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