19,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Serie: J-B Ed: Survival Guides
- Sprache: Englisch
Problem-solving techniques for all aspects of the English teacher's job
This unique time-saving book is packed with tested techniques and materials to assist new and experienced English teachers with virtually every phase of their job from lesson planning to effective discipline techniques. The book includes 175 easy-to-understand strategies, lessons, checklists, and forms for effective classroom management and over 50 reproducible samples teachers can adopt immediately for planning, evaluation, or assignments. It is filled with creative and functional ideas for reading response activities, writing assignments, group and individual projects, and speeches.
- Offers instructions for creating and implementing an effective classroom-wide behavior management program
- Shows how to practice the art of teaching English effectively and reduce time on labor intensive tasks
- Reveals how to work effectively with parents, colleagues, substitute teachers, administrators, and community resources
The second edition includes coverage of technology in the classroom, advice for working with reluctant readers, a wealth of sample teaching units and more.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 459
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
Ähnliche
Contents
Cover
Jossey-Bass Teacher
Titles in the Jossey-Bass Teacher Survival Guide Series
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About This Resource
About the Authors
Chapter 1: Beginning the School Year
Designing a Lesson for Day One
Learning Still More About Your Students
Helping Students Know One Another
Chapter 2: Managing Your Classroom
Arranging the Room
Planning for Books, Paper, and Equipment
Planning an Efficient Classroom
Devising a Fair Grading System
Chapter 3: Creating a Master Plan, Individual Units, and Daily Lessons
Designing a Year-Long Course
Planning Teaching Units
Creating Daily Lesson Plans
Team Planning and Teaching
Planning for English Language Learners
Planning for Students with Special Needs in an Inclusive Classroom
Mechanics
Chapter 4: Designing, Monitoring, and Grading Cooperative Learning Activities
Designing Group Activities
Monitoring Cooperative Group Work
Grading Cooperative Group Projects
Chapter 5: Teaching Writing
Teaching the Writing Process
Managing Your Writing Classroom
Using Mini-Lessons
Sharing Student Writing: Presenting and Publishing
Evaluating and Grading Student Writing
Designing Assignments for a Variety of Formats
Chapter 6: Teaching Reading and Literature
Approaches to the Teaching of Literature
Selecting Texts for Student Readers
Planning for Readers' Responses
Evaluation, Testing, and Grading
During and After Reading: Reader's Theater
Chapter 7: Teaching Listening and Speaking
Teaching Listening
Conversing with One Person
Conversing in Small Groups
Conversing in Large Groups
Presenting Individual Speeches
Chapter 8: Using Technology and Media in the Classroom
What Is Media Literacy?
Twenty-First-Century Literacies
Encouraging Responsible Use of Computers and the Internet
Types of Media
Re-creating Media Literacy
Advice for Getting Started
Chapter 9: Working with Others
Working with Parents
Working with Teachers and Administrators
Working with Community Resources
Chapter 10: Avoiding Burnout and Becoming a More Effective Teacher
Staying Healthy and Fit
Becoming a More Effective Teacher
Appendix A: Sample Unit Plans
Themes in African American Literature
Discovering My Identity
Focus on Poetry and the Personal Memoir
Introducing Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Graphic Novel
Appendix B: Twenty Assessment Suggestions
Appendix C: Strategies for Differentiated Instruction
Appendix D: Young Adult Literature Titles
Appendix E: Resources for Teachers
References
Index
List of Illustrations
Figure 1.1 Name Plates
Figure 2.1
Figure 2.2
Figure 2.3
Figure 2.4
Figure 2.5
Figure 5.1 Clustering Example
Figure 5.2 Circles-Within-Circles Organizer
Figure 5.3 Venn Diagram
Figure 5.4
Figure B.1 Sample Vocabulary Slide
List of Tables
Table 6.1 Sample Activities for Students Before, During, and After Reading a Text
Table 8.1 Classic Songs
Table 8.2 Media Forms and Classroom Applications
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Pages
i
iii
iv
v
vi
xi
xiii
xiv
xv
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
81
80
82
83
84
85
86
87
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
Jossey-Bass Teacher
Jossey-Bass Teacher provides educators with practical knowledge and tools to create a positive and lifelong impact on student learning. We offer classroom-tested and research-based teaching resources for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. Whether you are an aspiring, new, or veteran teacher, we want to help you make every teaching day your best.
From ready-to-use classroom activities to the latest teaching framework, our value-packed books provide insightful, practical, and comprehensive materials on the topics that matter most to K–12 teachers. We hope to become your trusted source for the best ideas from the most experienced and respected experts in the field.
