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CarlaRant
10-28-2009, 08:01 AM
So hey, I teach Sophomore and Junior English (10th & 11th grade) at the high school level. Most of you know this--my question is, do any of you recall your favorite teacher a/o books read while in school? What projects stick out in your mind? I'm looking for a little inspiration.

Now off to work...

xsecx
10-28-2009, 09:12 AM
So hey, I teach Sophomore and Junior English (10th & 11th grade) at the high school level. Most of you know this--my question is, do any of you recall your favorite teacher a/o books read while in school? What projects stick out in your mind? I'm looking for a little inspiration.

Now off to work...

I got kicked out of class once for inciting a riot by saying that emma bovary from madame bovary had penis envy. good times.

mouseman004
10-28-2009, 10:05 AM
So hey, I teach Sophomore and Junior English (10th & 11th grade) at the high school level. Most of you know this--my question is, do any of you recall your favorite teacher a/o books read while in school? What projects stick out in your mind? I'm looking for a little inspiration.

Now off to work...

Favourite book was grade 11 english when we read Frankenstein.

linsee
10-28-2009, 12:21 PM
Freshman English, I had to wear the Scarlett Letter(while we "acted" it out) and my teacher jumped out the window.

xGriffox
10-28-2009, 12:40 PM
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was my favorite booked assigned to read and that was in tenth grade, so try that one out.
Maybe for your eleventh grade class you could try Picture of Dorian Gray. I love that book and always wished it was assigned to me in high school. Then again, it may be kinda slow for some kids who don't love silly british witticisms... maybe Notes From Underground?

As for projects, all I ever did in english class, and all I do now at the college level, were good ol' fashioned essays, so I can't be of much help here.

xsecx
10-28-2009, 01:53 PM
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was my favorite booked assigned to read and that was in tenth grade, so try that one out.
Maybe for your eleventh grade class you could try Picture of Dorian Gray. I love that book and always wished it was assigned to me in high school. Then again, it may be kinda slow for some kids who don't love silly british witticisms... maybe Notes From Underground?

As for projects, all I ever did in english class, and all I do now at the college level, were good ol' fashioned essays, so I can't be of much help here.


subjecting kids to oscar wilde is unconstitutional.

xvunderx
10-28-2009, 02:13 PM
I remember a ton of my teachers from elementary school to college. I have to admit I had so many awesome teachers I could never pick a favorite.

My most memorable project was a self directed one when I was about 16. me and a friend went out catching water insects and managed to get a fish tank to a place where it could support them, and were able to build a small aquarium of water insects that lasted years. I loved doing that!

In English I loved linguistics, looking at different studies and theories. For books I remembered hating Oliver Twist. I read quite a bit, but sadly my school book memories weren't so great. Animal Farm was pretty neat to study though.

xsecx
10-28-2009, 02:15 PM
I remember a ton of my teachers from elementary school to college. I have to admit I had so many awesome teachers I could never pick a favorite.

My most memorable project was a self directed one when I was about 16. me and a friend went out catching water insects and managed to get a fish tank to a place where it could support them, and were able to build a small aquarium of water insects that lasted years. I loved doing that!

when you talk about this I always thought you were like 10.

xvunderx
10-28-2009, 02:19 PM
when you talk about this I always thought you were like 10.

Oh no! I kept gnat lave and daphnia when i was maybe about 10, but the awesome aquarium was when I was about GCSE age. We had a few early attempts when I was 13 but they all failed because if the water isn't just right everything dies. I was probably actually about 14 or 15 when we got the good one going come to think of it, because I left that school at 16

xsecx
10-28-2009, 02:21 PM
Oh no! I kept gnat lave and daphnia when i was maybe about 10, but the awesome aquarium was when I was about GCSE age. We had a few early attempts when I was 13 but they all failed because if the water isn't just right everything dies. I was probably actually about 14 or 15 when we got the good one going come to think of it, because I left that school at 16

just when I think you can't get any sadder...

xGriffox
10-28-2009, 02:36 PM
subjecting kids to oscar wilde is unconstitutional.
Wilde is brilliant! Get outta here!

Also i spelled "book" as "booked", how the hell did that happen?

xsecx
10-28-2009, 02:37 PM
Wilde is brilliant! Get outta here!

Also i spelled "book" as "booked", how the hell did that happen?

he and dickens should take turns getting hit in the nuts for the evil they unleashed on the world.

xvunderx
10-28-2009, 02:46 PM
he and dickens should take turns getting hit in the nuts for the evil they unleashed on the world.

