Thanks to all who answered me on this. I am getting "psyched" (or is
that "psychoed"???) over a chance to prove what I've been saying all
these years works. Below is a gathering of all the info I received about
your favorite activities. Thanks again!
Sherry Blair, Librarian
Sullivan Middle School
Kingsport TN
sblair@rblair.com
-------------
Does your state or local school district have Learning Standards for
your English dept.? I would start there!
I would recommend heading off to NCTE Middle
(http://www.ncte.org/middle/) and ReadWriteThink
(http://www.readwritethink.org/) NCTE has a New Teacher Section and
many other resources. There are also some email lists (middle and talk)
that are very focused and have good archives. I mostly just lurk on
those and pull up many good ideas to feed to my building.
English Companion (http://www.englishcompanion.com/) has good stuff on
site and many links to more resources. Lots of good ideas at LOC's
Learning Page (http://learning.loc.gov/learn/). The Internet Public
Library's Teenspace has a good 'Research and Writing' process site
(http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/stepfirst.htm) that would tie right in
with your researching skills (and a good reason to bring kids to the
library).
If you hadn't been subscribing to Voices in the Middle, English Journal,
or Classroom Notes Plus, maybe they are available through public library
or other middle (EJ maybe at HS also). They should be available through
online databases, maybe PL can help with access if you don't have
through school, or possibly a trial setup.
Sherry, I would definite incorporate some research since you have an
inside line with that. Integrate their English with another subject
therefore you are also collaborating with one of you other subject
teachers. Our six graders also do By the Great Horned Spoon. We have
5th and 6th. OHHHH You could certainly incorporate writing Reading one
of the Unfortunate Event books
Our kids love HOLES. Do you have Inspiration? Our students enjoy
working with that. They also like iMovie and Powerpoint if you can work
it in. And, they do seem to get into the research activities on
controversial issues You might want to take a look at the American
Memory lesson plans memory.loc.gov and then go to the Learning Page;
there's a ton there. But, of course what you can do all depends on the
standards and curriclulum in place.
i'm in the same situation. i made up a 'reading' class where kids who
like to read could get some real credit for it and kids who didn't read
a lot could try to improve that. that's all they do in class. read. i
also made a 'literature log' to fill out that's a little of summary,
connections, vocab and short essay (1 page) to do on their novel. i can
still work the library while class is going on, which was my point. (I
have to keep reminding my boss i HAVE a primary function here).
but mostly i wanted to find a way to promote reading more. not much was
being done by kids graduating from high school. it occurs to me also
that maybe this wouldn't work for you since you're a middle school, but
at least it gives you an idea of 'teaching' a class w/out really having
to 'teach' all period.
what about a little research oriented class? that's not active at the
board teaching all the time either. i also teach Senior Projects during
block period every day and it also allows me to float between teaching
and library work. i don't lie it either but it has to be done. the
trick is for you find some way to accomplish what your boss wants and
what makes you happy.
as far as books to read aloud, i'm wondering if The Giver might lend
itself to that? what do you think? i need another book other than Holes.
I teach 7th grade regular and advanced English. Some of the books I do
with my kids are Anne Schraff's When A Hero Dies - an easy read but they
love the suspense and we do a lot of predicting; Esperanza Rising, and
Among the Hidden.
Have you read any of the Lemony Snicket books? They are great,
and Jim Carrey will be playing Count Olaf in a Lemony Snicket to
be made next year. I loved Touching Spirit Bear(Mikaelson).
I read to all of my classes about 10 minutes a period. I also assign
monthly book reports which focus on a different genre of literature a
month. The product tends to be more creative such a cereal box book
report where the students use each section of the cereal box to
represent different parts of the book. Each student must present the
report to the class. I also have them memorize poetry during the month
of April since it is poetry month.
How about "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelson
It's been a looong time since I've taught 6th grade English, but have
one kid just finishing 6th and the other 8th. Gary Soto has a wonderful
story in Baseball in Summer about first love, I think 7th grade. My
former 6th grader introduced Hoot by Carl Hiaason to his teacher, who
read it to the class. Another great middle school book with
environmental undertones is Tangerine, by Bloor. The protagonist is
male, but it will also appeal to girls because of the character of the
boy. Stargirl by Spinelli would work for 7th or 8th; good discussion or
writing theme. I'm a big fan of Laurie Halse Anderson, and would
recommend Fever 1793 as a historical fiction read-aloud with young adult
interest, and her book Speak for 8th grade (much darker, but important.)
There're great read-aloud choices with middle school appeal; you'll
probably find that many of your students have already read Holes and
Witches and/or seen the movies.
