Lisa's comments (member since Aug 18, 2008)

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

The gift certificate idea is working! Our library is covering 1/2 the cost of the certificates and Starbucks/McDonalds is covering the other 1/2. Each student reviewer gets $5. Only about 4-5 kids per my two freshmen classes are participating, because it does add an extra novel and an extra review on top of all other work. Our school is trying to start an "Amazon.com" type book review type system on its library site - reviews by students; soon kids can mkae listmanias, etc.

Lisa

(Many of my boys are reading "The Long Walk" by Stephen King.)

Wow. This is all so helpful. I'm working with our local Starbucks and McDonalds to donate $2 - $5 gift certificates. I used to give extra credit for extra book reviews (aside from the two that are required). I don't like this, because it's not fair for the slower readers. The faster readers are helping me put together a notebook full of reviews. We'll also submit reviews to our school's library blog and small town newspaper.

You've given me so many good ideas.

Thank you!

Also: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold!

Great suggestions! I teach 9th and 11th and Perks of Being a Wallflower is definitely a hard one for me to keep on the shelf as are Looking for Alaska and The Book Thief.

Katie: thank you for those suggestions, especially Always Running; I teach an "at risk" English 9 class and have discovered "Hole in my Life" by Jack Gantos (non-fiction). Terrific read.

I use an idea for juniors I got from the English Journal. It's called an "Occasional Paper," though I renamed it an "Opinion Paper." Students can write one any time during semester (I assign dates as everyone tends to writes theirs toward end of semester). Papers can be on any subject and are read by me (anonymously) at beginning of class to prompt short discussion. They can claim paper at end of discussion. Papers end up becoming very short persuasive essays on school related issues (dress code, etc), age related issues (dating, driving, parents), news (politics) - you name it. I censor what I want, not all get read - and it's an all or nothing 25 points or 0 (do it and get 25 - don't and get 0). We brainstorm topics and read examples from previous years before getting started.

As you all may know, most students love to talk about what they think they know and I am the moderator helping to guide them through productive discussion. It may last for 10-15 minutes, but one day we went 40 minutes. It's wildly popular, but I make it known that we may only do it 2 or 3 times per week. It becomes a dessert for students and very rarely do I have students not write a paper.

Just a thought.

For younger students, freshmen, I use sentence completions as a way to get to know each other and as a good way to begin a Monday morning or block periods. I start with it at the beginning of the year, though we end up staying with it for the year. Before school starts, brainstorm as many sentence starters as you can, type them up and pass them out. Choose a number for any given day. Go around the room and each student completes sentence - no repeats, and as students become more familiar with one another I ask for no repeats (and questions become more personal). Sounds very basic, but they love it and it gets the quiet ones talking a bit.

Examples:

1. My favorite late night snack is
2. Right now I'd like to be
3. If I were stuck on a desert island and could choose only one movie to have, I'd choose...
4. I'd like to read more if
5. My family thinks I'm

Hope these help!

Lisa
Oregon