NFL Picks ~ Week Eight

I'm back on a Thursday to bring you my weekly NFL picks. As I've done every week for over twenty years, and continue to do purely for fun, here are my picks against the spread for the NFL:

Tampa Bay getting 6.5 from Minnesota
WIN
Tampa Bay 36 - Minnesota 17

New England giving 7 to St. Louis
WIN
New England 45 - St. Louis 7

Indianapolis getting 3.5 from Tennessee             
WIN
Indianapolis 19 - Tennessee 13

Jacksonville getting 15 from Green Bay
WIN
Green Bay 24 - Jacksonville 15

San Diego giving 3 to Cleveland                    
LOSS
Cleveland 7 - San Diego 6

Philadelphia giving 3 to Atlanta
LOSS
Atlanta 30 - Philadelphia 17

Seattle getting 2.5 from Detroit              
LOSS
Detroit 28 - Seattle 24

Miami getting 2.5 from NY Jets              
WIN
Miami 30 - NY Jets 9

Chicago giving 7.5 to Carolina          
LOSS
Chicago 23 - Carolina 22

Washington getting 4.5 from Pittsburgh
LOSS
Pittsburgh 27 - Washington 12

Oakland getting 1.5 from Kansas City               
WIN
Oakland 26 - Kansas City 16

NY Giants giving 2 to Dallas    
WIN
NY Giants 29 - Dallas 24

New Orleans getting 6 from Denver    
LOSS
Denver 34 - New Orleans 14

San Francisco giving 7 to Arizona
WIN
San Francisco 24 - Arizona 3


WEEK EIGHT RECORD: 8-6-0

2012 - 2013 Record: 52-64-2
2011 - 2012 Record: 129-126-11
2010 - 2011 Record: 130-130-7
2009 - 2010 Record: 138-125-4
2008 - 2009 Record: 139-120-8

Free Writing

The creative writing class is currently in the middle of a two-week unit of writing in response to prompts in the style of "free writing."

Free writing is a pre-writing technique where the person writes continuously for a set amount of time without regard to spelling or grammar, and without stopping to fix mistakes.

The goal is to generate as many potential pieces of writing as possible, At the end of our two weeks, students will select one piece that is most worthy of revision, and work on finishing it for a few days in class. They will only be required to turn in one piece of writing from the unit by posting it in their online portfolio, our class wiki page.

As we write each day, students are encouraged, but not required, to share their day's writing with the class, either by reading it or summarizing it. It is not a full conference, as we do with other revised pieces of writing, but a chance to share where they took the prompts and benefit from each other's ideas.

So far we are off to a good start. I found some good writing prompts at daily-writing-prompt.com, and modified several of them for our own use.

What writing prompts have you used? What experiences have you had with free writing that worked well? Please share in the comments below!

See you next Tuesday.

NFL Picks ~ Week Seven

I'm back on a Thursday to bring you my weekly NFL picks. After another terrible week, going 4-10 in week six, I am off to the worst start ever with my picks. It’s going to be a long climb out of this hole. As I've done every week for over twenty years, here are my picks against the spread for the NFL:

Seattle getting 8 from  San Francisco
WIN
San Francisco 13 - Seattle 6

Buffalo giving 3.5 to Tennessee
LOSS
Tennessee 35 - Buffalo 34

Arizona getting 6.5 from Minnesota
LOSS
Minnesota 21 - Arizona 14

Cleveland getting 2.5 from Indianapolis
LOSS
Indianapolis 17 - Cleveland 13

Houston giving 6.5 to Baltimore
WIN
Houston 43 - Baltimore 13

Green Bay giving 5.5 to St. Louis
WIN
Green Bay 30 - St. Louis 20

Dallas giving 2 to Carolina
WIN
Dallas 19 - Carolina 14

NY Giants giving 6 to Washington
LOSS
NY Giants 27 - Washington 23

New Orleans giving 2.5 to Tampa Bay
WIN
New Orleans 35 - Tampa Bay 28

New England giving 10.5 to NY Jets
LOSS
New England 29 - NY Jets 26

Oakland giving 4 to Jacksonville
LOSS
Oakland 26 - Jacksonville 23

Pittsburgh giving 1.5 to Cincinnati
WIN
Pittsburgh 24 - Cincinnati - 17

Chicago giving 6 to Detroit

PUSH
Chicago 13 - Detroit 7

WEEK SEVEN RECORD: 6-6-1

2012 - 2013 Record: 44-58-2
2011 - 2012 Record: 129-126-11
2010 - 2011 Record: 130-130-7
2009 - 2010 Record: 138-125-4
2008 - 2009 Record: 139-120-8

Cyra-nope!