My former 8th grader's class chose genres, i.e., science fiction,
mystery, then individually wrote rubrics for writing short stories in
the chosen genre. Each student then had to select one classmate's
rubric, and write a story, using that particular rubric. Lots of choice
and options, but gets the job done. I liked the booklet each student
brought home at the end of the year---a compilation of samples of the
work the class had done throughout the year. It included student bios.
and a number of illustrations, as well as several students reactions to
assignments. The booklet included poetry, short stories, book reviews,
opinion pieces.
Of course, it depends on the ability level of the students you
have. In our high school, there are a number of students with seriously
deficient reading skills and disrupted lives. This year two of the
English teachers started assigning book reports for 9th graders, and
bringing the kids to the library so I could booktalk books which I
thought might interest them and be appropriate for their reading level.
The teachers also built oral reports into the assignments, as well as
time in class to actually read (since some kids would NEVER read on
their own). In my opinion, the reading reports were a very good use of
time. The kids frequently found books that they liked and came back for
"more like it"; they also interested others in what they were reading
and, for the first time for many of them, discussed personal reading
with others. Hopefully you will have kids who read, but if not, giving
them TIME and REASON to read can often lead to them taking more interest
in book selection and even some reading enjoyment. Nothing made my life
as a librarian more rewarding this year than having a "non-reader" bring
a book back saying "This was really pretty good, do you have anything
else like it?" And there are so many great YA books available these days.
As far as read-alouds go, The Giver and Gathering Blue are both
excellent books. I personally like Gathering Blue a little better than
The Giver.
I loved Frindle and Landry News by the same author because the school
seemed real. The newspaper one could become a journal of student
reactions and a debate if you tend toward interactive classes. One of
my teachers does reading each day on Loser by Spinelli in fourth. I
think it might still work with older kids as long as it is an emotional
book. I think my sixth grader read Freak the Mighty in class. Ask the
kids you know what they read for enjoyment to ascertain their interests
and go from there. The main key to the English class is do not
underestimate them, maybe a newspaper with book and author studies
similar to movie reviews. Compare and contrast the Holes book and
video. My students (4th) were apalled that they made the main character
cute, not unattractive as he was in the book! The said it changed the
whole story and they liked both. The funiest comment was "they made it
easier for the movie". The student thought you had to be smarter to
read and enjoy the book. If you are excited about the English class, so
will your students be eventually. They are probably expecting the same
you as they encounter in the Library! Susan
HI, one of the most successful activities our 8th grade English class
does is an author study. Read 2-3 books by the same author, prepare a
display board with various items: timeline of author's life, book review
& cover of one book, a letter (written by the student) in the voice of
the author responding to various questions supposedly asked by a
student. Students decorate these display boards with artifacts or images
from the books. The culminating activity is an author fair where
students dress as either the author or a character from a book and have
a 3-5 minute presentation about the author &/or books. We have this
"fair" set-up in a multi-purpose room. Various classes from elementary
and 6th & 7th grade come through on schedule and the students give their
presentations. There are 85 usually in our 8th grade---following this
fair we exhibit the boards in the library. I pull the books reviewed and
have them on a display table---ready for CHECK-OUT! This project has
been done now for the last three years and is very popular---the
students enjoy and we librarians love IT!
As someone who has had to teach remedial English classes in addition to
the library work, I would recommend using the Newspapers in the
Classroom http://nieonline.com/ as well as Cable in the Classroom
http://www.ciconline.com/default.htm materials. They are great for
media literacy.
There is also a good book, Teaching Writing in the Middle School,
http://www.teacherideaspress.com/shared/products/LU5623.asp that helped.
(PLEASE NOTE!!! Go to Greenwood Press's site to order books from Teacher
Ideas Press. Their shopping cart won't work at their old site. Greenwood
Press has bought them. They're are some GREAT books there. SB)
I also let them read a book of their choosing from a selected list
(books that I had read) and then conference with them. They could read
for 15 to 20 minutes at a shot but no longer or they got antsy.
I just came across a free service online at www.vocabulary.com..... they
offer worksheets, puzzles and word challenges to supplement English
programs from grades 4-12, based on teaching the roots from Latin and
Greek. It looks very interesting to me, check it out.
I use the following:
Grade 6 A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
Grade 7&8 A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck and
The Watson's Go to Birmingham by
Christopher Paul Curtis use audiotapes, occasionally
spirit read or silent reading chapter summaries
required. Most have study guides available at amazon.
--
Sherry Blair
Anyone who has a library and a garden wants for nothing. -- Cicero
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