Titles in the Jossey-Bass Teacher Survival Guide Series
First-Year Teacher’s Survival Guide: Ready-To-Use Strategies, Tools & Activities for Meeting the Challenges of Each School Day, Second Edition
Julia G. Thompson ISBN 978-0-7879-9455-6
The Art Teacher’s Survival Guide for Elementary and Middle Schools, Second Edition
Helen D. Hume ISBN 978-0-470-18302-1
The Classroom Teacher’s Survival Guide: Practical Strategies, Management Techniques and Reproducibles for New and Experienced Teachers, Third Edition
Ronald L. Partin ISBN 978-0-470-45364-3
Discipline Survival Guide for the Secondary Teacher, Second Edition
Julia G. Thompson ISBN 978-0-470-54743-4
Writing Workshop Survival Kit, Second Edition
Gary Robert Muschla ISBN 978-0-7879-7619-4
Special Educator’s Survival Guide, Second Edition
Roger Pierangelo Ph.D. ISBN 978-0-7879-7096-3
The English Teacher’s Survival Guide: Ready-To-Use Techniques & Materials for Grades 7–12, Second Edition
Mary Lou Brandvik and Katherine S. McKnight ISBN 978-0-470-52513-5
School Newspaper Adviser’s Survival Guide
Patricia Osborn ISBN 978-0-7879-6624-9
Play Director’s Survival Kit: a Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Producing Theater in Any School or Community Setting
James W. Rodgers and Wanda C. Rodgers ISBN 978-0-87628-565-7
Math Teacher’s Survival Guide: Practical Strategies, Management Techniques, and Reproducibles for New and Experienced Teachers, Grades 5–12
Judith A. Muschla, Gary Robert Muschla and Erin Muschla ISBN 978-0-470-40764-6
A Survival Kit for the Elementary School Principal: with Reproducible Forms, Checklists & Letters
Abby Barry Bergman ISBN 978-0-7879-6639-3
The Reading Teacher’s Survival Kit: Ready-To-Use Checklists, Activities and Materials to Help All Students Become Successful Readers
Wilma H. Miller Ed.D. ISBN 978-0-13-042593-5
Biology Teacher’s Survival Guide: Tips, Techniques & Materials for Success in the Classroom
Michael F. Fleming ISBN 978-0-13-045051-7
The Elementary/Middle School Counselor’s Survival Guide, Third Edition
John J. Schmidt Ed.D. 978-0-470-56085-3
The Substitute Teaching Survival Guide, Grades K–5: Emergency Lesson Plans and Essential Advice
John Dellinger ISBN 978-0-7879-7410-7
The Substitute Teaching Survival Guide, Grades 6–12: Emergency Lesson Plans and Essential Advice
John Dellinger ISBN 978-0-7879-7411-4
The ENGLISH TEACHER’S SURVIVAL GUIDE
Ready-to-Use Techniques & Materials for Grades 7–12
SECOND EDITION
Mary Lou Brandvik
Katherine S. McKnight
Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
A Wiley Imprint
989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Permission is given for individual classroom teachers to reproduce the pages and illustrations for classroom use. Reproduction of these materials for an entire school system is strictly forbidden.
Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002.
Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brandvik, Mary Lou.
The English teacher’s survival guide: ready-to-use techniques & materials for grades 7-12 / Mary Lou Brandvik, Katherine S. McKnight.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-52513-5 (pbk.)
1. Language arts (Secondary)—United States—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. High school teaching—United States—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Classroom management—United States—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. English teachers—United States—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. McKnight, Katherine S. (Katherine Siewert) II. Title.
LB1631.B762 2011
428.0071′2—dc22
2010037985
For Olivia, Nora, Ava, Freya, and Esme, whose creativity, enthusiasm, and love fill my heart with joy every day.
Mary Lou Brandvik
To Jim, Ellie, and Colin, who bring joy to my life, and to the teachers who make a difference every day in preparing our children to be members of our democratic society.
Katherine S. McKnight
About This Resource
This updated second edition explores successful approaches to teaching English and classroom management. It is a book intended for both new teachers who are looking for solutions to potential problems and for more experienced teachers who may be staggering under an enormous teaching load and conflicting demands.
