May Flowers Have Finally Sprung!

Here we are, back at it and working hard, but at least the weather is slowly taking a turn for the better. It definitely helps everybody's mood to brighten, although with the increased warmth comes increased squirreliness!  I'm trying very hard to strike the balance between understanding this fact, but needing them to keep working.  As a result, I continue to try to incorporate activities that will keep them engaged.  So here's what's happening:

In English 9, we are finishing our analytical essays.  We spent much of last week working on them and I did it all in class so that as they had questions they could ask.  They are hand-written and Type 3's; we will revise and edit them on Monday and make decisions about typing at that point.  After they are done writing, we will watch I Am Sam and compare and contrast it with Flowers for Algernon.  By the end of the week I hope to be introducing them to the Greek Mythology unit which will have a group project centered around technology and research.

Here is a picture of some of my English 9, 2nd Hour students writing their papers.  I didn't manage to get any pictures from 6th Hour because I was so busy helping them, so I'll try for next week with them.

In English 11, we are midway through reading Frankenstein.  I have broken them up into groups to tackle chapters 11-16, and they are preparing presentations to teach the class.  They are acting them out, and then we'll do some pen-and-paper activities to make sure we've all got it.  They are up, moving, and engaged, so I think this is working well.  After that, we will work on finishing the book.

Here are some pictures of English 11 students working on their chapters and presentations:

3rd Hour

1st Hour

5th Hour

In the meantime, I'm working on their papers.  Over the course of the past two weeks I have been consumed with trying to finish the course I've been taking on blended learning.  At this point I'm pretty much done, so I can turn all my attention back around to correcting papers.  If you're interested in what this course is all about, here is my final presentation about how I am bringing my classroom into the 21st century with blended learning:

My Blended Learning Environment

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!  Ciao!


May Flowers Have Finally Sprung! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.