The Adventures of Miss England: "Dont not"

For you grammar Nazis who just had a stroke over my title...no it is not a typo.  I actually read something today that a student wrote, and it contained "dont not." I had a stroke.  I am by no means a grammar Nazis, but there are some things that drive me insane: double negatives, too, to, and two, there and their, were and where. GRRRRRRR.
Now I know we all make mistakes, and sometimes we write different things then what our minds think.  I get that, BUT writing has gone down the drain! I have made it my goal to force my students to do some type of writing activity outside of taking notes. Hopefully it helps.

We also had issues with the word suffrage. The students were assigned to create their own word map.  For those of you who do not know, word maps help the students define the word, and they draw a picture to represent the word....my students thought suffrage=suffering. Sigh. I promise we corrected them.

Also, my students thought that Uncle Sam was a human being...sorry to disappoint everyone be he was definitely created for advertisement.  We corrected them.

However, I do see a slight improvement in SOME of their work.  I think that having two teachers in the classroom has greatly helped certain students.  If only this could be possible for every classroom. 

But on the other hand, there are students (actually just one class) that I have no idea what to do to get them motivated.  Even the fear of failing the EOCT does not encourage them to listen or study...Sigh. Any pointers?


On a completely different note, I have been on a hard core diet..I know aren't we all surprised.  For those of you who can, you should definitely download My Fitness Pal on your phone.  It helps you keep up with your calorie intake and how much you exercise.  I have also being using a Jilliam Michaels' video...it kicks my butt every time, but I love it!!