Mrs. Stubbs's English Blog: Welcome, May!

We've made it to May, and what a glorious spring it has been. It's a little disconcerting because the beautiful flowers and blossoms are at least two weeks early, but I love it all the same.

At the same time, it makes us (meaning students and teachers) anxious for the end of the school year. Keeping my students on track is becoming quite the challenge. I get it, because I feel it, too.

Last week we did manage to finish Module 3 in our curriculum and turned in the research papers. These take me quite a while to grade, so I hope everyone has patience for how fast I can get them in the grade book. Then we turned our attention to Module 4, an argumentative writing unit. We read the first of four packets in the anchor text Sugar Changed the World, and we did a study guide and filled in a chart with framework for argumentative writing. I started down the path with vocabulary, but it became more of a distraction than helpful, so I've changed that from required to extra credit if they want it. We finished the week with a quiz that most had to take home to finish. They're turning it in on Monday along with the study guide.

So here's the plan for this week:

Monday, 5/1 - Verbs; turn in the quiz and study guide for pp. 6-29 in Sugar; read pp. 35-41 in the second packet, annotate it for supporting details for the thesis, and do study guide question #1.
Tuesday, 5/2 - I'm giving them a post-test that will take 24 minutes, a follow-up to a pre-test they took in September so that I can monitor student growth; then we'll add argument 4 to the argumentative writing framework chart; we'll finish by analyzing some pictures on the overhead and do study guide question #2.
Wednesday, 5/3 - Academic Advisory - Finish reading and annotating packet two, pp. 57-70; finish the study guide.
Thursday, 5/4 - Academic Advisory - Verbs; discussion of pp. 57-70, turn in the study guide; add to the argumentative writing framework chart through the counter-argument; start packet three (pp. 77-91).
Friday, 5/5 - Verbs; finish reading packet #3 and study guide - turn in; fill in the argumentative writing framework chart with rebuttal information.

That's the plan. I hope everyone has a great first week of May. Ciao!