Arguing

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m spending a fair bit of my professional time lately thinking in terms of argument, debate, and persuasion.
This morning, I introduced the concept of rhetorical argument to my high school juniors and seniors, and I’m fairly sure that they really didn’t get it.
If you haven’t had much experience with them, [...]

Clearly, This Sort of Thing Has Worked for Them So Far

You know, if it didn’t actually HAPPEN to me, I wouldn’t believe it, either…

1. A month ago, I announced, loudly and for about a week, that my Pink Paper Policy was coming to an end. I posted the details of the new and improved homework policy on the classes’ websites. I handed [...]

Sometimes, I Really DO Get Through

VERY long story short; CHS has decided to implement a program whereby teachers can hold classes online. We submitted a proposal to the DOE outlining our plans for document-able indirectly direct instruction time, and we got approval for the idea. We launched the program this week, and are using the time to make [...]

What’s Your Purpose?

Kizz put up a post today in which she ruminates on the idea of positing a purpose.  This resonated with me because, in my line of work, the concept of purpose  and the concise and eloquent expression of it are often at the heart of much of what  I do.
When I talk to my students [...]

Chutzpah

Wow.
My friend Eddie posted an entry the other day about some of the dumb things that students say.  We can only hope, we teachers, that the students genuinely don’t realize how dumb they really sound; to think otherwise would be to begin a spiral into despair from which few of us would recover.
In the vein [...]

How My 12-Year-Old Helps My Teaching Practice *Edited*

One of the things I do to further my teaching practice is to act like a student.  When I’m getting ready to teach a unit, I will do a fair bit of investigation and research on the topic, I’ll read articles (and other people’s lesson plan ideas) and I’ll try to get at least a [...]

JUST the Boost that I Needed

It’s been a rough couple of days for me professionally, so when I found this in my inbox this morning, I nearly wept.
Sometimes, the positive reinforcement comes at exactly the right moment.
Dear Mrs. Chili:
This may be corny, but I have unfortunately never been a fan of English, it wasn’t until my senior year in high [...]

Collaborative Curriculum

I’ve been tasked with putting together a curriculum for CHS’s English department.
Carrie took me aside a while ago and told me that one of the reasons she hired me was so that I could re-work the entire English curriculum; she’s been doubtful about the way English as been taught at CHS for a while now [...]

Poetry Analysis

Every once in a while (okay, more often than not), I’ll complete an assignment I give to my students.
I do this for a couple of reasons.  One, I want the kids to know that what I’m giving them to do is entirely attainable.  I have two jobs (three if you count the yoga teacher gig), [...]

This is Mrs. Chili’s “I Am Not Pleased” Face

I’m totally pissed off at my Local U. kids.  They came to class completely unprepared to talk about Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail tonight.  I spent an hour up there, fucking talking to myself.
NOT.  COOL.
I sent them this letter.  I hope that at least a few of them are a little ashamed of [...]