I want to make sure I do the last part of the PISA well so instead of rushing it, I figured I would post some more resources.
This time you have resources for Oedipus the King by Sophocles. These resources include one of my original creation and personal favorites which is the (anti) children's book assignment. It is a lot of fun for the students and a lot of fun to grade.
Hope you enjoy them!
If you want to see what other resources I have available, you can go here.
Showing posts with label essays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label essays. Show all posts
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
Resources for Units
As teacher, one of the most frustrating things is finding resources so that you do not have to completely reinvent the wheel. I have spent countless hours searching the internet for various assignments especially when I want to try new things (see my previous post). Although there are some great websites out there like WebEnglishTeacher, it can become very difficult to find resources.
So to help my fellow English teachers, I am starting my own resource page on my blog. I'll be adding to it as I go and I'll publish an update every time I do. Eventually there will be plenty of resources on the units below but for now I'm starting with Things Fall Apart since that is what I'm currently doing with my sophomores.
Eventually you'll be able to find resources on:
Things Fall Apart
The Odyssey
The Iliad
Oedipus the King
Romeo and Juliet
The Aeneid
Taming of the Shrew
Thesis Essay Writing
Using Video in the Classroom
Enjoy!
So to help my fellow English teachers, I am starting my own resource page on my blog. I'll be adding to it as I go and I'll publish an update every time I do. Eventually there will be plenty of resources on the units below but for now I'm starting with Things Fall Apart since that is what I'm currently doing with my sophomores.
Eventually you'll be able to find resources on:
Things Fall Apart
The Odyssey
The Iliad
Oedipus the King
Romeo and Juliet
The Aeneid
Taming of the Shrew
Thesis Essay Writing
Using Video in the Classroom
Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Laughing Instead of Going Crazy
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Why was it so long you ask?
Besides the fact that my students seemed to have ingested pounds of sugar, I was grading essays during my spare minutes. The above comic pretty much sums up how I feel after grading some of these essays. Nearly every essay I want to write various comments like Cameron Diaz does in Bad Teacher. If you have never seen that movie, I have put the video of her grading short answers below (language NSFW since she drops the f-bomb once). It pretty much sums up how every teacher feels while grading. The first time I saw that scene I couldn't stop laughing for a good 5 minutes so I missed the next scene and had to rewind.
Basically, the point of this post is to give you some laughs since you're most likely on the verge of losing it and going crazy. Hopefully they help.
(Since I am an English teacher, I will say that I have not created any of these images/videos. If I know the author I will give them credit but some were just circulated on the internet so much that I'm not sure who the original author is)
Sunday, December 1, 2013
How to Stay Positive While Grading the Soul Sucking Thing that is Student Essays
Beautiful and cold Sunday in December. Perfect for cuddling on the couch, in front of a fire, and watching football.
What am I doing?
Grading thesis essays.
Grading essays is the hardest part of my job. Okay well, not the hardest in terms of difficultly of doing, because, frankly, it is quite easy to sit there and read the essays since they are written by freshmen. What makes them the hardest is the fact that no matter how long I stand up there in class and tell students how to write a good paper or how many times I allow them to sign up to come see me for help on writing their paper, these papers are still a struggle to grade because they don't listen to what I say or take my offer for help seriously.
That is the most frustrating thing about grading thesis essays. I have been teaching for three years and I still can't get over the frustration that grading essays causes.
In this particular case, I spent 5 days in class teaching them how to write. We wrote a sample essay as a class and I gave my students a step by step guide on how to write a well thought out thesis essay.
Not only did I spend 5 lessons on this, I also was available before and after school for the two weeks students had to write their essays. I had a sign up sheet since they are freshmen and need a little push to have them come talk to teachers.
Only a handful signed up.
The first year I did this, I was full of dreams and expectations that students would come rushing to sign up and follow my directions step by step.
Of course, as do most dreams you have while teaching, these dreams were crushed.
Last year, aka year two, I had the same dreams with the though that "It is a new batch of students and they will surely follow every step."
Yet again, I was wrong.
So when I did it this year, aka year three, I had zero expectations and, if this is even possible, had negative expectations. How am I supposed to stay positive when none of my students take my help?
Then it hit me: The writing process isn't about the paper, it is about the student's attitude. My students hear me but they don't listen. They take the notes but they don't follow them.
Why?
