It's the first day of the third quarter and the second semester. We started the quarter off with new reading logs and a reminder of our next book report, coming up Thursday, Feb. 2. All students should select their book by this Wednesday, Jan. 11. The tenth graders started today with learning about the research of Carol Dweck, Ph.D, on Fixed and Growth mindsets. We learned about this before getting semester finals back, and wanted to view them with the idea of growth, not frustration. Having a growth mindset is critical to learning, so it is worth the time we will spend in the next few days on it. We will use this for a springboard for a College Prep unit of study we are starting, where we will have some training on reading and writing to succeed on college entrance exams and college applications. It may be a while before students are actually doing these, but preparation is a key to success.
Ninth graders learned about setting SMART goals and set two goals, one academic and one non-academic. They will do some writing to inform and explain about these goals and their plan to achieve them. Ninth graders will also start reading some Walt Whitman poetry this week, as a companion text to The Red Badge of Courage, a classic by Steven Crane set during the Civil War. Students will have opportunities to read and also to write about courage and challenges and how we and changed by them. It's an exciting topic to read about and I look forward to exploring these themes with the ninth graders. So far, 2017 is off to a strong start in the English classroom. Have a great week!
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