The Problem with Counting when your Students Don't Follow your Directions

Teaching Tip of the Day regarding classroom rules:
Have rewards and consequences for following or breaking your rule that says, Follow oral and written directions THE FIRST TIME GIVEN.

      When you ask your students to sit down and be quiet, make sure there is a consequence when they don't. Too many teachers say, "Sit down!" then start counting....."1.....2.....3.....4....5!" So in that classroom, sit down doesn't mean sit down....counting does. Here's a better idea using numbers if you're going to do that this year:
      For each number you get to after saying sit down....or whatever directive......there needs to be one second of penalty time. For example, if everyone is not seated until you get to 8, that means they took 8 seconds of YOUR time, so you will be taking 8 seconds of THEIRS! That way the counting actually stands for something.   Since your classrooms are often in rows or teams, you can hold them accountable to each other  by having different numbers in the class....one for each row or team/table.  There are many special situations though that the consequence should only apply to individuals, not the entire class. This way the consequence is only for the students who are breaking the rules, not the entire class.
      I used to write the number 300 (five minutes) or 600 (ten minutes) on the board at the beginning of the week. That represented how many seconds of free time the students would earn on Friday afternoon when our week's work was completed. They would earn or lose more seconds throughout the week for things like behavior, homework, passing or failing, participation....whatever I felt was important to me! Many students are extrinsically motivated, and free time is the cheapest form of motivation! 
This should work for your students, children at home and even maybe your spouses!  ;-)
                                                                           Bill MacDonald/The Write Prescription

How to survive Staff Development Week!

      Many of you will be attending staff development next week....
           As you attend these sessions, think of them like Luby's cafeteria. You aren't going to go through the line and eat every single appetizer, meat, vegetable, and ...dessert. At the same time, it is highly unlikely that you will go through the entire choices laid out before you and come out the other end with an empty tray.
      In a similar fashion, go to your sessions with the idea that you will find a few wonderful things that work for you and your teaching style. Place them in your teacher tackle box, tweak them to make them yours, and don't worry about the rest.
      Hopefully everyone will have the pleasure of attending exciting engaging trainings, and none of you get stuck in a session where you're thinking about everything BUT the presentation!

Bill MacDonald/The Write Prescription
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Hey, ESE! Want the key to a perfect personal narrative ESSAY!?

 Writing Tip of the Day: The perfect plan for a personal narrative essay in four hours:

Spend about ONE hour on planning before and editing after.
Write about ONE place!
Write about ONE developed/engaging real or realistic event
from your past that responds to the prompt.
Have ONE short but effective ending/extension.
1+1+1+1 = 4 

In Texas here are some numbers to think about: 
4th graders have 4 hours each day to write one essay and answer 14 revising/editing questions......not including field test questions.
7th graders have 4 hours on the 1st day to write one essay and answer 40 revising/editing questions, and 4 hours on the 2nd day to write two essays

Bill MacDonald/The Write Prescription
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Who we hang with often determines our level of excellence, passion, and commitment.

Thought of the Day: Who we surround ourselves with sometimes determines our level of commitment, zeal, and passion: Who am I?

An analogy with birds
Don't run with the chickens. It's rumored that they let fear control them, and wander around aimlessly like their heads are cut off.
Don't depend on turkeys when you need something. They only come around once or twice a year.....and some "turkeys" only want to joke around, never taking life seriously.
Don't hang out with the buzzards. They literally suck the life out of others.
Soar with the eagles, and reach levels of excellence that you never thought possible.
Those that wait on the Lord will soar with wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, and shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

 

Bill MacDonald/The Write Prescription
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Please STOP teaching students to restate the prompt or ask questions about it!

