Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!

Here we are in the final week before the break. That happened so fast! It probably seems fast because we've been so busy. English 9 is in the middle of a short story unit and I gave them a task which will lead to an Escape Room activity on Monday.  Here are a few pictures from Thursday of my 6th Hour:

English 10 is starting the final text for our Human Rights unit. In the meantime, I'm trying to plan, create, keep up with grading, and tackle essays online. Oh, and my own family has events of their own, including a beautiful choir concert for my youngest with the Ann Arbor Symphony at Hill Auditorium last Friday night:

So here's what's ahead in this final week:

English 9

• Monday, 12/16 - Escape Room activity
• Tuesday, 12/17 - Academic Advisory - bell work; read "The Cask of Amontillado"
• Wednesday, 12/18 - study guide for "The Cask of Amontillado"
• Thursday, 12/19 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; quiz for "The Cask of Amontillado;" work time for book projects
• Friday, 12/20 - Independent Book Projects are due

English 10

• Monday, 12/16 - bell work; 3rd Hour - reflective essay - due Tuesday by midnight; 4th Hour - continue reading Henrietta Lacks and study guide
• Tuesday, 12/17 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - start Henrietta Lacks; 4th Hour - continue HeLa
• Wednesday, 12/18 - continue HeLa
• Thursday, 12/19 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - continue HeLa and work on book projects; 4th Hour - quiz for HeLa part 1, time to work on book projects
• Friday, 12/20 - Independent Book Projects are due

I hope everyone has a great break. I'm going to take a couple of weeks off from blogging, and then I'll see you on the flipside! Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo 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.

Two Weeks to Vacation

I'm going to start this out as a real blog this morning, since I know that so many parents are in the same place I am. I'm in the transition zone: my kids are transitioning from childhood to adulthood, from dependence to independence, from thinking that they need me, to thinking that they don't (they're wrong). I have one kid in college, and one who's a junior in high school. My child in high school does his utmost to be seen in public with me as little as possible. Because I evidently did my job well and he's an independent soul, my older child who is at MSU never comes home so I literally am never seen with him.

So who am I? I waited my whole life to become a mom. I played games where I was a mom in my playhouse throughout childhood; I babysat loyal families and took those children into my safe keeping throughout my teen years; I started working in schools in my 20's and considered my students "my kids"; I literally became a mom at 30. My identity has been wrapped up in this concept and suddenly I'm being faced with a transition where I'm still a mom, but a mom who is not the caretaker that I've been for so long. I'm expected to show up and support, but not hover. I'm expected to offer advice when asked, but butt out when the advice is not wanted. I struggle constantly with both my new role and with who I am. So if you are feeling like I am, or beginning to feel like this, know that you are not alone. And if you're making this transition better than I am, kudos to you. I wish I was able to be that person.

In the meantime, as I struggle with my personal life, I'm doing my best to stay on top of things in my job. I've been working this weekend on planning out the week and filling in all the paperwork so that today I can jump on grading papers. I hope everyone is patient, however, because at this time of year I do have personal obligations: a family holiday party yesterday, a little Christmas shopping today, faith-based community service today. I did give up something I wanted to go to at Cliff Bell's in Detroit because I simply can't fit it in, but as I always tell my students: I have to prioritize.  My goal today is to get maximum numbers of papers graded, including some of the online essays.

Here's the schedule for the week:

English 9

• Monday, 12/9 - bell work; independent reading time - packet #1 is due; get packet #2 (due Friday); Stranger Things slideshow is due by midnight
• Tuesday, 12/10 - Academic Advisory - bell work; independent reading time
• Wednesday, 12/11 - bell work; read the Ray Bradbury short story and annotate
• Thursday, 12/12 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; escape room with literary terms
• Friday, 12/13 - bell work; finish escape room; independent reading time (packet #2 due by end of the hour)

English 10

• Monday, 12/9 - bell work; 3rd Hour - go over Baldwin piece; "Glory"; 4th Hour - reflective writing
• Tuesday, 12/10 - Academic Advisory - bell work;3rd Hour - reflective writing; 4th Hour - start HeLa - passage #1
• Wednesday, 12/11 - bell work; 3rd Hour - get HeLa books - read passage 1; 4th Hour - continue passage #1
• Thursday, 12/12 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - continue passage #1; 4th Hour - HeLa passage #2
• Friday, 12/13 - bell work; 3rd Hour - HeLa passage #2; 4th Hour - continue passage #2

That's the week as I see it. I hope everyone has a good week. If you need me you know where to find me. Ciao!