Most of us have chosen to be teachers of English because we love to read or write—or both—and we want to instill and nurture this same passion in our students. We want to be inspiring and provocative, caring and nurturing—a composite of the best teachers who have taught us. While thoroughly satisfying, the teaching of English is also extraordinarily demanding. The reality of the school day—interruptions, forms to fill out, bell schedules, alphabet grades, tardy slips, admits, PA announcements—drains any teacher's energy, vitality, and creativity. This book will encourage you to look at yourself and your job with a bit of selfishness. To regain or maintain the idealism that caused us to become teachers, we all need to manage and organize our professional lives in such a way that we also have time for ourselves, our families, and our lives outside the classroom.
The English Teacher's Survival Guide, Second Edition will help you do just that. It offers suggestions for beginning the year and managing and planning your classroom efficiently. It will help you organize your teaching units and design your daily lessons. It offers ideas for developing a grading philosophy and will show you ways to involve both parents and students in the evaluation process. This second edition has a new chapter on media literacy and technology and updated resources from the previous edition. It will also help you address controversial issues such as confidentiality and censorship and provides numerous reproducible materials for teaching writing, reading, listening, speaking, and viewing.
All of us have heard the term “excellent school.” We are told that in an excellent school, students should be doing authentic work rather than sitting in rows and working on worksheets or activities with little relevance. We are told that subjects should be integrated in order to promote intense, interesting learning activities that are meaningful to students. Instead of filling out workbook exercises to learn the mechanics of language, students should be using writing for a real readership. We are told that schools should promote and encourage collaborative activities as well as competitive ones. And, we are told, excellent schools go far beyond the standardized test routine in the evaluation of students by setting up portfolios—collections that show the progress of student work over time. Most of all, we are told, excellent schools engender an excitement and enthusiasm for learning that students, teachers, and parents share.
An excellent school is everyone's goal. We each want our classroom to resemble this model as closely as possible. But how do we make it happen? Times have changed, we've changed, and our students have changed. Yesterday's lesson plans aren't meeting our needs or those of our students. Along with plenty of suggestions for writing and reading activities, the Survival Guide includes specific suggestions for integrating the teaching of speaking, listening, writing, literature, and viewing. It will show you how to introduce cooperative learning activities in your classroom, offer suggestions for portfolio assessment, and provide models for integrating technology. It is intended to help you create an excellent classroom that reflects the excitement for learning that every one of us desires.
About the Authors
Mary Lou Brandvik graduated summa cum laude from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with a B.A. in English and art and earned a master's degree in English education from the University of Illinois. She has taught in public schools in Illinois and Minnesota, as well as at Bemidji State University in Minnesota. She has led in-service workshops in Minnesota and was a participant in the Northern Minnesota Writing Project. Brandvik chaired the Bemidji Public Schools' Writing Curriculum Committee and was selected Teacher of the Year in the Bemidji Public Schools in 1988.
In 1991 she received the Lila B. Wallace Teacher-Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. During the sabbatical that accompanied the award, she researched the literature of the Ojibwe. She is also the author of Writing Process Activities Kit: 75 Ready-to-Use Lessons and Worksheets for Grades 7–12.
Katherine S. McKnight is a former middle and high school teacher who taught in the Chicago Public Schools for ten years and went on to earn her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction: reading, writing, and literacy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently associate professor in secondary education at National-Louis University and lives in Chicago. She is also a recipient of the Faculty in Excellence Teaching Award from Northeastern Illinois University. Serving as a consultant for the National Council of Teachers of English, she works in schools all over the United States in many contexts—urban, rural, and suburban—providing professional development in adolescent literacy, curriculum differentiation, arts integration, and strategies for teaching English in the inclusive classroom. She is a regular presenter at local and national conferences, and her recent books include Teaching Writing in the Inclusive Classroom, Teaching the Classics in the Inclusive Classroom, The Second City Guide to Improve in the Classroom, and The Teacher's Big Book of Graphic Organizers.
Chapter 1
Beginning the School Year
Designing a lesson for Day One
Learning still more about your students
Helping students to know one another
I’ll never forget my first day of teaching. I was so nervous that I reached into my desk for hand lotion and, instead, poured white Elmer’s glue all over my hands.
It’s the first day of school in your district and it is fraught with capital letters for both you and your students. For the student there are The Outfit, The Supplies, The Bus Route, The Locker Assignment, The Lunch Schedule, The Teachers, The Program Schedule, The Seat Assignments. For teachers there are The Class Lists, The Bell Schedules, The Read-on-the-First-Day Announcements from the Principal’s Office, The Add-or-Drop Lists of Student Names from the Counseling Office, The Student Handbook, The Fire-Drill Explanation, The Sign-up Sheet for Audiovisual Materials, The Computer Lab Schedule, and The Library Orientation Schedule. For teachers and students alike, the first day of school is indeed momentous. This is the day students size us up as competent or incompetent, nice or mean, fair or unfair, caring or uncaring.
