Barbara and I conducted many mini workshops on my products throughout the two days of the fair, and came away with a renewed since of pride in our products and what they do to help turn students on to writing while taking the work out of teaching writing.

Orders started coming in as soon as the fair started and have not stopped yet.  Hopefully there will be many many students out there enjoying learning to write the Razzle Dazzle way in the next school year, and just as many teachers and parents happy with the reduced paper work and grading.

You can see all of our products on:

1.  rdlco.com where you can purchase the hardbound copies of our books.

2.  Teachers pay Teachers (TpT), where you can download books and individual lessons

3.  Currclick, where you can download all of our books

Thank you so much!

Judith and Barbara

I got my first paper check from TpT and couldn’t be happier.  I started with TpT in late December, right before Christmas, and was successful right away.

All of my grandchildren are well after all their spring fevers, colds and coughs, and so far I haven’t come down with anything.  I am knocking on wood for that one.

The big thing right now is my husband.  He is having total knee replacement next week, so we have been running around getting ready.  I know life will be better for both of us once he has it done.  We will be mobil again, and that will be awesome!

I am not usually a chatty kind of gal when it comes to blogging, but I have been told I need to step it up and add something about myself, so I am.   I have thirty years of very successful teaching that I could share with anyone who is interested and has a question.  I keep my finger on the pulse, so to speak, because I have a daughter that teaches fifth grade science and math, and she keeps me in the loop.  She also has two boys that I love help with their homework.  I also have two home schooled, ice skating granddaughters that use all of my writing/language arts materials, and are very successful students.  Then I have two granddaughters living in Brooklyn that use my materials during the summer so they are ready when school starts,  and to supplement their public school programs.  They all keep me abreast of any and all things going on in education that I need to know.  Plus I am an avid reader and have many teacher friends that love to tell me what is going on in their educational lives.

I don’t mind just talking, but would really love for fans and followers to respond and chat with me.  I have a lot of teaching information that I would be willing to share and will be posting in the future.

Since it is Friday, have a great weekend!

Happy Writing!

Judith

Middle school aged children require educators that have a special kind of personality which is impervious to harsh comments about their hair, appearance and lifestyle in general.  Teachers and parents must have a quirky sense of humor that carries them through the constant critique of “all knowing” middle schoolers who ban together in their search for an identity and independence.  They must be able to guide students toward developing their own sense of style, toward becoming independent learners, toward understanding  differences in beliefs and views; and toward becoming ready to successfully move on to high school, college, and adulthood.  It is a daunting task for sure, but one I loved, considering the nature of the little beasts!

I discovered that middle school children need tons of guidance and strict boundaries, but want to feel like they are making decisions themselves.  This is a tricky tight rope to walk for teachers and parents.  I learned there were times when I needed to take the heat so a student could save face, and other times when a student would surprise me and show a real sense of maturity by stepping up and owning the problem or difficulty.

Durning all the years I taught middle school I can honestly say that I looked forward to almost every day in the classroom.  Life was not dull, I got honest feedback, students were always surprising me, I got to laugh often every day and I knew it was a place that was good for me.

Judith

]]> http://www.rdlco.com/2013/04/why-i-loved-teaching-middle-school/feed/ 0 http://www.rdlco.com/2013/04/vacation-over-now-back-to-work/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vacation-over-now-back-to-work http://www.rdlco.com/2013/04/vacation-over-now-back-to-work/#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:46:41 +0000 Judith Darling http://www.rdlco.com/?p=750 Continue reading →]]> WOW! First time in Chicago and I loved it. That place has it going on for sure. We had a lovely Easter dinner, took in the Art Institute, the Aquarium, Hancock Tower, saw the preview of Big Fish and ate at some great restaurants. We also met lots of really nice people. I definitely want to visit Chicago again!

Now it’s back to work for me.  I have tons of emails and some questions to answer.  One of which was, will we be putting our Daily Dazzle products on TpT in book form?  They will start going up either today or tomorrow.  I have to get them ready, then I will post.  That means you will be able to buy the entire 32 weeks of lessons in one fell swoop, rather than buying them in bundles of 4 lessons.  It will be an easier download, and the price per page is exactly the same.  You will still have to buy the Tool Box separately.

I will receive my first paper check from TpT which is very exciting.  I have only been on TpT since the end of December, so I am very happy to be on the paper check list.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, and are now finishing up standardized testing. Hopefully then, you will have an easy slide toward summer vacation.  I always loved the spring months, after testing, because everyone was more relaxed, and I could bring out some really fun lessons that applied everything my students had learned.  It was fun to compare the progress they had made over the year, from the first writing lessons they completed to the great work they were doing towards the end.

I’ll be talking with you soon, and happy writing.

Judith

I am working on adding more Common Core aligned writing products to my TpT store, but it will be a few weeks before my next lesson will be posted because I have two granddaughters visiting.

They will be here until the 29th, and then their grandfather and I will be escorting them to Chicago for a mini vacation.  We will meet their parents there to take in the sites, sounds and tastes of The Windy City.

