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:
 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Call-the-Grammar-Police-End-of-Year-Grammar-Practice-and-Conventions-Review-1235261

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:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005980065336
 Follow me on Facebook on here my blog at thewriteprescription.blogspot.com for more details and updates.

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!

Get one free Writing or Math poster every week by following me at:
Teachers Pay Teachers (www.teacherspayteachers.com)
under The Write Prescription/Bill MacDonald
Be sure to check out the rest of my store while you are in there!

For this week's free poster, simply go to the link below and click the download now button!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ONOMATOPOEIA-Figurative-Language-656071

 
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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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