Two Weeks to Vacation 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.

The Holidays are Upon Us

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break, and now I'm looking at only three weeks until the next one. I love this time of year, and yet it causes me anxiety. In addition, we have a 1/2 day this week, so I've planned out from now through Christmas.

Both groups will have independent book projects coming up. They'll have a little time to work on packets in class, but the projects will need to be done at home independently along with the reading. The projects are all due the Friday before break (12/20), and if someone is leaving early, they need to turn it in before they go since I'm giving them the information this Monday (12/2).

In the meantime, we continue to focus on our main units: for English 9 that's a short story unit that includes Stranger Things: Episode 1 from Season 1, a Ray Bradbury short story, and then Edgar Allan Poe. For English 10 we will continue to work on our Human Rights unit, this week focusing on James Baldwin and the Civil Rights movement.

Here's the plan as I see it now:

English 9

• Monday, 12/2 - bell work; handouts - silent reading packet and Stranger Things; work on Google Slide with literary elements
• Tuesday, 12/3 - Academic Advisory - bell work; watch Stranger Things and do worksheet
• Wednesday, 12/4 - Half Day - finish Stranger Things worksheet
• Thursday, 12/5 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; do the Stranger Things slideshow - due Sunday by midnight
• Friday, 12/6 - bell work; silent reading and time to work on reading packet; project packets handed out - due 12/20; exit ticket

English 10

• Monday, 12/2 - bell work; ORP day - packets due; ORP packet #2 handed out; project packets handed out - due 12/20
• Tuesday, 12/3 - bell work; 3rd Hour - finish reading "Genetics" and vocab.; 4th Hour - James Baldwin's "Letter" and reading notes
• Wednesday, 12/4 - Half Day - 3rd Hour - finish "Genetics" and turn in paperwork; 4th Hour - vocab. quiz and finish Baldwin notes
• Thursday, 12/5 - bell work; 3rd Hour - James Baldwin's "Letter" and reading notes; 4th Hour - finish Baldwin and analyze "Glory"
• Friday, 12/6 - bell work; 3rd Hour - vocab. quiz and finish Baldwin notes; 4th Hour - reflective writing for  Baldwin; exit ticket

The Holidays are Upon Us 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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I missed blogging last week, but I spent the entire weekend working and I still was not done by Sunday night so I just ran out of steam and time. It feels good to be back, and before a week I'm kind of excited about, too!

English 9 finally finished off Romeo and Juliet and the final essay, which we have spent an entire week working on, is due to be submitted by tomorrow night! In English 10 we're in the midst of a human rights unit and the discussions have been interesting; for the most part, students are engaged in the topic (wait until I bring it out to discrimination against teenagers!).

This week is a very short week, so I'm bringing in something related to it. I found a Ted Talk I showed my 9th graders a couple of weeks ago which focuses on Lollipop Moments. You'd have to see it to make the connection about lollipops, but it's this great message about not only giving people moments that are uplifting through a random act of kindness, but also acknowledging those who have given you that moment. It's the idea that we look back on our lives and we can see moments when we have been struggling, and someone did or said something that helped us get through that moment. We don't tend to acknowledge it, and they may never know that they helped us in our hour of need. So in this week of Thanksgiving, on our half day, we're going to write thank you notes.

