Literacy Speaks Volumes

She is a lost generation A subcultural anomaly Standing on a dilapidated front porch Smoking a Camel, or was it a Marlboro I forget as the memories swirl together Spitting watermelon seeds off of the porch Throwing mud pies up on PawPaw's barn To bake Hidey Holes and Pretties And banana sandwiches Dr. Pepper and Strawberry Nehi In the bed of a truck Of a Saturday night Wishes and Dreams and Scarlet O'Hara Wishes for changes and liking it just the way it was Embarassment~a feeling of inferiority That somehow mellows with age Becoming a source of pride Southern Gothic or just plain craziness Disguised as something presentable Because that's just the way it was. Melissa Reese Etheridge September 28, 2013

When I was 15 years old, I got this idea for a novel that I wanted to write. This novel idea has played out in my brain for 35 years. I'm not going to tell you my idea for a few reasons. It is embarrassingly ridiculous. I'm still thinking about writing it. You might steal my idea. I actually wrote about 20 pages of this novel when I was in my early twenties. I don't know where that manuscript is now. It is going to take a great deal of research in order for me to do this book right. My other idea will not be as time intensive because it will be set in modern times with a main character much like myself. Not that I'm an interesting person, but the plot is going to be an interesting one. Okay. So I've put it out there. Now I guess that I have to write those books.

My own attempt at a Mark Rothko. Original created on Sketchbook for Android, then finished on Corel Draw.

This past week saw the end of the second week of school~the first two weeks of me teaching sixth grade. Cross your fingers, so far I'm enjoying sixth graders. They are more innocent and sweeter than seventh graders, but not "too sweet." I've never been the kind of teacher that likes her students "too sweet." I like being able to joke around some with my students. On Tuesday, my students will be tested over "The School Play" by Gary Soto~I know, the second week of school and already we've finished a story. Then we begin "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury. About fifteen years ago, this story was included in a seventh-grade anthology. My, how times have changed. Upon first glance, I thought it might be a bit too difficult for sixth-graders, but the powers-that-be in the textbook world gave it a readability level of 5.2. Go figure. In these two stories, the students are learning the basic elements of a story and the five stages o...

Check out my close read question sets for literature . Eight sets that can be used as whole class or as a center activity. This set includes a cover sheet with student instructions and a rubric. The questions are general enough that they can be used with any story.

This year the sixth-grade English Language Arts teachers are going to begin each day with silent reading and reader response. I've created a list in poster or handout form that can be used by students and teachers as a general reference for questioning. Melissa Reese Etheridge

This weekend is definitely a working weekend for me. I just completed my Welcome Letter that I'm sending home with my students on Monday. I'm actually going to use it as a close read and then have them write a letter of introduction to me. Doesn't Common Core sound a great deal like Whole Language? Melissa Reese Etheridge