Writing Tip of the Day: When teaching students to address the prompt, it is NOT a good idea to have them restate the prompt word for word or ask the reader a question about it....and this goes for the introduction AND conclusion. Here's why:
 I will explain my point with an analogy. Each essay is like a meal, and the reader is the "eater" of our words. Think of the beginning of the essay like an appetizer, and the ending like dessert. Many graders are "eating" anywhere between 100 to 300 "meals" per day, depending on the situation and length of each essay. Imagine having to eat salad for 200 meals in a row.........you would get pretty sick of it after awhile.....and I love cheesecake, but if you force me to eat it over and over, I am going to never want to see cheesecake again in my life!
 Now, I'm not saying that NONE of your students should restate the prompt. We have some kids who need a simple way to write essays because of their ability levels, but this should be the exception and not the rule. Try eating exactly the same thing for even three meals in a row! You won't like it....and neither will the reader who has to eat our words......sometimes the same ones....over....and over...and over. 
 In my materials and trainings, I model how to start and end essays in a variety of ways that will get and keep the attention of the reader.  
Bill MacDonald/The Write Prescription
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An Analogy on Essays and Marriages....Hopefully not yours!

Writing Tip of the Day:
 
Most engagements end at the wedding......We slowly stop doing and saying the romantic things we did to get the attention of our spouse at the beginning.
Most essays stop being engaging after the introduction......We get tired and stop putting the effort we were putting at the beginning with our attention getters and amazing vocabulary!
In marriage and essays, it might look something like this:
BLING! BLING! BLING! BLING!.....blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
A friend of mine who used to be a grader told me that only one out of every one hundred essays he read was engaging, unique, and exciting!
Let's be that one in a hundred....in class AND in life!

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How to use TOYS as TOOLS to teach and check for development in Writing

Writing Tip of the Day: Use TOYS as TOOLS to engage your students and connect with visual/kinesthetic learners as you check for development on essays.