Here's my agenda:

English 9

• Monday, 11/25 - make sure papers are turned in on turnitin.com; counselor presentations (they need their Chromebooks); parent/teacher conferences from 3-6:00 P.M.
• Tuesday, 11/26 - thank you notes for the lollipop moments

English 10

• Monday, 11/25 - 3rd Hour - check in the questions for paragraphs 1-15, watch Ted Talk and brainstorm thank you note; 4th Hour - read book about filling buckets and do Type 1's, watch Ted Talk and brainstorm thank you note; parent/teacher conferences from 3-6:00 P.M.
• Tuesday, 11/26 - thank you notes for the lollipop moments

That is my plan. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Happy Thanksgiving!

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

Term Two Begins

Term One is done; on to Term Two. That was fast, wasn't it? As I look back, I see much that we accomplished: we finished our first units; we wrote (or are in the process of writing) our first big papers; we did quite a bit of SAT-type work with grammar. Yet, I see so much that we need to do: more writing; more reading; more reflecting. It's a constant process to try to improve my classroom.

Last week English 10 moved on to a new unit: The Genetics of Justice. It's really a unit about human rights and some interesting discussions have occurred. English 9 pretty much finished reading Romeo and Juliet so that we can do final assessments - both objective test and our first large analytical essay.

Here's my plan for the week:

English 9

• Monday, 11/11 - bell work; 1st Hour - watch movie and take quiz for Acts IV/V; 2nd and 6th Hours - finish the play; watch movie
• Tuesday, 11/12 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 1st Hour - Reduced Shakespeare video and begin essay; 2nd and 6th Hours - quiz for Acts IV/V and Reduced Shakespeare video
• Wednesday, 11/13 - bell work; essay
• Thursday, 11/14 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; turn in reading logs; essay
• Friday, 11/15 - bell work; essay; weekly exit ticket

English 10

• Monday, 11/11 - bell work; read The Narrative of Frederick Douglass
• Tuesday, 11/12 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - finish Frederick Douglass; 4th Hour - quiz, quickwrite, slavery today Ted Talk, begin reflective writing
• Wednesday, 11/13 - bell work; 3rd Hour - quiz, quickwrite, slavery today Ted Talk, begin reflective writing; 4th Hour - finish reflective writing, ORP project begins - packet due 11/22, article on Jim Crow
• Thursday, 11/14 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - finish reflective writing, ORP project begins - packet due 11/22, article on Jim Crow; 4th Hour - finish article on Jim Crow, begin James Baldwin letter
• Friday, 11/15 - bell work; 3rd Hour - finish article on Jim Crow, begin James Baldwin letter; 4th Hour - finish James Baldwin; weekly exit ticket

That's the plan as I see it. I hope everyone has a great week! Ciao!

Term Two Begins 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.

The Unexpected

So. Last week. It totally went a direction I didn't anticipate, but I think everyone handled it quite well. On Wednesday, right about lunch time, my phone started blowing up with messages from my husband that the MRI my son (the college student) had just completed for a knee injury acquired a couple weeks earlier while playing baseball required emergency surgery. On Thursday. I don't know how you all respond to news like this for your own kids, but my reactions went something like this: shock, tears, panic, determination - all within about 5 minutes. By the end of the school day on Wednesday, my afternoon students were aware that I would be out on Thursday, but my morning classes were left in the dark. I left sub. plans, went to Lansing (where the surgery took place), got my kid through it, got my kid home, nursed my kid all night, then went to work on Friday where it appears that everything went fine and my students handled the unexpected with no problems. I love how resilient the young are: they bounce!

My husband - awesome dad that he is - has taken Monday off to try to get him back to campus and hopefully help him start back into his classes. Our biggest issue at the moment is how he's going to get around, but since I'm sure he's not the only student with issues like these, there have to be services...right?

So back to your kids. I did manage to do more grading, and I spent much of yesterday planning out the next unit for English 10. In the meantime my other child is performing in Pioneer High School's production of Matilda so I am tied up much of today (and next weekend), so I'll see what I can get done.

