September 1976: Ten Minutes to Go....

Archive 20: Articles and ideas published in the 20^th century on the teaching of English that are still useful in the 21^st century.

Question: What can you do during the last ten minutes of class?

Answer: Excerpts from the article.

(1) Make up a pen name based on your real name or some significant element in your life. Print it on a slip of paper and put all pen names in a box. Draw them out one at a time and guess whose they are. Students may enjoy using the pen name all year long in their writing.

(2) Draw a sign or symbol to represent your name or some significant aspect of your life and explain why you chose it.

(3) Write out your name, one letter at a time, from the top of the paper to the bottom. Give a word beginning with each letter that describes or tells something about you.

(4) Write out your name. See how many other words you can make from the letters contained in it.

(5) Write out your name. Make up a sentence in which the first word begins with the first letter of hyour name, the second word begins with the second letter, etc.

(6) Have each person tell something he has learned that day.

(7) Alphabetize the names of your classmates.

(8) Write a “Dear Abby” letter about a real or fictitious adolescent problem that you or a friend have. Do not sign your real name. Put all letters in a box. Have students draw one out, answer the question, and then read all answers aloud.

(9) Write out directions to some place in the community.

(10) Ask students to give directions for making some object or for completing some task. Read the directions aloud and let others decide what the directions are for.

(11) Tell a story from the front of the row to the back or around the room with each student adding a sentence. Each student must listen to all the others or his sentence will not make sense.

(12) Read lyrics from a song to the class and ask them to name the song.

(13) Play a popular record that tells a story and ask the class to identifythe hero, hroing, setting, conflict, theme, etc.

(14) If you use oral book reports, try this. Ask the class to bring in some object related to the story and to explain its significance.

(15) Play an instrumental recording and ask students to record any images the music suggests to them.

(16) Use one word as many ways as possible in a short paragraph. It might read something like this: “The under-rated undertaker was undernourished and underestimated.”

(17) Read half a story to the class. Let them write the ending.

(18) During October, let students write an epitaph for themselves in the form of a short poem. Display these on construction paper tombstones for Halloween.

(19) Use a newspaper for a grammar treasure hunt. Let the class work in pairs and ask them to find an example for each capitalization and punctuation rule, or ten examples of each part of speech or samples of simple, compound, complex sentences, verbs in all the tenses.

(20) Place a number of magazine pictures on the board. Ask students to arrange them so that they tell a story. Then they write the story.

Title: “Fill ‘Er Up or Four Score Language Arts Activities for the Last Ten Minutes of the Period.” Sue Ellen Holt. English Journal (September 1976), 52-57.

Topics for Writing and Speaking

Archive 20: Articles and ideas published in the 20^th century on the teaching of English that are still useful in the 21^st century.

Question: How can you help students who complain that they have nothing to write about?

Answer: Students staple the following list of topics to the inside of their writing folders.

dirt biking

cameras and photography

scuba diving

Kung Fu

needlepoint

Transcendental Meditation

rock hounding

sewing

horses

boating

candle-making

gymnastics

writing

macramé

sky-gliding

ceramics

car engines

chemistry

singing

playing a musical instrument

(type: ……………………..)

rocketry

homemade ice cream

cooking

flying

traveling

backpacking

life saving

fly-tying

clamming

canoeing

rock climbing

embroidery or crewel

wood carving

carpentry

electronics

deep sea fishing

poetry

rap music

deep sea diving

hunting

leatherwork

camping

 pen & ink drawing

horse racing

sign language

rodeos

lobstering

computer games

ice fishing

stamps

skating

coins

antiques

pastels

haircutting

foraging

bowling

ski-mobiling

sailing

track and field

swimming

skateboards

astronomy

astrology

model-constructing

modeling (clothes)

collecting mushrooms

(or collecting something else)

Judo

wild flowers

acting

acupuncture

softball

water colors

chess

maple syruping

diving

railroads

trapping

Disney World

national parks

origami

weaving

oil painting

Parchesi

Majong

movie-making

impersonations

caterpillars and insects

kite flying

frisbee throwing

indoor plants

kiteconstruction

script writing

karate

Falconry

gerbils

kazoos

bobsledding

soccer

lacrosse

surfing

backgammon

squash (game)

tropical fish

trivia

ballet

puppetry

knitting and crocheting

Monopoly

football

baseball

skiing

ski-jumping

animal training

Areas or subjects in which I excel that have been left off the list……………………………………………………….

Something I’ve done that no one in the class has ever done: …………………………………………………………..

Title: “Experience Portfolios: An Approach to Student Writing.” Johanna Sweet. English Journal (September 1976), 50-51.

Topic: Reading Skills vs. Reading

Archive 20: Articles and ideas published in the 20^th century on the teaching of English that are still useful in the 21^st century.

Question: Is breaking reading into skills (minimum competence) the same as reading?

Answer; Reading skills are pieces of reading knowledge, but they do not themselves add up to reading, which is meaning. The author concludes: “All the other systems and strategies should be available (especially in the teacher’s head) so that if needed to unlock anything they can be used, but only to enhance actual reading.” P. 49.

Comment: Passing a test of a set of reading sub-skills does not necessarily add up to the ability to read. RayS.

Title: “Reading (Whatever That Is) Is Not Math (Whatever That Is).” Seymour Yesner. English Journal (February 1976), 45-49.

Topic: Short Writing Activities

Archive 20: Articles and ideas published in the 20^th century on the teaching of English that are still useful in the 21^st century.

Question: What are some interesting writing activities to use in an elementary classroom?

Answer: Teacher shows film. After the film is completed, the students dictate the series of scenes and the teacher records on chart paper. A language experience activity in which the students record and then read back what they have recorded. A lesson in both writing and reading. Teacher: Kenneth Oppenheim.

Answer: Fifth-grade students write the story of a comic strip and extend the story to a fifth panel. Teacher: Larry Burge.

Title; “Psycho-What??” B Greene and M Matson. English Journal (February 1976), 39-44.

Standards for Expository Writing

Archive 20: Articles and ideas published in the 20^th century on the teaching of English that are still useful in the 21^st century.

Question: Do standards exist for expository writing?

Answer: “Standards for expository writing are remarkably uniform throughout the English-speaking world. Whether the writer speaks pidgin English or tagalong (a dialect used in the Philippines), whether he uses a black or cockney dialect, when he puts ideas on paper to describe, explain, argue or define, he must follow standards—agreed upon rules—for transmitting his ideas.” P. 20.

“Standards exist and should be enforced, compassionately, by English teachers. Further, such enforcement should help students acquire the skills necessary for their economic, educational and social survival. In sum, standards for expository writing are common to the English speaking world; they can be taught and should be taught.” P. 21.

Comment: Today (2011), I’m not sure I accept this assessment that standards for expository writing are agreed on. Writing in newspapers, magazines and books seems to vary from informal to formal, from conversational to the language of textbooks. The conversational approach to writing invites the reader to participate in reading. The formal approach to writing is clear and precise. Both have their advantages. One point is sure, though: students need to be able to write formally when they are expected to. In other words, they need to understand the characteristics of informal writing and the rules required by formal writing. RayS.

Title: “Writing Standards: One Rationale.” Edward Fagan. English Journal (February 1976), 20-21.