Class Finals

Now that our ACT Aspire testing is done, we have class finals to look forward to this week.  Tuesday is the English final for all classes.  This is an in class final, lasting one class period.  Students are encouraged to use their resource journals and have known this all semester as we take notes.  They have been creating their own resource.  Students also made a review Jeopardy game last week which we played in class today.  The final will cover the books we've read this semester, plus vocabulary, language use skills, and figurative language interpretation.  Students will do well to be very familiar with their journals because time will be the limiting factor on this final.  There is one class period to complete this.

Take time to study and prepare.  Get some rest and be ready to do well on this final this week.  We will continue to learn and work after the final in a cross-curricular project, which will be assessed separately.  Good luck as you prepare this week!

Testing

This week we are taking the ACT Aspire test.  This is a new test fo rour school, taken in grades 3-10.  It will give good data about individual student progress as well as data for our school as it relates to other schools in our state.  This test is taken on the computer, so no bubbles to fill in with number 2 pencils, which is nice.  After a few hangups with the secure login, everyone was able to get on and take the test.  It is timed, which is different than CRT testing, and most students were able to finish without the panic last-minute issues.  Hopefully with it being computer based, the feedback and scores will be back quickly.  Ninth grades will take English Language Arts and Math this week, on Monday and Tuesday, while Tenth graders will also have a paper/pencil Science test, extending their testing week until Wednesday.  Thursday will be make-up testing.

In ninth grade, we are working on essays related to our books this week.  First block is writing what we affectionately call the Happiness Essay, determining factors required to be happy and deciding if their chosen book character achieved happiness in The Great Gatsby.  In fourth block, we are finishing Of Mice and Men and writing a biographical narrative about an important relationship.  We have focused on writing strong theses and I have met with each student about their thesis statement.  So now we are down to the fun part - the writing and revising.  With our reduced class time for testing, some of this work will need to be done at home to meet the deadlines.  Because of their additional testing, tenth graders have reduced class time this week.  We will be discussing The Metamorphosis that we just finished and we have one poem to analyze if we get time.  We will also be reviewing for our final at the end of this week.  

Reading Progress

Today we jumped right into class with reading our books.  Each class is making progress with the reading.  In all classes we have been keeping notes about what happens in the book, but also looking deeper at what inferences can we make about what is happening and how that might help us understand what comes later in the reading.  We are analyzing characters and making predictions based on what we read. a key skill in literary analysis.  In each class we are writing every day, making connections to what we read and making the text come to life for us as readers.  We have had great discussions in each class.
In first block, as we reviewed chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, we discussed and wrote about what forces were accelerating a specific character and what forces were decelerating the character.  We talked about forces like fear, jealousy, money, greed, love, and power.
In second block, with The Metamorphosis, we learned a real life fact about the author Franz Kafka, that as he knew he was dying, he asked a friend to destroy his writing after his death.  The friend decided not to honor Kafka's wish and had the work published, several novels and other publications.  We talked and wrote about if this was an honorable decision or not and gave our reasons.  There is a lot that we don't know about that situation, but we had a lively discussion today.  Second block also took a vocabulary quiz today and has another coming up on Thursday.  The tenth graders have one IXL standard due today as well, G.1, on capitalization.
In fourth block, we talked about a time when someone convinced us to do something and a time we convinced someone else to do something.  We tried to decide if the other person changed our mind or if we just gave in.  Then we read Chapter 3 in Of Mice and Men, where there is some convincing going on.  It gave us a nice connection when we read about Carlson trying to convince Candy to shoot his dog because it is old and smells bad.  Also, a lively, interesting discussion that I wish we'd had more time to pursue!
We have testing coming up next week, so our schedule will vary to accommodate our test taking week. Have a great week!

Reading, Reading, Reading

This week, we are doing some serious reading in all classes.  First block is reading The Great Gatsby.  We are half way though the book and we are finding some serious symbolism and enjoying making the connections to our day.  The class time is too short, if only we had more time to read and discuss together!  We will start a writing task in conjunction with this novel this week.