Here's my plan for the week:

English 9

• Monday, 11/4 - bell work; 1st Hour - finish Act IV; 2nd, 6th Hours - finish Act III and start Act IV
• Tuesday, 11/5 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 1st Hour - Act V; 2nd, 6th Hours - Act IV
• Wednesday, 11/6 - bell work; 1st Hour - finish the play; 2nd, 6th Hours - finish Act IV
• Thursday, 11/7 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; 1st Hour - quiz for Acts IV and V; 2nd, 6th Hours - Act V
• Friday, 11/8 - Activity Schedule for Veterans Assembly at end of Day - prepositions test; get new reading log; silent reading; 2nd, 6th Hours - quiz for Acts IV and V?

English 10

• Monday, 11/4 - bell work; finish movie; survey
• Tuesday, 11/5 - Academic Advisory - bell work; introduction to Genetics of Justice unit
• Wednesday, 11/6 - bell work; begin The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• Thursday, 11/7 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; finish The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; prepare for Socratic Seminar
• Friday, 11/8 - Activity Schedule for Veterans Assembly at end of Day - bell work; Socratic Seminar; get ORP packet - due Friday 11/15.

That is the plan, and like all plans, subject to change. If anyone has any questions, feel free to get in touch. Have a great week! Ciao!

The Unexpected 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.

Two Weeks to Go in Term One!

Good morning! It's a blustery, rainy morning, but I'm listening to the weather man promise that the weather is moving out and our day will improve. We might even get some sunshine this afternoon! That will help brighten the moods, though with the win on Friday night, my guess is that the community is still enjoying local football and they have to be pretty cheery!

We're cruising along in English class. English 10 is finished reading Animal Farm and now we're doing the essay - we should be about done with the book by the end of the week. In English 9 we're over halfway through the play. I threw in a video assignment where they acted out a portion of Act III, Scene i, and the projects are pretty hilarious. I have a few photos I took while they were in the middle of the process:

And my favorite:

As you can probably tell, this scene was the first with fatalities, so there are a lot of bodies on the floor.  They had fun, I had fun, so it was worth taking the time to do it.

Coming up this week English 9 will work toward finishing the play, while English 10 works toward finishing Animal Farm. Please remember that there is no school on Friday.  Here's the schedule:

English 9

• Monday, 10/28 - bell work; 1st Hour finish Act III and do Quickwrite; 2nd and 6th Hours do Quickwrite for Scene ii and continue reading Act III
• Tuesday, 10/29 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 1st Hour - quiz for Act III and continue reading into Act IV; 2nd and 6th Hours finish Act III and do Quickwrite
• Wednesday, 10/30 - bell work; 1st Hour - read Act IV; 2nd and 6th Hours quiz for Act III and continue reading into Act IV
• Thursday, 10/31 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; turn in reading logs; 1st Hour - finish Act IV and start Act V; 2nd and 6th Hours read Act IV
• Friday, 11/1 - NO SCHOOL!

English 10

• Monday, 10/28 - bell work; 3rd Hour finish outline of paper and type it; 4th Hour does editing/revision stations
• Tuesday, 10/29 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour finishes typing and starts editing/revision stations; 4th Hour finishes editing/revision stations, turn paper into final copy - DUE BY MIDNIGHT ON TURNITIN.COM
• Wednesday, 10/30 - bell work; 3rd Hour finishes editing/revision stations, turn paper into final copy - DUE BY MIDNIGHT ON TURNITIN.COM; 4th Hour watches the movie filling in a compare/contrast sheet for text to movie
• Thursday, 10/31 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; watch movie and do compare/contrast sheet

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

Two Weeks to Go in 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.

