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.