Recommended* Reading

Hello and welcome to a special Thursday edition of Tuesdays, and a cold one at that! In fact, this has been one of the coldest weeks of the winter for much of the northeast, so what better time than now to think about summer reading?

The summer reading assignments for our tenth graders will be changing this summer, so I asked my students for some suggestions to replace The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, which has worked very well for our lower-level readers, but needs to be supplemented by something with a bit higher lexile score. I asked my students which titles they could think of that might be a little bit more challenging, but not too difficult (think beach reading!) and would still be engaging to incoming tenth graders. The asterisk next to "Recommended" is to signify that these suggestions are recommended by my students. I have not read all of these titles... yet! Here are their suggestions:

Trash - Andy Mulligan
The Maze Runner - James Dashner
The Boy Who Couldn't Die - William Sleator
The Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Clare
The Host - Stephenie Meyer
The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls
The Battle of Jericho - Sharon M. Draper
I'll Meet You There - Heather Demetrios
The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey
The Wave - Todd Strasser
The Other Side of the Island - Allegra Goodman
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Looking for Alaska - John Green
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak


Have you read any of these? Which, if any, do you recommend?

Bringing Tuesdays Back

It's been a while since I've regularly updated this blog on Tuesdays. I had hoped to continue writing regularly after returning to the classroom, but here I am, two and a half years later, and I haven't made the time.

When it was part of my job to make weekly blog posts and videos, and something I would do from the office, I was meticulous about getting it done. When I went back forward to the classroom, I thought it would be a very important part of reflective practice to keep blogging about education (and mix in the music, sports, technology and life), but I didn't.

I've taught four different preps, advised a club, worked with three student teachers and a mentee, served on half a dozen committees, and continued using lots of the ed tech I picked up during my five years out of the classroom. I've used my Creative Writing classes as an outlet to continue writing. But I haven't come back here to post from the point of view of a teacher. And why not? Well, I think it is because the life of a teacher does not allow the time for reflection. As important as it is to any profession, we fill every waking minute (and some non-waking moments, if you count those pre-back-to-school nightmares) with planning, grading and working with students, that we leave no time to really go back and check to make sure it is all working.

I'd like to start getting back to this by sharing, each week, one thing that has been working well in my classroom.

This week, I'm starting with something I use to help students at all levels, from honors to co-taught, and in all courses, including English, Creative Writing, and Virtual HS.  

The best tool for helping students in all phases of the writing process, in my experience, is Google Drive. 

Students submit most of their work to me using this paper free method. I can give feedback, ask questions, provide suggestions, and even share grades, by posting right into the documents we share. My students can do revisions on the spot, without needing to print out another copy or even send another document to me. I am able to look at their work as a process, and even reevaulate later drafts after the revisions take place. 

I love the open dialogue it creates about the work, and the way it shows the whole writing process to students. It is like being able to conference their work with all my students, without having to worry what the other 29 students are doing while it sit with one at my desk. Instead, the conferences are asynchronous and happen any time. Including right now, when I need to get back to it... I am currently grading multi-genre projects in my creative writing classes (learn more here) and the outline step of the critical paper process with my sophomores. All students are able to submit these assignments to me online and get fast, effective, paper-free feedback from me.

Enough sharing for tonight; it's time to get back to the grading... which I can do from where I sit by simply navigating to the other open tabs on my browser.

Between now and next Tuesday, please take a minute to comment if you have any suggested topics for me.
I mean, I really could go on and on about students walking through the wrong side of the double doors, or going left into oncoming hallway traffic, but what would that solve?

Until next Tuesday (I hope)...

NFL Picks ~ Superbowl

It's the end of the worst NFL season in recent memory, not just for the NFL, but for my picks as well. I haven't had a losing season since I've been keeping track of my season-long records, until this one, so I am ready to get this one over with.... hopefully with a win. I have been picking every NFL game against the spread every week for over twenty years. Here is my Super Bowl pick:

Seattle to beat New England (pick 'em odds)
LOSS
New England 28 – Seattle 24

SUPERBOWL RECORD: 0-1-0 
2014-2015 Record: 124-139-3 

2013 - 2014 Record: 137-122-7
2012 - 2013 Record: 131-129-7
2011 - 2012 Record: 129-126-11
2010 - 2011 Record: 130-130-7
2009 - 2010 Record: 138-125-4
2008 - 2009 Record: 139-120-8
2007 - 2008 Record: 146-117-4
2006 - 2007 Record: 139-123-5