You might tell your students they need to develop their ideas more than a hundred times, but unless they can SEE or TOUCH what you're talking about, they will have a hard time understanding. We never really HAVE time for activities like these, but we have to decide that ALL of our students deserve to learn and MAKE time.
When I work with students on planning and brainstorming, I use a train with the colors yellow, blue, green and red as a graphic organizer. One of the traits most states use when grading essays is development....how many details or sentences are spent on the introduction, body ideas, and conclusion for the essays.
Here are some things you can buy at any Wal-mart or toy store for a reasonable price to demonstrate/model development.
LINLCOLN LOGS- $20 ($14 for cheaper brand)
Since the roofs come in yellow, blue, green, and red, they will represent the main ideas of the essay. For each sentence or detail that supports those main ideas, you will place a log underneath it and begin to make what looks like a log cabin. If there are more than two events or two ideas for expository or any other purpose, you will need to buy another set of Lincoln logs and spray paint the roofs orange, purple, brown, black, etc.....one roof for each idea that is written about in the essay. The problem with many essays is that students have a habit of developing their essays horizontally....lots of reasons and events in the form of a list with little or no development.
BARREL OF MONKEYS-$6 per barrel
You can buy blue, green, red, purple, and orange Barrels of Monkeys, but you may need to spray paint yellow if you use my train idea as a graphic organizer. Sometimes a student suddenly "WHIPLASHES'' the reader and begins writing about a new idea for a few sentences, then returns back to the first idea....For this you can keep changing the monkey colors back and forth so the students can see what happens when they don't organize their ideas well.
PLAY PLACE BALLS-$10
If you find the kind inside the mesh bags, they are usually much cheaper......just make sure you get some with yellow, blue, green, and red balls! As you count the details for each part of the essay, a ball of the appropriate color will be placed inside a clear bag so that it is visible to the students.
JENGA/TUMBLING TOWERS $6-$12
These wooden blocks are in the shape of a rectangular prism. If you buy the Tumbling Towers, they already come in yellow for introduction details, blue for the body, and red for the conclusion....I usually just take some of the yellow and red ones since introductions and conclusions should have limited details and spray paint them green. If you buy the Jenga version, you will have to paint ALL of the blocks, and they usually cost twice as much as the Tumbling Towers!
SUCTION CUP PADDLES-
These come in sets of two paddles with one ball for about $6.
With this idea, I play a game with the whole class called Stuck on You, where as long as the essay is focusing on the same idea, a student keeps reading orally as the ball is stuck to his/her suction cup paddle. Once the essay moves to a new/different idea, whoever is reading has to stop and pass the ball to the person who is holding the color that would be next, trying to get it to stay stuck to the suction cups to make the activity more interesting.
MR. POTATO HEAD- about $7
I bought 6 or 7 Potato Heads over the years so that I would have more than enough of each body part to show development!
These are great for checking WHAT KIND of details are used on stories and/or personal narratives. Many teachers use him for senses.....if the essay has details/sentences that let us see, hear, or smell something, we plug in the eyes, ears, and nose. Here are a few other ways to use Mr. Potato Head. His mouth can be used for dialogue.....(not for taste.....since eating usually takes away from the focus of the story) If there is lots of conversation, you can buy mouth stickers and place one on his face for each dialogue sentence. The hands can represent the actions of the characters....things the characters DO during the story...one finger for each action..........Since he has an opening on his back....or what some students call his butt..... I buy a set of poker chips to represent the following types of details: white-thoughts, blue-opinions, red-emotions, green-details that address the prompt, black-figurative language, and gold-high vocabulary. The poker chips represent a lot of the voice in the writing, so after the essay is finished being read, I close the flap and shake the Potato Head.....If there is voice in the essay, you will actually get to hear it because of the poker chips banging against each other! I have a colorful paper version of Mr. Potato Head in my store that you can have your students use to match with the one you are using to model the lesson.
BOUNCING BALLS. 25 cents to $5 each....
I call this activity Periods are Pausi-Ball where for each part of the essay, I have a different color ball. The essays will be read orally as a class or in groups, and for each period, exclamation, or question mark, the ball is bounced on the floor. For each comma, the it is bounced on the table, a shorter bounce for a shorter pause....If there is NO ending punctuation, NO balls can be bounced! It's great to have 10 sentences about one idea for example, but if those 10 sentences only have ONE period, the essay will still get a lower grade because of conventions.  It will help if you actually have the kids verbalize the words period, exclamation, question mark, comma, and quotation when they see one on the essay.
SLINKIES- The Saggy Slinky 25 cents to $3
This idea works the same way as the balls, except that for each word that is read, the slinky is opened one inch. When you get to a period, exclamation, or question mark, you get to close the slinky and start over! For commas, pause and bend the slinky momentarily into the shape of a comma.
DICE- Let's roll $1-$2
Whatever number you roll, the students have to write a sentence about a specific topic that you tell them about with that exact amount of words... The lower the grade level, the less # of dice you would use......I recommend only between one to four dice for this activity, depending on the grade and ability levels of your students.
DECK OF CARDS- Deal with It- $1- $3
This activity is done the same way as Let's Roll, except with cards. An ace will represent a one word sentence. 10 is 10 words, jacks are 11 words, queens are 12 words, and Kings would be 13. When students begin writing compound/complex sentences you can challenge them with two cards at a time! For example, if the child gets a 7 and a jack, 7+11 is 18, so their sentence would have to have exactly 18 words.
MAGNETIC/PLASTIC NUMBERS- Take a Number- about $1
This is played the same way as Let's Roll and Deal with it...... Place all the numbers inside a bag so that the students can't see them, and have them pull out one number for simple sentences, and two or more numbers for compound/complex sentences.
JUMP ROPE/HULA HOOP/SKIP IT ANKLE GAME $1- $8
These toys/tools are more for vocabulary than sentences.....For each word on the spelling/vocabulary list, the student will say the words at the same time they are jumping, hula hooping, or skipping. They will earn one point for each word they can say before they make a mistake or mess up with their tool.
Level one: just say the words
Level two: say a situation when you might use that word
Level three: actually use the word in context in a complete sentence at the same time you are jumping, hula hooping, or skipping.

I realize that on a teacher's salary you can't afford to buy all these things at once! The idea is that you pick and choose what you feel will work best for your students and their learning styles. Many students actually have these things in their homes and are not even using them. They would be more than willing to bring them to school to be used as part of your lessons! Sometimes we just have to ask!

                                    William MacDonald/The Write Prescription
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                                     Email: writing_doctor@yahoo.com

Special Price on all Writing/Language Arts Materials! 80% off Retail Price SUMMER ONLY!

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Summer Special.....Limited Time Only!  All Writing/Language Arts Materials 80% off Retail Price!

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These posters/materials will make a wonderful supplement to any writing classroom or curriculum!