One of the most important plans we make is the lesson design for the first day of the year. Some teachers spend the entire first class period making seat assignments, handing out books, and reading long lists of classroom and school regulations. If every teacher does this, and many school administrations encourage teachers to do so, a single student may hear a nearly identical set of regulations six or seven times on the first day alone. It is not the tone most schools or classroom teachers wish to set, but it is a tone students perceive and one that’s difficult to undo.
Of course, all of us are concerned with discipline. “Be strict in the beginning,” they tell us in methods classes and in the teachers’ lounge. But what happens when you let up and the students are so intimidated they are afraid to talk? There are guidelines and limits, of course. Your position tells the students you are the teacher in the classroom. How you function will tell them whether you are up to the task, and you will function best if your planning is thorough and organized. Begin setting a classroom tone and atmosphere that is right for you from the very first day of school. If you are required to read school regulations and policies, do it on a subsequent day.
Designing a Lesson for Day One
In setting the tone for your classroom, consider the following plan for the first day.
Welcome Your Students to the School and Your Classroom
Take note of what is special for students on this day. If, for example, your students are ninth or tenth graders, this may be their first day in high school. They may have come from several junior highs or middle schools or from other communities. They must form new friendships and solve new problems in the more complex, less sheltered world of the high school. If they are seniors, this is the first day of their last year of high school—a time they’ve looked forward to with anticipation. There may be transfer students who are unfamiliar with the campus and know few classmates. Some students are raring to get busy; others may not want to be in school at all. View your school and classroom through your students’ eyes, and acknowledge and honor the emotions and questions they may have concerning the new school year and your class.
Introduce Yourself
Give information about your own background, jobs you have held, your family, your interests. Explain why you chose teaching English as a career. Show that you are proud to be a teacher and that you value and respect your work.
Introduce Your Subject
Be positive about the class you are teaching. Explain its benefits, and elaborate on these clearly and specifically. What is it the students can expect to learn from you? What new skills will they practice and acquire? What books or novels can they look forward to reading? What units or projects do you have planned? What can they look forward to with eagerness? Be enthusiastic and inclusive as you do so. Don’t expect students to understand why they should take a particular class. Many are enrolled only because the course is required. Remember that not every student likes English and not every student hates English. However, each needs to know what he or she will learn in your classroom.
Don’t qualify your first-day message by suggesting that some students will succeed while others will fail. Be sure your students understand each is beginning a new year with a clean slate. Let your students know they have a responsibility to attend class regularly, attempt each assignment, and participate in the class. Assure them that if each approaches the class in this manner, each can be a successful student.
Teach a Lesson on the First Day
The first day of school, when motivation is high, is the time for both students and teachers to make a good first impression. Capitalize on this readiness by avoiding a deadly review, and begin with a real lesson that will show off what both you and your students can do. Your goal should be to have your students do something successfully or learn something each can use immediately. The following exercises are a variety of nonthreatening first-day options to foster student success, help set a tone of cooperation and a sense of community in your classroom, and encourage and foster immediate student participation.
Lesson One: Self-Introductions
Have your students write answers to the following directions. Then have them use their answers as a guide while introducing themselves orally to the whole class.
Write your name.
Write the name of the city where you were born.
Write the name of your best subject.
Write the name of a subject that is difficult for you.
Do you have a job? If so, where? Please describe it briefly. What are some good parts of the job? Some drawbacks?
List three things you can do well.
Tell one thing your best friend doesn’t know about you.
Using their answers for notes, ask students to stand and take turns introducing themselves to the class. The teacher might introduce herself or himself first as a model for others. Encourage students to listen carefully because they may be called on to repeat some of the information they have heard. After each person offers his or her sketch, ask the next person to summarize orally what the previous student revealed. When the introductions are complete, call on individuals to identify someone in the class and give one or two details about him or her from memory. By the end of an exercise such as this, your students will no longer be strangers to one another, and you are likely to know each student by name and also by what they are willing to reveal about themselves.
Lesson Two: Partner Introductions
Pair students (preferably stranger-to-stranger to encourage new friendships), and ask them to spend approximately five minutes each interviewing one another. Point out that unusual questions elicit the most interesting information—for example, “What did you learn this summer that you’ll remember for the rest of your life?” Encourage students to take notes during the interview. Give them time to write a brief profile emphasizing the two most interesting things they learned about their partner. Allow students to check their information with their partners. Finally, ask each student to read the profile to the entire class. If students resist speaking or seem particularly insecure about speaking and reading in front of the whole class, you might have them form groups of six to eight students to make their introductions.
