I’m assigning a narrative essay to my AP students today. Check out the little handout I made. (I heart Comic Life).
Before I hand this out to students, we’ll spend some time today talking about the rhetorical devices of narrative, using Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading And Writing, the textbook I chose for the course. I think this is a nice, easy way to get started on essay development, and to start moving my students away from the standard 5-paragraph essay.
I ordered Jane Schaeffer’s curriculum guide for teaching style analysis, after it was highly recommended on the AP list serv. I need all the help I can get, and I think the curriculum guide is just what the doctor ordered. More on that later, when I actually start using the guide in class.
So, I took that Career Matchmaker quiz that’s been floating around the internet these days.
1. Go to Career Cruising.
2. Username: nycareers, pw: landmark
3. Take the Matchmaker quiz (look for the button at the top of the page).
4. Post your top ten results, or like Laura, you can just post your most entertaining results.
1. ESL Teacher
2. Foreign Language Instructor
3. Computer Trainer
4. Fitness Instructor
5. Diving Instructor
6. Coach
7. Personal Trainer
8. Professor
9. Driving Instructor
10. Elementary School Teacher
And number 11 was High School Teacher. Close enough, I guess. I think 4, 5, 6, and 7 came up because I said that I liked working in the outdoors, and being on my feet/being physical.
So there you have it.
The mornings are starting to feel like Fall, up in my neck of the woods. My neighborhood, being in the North Bronx and close to the Hudson, is usually cooler than Manhattan. I wore my fleece for the first time in a long time, which is always a good feeling. I like cool, crisp weather. It makes waking up a lot easier, the prospect of leaving the house more palatable, more bearable.
So, we’ve had two half-weeks of school and we’re going into our first full week of the year. Last week, before our four-day weekend, I left off with The Black Cat, talking about reports of information and discussion SOAPs with my AP class. I returned today and put last week’s work on hold to devote two class periods, over two days, in each class to discussing the discipline code. The powers that be thoughtfully gave us lesson plans for introducing and explaining the discipline code to the kids. I agree that the kids should know what’s in the discipline code and what their rights are, as students but to devote two class periods? I don’t know about that. One student even asked, “Why didn’t we do this the first day of school?” Good question! In any case, we had some interesting discussions today about what is and what isn’t allowed, and some of the consequences.
My 5th period had a brief reprieve from the lessons in the form of a visit from the Opening Act teaching artists. They are back for another year, and made the rounds today to various English classes to drum up interest for our first session, on Wednesday. I am excited about having them back, and especially excited about their Silent Auction and Benefit Reading on Monday, September 24th. The female role in the reading of Love Letters will be read by Bernadette Peters. There are still tickets available, if you’re so inclined, including a limited number of $40 seats.
Things are down to the wire around here. The auction is next week, so I have auction items in various places in my apartment. My wedding is in less than a month, and while I’m not overtly stressing, I’m definitely feeling some anxiety. I have a few things to do before the big day, like finishing my wedding favors and making my centerpieces. I’m waiting for all this…busy-ness to pass and eager to get back into my regular routine, when we return from the honeymoon.
Two of my classes are Regents prep, for students who failed the ELA regents. I’ve been focusing on literary elements review this week, with the goal of taking my students from just knowing the elements to actually being able to analyze how the elements contribute to the story.
Check out the handout I made (click to see it full size):
I think they used to identifying elements in a story but can’t actually talk about why elements are used and to what effect.
Well, first of all, I could not sleep on Monday night. I still get excited about the first day of school, about what I’m going to wear and this year, I was excited about having such a cool, new work bag plus my new Simpsons travel mug. (Dork Alert but whatever gets me through the day, you know?)
Yesterday was suprisingly smooth. I don’t start teaching until third period, and by then, all the kids had gotten their programs. We had a full day yesterday, from top to bottom. I have a few kids in my AP class who don’t belong there, and the class is missing a few kids. (By belonging, I mean that while they may be very smart kids, they’re not motivated enough to stick it out, plus there are some kids who can barely speak English.)
I’ve learned to accept that I’m not going to have even a whole semester planned out by the first day of school, since we don’t receive our final programs until we go back for in-service but like Julie, I have lots of stuff floating around in my head. Juniors will be studying American Literature. I was going to start with Manchild in the Promised Land but then I decided I wanted to do more classic American Literature like Twain and Faulkner, for my benefit as much as theirs. My American Lit knowledge is sorely lacking and it’s a shame.
Sophomores… haven’t quite figured that out yet. I’m focusing on the NYC ELA Standards because it gives me a bit of structure, and they are supposed to meet those standards by the end of tenth grade anyway.
All in all, things are looking good. I have a bunch of obnoxious kids but they all know me, for the most part so it’s not as hard as having freshmen. Speaking of, how good did I feel when my freshmen from last year greeted me in the halls with squeals of delight and bear hugs? Yeah!