 Personal Narrative Plan
Keys to a Good Score Personal Narrative
Expository Plan Acronym
Expository Plan Rover & His Writing Rangers (Alliteration)
Keys to a Good Score Expository
Expository Attention Getters (Whistle Acronym)
Revising & Editing Key Words
Onomatopoeia
Similes
Idioms
Personification
Metaphors
Hyperbole
Dialogue
Story Ideas
Punctuation
Capitalization
Creative Characters
Plot Development
Feelings & Emotions
State of Being/State of Mind
Off-Limits Words
Do Not Go Here
Writing with Lots of PEP (People, Experiences, Places)
Penmanship (Advanced or Primary)

Writing Folders for all levels

Writing CDs for Strategies

transition trains

Lessons for revising/editing

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Free Penmanship Rules, Contracts, and Practice Sheets!

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Comparing our work ethic to that of an ant....Do we measure up?

The size of your passion and determination is more important than the size of your limitations or task you need to accomplish.

Lessons we can learn from an ant about work:

Go to the ant! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no ...captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. Proverbs 6:6-8

As you watch and study the ants around you, notice these things about them.

She doesn't wait until there is a need or problem to get to work. Do you see a need and roll up your sleeves or put it off until another day?

The ant is persistent, sticking to a job, whether building a nest or gathering food. Do you always stick to a job until it is done and done right?

It knows its job and does it, working quietly and without show until the work is done. Do you work without complaining, without whining? Do you do your job quietly?

It doesn’t need another ant watching to be sure it gets its work done.
Can you do a job without someone checking on you to be sure it is being done?

It is cooperative, working with others to get big jobs done.
Do you work happily together with your friends, family, classmates, or co-workers? See More

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The best composition ending ever.....from a special needs student!

"SAY what needs to be said and DO what needs to be done with those you love and care about most. The next time you see them might be in a casket." My favorite all time truism to end an essay, and she was a special needs student.
       We should never underestimate our students' abilities or potential based on the group they represent in our data. All students can learn when they have a passionate teacher and are given the proper tools for success.

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Too much free time in class in May in Texas schools? A few ideas from a parent point of view

     For the most part,  the Texas STAAR test is over by the end of April.  As a consultant, but more often as a parent listening to my own kids at home, I have discovered that there is quite a bit of free time in Texas classrooms during the month of May. 
     Maybe if we move the testing date to the last week of school, May can be more productive in terms of learning that is taking place and the percentages of students passing will go up.  I'm not talking about projects or special activities here....or things that teachers can cover that there is no time to go over during the year.  It's more the classrooms that suddenly transform into movie theatres  for an entire month that concern me.  If the movies are educational or tied directly to something learned then that would be acceptable, but often that is not the case.
    If later testing is not the answer, perhaps the last month can be used for preparing the students for the rigorous content that students need to learn in the next grade level.  Several schools have told me that during the last month of school their 5th grade teachers actually go and teach 4th,  4th grade teachers can work with 3rd, etc......
    Plan C would be just not have school during this month so that we are not just going through the motions. 
I understand that there needs to be some time to let your hair down after a long hard year of work, but let's try to find a balance that uses most of our class days wisely.  :)
  
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Someone Call the Grammar Police: U.S. C.O.P.P.S.! Free download to practice: Usage, Sentence Structure, Capitalization, Off limits words, Penmanship, Punctuation, and Spelling!

FREE DOWNLOAD TO PRACTICE  EVERYTHING IN THE TITLE   U.S.   C.O.P.P.S.!

U-Usage
S-Sentence Structure

C-Capitalization
O-Off Limits Words
P-Penmanship
P-Punctuation
S-Spelling

60 pages of activities!!!!!

Click on the link below at Teachers Pay Teachers and sign in. Then click on the Download Now button:
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Bugs Bunny's most popular line is, "What's up DOC!"  Those three letters are an acronym to the key to success in  great essays!
D= Development
O= Organization
C= Conventions  (grammar)
What do you get when without the C of DOC?   DO....  Actually....Doo Doo!
Papers without good conventions are NOT a good thing, so clicking on the free download above will allow you to practice everything related to grammar and conventions!
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Is my trust in God written in my heart or just printed on the money He allows me to make? How I spend my free time is a clue to the answer.

We've all been given exactly 24 hours in a day:
8 are spent working.
8 are spent sleeping.
What am I doing with the other 8?