Last week, I mentioned a reading strategy that was working well with my 10th grade English classes as they read Joy Luck, where students participated in reading aloud together and each student had an active role in researching, note-taking, or reading. I decided to try the same approach with my honors students as they started reading Cyrano de Bergerac this week. After all, I had thought, it is a play. What better fit for reading out loud?

Turns out just about anything would have been a better fit.

We could have done a better job of reading paint dry, and that is not a mixed metaphor; it is literally true.


My first mistake was that I had students jump right into reading with very little background information other than the basic plot. My students knew that Cyrano de Bergerac falls in love with Roxane without her knowing, but he is ashamed of his large nose and believes that she will reject him. They know he resorts to writing letters to her on behalf of one of his cadets, Christian, who is also in love with her, and that she falls for the poetic charm of the letters but believes that they were written by Christian. That's really all I told them as I handed out the books. I believed the process of researching the pronunciations, historical references, and the names and places we encountered as we read would lend the background information as needed, on the spot. Unfortunately, the names of people and places are very difficult for my students to pronounce, and my own pronunciation of French words is atrocious. The need to stop and decode these new words made it difficult to get more than two or three pages in to the story on the first day.Also, there are tons and tons of characters who speak very short lines (in its original French, the entire play was written in verse, in rhyming couplets of 12 syllables per line). The rapid exchanges between characters made it more difficult than I had anticipated to get into a reading rhythm.

In addition to all that wait time for students to realize it was their turn to speak, as well as the stumbling over word pronunciations, I had just plain forgotten how many characters appear at the very opening of this play, and there were so many minor characters with speaking roles that I had not had students assigned to read the lines of virtually all of the characters we encounter at the opening of the play. Many productions of its time (it was written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand) and earlier plays have minor characters that "set the stage," but not many begin as this one, with the arrival of an entire audience, representing a cross-section of Parisian society from pickpockets to nobility, at the performance of a play.

The setting, in 1640s France, is alien to us, and the language used even in translation is difficult. There are many factors that have contributed to our difficulty getting started. A thorough presentation on the background would have helped, but perhaps this is just not the right piece of literature for our shared reading experience.

As we move forward, I am open to suggestions and ideas for teaching Cyrano to high school students. We'll continue to evaluate as we read.

NFL Picks ~ Week Six

I'm back on a Thursday to bring you my weekly NFL picks. It was a rough 5-9 week five that cancelled out my modest win streak and set me way below .500 for the year. I’m riding some trends this week in hopes of climbing back to a winning record.

As I've done every week for over twenty years, here are my picks against the spread for the NFL:

Tennessee getting 6 from Pittsburgh
WIN
Tennessee 26 - Pittsburgh 23

Cincinnati giving 2 to Cleveland
LOSS
Cleveland 34 - Cincinnati 24

NY Jets giving 3.5 to Indianapolis
WIN
NY Jets 35 - Indianapolis 9

Kansas City getting 4.5 from Tampa Bay
LOSS
Tampa Bay 38 - Kansas City 10

Atlanta giving 9 to Oakland
LOSS
Atlanta 23 - Oakland 20

Baltimore giving 3.5 to Dallas
LOSS
Baltimore 31 - Dallas 29

Philadelphia giving 3.5 to Detroit
LOSS
Detroit 26 - Philadelphia 23

St. Louis getting 4 from Miami  
WIN
Miami 17 - St. Louis 14

New England giving 3.5 to Seattle
LOSS
Seattle 24 - New England 23

Arizona giving 4.5 to Buffalo 
LOSS
Buffalo 19 - Arizona 16

Minnesota getting 2 from Washington                
LOSS
Washington 38 - Minnesota 26

San Francisco giving 6.5 to NY Giants
LOSS
NY Giants 26 - San Francisco 3

Green Bay getting 3.5 from Houston   
WIN
Green Bay 42 - Houston 24

San Diego giving 1.5 to Denver 
LOSS
Denver 35 - San Diego 24
 

WEEK SIX RECORD: 4-10-0

2012 - 2013 Record: 38-52-1
2011 - 2012 Record: 129-126-11
2010 - 2011 Record: 130-130-7
2009 - 2010 Record: 138-125-4
2008 - 2009 Record: 139-120-8

Tech-able Moments

I was inspired by a post I read today on a blog I follow, A Teacher's Thoughts. Go ahead, read it. I'll wait right here. :)

Some of my 10th grade World Literature students are currently reading The Joy Luck Club in class right now, and we are fortunate enough to have laptops for every student, as well as a copy of the book.

