We're Starting to Gel

Oh, how I love September weather!  It's the perfect temperature and those clear blue skies just can't be beat.  Yesterday morning my son and I took a couple of hours to walk down by UM's campus to watch the band prepare for the game, and it was glorious!  The skies were clear, the leaves above us blowing in the breeze were that glowing gold color, it was warm enough to wear shorts, the food vendors were doing a brisk business, and everyone had a smile on their face, including the BYU people (it was still pre-game, don't ya know).  I love living in a college town on game day in September!  And the band!  Spectacular!  If anyone is going to a UM football game anytime soon, I highly suggest going to Revelli Hall about 1 1/2 hours before game time, and you get a great percussion show, then follow the dance team, cheerleaders, and band to the stadium...so much fun!  I didn't stay for the game (I mean, I am a Sparty), but I love the hoopla!

Anyway, this past week, I think we started to hit our groove.  They're now starting to take me a little more seriously when I give my expectations, so grades are lifting.  I think I finally figured out how to make this curriculum work, though I've had to sacrifice both technology and activities.  My next step is to figure that out.  Last week we did the Mid-Unit Assessment which is all essay, so we're finishing the process of turning it in on Monday.  Now we can finish this unit which has all been around one short story.  So here's what's coming up this week:

• A vocab. activity on Monday, using their annotations from the text
• We will finish re-reading "St. Lucy's", discussing it and doing some Type One questions (they're like journal writing)
• They will fill in what the curriculum calls a Stage Analysis Tool, and then use it to create small group presentations on Google Drive which will be presented on Monday, 10/5

This week we will have our regular schedule which includes advisory days on Wednesday and Thursday.  If students need my help with something, they can meet with me after school on Tuesday for Tuesdays with Teachers (which runs until 3:00) and/or they can get a pass from me ahead of time and come to my room on Wednesday during advisory time.  I'm also available before school and some days after school, they just need to check in with me for what would work for us both.

I hope everyone has a great week!  Ciao!


We're Starting to Gel by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

It's Still So New!

My title reflects my thoughts about where I am as far as comfort zone:  it's still so new, I'm not yet comfortable.  Things that are new that make me feel angst:  my new curriculum; learning 150 new names; advisory hour.  The new curriculum has been a HUGE challenge for me.  I'm trying to take a great 90-minute curriculum, cram it into 45 minutes, but salvage the value instead of just throwing things at them.  Let me just say:  I'm stressed, they're not, so I'm trying not to let my stress levels seep onto them.  As far as names, I'm terrible with new names, but I'll get there.  Advisory Hour: hmmmm.  I'm hoping it will be a valuable experience and worth losing time with my 9th grade, but I'm not there yet.  We'll see as we get into the routine how this goes.  Wednesdays are for academic help, Thursdays are for "soft-skills".

Anyway, those are my challenges.  So here's what we accomplished last week in English 9:

• They got their independent reading books and I handed out the project which is due on 10/14.  By Friday I was able to give them a little time for reading if they needed it.  Some students had not started their books yet, so they need to get going!  All students should have these books in their hands at all times and should be reading them at night.
• I tried to start my Google Classroom, but had many glitches.  By Friday, those who had managed to login were able to do the vocab. online; those who couldn't had a hard copy and I need it completed and to me by Monday.
• We started the re-reading and annotation of "St. Lucy's".  The skills we use with this short story will carry over into the rest of the readings for the year.
• I started plugging in grades on HAC, which sent many grades into the cellar.  New this year:  school-wide, 80% of their grade is academic, 20% is practice.  The items we did the first week were entered under practice and look great.  Only one assignment is entered at the moment under academic, and it's only 5-points.  Thus, if they lost points by not following directions, it sent their grades to the cellar.  I swear, swear, SWEAR, that the grades will bounce back up as I continue to enter more.  In the meantime, some panic has ensued; that's why I don't like to weight grades.  They look wrong at the beginning if someone screws up something minor.

So what's on the agenda this week?  Here it is:

• We will continue to re-read and annotate "St. Lucy's" looking for unfamiliar vocab., questions, moments that stand out, repeating ideas, central ideas, and character development.
• They will have a Type-3 paragraph for homework on Monday.
• In class on Thursday and Friday they will be doing a mid-unit assessment: it's all written in essay form.
• On Friday, they're going to do a vocab. worksheet; if they don't finish it, it becomes homework.
• As always, they need to be reading (and annotating) their independent reading book for homework.

That's the plan!  As always, plans tend to change, but I'll keep you informed, especially when it comes to the assessment.  Please always feel free to check the online calendar; I'll send you the link.

I hope everyone has a great week!  Ciao!

It's Still So New! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com

Patience, Please...

Wow!  That's all I can say right now.  This is going to be an interesting year!  I loved meeting all 150 of my new students last week, and they are being so lovely and patient about my lack of skills in memorizing names.  As I correct work and hand it back, it will come to me faster, but right now they're really putting up with my rude pointing as a form of identification, with good humor.

They are also being patient with me as I work to take a 90-minute curriculum and work it down to 45-minutes.  They are starting to get a picture of how difficult this is going to be and have been so nice about allowing me to change things quickly.  Right now I feel like I'm swimming through murky water, having a difficult time finding my way through, but I also know that once I figure things out, we'll be golden!  I love that they've done this curriculum before because their conversations and input have been fabulous!  They're so intellectual!  I'm having a great time working with them.

