Sunday Night Blues

Yeah.

From Autobiography to Zombie

A big part of the memoir unit we teach in sixth grade reading is helping students identify the theme of whatever story we are reading. Earlier this week, I asked for kids to throw out possible themes for the piece we had just finished, an excerpt from Jerry Spinelli's memoir, Knots in my YoYo String.

We read the part where Jerry considers himself a non-reader because he doesn't like that many books. He reads comics voraciously and sports statistics and he loves words and writers who use them playfully, but in his mind, reading and writing are nothing special-- they simply take their place with the "popsicles, pen knives and bicycle tires" of his life. One day he even writes an extra poem to go with a brochure project on Mexico, and his teacher accuses him of plagiarism, probably because she doesn't see any strength in that area either.

"So, what's the lesson?" I asked the class.

A kid who probably doesn't consider himself very literary raised his hand, and I called on him with pleasure.

"Your greatest strength might contain your greatest weakness?" he suggested.

"Hmmmm. That sounds familiar," I said. "Did you see World War Z recently?" 

He shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah. Last weekend."

"Think about it though," I advised him. "Turn it around a little. You thought of that for a reason."

He considered it a moment, and then I saw the light of an idea in his face. "Your weakness might contain your strength?"

"I think it might," I told him. "I think it might."

Color Blind

"Are Katie and Lizzy sisters?" a student asked me today. I understood why she might wonder that, because both girls happen to have albinism.

"No," I told her.

"Are they cousins?"

"Nope," I said.

"Well, they just look so much alike," she continued.

"Kind of," I shrugged. "They definitely have the same hair color."

"Are you sure they aren't related?" She couldn't let it go.

"Listen," I said, "what you're asking is like somebody wondering if you and [here I named another student] are related."

"Why?" she frowned. "Because we're Asian? We don't look anything alike."

"I know," I said, "and that's the point."

The Reading Boss

I administered yet another standardized test to my students today. Upon seeing our agenda, they literally groaned with disbelief. I shrugged in sympathy. There is nothing I can do about the 20 days (4 full weeks) of instruction and learning in my class that is replaced by mandated testing. Still, I hate for the kids to get discouraged so early in the year.

"Oh! This one's different," I said. "First you pick the type of passages you like so they give you questions you will find interesting."

They did not seem sold. "How many questions are there?" someone asked.

"It depends," I told them. "It's like..." I grasped for a simile. "It's like a video game. You keep answering until you get a certain number wrong, and then they end your test, tell you thanks for playing, and give you a score."

This they found intriguing. "Do they tell you when you get one wrong?"

"Only during the practice test," I said.

They began to strategize. "Do they get harder as you go?"

I nodded, and I could almost hear the gears turning.

"What if you never miss any?" someone asked. "Do you have to keep going forever?"

"No," I answered. "Eventually, you beat the test."

I guess they had never thought of it that way.

"When can we start!?"

Dictionary Skills

What's an antonym for deficit as in Deficit Thinking?

• abundance
• adequacy
• advantage
• enough

• perfection
• plenty
• satisfaction
• success

• sufficiency
• excess
• superfluousness
• proficiency 

I attended a required work shop for English teachers today. As a result, I got to sleep in by an hour, spend time with some of my favorite teacher friends, laugh a little, eat a free lunch in the sunshine, and get out early enough to go to the gym, walk the dog, and cook dinner.

That was enough.

APS ABCs

Kagan, CRISS,
and SRI,
IA, RICA, oh my my,
SOL, AMO,
writing sample, yes or no?
IB, PIPs, ERO,
catch a SMART goal by the toe.
Synergy is EGP
with less functionality,
and don't forget your UbD:
what's
the
objective?

BS in Literature

I teach a one quarter reading course for the sixth graders on my team. They have four reading teachers over the course of the year, each of us focusing on reading in our content area-- reading in math, reading in science, reading in social studies, and my class, reading in language arts. Because the focus is on non-fiction text, the time the students spend with me is focused on memoir and other forms of creative non-fiction.

Since we only have nine weeks together, we read lots of short memoirs and excerpts, as well as other literature that thematically compliments those selections. For example, so far this year we have read pieces by Jack Gantos, Sandra Cisneros, Billy Collins, and John Scieszka. Another component of the course is having the students write about their own lives, and to tie it together, today the assignment was to read a piece that I wrote.

Oh! I expected it to be well-received, but with this sly group the flattery was so deep I needed a shovel.

"Can you sign mine?" one student started.

"Wait until you read it," I advised.

"Wow!" said someone else a little bit later. "That was the best thing we have read all year!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Realllllllllly?" I replied. "Better than... Jack Gantos?" He nodded vigorously and I continued.

"Sandra Cisneros?

... John Sciesszka?

... BILLY COLLINS???"

He continued nodding and I waved at him a bit dismissively.

"Really!" he said. "I don't know what you're doing here. You should be on a book tour!"