No way dude Wilde wrote some good stuff. Dickens wrote Oliver, over 500 pages of a kid crying and needing to grow a pair. Though if you got rid of Oliver the book would probably be much better.

rodrigo
10-28-2009, 03:18 PM
So hey, I teach Sophomore and Junior English (10th & 11th grade) at the high school level. Most of you know this--my question is, do any of you recall your favorite teacher a/o books read while in school? What projects stick out in your mind? I'm looking for a little inspiration.

Now off to work...

i remember that a teacher wanted me to repeat a whole year because i was immature, if that was a reasonable cause, i would probably still be in there.

favourite teacher, was the one who gave spanish lessons, and favourite book was City of Glass by Paul Auster.

best projects, never had one that i actually liked, i once had to make a presentation about musicians and artists that talked about freedom, and i chose a local hardcore band and they graded me poorly

straightXed
10-28-2009, 04:54 PM
So hey, I teach Sophomore and Junior English (10th & 11th grade) at the high school level. Most of you know this--my question is, do any of you recall your favorite teacher a/o books read while in school? What projects stick out in your mind? I'm looking for a little inspiration.

Now off to work...

My favourite teacher at school, thats tough because i really didn't get on at school at all. I could easily tell you my worst teacher. That was my art teacher for not allowing me to take art for GCSE because i was apparently disruptive. I used to love art and would draw alsorts but they wanted us to draw still life vases of flowers which bored the crap out of me so bad i literally couldn't draw them. So i would draw whatever i wanted which usually brought conflict between the teacher and i, i just wish they would have embraced the fact i had creativity and imagination instead of turning me away from a subject i liked. My science teachers were cool and i would say them but they allowed me to stop trying and applying myself after the only kkid i got on with in class moved away. I think the only teacher that gave a shit about me and my education as an individual and could see i wasn't just a waster was one of my english teachers, i wasn't even entered for english GCSE in the end but the fact that she reached out to me genuinely counted for a lot. Maybe too little to late to salvage my school education but i still learnt a few things from her.

At college i got on amazingly well with 90% of my lecturers. The books i recall from school were george orwells 1984 and george orwells animal farm, i also remember watching blackadder goes forth as part of our english curriculum. There were loads of others but i think 1984 was the most memorable for myself.

CarlaRant
10-31-2009, 08:11 AM
Thank you so much for your input. Sadly, the approved book list is lacking originality and interesting choices. My Sophomores are currently reading Lord of the Flies and the majority of them are interested, but there's another handful that hate it. That's to be expected, but I would really like to reach these kids. Once I started talking about anarchy in the classroom, they perked up. :D

Animal Farm and Speak are on the approved novel list, so I think they will go better than LOTF.

My Juniors on the other hand....they are stuck with American Literature. 1984 is considered a Senior book, so I can't teach it. :( We just finished "The Crucible" and will be starting American Revolutionary next week. I basically just want to breeze through that unit and get on to the Romantic Period, which includes Poe. Around this time I'll introduce Regionalism with The Color Purple, which lends itself to the Harlem Renaissance and then Contemporary Writings. Catcher in the Rye , The Jungle, and Catch 22 are also available to me, but I'm not sure how the kids will take those selections. I think we may have enough copies of Black Boy, but I'm not sure. The horrible thing about working in this district is that there aren't enough books for all of my classes to have a copy to take home, so we end up reading everything in class.

Anyway, it was good to hear a bit about your classroom memories. I just hope that I'm as memorable (in a good way) as some of your teachers.

xsecx
10-31-2009, 08:51 AM
Thank you so much for your input. Sadly, the approved book list is lacking originality and interesting choices. My Sophomores are currently reading Lord of the Flies and the majority of them are interested, but there's another handful that hate it. That's to be expected, but I would really like to reach these kids. Once I started talking about anarchy in the classroom, they perked up. :D

Animal Farm and Speak are on the approved novel list, so I think they will go better than LOTF.

My Juniors on the other hand....they are stuck with American Literature. 1984 is considered a Senior book, so I can't teach it. :( We just finished "The Crucible" and will be starting American Revolutionary next week. I basically just want to breeze through that unit and get on to the Romantic Period, which includes Poe. Around this time I'll introduce Regionalism with The Color Purple, which lends itself to the Harlem Renaissance and then Contemporary Writings. Catcher in the Rye , The Jungle, and Catch 22 are also available to me, but I'm not sure how the kids will take those selections. I think we may have enough copies of Black Boy, but I'm not sure. The horrible thing about working in this district is that there aren't enough books for all of my classes to have a copy to take home, so we end up reading everything in class.

