Mrs. W's Room

Before I became a "real" teacher, my perception of teaching English was that I would be blowing kids' minds with classic literature and handing out grammar worksheets.  Needless to say, that hasn't happened...yet. Instead, I was surprised to find that I loved teaching about writing. In particular, I found a love of teaching argumentation and persuasion. The seventh graders are gearing up for argumentative writing. We begin by talking about the concepts of perception and reality and how those two things influence our views of the world and all its issues. I have them make a poster that's based off a popular meme to help ground those concepts. It hardly seems like work, and it's one of the few assignments we do where I get to hear things like, "Can I finish this at home?" or "Can I do another one?" The task is to make a perception and reality poster. I start by showing them an example for a teacher, like this one . This makes for a great

When I first started teaching, I would be hoarse after the first few days of school. I spent so much time talking about myself, talking about the rules, talking about procedures. I hate to think of all those sleepy-eyed kids who were trying in earnest to listen. They had to be so bored out of their gourds. But at the same time, there is so much information to relay during the first days of school. Every year I try to rethink how I can best deliver that information. One of the questions I try to ask myself is, "How can I talk less?" Document-based inquiry (DBI) was an epiphany for me. The first time I encountered DBI was when I was searching for a new way to introduce a novel. Some novels have a lot of cultural and historical context for students to discover, and I found DBI an intriguing way to do that.  What is DBI? My friend, Dennis, further introduced me to this strategy when he demonstrated it at the Boise State Writing Project. DBI starts with an essential qu

Dear Middle Schooler, I see you on your hard days. I see that zit forming on the center of your face, looking at me like headlights set on high beams. I see those pants that have gotten just a little too short because you grew three inches overnight. I see that your best friend suddenly decided to ignore you for no apparent reason. I see that your parents are going through a divorce and you can’t possibly imagine how you will make it through the day, let alone first hour. I see you, and I know it’s hard. If you polled the entire universe (aliens and all), and asked them what age they wished they could go back to--not a single solitary soul would say twelve. Not. A. Single. One. Because being twelve is like getting a sweaty hug while being kicked in the shins. Being a middle schooler is like lying in the middle of the road and getting run over by a steamroller, and then being scraped off the road and put on the schoolbus because you still have to go to school (Flat Stanley s