Seventh Grade English.com

Teaching the Outsiders

• BTSN ’10: A New Shtick.
  Thursday was my 18th Back to School Night here. Some parents have seen my BTSN act a couple of times; I had all five kids from one family, so they got to see the bit a few times. I usually ad-lib most of it–I only have to kill 10 minutes each period–and still usually manage […]
• 8th Grade Material
  Eight days in, and I’m still scrambling a little with having an 8th grade prep. The last time I had 8th grade was 7 years ago, and I was scrambling a bit then (the last round of 8th grade had been 11 years before that), plus I got a student teacher for the last third […]
• A Rerun, Just to Keep the Streak Alive.
  As you may or may not have noticed, I actually have a streak going. After taking most of July and August off, it’s been six days in a row now! My longest run in 2+ years of doing this. So even though it’s getting late, I think I can squeeze in a rerun (from the […]
• Bribery? Maybe. But Who Cares?
  At our first faculty meeting of the year, before school started, one of the items that came up was funding for our after-school “math lab” aimed at kids who are having “math issues.” (Don’t most all middle-schoolers have math issues? Just saying.) The math teachers were complaining that the kids who get sent there for […]
• E-Reader Survey
  I posted earlier this month about reading books on my Palm. I bought several e-books this summer, and I really like being able to carry around a whole buncha books in the palm of my hand (pun intended). So here’s a survey, dear readers. I haven’t used the survey plug-in in quite a while, and […]