cow was even milked while on the airplane. What kind of problems do you think there would be trying to fly a cow or other large animal on an airplane?

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8 Black History Study Strategies to Avoid by Jennifer Davis

by Kathleen

Feb 10, 2014

Jennifer Davis Bowman, Ed.D. writes in Teachers.Net Gazette:

After thinking about the curriculum that most educators (including myself) fall into during the month of February, I compiled a list of 8 things to avoid during the study of Black History. [Click below to read her list.]

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