Reading Teachers Chatboard

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Reading

MEMBERS

11 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Reading Teachers Chatboard

Poetry Question...

by Elle

Apr 23, 2012

I teach 7th grade language arts and I want to do poetry with my students. I, however, don't want to do the "typical" poetry (haikus, cinquains, concrete, etc.). I wanted to do poems in which I really get to see their writing.

The only ones i came up with is Anger poems (Emotion poems), and If You're Not poems.

Does anyone have a...See More

Comment

(3)

report post

view previous comments

Elle That's a great one! I just researched it online and it's perfect.

Thank you for your suggestion.

Any others?

On 4/24/12, KK wrote: > Have you tried "Where I'm From" poems? There are lots of > examples online--templates and completed versions. I've seen > some amazing projects where teachers have had students comb...See More

Apr 25, 2012

report post

KK Oh, good, I'm glad that will work.

I like the emotion ones, too, but I noticed you're already doing that.

I don't have a template, but I got this idea from some Marzano-type vocabulary organizers, where you begin with a concept, and students fill in phrases and related ideas throughout a unit of study. I used it with a G/T class t...See More

Apr 25, 2012

report post

Persuasive Writing-mini-lessons for gr. 6-8

by lola

Apr 24, 2012

I'm teaching a writing elective just on persuasive writing. I've been searching high and low for ideas for mini lessons on persuasive writing.

I have these ideas for mini-lessons: 1) hook/launch/attention grabber 2) claim/reason 3) opposing argument 4) writing a conclusion ---probably hardest one for me! How do you an "activity" with this...See More

Comment

report post

Wilson Reading

by Marcy Smith - Burlington NJ

Apr 27, 2012

I am a Reading Specialist with 15 years experience and I find Wilson to be a FANTASTIC way to teach a child who has struggled to finally read. I have had great success. Reading is a process, and yes it will take time. I will say don't wait until a child is older. Get help right away. A child's brain is the most flexible between ages 3- 7 for learni...See More

Comment

report post

ESL Grades 6-8 Reading Library BEST BOOKS to order??

by Kay

Apr 28, 2012

Suggestions needed for ESL reading resources to use w/ grades 6-8 in after school program.

Comment

report post

Writing elective

by Cyndi

Apr 29, 2012

I was just informed that I'll be teaching a new writing elective next year, but have NO materials. It's open to 10th - 12th grade. Any suggestions as to where to even begin?

Comment

(2)

report post

Sara On 4/29/12, Cyndi wrote: > I was just informed that I'll be teaching a new writing > elective next year, but have NO materials. It's open to > 10th - 12th grade. Any suggestions as to where to even > begin?

These days you don't really need materials - the Internet and your school library can likely provide you with everything y...See More

May 1, 2012

report post

KK I love Sara's idea of setting up the class as a writing studio with specializations.

I agree that the Internet has a wealth of material--if it would make you feel more comfortable, you could look for one or two books full of writing prompts--there are many to choose from, whether from educational publishers or those targeted more toward ad...See MoreI love Sara's idea of setting up the class as a writing studio with specializations.

I agree that the Internet has a wealth of material--if it would make you feel more comfortable, you could look for one or two books full of writing prompts--there are many to choose from, whether from educational publishers or those targeted more toward adults in the references/writing section at the bookstore.

It's probably a good idea to build in a reading component to the course, so you can provide plenty of models of different writing styles and genres, and give the students time to analyze and discuss them. While you probably want to give them as much time as possible to write and discuss their own work, the study of other writers is a gateway to new voices, as well as less personal (so it's easier for students to be objective and honest about their responses to the work). You can start with your own selections, and then invite students to bring in powerful writing samples they find. I should clarify--I don't necessarily mean reading entire novels, but excerpts or chapters from longer works.

You could structure the course by introducing and practicing different genres in short exercises, sharing/discussing those, and then give students time to develop longer pieces based on their individual choices. You could also build the course around big-picture themes, like honor, power, rebellion, beauty, and so forth, and select examples from each of those themes to share with students. Within this structure, students could approach shorter writing assignments from different angles--what is beauty? What are the advantages and risks of power? These pieces could take the form of many different genres.

This would be so much fun to teach!

