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!
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