Continuing Forward

Now that we've found our rhythm I've had a chance to sit back and evaluate what is working and what needs to change. I also spent last Friday at a conference for English teachers at MSU and was able to converse with others in my field, particularly teachers in the middle schools, high schools and university levels. A big chunk of my day was about how we make their transitions work between all three levels. As such, I made some executive decisions about some changes (though I did email my co-teacher during the day to share and make sure he was on board), so here are a couple of things that I want to do differently:

• Instead of weekly vocab. quizzes for academic words - which are taking up a ton of time from the class and also dominating HAC - I plan to focus on 8 of them that are integral to being a critical thinker and student. They are also ideas that are integral to life habits, so they are called Habits of Mind: curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, flexibility, and metacognitive thinking. I'm going to present the ideas on Monday to my classes, and each day there will be an exit ticket asking them to focus on which habits they worked on that day. I will still focus on other academic words, but we'll spread them out with vocab. cards, so maybe a few times a term instead of every week.
• Each day instead of the weekly agenda (which changes constantly) I'm going to post three statements for each class: I Can..., Utilizing the Skills..., Important for Careers In... . I'm hoping that this will help them see in their day to day work that there's relevance in what we do. I'm frustrated because I feel like they're just doing what we do for a grade; there's no intrinsic motivation. I'm hoping this will give them more ownership over their learning.
• Because we'll have less focus on the academic vocabulary quizzes, we'll have more time to write, and a chance to write more than just essays. I'm tired of the read-a-book=write-an-essay rut I get into. This should help them with both writing skills and critical thinking.

Those are my thoughts for the moment. I'm hoping the changes will make my class more interesting and engaging for them.  So here are my plans for the week:

English 9

• Monday, 10/21 - bell work; Act III, Scene i Flipgrids; exit ticket
• Tuesday, 10/22 - Academic Advisory - bell work; finish Flipgrids; continue Act III; exit ticket
• Wednesday, 10/23 - bell work; quickwrite; continue Act III; exit ticket
• Thursday, 10/24 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; turn in Reading Logs; continue Act III; 1st Hour - quiz for Act III; exit ticket
• Friday, 10/25 - bell work; get new Reading Log; silent reading, exit ticket

English 10

• Monday, 10/21 - bell work; 3rd Hour - 10% Summary; 4th Hour - quickwrite, start Ch. 10; exit ticket
• Tuesday, 10/22 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - quickwrite, read Ch. 10; 4th Hour - finish the book, final discussion; exit ticket
• Wednesday, 10/23 - bell work; 3rd Hour - EDP with Mrs. Edwards; 4th Hour - quiz for ch. 9/10; pre-write for essay; exit ticket
• Thursday, 10/24 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - finish the book, quiz for ch. 9/10; 4th Hour - finish pre-writing; set up document; start drafting; exit ticket
• Friday, 10/25 - bell work; 3rd Hour - pre-writing, set up document; 4th Hour - 1/2 Hour for drafting, 1/2 Hour for movie; exit ticket

So that's the plan. Thanks for all the patience and support I receive - I appreciate all of it! Ciao!

Continuing Forward 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.

Finding that Rhythm

What I love about October in the classroom is that we finally get "normality". The interruptions die down, we're done with pep assemblies for a bit, there are no days off, so we hit a rhythm and really start to get things done.

Last week my English 9 classes took their first Romeo and Juliet quiz for Act I, and now we're well into Act II. In English 10, we continued reading, and I think I see the end of the book by the end of this week! Exciting times!

So here is what we're doing this coming week:

English 9

• Monday, 10/14 - bell work; 1st Hour - finish Act II; 2nd and 6th Hours - finish scene ii, and read scenes iii and iv
• Tuesday, 10/15 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 1st Hour - watch Act II and take Act II quiz; 2nd and 6th Hours - finish reading Act II
• Wednesday, 10/16 - bell work; 1st Hour - watch Act III, scene i and do the paperwork for the Flipgrid assignment; 2nd and 6th Hours - watch Act II and take Act II quiz
• Thursday, 10/17 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; turn in reading logs; 1st Hour - create Flipgrids; 2nd and 6th Hours - watch Act III, scene i, then do some reading for Friday's assignment
• Friday, 10/18 - get new reading log; read for 1/2 hour; reading activity

