Mrs. Stubbs's English Blog: Welcome 2015!

Welcome back, and as Lucy Maud Montgomery once said, "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it." It's always nice to get a fresh start, and so even though it's not the end of the semester (yet), we are starting new units and it's now time to evaluate what needs to be done to either continue to make things great, or to make changes in order to make things better. So along those lines, here's what's coming up:

English 9 - we will do a brief unit regarding job skills and readiness. We will be creating a resume, collecting letters of recommendation, filling out job applications (which are not intended to be submitted, just used for practice), pulling together a small portfolio, and working on interview skills. So here's what I'm looking for: on Monday, January 12 I am hoping to conduct interviews. If there are any parents out there who would be interested in volunteering an hour of their time toward this cause, please contact me ASAP. I am hoping to find 8-10 adults who can follow a guide which I will give them in order to give my students an idea of what it's like to go through a job interview. I'd love to have parents involved in this, though the timing is super early in the morning (7:30 until about 8:20 A.M.), and I'll also be asking staff members at the school for help. I think this will be a valuable experience. We will be doing vocabulary in class with no quiz on Friday; we'll be applying the terms, instead.
English 11 - we have one more unit to go: Animal Farm. Here's where reality hits for this group since they will be responsible for reading at least half the book at home on their own. We have about a week and a half to get this done, so this will be fast. Just as a heads up, I've been working the past few days on getting grades caught up, and many of my juniors have gotten very lazy whenever they are asked to do work independently, and it's showing up in their grades. This is the opportunity for those students to get things pulled back together. As a parent, please look for them to have an Animal Farm book in their hand for the next week and a half, and it should be opened and read. Thanks for the help in advance. We will be doing vocabulary with worksheets and quotes; the terms will show up on the test instead of being quizzed at the end of the week.
On Thursday, January 15, all students will be taking a semester exam. I believe that this needs to happen in order to prepare them for a future beyond high school, since post-secondary training and education tests them over large amounts of material. I'll give out a study guide in advance, but they have the review packets already in their hands since I've been warning them from moment one not to throw away their materials.