The English Teacher's Survival Guide

About This Resource xiii

About the Authors xv

1 BEGINNING THE SCHOOL YEAR 1

Designing a Lesson for Day One 2

Learning Still More About Your Students 7

Helping Students Know One Another 15

2 MANAGING YOUR CLASSROOM 17

Arranging the Room 17

Planning for Books, Paper, and Equipment 21

Planning an Efficient Classroom 24

Devising a Fair Grading System 34

3 CREATING A MASTER PLAN, INDIVIDUAL UNITS, AND DAILY LESSONS 43

Designing a Year-Long Course 44

Planning Teaching Units 45

Creating Daily Lesson Plans 46

Team Planning and Teaching 53

Planning for English Language Learners 57

Planning for Students with Special Needs in an Inclusive Classroom 58

Mechanics 61

4 DESIGNING, MONITORING, AND GRADING COOPERATIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES 65

Designing Group Activities 66

Monitoring Cooperative Group Work 68

Grading Cooperative Group Projects 78

5 TEACHING WRITING 89

Teaching the Writing Process 90

Managing Your Writing Classroom 91

Using Mini-Lessons 118

Sharing Student Writing: Presenting and Publishing 130

Evaluating and Grading Student Writing 131

Designing Assignments for a Variety of Formats 144

6 TEACHING READING AND LITERATURE 159

Approaches to the Teaching of Literature 160

Selecting Texts for Student Readers 167

Planning for Readers’ Responses 178

Evaluation, Testing, and Grading 201

During and After Reading: Reader’s Theater 202

7 TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING 209

Teaching Listening 210

Conversing with One Person 213

Conversing in Small Groups 215

Conversing in Large Groups 221

Presenting Individual Speeches 222

8 USING TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM 229

What Is Media Literacy? 230

Twenty-First-Century Literacies 230

Encouraging Responsible Use of Computers and the Internet 230

Types of Media 232

Re-creating Media Literacy 239

Advice for Getting Started 239

9 WORKING WITH OTHERS 245

Working with Parents 246

Working with Teachers and Administrators 253

Working with Community Resources 257

10 AVOIDING BURNOUT AND BECOMING A MORE EFFECTIVE TEACHER 259

Staying Healthy and Fit 260

Becoming a More Effective Teacher 262

APPENDIX A SAMPLE UNIT PLANS 269

Themes in African American Literature 269

Discovering My Identity 280

Focus on Poetry and the Personal Memoir 281

Introducing Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Graphic Novel 286

APPENDIX B TWENTY ASSESSMENT SUGGESTIONS 287

APPENDIX C STRATEGIES FOR DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 291

APPENDIX D YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE TITLES 295

APPENDIX E RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 305

References 309

Index 313