 Am I watching The Voice or listening for His Voice?
 Am I sitting for Game of Thrones or kneeling at God's Throne?
Do I spend more time eating in Hell's Kitchen or fasting for Heaven's will?
Do I believe in the Big Bang Theory or Creation's Truth?
Am I Dancing with the Stars or Kneeling with the Son?
Do I put on Criminal Minds or the Mind of Christ?
Will I DVR the Blacklist or talk to God about my Prayer List?
Am I an American who's Got Talent or a Believer who's Got Faith?
Am I more excited about the Castle or the King?
Am I  more obsessed with NCIS = Naval Criminal Investigative Service
or with G.P.F.M.L.= God's Plan For My Life

There's nothing wrong with watching TV once in awhile, but I must be careful not to waste MY life watching fake people live theirs.  Lord, help me to use my free time wisely.

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for people who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3

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Horns to Halo AND Halo Nominations for Oustanding Improvement and Performance!

Now accepting Horns to Halo AND Halo Nominations!
Win a free training for your campus and up to $500 in cash prizes for your students! Students deserve to be rewarded and recognized for outstanding improvement, achievement, and performance...!
This is your opportunity to honor them!
(Contest form is available for print on our Facebook page.  Go to the link below:

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All teachers who take the time to enter one or more students will be placed in a raffle for a free training to be held at your campus/district in the fall. The top five students from ALL the nominations received across the United States will each receive $100 cash some time before the end of the fall semester of NEXT school year. In addition, all the top stories will be included in the publishing of the book, “Turning Their Horns to Halos, Managing and Motivating the Hearts and Minds of Students.” Names will be changed before inclusion in book at the discretion and request of student, teacher, and/or parents.
(No purchase necessary)

Specific Details and Guidelines:
Entry in this contest is an agreement between the student, teacher, and
parent(s) guardian(s) to participate in the Horns to Halo Nomination based on the academics, conduct, and special accomplishments or achievements that took place throughout the current school year that will be explained in the form.
The teacher will reflect on growth and improvement for the Horns to Halo Nomination, and Outstanding achievement or performance in the Halo Award.
After writing specific details, explanations, and examples on the lines provided, send a copy to The Write Prescription by mail, fax, or email using my contact information on or before August 1, 2014. Teacher can nominate more than one student. Nominations will be read by a committee chosen by The Write Prescription.
Thanks in advance for participating! William MacDonald
 

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Free Onomatopoea Figurative Language Poster on Teachers Pay Teachers!

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Transforming your Students' Writing from Blah to Bling! Part One

