Thread: To All English Teachers

I'm not sure I know what you mean by tricks. I teach Middle School Language Arts. I always have a rubric so the kids know exactly what I am looking for.

I'm not sure what you mean either...is your college background in English?

A website that I really like is [url="http://www.writingfix.com"]www.writingfix.com[/url]. Someone on this website found it and suggested it.

I teach to write beyond 5 paragraph essays. Actually, I don't even allow five paragraph essays in my class.

Their writing must contain a controling idea. THe one thing that everythign else in their paper must support.

Um....one of the big rules in my class is that if you are going to break the "rules" you must first know and understand the rules. And further, know WHY they are breaking the rule.

Writing is a process. I allow them multiple drafts, even after I have graded them.

I would suggest reading WRITING WITH OUT TEACHERS and EMBRACING CONTRARIES both by Peter Elbow. Both of these are EXCELLENT books.

Hope this helps,
CR

I've taught both high school English and middle school language arts. I make sure that I use a rubric every time. That not only helps the students know exactly what you expect, but keeps me consistent with grading as well.

What I meant was that my students like to trick there teachers I know I did when I was in high school but I only know some tricks to writing essay but i heard that high school students can be really tricky and I just wanted to know if any of you guys know any tricks I should look out for.

Just a thought……

This poster does not sound like a teacher…….much less an English teacher.

:?


TAC/Tricia

Other than plagiarizing, I'm not sure what else to tell you. But even that is easy to spot and find proof of.


hmmmm.....does something smell rotten in the state of TF.com?
CR

Originally Posted by hanya

What I meant was that my students like to trick there teachers I know I did when I was in high school but I only know some tricks to writing essay but i heard that high school students can be really tricky and I just wanted to know if any of you guys know any tricks I should look out for.

Oh dear! I should have guessed by the first post you were a student. Were you trying to trick your teacher, but you wanted to find out what tricjks not to use? We DO know when a student has plagairized. Trust me! We also know that there is absolutely NO WAY an english teacher would have written a run-on sentence like the above. Please do not think teachers are stupid people. :roll:

Originally Posted by hanya

What I meant was that my students like to trick there teachers I know I did when I was in high school but I only know some tricks to writing essay but i heard that high school students can be really tricky and I just wanted to know if any of you guys know any tricks I should look out for.

There aren't any real tricks for essays. Tricks are more for multiple choice or fill-in-the-blanks or short-answer tests, and they are basically just various kinds of cheat sheets (and teachers learn to spot these - it is such a fun during the test). With essays the only real "trick" is plagiarizing, which is easy to spot due to awkward sentences. If essay is written in class, kids might try to copy someone else's answer, but they always make grammar/spelling mistakes so it is painfully visible.

Let's see, we have a run-on sentence, no caps, and "there" for "their." If this is from an English teacher, be afraid for the students - VERY afraid!!! Karen