Because they are teenagers. Not just any teenagers, but young teenagers who are navigating the tricky world of new friends, new drama, new feelings, new everything. They are concerned about school but not education. They care about turning in the essay but they don't realize that all those things I have said about paper writing applies to them because they have more important things on their minds.
You and I both know that these things they are concerned with won't be important in 10 years but you try telling that to a teenager.
So, what caused me to come to this startling realization? The freshmen I had in year one are now juniors. They are writing more and more complex papers for English, for history, for science, for every subject they have. More than one has come back to me, their lowly freshmen English teacher, and have asked me to look at their essay. When I ask them why me and not their current teacher, they reply with something along the lines of:
"I just remember you taking the time to teach me how to write. I didn't listen because I was a freshmen and didn't believe you when you said that I would need to know this later. I need your help now. Hopefully you're willing to help me."
(Granted, it isn't as eloquent as that usually but you get the gist.)
The students that crushed my dreams are now restoring them. Granted, they are two years late but they finally came through.
That is how I stay positive and keep doing what I have been doing. They aren't ignoring me now because they don't recognize my willingness to help; they have put the information in their brain but it just hasn't processed yet because other things are taking up the room.
I can't give up just because I haven't helped them now. I have to stay positive because they will eventually grow as a person and realize that I have been trying to help them all along, even if it is two years later.
That is how I stay positive will grading these essays which is exactly what I am going to continue to do now as I watch football out of the corner of my eye.
What am I doing?
Grading thesis essays.
Grading essays is the hardest part of my job. Okay well, not the hardest in terms of difficultly of doing, because, frankly, it is quite easy to sit there and read the essays since they are written by freshmen. What makes them the hardest is the fact that no matter how long I stand up there in class and tell students how to write a good paper or how many times I allow them to sign up to come see me for help on writing their paper, these papers are still a struggle to grade because they don't listen to what I say or take my offer for help seriously.
That is the most frustrating thing about grading thesis essays. I have been teaching for three years and I still can't get over the frustration that grading essays causes.
In this particular case, I spent 5 days in class teaching them how to write. We wrote a sample essay as a class and I gave my students a step by step guide on how to write a well thought out thesis essay.
Not only did I spend 5 lessons on this, I also was available before and after school for the two weeks students had to write their essays. I had a sign up sheet since they are freshmen and need a little push to have them come talk to teachers.
Only a handful signed up.
The first year I did this, I was full of dreams and expectations that students would come rushing to sign up and follow my directions step by step.
Of course, as do most dreams you have while teaching, these dreams were crushed.
Last year, aka year two, I had the same dreams with the though that "It is a new batch of students and they will surely follow every step."
Yet again, I was wrong.
So when I did it this year, aka year three, I had zero expectations and, if this is even possible, had negative expectations. How am I supposed to stay positive when none of my students take my help?
Then it hit me: The writing process isn't about the paper, it is about the student's attitude. My students hear me but they don't listen. They take the notes but they don't follow them.
Why?
Because they are teenagers. Not just any teenagers, but young teenagers who are navigating the tricky world of new friends, new drama, new feelings, new everything. They are concerned about school but not education. They care about turning in the essay but they don't realize that all those things I have said about paper writing applies to them because they have more important things on their minds.
You and I both know that these things they are concerned with won't be important in 10 years but you try telling that to a teenager.
So, what caused me to come to this startling realization? The freshmen I had in year one are now juniors. They are writing more and more complex papers for English, for history, for science, for every subject they have. More than one has come back to me, their lowly freshmen English teacher, and have asked me to look at their essay. When I ask them why me and not their current teacher, they reply with something along the lines of:
"I just remember you taking the time to teach me how to write. I didn't listen because I was a freshmen and didn't believe you when you said that I would need to know this later. I need your help now. Hopefully you're willing to help me."
(Granted, it isn't as eloquent as that usually but you get the gist.)
The students that crushed my dreams are now restoring them. Granted, they are two years late but they finally came through.
That is how I stay positive and keep doing what I have been doing. They aren't ignoring me now because they don't recognize my willingness to help; they have put the information in their brain but it just hasn't processed yet because other things are taking up the room.
I can't give up just because I haven't helped them now. I have to stay positive because they will eventually grow as a person and realize that I have been trying to help them all along, even if it is two years later.
That is how I stay positive will grading these essays which is exactly what I am going to continue to do now as I watch football out of the corner of my eye.
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