Anyway, it was good to hear a bit about your classroom memories. I just hope that I'm as memorable (in a good way) as some of your teachers.

make them read raisin in the sun.

xvunderx
10-31-2009, 10:01 AM
I loves Catch 22. Sadly lost my copy half way through and still need to re-read, but it could be an appealing one for the class maybe?

straightXed
10-31-2009, 12:47 PM
I loves Catch 22. Sadly lost my copy half way through and still need to re-read, but it could be an appealing one for the class maybe?

I have a copy you can borrow, i also have the film which you can't borrow because its rubbish.

CarlaRant
11-01-2009, 08:46 AM
make them read raisin in the sun.

I wish--It's not on the list and it's not in our library.

xsecx
11-01-2009, 09:11 AM
I wish--It's not on the list and it's not in our library.

so much better than the color purple and a lot more relatable.

kid_ugly
11-03-2009, 06:41 PM
Animal Farm and Speak are on the approved novel list, so I think they will go better than LOTF.


thinking over all the books i was forced to read in HS Animal Farm was the only one I liked...

strombollii
11-03-2009, 09:01 PM
Thank you so much for your input. Sadly, the approved book list is lacking originality and interesting choices. My Sophomores are currently reading Lord of the Flies and the majority of them are interested, but there's another handful that hate it. That's to be expected, but I would really like to reach these kids. Once I started talking about anarchy in the classroom, they perked up. :D

Animal Farm and Speak are on the approved novel list, so I think they will go better than LOTF.

My Juniors on the other hand....they are stuck with American Literature. 1984 is considered a Senior book, so I can't teach it. :( We just finished "The Crucible" and will be starting American Revolutionary next week. I basically just want to breeze through that unit and get on to the Romantic Period, which includes Poe. Around this time I'll introduce Regionalism with The Color Purple, which lends itself to the Harlem Renaissance and then Contemporary Writings. Catcher in the Rye , The Jungle, and Catch 22 are also available to me, but I'm not sure how the kids will take those selections. I think we may have enough copies of Black Boy, but I'm not sure. The horrible thing about working in this district is that there aren't enough books for all of my classes to have a copy to take home, so we end up reading everything in class.

Anyway, it was good to hear a bit about your classroom memories. I just hope that I'm as memorable (in a good way) as some of your teachers.

Just to throw it out, I'm a freshman in college, so this is more of a recent development:
My Sophomore year was World Lit, I believe, so we read some Kafka and Siddhartha by Hesse -- both of which I consider monumental, and still refer to (I'm an English major).

Senior year I took an AP Rhetoric class, but the first half of the class was Am Lit. We broke it down by time periods, and I remember Scarlet Letter (hated it at the time, but now, looking back, loved it), Great Gatsby (one of my favorites of all time), A Farewell to Arms (one of my absolute favorite books of all time), and the Crucible, among others. The teacher was brilliant, though: she incorporated a shit ton of other materials into the course: Poe, Frost, and Elliot in the poetry department, as well as big speeches and the like.

I think the best part of the class, though, was the interconnectivity. Almost every class was a seminar-type class, and discussing motifs, themes, and symbols within each novel and between novels made me remember key points far better -- and prepared me for College Lit.

I just really feel like the most integral part of English classes in general is the teacher. Make sure you have a very very thorough understanding of not only the novel, but also the background and a bit of the author's life. Some of the most interesting discussions we ever had were tangents on the topic of Solipsism or some random school of philosophical thought that some deconstructionist applied to the work 50 years after it was written (and the ethical/moral implications of doing so... Is it right to tear apart a work so thoroughly and break down what the author was saying?).

Finally, if you're looking for something a bit off the beaten path, and want to get your students into a good discussion, have them read "Metaphor and Meaning" by William Grey (http://embracingthecontradiction.org/metaphor.htm): one of the best seminars I've ever engaged in... and it was during my Junior year.

strombollii
11-03-2009, 09:03 PM
Oh: I hated. HATED Speak with a passion.

/my 2 cents. Sorry for the long post

CarlaRant
11-03-2009, 09:42 PM
No worries. And thank you.

My undergraduate degrees are in Journalism and Psychology and my Master's is in Secondary Education, so the majority of my knowledge was from my own independent studies. Sadly, my knowledge of the time periods, authors, and world events is lost on most of my students. I am certainly liked by my students, but that has a lot to do with my ability to speak on their level and sense of humor. In fact, I was nominated for a Silver Apple, which is a reward for the best teacher at our school---I just found out about that today.

