Final Week of Term One

I'm buried in papers and projects to grade, but I've spent much of my weekend, and I will be spending the rest of what's left, digging my way out.  My challenge this year is alternating between grading actual paper to grading online.  I'm getting used to it, but time is an issue with the online grading because I'm so slow!

This past week was fun for me.  Both English 9 and English 10 made videos for a system we're using called Flipgrid.  Of course, in my mind this would only take one, maybe two days, and in reality it took more like four.  Then we had tech issues on Friday so we had trouble watching them, but c'est la vie.  Here are some pictures of them working through the planning and filming stages:

It was fun to watch the creativity your kids can put into their work and the videos are great!  This one was one of my favorites, and since they chose to put it out there publicly, I'm sure they won't mind me sharing.  You have to click on the link to see it:

Romeo and Juliet Act III Scene i

This week we'll be moving forward - English 10 will finish Animal Farm and English 9 will work to try to get Acts III and IV hammered out so that we can finish the play the next week.  Here's the plan:

English 9

• Monday, 10/29 - 2nd Hour will continue Act III; 5th Hour has silent reading and/or reading Act III, scenes 2/3 on their own and filling in the study guide.
• Tuesday, 10/30 - Academic Advisory - finish Act III of Romeo and Juliet
• Wednesday, 10/31 - quiz for Act III; continue into Act IV
• Thursday, 11/1 - no school (Teacher Inservice)
• Friday, 11/2 - turn in Reading Log #7; get Reading Log #8; finish Act IV

English 10

• Monday, 10/29 - watch Animal Farm
• Tuesday, 10/30 - Academic Advisory - continue watching Animal Farm
• Wednesday, 10/31 - finish watching Animal Farm; go over slideshow due Friday.
• Thursday, 11/1 - no school (Teacher Inservice)
• Friday, 11/2 - finish group slideshow for poetry; start looking for a short story that connects to the Passion Project topic

That's the plan.  If anyone needs anything, please feel free to contact me.  Have a great week!

Final Week of Term One by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Senior Moments

Senior moments. No, I'm not having one (though sometimes I wonder). My eldest son is a senior in high school and all the "lasts" have begun: last orientation, last first day of school, last set of arena style conferences in the gym with 2000 other parents. Friday night was Senior Night for the band (following Thursday night's last Halloween concert), and I think I did pretty well and didn't get too emotional. Here's the picture of us on the field being announced:

I didn't get emotional until the end of the night, after they marched back to the school and pulled the seniors forward for a final roll call ("Band, how do you feel?  We feel good, oh we feel so good! Who's got the best band? Ann Arbor!  Which Ann Arbor? Pioneer! I can't hear you! Pioneer!")  I am sad that I'll never watch my kid participate in this fun tradition again.  I just keep reminding myself that after all these lasts, the firsts will begin again, and that gets me through.

Anyway, back to your kids!  We had a busy week last week, and of course by the end of the week, I was behind on my goal for the schedule.  In English 9 last week we finished Romeo and Juliet Act II and took a quiz; in English 10 we finished reading Animal Farm and took another quiz, then we completed and (they should have) submitted the final copy of their research paper.

Here's what's coming up this week:

English 9

• Monday, 10/22 - hand back papers; Act III, Scene i; Flipgrid Assignment
• Tuesday, 10/23 - Academic Advisory - prepositions; finish Flipgrid Assignment
• Wednesday, 10/24 - prepositions; watch Flipgrid videos; continue Act III
• Thursday, 10/25 - PSAT/SAT Advisory - turn in RL#6; continue Act III
• Friday, 10/26 - get RL #7; if needed, finish Act III; silent reading

English 10

• Monday, 10/22 - hand back papers; discuss poetry terminology and annotating poems; quiz for Chapter 9/10; finish study guide packet - due Tuesday; finish Propaganda Assignment - due Tuesday
• Tuesday, 10/23 - Academic Advisory - verbs; Flipgrid assignment
• Wednesday, 10/24 - verbs; Flipgrid assignment (4th Hour Fire Drill - 10:50)
• Thursday, 10/25 - PSAT/SAT Advisory - verbs; Flipgrid assignment
• Friday, 10/26 - Passion Project - poetry - create group slideshow with annotated poems - presentations 11/2

There's the plan.  I hope everyone has a good week!

