The Mongoose Should Die

For twenty-three years I taught seventh grade English. When I first began teaching, I was handed the key to my classroom and a box of white chalk. I immediately went out and bought colored chalk. Rikki was with me the whole way. I loved his sweet disposition and protective nature towards Teddy. Along with my students, I cheered Rikki on when he chased Nagaina into the giant hole and came out alive.

But something soured along the way. I grew tired of Rikki and silently wished for his demise. You see, the story of the little Mongoose who could had been in every anthology that the school district bought. It was always in unit one and was the primary text for teaching conflict in literature. I simply grew tired of it.

Now, I teach sixth grade English and have yet to grow tired of any one particular story. I don't know if I will stay in sixth grade long enough to grow jaded on any story. Perhaps it was time to move on. Perhaps it was time to open a new anthology.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Scout's Honor" by Avi

Image
I've created a learning resource to go along with the short story that you can find in my shop. My students have been telling me that it's quite difficult. We've done two pages per day as part of our reading workshop minilessons. They're writing the notes and responses in their journals. The grammar connection on infinitives really threw them for a loop~it was the first time that they've encountered this verbal. Melissa
Read more

Back to School Bumper Sticker Activity and Printable

Image
Here in Middle Tennessee, we go back to school in two weeks, so it's the perfect time to begin thinking about icebreaker activities.  My Back to school Bumper Sticker Printable and Activity includes 20 different bumper stickers, 10 color and 10 black and white. There are 2 bumper stickers per page. Use this as an icebreaker in the following way: Students brainstorm some bumper stickers that they've seen and what those bumper stickers say about the person driving the car. Then, the students will write down several bumper sticker sayings that represent them and their ideas or beliefs. Show students some examples of completed bumper stickers. Afterwards, give each student a copy of the bumper sticker template. Each student designs and creates a bumper sticker that represents him or her. After students have created their bumper stickers, they walk around the room reading each other's bumper stickers. This activity is a fun and creati...
Read more

The Forms of Personal Pronouns

Image
The form of a personal pronoun shows how it can be used in a sentence. Pronouns used as subjects and predicate nominatives are in the subject form. Examples:  He and I went to the post office. The winner of the marathon is she. Pronouns used as direct objects and indirect objects of verbs and objects of the preposition are in the object form. Examples: Mr. Garcia helped him and me with yesterday's homework. The clerk gave us the package. when is Theo going to give the flowers to her? Possessive forms (my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs, our, ours) are used to show ownership or possession. Examples: My sister had to turn the box on its end to get it through the door. A mother bear is very protective of her cubs. Personal Pronouns: Singular Subject: I, you, he, she, it Plural Subject: we, you, they Singular object: me, you, him, her, it Plural object: us, you, them Singular possessive: my, mine, you...
Read more