Please keep in mind that 70% of the students are English Language Learners, so just getting them to read anything is a miracle. Many of them are very bright, but too quiet to discuss anything in class. There are a few wonderful moments of actual discussion, but not as often as I would like. You'd be surprised to see how disrespectful these kids can be to each other--not very civil. I believe that you and the majority of people of this message board are operating on a different/higher level than these students.

My Juniors just finished "The Crucible" and are just starting American Revolution pieces. I won't make them read The Scarlet Letter, but The Great Gatsby is on my list.

Why didn't you like Speak? It seemed to be the only book I could get my kids to read last year with some sort of interest.

linsee
11-03-2009, 10:44 PM
No worries. And thank you.

My undergraduate degrees are in Journalism and Psychology and my Master's is in Secondary Education, so the majority of my knowledge was from my own independent studies. Sadly, my knowledge of the time periods, authors, and world events is lost on most of my students. I am certainly liked by my students, but that has a lot to do with my ability to speak on their level and sense of humor. In fact, I was nominated for a Silver Apple, which is a reward for the best teacher at our school---I just found out about that today.

Please keep in mind that 70% of the students are English Language Learners, so just getting them to read anything is a miracle. Many of them are very bright, but too quiet to discuss anything in class. There are a few wonderful moments of actual discussion, but not as often as I would like. You'd be surprised to see how disrespectful these kids can be to each other--not very civil. I believe that you and the majority of people of this message board are operating on a different/higher level than these students.

My Juniors just finished "The Crucible" and are just starting American Revolution pieces. I won't make them read The Scarlet Letter, but The Great Gatsby is on my list.



Carla, congrats on being nominated for the award! You sound like a great teacher, so it seems very well deserved!

I graduated high school 8 years ago, and the only books I remember are The Scarlett Letter (which I loved by the way), Lord of the Flies, tons of Edgar Allan Poe, and 1984. I'm a huge reader, so it makes me sad that I can't remember reading many other "classics".

Lifestyle_X
11-04-2009, 06:08 AM
i heard lots of good things about Animal Farm but never read it.
we never had to really read books. although it was part of the program, you could easily cheat every year.

JustEmily
11-04-2009, 07:56 AM
i read a clockwork orange, brave new world and a handmaid's tale in school long before grade 12.
i'm sure they'd keep your students interested... who doesn't want to read about dystopias?

strombollii
11-04-2009, 09:50 AM
No worries. And thank you.

My undergraduate degrees are in Journalism and Psychology and my Master's is in Secondary Education, so the majority of my knowledge was from my own independent studies. Sadly, my knowledge of the time periods, authors, and world events is lost on most of my students. I am certainly liked by my students, but that has a lot to do with my ability to speak on their level and sense of humor. In fact, I was nominated for a Silver Apple, which is a reward for the best teacher at our school---I just found out about that today.

Please keep in mind that 70% of the students are English Language Learners, so just getting them to read anything is a miracle. Many of them are very bright, but too quiet to discuss anything in class. There are a few wonderful moments of actual discussion, but not as often as I would like. You'd be surprised to see how disrespectful these kids can be to each other--not very civil. I believe that you and the majority of people of this message board are operating on a different/higher level than these students.

My Juniors just finished "The Crucible" and are just starting American Revolution pieces. I won't make them read The Scarlet Letter, but The Great Gatsby is on my list.

Why didn't you like Speak? It seemed to be the only book I could get my kids to read last year with some sort of interest.

Congratulations on your award: it's always promising to me to see teachers who genuinely care (as you obviously do) rewarded for their efforts.

Out of curiosity, what do you typically do in the classroom with them? Are they attentive? I'm tempted to say that this would be a brilliant opportunity to start to establish a sort of bond between them, where they could actually share ideas, but we all know that's a lot of hot air oftentimes (sounds good as a teaching philosophy, doesn't work so well when you have teenagers yelling at each other). And I'm sorry to be asking so many questions, but I sort of see teaching in my future, so I'm always curious how others approach it.

I thought Speak was over-emotional. I read it as a freshman, and at that level, it was good to start eking out the basics of literary comprehension -- the obvious symbols recurrent throughout the text, the basic motifs, I think we even went into discussion on how the central character was a martyr (and subsequently a Christ figure). With that said, I've just always felt like it's not a book that challenges or forces the reader to think on any level. It reads very much like a work of general fiction, which I really think shouldn't have that much of a place in a school.

