pedablogical

Woohoo! I’m caught up! This epic evening of blog postings has been brought to you from my hotel room in Decatur. It was only a week of notes to write up, but it felt like a month. I’m in Decatur for the Illinois Association of Teachers of English conference, which begins bright and early in the morning (first sessions at 8, which are a challenge for a non-morning girl like me).

I’m at the conference as a treat to myself. I’m not going to do
anything—I don’t have to present, chair, record, nothing. I decided that the conference was really pretty cheap comparatively speaking to my other professional development options, and I could treat myself to a couple days off. I have no idea if I’ll know anyone here. Lisa will actually be here tomorrow to do some recruiting for ReadWriteThink, so I will have her during part of the day tomorrow. I joined in on the informal dinner this evening. It was primarily people who were headed to the IATE executive committee meeting after eating. I spoke to a few people about ReadWriteThink who were interested in using the site themselves, especially with preservice teachers. I have a pile of handouts to put in the Idea Exchange, so I’m hoping we’ll find some more people who are interested in the site.

I’m hoping the conference will be a fertile place for writing. The hotel has wireless, so I’m hopeful that I can carry a laptop around to the sessions and blog and write. If I’m going to make that first session though, I need to get to bed.

According to this BBC article, “English in schools must adapt to reflect the use of text messaging and communication via new technologies, a report says.” Additionally, the report notes, “English needed to take account of the higher profile of the oral language in society. Speaking and listening skills are vital at work and should no longer be given second place.”

After much chatting with Lisa, I finally decided to do what needed to be done. I went with my gut instinct and turned the evil lesson into a 9-12 lesson plan. It feels so much better. More appropriate. I’m still very, very, very tired of Abraham, but I’m satisfied with the lesson. It is Myth and Truth: The Gettysburg Address—you know the he didn’t really write it on the back of an envelope on a train, right???

Tags: English language arts |
K12 instruction |
lesson plans |
ReadWriteThink

Busy day. Gettysburg has been put in the incubator. I just had to work on something else. So I finished redoing and marking up Using Student-Centered Comprehension Strategies with Elie Wiesel’s Night, a 9-12 lesson plan that uses reciprocal teaching.

The Ideas section for this week’s Inbox focuses on nonfiction, in celebration of Teen Read Week. Even though the topic was inspired by the teen event, it was one of the nice focuses that worked nicely for all teaching levels.

The highlight of the day, though, was probably a very nice response to last week’s Ideas section from the President of NCTE’s Gay Straight Education Association. The supportive letters are so much better.

Tags: English language arts |
K12 instruction |
lesson plans |
NCTE Inbox |
ReadWriteThink

You know the only thing I really remember about the Gettysburg Address is that we had to memorize it. That experience has not helped me in any way at any point in my life. It’s funny what I actually remember about my K-12 education. In 5th grade, we had to memorize those 200-some words. I didn’t have a clue how people were supposed to do that. I still don’t know what memorizing something like that is supposed to do for your educationally.

Of course, this means that I’m still working on this Gettysburg lesson plan. I found a demo from a software company, which I think is useful for vocabulary. Makes finding the definitions very easy.

Other than that, it may not have been my best day. I seemed to crash or mess up every computer I touched. I got locked out of Outlook and the office network because my old laptop wouldn’t let me login. I eventually figured out that the problem was the keyboard on the machine. It sometimes just stops working properly, and you have to press down on it with your flat, full hand. I know. That sounds crazy. As I said, not my best day.

I hate Abe Lincoln. I realize that making that statement in Illinois means that I will be deported, but at the moment this is how I feel. I have multiple problems, and they all stem from the Gettysburg lesson. First, I think the resources that I have gathered may be far over the heads of your typical 3-5 audience. Second, I don’t know how much basic explantation I need to do. Would a teacher typically have discussion questions and definitions on hand in textbooks? Who knows? The whole thing feels foreign and wrong.

At least there is still left over soup, and I have pancetti to crumble on top.