A more challenging option is to ask students to recast their profiles into another format, such as a poem, lyric, letter, or story. One format that is accessible to all students is the recipe. Brainstorm with the class for a list of cooking terms, such as bake, broil, mix, whip, and simmer. After you have listed several terms on the blackboard, suggest they write a recipe for the person they interviewed. The following is a sample:
To create this exotic senior, combine:
1 family of 8 children
Sift out the third youngest son.
Beat rapidly, adding:
clear, blue eyes
1 pinch of shyness
a heaping love of drums and carpentry
Bake at 350° for 17 years and frost with an application to vocational school.
Serve immediately. Your guests will be sure to ask for more.
Lesson Three: Props with Introductions
Another approach to interviewing is to have the whole class interview you on the first day and move on to interviewing one another on the next day. On Day One, bring to class several meaningful personal objects (mementos, documents, and a piece of clothing, for example) and encourage your students to base their questions on these. (What is it? How was it acquired? Why is it important to you? What plans do you have for its future?) Following the questioning, ask the students to write a brief profile of you either individually or collaboratively in groups to read aloud. Near the end of the period, call on students to identify the questions that produced the most information. Questions that pursue a point, for example, garner the most information.
On the following day, students bring to class three items important to each of them. Stress sentimental value as opposed to material value and the importance of keeping the items stored safely when they are not in use. Students present and explain their items to the class, and class members ask follow-up questions. Additional activities might include student-authored profiles of class members or papers based on the significance of one of the author’s possessions. Final polished versions may be read aloud, displayed on a bulletin board, or bound as a class book for everyone to enjoy (Kuehn, 1992).
Lesson Four: Freewriting (or Rush Writing)
Introduce the concept of freewriting or rush writing (writing without stopping or editing for a specific number of minutes). Give your students a topic such as, “The quality I like best about myself is …” or “The best class I’ve ever taken was …” Have students write for approximately five minutes. Be sure they understand they will eventually read their writing to the class. Give them a minute or two to edit briefly and then ask each to read aloud. Some teachers let students read these early writings while seated at their desks to keep the activity nonthreatening.
If someone declines to read, suggest that you will come back to him or her after others have had a chance to read, and do so. Don’t let this exercise become a showdown between you and a reluctant student. When this student sees that classmates are reading their writings aloud, she will soon contribute too. After everyone has read, ask the class to recall specific answers they particularly liked and explain to the author why they liked the answer. This is an excellent way to give students positive, supportive peer feedback.
Lesson Five: Creative Excuses
Students brainstorm a list of four or five chores they dislike, select one item, and then write a creative excuse directed to a parent, teacher, or some other adult explaining why he or she should no longer be expected to do it. Encourage students to be as wildly imaginative as possible, and discourage responses such as, “I don’t have my English paper today, because I had to work late at my part-time job.” You may want to read the following sample aloud:
1. Washing the dishes
2. Cleaning the bathroom
3. Cleaning the fireplace
4. Cleaning up after the cat
5. Taking care of my younger sister
6. ?
Mom,
I have a cut on my hand. No, it’s not bleeding, but it really hurts. I know it doesn’t show, but it throbs and aches. I think it could probably get infected if I stick it into greasy dishwater. And, if that happens, I might even end up in the emergency room. Then I won’t be able to help you with the dishes for a long time. So you do them tonight, OK? I’ll do them when my hand gets better—really. Just let me rest here and watch TV. Please. It doesn’t throb so much in this position.—Eric
Lesson Six: Stretching the Meaning of Words
Write a story that stretches the meaning of one word in every direction. Some possible words to use are:
Out
Run
Down
Side
Set
Back
A student’s story based on the word down might look like this:
When I lost my bookbag I figured that I was down on my luck. Feeling dogeared and down, I decided to go downtown to visit my best friend, Charlie. He is absolutely the best person to talk to when you’re feeling down. On the way to Charlie’s house, I decided to down a big container of lemonade. I guess it didn’t go down well because when I got to Charlie’s house, I had to lie down because I wasn’t feeling all that well.
Lesson Seven: Lists
Lists of ten is a quick scaffolding idea that helps student find topics to write about. It also provides you with the opportunity to get to know your students. Have the students take out a sheet of paper and create lists of ten for each of the following categories. It is helpful to time the students so that they are able to stay on task and more freely write (Passman & McKnight, 2007).
