Teaching Inference with "The Chaser" by John Collier

John Collier has an excellent short story for teaching inference to high school students.  It is called, "The Chaser."

You can get a copy of it here: https://eerdalsblg.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the_chaser-collier.pdf

If you've never read the story, do so now.  It won't take you long.  I'll wait.

For lower reading level classes, I like to put groups in teams and let them read it together and figure out why  the glove cleaner does.  The story is short (the version I found above has it in three pages, but the hard copy of the one I use in class is one page front and back) which is important to me.  I need my works short so we can focus on the matter at hand.

The story itself is fun. Now, when you or I read the story, we immediately see how this old man is setting up the younger man.  We understand that this "love" he will experience can only be solved with the "glove cleaner", but the students don't.  Especially 9th and 10th graders.  They struggle. 

So I let them try and figure it out as a competition.  The first group to figure it out gets a prize (homework passes or team points).  The second group gets a little less. The third group a little less.

I also have hints that they can buy with their team points (but you can maybe use something else if you aren't playing a game in your class).

How long will it take?  Well, it depends on how good your students are.  I always have a homework assignment that they should work on while waiting for the other teams to finish.  It usually takes about 30 minutes total, but I've had it last for over 45 minutes before.

An easy, but slow, way to build a class sets of novels

 Here is part of my book shelf for class sets of my AP Lit class:

I have similar shelves for my non-AP classes too with class sets of Persepolis, Things Fall Apart, Night, 1984, No Fear Shakespeare Macbeth, and others.  I didn't pay for a single one of those books.  

The trick is quite simple.  I send out short emails to parents periodically and when I tell them of upcoming units, I put in a link to the book on Amazon if they would like to purchase the book for their child.  When the unit is over, I always ask the kids if they wish to donate their book to the class when finished.  I let them pick the value of the book (they ask for things like homework passes, team points for games that we play, etc.).  Each year my supplies grow and I don't pay a cent for them.

It's such a simple thing, yet one that has dramatically impacted what I can do.  The books are my personal books now and were I to change schools, I could take them with me.

New! Lord of the Flies Teaching Guide and Activities

 Currently at Introduction Sale Price - will not be $3 for long!

TPT Store

This unit reflects the past 31 years of teaching - all the notes, lead-ins, activities, follow-ups, and tests I've created for Lord of the Flies.

What's included?

• 50 pages of notes and commentary - not book summary, but rather notes for in-class discussions, talking points, how to adjust for struggling readers, how to adjust for AP level readers, and analysis of the book and author - enough notes to go as deep or surface-level as you wish for your students

  
• 25 activities to choose from to do before, during, and after reading including Who's to Blame, 3-2-2, book allusions, TQEPs, online self-guiding chapter readings, and character Venn diagrams

  
• Quiz/Review Questions for most chapters

• Map, conch sound, and other images to share during class discussions
• 3 tests (two for regular level and one group test for AP level)

This unit will give you everything you need to teach this book to any level class.

Get it here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/XET-Lord-of-the-Flies-Teaching-Guide-15663613

Did you miss the sale? No worries. I use TPT to get things for school purposes, not to get rich. The unit price will be far lower than other unit activity packs you see on TPT.

You may also like the Lord of the Flies Survival Game!

Make Your Board Dynamic

Many companies want their websites to be dynamic - something different every time someone checks it.  You can the same for your whiteboard, though it does take about a minute or two of your morning each morning (unless you assign a student to the task - pro tip).  

Here's my board:

WHY DO THIS?

Give your students a reason to check the board.  This won't work for everyone, of course.  We all know that there are times you can write the answer to a quiz question on the board and stand in front of it while asking the question and students will still miss it, but some students will start looking at what is new.  If I can get them looking over at the dynamic part, then they may see the The Plan (what we are doing this week) and Homework/Upcoming Due Dates. 

HOW TO DO THIS?

I've already done the heavy lifting for you.  Here is a link to the Extreme English Teacher Holidays - a holidays for (almost) every day of the year.  It has birthdays of authors, birthdays of fictional characters, holidays of note for an English class, and sometimes just a weird holiday for that day.  

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=dmhidG42M2RpMzU4YmRrMWVhcm1mcW5oc2NAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ

Here is a list of pun for the Pun of the Day: https://docs.google.com/document/d/138WJ2uQJVJ7HO1yz-ENInyvkixqTRXvO/copy  I just keep a print out of it pinned to the wall and I marked them off each time I use one so that I do not duplicate puns throughout the year.

That part at the bottom?  That was something that I did as a throw away joke after I had a sub write names on the board of bad students.  Turns out it was a fun motivator.  Under Smartest Students I have a spot for all my periods.  Then when a student does something amazing, wins a Blooket, scores the highest on a test, has an interesting comment in class, or basically anything that I want to reward - I go over and erase the name before them and write their name up instead.  

What about you?  What interesting things do you do with your white board?

The Amazing Race

 I teach mythology as an elective and one of the things I have tried this year has been a lot of work, but at the same time, a lot of fun.  The structure can be tweaked to be used in any class, but since it was mythology, I've called it The Amythic Race because, well, because why not?

I love creating games for the class to play long-term because I have found motivated students enjoy them and non-motivated students will work for something like game-points where they wouldn't for a grade incentive.  

The basic format is this:

• Break the semester into 5 legs, each approximately 3 weeks (though some adjustments need to be made for breaks, snowy weather, etc.). 
• Students change partners each leg.
• Each leg corresponds to something we are learning in class (for mythology, I have based it on the stages of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey)
• Each leg has four tasks, each worth up to 50 points.
• Each leg also has a side quest for students who choose to do it to boost their individual score.

For my own enjoyment, I bought a bunch of yellow envelopes to make it more show-authentic.  

I keep all the scores on a Google spreadsheet.  Top student gets his/her name on my wall as The Chosen One for all students to see for years to come (this is a huge draw for students).  The top ten are exempted from the final exam (since this is an elective, I can offer this incentive).  

If you want to see the notes I use to keep it together, check it out here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tGDMyNQC0LWFZZZeXvjsn0PtQ6PONFX0XM_TyZd6cv8/edit?tab=t.0

If you want to see the web page that students use to check their progress, you can see it here: https://www.lordalford.com/mythology/A-Mythic%20Race/a-m-race.htm 

You are free to steal any idea or concept from these resources if you decide to make your own.  Many of these are designed specifically for my school building, so this isn't a ready-to-go activity for you.  It took a lot of work to set up, so maybe I can save you some time.  

New Lord of the Flies Series

 There's a new Lord of the Flies series coming out.  Here is the trailer:

The first episode has already dropped and I believe there will be a total of four.  Unfortunately for me, it is a BBC show and not available (to my knowledge) in the US.  I'll have to wait for it, but if any of you are able to watch it, I would love to hear your feedback on it.  

There is also a book called William Golding: The Faber Letters which promises some great behind the scenes insight on Lord of the Flies and other Golding works, though I'm not quite ready to drop $40 on it just yet.  If you are, learn more about it here.

Finally, if you are a fan of teaching Lord of the Flies, check out the XET Survival game for it.  It's by far the best selling item in the store and something I am rather proud of creating.  

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/XET-_Lord-of-the-Flies_-Interactive-Survival-Game-6933163

TPT Sale Upcoming

While I certainly would love for you to start at my shop, this sale is site-wide.  I just thought you would like to know.

If you cannot see the image, Feb 9 and 10 - up to 25% off - use code FEBSALE26