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

October Colors are Here

I love October.  I know the weather goes up and down, but the cool nights and the leaves changing color just warms my heart.  When I'm stressed out, I like to go take a walk at this time of year, both because the temperature works so well for walking and because the scenery is beautiful.  I just wish I could get out into it more often.

It's a busy time of year for me both professionally and personally, so we're working hard at this point. Let me just say, however, how much I love my students.  They are funny, vivacious, and they definitely keep me on my toes.  We're entering that point in the term, however, where they need a little bit of a kick in the pants to stay with it academically, so I hope everyone is checking HAC often.  With only three weeks to go in the term, everyone needs to stay on top of everything.

In English 9 last week, we finished Act I of Romeo and Juliet and took the first quiz.  Then we started Act II.  This coming week we should be able to finish Act II and play around with the text and have fun with it a bit.  In English 10 we've now read through Chapter 7 of Animal Farm (there are 10 chapters) and taken quizzes.  We're also writing a small research paper, and the rough drafts were due by midnight on Friday.  Final copies will come due this week.

Here's the schedule:

English 9

• Monday, 10/15 - pass back papers; continue Romeo and Juliet Act II
• Tuesday, 10/16 - Academic Advisory - prepositions; continue R&J Act II
• Wednesday, 10/17 - prepositions; finish R&J Act II; Quiz for Act II
• Thursday, 10/18 - PSAT/SAT Advisory - turn in Reading Log #5;  read R&J Act III, scene i; Flipgrid assignment - acting out a scene
• Friday, 10/19 - get reading log #6; finish Flipgrid videos; silent reading day

English 10

• Monday, 10/15 - pass back papers; deal with rough drafts and how to edit/revise them - final copy due Friday by midnight; discuss ch. 7 of Animal Farm; read ch. 8
• Tuesday, 10/16 - Academic Advisory - verbs; discuss Ch. 8; quiz for ch. 7/8 of AF
• Wednesday, 10/17 - verbs; read ch. 9/10 of AF
• Thursday, 10/18 - PSAT/SAT Advisory - discuss ch. 9/10; quiz for 9/10; start Character/Theme Analysis Project
• Friday, 10/19 - final copy of research paper is due by midnight; go find 2-3 poems that connect to the topic and do Google Slide assignment on Google Classroom

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

October Colors are Here by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

October Weather is Here!

Don't you just love October and the weather changes it brings?  Rain, hail, snow, 80 degrees, all in one day it seems.  Right now it's raining up here in Ypsilanti, but I have heard rumor that you have hail down in Carleton.  Hopefully everyone is staying dry and safe on this crazy Saturday of storms.

Speaking of storms, academic reality hit for many students last week.  The honeymoon period of school is over, and we're now down to regular schedules with lots of academic work.  Even our advisories got serious, and I know my 10th grade advisory was stuck with the mean me as I cracked down so that people could use the academic advisory to get work done (and get help), and then Thursday I started them on the road to writing an SAT essay.  In my regular classes, English 9 finished Act I of Romeo and Juliet, and English 10 is halfway through Animal Farm and is now writing a research paper for the Passion Project.

Here's the schedule for this week:

English 9

• Monday, 10/8 - finish Romeo and Juliet Act I packet and turn in; create notes for Act I on Google Keep - to be checked in at a future date.
• Tuesday, 10/9 - Academic Advisory - prepositions; quiz for Act I; begin Act II, scene i
• Wednesday, 10/10 - vocab. Packet for Act II; watch Act I and Act II, scene i of the movie
• Thursday, 10/11 - PSAT Advisory - turn in Reading Log #4; prepositions; go over vocab.; continue Act II
• Friday, 10/12 - get Reading Log #5; silent reading day

English 10

• Monday, 10/8 - finish discussing the writing of the rough draft of the research paper; Google Classroom Quizizz; character chart; vocab. for Chapters 4-6
• Tuesday, 10/9 - Academic Advisory - verbs; read Chapter 6 
• Wednesday, 10/10 - quiz for Chapters 5-6; vocab. cards for Chapters 7-8
• Thursday, 10/11 - PSAT Advisory - verbs; go over vocab. as needed; read Chapter 7
• Friday, 10/12 - rough drafts are due at Midnight; make a copy of the Works Cited; connect Animal Farm to the Passion Project topic

That's my plan for the week.  I hope everyone has a relaxing rest of the weekend, and a fantastic week!

October Weather is Here! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.