Lesson Cloud Authors Sale

The sale is here! Click on the image below to get to all the great links. There is also a $75.00 gift card up for grabs!

I'm part of a great cooperative blog called the Lesson Cloud, and we are sponsoring a dollar days sales on July 29th and 30th. All products advertised in the sale are $1.00 - $2.00 for those two days only. Here are a few of my products for junior high and high school that will be on sale for $2.00. There are more linked up on the sale page.

Memorizing Names

I have the WORST time trying to remember names. It's not just in the classroom--I struggle to remember names when I meet someone in social situations as well. I often tell my students to please not be offended if I forget their names at the beginning of the quarter. Details about the person are easy; sometimes I can even quote a line out of their most recent essays to them, but I'll blank on their names. Just because it's hard for me, though, doesn't mean I'm off the hook.

My school's policy is that by the second class period, we have to have our students' names down. It's not just the policy that matters. Students aren't going to feel like a teacher cares if he or she can't address them by name, so I had to figure out something. A fellow teacher suggested a seating chart, but that didn't work for me because I didn't want to be looking down at it during class, and I can't memorize their names under pressure.

So, here's what I came up with: On the first day of class, everyone writes their names on a piece of paper in big, black letters. Then I take their "mug shots" in groups or individually, however they are the most comfortable. This is also a great icebreaker. Some act shy about it, but really, they love it. I let them know that the pictures are for my eyes only, and just for a few days. Then, after the first day of school, I can memorize everyone's name without the pressure of doing it in the classroom. Sometimes I have a hundred students, so it's no easy task, but it's worth it. Every student deserves, and should expect, that a teacher knows his or her name.

Short film theme activity

Here's fun compare/contrast writing activity that I use with my classes when I want to talk about theme:

Have them watch the two entertaining short films "The Lunch Date" and "For the Birds," available on YouTube. Then have a brainstorming session with the whole class on the themes in the films (prejudice, pre-judgment, karma etc....). Then have them write a short paragraph comparing and contrasting the two films with the focus on theme.

I love this activity because the students are immediately engaged because the films are short, funny and thought-provoking. They are also so disparate (one is an old-timey black and white and the other is a pixar animated film), that the students have to think about it to come up with the similar themes. Once they get it, they have an Aha! moment. They then usually write enthusiastically about their findings. Can't beat that.

The Glass Castle in the classroom

One of the reasons I'm a teacher:
I assigned The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls to my Humanities class. A 55-year-old man in my class admitted to me that he'd never read a whole book in his entire life. He'd faked it through school. I encouraged him to give it a try, that he could do it. I promised him he would love it. I crossed my fingers and encouraged, encouraged, encouraged. He did it, he loved it, and still, he contacts me occasionally to tell me how proud he was of his accomplishment and how much he loved that class.

I teach school year-round, so we're headed into the last few weeks of a quarter. In one class, we're wrapping up our study on The Glass Castle. It's an unconventional choice for a novel study, because it's a memoir, not a novel, but as the students turn in their final essays and give their oral presentations, I'm reminded why I choose this book for my classroom, and that my former student's experience with the book isn't all that unique.

First, I've never had a student, out of many hundreds, who has not enjoyed the book, or at least could relate to it in some way. Many of my students don't like to read, or don't think they can get through a book, just like my former student. The teenagers like it just as well as he did. It matters to me that my students like what we read, because more will actually read it, and I want them to have a good experience. I think back to my days studying literature, and how excruciating it was to write papers and give presentations on something I hated.

Second, it's well written, and functions as a novel for study purposes. There are plenty of themes, symbolism, plot, round characters and everything else you would want from a good novel. The fact that it is true adds another level that the students appreciate. The most popular presentation choice is finding out where the characters are now and what they are doing.

Finally, I never get tired of teaching it. Since the students engage with it and are excited to talk about it, I always find something new. Students tend to relate the things that happened in Jeannette Walls' life to their own in incredible ways. I've taught some books once and haven't been able to stomach the thought of spending another quarter with them.

The Glass Castle is best for high school and up, due to some mature themes (there is nothing gratuitous or graphic).

I put my Glass Castle unit up on Teachers Pay Teachers, in case you decide to teach it in your class and don't want to start from scratch. It has evolved over four years, and is exactly what I use in my classroom.

Today begins the biggest sale all year for teacherspayteachers. Everything is 10 percent off on the whole site when you enter the promo code TAD12. I'll also be offering 20 percent off everything in my store, so your total savings is almost 30 percent off. Since the savings are so big, you might want to stock up on my popular essay-writing complete units that are normally $6.95 - $9.95 and are now $5.00 - $7.16. Such a deal!
 

Happy Shopping!

Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

To celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, I'm participating in a huge Jackpot on Sunday, May 6, where everyone wins! It's a blog hop where you can find links to download one-day only free products from bloggers who have stores at teacherspayteachers. These are normally priced items between $3.00 and $8.00. With over 140 blogger/sellers participating, imagine how much money you can save! There are about $600 worth of free products being offered. I'll be downloading like crazy that day!

My free item is one of my most popular, "Writing a Research Paper: Body Paragraphs," which helps you teach students how to incorporate quotes and paraphrases into their paragraphs. It uses a method called the "Research Sandwich" which helps students make sure they have an effective ratio of their own words to source material and have smooth transitions. Here is the link:

To help you organize your blog hopping, the links are divided into three categories, listed below:

PK - Grade 2 - April McNair on A Modern Teacher  http://www.amodernteacher.com/2012/05/teacher-appreciation-jackpot.html

Grades 3 - 6 - Laura Candler on Corkboard Connections  http://corkboardconnections.blogspot.com/2012/05/teacher-appreciation-jackpot.html

Grades 7 - 12 - Adrianne Meldrum on The Tutor House  http://thetutorhouse.blogspot.com/2012/05/teacher-appreciation-jackpot.html

Freebies Booklet

Mrs. O on teacherspayteachers.com has created a booklet of hundreds of links for free resources for use in the classroom. I contributed some of mine, which you will find in the high school pages. This is a great resource, and it's free, so hurry and get it!

Here's the link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Hundreds-of-Freebies-for-Your-Classroom