Day 133: Let's Eat Grandpa!
Students will be able to use text evidence in a short answer.
We are days away from our state test. My students are brainwashed and despondent and bored with review. Some of my kiddos will be testing sixteen hours next week because of retesting - the freshman English test on Monday and Tuesday, and the sophomore one Thursday and Friday. I hope and pray they pass; I cannot imagine another year like this one, what with extra tutorials and rearranging class schedules and stress. I've told them on numerous occasions that they are in complete control of passing - they need to read everything, focus on the details, pre-write, and check their answers. If they are too lazy to do that, it's their own faults for not passing. To emphasize the importance of reading, I shared this example with them describing how important proper punctuation is:
Two very different letters. However, one of my kids Googled "the importance of punctuation" and came up with this. While he had the prerogative to share it with all his classmates, I obviously could not in my capacity as a teacher. For a few other humorous examples of proofreading errors, see here and here. Goodness, I hope they reread their writing next week. Their ability to graduate could depend on it.
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Quick rant: I am a member of a Yahoo group called Freecycle; it's rather like Craigslist but everything is free. People email offers or wanted ads, and others in the locale respond for pick up. I found instant homes (>1 hour turnaround) for a well-loved Weber grill, some patio furniture in need of TLC, and a less-than-stupendous espresso maker that was taking up counter space. I've also inherited a lovely wrought-iron headboard from Freecycle, as well as a dryer that we've used successfully for the last year and a half. I once saw a post that read, "Wanted: nonworking deep freezer." Turns out her son was a Boy Scout and wanted to make an incubator as part of a project; I bet tons of people with dead freezers taking up garage space jumped on that. It's a neat site; I recommend you Google your local one.
Anyway, today someone posted "Needing girls shoes in sizes 9/10/11/12. In flip flops and nice sandals and sneakers. Needing women's size 10. In sandals flats and sneakers. Thank you". The message ended with..."Sent from my iPhone".
Freecycle isn't supposed to be too specific - "Boys clothes size 9" instead of "Nike basketball shoes, size 11". It's designed to be a shared garage-sale style page for people to help get rid of treasures to good homes. I don't have a huge issue with someone desiring new shoes; I wear size 10 and could share the love, as I have way too many. However, I use the free Verizon flip phone; no data plan, no music, no internet, just a plain ol' flipper. My students think I'm ridiculously ancient. One asked me if I was Jewish (she meant Amish - it was a pretty hysterical/sad conversation). I don't feel like sharing my shoes with someone asking for stuff from a $600 iPhone. But maybe I'm just curmudgeonly like that.
We are days away from our state test. My students are brainwashed and despondent and bored with review. Some of my kiddos will be testing sixteen hours next week because of retesting - the freshman English test on Monday and Tuesday, and the sophomore one Thursday and Friday. I hope and pray they pass; I cannot imagine another year like this one, what with extra tutorials and rearranging class schedules and stress. I've told them on numerous occasions that they are in complete control of passing - they need to read everything, focus on the details, pre-write, and check their answers. If they are too lazy to do that, it's their own faults for not passing. To emphasize the importance of reading, I shared this example with them describing how important proper punctuation is:
Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy--will you let me be yours?
Jane
OR change the punctuation placement a bit:
Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,
Jane
Two very different letters. However, one of my kids Googled "the importance of punctuation" and came up with this. While he had the prerogative to share it with all his classmates, I obviously could not in my capacity as a teacher. For a few other humorous examples of proofreading errors, see here and here. Goodness, I hope they reread their writing next week. Their ability to graduate could depend on it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quick rant: I am a member of a Yahoo group called Freecycle; it's rather like Craigslist but everything is free. People email offers or wanted ads, and others in the locale respond for pick up. I found instant homes (>1 hour turnaround) for a well-loved Weber grill, some patio furniture in need of TLC, and a less-than-stupendous espresso maker that was taking up counter space. I've also inherited a lovely wrought-iron headboard from Freecycle, as well as a dryer that we've used successfully for the last year and a half. I once saw a post that read, "Wanted: nonworking deep freezer." Turns out her son was a Boy Scout and wanted to make an incubator as part of a project; I bet tons of people with dead freezers taking up garage space jumped on that. It's a neat site; I recommend you Google your local one.
Anyway, today someone posted "Needing girls shoes in sizes 9/10/11/12. In flip flops and nice sandals and sneakers. Needing women's size 10. In sandals flats and sneakers. Thank you". The message ended with..."Sent from my iPhone".
Freecycle isn't supposed to be too specific - "Boys clothes size 9" instead of "Nike basketball shoes, size 11". It's designed to be a shared garage-sale style page for people to help get rid of treasures to good homes. I don't have a huge issue with someone desiring new shoes; I wear size 10 and could share the love, as I have way too many. However, I use the free Verizon flip phone; no data plan, no music, no internet, just a plain ol' flipper. My students think I'm ridiculously ancient. One asked me if I was Jewish (she meant Amish - it was a pretty hysterical/sad conversation). I don't feel like sharing my shoes with someone asking for stuff from a $600 iPhone. But maybe I'm just curmudgeonly like that.
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