A BOOK YOU SHOULD KNOW! Painless Grammar by Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D. Barron s Press, 2 nd Edition

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1 Many of the things I ve done in my life have basically been selftaught. I think we, as the Muppets, broke new ground because we approached puppetry from a different angle. I had never worked with puppets when I was a kid, and even when I began on television, I really didn t know what I was doing. I m sure that this was a good thing, because I learned as I tackled each problem. I think if you study if you learn too much of what others have done, you may tend to take the same direction as everybody else. ----Jim Henson Jim Henson, The Muppets & Friends. It s not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider. New York: Hyperion What is a mentor text and how do we use them? Every teacher has a preconceived notion of what makes a great mentor text. Should they come from classic authors like Dickens, Wells, and Bradbury? Or should they come from books every student is reading like Twilight, Wimpy Kid & Percy Jackson? The answers to these questions will influence what you choose to highlight. Looking at these questions, I ve realized that I want my mentor text to inspire as well as teach. I may need to break out of this notion at some point, but I m not ready to yet. Certainly, if I m teaching a class novel, I would highlight passages that they are reading, but if I m simply adding a new text into the discussion, it needs to have a message, and just not outstanding grammar, hence, Jim Henson. A BOOK YOU SHOULD KNOW! Painless Grammar by Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D. Barron s Press, 2 nd Edition If you think grammar is dull and boring, open this book and think again! It s Not Easy Being Green is one of those mini-coffee table books filled with random quotes and drawings. Certainly for the reluctant reader, these gems would be worth lying around. I loved the diversity of the text, and yet, it reads fluidly. There are openers, interrupters, complex sentences, a hyphen and a dash. Depending on when this text was introduced, that could be seen as a good or a bad thing. If a class was really confused about commas, then this would probably not be a good place to start. However, if the class was ready to mix-andmatch their sentences, then this would be a great starting point. Probably the strongest negative would be the reliance of pronouns in this piece; I counted 20 pronouns within 98 words. Although I hadn t considered pronouns at first glance, this text could replace Kira-Kira for Anderson s Where Have All the Pronoun s Gone? lesson (see Mechanically Inclined p.108). POSSIBLE WRITING PROMPTS: Write about something that you learned by teaching yourself. Write about something you learned that you wished you could have taught yourself and why. Write two lists. Think of things that should be taught and things that should be discovered or self-taught.

2 Teaching Sentence Closers with Holocaust Literature There weren t any amazing lesson plans online that would help teach sentence closers. The best idea that I ve seen so far is Gallagher s branching activity. Working from a simple sentence, the student adds nonessential information as an opener, interrupter, or closer. However, one could focus simply on closers. I found several simple sentences from similar text that the students could rewrite to zoom in on the details. Add a closer to each of the following: Bruno frowned, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas p.60 Papa went to the telephone, Number the Stars, p. 52 At night they sat by candlelight or lamplight, The Man from the Other Side, p. 81 THE DOTS & DASHES RAP by Rhythm, Rhyme, Results Think of a comma like you think of a pause, when a conjunction connects an independent clause. A comma s like a breath expressed in written form: I like the sound of thunder, so I love thunderstorms. Use a comma in a sentence with a contrasting phrase: I m awake, I m just a little bit dazed. You can also use a comma to set off some dialogue, like, The princess said, I liked you better as a frog! **Can find it on itunes.** CATCHING CLOSERS If it had been any other adult standing in front of him he would have rolled his eyes to suggest that they both knew that girls were silly, and sisters utterly ridiculous. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas p. 74 He wore the same striped pajamas that all the other people on that side of the fence wore, and a striped cloth cap on his head. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas p. 106 Finally he nodded, reluctantly. Number the Stars p 52 She shook her head, waiting to hear the answer. Number the Stars p.14 This is what the branch president says after he sees the Gestapo sitting in the back of the church, taking notes. The Boy Who Dared p. 55 He has a bucket and is washing the slurs from the window, smearing the yellow paint into huge wet circles. The Boy Who Dared p. 32 His head hung on his chest, a hat shaded his face. Friedrich p. 45 The cyclist rode on, pedaling furiously. Friedrich p. 45 The town hall stood like a giant hamfisted youth, too big for his age. The Book Thief p. 169 Rudy prodded it cautiously with his foot, as if it were a dead animal. E N G M a g athe z i Book n e DThief r a f p. t 320

