Friday, August 26, 2011
Welcome to Senior English!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Ideas for Teaching from Writing at the Threshold
From Writing at the Threshold Larry Weinstein (NCTE, 2001)
· Before passing out the syllabus, have them write their hunches, showing the inquiring mind.
· Explain the difference between a reflective journal and a diary. Keep it in three ring notebook in an out of class.
· In-Class Think Tanks: Supervised Practice in College-Level Inquiry
o Students experience moving into the thick of it and discovering difficulties. The aim is not to come up with a neat explanation but to gain a respect for its complexity, to develop a taste for fact and information and a tolerance for answers that apply in some contexts but not in others or that point up the need for new questions. (Mina Shaughnessy 1977
· Think tank on short poems, eg. ‘The Red Wheelbarrow’ and other short difficult passages (e.g. Freud, Darwin, excerpts from novels, Collins’ proposal), or data from Pew and Gallup polls
o Have students ‘think on paper’ or transcribe their thinking’
o After five minutes, have a ‘cross infusion’ aloud
o Give students good, intensive practice in inquiry and thinking
· Field Trip to the library with a question or two and then browse, then read then blog
· Interviewing skills
Friday, July 22, 2011
more ideas for blogs
rank the following and give your reasoning:
wealth, college education, love, self-esteem, honesty (for Elizabeth Bennet, integrity) self-reliance, etc.
wealth, college education, love, self-esteem, honesty (for Elizabeth Bennet, integrity) self-reliance, etc.
Friday, July 15, 2011
more ideas for next year
Daily in class short writings at beginning or at end of class.
Students willl then have a choice of posting these to their blogs or addressing another blog question (when given)
Once a week (or two) students will expand and revise one blog (and mark it REVISED) for check, check plus mark.
September will consist of LOTS of reading P&P and History of Love, and lots of short writing, revised and revised, and revised
Lots of reading in class, SSR and aloud
Essay topics: Which character are you most like? How will you be at your mom's age? Your grandparent's age?
also: college admissions essays first person stories with significance
Students willl then have a choice of posting these to their blogs or addressing another blog question (when given)
Once a week (or two) students will expand and revise one blog (and mark it REVISED) for check, check plus mark.
September will consist of LOTS of reading P&P and History of Love, and lots of short writing, revised and revised, and revised
Lots of reading in class, SSR and aloud
Essay topics: Which character are you most like? How will you be at your mom's age? Your grandparent's age?
also: college admissions essays first person stories with significance
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
ideas for next year
more ideas for next year:
put on a face to meet the faces that you meet
persona, alternate identity depending on who you're with vs. genuine identity
Liz has multiple identities (like a fake id)
Grade a blog a week.
Put statistics in your essays: visual data, survey, interviews,
Increase blog readership
put on a face to meet the faces that you meet
persona, alternate identity depending on who you're with vs. genuine identity
Liz has multiple identities (like a fake id)
Grade a blog a week.
Put statistics in your essays: visual data, survey, interviews,
Increase blog readership
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
New ideas for Lit next year
-Choose your own character flaw: we all have one. So which will it be? blindspots like Jane? Arrogance like Mr Collins? Spoiled like Lydia? Critical like Liz? If you have one flaw (or have to live with someone that has one) which is the least bad? Which still makes you likeable? What should teachers tolerate and what is a bad character flaw?
-Also, graphs and data required for one essay.
-Also, graphs and data required for one essay.
Monday, June 6, 2011
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