Finishing NaNoWriMo!

My lesson plan and materials for my class's last day of NaNoWriMo.  Feel free to take!

Lesson Plan: Week 10

Novel Reflection Assignment: Midterm         

Novel Mad Libs: New Year's Resolutions, The Odyssey & Make Me A Video Game

Novel Character Game: 12-Character Meme 

Just to say...

....so many of my students have great friend groups in their stories with tight relationships and sudden betrayals, at least according to their plot outlines.   This makes me happy for two reasons:

1. It confirms my sense that young adult literature in general is becoming more and more peer-group focused, or perhaps this is something that's always been great about YA lit, come to think of it, as things like 'The Book of Three" and "The White Mountains" and even "Redwall," come to mind. I haven't read "The Hunger Games" yet, but the summary of that one as given me by one of my tutees was that, while there's a principal romance at work in the stories, the book itself is at least as concerned with the main character and her friends, not just the boy she loves.  And since I think solid friend groups and "fellowships" are both more interesting to read and harder to write well than straight romance, I like this trend.

2. *I* get to read all these stories! And I LOVE friendships, fellowships and and gasp-oh-no-what-now?! betrayals!  Whee!

Getting things started

I teach two sections of English Enrichment, grades 6-8, at the Northwest Chinese School. (nwchinese.org). This is a great independent enrichment school that offers kids the opportunity to learn Mandarin (both speaking and writing) as well as pursuing other extracurriculars, from math and writing enrichment classes to Chinese culture courses, SAT prep and traditional music.


I'm beginning this blog just a few days before my first weekend class (a week ahead of the other one) begins their National Novel Writing Month. Because of the difficulties of school-scheduled midterms and Thanksgiving break, I'm shifting our calendar forward a bit from the official month of November. It takes something away from the excitement of it to not begin with a new month, but I think the importance of having a class-wide kickoff and a class-wide ending are worth the sacrifice of a calendar page.


My plan for this blog is pretty straightforward: I want to exercise my own mind as a teacher and a student, remaining constantly reflective about what I'm teaching, how I'm teaching, and why. Since it's only a few times a week that I get a chance to truly teach, I need to keep my skills sharp and my analysis of those skills accurate.


I also want to post my own lesson plans and a brief take on how they worked out. I've been both helped and disappointed by what's available in the way of inspiration, instruction and even grammar worksheets on the Internet, especially for free. If you're a teacher and you see something you like, please – take, use, and tell me how it worked with your students!


On the sidebar you'll see a list of the resources I use most commonly. Some of them I highly recommend having your students buy, if you've got the resources, or keeping on the reference shelf if you're lucky enough to have your own classroom. Others, like “Playwriting” and “Fantasy & Science Fiction,” are just useful as comprehensible, user-friendly manuals on elements of fiction and creative writing.




Of all the stuff I've taught on NaNoWriMo, this is the lesson plan that's worked the best, and it also happens to be the one I taught last week. So check it out, and feel free to take it!