We Made It!

We made it the end of an extremely challenging semester!

First of all, I want to say that I have truly enjoyed teaching your kids this year. They are an amazing group of teens who show great intelligence, sensitivity, and humor. I am continually blown away by the sophistication of their work.

As a kind of Brag Sheet for our semester, we created a Class Portfolio project to show off our best writing. Each student chose a piece of writing to show off and linked it to a slide in their class slideshow!

Here are the slideshows for Honors English 9:







Here are the slideshows for American Lit:

Important Books

Over the summer, I attended a workshop on teaching writing, the Writer's Institute! I shamelessly stole many great writing lessons and mentor texts for writers of all ages. One of them was based on using the children's book,  "The Important Book," as a mentor text for poetry. 

Both 9th and 11th graders did a tremendous job analyzing the structure of the text and brainstorming things that were "important" to them. 

Here are links to each period's "Important" poems! 

Grading Information for Fall 2020

Your kids are off to a great start. They have all been on Zoom ready to participate and learn, and have been a delight so far! Thank you for all your help and support at home.

I wanted to let you know that I will primarily be using Google Classroom to communicate with students about their grades.

Google Classroom now has a feature where it will calculate a student's total grade based on the points they've earned in Google Classroom. This is ideal for a distance learning situation because it allows the students to see EXACTLY where they are missing points, and easily click on the assignment to finish it, revise it, see feedback, etc. 

For this reason, I don't plan on using Infinite Campus very often. I will probably input students' total scores from Google Classroom four times per semester - a Q1 progress grade, a Q1 grade, a Q2 progress grade, and a final semester grade. 

If you are listed as your child's Guardian in Google Classroom, you should receive a summary of the week, including any missing assignments. Unfortunately, the weekly summary will not show you the grade, so if you would like more frequent progress reports, please have your child open their Google Classroom and show you their current grade. Here are some instructions from Google on how to view your grade as a student.

Welcome 2020

Hi parents and students!

Welcome to Fall 2020! If you (or your child) are in my class and have not signed up for Remind or Google classroom, please CLICK HERE to view the codes! 

Watch the video below for more information about my class and how it will run this fall! 

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a restful spring break and that everyone's ready to tackle the final stretch of the school year!

Our units for quarter 4 are going to be a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to teaching them! Here is an overview of the quarter for each grade level.

Honors English 9:
Unit 6: World's End
Essential Question: Why do we try to imagine the future?
Anchor Texts: "By the Waters of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benet, "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury
Final Project: Students will create a YouTube-style video that answers the question: How should we live in the present to make a better future?

American Literature (11th):
Unit 6: Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales
Essential Question: What do stories teach us about the human condition?
Anchor Texts: "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, "Everything Stuck to Him" by Raymond Carver, and "The Leap" by Louise Erdrich
Final Project: Students will write a 500-800 word narrative reflecting on an object of significance or importance in their own life, connecting this object to a special memory or special person.

Distance Learning Assignments Update

Hello parents!

I know that you are unable to see Google Classroom so I thought I would let you know what your kids should be working on from home for the next few weeks!

11th Grade:

+ 11th Graders should have finished their Quarter 3 Evidence Log and submitted it as of last night.
+ Their next step is to begin working on their final essay, due April 3. Detailed essay requirements are on Classroom.
+ To help them brainstorm essay ideas, they will also be answering a series of 3 Socratic Seminar questions on Flipgrid. These questions will be posted on 3/23, 3/25, and 3/30.

Honors 9th Grade:

+ Students will be reading Of Mice and Men and working on their analysis project, due April 3.
+ Turtle symbolism practice (which I already posted for them on Thursday so they could start early)
+ A layering text activity which they do with their Of Mice and Men group
+ Two Flipgrids. One is just an "About Me" introduction to teach them to use Flipgrid, and the other will be a project update where they share 1-2 of the interesting quotes they found.

