Last Week: Term 1

Welcome to the last week of Term 1.  More importantly, welcome to the last week of October!  This takes us from two full months of 5-day-school-weeks to the holiday season, something I look forward to with great happiness every year.  I know, I know, 1st World problems!  Anyway, this week will take us into an irregular schedule, so here we go:

In English 11 we've been working on The Canterbury Tales: Prologue, so we finished a large study guide over all of these crazy characters, then we wrote a descriptive paragraph full of sensory imagery, imagining what it would be like to hang out at the Tabard Inn in 1346 when these strange people walked through the door.  This coming week we'll read a couple of the tales, and then we'll test over this unit on Thursday.

In English 9 we finished the Flowers for Algernon unit, completing tests and analytical essays.  The paper was tough, but for the most part they worked hard on it.  We're now finishing the movie I Am Sam and comparing its themes to those within the book.  Monday we'll complete the movie, and then it's off to Shakespeare!  I love my Romeo and Juliet unit, since I went to a workshop a couple of years ago in Stratford, Ontario at the Shakespeare Festival, and they gave me all sorts of fabulous ideas that really make this a fun experience!

Speaking of Romeo and Juliet, on Tuesday I'll be away from the classroom as we take 100 English 9 students to Wayne State University's Hilberry Theater to see the play.  Last year I took English 11 students to see Macbeth which was a fabulous production, so I have high hopes for this day.  We'll catch McDonald's on the way back, then put them on the busses to go home.  If your student is going, please remind them to make sure they make up all work missed in their other classes, to bring money for lunch or a bag lunch, and to not bring backpacks on the trip.  I will have a substitute teacher for my English 11 classes and I have confidence that they will be in good hands.

Friday - very important:  no school for students!  The teachers have a professional development day, but the students get Halloween off!  What a gift!  I hope everyone behaves. 

The week after this is parent/teacher conferences.  I believe the high school has their's on Wednesday, November 5th, from 12:00 to 7:00.  Please check the district website, and I hope to see everyone there.

I'm wishing everyone has a great week!


Last Week: Term 1 by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Two Weeks to Go for Term One

Well, we just finished one of our busier weeks for the term, and I'm hoping that this week will be a bit more calm (though goodness knows that it's usually not).  Lots of projects and end of unit assessments came in, we had an assembly in the middle of the week, and we started into new units.  Needless to say, I have lots to correct, so I'll be using my Sunday for that.

Let's start with English 9.  We have finally finished with Flowers for Algernon, so we took the test on Thursday.  On Friday we began brainstorming ideas for a complex paper that will analyze symbolism and theme.  I walk them through every step, so this coming week we will outline it and write it.  I do all of this in class so that if they have questions, I'm immediately available to answer them.  We'll then compare and contrast the themes in Flowers with that of a short movie.

In English 9, we completed an online vocabulary quiz on Monday, turned in our Type 4 Beowulf Eulogies on Tuesday, worked on the Coats of Arms/Type 3 paragraph, and turned in the independent reading projects on Friday.  I gave them this weekend off because that was a tremendous amount of work!  In the meantime, we started the "Prologue" for The Canterbury Tales, which we read in class together.  We will continue and finish it this coming week, along with a sampling of one of the tales.  They were very happy to move from the rows of desks for assessment back into their "pods" (yes, I call them pod-people).

As mentioned, we had an assembly on Wednesday to listen to motivational speaker Joel Penton, who is a former football player at Ohio State.  One of my favorite moments was when he brought a current student of mine out of the crowd to stand next to him (and harrass him just a bit as a UofM fan).

