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!