Here are some suggested categories:
Ten favorite songs
Ten favorite foods
Ten places I’d like to visit
Ten favorite games
Ten people I’d like to have dinner with
Ten important goals for the future
Ten important things I’d like to learn more about
You may have the students choose one idea from their lists that surprised them or is special in some way, write about it briefly, and then explain it or read it to the class. Encourage students to keep these lists as a resource for later writing projects.
By introducing a first-day lesson such as one of these, you will have achieved a number of objectives: your students will have written and shared their writing with a real audience; you will have begun to establish a positive, cooperative atmosphere; you will have eliminated some of the tension and fear associated with new experiences; and, ideally, you will have shared laughter.
Learning Still More About Your Students
In middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools, we frequently meet 150 students every day even though the schedule breaks them into segments of twenty-five to thirty-five. In addition, we are expected to teach students with diverse ability levels and from varied linguistic backgrounds. To be effective at the secondary level, we need to know our students well and to get to know them as quickly as possible.
Name Tags or Student Name Plates
To take roll and learn student names, teachers have frequently begun the first day of class with assigned seating, and this arrangement frequently remains the same throughout the year. However, if you want your classroom seating plan to be more flexible, if you are also concerned that students learn one another’s names, and if you want to begin moving students from large groups to small groups early in the year, consider distributing name tags or having each student design one of his or her own.
Another option is to have students fold a large sheet of notebook paper into thirds and to have them print their names in large letters on the middle section of the folded paper. The paper will sit upright on a desk, and the teacher and the students are able to read one another’s names easily. (See Figure 1.1.) Students may keep these name sheets in their notebooks and begin the first few weeks of classes by placing this identification on their desks. This is also a useful and helpful way to identify students when guest speakers are invited into the classroom.
Figure 1.1 Name Plates
Questionnaires
Some information about your students will be available prior to the first day of school in cumulative records, tests results, and discussions with other teachers (but don’t let negative comments color your perspective). You may be able to receive information about a student’s health status from the school nurse, but you may have to seek it out. It will also be possible to ask for additional information about students during parent-teacher conferences. However, much of this information will come to you later in the school year. Consequently you may wish to design and distribute student questionnaires or inventories at the beginning of the year and at other appropriate times throughout the school year. Forms 1.1 through 1.4 (which you may duplicate in their entirety or use as a basis for developing your own) are useful in surveying student interests, experiences, spoken languages, favorite subjects, friends, classroom expectations, and ability to study at home. This information will help you know your students more quickly and will be an immediate aid in planning your curriculum and in designing both large- and small-group activities.
If so, who read them? _____
Did you see your parents or other adults reading? _____
Did you like the stories? _____
Try to remember how they taught you. Explain:
If so, how did you feel about doing this? _____
Did you begin to read more or less frequently? _____ Please explain. _____
What makes it the best? _____
Did you finish it? _____
Who or what made you read it? _____
How did you choose it? _____
Do you like to read books in a digital format (on a computer screen or smartphone)? _____
_____
Circle one:
a. I look forward to it.
b. I don’t know where to begin.
c. I’m sure I will fail.
d. With a feeling I can do okay.
What made it so terrible? _____
How do you define “good writing”? _____
Helping Students Know One Another
We often make the assumption that most students in our classes know one another. But they may not, and even if they do, the acquaintance is likely to be superficial. A shy student may sit for months alongside students whose names he or she doesn’t know. Short get-acquainted activities at the beginning of a class period are well worth the class time, especially if you wish to promote a feeling of cooperation and trust within the group.
Opening Exercises
Occasionally, as part of the opening exercise, encourage students to move around the room to talk with one another and find out the answers to one or two questions that you’ve written on the board at the front of the room—for example:
Who walked to school this morning?
Who skipped breakfast this morning?
Whose first language is not English?
Who has a part-time job he or she really enjoys?
Who has an unusual job or once had one?
Who has an exotic pet?
Who has an unusual hobby?
Which student in this class gets up the earliest in the morning?
Which student in this class works the latest hours at night?
Improvisation Activities
Improvisation, a discipline within the larger context of theater and drama, develops our ability to create, develop, and share information. Not only do these activities carry the potential to develop a collaborative classroom context, they also can teach important literacy skills (which will be discussed in a later chapter). Here are some beginning-level improvisation activities that can build community (Passman & McKnight, 2007).
