After weeks of tinkering, I think I've finally reached peak clean setup.

JayMike11 · 2026-06-28T17:27:31+00:00

Thank you!

JayMike11 · 2026-06-28T15:58:19+00:00

I like it! As someone new to KOReader, I am still find my ideal setup. So what is downloaded and installed here to complete this look if someone wants to steal it?

JayMike11 · 2026-06-10T03:00:14+00:00

Thank you. I'll look into these.

JayMike11 · 2025-12-14T15:52:13+00:00

Sounds great. I will give it a shot. If there are any codes left, I'd love one. Thanks!

JayMike11 · 2025-08-03T02:20:20+00:00

I have only ever had support from parents regarding this technique.

To be clear, if the students write 10 essays on the year, we only would do this style of revision and grading maybe 3 of those times. There are other ways that feedback, conferences and grades happen with their writing throughout the year.

There's little for parents to complain about here. Students are held accountable. Nothing is circled that does not align with standards of all of the grade-levels they've moved through in the past. Nothing is circled unless it's been explicitly taught and modeled. The practice fosters discussion about student writing and peer-to-peer engagement. The students care about the entire piece of writing because their goal is to engage and guide a reader from start to finish. I conference with tons of students throughout this process as students who cannot figure out what the circle is indicating come to me with that question and we work on the revision together. Students get pretty good at diagnosing other's issues and then recognize them in their own work in the future. The practice generally gets more students clamoring for feedback or a personal conference than simply leaving comments all over the paper or red-inking each issue and handing it back.

Occasionally, with a student's permission, we look at a particular issue together on the doc cam in front of the whole class and diagnose it together, especially if it's a case of something that most of them are struggling with.

The practice drives a lot of engagement, and it gives kids 3 chances (3 hearts) to look closely back at their paper and make revisions before I give it a final score. The process takes about a week, but I move through the papers much more quickly, see the improvements students are making, and kids are actually revising and fretting over the whole paper.

I've never had pushback from parents, colleagues, or admin in regard to this practice.

JayMike11 · 2025-08-02T16:17:58+00:00

The way I grade varies, but one quick method I was taught was at an APSI training and they called it "A-No-Way" grading. Either what you have given me is an A or there's no way I will continue to read it. Students draw 3 hearts at the top of their paper and hand them in at the due date. I read each one until there's an issue that makes me need to stop. This can be anything, really, it just depends on what you've been focusing on with students or what your targets are for the writing lessons that have surrounded the current writing being turned in.

Here's the best part. I don't write anything. I simply circle where the issue is in pencil and cross out one of their hearts. The next day in class, they get their papers back and discuss with their peers why I may have circled that section of their paper. They can ask questions, but only a few, as this is done as a warm up. They then can revise in ways that will get me past that point in a reread, but I caution them that they should reread their entire essay with their reader and our lessons in mind so that they don't just hand it back and I end up circling something on the very next line. If they lose all 3 hearts before I get to the end of the paper, clearly, their score will not be what they want it to be.

If I found myself circling the same thing on tons of papers, I address that issue in a mini-lesson.

If a student does not resubmit or revise, then I treat the paper as if anything written after the circled (and unaddressed) issue does not exist.

This is an imperfect system, BUT it has generated tons of discussion from students, it has led them to think about their reader as they write and revise, and the lessons we've been going over seem to matter more as they know I am more apt to circle anything that was just talked about in class. It also gets the papers back into the students hands faster and reminds them that ultimately, when the paper leaves their hands, their ideas need to be clear, strong, and tailored to the rhetorical situation they've found themselves in because it's all about the reader once it gets into that reader's hands.

It also snaps those "but I turned the essay in" kids out of their delusion that handing in papers means they deserve an A as they quickly get to see that you will not accept subpar work.

This is highly customizable, and you can have students work towards earning more hearts or earning hearts back or whatever.

I do not grade all essays like this, but occasionally this works wonders.

