Congratulations to these outstanding writers!

These incredible writers shared their journey essays aloud in class, an act of great vulnerability! They received top scores for their work, and the other students learned so much from not only hearing their work, but from hearing them describe their writing process!

Congratulate these students on a job well done, and click on their names if you'd like to view their work!

From Period 5: Gemma O'Garro, Dana Hong, and Brooklyn Cohen

From Period 6: Amelia Haydamack, Sydney Thay, Nicholas Kroll and Emily Dibene.

From Period 7: Alyssa Cheng,Celeste Ruiz, Maya Shankar, and Taylor Suh.

A Word About Grades

As the close of the semester draws near and grades become closer to final, many students and parents start to get concerned about grades.

As a mother of three teenagers myself, I often don't know if my children are truly putting their best effort into their schoolwork. So I would like to draw your attention to the column in the gradebook that is called "Homework and Practice." Your student's "Homework and Practice" grade is a good indication of your child's effort and work ethic in my class. While practice has a very small impact on the final grade (only 10%, as opposed to assessments which measure standards mastery and represent 90% of the grade), it is an important marker of effort and character.

I urge you not to nag your child about his/her grade if he/she has 90-100% in the Homework and Practice column and has turned everything in in the Assessment column. This means they are doing everything they can and should do in order to LEARN and master English Language Arts. However, if your child's Homework and Practice grade is LOW and assignments are missing, please do nag until they get their work turned in!

Parents of Honors English 9 students may especially struggle with this, but as you look at your child's assessment grade and perhaps wonder why he or she isn't getting an A, please remember the following: 1) Honors English is a CHALLENGING course. Not every student will earn an A. However, many colleges will weight your child's GPA accordingly (for some institutions, an Honors B or C is considered better than an A in a regular class). 2) If your child is earning a B or a C, you may be tempted to think he or she should take regular English next semester or year and get an "easy A" - I encourage you NOT to make that call unless it is coming from your child. The interaction your child is having each day with incredibly intelligent students who are earning As in Honors level courses has an effect on them, raising their level of ability and understanding the longer they remain in Honors courses. 3) Your child may be LEARNING more as a B or C student about how to write well, communicate effectively, and be emotionally resilient than they would as an A student in a less challenging course.

Your kids display flashes of brilliance, talent, and kindness each and every day, and I am enjoying working with them. They truly make my job a joy, and I am looking forward to seeing how they will grow next semester!

Poetry

To go along with our unit on The Odyssey and journeys, 9th grade students wrote poems based on C.P. Cavafy's Ithaka. The assignment was to write a poem about a personal "Ithaka": a place, a special person, a memory, an object, or a time in life that one longs to return to. Students were required to include a metaphor, an extended metaphor, a simile, a word containing the suffix -some, and a consistent point-of-view (first, second or third person).

Then, in small groups, students read their poems to one another and discussed which poems they felt were the best. The authors of the winning poems read their work to the class (with a few exceptions when students were shy), and the class gave meaningful feedback and asked questions about what inspired the poetry. It was an incredible learning experience for both the winning poets and the audience.

Winning poets are pictured below! Check back soon to read some of the poems!

Processing the tragedy in our community

Today was a tough day. I was nervous about saying the right things. I was worried about making the kids feel safe and normal but trying to figure out how to balance that with honesty.


In 11th grade, we've been talking all semester about the how the "struggle for freedom changes through history" and a concept that I've been emphasizing is that there was never a magical, bygone era of democracy where doing the right thing was popular. The now universally lauded Abe Lincoln was extremely divisive in his time; the now lovingly memed Martin Luther King Jr. was considered a radical and rabble-rouser when he marched for equality. "It was never easy" has become my daily phrase as we study the great speeches and writings of American history. To connect to the idea that the struggle goes back through time, I shared with them this article about fear during the Cuban Missile Crisis.


We used this article to talk through several ideas:

1 - Fear isn't new, although we're now afraid of different things
2 - Art can change the world! Reagan's viewing of "The Day After" influenced his decision to sign a weapons treaty with Gorbachev
3- Being honest and acknowledging our fears can be healing.


If I'm honest, I did most of the talking. The kids didn't seem eager yet to talk about how they were feeling, and that's perfectly okay.


For 9th grade, our Essential Question is "How do words inspire change?" I asked the 9th graders to create something with their words today - a poem, a song, a letter of gratitude, a letter of comfort. Students created a number of beautiful poems, letters to family and friends, and letters to friends at Saugus High.


It was a difficult day in a number of ways, but the students were wonderful, kind and respectful.

Battle Royale

Today in Honors English 9 we held our final "Battle Royale" debate to see which god or goddess from The Odyssey would make the best school mascot! In periods 5 and 7, the winner was Hermes, whereas Calypso took top honors in period 6! Our student FATES did a great job of timing, judging, giving feedback and generally presiding over the debate!

Winning teams are pictured below! See more pictures from the Battle.

Period 5

Period 6

Period 7

Fall 2019: Welcome to a New School Year!

Welcome to the fall semester at VHS! It's going to be a great year! I can't wait to get to know you all, to hear your ideas, and to dive with you into both timeless literature and contemporary classics! Teaching English is so much fun because it really is the study of humanity and how it responds to adversity, to change, and to the divine.

I always love to kick off my year by having students view and discuss this video from young adult novelist John Green:

Everyone who watches will have his/her own tidbits to take away, but my favorite are these three:

1. Reading critically helps you to understand and to be understood

2. Reading is a conversation between the reader and the author

3. Reading is always an act of empathy

The importance of studying English is to communicate ideas to the world, and I think this is nicely expressed by Green's video!

Again, I am so excited about this school year and I want to make it the best year yet!