A. Mirror
Group the students into pairs who will face each other and mirror each other’s movement. This activity teaches the students focus, concentration, cooperation, and self-awareness and takes only four to five minutes of class time.
B. Who Started the Motion?
This activity teaches the students how to focus as they work together to conceal the identity of the person starting the motion. Ask the students to stand in a circle. Have one student volunteer to leave the room for a few seconds. Select another student in the circle to be the leader. The leader begins a repetitive movement, and the other students in the circle imitate the movements of the leader. Invite the student who left the classroom to return and stand in the middle of the circle and identify the leader. This person is allowed three chances to make the correct choice.
A Get-Acquainted Activity for the Whole Class
A series of sequenced questions that encourage students to take risks, respond honestly, and get positive reinforcement for doing so is helpful for setting a positive class climate. This activity requires a full class period:
If time is limited, stop here and give students time to respond in writing to this exercise (see item 9). If there is plenty of time, continue:
Chapter 2
Managing Your Classroom
Arranging the room
Planning for books, paper, and equipment
Planning an efficient classroom
Devising a fair grading system
Please, Richard, calm down for just a moment. There are thirty desks in here, and you’re the thirty-first student. I’ll find somewhere for you to sit as soon as I take roll.
Effective teachers organize their space, materials, auxiliary personnel, and students to create a pleasant and effective environment for learning.
Arranging the Room
Spend time planning the layout of desks and materials before students arrive in the fall. Maybe you’re one of those lucky teachers with a state-of-the-art classroom—the kind with plenty of storage space, bulletin boards and chalkboards, lots of electronic gadgets, and, best of all, plenty of extra space for specialized learning and activity centers. It’s more probable, though, that your classroom is cramped, dingy, and poorly ventilated. You may have gotten into the habit of arranging student desks in rows all year long because nothing else seems possible or as efficient. But every room presents some options, and you should try for a variation from time to time. Figures 2.1 through 2.5 illustrate some options.
In Figure 2.1, students’ desks face the middle of the room, and the focus is away from the teacher. This is an ideal configuration when students are reading aloud.
Figure 2.1
In Figure 2.2, desks are arranged in a large circle so that each student can see every other student in the classroom. The teacher becomes a member of the circle and his or her position as the authority figure is deemphasized. This arrangement is ideal for class discussion and is less threatening for shy students who fear speaking at the front of the room.
Figure 2.2
In Figure 2.3, desks are arranged in twos, threes, or fours for small group work. Group members face one another and are close enough to communicate effectively. It’s best to have plenty of space in order to separate groups, which naturally tend to become louder as everyone actively participates. Have a clear access lane to each group. If classroom space is limited, consider moving one or two groups to the hall or to an empty neighboring classroom for small group activities. If students work in groups in the hall, ask that they move their desks or chairs and a table there as well. Sitting on the floor is not conducive to serious group work.
Figure 2.3
In Figure 2.4, desks are arranged in a horseshoe, with the teacher’s chair or stool at the open end. This arrangement allows students to see one another, and the teacher is able to move easily from student to student as necessary. Some teachers who wish to emphasize the cooperative nature of their classrooms eliminate a lectern or designated spot from which to speak and turn their desks to a wall to eliminate the suggestion of a barrier between students and themselves.
Figure 2.4
Finally, in Figure 2.5, desks are arranged in centers. There are student work centers for writing and reading where the students work collaboratively. They consist of four or five desks each or, even better, tables. A computer station is also featured where students can conduct research on the Web or compose writing assignments.
Figure 2.5
An option you might consider for combating monotony is to move your class to other settings in or near the school from time to time. Is there a lawn, a park, a playground, or an art gallery nearby where your class might write or read poetry or give presentations? Why not occasionally move to a small auditorium, the library, or an empty classroom or exchange classrooms with another teacher for a period? Students need variety in their lives, and so do teachers.
What Do You Do When You Don’t Have Your Own Classroom?
Many teachers never have the luxury of being assigned their own classroom. Some teachers are assigned a desk in a department office and share everything: bookcases, classrooms, bulletin boards, and computers. Katie, one of us, never had her own classroom since she taught in overcrowded schools. She has these suggestions:
Planning is always important, but it becomes more critical when you don’t have your own classroom. You have to carry everything with you all of the time. In this situation, a cart with wheels becomes a valuable tool. You can put books and other materials on your cart and wheel it from class to class.
Use a file box. Many teachers have a file box with a handle for each class that they teach. Store handouts, graded papers, and homework assignments in the file box.