English 10

• Monday, 10/14 - bell work; 3rd Hour - read ch. 7 and take notes; 4th Hour - read ch. 8 and take notes - quiz Tuesday
• Tuesday, 10/15 - Academic Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - vocab. activity; start reading ch. 8; 4th Hour - finish discussing ch. 8 and take quiz for ch. 7/8 - turn in notes and vocab.
• Wednesday, 10/16 - bell work; 3rd Hour - finish ch. 8, quiz for ch. 7/8 - turn in notes and vocab.; 4th Hour - read ch. 9, take notes
• Thursday, 10/17 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - read ch. 9, take notes; 4th Hour - finish the book
• Friday, 10/18 - 3rd Hour - finish the book; 4th Hour - quiz for ch. 9/10, commonlit assignment

That's the plan as I see it. I hope everyone has a great week! Ciao!

Finding that Rhythm 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.

Mid-Point, Term 1

Homecoming: exciting, enlightening, exhausting. I love seeing my students in different scenarios compared to sitting in my classroom - from dressing up, to pep assembly games, to football socializing, to all dressed up for the dance. It's wonderful. Here are a few pictures from the week:

I love your kids! Weeks like this make my job fantastic.

But now it's time to move forward. I am happy with the pace we've hit for Animal Farm in English 10, but I think we need to really push forward in English 9 with Romeo and Juliet; by the end of this week I hope to be in the middle of Act III.  Here's my tentative schedule:

English 9

• Monday, 10/7 - bell work; get vocab. words for week 6; 1st Hour - Act I quiz; 2nd & 6th Hours - finish scene v and do an annotation highlight activity on Google Classroom
• Tuesday, 10/8 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in definitions; 1st Hour - move to Act II; 2nd & 6th Hours - Act I quiz, move to Act II
• Wednesday, 10/9 - bell work; Act II
• Thursday, 10/10 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; turn in reading log; finish Act II; do Act III - Scene i; Flipgrid activity
• Friday, 10/11 - bell work; vocab. quiz; get new reading log; silent reading

English 10

• Monday, 10/7 - bell work; get vocab. words for week 6; 3rd Hour - finish reading ch. 5, notes, do characterization activity; 4th Hour - finish characterization activity; read ch. 6
• Tuesday, 10/8 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in definitions; 3rd Hour - finish characterization activity, read ch. 6; 4th Hour - finish ch. 6, quiz for ch. 5/6, start ch. 7
• Wednesday, 10/9 - bell work; 3rd Hour - finish ch. 6, quiz for ch. 5/6, start ch. 7; 4th Hour - vocab. activity for ch. 7/8, start ch. 8
• Thursday, 10/10 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - vocab. activity for ch. 7/8, start ch. 8; 4th Hour - finish ch. 8
• Friday, 10/11 - bell work; vocab. quiz; 3rd Hour - finish ch. 8; 4th Hour - quiz for ch. 8, start ch. 9

That's the plan and I'll try to stick to it. I'm either getting better at planning, or we're moving through material faster, but we're starting to stick to the plan better and are not getting as far behind, so I'm crossing my fingers that we can stick to it.  I hope everyone has a great week! Ciao!

Mid-Point, Term 1 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.

Homecoming Week!

Homecoming Week has arrived, and with it comes the chaos. What I've tried to impress upon my students is that the academics will continue, along with the fun.

As far as fun - the dress up days are as follows:

• Monday - jersey day
• Tuesday - pink out day
• Wednesday - decade day
• Thursday - camo day
• Friday - blue/gold day

Monday and Friday will have assemblies at the end of the school day; the parade is Friday at 5:00, the game is at 7:00; the dance is Saturday (I think it's 7:00 - 10:00).

In the meantime, we are in the midst of Romeo and Juliet and Animal Farm. Last week English 9 worked on moving forward in Act I, and English 10 moved through Chapter 3 of the book.  This week, I hope to have English 9 done with Act I, and English 10 midway through the book.

