[LIT] desperately need advice--how do I weave this together?

[Ty Dartez]

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)?