If possible, if the classrooms where you teach have file cabinets or built-in cabinets, obtain a key or lock so you can secure materials that you use for nearly every class.
Request at least one locker. Here you can store books that you use, your personal items, and large posters or other materials.
Create an effective and efficient storage system at home to help track your materials and have access to them.
Assign students jobs that help you get your class under way quickly (arrange desks, hand out materials, for example).
To save time at the beginning of the class, write down the agenda and other pertinent information and post it as soon as you enter the classroom.
If none of your colleagues has an assigned classroom, the school probably has procedures and expectations regarding shared space. Make sure that you communicate with your colleagues in this regard.
Planning for Books, Paper, and Equipment
Students should know where reading and writing materials are kept in the classroom and what is available for their use.
Equipment and Materials
Designate a specific location for equipment and materials such as the following:
Pens, pencils, and colored markers
Lined and unlined paper in a variety of sizes and colors
Construction paper
Poster board
Stationery and envelopes
Staplers, staples, and staple removers
Tape
Glue sticks, glue, or paste
Scissors
Paper clips
Erasers and correction fluid
Index cards
Rubber bands
Paper punch
Transparent tape
Rubber cement
Tape recorder and blank tapes
Overhead projector, transparencies, and markers
Television and DVD
Computers with Internet access and printer
It’s good to have all of these materials available in the classroom. Students should be encouraged, however, to have their own paper, pens, and pencils. They should also know where they might find them in the classroom on an emergency basis. Pencils and pens tend to disappear quickly, and some teachers tell their students, “These materials are here for you to use, but once they’re gone, I won’t replace them. Be thoughtful of others.”
Reference Materials
Decide where reference materials such as dictionaries, thesauruses, and style handbooks are to be kept. If you expect to allow students to use these materials outside the classroom, plan a clear checkout procedure.
Ideally your classroom should be equipped with a dictionary (containing etymologies) and a thesaurus for every student. It may be possible to store these on or below each student’s desk. However, the books tend to disappear from the room as students gather them with their own books. Keep resource books in easily accessible bookcases and require students to consult them frequently. Students who do not have access to these materials at home should be encouraged to check them out using a sign-out form (Form 2.1) that is kept in a prominent place.
It’s helpful to have an atlas and an almanac nearby, as well as colorful laminated maps of the United States and the rest of the world. Among other books you might want to have available are these:
Atlas of historical fiction or fantasy
Rhyming dictionary
Guinness Book of World Records
Dictionary of Classical Mythology
Collection of single titles of novels, poetry, and short stories
Magazines such as
The Writer
,
Voice
,
Literary Cavalcade
, and
Merlyn’s Pen
Booklets of writings by previous students
Photographs of art works, diagrams of theaters and other sites, videos about authors or settings, recordings of literature, and tapes of music contemporary with literary works
Computers
If you have computers in your classroom with Internet access, list expectations for their use, and include a sign-up sheet when it is appropriate to use this equipment. Most schools and school districts have policies for Internet use. Go over the rules and expectations for the responsible use of the computers and Internet. The Internet and Computer Responsible Use Agreement in Chapter Eight (Form 8.1) is helpful in this regard. If you wish to allow your students to use the computers during lunch periods and after school, have the students sign up in advance.
Planning an Efficient Classroom
Be clear about your expectations and management style. Give students as many responsibilities as possible. Enable them to go about their business of being independent, productive students without interrupting you with unnecessary, time-consuming questions such as, “May I borrow a pencil?” The goal is to create a self-starting classroom filled with students who come into class and begin work immediately.
Students Should Know What to Bring to Class Each Day
It is desirable for every student to have a copy of whatever material is being studied. Students should be expected to bring the appropriate material to class each day. Hand out short-term or unit schedules (see Chapter Three), and make your expectations specific and clear.
Have a Clear Plan for Obtaining Forgotten Materials
If practical, allow students to leave the classroom to retrieve forgotten materials. Encourage them to do so as quickly and with as little commotion as possible. One effective means of discouraging this practice is to be sure students who have to leave the classroom to gather forgotten materials understand your school’s policy for unexcused tardies.
Explain the Procedure for Leaving Your Classroom
Do all in your power to discourage the tendency for heavy traffic in and out of your classroom—to the library, the office, or the lavatory, for example. Many teachers tell students they may leave the classroom only at the end of the class period if all other work is completed or when there is an obvious, valid emergency. Many schools expect teachers to issue hall passes for situations like this. Avoid writing passes for each occasion. Some teachers make and laminate a master pass. Others use a block of wood with the word pass
