The Textbook Slayer!

HS English Teacher. Mountain Woman. Professional Cat Appreciator. Hater of Textbooks. Let's make a textbook the last thing our students expect! Alberta, Canada

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Mr. Good and a panel of students performing quality control on my chocolates... the entire box... one chocolate at a time. "I don't think you're supposed to eat the paper are you?" @captain__galactic "This one is freaking me out. Someone should just eat it." @marvellously_unique "Dark chocolate makes me sneeze." @theawesomerfaith "Would you say that one is butterscotch? ... (shoves in face)." Mr. Good Chocolates Consumed: @captain__galactic : 4.5 @marvellously_unique: 3 @theawesomerfaith: "more than 5" Mr. Good: 4 @_kensiekeller: 1 Finally: "I think we should leave some for Ms. A" (3 gross cream filled squares remain).

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Today I enjoyed sharing a precious family ring and the story that came with it. Now it's my ELA 9ers' turn to share!

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Yay! We survived the first week of school! Hope everyone enjoys a well deserved long weekend!

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Macbeth = Courtroom Drama

Lately I’ve been obsessed with The Good Wife. I love courtroom drama. Love. In fact, I love it so much, that I decided on whim to make my ELA 20-1 class stage a complete mock trial for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

I had no idea it would get so... intense. I mean, it was a minor assignment intended to engage my students in a 3rd draft reading of the play, and prepare them for their essay assignment. The result was:

Two days of scrambling to prepare for court:

Fabulously executed arguments!

Perfectly Executed rebuttals!

Sass between the prosecution and defence:

And the jury and I desperately trying to keep up!

This was definitely the most intense 60 minute class I’ve had all year! I’ll be using this assignment again...

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The ELA 20-1s have finished their propaganda assignments for our Brave New World Unit and the results are... entertaining!

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My ELA 20-1's are working on their propaganda assignments for our Brave New World study. Here they are using the green screen to create a soma commercial. While the subject matter is controversial, I believe that exploring the issues in BNW is so relevant for these students. They need to be ready for the moral challenges of a world where genetic engineering, cybernetics, technology, globalization, and consumerism are ubiquitous. #education #teacher #lit #books

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I've done my duty! My biggest concern as a voter? My students, of course! #edchat #abed #abpoli #education #DEMOCRACY

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May the fourth be with you! My Film Studies class didn't appreciate the pun. #education #abed #edchat #teacher #starwars

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Check out the cool cover art on this Japanese translation Brave New World. Having exchange students is so cool! #edchat #abed #engchat #education #teacher #books #lit

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My 5/6 drama class did their first read throughs today! We also found some time to be goofs. Such a fun class to work with!

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Lesson planning is greatly improved by latte! Enjoying my (productive) visit to Seattle.

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WE Club is ready for our Cupcakes for Critters bake sale tomorrow. #education #teacher #weclub #webakeforchange #abed

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I'm considering some classroom modifications... #education #teacher #abed #edchat

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Striving for a comma understanding...

It took far more than 12 years of formal education for me to figure out WHY punctuation works. As a seriously right brained kid, I knew HOW punctuation worked based on intuition honed by a fierce diet of reading. I “felt” where the comma should be placed by using some sort of sixth sense… which worked 85% of the time. The other 15% of the time I caught hell for “comma splices,” but had no idea what that meant. It wasn’t until University (and the revelation that I couldn’t tell students to just “feel” punctuation) that I decided to figure out why punctuation works. Even then, what a bore.

Source: Endless Simmer

Most of my students read far less than I did at their age because they have friends. *Cue violins.* They can figure out full stops, interobangs, ellipses… See what I did there? Unfortunately lighter readers lack enough familiarity with commas, semi-colons, and the dreaded emdash, to rely on intuition or observation. This is tragic because a good semi colon really spices up Friday night grading.

A Poster Worth Buying: The Oatmeal

In my experience, the rules of grammar and mechanics get glazed over by teachers and students because we have trouble budgeting the amount of time,  practice, and feedback required to develop a confident understanding. However, punctuation really elevates student writing if we can just get them to the point where they take artistic liberties rather than recklessly peppering their work.

How do we do this?  I have discovered that a good meme, or a good video, is worth a million worksheets. My students enjoy trying to figure out the irony of a good puncutation meme. They can then apply that understanding to their writing. The novelty of humour helps the students retain, and recall knowledge of punctuation that otherwise gets lost beneath a heap of more interesting stimuli (read hormones, gossip, unexpected smells). 

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The Drama 5/6's are almost finished storyboarding and writing screenplays for children's stories. Each step of the process gives different students a chance to shine. Katherine is shy about performing, but she's an amazing artist! #education #drama #teacher #classroom #english

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Swag for my book nerds.

If you’re as hot for books as I am, you’ll want to check out Miles to Go and Out of Print Clothing. These shops are a treasure trove for lovers of classic and cult lit.

If you’re from Alberta (it’s in Canada), you can find merchandise from both shops at Cafe Books in Canmore.