This week I was thinking about how readers circles or groups once existed, in the days before mass production of books, to read aloud to each other and share in the experience. Before the printing press, this would have been the norm. Today, however, reading is a very individual experience, mad emore so by technological advances such as e-readers.

Along with our relatively new ability to read virtually anything to ourselves virtually anytime is an unfortunate consequence of increased rigor and high standards -- a busy curriculum that often leaves no time for reading together in the classroom.

I wanted to make the shared reading experience a priority, so I have shuffled around other assignments and flipped some activities to the home, and now my students and I are reading this novel together, aloud, in class.

With the laptops on, and novels in hand, there is so much we can do that I think I have only scratched the surface of its potential. So far, we have students participating in various roles, each comprised of anywhere from one to four students. Below the list of roles we have thought of so far (we are only a few days into our shared reading of Joy Luck), please comment and share any other roles that would enhance our learning.

• Timekeeper – notify the teacher when there are 10 minutes and 2 minutes left in each class

• Master of Pronunciation – look up pronunciations of names, places, foods, and Chinese words as we read (play an audio clip of the spoken word whenever possible)

• The Answer Finder – keep a search engine open and help find answers to other questions that arise as we read, including historical references

• Note takers – record the major plot points, background information, and class discussions while we read. Share your notes to the wiki editor to post online.

• Wiki editor – upload the notes from the note takers to the wiki page and keep it updated so we all have access to good notes

• Readers – take turns reading out loud in class as we read the story together - your teacher's voice can't handle reading it all!

• Chinese food expert– research and bring in to class information about the food items discussed in the book -- this will help with your menu-creating project

• Chinese culture expert– research and bring in to class information about the cultural events and traditions discussed in the book

• Artists – draw pictures, write poems, craft song lyrics, make videos, or use any other visual/creative means to express and represent the images and themes of the book as we read -- these visual and auditory cues will help with your retention for the final exams

So far, we are off to a great start. I am no expert in Chinese language or culture, but I do not have to be. When I (or any of my students) stumble over a word, a student volunteer quickly plays the pronunciation he or she finds online (within a matter of seconds!) and we learn together. When we stop to discuss, the note taker types what we learn. Later, the notes are posted to the class wiki. The experience is so much more engaging for multiple learning styles than we could ever hope to achieve reading in isolation. And we still do a lot of independent reading, too. What we don't finish in class must be completed at home. It has been going very well this week, but what are we missing?  What else is out there in terms of student roles that could enable everyone to participate at the same time while we read? Please leave suggestions in the comments below. Thanks! See you next Tuesday!

NFL Picks ~ Week Five

I'm back on a Thursday to bring you my weekly NFL picks. It took a 10-5 week four to start to dig my way out of a huge hole from the first few weeks, but I'm climbing back to .500 with an overall record of 29-33-1. This week's picks will hopefully get me back on the positive side.

As I've done every week for over twenty years, here are my picks against the spread for the NFL:

St. Louis getting 1 from Arizona
WIN
St. Louis 17 - Arizona 3

Atlanta giving  3 to Washington
WIN
Atlanta 24 - Washington 17

Philadelphia getting 3.5 from Pittsburgh
WIN
Pittsburgh 16 - Philadelphia 14

Green Bay  giving 7 to Indianapolis
LOSS
Indianapolis 30 - Green Bay 27

Cleveland getting 8.5 from NY Giants
LOSS
NY Giants 41 - Cleveland 27

Minnesota giving 5.5 to Tennessee
WIN
Minnesota 30 - Tennessee 7

Cincinnati giving 3.5 to Miami
LOSS
Miami 17 - Cincinnati 13

Baltimore giving 6 to Kansas City
LOSS
Baltimore 9 - Kansas City 6

Carolina giving 3 to Seattle    
LOSS
Seattle 16 - Carolina 12

Chicago giving 4.5 to Jacksonville     
WIN
Chicago 41 - Jacksonville 3

Denver getting 6.5 from New England             
LOSS
New England 31 - Denver 21

Buffalo getting 9.5 from San Francisco            
LOSS
San Francisco 45 - Buffalo 3

San Diego getting 3.5 from New Orleans
LOSS
New Orleans 31 - San Diego 24

Houston giving 8 to NY Jets
LOSS
Houston 23 - NY Jets 17

WEEK FIVE RECORD: 5-9-0

2012 - 2013 Record: 34-42-1
2011 - 2012 Record: 129-126-11
2010 - 2011 Record: 130-130-7
2009 - 2010 Record: 138-125-4
2008 - 2009 Record: 139-120-8