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! 

Raisin in the Sun

Check Act I and II quiz grades today--if they're low, students can also view the play on videos embedded on our Moodle course. Today and tomorrow students will read Act III in class in small groups; it's a very powerful ending to the play. I've also found an absolutely fantastic video of actors talking about their understanding of the play and characters; you can watch it, too (link). We'll continue the rest of the week with further work time for reading and work on PBL. Please encourage your child to use class time wisely--I continue to see students tuned into their handhelds rather than the class content.

The sky's the limit!

Students will begin the last Act of Raisin in the Sun on Monday--we finished Act II today. (Monday they'll also take a quiz over Act II.) Today we reviewed the PBL requirements and I gave some suggestions for what type of book kids could write (link). Since we've almost finished the play and students have had a couple weeks more to read their short stories and SSR book, there's no reason they can't begin their project any time now. This is really a true PBL--students have an opportunity to express their understanding of their reading in just about any form of book, as long as they meet the standards, so the sky's the limit in terms of creativity and demonstrating insight. Rubric is here (link). We won't have dedicated class time for working on the PBL product until the week after Memorial Day, so it's important students begin work on their own.

Into the home stretch ...

After nearly eight months of hard work, the juniors are heading into the last stretch--today I introduced our

last unit and how class will work for the last few weeks. It seemed to kids like there was a lot of work, but I've assured them, if they work in class and assign themselves homework a couple nights a week, they shouldn't have any trouble completing the assignments. (That 'work in class' part may be a hardship for some, so stay on your kids, parents!) 

As always, I've got the resources they'll need on Moodle. One of the "pluses" of the unit is that most days, students will have 20-30 minutes after we watch part of the play to work on the following: vocab, personal response, short story, self-selected reading, or PBL. (They know what all that means.) And you can view our last weeks on the long-term agenda here (link). Happy hoofin' it towards June!

Check up

Check to see how your student worked today in class--I collected Article of the Week annotations and gave credit (a green check mark on PowerSchool) for completion. Students had about 40 minutes to work on the assignment which is more than enough time to finish annotating. In most classes kids talked throughout the hour despite repeated requests to stay on task.

Tomorrow students have a half day of school, so we'll have only thirty minutes to continue drafting research papers. Homework on the front board is the same all week: "Continue to work on your research paper daily". I sure hope they have! Kids should consider this a capstone writing assignment: it should be an example of their best thinking and writing. We'll have one last day on Monday dedicated to working on this essay--then, they're on their own!

Research writing

Students are now entering the fussy, technical part of the research paper: Works Cited and parenthetical (or in-text) citations. I collected typed Works Cited drafts today and will return them to students tomorrow--I will identify their errors and they'll have a chance to review and re-write so when they turn in their final WC (which is an assessment grade) they will have a correctly formatted page. I will review the process of Works Cited further on Wednesday in small groups for students who are still feeling uncertain.

Tomorrow we'll review parenthetical citation and students will be able to begin writing their paper. We'll have only one additional class hour for in-class work on Thursday 4/24. The paper isn't due until next week (May 1) so kids will need to finish the research paper as after-school work.

As always, students (and parents) will find all class materials and many helpful resources on our Moodle course page.

Off to the races

Today we started our race to the finish--only 8 weeks of school left and so much to do! For the next 2 1/2 weeks students will be working on a research paper. The good thing? They will use their oral argument topic and so have a sort of rough draft already written. I've broken down the technical aspect of the research paper: this our focus will be Works Cited entry and next, parenthetical (in-text) citation. I've given students several class days with computers to work on this assignment. If they are on task, their work out-of-school won't be overwhelming. As usual, my materials and additional resources are available on Moodle so kids have everything they need at their fingertips, whether in class or out.

After the research paper, we'll begin our last unit, the play A Raisin in the Sun. But more on that later! For now, encourage your junior to hang in there, work in class--they've almost made it to their senior year!

Nine. More. Weeks.

--that's all your junior has left until he or she is a senior (sort of!). Hard to believe, isn't it. This time next year, you'll be sending out graduation announcements, planning an open house, and wondering where the time went.

 Grades seem to have righted themselves after marking period presentations were entered. Most kids did quite well--nearly all were proficient--and the effect on grades was immediate. My only concern is that for several weeks many kids had low Ds and Es and sometimes cutting it so close is a bit dangerous. Using class time wisely, completing work at home, reviewing materials on Moodle--that's the key to success.

Next week kids will write an essay to wrap up the marking period and after break we'll have a short unit on research writing. The oral argument kids wrote this marking period will transform itself into a parenthetically cited research paper.

This 'n that

Juzagirl

First round of presentations was today in ELA 11 and I'm impressed! What's more, students in the audience had thoughtful questions and comments. This technology thing is so pervasive and it's clear that even (!) teenagers are trying to fit technology into their lives and adapt to it in positive ways.

I'm guessing I'm not the first to tell you, but the junior class is dropping like flies with a horrible stomach bug. I guess the good thing (if there is one) is that it seems to run its course in 24 hours. Today I had over 20% of my students absent. I washed desks, door handles, and light switches with disinfectant before school today and the custodians are doing a thorough disinfecting after hours today.

Be well!

Presentations

Kids are scurrying to get their oral arguments finished and practiced. Tomorrow is an official get-ready day--kids will have nearly all hour to practice with their teams. I'm guessing if they're focused, they'll be able to run through the presentation at least once and maybe more. Presentations will begin on Thursday.

I'll also be talking to students tomorrow about a Correct and Reflect for the Fahrenheit 451 test. Students will earn points back for completing the C&R, which is not a quickie--they will need to find the correct answer in the book, write the quote that supports that answer, and include the page number. In order to get credit for the C&R, students must correct every question they got wrong--this prevents the "I only corrected 5 because now my grade is a C" syndrome!

Back in the saddle ...

Finally. MMEs have come and gone--students will have their ACT results in just a few weeks! Without that looming in our future, it's back to work in ELA 11 (Last week we did a little last minute ACT prep). Students had today to continue searching for an article,
start or complete and internet evaluation checklist, or maybe even begin annotating the article for their oral argument. Next week students will write their oral argument using a template on Google docs--if they've kept up with our daily work this will be no problem. The following week teams will put all their arguments together into a script, practice, and, finally, present.

We've got a couple important assessments coming up next week. On Wednesday students will have the final Fahrenheit 451 test. Then on Thursday they'll be assessed on annotation and summary writing. I've put off the next vocab quiz 'til April 3.

So it's back in the saddle as we ride into ... dare I say?! ... Spring!