In second block, the tenth graders are starting The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka this week.  We learned about the author and some good background information today, plus made a study guide with vocabulary words for an upcoming quiz next Monday.  We will learn about existentialism and surrealism in literature (and art) as well.  This novella is an interesting read with many applications to life today.  Hopefully the students will see a new way of looking at life and people through reading this book.

In fourth block we started reading Of Mice and Men today.  We started with the audio version and will move into small group and individual reading later on.  We focused on the characters and setting of the opening scenes of the book.  We are analyzing the character's early actions to see if pattern develop as the book continues.  Fourth Block also has 2 IXL standards due on Tuesday, K.1 and K.2.

In all classes, students will need to be prepared for the April book report at the end of this month.  The books we are reading now will be on the end of the year finals students will take, which seems like a ways off, but it comes up quickly.  Have a great week and make time to read!

Shakespeare, Gatsby, and Background Knowledge

This week in English is the last week before spring Break.  We are completing all kinds of exciting tasks in each class.  The 10th graders and working on a Shakespeare soliloquy project.  They will present a soliloquy of their choice to the class, with the context of the play it comes from.  Students will read the soliloquy and are also finding a video clip of it as performed on stage.  We will enjoy learning more about these famous passages and watching these on Thursday in class.

The first block of 9th graders are reading The Great Gatsby.  We will read through chapter 4 this week and finish when we return from Spring Break.  We are enjoying the story and watching how the characters interact.  It is interesting to watch their actions and their intentions.  The fourth block of 9th graders presented their background information in preparation to read Of Mice and Men.  We will have a writing task this week and start reading the day we return from Spring Break.

On another note, I have several parent teacher conferences scheduled this week and I look forward to meeting with you.  Have a great week!

Book Reports, IXL, and Parent Teacher Conferences

We felt the effects of the Spring Forward time change today!  It's rough to lose an hour, for teenagers especially!  However, we worked through it.  In first block, we are creating group presentations about one aspect of the 1920s to share with the class before starting The Great Gatsby.  We selected topics last week, created our rubric today, and organized our research.  We will present on Wednesday, so this is a real quick project.  In 10th grade we are working on writing a clear, debatable, and narrow thesis as a claim in argumentative writing.  We are arguing the merits of reading Shakespeare in high school.  Believe it or not, the English teaching community is divided on this one, so we are all taking a stand on our position and backing it up with evidence.  This paper will be due next Monday, with a peer review in class on Wednesday.  In 4th block we are working on critical thinking skills as we read and going back to the text to find support.  We have read some interesting passages and are looking analytically at how to interpret the text as we read.  We will start this week to build background knowledge on Of Mice and Men, which will be our next novel.  

All classes will have the March book report on Wednesday, March 23.  Some of the students are not even half way through their books, so there should be some serious reading going on.

All classes also have IXL standards due on Wednesday, March 16. There will be no more class time given to complete these, so make sure your student completest them at home.  No late work will be accepted, even with an absence because of the length of time given to complete this work.

Lastly, this week is parent teacher conferences and I met with several lovely parents today.  I love sharing progress at this time of year because so many students have grown by leaps and bounds.  It is exciting to see the growth in the abilities and their readiness for the next year.  I look forward to meeting with the rest of you this week and into next week as well.  Have a great week.

Shakespeare and Reading Comprehension

This week in tenth grade English we are continuing with our interpretation of Shakespearean sonnets. As a class we have learned about the format of different types of sonnets and how to analyze them for figurative language and meaning.  Students have worked as a class, in large groups and in small groups to read, interpret, and analyze various sonnets, so they are ready for a quiz, coming this week.  We will also prepare for an argument writing assignment on the merits of studying
Shakespeare in high school, also coming later this week.

In ninth grade we turned in playlists and book cover art, sharing them with a Gallery Walk.  This week we are focusing on some solid reading comprehension testing strategies and written response question strategies for the testing we will have in a few weeks.  We are also preparing for a suffix quiz, coming up next week.  All students should complete their study guides to be ready for the quiz.  Those vocab quizzes should be a slam dunk, no surprises as to what is on them, but students often are unprepared, which results in far lower grades than they should have.  Please encourage students to prepare.  It often takes many nights of study to really learn the word parts.

Take time to read and write every day!  Have a great week!