Thank You, All!

Thank you to all the parents who helped to support my 10th grade students in their Wax Museum. This includes all of you 9th grade parents who brought your kids, or dropped them off.  There were a lot of people there, so I know I missed many of you, but I truly appreciate all the help we had to make that a successful event.

I took many pictures, so I'm going to post them here.  I'm so sorry for the ones I missed.  It was mostly because they'd ventured away from their post and I just didn't catch them:

This is a tough project, and the kids were amazing.  Now we're finishing off the research paper and scheduling for 11th grade, and then we can all breathe!  I told them no breathing is allowed until Monday is over.

So last week, the 10th graders finished the project and worked on editing the research papers. The 9th grade managed to finish reading The Crucible, so now they're heading for assessments.  We'll do the test this week, and the essay next week.

Here's our schedule:

English 9

• Monday, 3/18 - hand back papers; finish the Act IV packet
• Tuesday, 3/19 - Academic Advisory - commas; watch The Crucible movie
• Wednesday, 3/20 - commas; watch The Crucible movie
• Thursday, 3/21 - PSAT Advisory - commas; finish The Crucible movie; kahoot review
• Friday, 3/22 - test for The Crucible

English 10

• Monday, 3/18 - enroll in Turnitin.com and submit research papers; schedule for 11th grade
• Tuesday, 3/20 - Academic Advisory - commas; hand back papers; watch movie
• Wednesday, 3/21 - commas; watch movie
• Thursday, 3/21 - PSAT Advisory - commas; finish movie
• Friday, 3/22 - commas; begin Macbeth

So that's about it.  Happy St. Patrick's day to all you Irish and Honorary-Irish people. It's a great day for wearing green, and...oh!  Sorry Blue people, but in honor of my hometown and my alma mater:  

Go Green and Sparty On!!! Good luck to us, though, since we're in the same bracket as Duke.

Thank You, All 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.

Wax Museum Week!

Well 10th grade community - here it is: Wax Museum Week!  On Wednesday we'll be in the cafeteria at the high school from 6:30-8:30 with our boards, all dressed up, giving our speeches.  Please come and enjoy - it's open to anybody, including 9th grade students and parents if they'd like to get an idea of what's coming at them for the next year.  My students kind of freaked me out at first since they didn't seem to get it, but by the end of the week last week they were getting in the spirit of things, using their time well (mostly), and I began to feel like this might actually happen.

In addition to it being Wax Museum Week, it's also Coming Home Week - yay! The schedule for spirit week participation looks like this:

• Monday - Occupation Day - dress like your future occupation, or an occupation of your choice
• Tuesday - Fake an Injury Day
• Wednesday - Age Day - Seniors (senior citizens), Juniors (Moms and Dads); Sophomores (Teens); Freshmen (Kindergartners)
• Thursday - Vine Day
• Friday - Blue and Gold Day

We will have assembly schedule on Monday in order to have a dodge ball game at the end of the day; the rest of the week is pretty much a normal schedule, and the dance is Friday night (I'm chaperoning, so pray for me).

Here's our schedule for this week:

English 9

• Monday, 3/11 - Assembly Schedule - finish Act III packet; Act III quiz
• Tuesday, 3/12 - Academic Advisory - type 1 commas; start Act IV
• Wednesday, 3/13 - type 1 commas; continue Act IV
• Thursday, 3/14 - PSAT Advisory - type 1 commas (turn in); finish reading Act IV
• Friday, 3/15 - work on Act IV packet

English 10

• Monday, 3/11 - Assembly Schedule - finish and submit rough drafts; start speech presentations
• Tuesday, 3/12 - Academic Advisory - speech presentations
• Wednesday, 3/13 - Wax Museum Night (6:30-8:30) - work on boards and solidifying costumes and speeches for this evening
• Thursday, 3/14 - PSAT Advisory - finish speech presentations; begin revising research papers
• Friday, 3/15 - Revision Stations; Peer Editing of papers - RESEARCH PAPER FINAL COPY IS DUE MONDAY! (1st Hour has an assembly, so I'll figure out how to get them what they need and make sure they're not being denied information to help them do the paper correctly.)

That's the plan, and I think we'll be able to accomplish it all.

Finally - 10th grade parents - on Monday, 3/18 we'll be scheduling for 11th grade, so the signatures and paperwork need to be finished and brought in by that date.  I'll start putting it on their radar again this week.

Have a great week, everyone!

Wax Museum Week! by Laura Stubbsis licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Round Two!

I think spring might actually arrive sometime in the near future, just maybe not this week.  Today is cold, and the weather person said that the cold is sticking around, but that works for me because it means I get more work done.  I have literally spent the entire weekend grading; I even took papers with me to my son's District Band Festival and graded papers to the likes of Bizet and Mahler.  I actually kind of enjoyed it.  The main point of this is that I am just about all the way caught up!  I sent out emails to parents I'd really like to see at Parent/Teacher Conferences because their student is struggling, but as my student's know, I'll talk to anybody and love it, so I hope anyone who wants to conference comes by or gets in touch with me.

