Guest arcticsam Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Hi, I need your suggestions!:) I am writing on behalf of my sister who is doing her first year as a teacher in a public school in Britain. She tells me she has to teach English on 3 different levels in her classes and she has one teacher assistant to help her. The class she was given is largely made up of children that are in difficulty and far behind the national curriculum. A handful of students are at the right level and she has been told to focus her efforts on those children. (I suppose the other children are just considered hopeless cases by the admin and yet, with some good teaching they could probably do as well as most children) Anyway, I am trying to help her out by getting her some good teaching materials. Here are some points I have to take into account 1)Her class probably spans from a grade 2 to grade 6 level. So I am trying to devise a workable system for her. 2)Also her budget is limited so she can't get materials that require her to buy workbooks for the students. 3)Of course materials designed for coop/school might be better. I would love to hear some of your suggestions as I have no experience teaching. I bought Susan Bauer's books for myself and that is how I became acquainted with this forum. So far I have loved the recommendations for "Wordsmith Aprrentice" and "jump in" as fun curriculm's that have been recommended for struggling kids. My understanding is that to avoid infringing copyrights one would have to buy a workbook for each student which would be too expensive. Is this right? Is it possible to only use the teacher books? "Paragraph writing made easy" has also been suggested instead of "Wordsmith Apprentice" but I am sure that it is insufficient on its own unless one has the proper background such as "writing tales" or some other curriculm. "Writing tales" seems very interesting but unfortunately I think one would have to buy all the workbooks. Is that correct? http://www.writefromhistory.com -- seems good, if not a bit dry. "Writeshop" has also been suggested, but again it seems to require buying workbooks. "Writing with ease" --would that be easy to implement with an under performing class? "The paragraph book -- strategies for struggling writers." "Razzle dazzle writing" Folks, I need some of you pros to help me out here. Here is my question If you were in this teaching situation what would you do and what curriculm would you come up with? Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I am new MCT convert and I might be tempted to try MCT's Island level with the whole class. With some creativity, she could get away with just one Teacher's Manual for the whole class. . . By putting the student pages (which are in the TM) up on an overhead projector and typing up various assignments. . . Galore Park is a UK publisher, so their English books might be a good fit. I've only use their Latin Prep and So You Really Want to Learn Spanish books, but I'd imagine the English ones are similar. They are not consumable, but you'd need a student book for each child I think. Wow, she has her work cut out for her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I wonder if Blend Phonics would help. It's supposed to be great for remedial students and not interfere with whatever standard program is being used. And it's free! http://www.donpotter.net/Blend%20Phonics.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I'd buy IEW's TWSS, hand sdown.. If the kids can read, they can do the most basic units. It's $169 but she'll be a better writing teacher at because of money spent. (pm me if you go this route). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandamom Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 How many students are in her class? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I would: -Read aloud, read aloud, read aloud.... (a variety of good literature, living history, bios, etc) -Have students discuss/tell back what was read ie: oral response -Write a sentence or two on the board telling about an aspect of the reading. (Either given by student/s or teacher generated) -Talk about the sentence: all read it aloud; identify and isolate spelling patterns in the words, punctuation, and grammar items. -I would also make a list separately on the board of spelling patterns discussed from the sentence(s) eg: 'ar', 'igh' and revise these over the week. THEN: Have students draw a response to the reading and either a) copywork the sentence on the board b) write their own sentences about the reading. Giving a choice enables children of varying abilities to respond at their own level. Next day give the same sentence again as dictation with reminders about spelling etc. They could self-correct by looking at the sample on the board after the dictation. I'd continue this process gradually having the children give more and more of their own responses both verbally and in writing. There's a good chance that many of the children that are 'behind' haven't been exposed to a lot of good literature. I think that reading aloud a lot and requiring responses, then teaching skills through that literature, would apply to all students and they could each pick up from where they are able. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Yup. In fact maybe TWSS coupled with SWI A. She could watch Andrew teach the lesson and then just go teach THAT herself. Or check out the school packages, you may get permission to let the kids watch Andrew themselves. The added benefit to adding the SWI A is that it comes with lesson plans and all of the printables via a pdf download. Nothing else to buy for the kids. Talk to the IEW people: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/catalog/level-a That have lots of videos on YouTube that explain the program, etc. I know that it's pricey, but IEW stuff readily sells for 70% of its retail price via used forums. It sells within minutes. Peace, Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenninMN Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 I really like the Evan-Moor writing materials: Writing Fabulous Sentences & Paragraphs, Guided Report Writing, Grammar & Punctuation. She could join teacherfilebox.com and have unlimited access to printing worksheets. I know the Grammar & Punctuation present many of the same rules each year with worksheets afterward. She could present the same rule and follow up with worksheets from different grade levels. Just an idea. I believe homeschoolbuyersco-op has a deal on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimerinkydo Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 I second the IEW. My son struggles with writing and he struggles with what to write. THis program works for him because it tells him exactly how to write. He needs that specific instruction to succeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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