Here's the plan:

English 9

• Monday, 9/30 - Activity Schedule - bell work; words of the week - get definitions; continue Act I
• Tuesday, 10/1 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in definitions; continue Act I
• Wednesday, 10/2 - bell work; 1st Hour - quiz for Act I; 2nd/6th Hours - finish Act I
• Thursday, 10/3 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; turn in reading logs; 1st Hour - watch Act I; 2nd/6th Hours - quiz for Act I
• Friday, 10/4 - Activity Schedule - bell work; vocab. quiz; get new reading log; silent reading

English 10

• Monday, 9/30 - Activity Schedule - bell work; words of the week - get definitions; 3rd Hour - notes/discussion for chapter 3; 4th Hour - read chapter 4
• Tuesday, 10/1 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in definitions; 3rd Hour - read chapter 4; 4th Hour - notes and discussion for chapter 4
• Wednesday, 10/2 - bell work; 3rd Hour - notes and discussion for chapter 4; 4th Hour - quiz for chapters 3/4, turn in notes, read chapter 5
• Thursday, 10/3 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; 3rd Hour - quiz for chapters 3/4, turn in notes, read chapter 5; 4th Hour - notes/discussion for chapter 5
• Friday, 10/4 - Activity Schedule - bell work; vocab. quiz; 3rd Hour - notes/discussion for chapter 5; 4th Hour - Herd Behavior article

That's the plan. I hope everyone had a great weekend. If you need me, you know how to find me.

Homecoming Week! 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.

Change is a Constant, So Why is it so Hard?

It's been one of those weekends where life just smacks you in the face. Life is all about change, and it's healthy and normal, but boy does it hit you in the heart sometimes. I got to go pick up my eldest from college on Friday night to bring him home for the first time in a month, and now it's Sunday morning and I'm looking at driving him back. Where did the weekend go? In addition, the first of the kids who've grown up nextdoor is permanently moving away. My kids have grown up for 20 years with the same people living next to us, and all 11 kids are more like siblings than friends. This weekend, a U-Haul pulled up next door, and as we speak, the oldest of the kids, the leader of the crew, the creative thinker, is packing up her stuff to move to NYC for her first real, adult job. How did that happen? Where did the time go? Twenty years, gone in a blink.

Alright, I'll pull out of my melancholy meanderings and focus on your kids.  It's been fun getting to know your children, and now that we're on week four, they're finally getting comfortable - which can be good, but can also be bad. Everyone has had their best foot forward up to now, so the goal is to keep it that way.

Both groups have now established norms: both will have academic words assigned on Monday, and tested on Friday; English 9 has independent reading to do five times a week for homework, with reading logs due on Thursdays; SAT/PSAT bell work happens every day. Along with these norms, I'm now going to try to pick up the pace a bit: I want to move through the texts we're reading more quickly. We're also heading for the first writings of the year - probably by next week.

Last week English 9 finished the preview information for Romeo and Juliet and started into the text. English 10 has finished the first two chapters of Animal Farm.

So here's the plan for this week:

English 9

• Monday, 9/23 - bell work, get academic words of the week; continue reading Act I
• Tuesday, 9/24 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in definitions; continue reading Act I
• Wednesday, 9/25 - 1/2 Day - bell work; preposition worksheet
• Thursday, 9/26 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; collect reading logs; finish Act I; quiz for Act I
• Friday, 9/27 - bell work; vocab. quiz; get new reading log; silent reading

English 10

• Monday, 9/23 - bell work; get academic words of the week; finish ch. 2; homework - verb worksheet
• Tuesday, 9/24 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in definitions; read ch. 3; homework - notes
• Wednesday, 9/25 - 1/2 Day - bell work; quiz for ch. 3; homework - verb worksheet
• Thursday, 9/26 -  PSAT Advisory - bell work; common lit activity - conformity; homework - read ch. 4
• Friday, 9/27 - bell work; vocab. quiz; quiz for ch. 4; common lit activity - herd behavior; notes for ch. 4

We have a lot on deck, so it'll be a challenge to get through it all, but we're going to try. I hope everyone has a great week. Ciao!

