A Beautiful End to September

I love Michigan in September:  the blue skies, the warm summer temperatures, the trees beginning to turn, the harvest of fruits and vegetables.  It's glorious to be a Michigander at this time of year.  Right now I have the privilege of being able to spend a little time on the Huron River as my son attends his clarinet lesson.  I go by myself to the river trails and have some quiet time to decompress from all the modern stresses of life.  I know many like to jog and walk along the trail with music in their ears, but I prefer the sounds of the river, such as a fish jumping to catch insects, swans dipping their heads to feed from the bottom, birds of all kinds coming and going, and calling to each other.  It brings me peace at the end of a long day.  Here is a collage of pictures from last week:

When life gets hectic, this is what I look back on.

Speaking of hectic, we've been as busy as ever in the classroom.  I always plan too much to fit into an hour, so we definitely work bell to bell.  Here's a run-down of what's happening:

In English 9 - we're in the midst of reading Flowers for Algernon.  So far they should be through Progress Report 10, almost halfway through the book.  Their homework every night is to read, so you should see those books in their hands!  We continued our adventures with prepositions, vocabulary, technology, and we wrote a 10% summary.  Looking forward into this week, we'll continue through Progress Report 13, more vocabulary is on deck, I'm hoping to get some reading time for them in class, and we'll even cross curriculums and do a math question related to our novel!

In English 11 - we have finished Part I of Beowulf, continued our adventures with grammar and vocabulary, and we're attempting to create our own blogs (ah, technology - the blessing and curse of my existence) and writing one as Beowulf.  My plan to have them do this in one day has stretched to three, but one way or another, they'll get a post created and printed, even if it's not on an official blog site.  In the meantime, we will continue reading Beowulf and Mrs. V. and I set the objective test over this text for Friday, October 3rd!  As far as homework is concerned, they should be reading their own book-of-choice.  This needs to be read by October 10th.

I hope everyone has a great week and gets a chance to get out into this beautiful weather since we all know how this will end...

Ciao!


"A Beautiful End to September" by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://laurastubbs.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-beautiful-end-to-september.html.

We're Almost Halfway Through Term One!

Another busy week has come and gone and we are firmly established in our routines. I had the worst cold I've ever endured last weekend, and I didn't really start to feel human again until about Wednesday, so if I made mistakes, I apologize.  It was both a head and chest cold, so it affected both my breathing and thinking, and I know I said and did some kind of weird things.  I just hope they weren't that weird.

So here's what we did:

In English 9, we did our weekly vocab. cards, activities, and quiz, and I've posted the results on HAC.  We also finished "Harrison Bergeron" and have now moved into Flowers for Algernon.  They all have a book signed out to them, a packet of study guide questions, and we're taking notes in class.  I start out by modeling how I expect them to take notes, then I begin to hand more and more of it to them.  I let them use notes on quizzes and tests, so the more they take, the better off they are.  We also worked a bit on grammar and prepositional phrases, so on Friday we played Preposition Bingo.  Here's a collage of pictures I took of them.  Please keep in mind that it's 1st Hour, so they look completely unenthusiastic.  They did perk up when the caramel apple suckers came out for the winners.

Coming up this week:  we will continue to read Flowers for Algernon so there will be many activities and quizzes; they will get this week's vocab. words on Monday, the worksheet is due Tuesday, and the quiz will be Friday; we will continue to work on prepositions; they will have their first 10% Summary for my class.  Please ask them frequently if they're keeping up with the reading for homework; they will have quite a bit!

In English 11, we did our second set of vocab. words and the worksheet and quiz grades are on HAC.  We also finished reading the poems from The Exeter Book, and then they wrote a heavy duty Compare/Contrast essay.  Mrs. VanWasshenova and I walked them through the entire process and they finished it and turned it in on Friday.  We also started diagramming sentences in order to review parts of speech.  I remember this as a stressful, difficult task, so we're trying to use it simply to supplement their knowledge, not test them to death on it.  Some hate it, but others find it helpful.  On Friday we finally started focusing on Beowulf and so we were able to take some words from the text and go outside to play a game with a ball.  It was a really nice way to end the week:

We have also asked them to come up with a book to read independently over the course of three weeks.  They should have it by now, and most have signed them up with us, so they need to bring it everyday.  We're reading Beowulf in class together, and if they complete something early, they can always work on their book-of-choice.  They should be reading every night for homework.
 
Coming up this week:  Beowulf - which includes reading, study guides, notes, quizzes, but also some fun activities such as creating blogs and comic strips; they'll get their next set of vocab. words on Monday, the worksheets are due Tuesday, the quiz is Friday; we will continue reviewing parts of speech; they need to read their books-of-choice for homework.

