A little bit of this 'n that

Because of tomorrow's assembly during 5th and 6th hours, my morning and afternoon are on different schedules--all classes, however, took vocab quiz #3 and listened to another This I Believe essay, this one by a high school student. My morning classes followed our weekly agenda and read an Article of the Week; afternoon classes went straight to drafting their TIB essays in class. A completed draft is due Monday 10/1. (Hours 2 & 3 will draft their essays tomorrow in class.)

In addition, I talked a little about expectations today. Some students are whipping through the assigned stories and articles, eyes "reading" the words--but then when asked about the deeper meaning of the text, those same students are stumped (and reading check grades plummet). At this level students should always be reading at an inferential level--that's what college-ready reading is all about. Of course we practice strategies in class and I give students a lot of time to work--but reading  without engaging with the text and using reading strategies won't get kids understanding complex texts. That takes time and study.