Spring Forward!

Thank goodness the ACT/MME tests are over!  Whew!  The negatives are:  we still have another portion in April, but I have no idea what it will entail, or when; my English 11 students think they're done for the year, but they're not.  Good reading and writing skills are lifelong, not just aimed at tests, so now I have to convince them of this since it seems like the focus for the whole year is aimed at those tests.  Now we start talking about being prepared for senior year and beyond!  College applications, folks!

The other thing I'm grateful for is the spring sunshine and the rising temperatures!  Love it!  I hope to get out there a little bit today and enjoy, and I hope everyone else does, as well.

In the meantime, I have to focus on what's coming up this week, and I've been prepping and grading for days so that we're ready to go.  So here's what's up:

• In English 9 we have now read through chapter 9 of To Kill a Mockingbird.  They have been working on study guides and our vocabulary is centered on the book.  They also met with counselors for scheduling, and schedules, fully filled out and signed, have to be turned in by Monday, 3/9!  If they're not turned in, the counselors pick their schedules for 10th grade for them from whatever is left over, and then they're just stuck with what they get.  This coming week we are going to continue with vocabulary and read through chapter 11 in the book, which takes us through Part I.  We will then pause to work on an activity that surrounds taking affective notes, and then using those notes in a Socratic Seminar.  It's my first time trying this, so fingers crossed!  Then they will do an analytical writing surrounding what they learned.
• In English 11 we have finished Lord of the Flies.  They finished the tests and I'm currently grading the essay portion.  Now we're ready to head to a new unit on Human Rights.  They will be choosing a book (there are four possibilities) for this unit, and then we will begin researching the culture within the book.  We're not ready to start reading until they have a grasp on the background of the cultures in the books, and the genocide that occurred in the 20th century surrounding that culture, so we will begin with the MLA research paper.  This will take us a couple of weeks, and then we'll begin reading.  This week we'll do the following:  vocabulary, choose a book (topic), form questions for research, take notes and keep track of citations, create a thesis statement, and begin building the works cited.  I have connected the packet and powerpoint to the Documents page of my website. 

In addition, English 11 will be pulled out of class on Wednesday to get their scheduling information.  They will have a few days to work on it, and then next week (not this week), they'll be pulled to work with counselors.

I hope everyone enjoys the spring sunshine.  Ciao!


Spring Forward! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.