I have added two writing lessons for now, that you can take a look at.  I am very happy with the way they turned out, and hope they make teaching writing much easier and more fun.

Happy Writing!

Judith

If there weren’t gray hairs there before, there sure are now.  It took me forever to figure it out, and I am still a novice on the linking stuff.  Funny how you can write books and lessons, but still don’t feel as proficient on the computer as you would like.  I am just happy other people take the time to show somewhat challenged people like me, how to do things.

Anyway, I did a little old lady happy dance when I got the blog connected, and now I am hoping hordes rush to see what fabulous bits of wisdom and teaching expertise I dish up.

So if you are visiting me for the first time, and I sure you are because I just hooked up, then WELCOME.  I am excited you dropped by, and I hope we can visit from time to time.  Please scroll down and see some of the great writing and teaching ideas that I have posted in the past.

I am in the process of changing the look, texture, color and general feeling of my blog, and hope to have it up and running sometime in the next week or two.

Happy Friday everyone.  Have a great weekend, and happy writing!

Judith

This 6th grade narrative essay is Common Core aligned. It is student and teacher evaluated, and includes the following narrative essay requirements to be graded:

1. Introduction – hook and conflict
2. Body – holds interest, rising action, falling action
3. Resolution – wraps up by following experiences and events
4. Narrator and or protagonist/antagonist with character traits
5. Use of dialogue where appropriate and pacing and description to develop experiences and events
6. Vocabulary – uses transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and time frame and use of descriptive details to describe experiences and events
7. Editing – using the writing process to include planning, drafting, revising, peer editing, and rewriting as required by teacher

The scoring rubric should be presented to the students at the beginning of the lesson so students know what the expectations are, and that it will be self graded before they turn it in to the teacher for the final evaluation.

The scoring rubric takes the subjectivity out of grading, and makes it even for all of the students. Students are able to decide the grade they would like to make on their paper.

Included in the lesson:
1. The lesson plan including the objectives, parts of the narrative essay, and the steps for writing a narrative essay
2. The idea organizer
3. The paragraph organizer that guides the students through each paragraph with examples
4. The student directed scoring guide

I’m working on adding more Common Core aligned writing products to my store, so be on the lookout.

Happy Writing!

Judith

First was and is the amount of grading. I know this is the bane of all writing teachers, especially if you teach middle and high school.  With four or five classes of 25 to 35 students in each you could face an average of 140 papers a week just for one assignment and more if you gave more than one writing assignment.  That is a mountain no teacher wants to climb.

Second was and is the subjectivity of grading writing.  Each teacher develops and uses his or her own rules and biases due to their own capabilities, strengths and weaknesses  when grading papers.  This is true even when there’s specified criteria, because of individual interpretation.

I decided if I was going to continue as a writing teacher I had to change the way papers were graded.  I wanted it to be non biased, student directed, and be an even playing field for all students regardless of ability.  With this in mind, and much trial and error, I developed a rubric that would do just that.  What I came up with was a tool that allowed students to know what the expectations were before they started their assignments, how the paper was going to be evaluated, and to be able to work for the grade they wanted.

A major break through in the process came the first time I asked a class to grade their own papers before turning them in to me.  A student came up to me and said, “I learned so much when I had to grade my own paper, because I knew what the expectations were, how it was going to be graded, and best of all I had control of what the outcome would be.”  That one comment was life changing for me.

My student directed lessons with grading rubrics drastically reduced the amount of grading I had to do, thus allowing me to have weekends free to spend however I wanted, and it took the subjectivity out of grading.  Finally I had achieved an even playing field for grading all of my students regardless of level, age, or ability.

Happy Writing!

Judith

1. We are reducing our prices on this web site effective February 1, 2013.
2. Several months ago we opened a store on Currclick where teachers and parents can download all of our books digitally. We are also reducing our prices on Currclick, effective February 1, 2013.
3. We recently added a store on TEACHERS pay TEACHERS, where teachers and   parents can buy our curriculum by the lesson, or lesson bundles.

We hope to see you soon on Currclick and on TEACHER pay TEACHERS 

.

THE STEPS FOR A CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY TRADITION OR MEMORY

1. Brainstorm some favorite family holiday traditions or memories.Examples:  Christmas morning ritual, decorating the tree, making cookies, something that happened at Christmas dinner, favorite grandparent moment, a special gift, how the family celebrates Christmas Eve, etc.
2. Pick a favorite one and discuss how to lay the story out with an interesting introduction that will hook the reader, a good descriptive body of the story that lets the reader feel, see, and relate to the story, and a conclusion that wraps up the story and gives a good ending.
3. Write rough draft of story.
4. Peer or self edit the story using a critical eye in looking for good sentence structure, interesting story and correct mechanics including punctuation, grammar, parts of speech, and spelling.
5. Write the second draft (I suggest this with older students, it may be too much for younger writers).
6. Peer or self edit the second draft.
7. Write the final paper.
8. Illustrate the story with a picture or pictures of the tradition or memory.
9. Mount or bind the story and illustrations so it can displayed or given as a treasured gift.

Remember… Happy Writing!

Judith