Personal Responsibility

Well, it's been a bit of a rocky week.  I find that many of my 9th graders are still coasting, allowing others to do things for them and relying on a lot of hands to hold to get things done.  If there's been one theme for the week for me, it's been Personal Responsibility.  I've harped on them to check HAC; we've talked about how they should check it at least once a week and be pro-active with tackling issues and talking to their teachers right away.  I've re-iterated that it's not their parents or their teachers who are responsible for their education, it's them (though with 9th grade, we all know that it also takes a lot of pushing from behind to get them to that point). I've also asked them to set goals with specific steps to accomplishing them; things don't just happen: you don't suddenly know how to turn in all your work or remember to go to the bathroom on your break.  You have to have specific strategies, and you need to alter them as you discover whether they work or not.  We're working on being forward thinking and bringing all of our stuff to class - no more running out of the room for lockers, drinks, bathrooms.  If there's an emergency, we'll deal with it, but it's gotten out of hand.

So please be aware that I'm trying to push them over the hurdle that will make them better students as they enter 10th grade.  I always think about how I handle things with my young teens at home and go from there.

On another note, we're a little behind again.  This week we have managed - for the most part - to finish reading Act I of The Crucible, but that's about it.  I didn't make it to the quiz or 10% summary, or even the Khan Academy PSAT prep work, so there are not a lot of grades in the book for this week. To fit everything in, that means that we're moving those things to next week:

• Monday, 1/30 - we'll finish Verb Packet #2 and turn it in; we'll take a quiz for Act I using notes and books.
• Tuesday, 1/31 - we'll start Verb Packet #3; 10% Summary for The Crucible non-fiction information.
• Wednesday, 2/1 - 1/2 Day for Students - Khan Academy PSAT practice
• Thursday, 2/2 - Career Advisory - we'll start Act II and read pp. 47-59; whatever is not finished goes home for homework.
• Friday, 2/3 - we'll read Act II pp. 60-76; whatever is not finished will go home for homework.

That's the plan.  As always, I'll keep the electronic calendar on my webpage up to date as things change.  I hope everyone has had a relaxing weekend. Ciao!

Personal Responsibility by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.