Clik here to view.
Rooting for Words… An Addendum
Yesterday I proposed that we introduce new suffixes to some 7th graders by way of the game Wordster. Despite the abbreviated schedule (Spirit Day) on this abbreviated week (seems they all are, lately),...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sentence Builder Graphic Organizers ~ Idea of the Week #42
Masons build walls, houses, and buildings brick by brick and stone by stone. They slather on the mortar to hold it together and are both utilitarian and artistic in their work. This serves as a perfect...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Random Words, Not-So-Random Sentences
Almost there. This year we are blitzing through the five grammar brush strokes before moving on to rhetorical devices. What’s with all this basic training? Just getting student sentences into shape for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sophisticated Sentences Across the Curriculum
As we wrap up the grammar brush strokes and our month-plus journey into the ways and means of making sentences sing for their suppers, I wanted to extend the practice into the year and beyond just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Playing (!) with Parallel Structures ~ Idea of the Week #49
Veni, vidi, vici. Latin, of course, for “I came, I saw, I taught parallel structure.” It’s proof, too, that even Julius Caesar realized the importance of parallelism in rhetoric, especially after he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Noticing and Imitating Good Sentences ~ Idea of the Week #53
There’s imitation and then there’s plagiarism. The latter rears its ugly head when student writers doubt their own abilities and resort to copying (and, to speak the language of technology, pasting)....
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Gamebook for Grammar ~ Idea of the Week #55
Frequently people stop me in the hallways and say, “Ken, what are your go-to books when it comes to good books on grammar? I don’t mean good books on grammar theory. I mean practical stuff I can use in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hijacking the Super Bowl ~ Idea of the Week #57
I am often amazed when I talk sports with boys in my homeroom. I know enough about sports to be dangerous, as they say, but these boys — many of them participants in fantasy leagues — know their teams,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Focused Revision Drills
For some students, revision is a not-so-Fun House to get lost in. They may hold a rubric as a guide, but they are not sure how to follow it. They may have read teacher comments from a first draft, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Creative, Collaborative Writing Review ~ Idea of the Week #68
As the year inches toward a close in the northern hemisphere, our minds turn to reviews, finals, exit exams, and all those dreadful beasties that drive students to Distraction, Ohio (an exit between...
View Article
