Grade conferences

Richard Stephenson@Flickr.com

I am just wrapping up grade conferences with all my ELA 11 students. I would like to do this each marking period, but time got away from me this year. Since final grades are coming up I want to look at each students grades on Powerschool, ask them about any missing assignments, etc. and correct any mistakes I might have made in entering grades. Of course, I'm also encouraging kids to make up
any 0s.

Tomorrow students will work on their essays, "spiffing" them up for me to grade. It's my goal to grade them over Winter Break. (Wish me luck!)

Busy time of year

We're into the last few chapters of Lord of the Flies and are also entering the busiest time for the project based learning character campaigns. Kids had a reading check today--some needed to show me study questions to be eligible for the quiz--and the questions weren't finished. If your student has a 0 on that assignment, that's why. They can take the quiz before school, after school, or during seminar.

Michael Dales@Flickr.com

Last Thursday students began to draft an essay based on an in-class write for Lord of the Flies . They will continue working on the essay this Thursday. Please check our monthly agenda (link) if you'd like to stay on top of our schedule. In the upper left hand corner of the screen (labeled Table of Contents) you'll find links to the weekly, more detailed, agendas.

Today I asked all groups to share with me their campaign links in a Google doc. I want to take a look at their blogs, tweets, videos, etc. to be sure everyone is on track.

P. B. L.

Project Based Learning. It's a great new perspective in education today--our current PBL gives students one of the most real world applications I've ever assigned to kids. They are working on a campaign to promote a character trait they think is critical to our world today. I've got teams creating billboards, bumper stickers, brochures, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, Instagram, tee shirts, public service announcements ... and I could go on! During the next several weeks you should see your student working on any number of components to their campaign; all components of the campaigns need to be created using technology--no poster board, etc.! Each group will present their campaign to their classmates during exam week. (More details on the presentation will come the after Winter Break.)

Students will need to turn in a planning proposal for their campaign on Monday. It should look something like this (link).  I went over the proposal directions with kids today and they have all the directions, templates, and resources on Moodle. I'll offer students an opportunity to re-do/revise their proposals next week; after Friday Dec. 5, no credit will be offered because this is a planning document.

Monday we've got a quiz over chapters 4-6, then students will have some  time to work on their character campaigns.

Ready, Set, Read!

This unit will have students reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding. (Note: this is in addition to reading for enjoyment on Fridays) I passed out books last week, and we started reading this week. The first couple weeks run a little slow--their first reading quiz over Ch. 1-3 isn't until Monday Nov. 17. After that kids can plan on reading 3 chapters each week. I've provided a number of great resources for my students on Moodle and I've begun to familiarize kids with what is available:

Study notes: Pink Monkey
LOF audio: YouTube
I don't get it: forum for student's questions
Check for Understanding: questions for pre- and post-reading

Today we watched a 15 minute video clip from the movie Cast Away. It's a fantastic connection to our novel and gives kids a visual image of the island as they read.

Into the home stretch

We are heading into the home stretch for the first marking period of the year! (I can't believe it, either.) I've graded students' first essay and entered grades. Students may re-write if they conference with me first before school, after school, or during Academic Advising. After they revise, I'll re-grade and enter their better-than-before essay. It's a win-win for students--writing is a skill and the best way

to improve is to get feedback, wrestle with revisions, and become a stronger and stronger writer along the way.

I'm also going to start conferencing with students about their Reading for Enjoyment books. It's quite informal--just a chat, really, about the book. I'll also ask students to read a short passage to me aloud.

You'll see in Powerschool that I'm entering more and more scores as Exemplary (4), Proficient (3), Emerging (2), and Not Proficient (1). Those grades are markers only--they're not averaged into your student's percentage grade. However, they give you some valuable insight into whether or not your student has mastered our content standards (proficient and above) or whether they have some work to do (emerging). The more I use this scale for evaluating students, the more I like it!

Blog Love

Our literature reading has come to an end for this marking period, although Reading For Enjoyment (RFE) will continue on Fridays. Yesterday students took their short story assessment and grades are entered. I will talk to kids next week about my Correct & Reflect process--they can earn back points by correcting their incorrect errors in my classroom before or after school or during seminar.

The This I Believe essay is due at the end of the school day today shared with me on Google docs. Today groups began designing a blog on which to post those essays. It's real world writing--written and published for many to read! (Students do have the option of setting their blogs "private", open only to me an their group members.)

I'm enjoying the Class of 2016--they're a great bunch of energetic kids!

Better late than never

We are definitely in full swing in room B209 and I've added our weekly schedule below:

Monday: Moodle Monday
Tuesday: literature
Wednesday: Article of the week and vocab. quiz
Thursday: literature
Friday: Reading for enjoyment

We departed from our usual agenda slightly this week to do some ACT practice Wednesday and Thursday--it's a pretty high stakes test for kids and I've found the more familiar they are with the test format, the more confident they become.

Students are also finishing the first draft of their This I Believe essay, which is their first major (link).  Next week they'll work in groups to post those essays to a blog they create. It's a great assignment in 'real world' writing.
writing assignment. Check out our Moodle course and browse some This I Believe essays that were published on NPR

Act III

Students have had several days dedicated for working on their PBL. Unfortunately, many have not been doing so (lots of socializing). Last week I collected a work plan from students--hopefully, this will help them organize their time better. I've scheduled about 12 hours of class time for this PBL: that would include  reading 3 short stories and working on their actual [physical] project; in addition, students should have been working on the PBL at home. SSR books were read independently this marking period. Please expect to see your student working on their project this week--very few are anywhere close to being finished and the book is due at the end of the hour on Friday May 30.

Under construction

Today I handed back research papers so that students could look over the grading rubric, my comments, and their essay before returning them to me. I will give any student the opportunity to fix their errors and receive some credit, but here's the process:

• REVIEW their essay, the rubric, and my comments
• DECIDE whether or not they will make improvements to their essay and/or Works Cited
• RETURN essay and rubric to me
• MEET with me before school, after school or during Academic Advising to conference with me and make changes to their work (this may take more than one tutoring session for some)

Reading for pleasure

Students in ELA 11 were assigned 3 self-selected books this year to read on our SSR Fridays as well as on their own time. No real requirements, other than the books be at reading level (young-adult or

higher) and more text than visual (although graphic novels would be acceptable). This semester I also stipulated that the movie couldn't also be a book because I'm pretty sure many juniors "watched" their book more than they read it; this was kind of sad for me because I really think reading a book and watching a movie provides great food for thought and conversation.

Mrs. Steffes, my ELA 11 teaching partner, and I struggle with this assignment at times because it's clear so many students just aren't reading--but we feel reading for pleasure is that important and deserves a place in our curriculum. Reading even 20 minutes a day improves reading skills ... and test scores. But most importantly, reading is a way to step into another person's skin and experience life in a time and place not our own. We don't ask that students become book worms, but we do value reading.

Here's an interesting piece from NPR's Morning Edition* (link)--I especially like the last sentence, which is why I'm sharing it with you!

*You'll find the podcast and transcript on this page, so you can read the story ... or listen to the piece!