Change is a Constant, so Why is it so Hard? 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.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race...Right?

Here we are on week three of the school year and I'm already behind. I keep reminding myself when I look at my calendars and plans (and my heart races because we're behind where I feel like we need to be) that it's most important to do things right, and if that slows us down, then so be it.  Hopefully I'll get better at planning so that I don't have to keep revising my calendars.

Last week we managed to get most of the introductory materials completed, and the kids went to pick up their books - English 9 grabbed Romeo and Juliet and English 10 grabbed Animal Farm. English 9 also started working with the idea of independent reading and we made a very necessary trip to the library and read in there (it's air conditioned).

Here's what we have coming up this week:

English 9

• Monday, 9/16 - bell work; academic vocab. words - get definitions; Shakespeare notes; quiz over Shakespeare; vocab. cards for Shakespeare
• Tuesday, 9/17 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in academic vocab. words; Act I Prologue worksheet; quiz for the Prologue
• Wednesday, 9/18 - bell work; begin reading Act I of Romeo and Juliet - study guide
• Thursday, 9/19 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; continue reading Act I of Romeo and Juliet - study guide
• Friday, 9/20 - bell work; quiz over academic vocab. words; silent reading and reading logs handed out

English 10

• Monday, 9/16 - bell work; academic vocab. words - get definitions; read Animal Farm Chapter 1 - Cornell notes
• Tuesday, 9/17 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in academic vocab. words; finish Chapter 1; quiz for Chapter 1
• Wednesday, 9/18 - bell work; Animal Farm Chapter 2
• Thursday, 9/19 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; finish Chapter 2; vocab. game for chapters 1/2
• Friday, 9/20 - bell work; quiz over academic vocab. words; start Chapter 3

And that is the plan. I hope everyone has a great week! Ciao!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race...Right? 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.

Off to the Races

Good morning! It's so odd to go from a completely laid back pace to racing at breakneck speed, but that's exactly what we're doing. Last week was so busy, and I got so behind on my pacing, but everything ultimately came together. Yesterday (Saturday) was a busy day as well, full of family and football, but today I'm back to the grind. I spent Friday night, Saturday early morning, and the morning so far planning and creating, so I'm set to share this next week with you:

English 9 - we will get background information on Shakespeare, his society, and we'll start Romeo and Juliet.

English 10 - we will get background information on Orwell, Soviet history, and we'll start Animal Farm.

I'm sure I'll get a bit behind again (I usually do), but I'm going to try to hit my goals and be in the text by the end of the week.

Here's the break down of schedules for the week:

English 9

• Monday, 9/9 - bell work; get academic words of the week - define for homework; small group exploration of The Globe Theatre, Shakespeare, and Elizabethan society.
• Tuesday, 9/10 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in vocab., get notes on Shakespeare and his society
• Wednesday, 9/11 - bell work; quiz over Shakespeare; vocab. cards - finish for homework; read the Prologue for Act I and analyze/annotate it.
• Thursday, 9/12 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; check in vocab. cards; quiz for the Prologue; read Act I, Scene i
• Friday, 9/13 - bell work; quiz for academic words of the week; silent reading; reading logs will be handed out C

English 10

• Monday, 9/9 - bell work; get academic words of the week - define for homework; KWL for Soviet History - finish for homework
• Tuesday, 9/10 - Academic Advisory - bell work; check in vocab.; finish KWL discussion and turn in; small group discussion over Power
• Wednesday, 9/11 - bell work; notes on Orwell; vocab. cards for Animal Farm; read Chapter 1 and do notes - homework=finish
• Thursday, 9/12 - PSAT Advisory - bell work; quiz for Chapter 1; discussion
• Friday, 9/13 - bell work; vocab. quiz for academic words of the week; read Chapter 2 and do notes - quiz Monday

So that's the plan. As always, plans do change, and we've got a ton of stuff to accomplish, so please be patient with me. I truly appreciate it. I hope everyone has a great week! Ciao!


Off to the Races by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://laurastubbs.blogspot.com.