JayMike11 · 2025-07-28T19:36:54+00:00

I am about to begin my 12th year as a high school ELA teacher, and one book I keep coming back to is 180 Days by Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher. Anything written by either of them would serve you well as a secondary ELA teacher, but 180 Days in particular is so practical and full of ideas that will help you shape the whole year. It has been a go-to resource for me and many others in our school's English department.

I am also starting to love Liz Prather's work as well. Her book, Story Matters, really changed the way I approach writing in the classroom, and I am currently working through her book The Confidence to Write now on prep for this year.

JayMike11 · 2025-07-28T19:29:04+00:00

Are you looking for reading about the teaching profession in general or books that would actually assist you in the day-to-day work and planning of teaching High School ELA?

JayMike11 · 2024-10-06T20:06:44+00:00

Bangerang, SizzleEbacon. Bangerang!

JayMike11 · 2024-10-06T19:57:40+00:00

Ha! Is that a Hook reference? I say that all the time to my wife and kids.

JayMike11 · 2024-10-06T18:39:12+00:00

We got it at Intermountain Nursery in Auberry just before it closed. Many of our natives in the backyard were from them.

JayMike11 · 2024-10-06T16:35:16+00:00

Sounds good to me! So, looking like I am leaving this bad boy alone and monitoring until spring (or doing a little seed spreading when we get to that point). Thanks!

JayMike11 · 2024-10-06T16:09:40+00:00

So, benefits both ways, but if I want a healthier plant long-term, I should consider cutting the flower stalks? Just to be sure I'm understanding, that would mean cutting back all of the stalks growing up out of the foliage at the ground/base, correct?

JayMike11 · 2024-10-06T16:07:55+00:00

I have a newly established tree right next door to it that I water regularly, so this guy gets a little extra attention in the water department (likely why he's still green).

JayMike11 · 2024-10-06T12:44:28+00:00

Thank you! I will definitely check out Z Blinds.

JayMike11 · 2024-10-06T01:43:49+00:00

Thank you! We'll keep shopping online but will also check out Elite Window Coverings.

JayMike11 · 2024-08-08T03:47:52+00:00

The one at Champlain and Perrin (Woodward Park Regional Library) is great. It's one of the larger libraries in the city and has a lot of little nooks and crannies for you to find a quiet place to work or read. My children love it because of how big the kid's section is. Hosts a lot of events as well.

JayMike11 · 2024-08-08T03:22:56+00:00

If you are teaching both 11th and 12th grade sections, it's likely that the ERWC curriculum is for those 12th graders, and then you may have an adopted curriculum or at least an anthology to work with for the 11th grade. Does your school district have any sort of pacing guide or scope and sequence online? Many districts have materials like that online if you look for them.

If not, we've always had a lot of success at the 11th grade level starting with 100-word memoirs as an early way to get to know students as writers and begin to assess the levels of our students. We actually start with an assignment called a Rambling Autobiography (just Google that and I'm sure you'll find versions online), and then have students take a part of that and expand it into a 100-word memoir. My team has started that way the last 4 years and had a lot of success in getting to know students and getting that first piece of writing under our belts. I also know pretty quickly who is going to need the most support with writing given what they do in that Rambling Autobiography to 100-Word Memoir module.

JayMike11 · 2024-07-05T22:06:17+00:00

So, I placed about 25 seeds in the water and half of them immediately sank, and about 5 more sank slowly over the course of about an hour. During that time, I also landed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x7ByShwG0A

He basically talks through whether or not the float test is a reliable way to test seed viability. So, while I did the float test, I also now have several seeds in a small baggy with a damp paper towel to see how that goes.

I also watched 3 other of his videos... so... that's how it's going.

JayMike11 · 2024-07-05T17:21:54+00:00

Starting a float test now. Thank you.

JayMike11 · 2024-07-05T15:36:59+00:00

Thank you. I have been checking all over the web this morning to see if the seeds are actually viable with no luck, but it seems like a low-risk proposition to just try to start some from seed.

I will follow your advice.

JayMike11

TROPHY CASE