On 5/01/12, Sara wrote: > On 4/29/12, Cyndi wrote: >> I was just informed that I'll be teaching a new writing >> elective next year, but have NO materials. It's open to >> 10th - 12th grade. Any suggestions as to where to even >> begin? > > > These days you don't really need materials - the Internet and > your school library can likely provide you with everything you > need. This sounds like a dream class to me - you'll be > teaching kids who've chosen a writing elective. > > You can treat it like a writing studio - let them 'major' - do > they want to write biographies, poetry, plays, essays, short > stories? Or you could do one of each of those and then engage > that genre in the kids' own writing. > > Use your favorite things that you think are palatable to high > schoolers. Likely they'll favor creative writing. > > You can also 'cadge' a course from dozens of Internet sites - > lots of teachers post their course outlines. Punch it in > google and you could peruse them and for hours. >

May 2, 2012

report post

Teaching Writing the Old Fashioned Way

by subteacher86

May 10, 2012

Wow,

I'm beginning to think that I'm one of those people who can grasp a concept very well but has difficulty explaining that concept to someone else. I'm certified in English / Language Arts and was subbing at a high needs school for two weeks. On my last day, I decided to have the students do writing, but I had no idea where to begin, a...See More

Comment

(2)

report post

Jamie When I first started teaching, I felt that I was more effective at teaching math than writing, even though writing was my natural strength area. When something just makes sense to you, you aren't as aware of all the little techniques you are using--you just do it. When it's more challenging, you have to try different strategies until it clicks for ...See MoreWhen I first started teaching, I felt that I was more effective at teaching math than writing, even though writing was my natural strength area. When something just makes sense to you, you aren't as aware of all the little techniques you are using--you just do it. When it's more challenging, you have to try different strategies until it clicks for you. I had many more math strategies for students in my bag of tricks, because I needed to try them along the way.

Also, be aware that subbing at the end of the year is not the easiest thing to do. When you know the students, you can tap into their interests and predict what will challenge them. Subs are at a disadvantage without this information.

There are lots of resources to help design lesson plans, but I would suggest you start with the pacing guide and curriculum objectives. What do you want them to learn? How can they prove to you that they have learned it?

Ways to show they understand: They can take a quiz, they can build something, they can teach it to someone else, they can draw a diagram of it, they can write about it, give a speech about it, and a million other formats. Teachers often get stuck assigning a few familiar project formats, but it's easy to find lists of ideas (I'll post a link to one example from my site below).

Before they can show what they've learned, they'll need to take small steps to practice the skill and process the information. Anticipate where they will have problems, and plan activities to let them discover those things. For example, if students are using calculators to solve money problems, you can guess they won't all know to round their answers to two decimal places to represent cents, even if they have practiced rounding.

Consider all the activities and learning experiences that would help students be able to prove their mastery of the objective, and select the ones that are most effective, engaging, and worth the time it takes to complete them. Look for ways to connect these activities to other areas of the curriculum, but take care not to be side-tracked by shallow connections. When you have walked the students through a logical progression of smaller activities, give them the opportunity to prove their independent mastery with the task you chose.

Before you teach anything, do a pre-test to see if there are students who already know how to do whatever it is. This could be a written quiz, a performance task, or teacher observation of peer discussions. If some students already know how to do it, plan a replacement activity for them so they are learning new material, too.

Although it's a complicated process, it is a thrill when it all comes together. Practice is the only way to improve.

One other suggestion about your specific post--there are many great books with writing prompts that you could use as a sub or classroom teacher. There's a great one called Unjournaling by Dawn DiPrince.

Good luck!

On 5/10/12, subteacher86 wrote: > Wow, > > I'm beginning to think that I'm one of those people who can > grasp a concept very well but has difficulty explaining > that concept to someone else. I'm certified in English / > Language Arts and was subbing at a high needs school for > two weeks. On my last day, I decided to have the students > do writing, but I had no idea where to begin, and, until > the Science teacher--who was also certified in Language > Arts, explained to me how to set up the lesson, I was > completely lost. I graduated last year, and, frankly, I > feel worthless. I don't really know how to set up a daily > lesson plan, follow the pacing guide, grade certain items, > and meet important objectives. My biggest problem, though, > is that I don't really know how to explain things to the > students. Confusion creates disaster.

May 11, 2012

report post

Sara On 5/10/12, subteacher86 wrote:

It takes time to learn how to communicate students - there are some people who have a natural talent for it but most teachers need to learn how.

Keep it simple to start. You can practice at night - do you know that auctioneers actually practice before the auction begins? They practice to an empty r...See More

May 15, 2012

report post

101 Websites for English Teachers

by Erik S.

May 18, 2012

A list of the top 101 websites for English & Language Arts (ELA) chosen by real teachers from prominent LinkedIn groups.

If you have any other recommendations, please share them in the comments directly on the blog!

Comment

report post

Reading Comprehension

by Mrs. O

May 22, 2012

As this year winds down I have to share a great resource that has made reading so much fun and more meaningful for my 5th graders. It's a reading activity/game/strategy called Comprehension Shuffle from a group called PEP. I have provided the link below to the free downloads page. 20 different comprehension skills in an easy to use format. Absolute...See More

Comment

(1)

report post

MaryB................ thanks Mrs O I teach MS ESL language arts classes and checked out your link. I printed out 15 of the full page posters and laminated them this afternoon. Most, if not all, of the terms highlighted are what I need to teach to four levels of ESL students for ESL standardized testing and ITBS, so thanks for posting the information!

Jun 1, 2012

report post