Wow! What a Week!

This is going to be fairly short and sweet, since I spent most of the week in a courtroom.  Everyone told me to take lots of papers to grade because I would spend most of the day just sitting there and never get placed on a trial.  So I took many papers - many, many papers - and had graded a total of five before my name was called and I was placed on a jury!  It was very interesting, but very disruptive to my schedule, and I missed your kids!  Kudos to all of them for their patience and efforts getting through the week.  We had a wonderful sub., and Mrs. Johnson in the main office made sure that the same person could be there all week for consistency, and everyone made it through!  The first part of this coming week will be me back-tracking and making sure everyone got what they needed last week, and then we'll be able to move forward.

Luckily I was able to be finished with jury duty on Thursday, so I could attend the 9th grade field trip on Friday to see Romeo and Juliet at the Emagine Theater in Canton.  Thank you to all who attended as chaperones!  The kids were great.  I loved the girls' reaction to their first view of the actor playing Romeo; I think it took almost 5 minutes until we had them calmed down.  I also loved hearing them saying lines, and spotting differences between the text and movie.  I really feel like they all "get" the play and we're ready to assess later this week.  Lunch afterward was a bit chaotic; Emagine shifted us from Novi to Canton the day before, so we just tried to find a strip of fast food joints to dump them all in.  Somehow we (and the restaurants) got us all through and back on the bus, and the kids were gloriously happy (and the adults were exhausted)! 

So now we're on to the final week of the term.  English 11 is getting ready to head into the Medieval Times and Canterbury Tales.  English 9 will be finalizing Romeo and Juliet information; at the moment I have the test scheduled for Thursday, with papers/projects to follow, but I'll email everyone when I have finalized the plans.  Then Friday is a no-school-day for your kids while the staff go to a Countywide Inservice Day.  Good for them since it's the day after Halloween, but maybe not so good for you?

Have a wonderful week!

Images from the field trip to see Romeo and Juliet




The Calm Before the Storm

This week was definitely the calm before the storm.  I do not even have any pictures or video of my students to post since most of the week was all about reading, writing and taking tests.  Mostly my students were working busily at their desks, which in its own sense is a joy to me, but for picture and video purposes, it's a little like watching paint dry.

In English 9 we have finished reading through Act III of Romeo and Juliet.  They took a quiz over Act II and did a couple of activities with passages from the text, but most of our time was spent just getting through the reading.  The amazing thing to me is that as they are listening to the recording, I'm stopping much less, but hearing much more as far as spontaneous gasps, laughter, and under-the-breath comments, which means - THEY''RE GETTING IT!!!  We're going to try to finish at least reading the play this next week, hopefully in time to go on the field trip to the movie on Friday.

In English 11 we have finished Beowulf, taken the test, and are now working on a fairly complex, analytical essay.  They are hand writing the rough draft in class (Type Three), and then next week we will go to the computer lab to type it and do peer edits before submitting the final draft (Type Four).  It's a painstaking process, but I truly believe it is beneficial in that it challenges them to communicate in a different way than they normally do, and when they rise to the challenge they can be proud of their work.  After the essay we will turn our attentions to the Medieval Times and Canterbury Tales.  I have a couple of fun projects to go with this, so I'm looking forward to the change.

The storm:  several things are coming up in the next few weeks.  This coming week I may be out due to Jury Duty, something I've never been called to do.  In one sense, I'm excited because I think it will be interesting; in another, this is terrible timing since it's the end of two units in class.  I won't know until I call this weekend whether they want me to show up or not for Monday, so cross your fingers (I just don't know what I want you to wish for).

I almost forgot to put this in:  go to celebratemydrive.com to vote for Airport to win $100,000 in a safe driving campaign.  Imagine what we could do with that money!  You have to be 14 and older to vote (I tried to have my 12 year old vote and it wouldn't allow it).

Friday, our field trip to Novi is on!  I'm so excited because this is my first field trip in years and I think the students will really enjoy it.  I just hope I'm not sitting on a jury and will be able to go!  A big thank you to Mrs. Williams for taking care of all arrangements; I just came along for the ride.

Upcoming events:  Halloween is always a little chaotic at school, and then the students have November 1st off while teachers and staff attend professional development.  The week after that, we have conferences on 11/6 and professional development on 11/7, so the students have two days off, and then we're back in for Friday, 11/8 (I know, crazy - right?).  Thanksgiving is late this year, November 28th, which means we'll have a very short time after it until Christmas break.  Lots of fun stuff coming up!

