I”ve been away from these forums for quite a while…great to be back and see familiar names…Susan Long, Sue Jones, Pattim, etc.
In the last two years, I have moved from Virginia to the Seattle area and remarried, along with changing jobs and districts. It’s been interesting, to say the least. This year I will be teaching a self-contained English 10 class, for which I’ve been told I can “write my own curriculum”. I am planning to teach the U.Ks. Sentence Writing Strategy at the beginning of the year. Beyond that, I have some vague ideas but nothing specific that will work with a mixed group (LD, ED/BD, ADHD, possible mild MR, etc.) that will grow as time goes on. I do have LmB V&V, Great Leaps, some other U.Ks. strategies, etc. but have not taught a content class with at least 10 students before. I’m nervous! I’d love to know how folks like the Landmark materials and any strategies for teaching specific literature. I’m told that I should do “Of Mice and Men”, maybe “To Kill a Mockingbird” (neither of which really thrills me but that’s okay). I would love to do “Cyrano De Bergerac”, too. My plan is to maybe do 2 novels during the year and work on basic skills the rest of the time.
Another question. I do not have much in the way of pretest type materials to determine current performance levels, esp. ones that can be given and scored quickly. I have taught reading in the past at the high school level, both Herman and Wilson reading and am trained in both. I have also done some P-G and was pleased with it, but that was 1:1 in tutoring setting.
One last question. Does anyone have any neat techniques for getting off to a good start, classroom management-wise? I’ve tried various things and nothing has really worked that well for me. My English class is going to be very challenging and I want to make sure I don’t have to do “damage control” later. Thanks!
To Susan Long: great to see your name here again and would love to “re-connect” with you. Please email me at: [email protected] or [email protected] if you get a chance. Pattim: I wrote to you but it bounced back.
Sharon
Senior Moment
Not sure of our acquaintance venue…it’s the pits to get old & feeble! Your name is so very familiar. (I just recently returned, too.) Help me out!
Our school uses the BIST model for behavior and its a school-wide program. I like it because it is non-confrontational and removes the disruptive student from being the center of attention. I also do class meetings where the group decides (within my limits) on their behavior norms.
I’m using Star Reading software for a quick-look pretest and Individual Reading Inventories for the specifics. (Johns or Silveroli are the two I use. Also have a copy of the Flynt-Cooter but cannot find it.)
In a larger group (5-6), I usually wind up running the whole Wilson sequence anyway because they don’t know the syllable patterns. Plus, their phoneme knowledge varies, so I usually have to teach most of that sequence, too. For this reason, I don’t test on the phonemes, except for my 1:1 PP/P level readers. I don’t have any of those this year—but did last year in middle school.
I love “Of Mice & Men” and would have the class listen to audiobooks if R.L. is too high. It’s a short book but needs background knowledge to really understand why these guys are out panhandlin’. It is such a powerful book to teach empathy toward people who are different. (It’s sadness is so necessary for teens, don’t you think?)
Don’t keep me in a mystery: Did we meet in person?
From East to West, eh?
Well, if you’re flying down to Atlanta in November, I’m doing a presentation on content area middle/secondary courses and making ‘em work for LD kids. I’ll be sticking handouts online hopefully starting this week at my site :)