Announcing: Winners of the Montague v. Capulet competition!

Well the competition was fierce, but the results are in! In period 2, the Capulets were the winning team with 140 team points (Montagues got 135). The highest points were earned by Lady Izzy Melara (22 points) and Lord Cameron Baeza (14 points).

In period 3, the Montagues came out on top (253 to 247), with Lady Ari Fernandez at a whopping 54 personal points, and Lord Daniel Heringer at 40 points.

Period 4 was won by the Capulets (265 to 221)! Lord Rehan Wani earned 47 points and Lord Hardhik Ram earned 55!

Period 5 was a huge Montague victory 192 to 122, with Julia Mussey winning 20 individual points for House Montague, and Jean Choi scoring 16 for House Capulet.

Period 6 was neck and neck all quarter, but the Montagues finally overtook the Capulets 180 to 167, with Ella Freed earning 25 points for the winning team (and Sophie Mulligan photobombing), and Juliet Weinberg racking up 34 points for the Capulets!

Character Cell Phones

Here are some of my favorite character cell phone projects from Romeo and Juliet!

Montague vs. Capulet

The 9th grade Montague vs. Capulet feud has begun! Each class is divided into two warring houses (though both are alike in dignity) who will compete in debates and games throughout the reminder of the year! The first task for each house was to create a flag with a symbol, a motto, the House Name, and a color scheme! See the entries below!

Library Escape Room

Today the kids did their library orientation with Mrs. Butera! Their goal was to use the VHS databases, library catalogue, and e-books collection to unlock the clues! The student groups that completed the escape room are pictured below!

Back to School Night

In case you missed it, here is my Back to School Night Video, slideshow, and photos.

Battle Royale 2021

On Friday, the Honors classes participated in a Battle Royale to decide which Greek god or goddess is most worthy of becoming Valencia High's new mascot (don't worry, we're not retiring the Viking; it's just for fun!).

Some of my favorite quotes from the day:

“Poseidon is an overall beast”
“you’re making it worse for your team”
“The fates are biased”
“stay on topic you can’t talk about dogs or something”
“Poseidon’s trident represents diversity”
“Should we call them non winners?” “No they’re losers”
“Imagine living your life as an earthworm bro”
“I was told I’m biased against emily but-" “are you?” “Well yeah but I should still get a vote”
“Noah, do not bully the fates”
“History.com is like his Bible today”
“I’m filled with rage bro”
“Hermès is known to be a drug smuggler”
“He’s not a drug dealer god, he’s a god of merchants”

Enjoy the pictures below!

Welcome Back - Fall 2021

Hello students and parents! I am happy to welcome everyone back to the classroom this fall! Check out some photos of our first day Scavenger Hunt for 9th Graders!

Welcome to 2021

Welcome to another semester of distance learning. While distance learning is certainly not ideal, we will continue to make the best of things and try to use our class time for meaningful discussions and work!

I am including the first day slideshow which contains many helpful links and information for students and parents about the upcoming semester. If you/your child are new to my class, you may want to take the time to look through it.

Honors English 9



American Literature (11)

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!