Tim's comments (member since Jun 11, 2008)

Tim's comments from the High School English Teachers group.

Backing up what Kat says about bellwork providing routine and variety, I've also found that I have an easier time tracking their progress if I provide the forms for them to work on. I do their "Write Aways" (b/c they do them right away) every Monday Wednesday and Friday. I have a form that gives them 4-5 1.5 spaced lines to fill in with their thoughts on a prompt I have on the board at the beginning of class. The back is a full page of lines. Once during each 2-week period, they have to choose a write away they started in class to revise into a formal paragraph to turn in on the back. I find I can grade a class in 15-20 minutes, and since I only have to do it every couple of weeks, it's manageable. Then Tuesdays and Thursdays can be used for Kat's type of grammar or Vocabulary stuff.

For your own reading edification, Students (and teachers) who like mysteries would be well advised to try Riordan's earlier Tres Naverre series of detective stories. He won an Edgar for his first and the rest are engaging, too. They're set in Austin, Texas and have memorable characters, especially Tres, a tai-chi practicing professor of medevial English turned Private Eye.

My memory of the titles is sketchy, but thanks to amazon.com, I just looked them up -- The Devil went down to Austin, The Last King of TExas, Big Red Tequila, Mission Road, South Town, THe Widower's Two Step. I'm having a hard time remembering/determining which of these are Tres Navarre. I'm sure of Tequila, Two-Step, Last King, and Devil, pretty sure about Mission and South Town.

Also, Riordan is (or was) an eighth grade English teacher before he got published.

Tim

I don't have a lot of reading history in this area, but my wife (a librarian) took a young adult reading class and highly recommends Gary Paulson (en?) who has a lot of outdoor/adventure stories that boys seem to like and Chris Crutcher (Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes -- swimming) for sports. Reading levels are middle school, I think.