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English 11
Four Day Week!!!
Today: sentence of the day (rant to follow), reflective journals, collected Patrick Henry Biography, assigned homework.
Sentence of the Day is a great exercise where I post sentences that contain a number of errors on the board, ask students to make corrections on their own, and then we correct. I've used three different companies, and I've come to like one company in particular- Houghton Mifflin. The sentences from H-M are compound/complex and hit a number of skills each day. Students learn how to separate run-ons, use semi-colons, write addresses, eliminate passive voice, punctuate titles and so on. The other companies that I've tried have been too easy or too silly for students to take seriously. I may have to change that. The students this year are having a difficult time with these sentences...to the point where they're so frustrated that they've given up. I'm thinking that if I use the sentences that came with the in-class textbook, they'll do better and with a little confidence under their belts I can revert to the more difficult sentences. We'll see.
Observations
Students returned their surveys today, and an interesting question popped up: at least one student in every class asked, "I couldn't answer question #6 because I don't know who the best writer in our class is." Now we've spent hours (literally) reading each other's work and offering comments and suggestions, so I was a little taken aback. So I broadened the spectrum a little and asked students who they thought the best writer in their grade would be. They were still stumped, so finally I asked them just to write down the name of a student whose writing they admired and not to worry so much about the best/worst aspect of the question. It was a very odd situation, though.Sentence of the day you've read. We spent a little time decorating the covers of our reflective journals today before writing in them. I had five questions:
1.) What organizational structure did you choose for this essay (chunks, chronological, reverse chronological)?
2.) What major changes did you make in content, organization and craft from the rough draft to the final draft?
3.) What did you like about this assignment?
4.) What did you dislike about this assignment?
5.) What did you learn about this assignment?
Some students wrote around 15 words. Several students, though, filled up a (comp book) page! I had more than a few students answer questions 2-5 as follows: none, nothing, everything, nothing.
I will be changing question format as a result. Students will now be asked: What would you change about this assignment? Hopefully I'll be able to get some valid feedback from students about their writing instead of useless complaining. (There is useful complaining...but not today.)
Tick, tock...time has passed.
I'm writing the remainder of this blog entry from home, but I wanted to report about how I changed the questions. Students in 9th period were NOT thrilled about the journals, but when it came time to write, I got (by far) the longest and most detailed answers of the day. I changed question #4 to read "What did you dislike about this assignment, and what would you change to make it more effective?" The only directions I gave were to title and date the entry and to respond in complete sentences (but not to write in sentences that simply rephrased the question). A few students put forth minimal effort, but most students had quite a bit to write.
reflection
On Friday I went to a staff development that was...useful!! YES!!! We had a regional development day where teachers of different disciplines offered their knowledge to the rest of us - which is why it was so useful. Teachers chose their workshop according to their interests. But I digress. Here's the reflection part - the workshop I went to showed me how to set up discussion boards for my own students much like the discussion boards used at Blackboard. I could make the groups private and hold the responses for a certain amount of time (until everyone was done). I like the idea of discussion boards better than blogs (for students) because blogs seem a little casual while discussion boards have a more serious look. I wish I had taken thought of discussion boards sooner because I would have had students post their reflective paragraphs there instead of having them use journals. I would certainly make less paper for me to carry!!
On to classroom reflection. Things went well. I'm not going to deceive myself - the only reason students were even remotely interested in the reflective journals is because I let them play with markers and stickers first. I did receive most students' work, but some students refused to look at me. A few brave souls did ask what they should write in the journal if they didn't do the assignment, and I answered "Nothing - you have nothing to respond to. You will write your entry whenever you turn in your essay." They were a little shocked. Ditto for the moment when I asked students to highlight the parts of their essay they felt were good. As usual, students asked if they could highlight the entire thing - ummm...no. Then it's not special, it's yellow. Again, shocked. "What? You don't think my essay's special?" No, I haven't read it, so I can't make a determination, just highlight the stuff YOU think is great.
I did remind students to tell their parents that all we did in class today was hand in an essay! Tomorrow we begin looking at the fight for justice by examining "The Rights of Women," "Letter to Samson Occom," and "Letter to John Adams." We'll see how that goes...
Tick, tock...time has passed.
I'm writing the remainder of this blog entry from home, but I wanted to report about how I changed the questions. Students in 9th period were NOT thrilled about the journals, but when it came time to write, I got (by far) the longest and most detailed answers of the day. I changed question #4 to read "What did you dislike about this assignment, and what would you change to make it more effective?" The only directions I gave were to title and date the entry and to respond in complete sentences (but not to write in sentences that simply rephrased the question). A few students put forth minimal effort, but most students had quite a bit to write.
reflection
On Friday I went to a staff development that was...useful!! YES!!! We had a regional development day where teachers of different disciplines offered their knowledge to the rest of us - which is why it was so useful. Teachers chose their workshop according to their interests. But I digress. Here's the reflection part - the workshop I went to showed me how to set up discussion boards for my own students much like the discussion boards used at Blackboard. I could make the groups private and hold the responses for a certain amount of time (until everyone was done). I like the idea of discussion boards better than blogs (for students) because blogs seem a little casual while discussion boards have a more serious look. I wish I had taken thought of discussion boards sooner because I would have had students post their reflective paragraphs there instead of having them use journals. I would certainly make less paper for me to carry!!
On to classroom reflection. Things went well. I'm not going to deceive myself - the only reason students were even remotely interested in the reflective journals is because I let them play with markers and stickers first. I did receive most students' work, but some students refused to look at me. A few brave souls did ask what they should write in the journal if they didn't do the assignment, and I answered "Nothing - you have nothing to respond to. You will write your entry whenever you turn in your essay." They were a little shocked. Ditto for the moment when I asked students to highlight the parts of their essay they felt were good. As usual, students asked if they could highlight the entire thing - ummm...no. Then it's not special, it's yellow. Again, shocked. "What? You don't think my essay's special?" No, I haven't read it, so I can't make a determination, just highlight the stuff YOU think is great.
I did remind students to tell their parents that all we did in class today was hand in an essay! Tomorrow we begin looking at the fight for justice by examining "The Rights of Women," "Letter to Samson Occom," and "Letter to John Adams." We'll see how that goes...
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