                    
                                         By Bill MacDonald/The Write Prescription          
Do you feel like you are reading the same story/essay over and over in your classroom as you are grading student compositions?  Perhaps you find yourself falling asleep out of boredom!?  That's what happened to me that caused me to come up with my Blah to Bling activity. 
See if you can relate: 
     I had the opportunity to score a set of papers for an entire campus several years ago, and the prompt the students were given was to write a composition about a surprise.  Now, I want to be clear --  I am not exaggerating when I write that out of 95 papers, 65 were about a surprise birthday party.  Let's pause a moment to let that sink in - That is 68% of the students! 
     Another campus I helped in this way had asked  their students to write about a moment when they were proud.  Well, two days before that prompt, these students had taken benchmark tests in Reading and in Math. Guess what about half of the students were proud about... Passing their tests!  Here's  a summary of what most of the essays looked like:
Have you ever been proud? I have.  This week our class had to take some tests in Reading and Math.  I was nervous.....but my teacher told me, "YOU CAN DO IT!"  So I said...."Okay, I'll do it!"  So I studied and did my strategies, and tried my best....and I was proud.....I hope you liked my paper, and I hope you give me a good grade.  NO, I DIDN'T, AND NO, I WON'T! 
     On both prompts, the responses that were based on writing about a birthday party or passing of some tests were almost always carbon copies of each other.  I felt like I was reading the same paper over and over...... the games, the cake, the presents, the piñata, the pizza, etc., etc., etc. 
     Here's one last example.  I was hired by my own district to score about 400 papers two different times one year. The first prompt was: Write a composition about finding something special.  On over 100 papers, the special thing they found was treasure, after which they immediately went to the mall to buy just what you would expect them to buy. This drove me crazy as a grader!  I began to realize that teaching kids the importance of brainstorming and planning BEFORE a rough draft or final copy is allowed to be written.
      If you have experienced anything like I have written above, try this very simple activity below   with your students. It will open their eyes and minds at the same time!
 1.  Ask your students to think about the first restaurant that comes to their mind when you  mention a certain type of food. The first item you will shout is, "Hamburgers!" 
They have just one second to respond ORALLY and must say the first place that comes to their heads.  The answers are usually split between McDonalds and Burger King, with a few people picking other popular hamburger based restaurants. 
2.  The second item you will say aloud is, "Pizza!"   Once again, they must respond ORALLY within one second.  The most popular restaurants mentioned will be Pizza Hut with adults, and child friendly places like Peter Piper Pizza with kids.  Rarely does anyone pick something else when only given one second to respond.  I have probably done this activity over a hundred times in presentations to teachers and in student trainings.  The one exception is a popular pizza or burger restaurant exclusive to your local city. 
   The reason this seems to happen is that, unless trained to unlearn this trait, children will almost always exclusively write about the first thing that comes to their mind after hearing or reading a prompt.  That's how their brain is triggered to work! It's kind of like the popular saying that water takes the path of least resistance.  Why rack my brain if there is an easy idea to write about concerning the topic on the tip of my tongue!   The MAJOR problem with that is that whatever came to THEIR minds is the same exact thing that almost everyone else thought of when responding to the prompt!  That’s a lot of repetition of ideas if we’re talking about your students turning their essays in to be read by a committee in an entire district, region, or state!
3.  This last part of the activity will help your students begin to think outside the box.  You will ask them to think about a specific drink, but before anyone can answer, they have to think about what all the others in the room might say or write for at least one minute, then come up with an original idea. When someone responds with water or coke, you will know they didn't put much thought into the topic. Tell your kids that if they are going to mention a Kool-Aid, they have to think of a specific flavor.  For sodas, maybe one can be mentioned that is not in every soda machine in America!  A tea has to have a special name. Energy drinks have to have a particular brand or type.  The trick here is to think outside the box. If you give them until the next day to come up with their answers, they can go down the drink section of their local grocery store, and write down a few drinks they think people don't drink everyday.  Maybe there is a restaurant or store that is the only place in the world that serves that drink. Think about a snow cone stand that serves unique liquid or somewhat frozen beverages.....I learned about a special drink called a Strawberry Trolleybus (Spanish term) that is absolutely delectable!  It is a mixture of blended ice, fresh strawberries, and some sort of cream.  My favorite normal drinks to share are a Grape Slush Frosty from our local Stars/Sonic Restaurant, and a venti-Mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks!  Anyway, once your kids feel they have come up with one or two original/unique ideas for drinks, have them write them down on a piece of paper without letting anyone else see.  When everyone is ready, have them take turns sharing their best idea with the class.  If someone else says their first choice, they can share their backup idea.  You will notice that there are a lot more variety of drinks that are shared compared to the numbers of burger or pizza restaurants.
       Just a caution here:  Some of your kids have parents or older siblings who openly drink alcoholic beverages at home, so you may get some strange answers using names of beer or hard liquor.  To prevent this, you might need to mention that these types of drinks are off limits for the assigned task!   
       I have never had more than two or three people in an entire room come up with the same exact drink, and at times I have had close to a hundred people participating! By the way, I’ve discovered that there are quite a few drinks out there with very original names!
     In part two of Transforming your writing from Blah to Bling, I will explain how to apply this concept to actual ideas and experiences.   Bill
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How to Turn Their Horns into Halos.....See them as the Super Heroes they COULD Be

