Marching in like a Lion, or a Lamb?

Oh, what will the weather do next?  It's so hard to tell.  It's a beautiful day today, but I guess by Tuesday (March 1st) it could be kind of nasty.  And let's not forget tomorrow:  it's a leap year!  Any suggestions of fun things to do with a class for a leap year?  I'll have to look it up.

Anyway, this is going to be rather short and sweet.  Last week was a little chaotic because of, well...everything.  But the end of the week was especially so for me.  The snow day took out one of the days for us to work on the Emily Dickinson poem, and then I had a family funeral to go to in Hillsdale County - the "Home" county for me, since it's where two sections of my family come from - so it was sad, but a little like going home.  As a result, I feel very disconnected from Airport right now.

I did manage to take a couple of pictures of students doing something other than working on a research paper.  On Wednesday, a very sleepy first hour tackled Emily Dickinson's poem "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," a poem we'll pick back up with on Monday.  Here are the photos:

Most of the week, however, still centered around their papers.  So here's what's coming up next:

• Monday - we'll take some time to print the final copy of the paper and turn it in; then we'll go back to Dickinson's poem.
• Tuesday - we'll finish the Dickinson poem.
• Wednesday - we'll go back to verbs; then we'll start working on background information for The Crucible, our next unit for the year.  Today we'll do a KWL to access prior knowledge and practice asking questions for research, then we'll do a 10% Summary over the Salem Witch Trials article I've printed for them.
• Thursday - after tackling some more verbs, we'll take some notes on Arthur Miller, and then work on an article that gives them information on McCarthyism.
• Friday - hopefully we'll be able to start The Crucible.

So that's our week.  We're coming towards the end of the term - about three weeks left.  Tenth grade schedules are due to be turned in to the counseling office by Tuesday.  Spring is in the air (at least at the moment).  I anticipate a good week!  Ciao!


Marching in like a Lion, or a Lamb? by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Coming Home Week, Scheduling, Research Papers...Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow those weekends move fast!  Here we are, Sunday morning, and I'm planning for the upcoming week. There's so much going on!  First - Coming Home Week, which means assemblies both Monday and Friday (read: shortened hours); Second - scheduling continues for 10th grade (read: students coming and going from my room continuously on Monday) though the schedules are not due to the counseling office until March 1st; Third - advisory schedules stay in place for Wednesday and Thursday, both academic for those who need extra help (read: shortened hours); Finally - research paper rough drafts are due by midnight Monday night, and the final copies - edited and revised - are due one week after that (read: I'm doing my best to get them what they need, despite the shortened hours and coming and going).

So - life is nothing if not exciting!
Here's what's happening academically this week:

• Monday - scheduling - students go to work with counselors; drafting the research paper - due shared with me by midnight on Google Drive.
• Tuesday - Khan Academy for PSAT/SAT pre-tests and practice.
• Wednesday - we'll go back to addressing verbs, focusing on irregular forms; we're going to head toward the next unit which deals with social responsibility and guilt, reading "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," by Emily Dickinson (they will have a packet with all of the paperwork so that if they're absent they have all the materials).
• Thursday - we'll continue with verbs and Emily Dickinson
• Friday - we'll continue with verbs; they'll have time to edit and revise their own papers as well as critique each others' papers.

Well, that's the week.  Hopefully you were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Even though it's not as warm right now, the birds are singing and the sun is shining, so Enjoy!  Ciao!


Coming Home Week, Scheduling, Research Papers...Busy, Busy, Busy! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

On to Scheduling for 10th Grade!

Mid-winter break is over...sad!  Unfortunately for my motivational factor, my kids have the whole week off, so I'm fighting the wish/need to stay home with them!  But onward we go...

This week we're trying to continue on with the research paper, while at the same time, the process for scheduling is beginning.  During 2nd Hour on Tuesday (today), we're going to the cafeteria to get the information.  Then during my classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, students go to the counseling office to work one-on-one with the counselors on the schedules, and the plans they have for the rest of high school.  They need to have planned out their schedules in pencil and gotten as many signatures as possible before meeting with their counselors. While all this is happening, I continue to try to teach.  So here's the plan:

• Tuesday, 2/16 - students create and check in their thesis statements; then they work on organizing their notes into an outline.
• Wednesday, 2/17 - students check in their outlines, and then we continue on to the drafting element, working in parenthetical citations, all on the Google Drive platform.  While doing this, they exit the room three at a time to go work with their counselors.
• Thursday, 2/18 - students draft their rough draft on Google Drive while continuing to meet with their counselors.
• Friday, 2/19 - students finish their rough draft on Google Drive while continuing to meet with their counselors.

If the scheduling is too disruptive, I'll move the rough draft due date to Monday, 2/22.  I'll change it on the electronic calendar if that is the case.

So that's the plan.  I hope everyone has a great week!  Ciao!


On to Scheduling for 10th Grade! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Research...and Then a Break!

It sometimes feel like life is a marathon.  I run and run and run...and it just goes on and on forever.  Yet I can see the finish line coming at me now, and it's Friday.  I don't think I've had a break since before Thanksgiving.  Don't get me wrong, it's been mostly great:  Thanksgiving; Romeo and Juliet; Christmas parties with family every weekend in December; soccer games; music concerts; Rome (ah, I miss Rome); semester exams both for me and my own children; Solo & Ensemble; my son's play.  But it has run me ragged and I'm really looking forward to the break coming up at the end of the week!  The past two weekends have been taken up by two things:  Solo & Ensemble and my son's play, The Little Mermaid, Jr.  For Solo & Ensemble, both of my kids participated (pictures below), plus my older son's school hosted it, so I volunteered in the food court both weekends.  I have to say, it was a lot of fun to be a part of something so big, and I enjoyed watching my children, and running into other people I knew from all over the Detroit area.  It was a fun experience:

 Clarinet

Bassoon

 

In addition to this, my youngest has been working for months on his roles in The Little Mermaid, Jr.   He was a sailor, a seagull, a chef, and a crocodile.  Even though he didn't have a lead, he was onstage most of the time, with 10 costume changes.  It was a great production, and lots of fun to watch:

 

 

 

So anyway, I'm ready to head into this week with my 150 other children.  We've turned a corner of sorts in the Research Module of our curriculum.  Last week we completed the end-of-unit assessment for Unit 1.  It was a 5-paragraph essay.  We've slowly worked our way from 1 paragraph, to 3 paragraphs, to 5 paragraphs.  Then we turned our attention to writing their own research paper.  On Wednesday the Media Specialist, Mrs. Brakel, came in to share with them the research help that is available on the school's website.  Then on Thursday they took time to explore with a topic to see if it would work for this project.  They will be writing a minimum of 3-5 pages for this paper, so they need a topic with enough information out there to work.  On Friday, we were finally able to go on Khan Academy and start working with their test prep in order to prepare for April's PSAT.

 

Here are some pictures of my 5th Hour working on the Chrome Books in my classroom this past week:

 

So here is what is coming up this next week:

• Monday - They have all picked a topic, so over the weekend they needed to formulate questions.  I'll check them in and then they'll spend the hour taking notes on the note-sheets provided.
• Tuesday - They'll take notes.
• Wednesday - They'll take notes; 50 facts are due to be checked in with me by the end of the hour.
• Thursday - We'll create a Works Cited Sheet with their sources they have so far and turn it in.  Over the long weekend, they need to create their Thesis Statement.
• Friday - Winter Break - we're off Friday, 2/12 through Monday, 2/15.

Well, that's the overview.  I hope everyone has a great week.  Ciao!

Research...and Then a Break! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com