Starting a New Path

Good morning! I hope everyone enjoys the warm weather on Sunday because it sounds like it's all about to go away. Since I'm a summer warmth person this makes me a bit sad. The way I've been dealing with stress and screens is to get outside, so I hope it stays nice enough that I can do that for a while longer. Which reminds me, I also hope everyone was able to get away from the screens awhile, too, and just do something for themselves this weekend.

This past week was quite productive for both English 9 and English 10. English 9 is finishing off the alternative assessment for "The Scarlet Ibis" (the literary element slideshow is due by midnight tonight). English 10 is now getting ready to write their first analytical essay of the year, basing it around the story "The Sound of Thunder." It will be due by the end of the week.

As many of you know, I have a student teacher this year: Mr. Lukasik. He has spent the last three weeks getting to know the kids and figuring out how my classroom runs. Beginning this week he is going to be taking over some of the teaching. He will be doing a short story with the 9th grade, and by the end of the week he'll start Animal Farm with the 10th grade (if you have an online learner in ELA10 we have placed books in the office to be picked up). Mr. Lukasik has great strength with academic knowledge and he is excited to work with your students and these texts. I think he'll do a fabulous job!

Here is the schedule for this week:

English 9

• Monday, 9/28 - Bell Work; prepare to read "Borders"
• Tuesday, 9/29 - Bell Work; read "Borders"; notes
• Wednesday, 9/30 - 1/2 Day - finish "Borders"; notes
• Thursday, 10/1 - Bell Work; Personal History Assignment; Begin "Charles" on Common Lit.
• Friday, 10/2 - Bell Work; Finish "Charles" on Common Lit.; quiz

English 10

• Monday, 9/28 - Bell Work; Outline the Essay
• Tuesday, 9/29 - Bell Work; Draft the Essay
• Wednesday, 9/30 - 1/2 Day - Revision/Editing
• Thursday, 10/1 - Bell Work; Begin Animal Farm
• Friday, 10/2 - Bell Work; Essay is due by Midnight submitted on Turnitin.com; Animal Farm

That is our plan, and as always, plans do change, so if you have questions, feel free to ask. I hope your week is filled with love, laughter, family, and friends. Ciao! 

Starting a New Path 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,

We're Hitting Our Stride

 Welcome to Week Three! As stressful as this has been for me time is really cruising, probably because I'm so busy. I'm getting used to the weekdays - the lack of sleep, the constant hum and bluelight of the computer, trying to keep up with emails and messages, etc., but I'm still struggling with the weekends - being an involved parent to my own children, getting household chores done, keeping up with extended family, doing all the planning involved with this school year. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to grade things, too. I'm struggling with that, but I'll figure it out pretty quickly here. I just hope the district gets students/parents the information about Powerschools soon. It will all come together at some point.

So what DID we accomplish last week? In 9th grade, we finished the introductory activities and assignments and we've now moved into a short story called "The Scarlet Ibis." In 10th grade, we also finished the introductory activities and we've now moved into a short story called "A Sound of Thunder." This coming week we will work on these stories: reading together in class, doing activities, and working on alternate assessments: for 9th grade it's a slideshow, for 10th grade it will be an analytical essay.  Here's the schedule:

English 9

• Monday, 9/21 - journal; bell work; read "The Scarlet Ibis;" exit ticket
• Tuesday, 9/22 - journal; bell work; finish reading "The Scarlet Ibis;" Characterization Activity - the individuality of a character; exit ticket
• Wednesday, 9/23 - journal; bell work; turn in Characterization Activity; work on Literary Elements Slideshow; exit ticket
• Thursday, 9/24 - journal; bell work; continue working on Literary Elements Slideshow; exit ticket
• Friday, 9/25 - journal; bell work; finish and submit Literary Elements Slideshow; start short story #2; exit ticket

English 10

• Monday, 9/21 - journal; bell work; read "A Sound of Thunder;" exit ticket
• Tuesday, 9/22 - journal; bell work; finish reading "A Sound of Thunder;" Notes Activity; exit ticket 
• Wednesday, 9/23 - journal; bell work; finish Notes; outline the Analytical Essay; exit ticket
• Thursday, 9/24 - journal; bell work; work on Analytical Essay; exit ticket
• Friday, 9/25 - journal; bell work; finish drafting Analytical Essay; exit ticket

That is the plan for the week. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend. Ciao!

We're Hitting Our Stride 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.

Week 2 - Trying Again

 Welcome to Week 2. I know there were some issues with accessing this last week, so I'm trying again and hope more people are able to access it this week.

This is by no means required reading, it's just here with more detail for those who like to really dig into what we're doing, and why.

Both my English 9 and English 10 were doing the same thing last week since everything was about introduction and trying to find out what skills my students have since it's been six months since we were really in the classroom.  Last week we got our routines going with Journals to start, finding the organizational methods on Google Classroom and learning how to submit and use different technological platforms, exploration of self through a series of writing assignments called "Who Am I?", and Exit Tickets focusing primarily on the Habits of Mind.  In the first week I'm pretty flexible with what gets turned in and graded, and also with deadlines. Now that we're all kind of acclimated I'm going to start tightening down.

This week in English 9, we'll finalize the Who Am I? writing and then move on to an introduction to short stories through the piece: "The Scarlet Ibis." This will begin our exploration of the theme of individuality through multiple genres. In English 10 they will also finalize the Who Am I? writing and then they are moving into the theme of the individual in society through the Ray Bradbury piece "The Sound of Thunder." 

So the week looks like this:

English 9

• Monday, 9/14 - Journal; Bell Work - Prepositions; Who Am I? Part 3; Exit Ticket
• Tuesday, 9/15 - Journal; Bell Work - Prepositions; Who Am I? Part 4 - reflective writing; Exit Ticket
• Wednesday, 9/16 - Journal; Bell Work - Prepositions; Introduction to literary elements; Introduction to "Scarlet Ibis"; Exit Ticket
• Thursday, 9/17 - Journal; Bell Work - Prepositions; continue "Scarlet Ibis"; Exit Ticket
• Friday, 9/18 - Journal; Bell Work - Prepositions; continue "Scarlet Ibis"; Exit Ticket

English 10

• Monday, 9/14 - Journal; Bell Work - Subject/Verb Agreement; Who Am I? Part 3; Exit Ticket
• Tuesday, 9/15 - Journal; Bell Work - Subject/Verb Agreement; Who Am I? Part 4 - reflective writing; Exit Ticket
• Wednesday, 9/16 - Journal; Bell Work - Subject/Verb Agreement; Review of literary elements; Introduction to "The Sound of Thunder"; Exit Ticket
• Thursday, 9/17 - Journal; Bell Work - Subject/Verb Agreement; continue "The Sound of Thunder"; Exit Ticket
• Friday, 9/18 - Journal; Bell Work - Subject/Verb Agreement; continue "The Sound of Thunder"; Exit Ticket

I'm hoping everyone has a wonderful week! Ciao!

Week 2 - Trying Again by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.