 

Here's a picture of what my children and I did last night at AHS.  Thanks to Mrs. Moschetti, we have two of our pumpkins carved and had lots of fun visiting with Carleton community members doing it.  While there we also carved away with Maleigha, a former student who made a winky pumpkin, Mrs. Hopper who teaches social studies, Mrs. Kull who teaches in many locations around the high school, and of course, Mrs. Moschetti, the art teacher.  It's nights like this that let me know how privileged I am to work at AHS.  I'm so honored that the wonderful community of Carleton and its surrounding areas has welcomed me in and allowed me to play a small part in the lives of its children.

 

Have a wonderful week, everybody!

Another Week Down and We're Now In Routine

Another week has come and gone.  When we're in the middle of them I feel like they're dragging, but by the weekend when I look back it feels like the school year is flying.  We're into our routines by now:  reading difficult texts, writing papers, and presenting information in various ways.  My routine of weekend Type 3 essay grading is off to the races.  I'm working through them as fast as I can, while trying to keep up with the regular paperwork.

In English 9, we're still working our way through Romeo and Juliet.  It's so slow for us because I keep trying to throw in interesting activities that allow us to play with the text, rather than just reading and testing.  I truly believe that Shakespeare was playing with words and he'd like us to do the same.  I think a huge mistake people make with his plays is taking them too seriously.  They should be played with, messed with, and explored.  This week I showed your students how to do a common dance in his day:  the Prevane.  Sixth hour was so fabulous and open to this experience, that they all ended up twirling around the lobby with their partners.  They let me take video of them, so here's what I put together:

6th Hour Shakespearean Prevane

For the rest of this week, we'll still be trying to get through more of the text.  They seem like they're really getting into it now, and mostly want to keep going in order to see where this play goes.  An exciting thing coming up (we hope) is that we're trying to pull together a fieldtrip to Novi to see the brand new movie.  If your student says they have no homework, they're in earnest.  I'm trying to get through the R&J text more quickly, and then I'll assign another book.  If they have a writing to do at home, I'll notify you.

In English 11, we're finishing Beowulf.  In my 1st and 5th hours, one of the funniest moments of the week was a class directed act-out of the fight between Beowulf and Grendel's Mother.  Unfortunately, I didn't get it on video.  In 3rd Hour, we're moving more quickly, so they have already started toward the goal of reading another book.  All classes have had writings to finish at home for homework, but third hour is the only class with assigned readings.  This will quickly change as we finish Beowulf.  All of my English 11 classes wrote their first blog.  I had them use Beowulf's voice, but I had two goals:  have them dig into the text and find Beowulf's voice, and learn how to use a blog.  Those who were able to make it work now have access to their own blogs.  Those who did not, ended up creating it on a Word document.  One way or another, they all got it done.  Here's a picture of them blogging away:

1st Hour English 11 Blogging in the Lab

 

By Thursday, we should be able to take a test over Beowulf, with another Type3/4 writing to follow.  I'll try to send out reminders.

 

I hope you're all enjoying this glorious weather we've been having and have been able to get out and enjoy it.  It's a beautiful Michigan fall, but we all know what follows, so here's to hoping you've been able to take a few minutes to relax in it.

 

Have a great week!

September is Over, so Bring on October!

What a whirlwind of a week!  We finished our NWEA testing (if your student missed a portion of it, they will be pulled aside to work on it on Monday, 10/7), Homecoming was a great success, we turned in our Book Reviews, and we even completed our first fire drill!  Here are some photos from the festivities.  I chaperoned the dance, too, and the kids looked fabulous, but I was too busy and exhausted to take photos.

Spirit Day - Friday, 10/4

The Parade - Friday, 10/4

In English 9, we were able to complete Act I of Romeo and Juliet and we're working our way through activities and discussion. I'm getting fairly positive feedback from my students, so I think they're enjoying it for the most part.  This week we will finish discussion, try some Elizabethan dance, take a quiz, and work toward reading Acts II and III.  Now that we have completed all of the background information, we should be able to move along more quickly.

In English 11, we have finished reading Part I of Beowulf, so we're finishing the activities and discussions.  Early this coming week they will be completing their first post on a Google Blog for Beowulf.  They're taking on his voice and learning how to create their own blogs.  I'm showing them the difference between saving for privacy, and posting publicly, so that we keep the online risk as low as possible for them while still sharing this technological tool for future use.

I hope everyone has a great week; here's a picture of what I will think back on from September to keep me going as the weather turns cold:

The Huron River at Sunset, Wednesday, 10/2