Stuff for Middle School Language Arts Teachers
Sunday February 5th 2012

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The Timer

Author : mrC Published: March 13th, 2010
The Timer

"How much time do you think you need for the warm up? Six questions, five you have to copy... six minutes?" "Seven." "Five." "Ok, six." The Timer In my class, almost every activity, except the reading/discussion, is timed. In the upper corner of the lcd projection, there is always The Timer. It is such a part of what we do, that when [...]

Raffle King

Author : mrC Published: February 14th, 2010
Raffle King

(Sung -- way off key, and sort of warbley -- to the tune of  "Oh Christmas Tree.") I guess we need to talk about the King. On Wednesdays, after we go over the vocabulary homework, and discuss the words, I give them a vocabulary pretest. If they ace it (100%), they are exempt from the vocabulary portion of the Friday test. I used to have one [...]

RSS Teaching the Outsiders

  • Illin’
    I’ve been one of the walking dead for the past several days (it feels like a hangover–or, ahem, so I’m told– with a cough). I finally called in for a sub this morning. I forgot that practically every math teacher in the district was supposed to be at their version of our “benchmark scoring day.” The difference with the math people is that they were required […]
  • A Moment of Insightful Self-Awareness (and Then It’s Gone)
    I have one of those kids this year whom it’s really hard to get mad at because: 1) He’s funny, and 2) He just can’t help it. Really. When someone says something, and he reacts, you can almost see the marionette strings being yanked as he does one of those double-take head shakes like in the cartoons. He’s just thought of something to say…so out it comes. He […]
  • “The Sub Used One of Your Sticks!”
    Before I get back to the district assessment scoring day, I have to give props to the sub (sorry, guest teacher) who filled in while I was eating snacks and reading papers and “calibrating.” The scene when I announce that I will be gone on a particular day plays out the same almost every time. The following is from last year when I wen to my units’ 50 annive […]
  • The Future of Space Travel
    Ok, so… Almost all of my seventh graders, for years now, have prefaced every story or new thought with the words, “OK, so…” Do yours do something like that or is it just my quirky crew? I’m back and I no longer hate computers. Just anti-virus software. I digress once again, and I haven’t even started. Now that I have a working ‘net connection again, I can in […]
  • Argh…Sometimes I Hate Computers!
    …even new ones. See you tomorrow. (Guess I coulda’ used Twitter for something like that, huh? Or Springface.) […]