Finally, just to share, I had a fabulous experience yesterday. I drove down to Bowling Green State University in Ohio to visit AHS alum RJ Seibert.  He was very excited to make the drum corp for the BGSU band, and since his school was playing my alma mater, it seemed like a great opportunity to go visit.  Here is RJ marching into the stadium:

After we watched the pre-game show, the first half, and the half-time show, we were freezing to death so we went to the car and toured their campus.  It's very pretty and clean, and we had a good time getting out of the car to walk a little bit of it.  After the game was over, RJ met up with us and gave us a "backstage" tour of the music building.  I think he donated about two hours to showing us around, which we really appreciated!  He was a perfect host and showed my son how to play many of the percussion instruments, plus we got to walk backstage in one of the theaters that was being set up for a concert, and then he took us to a music lab where the keyboards are connected to computers and they can do all sorts of fancy, fabulous things:

 

Here's RJ showing my son what they can do in this lab.

 

We had such a good time, and what a wonderful way to see the success that Airport alumni have when they leave us.  RJ is a credit to his family, to ACS, and to his community.  What a great Saturday!

 

I hope everyone has a great Sunday, and an even better week!  Enjoy!

Two Weeks to Go for Term One by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Another Homecoming Is In The Books!

Hello, all!  Another Homecoming week has come and gone, and I have many pictures to share.  First, however, let me tell you about what is going on academically (because believe it or not, we did do some academics last week):

In English 9 we've worked our way through most of Flowers for Algernon.  I'm hoping to finish the novel by mid-week, and so that means the test will be either Wednesday or Thursday.  When I get the definitive date, I'll let you know.  We will also continue with grammar and vocabulary, following the same patterns we've had all year.

Here are a couple of pics from 1st Hour English 9 this week:

 Camo Day

A class photo from Friday morning.

 

 

In English 11, we finished Beowulf and took the test.  Then we wrote a fairly complicated essay with quotes and all; the final copy (or Type 4) will be due on Tuesday.  They are also working on taking their vocabulary quizzes online on Edmodo, so those are due by midnight on Monday.  Their final deadline of the week is Friday, when they are bringing in and presenting their independent book projects.  In the meantime, we've begun a new unit on Medieval England, so they're making shields and preparing to read the Prologue of Canterbury Tales. Because we have so much going on this week for deadlines, they will not have vocabulary until the following week.

 

Here are some pictures from them working on shields and participating in Homecoming

 2nd Hour

 3rd Hour

 4th Hour

 5th Hour

 Wacky Wednesday

Cowboy/Cowgirl Day

 

 

And here are some pictures of some of my former students, now seniors, who were on Homecoming Court and all dressed up!

 



 

Finally, here are the seniors decorating the hallway outside of my classroom:

 

 

It was a busy week!  Here's to a calmer one!







Homecoming Week!

It's finally here, that crazy week known as Homecoming!  It feels late this year, despite the fact that it's early October, so it really can't be that late.  I love this week because it's so much fun to see the kids all dressed up and participating and having fun.  I'll try to take many pictures this week.

Despite the fact that it's a fun week, the academics keep rolling, so here's what we've got:

In English 9 we have now read through Progress Report 13 in Flowers for Algernon.  They will be reading through Progress Report 16 over the course of the next week, which leaves us just one section to go!  They will have quizzes to make sure they're reading, but I'll also try to build in more time this week during class for them to get some of the reading done.  We also are continuing forward with the prepositions unit and vocabulary.

In English 11 we are finishing up Beowulf.  Two of the four classes have taken their test and will move on during Monday's lesson to the writing.  The other two classes will take their test on Monday.  Second Hour got behind by a day due to the fog delay, and fourth hour has had a rough time because one of our members experienced the loss of a parent, so we postponed things a bit.  Please keep the Strickland family in your thoughts and prayers, and note that if your student is out, either to support this family, or because of field trips or something else, we'll work with them.  When we are finished with Beowulf, we will continue on into the medieval time period and The Canterbury Tales.  As usual, grammar and vocabulary will continue to be a focus.  Our vocabulary quiz this week was electronic, and due to all of the coming and going, it will be electronic this coming week as well.  This means that your student needs to get onto Edmodo to take their test, on their own time.  I usually give them four days to complete the task so that it can be done in school, or out.

The temperatures have dropped, but the scenery continues to be gorgeous.  Here is a picture from my river walk last week:

Enjoy your week!


Homecoming Week! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License