A Celebration of Learning

March 14, 2008

Curriculum Reviews and Highlights

6-8 Communications & Literature

March 14, 2008--Poem presented as a rap.

We welcome you warmly to our session

And hope you leave with a favorable impression.

Our English department is comprised of six.

Sixth through eighth communications and sixth through eighth lit.

Teaching sixth lit we find Mrs. Rose,

A witticist, wordsmith, and master of prose.

Mrs. Frey entertains in seventh grade lit,

Stimulating minds more than she’ll admit.

Mrs. Klosterman, 8th lit, works ‘round the clock.

She’s a multi-tasker, tech master, and everyone’s rock.

Mrs. Ines could be every student’s mom

And accomplishes oodles in sixth grade comm.

In seventh grade comm. Mr. K. displays flair

For rhetorical skills extraordinaire.     

  

Guiding eighth graders in room 148

I thank heaven each day my job is so great.

Today my task is to not leave to chance 

Your comprehension of our comm. goal, which is to enhance

Conventions, grammar, and proofreading, too.

To improve the scores of our challenged few.

The writing assessments and scores on MAP tests

Proved our students perform far from their best

In spelling, usage, and punctuation,

Parts of speech, format, and capitalization.

To combat this scourge, we brainstormed techniques

To ensure our students would mastery seek.

First, clear expectations are necessary tools

And rubrics clarify the Six Traits rules.

Ideas and content, organization, and voice.

We solicit fascination in precise word choice

So students become audacious and sagacious,

But never use words ostentatious or salacious.

The trait of sentence fluency involves variety,

And conventions demand utmost propriety.

Plus, we instill in students the writing process:

Prewriting, drafting, revising----nothing less!

You see, students often think their first draft is perfected,

Or it’s so bad that they can do nothing to correct it.

Stressing proofreading symbols and editing by peers,

We comfort those whose efforts bring them to tears.

And what could surpass practice and drills

For mastering language and all other skills?

If I want to assure that my students make sense,

Then I must supply a real reading audience,

Such as Grandma, a soldier, principal, or cook.

A restaurant, the newspaper, or publication in a book.

Motivating students to want to write well

Takes nothing less than casting a spell.

We must laugh and have fun, though, so students won’t nap.

For example, last week’s parts of speech rap

Performed by a student who can beat box.

All the students, he knocked off their socks.

Please forgive me while a sample I share

My rapping skills I beseech you to forebear.

Show ‘em how we get down, you know what I mean?

Wish I were like Kanye West, that rappin’ machine.

First, you gotta noun:  a person, place, or thing,

Like hip hop, hood, ghetto, and bling.

Then you gotta verb, another part of speech.

It’s somethin’ you do, so they’re not too hard to teach.

Adjectives tell you what kind, which one,

How many, how much--they’re really like. . fun.

Conjunctions connect - fan boys, bro!

For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.  Yo!

You get the idea; I must go on.

Not everything’s rosy in middle school comm.

Instant and text messaging can cause us to cry.

The letter u for the word you and lower case i.

Oh, Jessie, Jason, Kyle, and Carlene,

You have something at stake:  it’s your self-esteem.

But we'll never give up; we’ll never say die.

Our students will improve so long as they try.

All of my colleagues and not least of all I

Appreciate all you do to help students try

To proofread and use standard conventions.

By working together, we’ll affirm our intentions.

   

For viewing our session, we owe you a debt.

On with the celebration!  Are we having fun yet?

--Paula Peteson