3 Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. The Boy Who Dared. New York: Scholastic Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. New York: Random House Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Boston: Houghton Orlev, Uri. The Man from the Other Side. Boston: Houghton Richter, Hans Peter. Friedrich. New York: Scholastic Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred Knopf

4 FINDING OURSELVES -An exercise in found poetry from in class autobiographical writings. On a more personal note, My name is strong my mother s biggest dream, to have a child For once I am not what they expected Finally, it was my turn! my name finally meant what I wanted it to this was the first time it sank in My name and I have a loveless relationship On occasion it was quite confusing. I thought it was cool. But that s about it. My life so far has been a failing quest to honor WANTED: INSPIRATION Last Seen: Middle of Nowhere MI, 1995 CRIME: Leaving impressionable writers in their time of need Known Aliases: Awakening, Brainstorm, Creativity, Desire, Enthusiasm, Genius, Ingenuity, Motivation, Spark, Vision If Found: Please return to writing class. Call WRIT-WEL REWARD: $5,000 sponsored by the DEAD LETTERS OFFICE that FACTORS title. THAT CAN MAKE OR BREAK THE STUDENT S WILLINGNESS TO CREATE The Environment The Topic/Writing Prompt The Freedom to Choose Teacher Response The Assessment & Grade I am now comfortable with my name. Maybe on a whim it was decided No story or reason. I m going to be who I am. even if I was something more than what I am I wasn t a mistake, I was a miracle My name has a rhythm steady and true. The name didn t belong to anyone else Who wouldn t be proud of a name like that? I claim everything! How cool is that? And it has been that way ever since. I used to hate my name. How I made sense of it It is the responsibility of not soiling my family reputation. Will I always be the same?

5 A black sheep in a field of white goats. So, my name is nothing special. I like it this way.

6 Three Voices on Inspiration I can t write. I won t write. It doesn t matter anyway. I ll just fail. You ll fail me like all the rest of my student English teachers. I don t care. I ve got better things to do this waste my time in here writing in your stupid journals. Give me a break. You only grade one out of ten pages. Would you work if you only got paid a dime for every dollar? I don t think so. How stupid do I look? Just give me a paper so I can write what I gotta write so you re let me outta here. Tell me what you want. That s all. That s the best you got. Give me a break. I ve been writing these since fifth grade. I ll have it done in ten minutes. No, I won t need to revise. It ll be just what you want to hear. Just you wait and see. I know everyone thinks writing is boring. I understand that, I do. When I was your age, I dreaded journal days. I was scared of the blank page. While everyone else was writing, I stared out the window, hoping that my pen would magically write a New York Best Seller. But it doesn t have to be that way. Everyone has a clean slate. You re allowed to make mistakes; I won t grade everything you write. Everyone will have second chances, if it didn t work out the way you thought it would the first time. The key will be to write, don t be afraid to start. We ll start with something familiar, writing about ourselves. Yes, I said we. I ll be writing alongside side you every step of the ways. Just you wait and see. Does Choice Matter? Tom Romano s insistence on the multi-genre paper is all about writing choice. Sara Kiel remarked that Romano gets to the heart of why we teach genres: to give students a wider range to express thoughts (January 31, 2010). It is clear that each student is a unique individual when they step into a classroom. Some students will excel with poetry while others love to research. It seems that educators are not simple

7 embracing Gardner s work in multiple intelligences to show why a student isn t smart in their class but to create assessments that play into the unique intelligences of a classroom. As future teachers, we will all come across that student that will not write no matter what we do. Does form really outrank material? I would rather see ten poems that outline the various for starting the Civil War then to be responsible for turning off a student to future writing because I formed them to write the perfect five-paragraph essay. Will they have to write the essay? Of course, but that is another day s battle. Today, I m trying to win the war.