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Thread: Classroom memories

  1. #16
    Being Mean CarlaRant's Avatar
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    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.

  2. #17
    Administrator xsecx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CarlaRant View Post
    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.

  3. #18
    Duchess of Adventures xvunderx's Avatar
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    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?

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by xvunderx View Post
    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.
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  5. #20
    Being Mean CarlaRant's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xsecx View Post
    make them read raisin in the sun.
    I wish--It's not on the list and it's not in our library.

  6. #21
    Administrator xsecx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CarlaRant View Post
    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.

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by CarlaRant View Post

    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...
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  8. #23
    Registered User strombollii's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CarlaRant View Post
    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.

  9. #24
    Registered User strombollii's Avatar
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    Oh: I hated. HATED Speak with a passion.

    /my 2 cents. Sorry for the long post

  10. #25
    Being Mean CarlaRant's Avatar
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    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.

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by CarlaRant View Post
    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".

  12. #27
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    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.
    I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

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  13. #28
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    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?
    there are no angels who have more power than you do

  14. #29
    Registered User strombollii's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CarlaRant View Post
    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.

  15. #30
    Being Mean CarlaRant's Avatar
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    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. :)

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