We're cruising along in class (finally) and accomplished a lot last week.  English 9 is now over halfway through the play and we've made it into Act III of The Crucible. English 10 spent four days of work time taking notes and picking out pieces of writing to analyze.  So here's the plan for this week:

English 9

• Monday, 3/4 - finish Mad Libs from Friday; turn in vocabulary packets for Act III; continue reading Act III.
• Tuesday, 3/5 - Academic Advisory - Type 1 commas; continue reading Act III
• Wednesday, 3/6 - 1/2 Day - continue reading Act III
• Thursday, 3/7 - PSAT Advisory - Type 1 commas; finish Act III; quiz; start Act IV
• Friday, 3/8 - Type 1 commas - turn in for week; continue reading Act IV

English 10

• Monday, 3/4 - Type 1 punctuation; create Works Cited on Google Classroom and Submit; create Thesis Statement in packet and check in; Homework - create an outline for your paper
• Tuesday, 3/5 - Academic Advisory - Type 1 punctuation - turn in; check in outline; write rough draft on Google Classroom with in-text citations
• Wednesday, 3/6 - 1/2 Day - work on rough draft
• Thursday, 3/7 - PSAT Advisory - punctuation packet - commas; work on rough draft; start working on speech
• Friday, 3/8 - commas; work on rough draft - due submitted on Google Classroom on Monday; work on speech - presented in class on Monday

So that's our busy schedule.  I hope everyone has a great week! Ciao!

Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Round Two! 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.

"Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind" W. Shakespeare

The winter weather continues, and I sit and cross my fingers that we have no more snow days.  First, I despise making up days in June (where we all sit and sweat and want to nap instead of paying attention). Second, I'm so worried about getting the 10th graders ready for their Wax Museum Presentations for the night of March 13th.  Our schedule is so tight!  Speaking of, if you're a 10th grade parent - here are the deadlines for this project:

• Picking the author for the project - Monday, 2/25
• Work Time for Notes - 2/26-3/1
• Notes for Research are due by the end of the hour on Friday, 3/1
• Works Cited and Thesis Statement will be done in class and due on 3/4
• Outline of the paper is due 3/5
• Work Time for writing the rough draft will be 3/5-3/6
• Work Time to build the speech will be 3/7-3/8
• Rough Drafts of the paper are due 3/11
• Speeches will be graded IN CLASS on 3/11, 3/12, 3/13
• Wax Museum Night - dressed up with boards - 3/13 (graded that night)
• Final Copy of the Paper - due 3/18

In addition to this:

• Schedules for 11th grade are due, signed and completely filled out by 3/11
• Scheduling for 11th grade is set to happen on Monday, 3/18

For 10th graders, and 10th grade parents - I'm sorry.  This is a horrific schedule. For parents of 9th graders, if you have a chance to come to the cafeteria the night of March 13th (6:30-8:30), it's a really great way to get a heads up for next year.

Okay - so here's what's on the schedule for this week:

English 9 

• Monday, 2/25 - Type 1's - commas; do the Act II packet for The Crucible
• Tuesday, 2/26 - Academic Advisory - Type 1's - commas; quiz for Act II; start Act III
• Wednesday, 2/27 - Type 1's - commas; read Act III
• Thursday, 2/28 - PSAT Advisory - Type 1's - commas - turn in for week; read Act III
• Friday, 3/1 - finish Act III

English 10

• Monday, 2/25 - Type 1's - apostrophes; read-aloud and turn in final paragraph for Plath/Sandburg; sign up for author for project; exercise on note taking and keeping track of sources
• Tuesday, 2/26 - Academic Advisory - Type 1's - apostrophes; quiz over 4 Authors and poems (Google Classroom); take notes - personal information
• Wednesday, 2/27 - Type 1's - apostrophes; take notes - emphasis on economic information
• Thursday, 2/28 - PSAT Advisory - Type 1's - apostrophes - turn in for week; take notes - emphasis on political information
• Friday, 3/1 - quiz for apostrophes; take notes - emphasis on societal information; 30 notes due by end of the hour

That's the plan for the week.  I hope everyone has a great Sunday, and if you need me, you know how to find me.  Ciao!

"Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind" W. Shakespeare 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.

Let's Try This Again

Good morning!  Well last week sure didn't work out, did it?  The good part of it all is that my papers are graded, I've planned everything for the next few days, and my house is fairly well organized.  In my English 9 classes, we'll just pick up right where we were and try to crank through this play. In English 10, we're now even further behind.  I put a couple of things on Google Classroom, but other than having them Skype with me to do actual class, I had to pause because I need to see that they're getting things before I move forward, and Skyping 90 of them at a time just is not going to happen! I've modified how we're moving forward, and this week I'll give out information for the research project.  I'll share the flyer with you later this week, both digital and hard copy.

