Teaching Teenagers

2010-03-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

March Madness has arrived and so have I!

Back to the classroom this week, which I am thrilled about. With last week's testing, fog day, and professional development day it's nice to be back with the students in the English classroom.

Today's Events:

1st Hour: Grattanalogy; Review for The Great Gatsby Test tomorrow!

3rd Hour: Grattanalogy; Started working on: Memoir-"Some place, Some time"

4th Hour: Grattanalogy; Started working on: Writing Prompt 1-Reaction to Cheating in High School or Writing Prompt 2-Letter of complaint

5th Hour: Grattanalogy; Started working on Biography of a Classmate

6th Hour: Grattanalogy; Choice Reading; Started working on: Memoir-"Some place, Some time"

Monday = Funday !!!

2010-03-12T10:57:00.000-08:00

Fog Day!

Waking up to a fog day was one of the most surprising moments in my young teaching career. Talk about not knowing what to do with my day. I was planning on proctoring the juniors and seniors through their final day of the state testing requirements. Instead I was able to catch up on some much needed R & R (Rest and Relaxation) :) I made it out to the golf course and was able to cheer on my Central Michigan University Chippewas to (unfortunately) another loss to the hated Western Michigan Broncos. The University of Michigan was able to manage a victory over Iowa and take on Ohio State today in what could be a problematic afternoon against the national player of the year Evan Turner.

Oh well, Sunday starts the 2nd Annual Grattan Academy March Madness Extravaganza. Last year in a stunning upset 9th grader A'nika was the winner of the school and won the pizza prize for her class. Who will be the winner this year? We'll have to see! Stay tuned...

2010-03-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

What's happening at Grattan Academy!!

Today is a busy week with the ACT/MME Testing going on. I am currently the supervisor of the event so classroom production has slowed down:

1st Hour: We finished reading The Great Gatsby. A engrossing tale of a man mystified by the circles our worlds presents the humanity with. We watched the film the past few days as our juniors meticulously plotted through the week of testing.

3rd Hour: We finished Of Mice and Men and had a good laugh watching 9th grade Mr. Foley perform his role of Carlson in his rendition of the story. The next excitement was the film Freedom Writers. Who isn't inspired to write now?? :)

4th Hour: We finished the book Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. The class was swept away by the book as Crutcher is able to write about what really hits home for teens. The class also is watching the film Freedom Writers as they are resting in the afternoons after their test taking mornings.

5th Hour: I split the class into American and ESL students and we are reading two books at once! ESL is reading The Watson's Go to Birmingham and the American students are taking on Dickens' classic story Great Expectations. As the novels progress we are also putting together a biography on each person in the class. The information will be processed and turned into a telling tale of each student in the class.

6th Hour: Students are currently working on their memory book. The students are writing ten different writing assignments all centered around their memories of being a child. We also are working on expanding choice book options and even had made it outside to read since it's been so nice out!

Did you just desert the dessert?

2010-02-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

Things to consider:

We must polish the Polish furniture.

He could lead if he would get the lead out.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I did not object to the object.

The bandage was wound around the wound.

The farm was used to produce produce.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

After a number of injections my jaw got number.

Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

ISN'T ENGLISH A FUNNY LANGUAGE ?

There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple...
Is cheese the plural of choose?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a recital?
Ship by truck, and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese?
One index, two indices?
When a house burns up, it burns down.
You fill in a form by filling it out, and an alarm clock goes off by going on.
When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?
English muffins were not invented in England or French fries in France.
How can 'slim chance and a fat chance' be the same, while ' wise man and a wise guy' are opposites?

Found at: http://www.indianchild.com/english_funny.htm

Monday Funday

2010-02-22T05:45:00.001-08:00

Back to school in a blizzard....

1st Hour: We are working on our reading of The Great Gatsby. We are simultaneously working on our compilation of interview questions for the biographies or the classmates.

3rd Hour: We are now more then half way through Of Mice and Men. We should finish the book this week, while finishing up our interview project.

4th Hour: We are in the computer lab today working on our biography of the assigned classmate.

5th Hour: The class has been split into to ESL students and American students. ESL students are reading The Watson's Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis, and the American students are working on Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

6th Hour: We have completed The Outsiders! Next we are going to spend some days working on the writing process and we are starting our memory book!

What's Going on in Mr. Foley's Classroom

2010-02-18T06:04:00.001-08:00

1st Hour:

The Great Gatsby p. 42-53

Working on Interview Project

3rd Hour:

Of Mice and Men Chapter 3

Working on Interview Project

4th Hour:

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Chapter 8

Working on Biography of Classmate

5th Hour:

ESL: Watson's Go to Birmingham p 10-20

Advanced: Great Expectations

6th Hour:

The Outsiders Test

Bringing A Pencil

2010-02-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

Bring a pencil to class:

It sounds simple, but when students in my class are asked to do so, they have hundreds, if not thousands of different excuses to why they do not have one. I have heard plenty of them but here is a list of some of the best that I have heard this school year.

"I left it in my last class"

"I threw it in the hallway"

"I threw it at an 8th grader"

"I left it in the bathroom"

"I left it at the pop machine"

"I left it in my car"

"I left it at home"

"I threw it away"

"I used it to open my bag of chips and it broke"

"I don't use pencils"

"I traded it for a piece of candy in my last class"

"I prefer pens"

"I prefer not to use one"

"I had two last hour, so I decided not to bring any to yours"

"I'd rather not" (What does this mean anyway?)

"My pencil is broke" (So, you do have one, you just need to sharpen it)

"My pencil fell into the toilet"

Oh, how I love my students, but sometimes it is hard to believe that these emerging adults will someday lead our country (with or without a pencil :)