I'm trying not to over-burden them with homework, so here is what I see going forward.  I'd like to keep English homework at about 30-minutes a day, so I'm thinking that 20-30 minutes should be for reading their Independent Book, but they may have 10 minutes or so of written work that will need to happen to finish what we were doing during class.  They will have three weeks to read their independent book, with a fourth week to pull together a project, plus some class time for reading, so I'm hoping that they will have no problem getting everything done.

Speaking of homework, I sent home a parent letter to be signed, so I need those back on Monday.

So here's what's coming up this week:

• Monday through Thursday we'll be working on our "St. Lucy's" short story that we started last week.  They'll be doing their vocabulary on Google Classroom, so we'll set up their accounts in class on Monday.  They'll be doing close-readings, discussions, and short activities in class all week to really dig into the material.
• I will hand out the project packets for Independent Reading on Monday, as well.  We went to the library last week, so all students should have something to read. They should always have their books on them so that they can read, read, read.
• Tuesdays with Teachers will happen after school starting this week, so if your student needs extra help, this is a great time for them to get help.
• Advisory Hours will begin on Wednesday and Thursday.  All students have been placed with an advisor, our regular hours will be shortened, and students will report to their assigned classroom during Advisory Hour.  Wednesdays are for academic help; Thursdays are for team and character building.
• Friday we will have time to do two things:  finish the vocabulary assignment for the week if they have not already done so, and SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) so that they can work on their independent reading.

As you can see, we're very, very busy, so please make sure your student is rested and in attendance as much as possible.  We're also now to week two, which means that the colds and illnesses will begin.  Hopefully everyone, including you, is now washing hands like a maniac.  It's the only way to try to stay healthy once we've re-entered the germ incubator that every school is.

I hope everyone has a great week, enjoys the beautiful September weather, and gets a little time to relax!  Ciao!

Patience, Please... by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Welcome to the 2015/2016 School Year!

Welcome back!  Can you believe that it's finally here?  I hope everyone had a relaxing, fun-filled summer season.  I definitely did! but let me introduce myself, since I have all new students for this school year:

My name is Laura Stubbs and this year I'm teaching all English 9 classes.  I know that I've had some of my students' older siblings in the past, so not all parents will be brand new to me, but I definitely have a large group of people who have never worked with me before.  Here's a little about me:

• I attended WMU for my undergrad degree and then MSU for my Master's degree.
• I grew up in the Lansing area and so my first teaching job was with the Lansing School District.
• After getting married and working in the LSD for five years, we made the decision to move closer to Detroit for my husband's job, and so I applied and received my forever-job at AHS (I hope).
• This is my 17th year teaching ELA at Airport:  I've taught 9th, 11th and 12th grade English here at the high school.
• I have two sons:  they are now 12 (7th grade) and 14 (9th grade) and go to school in Ann Arbor.  They play sports, sing in choirs, participate in school plays, play in their school bands, and participate with 4-H training llamas, so they're very busy people!  This means that I'm very busy, also, since most days it feels like I have 152 kids:  yours and mine!

That's a general overview of personal information about me, so let's get down to brass tacks, so to speak.  This year will be exciting yet challenging since we're bringing the Engage NY ELA curriculum up to the 9th grade.  Your students were introduced to it last year, but it's all new to me.  I have worked with the middle school teachers a bit, and our curriculum director Greg Roberts, to find out how best to meet the demands of the curriculum in a 55-minute time frame, as well as incorporate Collins Writing and my technology goals into the program.  I spent much of the summer working on this, so hopefully what I've planned for works, though I know from years of experience that the name of the game in education in flexibility.

Other things that have to be considered are the following:

• Advisory Periods:  on Wednesdays and Thursdays our regular hours will be cut short to accommodate these periods into our day.  All students and teachers will be put into groups for advisory times: Wednesdays are for academic help, Thursdays we have a curriculum to follow.
• PSAT - your student will be taking this test in April as mandated by the state.  All 9th and 10th graders will be taking a version of the test  in order to help prepare them for the SAT which is given in the 11th grade year.  We will be working on skills that will help when taking these tests.
• Technology - I have Chromebooks in my room (I received them in January, so they're new to me), and so part of our year will be working with technology and Google Classroom.
• Your Kids are Busy - your students are very busy people, with lots of extra-curricular activities.  I feel that these activities are vital to them and their learning, so I will try not to over-burden them with homework.  I hate busy work so most homework will be for them to either read independently for a project, and/or to finish writing assignments that could not be completed in class time.

I look at this as a partnership between you, your student, and myself.  We all have the same goal:  prepare them for life beyond high school as fully participating, healthy members of society, so please join me in this partnership.  I will update this blog with the week's information, and occasionally I include pictures or video, just to keep you in the loop.  Every week I'll email you the link so that you have easy access to this information.

Please feel free to contact me anytime.  I'm best at answering emails quickly, but also feel free to call the school and leave me a voice message.  I'm so excited to meet both you and your student, and I know this will be a great year!

Welcome to the 2015/2016 School Year! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.