Grammar Wednesday

The “How Not to Behave” Edition.
So, here’s the scene; I’m sensing, from more than a few of my English I/II students at CHS, that this writing thing is scary business. I’ve got one or two kids for whom writing is manageable – fun, even! – but for the rest of them, getting pen to [...]

Quick Hit, Continued

Oh, Amanda…
Here’s an email exchange that happened last night.
On Sep 28, 2009, at 9:21 PM, Amanda wrote:

What do you mean about a story? I though we were working on “Why is this book important to you” thing, expanding that and such. I guess I missed something in class.
Amanda
Mrs. Chili replied:
First of all, take a DEEP [...]

Ten Things Tuesday

Ten teacher-related things I’ve bought since I got my job.
1.  60 books for my students.
2.  A new pack of these pens.  These are, without question, my MOST favorite pens in the whole world…

3.  Great Books for High School Kids; A Teachers’ Guide to Books That Can Change Teens’ Lives.
4.  A bunch of quotables magnets
5.  Another [...]

Quick Hit

Heh.
One of my students is the child of my boss, who took me aside this afternoon with a glint in her eye.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I just have to tell you,” she said, “Amanda was up in her room last night, completely losing her shit.”
“Oh, dear,” I said.  “What was wrong?”
“That’s the thing,” she replied, “I [...]

Colleagues

I love my job.  I think, by now, that much is clear.  One of the contributing factors to my adoration of my current situation is the fact that nearly all of my coworkers Rock.  My.  World.
I belong to an exceedingly small staff (we are ten including me).  Of my nine coworkers, I have regular contact [...]

Banned Books

There are a TON of things I’ve wanted to tell you all about, but I’ve been so stinking busy lately that I’ve not had a spare moment to sit down to write!
Let me start by letting you know (and thereby reminding myself) that the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week is upon us.  Even today [...]

Don’t Think, Because This is a Charter School…

…that I don’t mean business.
This letter went out to several parents last night.
Dear Mr. and Ms. Parent;
I’m writing to let you know that [your child] had trouble participating in today’s class discussion about the film we watched in class on Monday and Tuesday.
Participation is a major component of a student’s grade in English class.  While [...]

Grammar Wednesday

My students seem to have trouble with naming the self last.  They would much prefer to say “my father brought me and my brother to the movies a lot when we were little,” or “Me and Sarah have been best friends since the second grade” than to work the more proper structure of “my brother [...]

Like Moses in the Classroom….

The other day, my iPhone made that happy little “you have a text message” sound.  I opened the application to find this from my sister:
Hi!  I called the other day, talked with the girls.  Bean said she would tell you I called…. I need some help from you.  Please list the top 5 rules of [...]

Another Theme?

I’m seriously considering starting up another regular theme, but I can’t come up with something clever and alliterative to call it.
In essence, what I want to do is to post bits of beautiful writing. Every once in a while, I come across a group of words in my reading that just resonate with me; [...]