Skip to main content

Lost Link and Help

Somewhere in the blogsphere I stumbled across a link to "mr. Frodo" or something like that - an online site for teen poetry, essays, etc... but I lost it! If anyone out there has the link can you email it to me? I'd really, really appreciate it!

Also, I'm planning a new weekly assignment for my classes - simply having them write something to be turned in on Tuesdays. Genre is nos-specific, the point of which is to get them to enjoy writing, get some points and having something for their portfolios (many students have saved nothing all year long, despite my entries to do so, as well as providing a repository in the my room for these assignments). I want it to be open genre-wise so that the students can choose something they're good at or are at least captures their interest in the hopes of actually getting something turned in prior to June. The problem I'm having is coming up with a rubric. If there aren't some sort of ground rules the only readable things turned in will be plagiarized. So far I've come up with shows revision; shows effort - how I'm still not sure; use of literary elements (circling the particular element on rubric). Any ideas? Have a good all-purpose rubric? Anything would help!

Comments

Ms. M said…
I like the idea of giving them lots of freedom. I do think that you should give them something to go off of though like asyb said. Every week could be different. One week tell them which point of view to write from, another week have them end the story with a specific quote (ex.: "Boy, am I glad this day is over!"). This will help them get started and then they can totally choose what they want to write about within the guidelines. They may even be excited to find out what the writing scenario is each week.

Popular posts from this blog

“They Don’t Get It”

I hear that a lot these days. It used to be mostly from various teens trying to negotiate the drama unfolding in their lives as they wandered into that no-man’s land between adult and child. These days it’s from adults trying to navigate the education scene these days. So many people talking and no one listening. The other day I was reading a post by a blogger I’ve been following for several years. Before there was such a thing as “blogging.” We all know spring is IEP review season. This blogger wrote about his daughter’s. Among the various elements, there was the discussion about the state assessment tests. She did not pass. There was discussion about what this means… and why said student needed to pass this test. Would she be taking a modified test? While reading, all I could think about was what would happen to that child as she entered middle school and high school. A history of not passing the assessment test vs. teachers who will now be evaluated on how many students pass t...

Summer Notes

Books to Read: New Kelly Gallagher   Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions  by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana  Notes for Art: Group Project for the First Day Expectations from group project exit question

The Cruelest Month

I know T.S. Eliot favored April as the most cruel, but we teachers know that May is… even more so these days. Most importantly, it is the final testing month. National ‘assessments, state ‘assessments’, district ‘assessments’, school ‘assessments’… on and on. It’s impossible to actually get anything done. Toss in graduation activities, planning for the upcoming year and the 2011 bonus, lay-offs and transfers, and you have to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to save money by simply shutting down school entirely except for a few test proctors. Meanwhile, there seems an air of hopelessness permeating the education world. Plans to lay-off thousands are coming to fruition. Schools are being closed, despite protests. Charters are increasing where they can whether they should not. Unions have lost a lot ground and teachers are trying to decide if it’s even worth it any more to continue talking about education . ( not that I blame anyone for that, we all have lives to live ) For myself, I...