Do you find that you are so tired at the end of semester that the thought of grading another paper makes you just want to curl into a ball and hide away? Me too. So I save my sanity with end-of-the-year speaking assignments. That way, when I am most tired, I can sit back and grade my students on … [Read more...] about End-of-Semester Speaking Assignments
Scaffolding Speaking Skills for Student Success
At the end of each semester, my twelfth grade students have final conferences with me. I love them for several reasons (which you can read about here). and one is that I get some pretty solid feedback on my course. This year, something that came across load and clear was that my students really … [Read more...] about Scaffolding Speaking Skills for Student Success
A Socratic Seminar that Really Worked
It was the second last Friday before Christmas and the day after a school dance. I knew I needed something engaging for my seniors, or the class would be a struggle. I also needed some more speaking and listening activities, so I decided to do an impromptu Socratic seminar - and it was one of the … [Read more...] about A Socratic Seminar that Really Worked
Persuasive Writing: a pre-writing activity
Persuasive Writing: a pre-writing activity Often when we announce that we are assigning an essay we get some groans and eye rolls. I try to circumvent that with some persuasive writing activities that get my students excited (or at least somewhat interested) in the art of persuasion. Before we … [Read more...] about Persuasive Writing: a pre-writing activity
Lesson Planning in Room 213: Speaking, Listening & Brainstorming with Candy
Today was an action-packed class, with lots of engagement from my students. We were learning about brainstorming with candy and about the speaking and listening process. It was a perfect way to spend a full moon Friday the 13th together! The class had two distinct sections today, starting … [Read more...] about Lesson Planning in Room 213: Speaking, Listening & Brainstorming with Candy
Speaking and listening in your reading and writing workshop
If you follow this blog, you know that I'm a huge proponent of the workshop approach in my high school English class. For the past few years, I've used a combined reading and writing workshop with my tenth and twelfth graders, and it's been a constantly evolving process. Every semester I've tweaked … [Read more...] about Speaking and listening in your reading and writing workshop