Rbs Language Arts Newsletter

RBS Language Arts Newsletter
11/20/13 7:12 PM
in' Language Arts!

October, 2013
Dear Language Arts Staff, Welcome back to a brand-new school year! I hope that you were able to renew and recharge this summer to get ready for an exciting year ahead! Sometimes summer can be a tough balancing act of putting aside time for yourself and your family, and planning for the new school year ahead. I don't think I'm the best at juggling these two things. Even with the best intentions to do a little bit of school work each day, the hammock usually wins! But somehow, it all gets done, it all gets planned, and before you know it, school is in full swing without feeling like you've never left your classroom. This year, our school and language arts department are welcoming some new faces! Mr. James Manco, former 4th grade teacher at ADS and vice principal at BHS will be our acting building principal. Mr. Manco already has some great new initiatives in store for our staff and students! Katie Dunn is our newest member of the language arts department. Katie has replaced Mr. Lavorgna as he enjoys a well-deserved retirement after 40 dedicated years of teaching. In her second year with the district, Katie has already proven herself to be a motivated and enthusiastic teacher who is excited to share a love of reading and writing with her students. We will also benefit from the services of Barbara Fodor who will be back in our library each day during the first four modules. Please be sure to see her while she's in the building. Barb has great ideas on how to
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In This Issue...
-Favorite First Lines -We've Known It All Along! -Let the Kids Break Some Writing Rules! -Strengthen your core! -Endnote
Lovin' this Link!

Click here to go to the NEW YORK TIMES free education online version for teachers and students! Fulfill your need for nonfiction and current events by using this great source. Complete with lesson plans, CCSS ideas, and MORE!
Famous
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Firsts
I read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita in college, but I only remember the amazing first lines. What are your favorite literary moments? Share them with your students and remind them that it's ok to only remember the good stuff... Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin. My soul. Lo-lee-ta. The tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth: Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks, She was Dolly at school, Dolores on the dotted line, but in my arms she was always Lolita.
connect our 5-8 content with expectations from the high school. In other language arts news, Shelly Klein and Kristine Dudlo, curriculum director for the Bloomingdale school district, have been working hard with gradelevel representatives from our district to create new common core-based curricula to help guide us through the Reader/Writer workshop model. This year, Shelly will also be working with our science and social studies departments to guide them through the importance of reading well in the content areas. Wishing you all a successful and productive school year! I hope you'll share your language arts successes with us, and your messes too! We all have them. And we all learn from them. Remember... a little mess means you're trying something new, and that, in my mind, equals a beautiful success--no matter how it turns out. Read on! Maren Baum Board Approved Administrative Intern Language Arts Lead Teacher
We've Known it all Along! Reading Equals Success

"There is no more important homework than reading. Research shows that the highest achieving students are those who devote leisure time to reading, even when the school day and year are only mid-length and homework isn't excessive. Recently, the largest-ever international study of reading found that the single most important predictor of academic success is the amount of time children spend reading books, more important even than economic or social status. And one of the few predictors of high achievement in math and science is the amount of time children devote to pleasure reading." -- Nancie Atwell,The Reading Zone(p. 130)
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If you're not familiar with the work of Nancie Atwell, she is certainly a middle school educator that you should come to know. Atwell is an accomplished English teacher in Maine as well as a prolific author on the subject of language arts instruction at the 6-8 level. During the years of her impressive career, Atwell will be the first to admit that she tried every program, read every book, hopped on the latest trends... only to find that one thing her students needed to succeed in ALL classes was access to good books and quality reading time in school. In her newest book, The Reading Zone . Atwell speaks to the importance of creating a schoolwide culture of reading. It is a book that teachers of any subject area can and should read. It might just convince you that the path to student success is easier to carve out than you might think.
There is no "I" in team, but there can be an "I" in writing...

NOTE: I put this in the last issue, but I think it bears repeating, especially for the start of the school year so we can be on the same page! How to break some of those writing "rules"
What's your view on writing rules? Mine is there are none. There are conventions, yes... but even those can be broken. I personally (see! I used "I"!) find
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that students come to dislike and feel frustrated with writing because they are often confined to rules that, quite honestly, don't make a lot of sense. Using the first person in writing is acceptable and should not be frowned upon. When we teach students "school writing" which is vastly different from real writing, it is no wonder that they get confused with rules. For students to write well, they need good literary models. And often these models incorporate some rule breaking that students may notice. Strong words, but I think it's shameful that students think writing is 5 paragraphs, 5-7 sentences per paragraph. "I" is used in writing and oration ("I Have a Dream" anyone?). Sentences start with coordinating conjunctions (For if you disagree with me, there's no squiggly line under this sentence as a I write!). Fragments are in abundance (I'm average height. But only in heels. High heels. As high as Mt. Kilamanjaro). Paragraphs are not 5-7 sentences. Consider how our goal is to increase student writing ability. How can this be done if they are reading and absorbing good literature, yet being asked to create canned writing that does not have any value beyond the classroom? I read somewhere that teaching the 5 paragraph essay is like cutting off the points of a picket fence. It's safe, boring, and non-functional. Think of this quote from Pablo Picasso..."Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist." With this concept in mind, you can focus on particular writing conventions, and then show how they can be reinterpreted for the written effect. For example, there's a big difference between someone who does not know they are writing with fragments and run-ons versus a writer who uses these techniques purposely for effect. So if you happen to see a few "Is" or a sentence that starts with "but," it's not the end of the world. In fact, it may be the beginning of a student who is ready to spread their writing wings!
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Writer Anne Marble has this to say about her favorite rule of writing to break... "Writing Rules Are Made To Be Broken" Keep in mind that most of the rules of writing are guidelines. Not edicts carved in stone. One of the most important aspects of learning to become a better writer is learning when to stomp all over those guidelines and do what you know is best for your writing. Ready for more illegal things to do? Click here for the 7 grammar rules you SHOULD break! And yes... one of them is to go ahead and use "I."
Strengthen your Core!
Wondering about those new standards?
So is everyone else! ABC news recently published an online Q&A article in an effort to get to know the new standards, and how they affect the now 45 states that have adopted them. Check out the brief but effective overview on the CCSS by clicking here. If you'd like to check the CCSS for language arts in full, check them out by clicking here! Remember that it is helpful to review the CCSS for each grade level above and below what you are currently teaching to fully realize the sequence, scope, and connection made by the interlinking of the standards as our students grow. Let the standards guide your units and lesson planning to ensure that are being covered.
...Endnote
No matter what your English block holds, there's always room to share a great poem. ENJOY! and THANK YOU TO KAREN DiTARANTO for this issue's poem! This is a great one to show the power of metaphor with your students. DREAMS By Langston Hughes
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Hold fast to your dreams For if they die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly Hold fast to your dreams For when they go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow
Maren Baum | 30 Pearl Place | Butler, New Jersey 07405 |
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Butler Public School District | 30 Pearl Place | Butler | NJ | 07405
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in' Language Arts!

Lovin' this Link!