There is an imaginary wire that connects our hearts to our heads.  For
some students, someone or something has cut that wire,  causing an
emotional and mental disconnect. This could be from something simple like parents getting a divorce, a financial crisis, or the death of a family member.  Other times it could be some form of physical/verbal abuse, or involvement with gangs or drugs.  Let me give you a few real life examples:  After teaching for seven years in a neighborhood school, I moved to a school that had several families involved in gangs.  In my very first interview with my new principal, she informed me that one of my students was just returning from spending the entire year in an alternative center. His 3rd grade teacher upset him so much that he brought a loaded gun to kill her.  This frightened me, and I wasn't at all sure I was up for the task.  She felt that I might be able to make a difference as a male role model, because this child had no father in his life.  Another year, a  student expressed his anger in a different way.  He grabbed his chair/desk, flung it at his teacher, and hit her right on the head.  She was rushed to the hospital and it was discovered she had a concussion.  These were just two of dozens of examples of the types of students I was blessed with, so I  knew that I needed a way to reconnect that wire, and realized that would only be able to happen if I was able to connect with their hearts by showing that I cared about them.  It would be only AFTER that took place that  they would allow me to eventually connect to their minds to re-engage the desire to learn.   There is never ONE exclusive method to help difficult children, but changing the way I looked at them was where I knew that I would have to start.  This activity below helped immensely.
                                                              Super Heroes as Students
     Since most children and even adults love all the super hero movies that are coming out, I wanted them to take a closer look at the most popular ones to discover that even they could have had some bad habits they needed to overcome.  We tried to imagine a BEFORE and AFTER of what they might have been like as students before a wonderful teacher came in their lives. They just needed a little guidance on how to overcome their weaknesses so that they can focus more on their strengths. Here is a quick summary of my favorites that we came up with together!
Super Man-  a great student, but is weak around kryptonite. He just has a few bad habits that he needs to break
Batman- He spends too much time in the dark, and keeps others there as well.  
Robin-  When you think of Batman, you think of Robin...always. Are your friends and surroundings keeping you from being a good student? He needs to spend more time with Batman and less time with the Joker!
Incredible Hulk-  He once wasn’t incredible.........he used to have a violent out of control temper, anger issues if anyone messed with him. If you struggle with this, you usually justify it by saying you’re standing up for your rights....
Flash- ADHD  a little too hyper....live wire....out of control
Spider Man- lives in a web of confusion
Spider Woman- distracted by Spider Man and  other boys
Mr. Fantastic- Stretch.....flexible becomes compromise
Invisible Woman- You can’t find her when you need her....for work or she's absent.
Human Torch-  You’re always having to put out his fires....
Thing-  He’s very hard headed and hard hearted
Captain America-  the star....he always needs to be the center of attention and wants you to tell you how awesome he is, or how much you need him.
Space Man- Instead of using his imagination to go where no man has gone before....he allows his mind to wander...always getting distracted by the cares of the world.
Peace Man-  Sometimes compromises truth in order to not rock the boat, in order to get along and make peace
Tony Romo-  When the pressure is on, he chokes.  You can’t rely on him to be dependable when you need him.
Police man-  Instead of fighting crime, he always want to fight with everyone,
Thor- always has to be playing with something....uses a weapon....sometimes it is his words. Often he uses your past against you.
Iron Man- Such a hard exterior, he doesn’t let you into his heart to see what he’s really thinking...he tries to act like everything is perfect so that he appears in control.
Hawkeye-  He sees and points out all your weaknesses and hits the bulls eye, but is not nice about it.
Black Widow-  lots of weapons at her disposal to hit you with or throw at you, pencil, wads of paper, her shoes, books
Wonder Woman-Lasso of Truth, but more worried about jewelry and outward appearance 
Under Dog- doesn’t take his pill sometimes...
Pop-Eye   He loves YOU but is very jealous of other people
Wolverine- Heals quickly but too often the claws come out
There are many other super heroes not mentioned above, but these were the ones we thought of together.
               To bring the lesson more to life, I went to our local costume store and purchased about 15 of the hero costumes above and allowed the kids to put them on in the class as we discussed them.   Since my classroom was set up with four or five students at each table,  each group got to decide which super hero name they would have for that month.  Whichever team did the best on homework, classwork, participation, and any other important classroom activities for that month would be taken out to the movies, bowling, miniature golf, or whatever other reasonably priced activity they chose.  This would cost me about 20 or 30 dollars out of my pocket each paycheck, but the resulting improved effort in the classroom was well worth it!   I honestly feel that if we would stop asking the teacher from the previous grade level to look at our rosters, it would give kids a clean slate.     
     Anyway, our students need us to see them as the "Super Hero" they have the potential to be, not the bad person that they think they are or who someone told them that they were or would become.  When given a fair chance, they will amaze us.  They sometimes only need ONE person to
believe in them and their potential.
  P.S. The student who brought the loaded gun to class is now a successful adult and has a great job!