CarlaRant
11-04-2009, 12:45 PM
Having the kids read something that's over-emotional works very well, since, well, they're over-emotional. It sounds like you matured quicker than most of my students. :)

The classroom = structure, structure, structure. They come in to a grammar exercise (Sophomores only) or a short handout about American history (Juniors) that they are to complete in 3 minutes. Two minutes are spent discussing with their partner or correct each other's grammar exercise while I stamp their journal. We discuss (hands up only) for 3-5 minutes, then I lead them into the lesson plan. We do a lot of pair work, reading aloud and me reading to them while they complete study guides. There are several projects that we do as well as weekly vocabulary lessons. I try to follow the 10-2 ratio -- 10 minutes of lecture, 2 minutes to discuss, so they don't get bored. For the most part, I love teaching these kids. I only have one challenging class that can't be given too much freedom or they take advantage of it. Each class is different due to the personalities.

I think teaching a great, rewarding career and if you have the passion and patience, do it. I think I'm just in the wrong position this year, but I just took whatever job came to me first because of the economy. However....I just got a call this morning for an interview at a place I applied at last year. They're trying to get a head start on hiring for next year. Considering my husband and I are looking to walk away from our house to move to that part of town, I can't imagine why I would decline any offer in that area. I suppose ask and you shall receive really came into play here. :)

strombollii
11-05-2009, 10:29 AM
Having the kids read something that's over-emotional works very well, since, well, they're over-emotional. It sounds like you matured quicker than most of my students. :)

The classroom = structure, structure, structure. They come in to a grammar exercise (Sophomores only) or a short handout about American history (Juniors) that they are to complete in 3 minutes. Two minutes are spent discussing with their partner or correct each other's grammar exercise while I stamp their journal. We discuss (hands up only) for 3-5 minutes, then I lead them into the lesson plan. We do a lot of pair work, reading aloud and me reading to them while they complete study guides. There are several projects that we do as well as weekly vocabulary lessons. I try to follow the 10-2 ratio -- 10 minutes of lecture, 2 minutes to discuss, so they don't get bored. For the most part, I love teaching these kids. I only have one challenging class that can't be given too much freedom or they take advantage of it. Each class is different due to the personalities.

I think teaching a great, rewarding career and if you have the passion and patience, do it. I think I'm just in the wrong position this year, but I just took whatever job came to me first because of the economy. However....I just got a call this morning for an interview at a place I applied at last year. They're trying to get a head start on hiring for next year. Considering my husband and I are looking to walk away from our house to move to that part of town, I can't imagine why I would decline any offer in that area. I suppose ask and you shall receive really came into play here. :)

Probably not: I was fortunate enough to be enrolled in an AP course, with a teacher that treated it like a college course -- and I very nearly failed because I wasn't mature enough to handle the work. I just like to read.

I'm impressed: I'm really not a fan of that much structure, but the way you have it worked out, it seems it'd work well. And you seem like a great teacher who can read her kids well (something that's perpetually lacking in our school system).

And congrats, I really hope everything works out for you. My mentor from high school just got news of an opening in DC for a job she applied for years ago... she's absolutely thrilled.

CarlaRant
11-18-2009, 06:51 AM
I had my Juniors do a Hero Project that they seemed to like. They'll be doing a debate tomorrow over the American Revolutionary writings, definition and examples of heroes.

I had to share this: I give the letter Z (0) for assignments that the student didn't complete to indicate that they didn't turn in the assignment. One of my Sophomores looked at his grade and said, "I have so many Z's it looks like my grade is sleeping." I laughed for a good minute.

Lifestyle_X
11-18-2009, 12:45 PM
I had to share this: I give the letter Z (0) for assignments that the student didn't complete to indicate that they didn't turn in the assignment. One of my Sophomores looked at his grade and said, "I have so many Z's it looks like my grade is sleeping." I laughed for a good minute.

That one's brilliant !

Telilah
11-30-2009, 09:59 AM
When I was in school (probably grade 10) we read The Crystalids by John Wyndham and then shortly after we watched Gattaca (and it took me 6 years to figure out the name of that movie afterward) and it has always stuck with me. I had talked with my former step-sister about books we read while still in school and she brought up Crystalids as a favorite as well, I really should read it again.

CarlaRant
11-30-2009, 11:24 AM
I've not heard of it. I will have to check it out.