Hi Kim, I certainly don't have all the answers, but if I had the freedom (which I don't) to plan my curriculum in a way that made sense to me, I would use and modify Juli Kendall's units from the Middleweb listserve:
http://www.middleweb.com/ReadWrkshp/RWdownloads.html Scroll all the way down to Unit 1, Unit 2, etc. You will find lots of helpful information. Also, to me it makes sense and is helpful for writing to teach by genres. Immerse students in reading a genre and analyzing samples before requiring them to write in that genre...they probably could try a couple samples in each genre then and choose their favorite one to revise, edit, and publish. As far as teaching grammar, remember that it is most effectively taught through students' writing. i.e. If you need to have them write complex sentences, have all students write a complex sentence that begins with "while" or "unless" rather than using worksheets where they find examples of complex sentences. That way what they learn in grammar will actually apply to their writing. Another example would be for "commas in a series." Have all students think of three friends and actually write a sentence in which the three friends are listed. If you have time for spelling, I have found that certain rules (such as i before e except after c) are useful before the state test. You might want to have a "No Nonsense" list of words that all students are required to spell correctly or they have to correct themselves before you accept it....Leif Fearn has some great activities for teaching spelling in his book Interactions: Teaching Writing and the Language Arts....if you have time for spelling, you can also find some cheap game-like practice materials on Amazon. In my district, we are discouraged from teaching spelling in middle school, because it is not a focus of our state test. For vocabulary, when time, I tend to focus on roots, prefixes, context clues, etc. Good luck! It is hard to balance everything, but remember there is no one "right" way to do it. You seem to be a very hard worker, and I'm sure your students will get a great education in your classroom this year:) May Dartez Title 6-8 Language Arts Co-Teacher/GA On Oct 14, 2007, at 12:16 PM, ncteach wrote: > Questions: How do you bring together reading, writing, grammar, and > vocabulary in a way that makes sense? How do you "do" vocabulary? How > do you > teach spelling (if at all)? _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