Here's the plan for this week:

English 9

• Monday, 2/18 - no school
• Tuesday, 2/19 - Academic Advisory - Type 1 commas; Act II - assign roles, vocab/study guide packet; poppet packet; read Act II
• Wednesday, 2/20 - Type 1 commas; Type 1's for pp. 58-67; read Act II
• Thursday, 2/21 - PSAT Advisory - Type 1 commas - turn in Type 1's for week; read Act II
• Friday, 2/22 - finish Act II; quiz; add literary elements to original packet

English 10

• Monday, 2/18 - no school
• Tuesday, 2/19 - Academic Advisory - apostrophes; read aloud and turn in Dickinson work; discuss Langston Hughes; homework - paragraph for Hughes - due Wednesday
• Wednesday, 2/20 - apostrophes; read aloud Hughes paragraph and turn in/submit work; read and annotate Sylvia Plath biography and questions - finish for homework; information for Wax Museum given out - start picking your topic
• Thursday, 2/21 - PSAT Advisory - apostrophes - turn in for week; finish Plath; read and annotate Carl Sandburg biography and poem
• Friday, 2/22 - finish Sandburg; quiz for 4 poets and poems; write paragraph for Plath OR Sandburg - due Monday

That's what I've got.  I'm really hoping the snow days are done, but it will be what it'll be, right?  Ciao!

Let's Try This Again 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.

Hoping for Decent Weather...Maybe?

Well, the weather is really messing with us this year, isn't it? Despite the kids not having school on Wednesday, staff still came to school, so I feel like I put in a whole week last week.  I'm hoping to do it again this coming week, but we'll see how it goes!

My biggest concern with all these snow days is how it will impact my 10th graders.  We have a major project this term and the big moment is March 13th.  On that night, your student will be dressed up as an American author and do a presentation about that person.  It's at night so that students, teachers, administrators and parents can all come see what amazing things these 10th graders can do.  To prepare for this night, we need to do a research paper, use the research paper to make a speech, build a presentation board, and pull together costumes.  I've begun the process with them as we work on analyzing a couple of sample authors and their works, but it really is going to take the next month to pull it all together, and I can't afford snow days!  If they happen, however, we'll figure it out. We always do.

Last week we were able to get semester 1 finished, and semester 2 off to the races.  English 9 is done reading Act I of The Crucible, so we've been working our way through a packet of ideas.  English 10 finished Hidden Figures and now we're working on literary elements and how to take an author, analyze their biography, read something they've written, and then analyze how it all comes together.  We've started with Emily Dickinson.

This week, here's the schedule:

English 9

• Monday, 2/11 - commas; finish Act I packet and turn in; reading and quiz about the history of accusations of witchcraft; hand out Act II reading parts
• Tuesday, 2/12 - Academic Advisory - commas; begin reading Act II
• Wednesday, 2/13 - commas; continue reading Act II
• Thursday, 2/14 - PSAT Advisory - commas - turn in for the week; finish reading Act II
• Friday, 2/15 - no school - mid-winter break

English 10

• Monday, 2/11 - apostrophes; Type 1's on Dickinson; write Type 3 paragraph analyzing Dickinson and her poem
• Tuesday, 2/12 - Academic Advisory - apostrophes; turn in Type 3 paragraph and packet; read and annotate Langston Hughes and do questions
• Wednesday, 2/13 - apostrophes; Type 1's on Hughes; write Type 3 paragraph analyzing Hughes and his poem
• Thursday, 2/14 - PSAT Advisory - apostrophes; turn in Type 3 paragraph and packet; read and annotate Sylvia Plath and do questions
• Friday, 2/15 - no school - mid-winter break

That's the plan; we'll see if Mother Nature cooperates this week...or not.

Hoping for Decent Weather...Maybe?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.

Surprise - an Extra Winter Break!

Well that was a shocker!  I don't know about you guys, but going into last weekend I never anticipated we'd be off all week.  During that week, along with taking care of my own kids, I managed to get some work done - the first week of the second semester is planned out, documents created, essays for 1st Hour are graded and entered (it takes me four hours to grade about twenty of them - I'm sorry!), and today I plan to get 4th Hour done.  Despite that, I still feel sort of like I'm swimming through molasses, so I'm trying to get my head in the game.

So - first things first - we'll finish the 1st semester material on Monday. English 9 will finish reading Act I of The Crucible; English 10 will finish watching Hidden Figures. Then we'll move on to second semester material.

Here's the schedule:

English 9

• Monday, 2/4 - finish reading Act I of The Crucible
• Tuesday, 2/5 - No Advisory - work on Act I packet
• Wednesday, 2/6 - 1/2 Day - work on Act I packet
• Thursday, 2/7 - PSAT Advisory - finish and turn in Act I packet
• Friday, 2/8 - start Act II

English 10

• Monday, 2/4 - finish watching Hidden Figures and turn in compare/contrast worksheet
• Tuesday, 2/5 - No Advisory - literary terms dictionary - due Thursday
• Wednesday, 2/6 - 1/2 Day - literary terms dictionary - due Thursday
• Thursday, 2/7 - Class Meeting for Scheduling - turn in literary terms dictionary; read and annotate Emily Dickinson biography and poem; finish questions for homework
• Friday, 2/8 - write Type 3 paragraph for Emily Dickinson poem

That's my plan - we'll see what Mother Nature brings to us this week!  

Surprise - an Extra Winter Break! 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.