Exciting things are happening at AHS, as always, and I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful September weather.  Have a good one!



We're Almost Halfway Through Term One! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

We're Already At Week Three?!!?

Wow, time sure does fly!  We're already at week three, and we're starting to get our rhythms in place, and of course, my annual cold hit right on time.  Every year, end of week two, and my head feels like a stuffed balloon, throwing me into a perpetual fog.  So you'll have to forgive me if this is a little fuzzy.  I also regret to say that we were so busy last week, I didn't get any pictures or video, so I'll try to remember to get some this week.

In English 9 - last week we established more procedures and they learned how to post and reply on Edmodo, and we began our weekly vocabulary words and quizzes. Each week I'll give them the words on Monday and assign vocab. cards.  I'm also posting a link on my web page to a site where they can play games to review the words and definitions throughout the week.  Quizzes will be on Friday. We also read the short story "Harrison Bergeron" so that we could discuss important literary terms as we get ready to read Flowers for Algernon.  By midway this week, they'll have the novel in their hands and we'll be off to the races!

In English 11 - we also established routines with Edmodo and vocabulary, exactly the same as English 9.  They, however, are preparing for reading Anglo-Saxon literature, so they read a difficult article and wrote a 10% Summary.  By the end of the week, we started looking at poems from The Exeter Book.  By midway this week they'll be writing a Type 3 Compare/Contrast essay and then we'll start Beowulf.  Because we're reading these texts in class, I let them know that they need a book for an independent book project by Wednesday.  They'll have three weeks to read outside of class, then I'll hand out a project for them to complete for homework.  They can choose whatever book they wish, in any category, as long as it is age, reading level, and school appropriate.  I'll have them check in their book with me on Wednesday.

I'm working my way through the grading, though I have to say that I'm unbelieveably slow right now.  This cold makes it difficult to function cognitively, but I'll get there.  I'm hoping that this weekend was the low point and that I'll start to feel better as the week begins.  I'm trying hard not to pass it to anyone else through washing of hands and keeping my distance, so hopefully they won't bring it home to you!  (Yikes!)

Have a fabulous week, everyone!


We're Already at Week Three?!!? by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

And We're Off! (Week 2)

What an amazing, busy, and HOT week we had.  However, what a relief to get that first week done!  We're still searching for our rhythm, but things are beginning to drop into a routine.

I have loved getting to know my students.  They are an amazing group, and I think we can accomplish great things this year.  Here is what we did last week:

Even though I have both English 9 and English 11, both groups had two main goals - getting to know each other, and establishing how to access the technological materials for this semester's assignments.  I'm combining their first writing assignment with a Getting-To-Know-You activity, so the first step was to conduct interviews.  They did a total of three (one each day).  Here are a couple of collages with pictures from all classes:

 

 

We also spent time in the media center doing a worksheet intended to introduce them to my webpage.  My original intent was to do it all on Tuesday, but as always, when working with technology, there are many technological glitches, and we ended up in there three days in a row.  By Friday, this was a blessing since the media center is air conditioned!  I was not able to take very many pictures because I was running around trouble shooting, but here's what I ended up with:

 



So what comes next?  Lots.  Here's a basic rundown.

English 9 - their first writing assignment is due on Monday.  It is based on the interviews they conducted last week and they should have all of the information in their hands for how to complete it.  They will also start their vocabulary assignments.  I will assign the vocab. cards on Monday, they will practice them on Wednesday with a game, and then we'll have a quiz on Friday.  We will also be heading toward the novel Flowers for Algernon.  Flexibility is the name of the game in education, and for multiple reasons I was forced to change plans and do this novel first.  We will do Romeo and Juliet during 2nd term.  Therefore, we'll be doing the preparatory work for Flowers this week.  Expect homework by Wednesday.

English 11 - they also have their first writing assignment due on Monday, and have all the information needed in hand, and like English 9 they'll start working on vocabulary.  After that, we'll get ready for the Anglo-Saxon unit.  They have a video worksheet due on Wednesday which they have been working on independently.  We will read an article about literature and do a 10% summary, and then we'll be ready to head into the literature.  Up first will be Exeter Book poems and riddles, and then we'll head for Beowulf.  Do not expect a lot of homework this week since we will do the Anglo-Saxon unit in class together.  It is all poetry, and it's difficult, so we do not send it home.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and it will cool down.  If it is still hot, we will still survive since I will continue to need the computer labs which are air conditioned for class activities, but it would be really nice if it would start cooling down.

I hope everyone has a great week, and as always, if you need me, feel free to contact me!

Ciao!


And We're Off! (Week 2) by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.