Formula versus Structured Writing: Understanding the Difference Using our Bodies

There is a lot of confusion out there regarding the difference between the organization of structured writing compared to formula writing.  I would like to share my two cents worth on the topic using the human body below as an analogy. 

My little friend to the left is called Space Boy!  The illustration shows all the information below, but I will list them anyway just in case the image is not clear on your viewing device.
His head for the analogy will represent the introduction.
His neck will be the transition to the body.
He is wearing a blue shirt which will be the start of the event in the body.
He is also wearing green pants, which can either represent the 2nd event or responding to the prompt, depending on grade level and the amount of lines available for writing.
For this picture, one page represents approximately 26 lines.
Everyone has a waist, so that or the belt would be the transition between the green and blue ideas/events.
In order to transition to the conclusion, it is understood that he is wearing socks.
Finally, his shoes represent the conclusion.
Okay!  Let's get this body started! 
Structured writing has specific types of details that are in each part of the essay.  You can name all your students by name very quickly by looking at their face.  How is that possible!!!!! They all have eyes, ears, noses, chins, hair, and  eyelashes/eyebrows.  It is because most of the parts look different that you can tell them apart!  This is what STRUCTURED writing is like....We all have the same structure, but vary in colors, shapes, and sizes!   So you can still guide students to include a who, what, when, where, why, and weather in their introductions, but will train them to using different details in their outlines and rough drafts to represent those details.
       Formula written introductions on the other hand, make students beginnings look like twins, triplets, and 22lets! :-)  Some examples of this are:  Hello, my name is, One hot day, One cold day,  In this story I'm going to tell you about, or a question that restates the prompt exactly.
      Our bodies also look different in terms of size and shape, so depending on the ability age of your students, you would need to expect a different amount of quality and/or quality from the essay.   Each student shouldn't have x amount of lines for this and x amount for that.   For example, a 10 year old functioning at a 6 year old ability level cannot produce the same product as another 10 year old working at a 12 year old ability level.   The way we would look different in the space boy picture is that some students quantity of details would look like a long sleeve shirt and pants when they are on  or above grade level, while others kids who struggle might look like shorts and a tank top!
     If we only teach kids to use the same basic transition words between ideas like 1st, 2nd, 3rd, then, and finally, it would resemble each child wearing the same exact necklace, belt, and socks as everyone else in the class.  I understand that when children are first learning how to write, simple transitions are needed, but please graduate those who can to more effective transition words and phrases as soon as possible.
     Almost done....hope you're still with me!  Look at your shoes for a moment.  If you're not even wearing any, it's like forgetting your conclusion on the essay.  I call that "Whiplashing the Reader!"  You just suddenly stopped right in the middle of the story because you got tired, ran out of time, or ran out of space.  If your conclusion is there, but is only a restatement or summary of everything you've already written, that would be considered formula writing.  Think of conclusions like DESSERT for a moment.  Repeating things you already wrote is like giving the reader leftovers and not dessert.  No conclusion at all would be like a DESERT.  There's nothing there!
      A strong effective conclusion would look like the vast variety of shoes worn by all the students in the classroom....all unique....most somewhat different.  For a fun but perhaps smelly way to introduce creative conclusions to your students, have them all take off their shoes and place them in a pile in the middle of the floor and go stand against a wall.  When you give the signal, they are to WALK to the pile, put their own shoes back on, tie/Velcro them , then return to the wall.  Normally kids in mid to upper elementary grades will be able to accomplish this without too much chaos.   They will discover that the main reason they were able to put their OWN shoes on was that they all looked a little bit different.  NOTE: I went to one school last week where this activity wouldn't work because in addition to having matching uniforms, the students all had to have matching socks and shoes as well!
     It is important to understand that when I write about structured writing that is creative and unique, I am not talking about August!  These are end of year goals!  If we can't graduate from formula writing at all however, we may as well make 22 carbon copies of the first essay that is turned in and give that to your readers to grade!  Take the time to brainstorm WITH your kids as much as possible as well, so that they can write about going to DIFFERENT places and doing DIFFERENT things while you are there, and ending with a bang, not a Gong!