Learning, Laughter, and Love in Middle School English

Last week I attended an all day meeting with my fellow English department chairs.  As a team, we created goals for our department for the upcoming year.  It was a great day! One of the benefits of these kinds of meetings is the informal sharing we do among ourselves.  One teacher shared a new technology she was using in her classroom that not only engaged students and reviewed important content, it REQUIRED them to collaborate with their team members.  Of course, I tried it the very next day and was so glad that I did! Here's the scoop: 1) It's called Quizlet Live (new from Quizlet).  Teachers can create their own questions and answers, or they can use an already created set.  Images and audio may be added. 2) The teacher shares the join code with all students, and each student joins the game by entering the code, as well as his name. 3)  The computer immediately places students into groups which are projected onto the screen.  Each grou...

Today one of my students came in and said, "Mrs. Karney, I made up a riddle!"  Of course I wanted to hear it!  It was too good not to share~  I tweeted it, had him share it with the class, and shared it with the entire staff.  Here it is: What has a body but no soul? What uses hooks but does not fish? What argues but does not talk? Answer-An argumentative essay! I love my students!

My amazing student teacher will be leaving us next Thursday.  When she told the kids today, they let out a collective groan.  Poor kids will be stuck with me after that!   As we read  The Giver , she had the students take notes on various aspects of Jonas's community-religion, occupations, education, etc.  They also read several articles about real "Utopian" communities.  As the final project, students had to create their own Utopian Community in groups.  She gave them numerous options including: creating a video. a Prezi, a Google slide show, or a poster .  Students were so engaged in this project today that I jokingly said to her, "We could go to Starbucks and come back, and they wouldn't even notice that we left!"  Monday, students will present their communities to the class, and the class will vote on the "best" place to live!  Finally, students were assigned an argumentative about why their community is superior ...

I forgot my Paypal password last week.  While trying to reset it, I was asked the security question: "Who was your favorite teacher?" I typed in three different names and none were right!  Favorite teacher?  How could I have picked just one ?  It could have been any of the following: Mrs. Whitlock- My third-grade teacher at La Paloma Elementary.  I idolized this woman.  She was "groovy".  Not only did I master my times tables like a boss, she let us listen to Led Zeppelin on rainy days and keep a pet spider in the terrarium. Mr. Sherman- My fourth and fifth-grade teacher at La Paloma Elementary.  This was my first male teacher.  He was hilarious, loved sports, and loved teaching.  He brought in a Pong table so that we could have a Pong tournament before the holidays.   Mrs. McKee- My seventh-grade English teacher at Valley Middle School.  This woman was like my second grandmother.  She was so kind and nurtur...