Students in both grades should be working on the long-term projects throughout the next two weeks, and not wait until the last minute. Working a little at a time is a good habit to get into, and will help to avoid last-minute scrambling!

Feel free to talk to your students about their work and if they seem confused or overwhelmed, reach out to me!

Also, I highly recommend the Gary Sinise/John Malkovich movie version of Of Mice and Men to help freshmen deepen their understanding of the book. Watching it as a family would be a great activity to do together!

Flipgrid

Hello students and parents!

I have decided to set up Flipgrid accounts for my classes so we can have class discussions while distance learning!

Flipgrid is a video app that lets students and teachers record short videos to answer questions and have discussions. It is completely restricted to members of each class period, so that only classmates can see each others' posts. It is also completely private.

For students who do not have a camera on their computer, I recommend downloading the Flipgrid app so you can record your responses on your cellphone.

As with all of our work, you can make your video responses WHENEVER you want - no need to log in at a certain time.

Your first Flipgrid assignment will go up on Google Classroom tomorrow, 3/19, and be due on Monday.

Please email or send me a Remind if you have questions or concerns!

Distance Learning

Hello parents! I know you've probably already heard that our school is moving to distance learning for the next three weeks to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

It's a very scary time for our kids, and I did my best to reassure students today that the measures being taken are mainly precautionary and to keep our healthcare system from being overrun by the small percentage of serious cases.

I know that many are disappointed and sad at all the cancellations of special events that many have prepared for and looked forward to, such as concerts, sporting events, and school dances. I hope we can all help each other and keep each others' spirits up throughout this unusual time.

I have already prepped assignments for students' first week of distance learning. Freshman have two activities - the Prereading Nearpod, and the Turtle Symbolism Pratice. Juniors are to read and answer questions about an article - "What You Don't Know Can Kill You" - and finish their evidence logs. By Friday, 3/20, their entire log should be complete, except for the McCarthyism schmoop article, which we skipped.

Distance learning will begin on Wednesday, 3/18. Please remind students to be checking Google Classroom each day.

Students do not need to worry about completing anything else for next week. Please have them email me with questions!

I hope you all stay well, wash your hands, and be wise in the upcoming weeks!

Miss A's Last Day

Today our class said farewell to our awesome student teacher Miss Alishahi. She moves on to Sierra Vista to do more student-teaching at the junior high level.

Miss A has added so much to our classroom with her ready smile, her love of music, and her cute puppy photos. I have absolutely loved having Miss A as my partner in crime for the last six weeks, and I am sad to see her go.

Here are some photos from Miss A's last day. 9th graders enjoyed some PHONE FREE fun time in class today to say good-bye - 11th graders, unfortunately, had to finish their district benchmarks, but gamely posed for a photo!

Debates

Who is responsible for the death of John Proctor? That was the subject of this week's debate about The Crucible in American Literature!

Arthur Miller's classic drama is full of guilty characters - after all, what would an exploration of Puritanism, theocracy, and adultery be without guilt? The question though was who was most guilty!

The candidates were:

* John Proctor himself, the wayward patriarch who slept with and then fired his teenaged servant
* Elizabeth Proctor, his wife, an upright truth-teller who lies for her husband at a crucial moment
* Abigail Williams, the ex-servant-and-woman-spurned who accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft
* Mary Warren, their wishy-washy servant who continually succumbs to peer pressure
* Reverend Parris, the wanna-be authoritarian preacher who is more concerned with money and reputation than the truth
* Deputy Governor Danforth and his court officials, who decide to admit "spectral" evidence and Bible verses into a court of law
* Puritan society with its repressive norms and religious obsession
* Mass hysteria that had taken Salem by storm

It was a lively debate, but both Periods 2 and 3 ultimately pointed the finger at Mass Hysteria - with Mary Warren making it to the final round in Period 2, and John Proctor himself getting to the final showdown in Period 3.

Parents, you may notice our student teacher, Miss Alishahi in some of the pictures! She's been an amazing addition to our classroom!