Books and more Books

Via Se Hace Caminar Al Andar (via Huff English)

For books that you have read, put the title in bold. Books you want to read go in italics. Books you wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole are struck out. Books on your bookshelf are underlined. Books you have never heard of are preceded with a ? question mark. Books you’ve seen a movie or TV version of are preceded with # a pound mark. Books you have blogged about are preceded with an ! exclamation point. Books you’re indifferent to have no text decoration. Books you loved are starred *. To sum up:

* Books I’ve read
* Books I want to read
* Books I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole
* Books on my bookshelves
* ? Books I’ve never heard of
* # Books I’ve seen in movie or TV form
* ! Books I’ve blogged about
* Books I’m indifferent to
* * Books I loved

1. The Essential 55 (Ron Clark)
2. In the Middle (Nancie Atwell)
3. ?Possible Lives (Mike Rose)
4. With Rigor for All (Carol Jago)
5. **The English Teacher’s Companion (Jim Burke)
6. The Freedom Writers Diary (Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers)
7. Experience and Education (John Dewey)
8. Elements of Style (Strunk and White)
9. The Writer’s Reference (Diana Hacker)
10. The First Days of School (Harry Wong)
11. ?The Myth of Laziness (Mel Levine)
12. Classroom Instruction that Works (Robert J. Marzano)
13. Understanding By Design (Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe)
14. The Homework Myth (Alfie Kohn)
15. Classroom Management that Works (Robert J. Marzano)
16. Fires in the Bathroom (Kathleen Cushman)
17. **The Teacher’s Daybook (Jim Burke)
18. Lies My Teacher Told Me (James W. Loewen)
19. The Unschooled Mind (Howard Gardner)
20. A Place Called School (John Goodlad)
21. Punished By Rewards (Alfie Kohn)
22. Inside Out (Tom Liner and Dan Kirby)
23. Teaching Poetry Writing to Adolescents (Joseph Tsujimoto)
24. Bridging English (Joseph Milner and Lucy Milner)
25. Teaching Grammar in Context (Constance Weaver)
26. How to Read Literature Like a Professor (Thomas C. Foster)
27. English Teacher’s Survival Guide (Mary Lou Brandvik)
28. Shakespeare Set Free: Teaching A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth (Peggy O’Brien)
29. **Tools for Teaching by Fred Jones
30. Making the Journey (Leila Christenbury)
31. Teaching with Fire (Sam Intrator)
32. Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner)
33. A Mind at at Time (Mel Levine)
34. Teacher Man (Frank McCourt)
35. My Posse Don’t Do Homework [Dangerous Minds] (LouAnne Johnson)
36. The Shame of the Nation (Jonathan Kozol)
37. Educating Esmé (Esmé Raji Codell)
38. Horace’s Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School (Theodore Sizer)
39. Savage Inequalities (Jonathan Kozol)
40. Reviving Ophelia (Mary Pipher and Ruth Ross)
41. Among Schoolchildren (Tracy Kidder)
42. Cultural Literacy (E.D. Hirsch)
43. Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises (Stephen Dunning and William Stafford)
44.Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire (Rafe Esquith)
45. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Will Richardson)
46. Other People’s Children (Lisa Delpit and Herbert Kohl)
47. Teach With Your Heart (Erin Gruwell)
48. **There Are No Shortcuts (Rafe Esquith)
49. Small Victories (Samuel G. Freedman)
50. Discipline with Dignity (Richard L. Curwin and Allen N. Mendler)
51. Lives on the Boundary (Mike Rose)
52. Mosaic of Thought by Keene and Zimmerman
53. **Read It But I Don't Get It by Tovani
54. When Kids Can't Read-What Teachers Can Do by Beers

T-3.5 weeks

You know, it's been a very busy year... why did no one send me a reminder that the WASL is only 3 weeks way? I'm in the middle of a novel for cripes sakes... with really slow reading classes. Who don't do homework.

Thank goodness for StemStar! Now I can torture all my students with WASL type questions that force them to show how they're thinking. I'm sure they'll all be very happy. I can see their smiling faces now...

A New Beginning

The new semester began this past week. Unusually, there was a lot of movement... core classes do not generally experience this, but WASL has changed all of that. The new WASL inspired Math program goes in a series of courses, broken down by semester. It was decided in December that those who weren't going pass the first semester would not go on to the second semester. This meant that they had to removed from their class and placed into a newly created one. Since approximately half of our freshman fail, it was quite a shift.

Yeah, half of our freshman fail their core classes first semester. Why? Middle school. In middle school, the student can sit for two years, doing nothing and move on with their class. Many assume that this policy continues in high school. For some, it's just habit to sit and watch the world go by. Others are too busy hooking up with members of the opposite sex or gossiping about those who do. Whatever the reason, they're genuinely shocked to find out that they must repeat the course - reading the same novels (plus the sophomore ones), twice the number of AR books and twice the amount of essays. Guess how many are successful?

Don't get me wrong. I've seen all the studies that show that holding students back in middle school has no positive effect - and in fact, is usually detrimental to student success. The NYT has done several articles about middle school. It's an awkward time for everyone. We see the aftermath. I'd love to find the magic key - but I don't there's any magic left in high schools in WA. Not unless it's spelled "W-A-S-L", and I'm pretty sure it's not.