My first day back at school ends up being a
SNOW DAY!!!!!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Day 23: Rally
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Study Hall
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Rally
I gave students class time today to work on their creative research projects. They were for the most part on task all day. So instead of talking about class today I want to talk about the rally. At the end of the day the school had a rally in the gym to end the winter carnival that has been going on all week. The winners of the talent show performed again, then there was a 4 square volleyball game, then a relay race where students ran from one side of the gym to the other, sat on a balloon and ran back until everyone has popped their balloon and it ended with a dodge ball tournament. The seniors won dodge ball of course. It was interesting to see how many of my students competed in the events. It seemed like a lot of them did. Maybe it is becoming cool again to be smart? I don't know. I hope that the stereotype of being lazy and not caring about school as being the thing to do ends soon.
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Study Hall
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Rally
I gave students class time today to work on their creative research projects. They were for the most part on task all day. So instead of talking about class today I want to talk about the rally. At the end of the day the school had a rally in the gym to end the winter carnival that has been going on all week. The winners of the talent show performed again, then there was a 4 square volleyball game, then a relay race where students ran from one side of the gym to the other, sat on a balloon and ran back until everyone has popped their balloon and it ended with a dodge ball tournament. The seniors won dodge ball of course. It was interesting to see how many of my students competed in the events. It seemed like a lot of them did. Maybe it is becoming cool again to be smart? I don't know. I hope that the stereotype of being lazy and not caring about school as being the thing to do ends soon.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 22: Creative Project
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Period
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Prep-Period
Today I did the same challenge I did yesterday with this group of Sophomores. They again did really well. They were much faster at solving the cipher (which we changed to something else before class in case the other class shared). Then they also got a puzzle to put together. After the puzzles were done I gave them their next challenge. Both classes are going to research a topic concerning Macbeth and find a creative way to present their findings to the class. The clan that is the most creative gets Blood Points. The topics are the curse on Macbeth, Tanistry, The Real Macbeth, and Witches during Shakespeare’s time. From what I heard walking around the room the presentations are going to be really good. The Real Macbeth group is basing their presentation on the Old Spice Commercial. The Curse group is going to take the entire class down the auditorium and invoke the curse. The group that got Tanistry is going to role-play what tanistry looks like. They even went and asked the Theatre Director if they could borrow costumes. The group with the witches is going to simulate a witch hunt in the classroom. They are even going to memorize and say some of the witches’ lines from the play. I am so excited to see them really getting into this. I can’t wait to what they come up with!
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Period
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Prep-Period
Today I did the same challenge I did yesterday with this group of Sophomores. They again did really well. They were much faster at solving the cipher (which we changed to something else before class in case the other class shared). Then they also got a puzzle to put together. After the puzzles were done I gave them their next challenge. Both classes are going to research a topic concerning Macbeth and find a creative way to present their findings to the class. The clan that is the most creative gets Blood Points. The topics are the curse on Macbeth, Tanistry, The Real Macbeth, and Witches during Shakespeare’s time. From what I heard walking around the room the presentations are going to be really good. The Real Macbeth group is basing their presentation on the Old Spice Commercial. The Curse group is going to take the entire class down the auditorium and invoke the curse. The group that got Tanistry is going to role-play what tanistry looks like. They even went and asked the Theatre Director if they could borrow costumes. The group with the witches is going to simulate a witch hunt in the classroom. They are even going to memorize and say some of the witches’ lines from the play. I am so excited to see them really getting into this. I can’t wait to what they come up with!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Day 21: Puzzle Challenge
Agenda-
Accreditation
Creative Writing
Pre-AP Sophomore English
AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
Homeroom
Today I did a Blood War Challenge with the Sophomores. The idea was to hand out the rules for the Blood War and then present them with a puzzle challenge. My hope was that the group that was split on Wednesday would get the rules and learn to work together better. It worked! We went over the rules and then I gave them a cipher to complete. Once the cipher was done I gave them a puzzle to put together. The group I was concerned about ended up working together really well. They were the first group to figure out the cipher and the second group to complete the puzzle. There was none of the fighting or the attitude problems that I saw on Monday. They actually looked like a really good team. The challenge also put them in second place in the Blood War overall and they are only 15 points away from catching up to the clan in first place. I am so impressed with them! I can’t wait to give them out their next challenge..
Accreditation
Creative Writing
Pre-AP Sophomore English
AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
Homeroom
Today I did a Blood War Challenge with the Sophomores. The idea was to hand out the rules for the Blood War and then present them with a puzzle challenge. My hope was that the group that was split on Wednesday would get the rules and learn to work together better. It worked! We went over the rules and then I gave them a cipher to complete. Once the cipher was done I gave them a puzzle to put together. The group I was concerned about ended up working together really well. They were the first group to figure out the cipher and the second group to complete the puzzle. There was none of the fighting or the attitude problems that I saw on Monday. They actually looked like a really good team. The challenge also put them in second place in the Blood War overall and they are only 15 points away from catching up to the clan in first place. I am so impressed with them! I can’t wait to give them out their next challenge..
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Day 20: OMG That's Better!
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Period
Class: AP Senior English
Prep Period
Today I tried the lesson where I get the Sophomores started with the blogs and the Blood War challenge again with some improvements. First I rearranged the desks so they would make table groups and so they would be spread far apart from each other. Then I wrote students’ names on slips of paper and taped the paper to the desks. When they came into the room I told them to find their names on the desks. Then I gave 5 points to the table group to be seated with all of their members first. Next, I got them set up with their blogs using the projector and my laptop so they could follow along. Then I gave them out the rules for the Blood War, went over the rules and told them about their prize if they are the winners at the end of the unit. Then I got them started on their tasks. This group was completely different from yesterday. They gave me no attitude. They made jokes about fraternizing with the enemy because I made interactions with other clans against the rules. They all worked really well together on their names and on their flags. They came up with some amazing ideas. I think now that this class is doing so well I really need to take this and get the other class back on track. Otherwise the groups in the other class are going to be miserable for the rest of the year. I am going to have them seated in the table groups tomorrow and hand out the rules and go over them like I did today. Then so they can practice working together and feel out the new rules of the game I am going to give them a challenge to do. Hopefully the clans will bond over the challenge rather than get even more disjointed. I think that the group with Garrett will figure out very quickly that he is a major asset in this challenge. Same for the clan with Mariah, Brooke, Adam and Jeremy. I think Mariah and Jeremy will be able to show off their English skills proving to Brooke that they are assets. We shall see tomorrow.
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Period
Class: AP Senior English
Prep Period
Today I tried the lesson where I get the Sophomores started with the blogs and the Blood War challenge again with some improvements. First I rearranged the desks so they would make table groups and so they would be spread far apart from each other. Then I wrote students’ names on slips of paper and taped the paper to the desks. When they came into the room I told them to find their names on the desks. Then I gave 5 points to the table group to be seated with all of their members first. Next, I got them set up with their blogs using the projector and my laptop so they could follow along. Then I gave them out the rules for the Blood War, went over the rules and told them about their prize if they are the winners at the end of the unit. Then I got them started on their tasks. This group was completely different from yesterday. They gave me no attitude. They made jokes about fraternizing with the enemy because I made interactions with other clans against the rules. They all worked really well together on their names and on their flags. They came up with some amazing ideas. I think now that this class is doing so well I really need to take this and get the other class back on track. Otherwise the groups in the other class are going to be miserable for the rest of the year. I am going to have them seated in the table groups tomorrow and hand out the rules and go over them like I did today. Then so they can practice working together and feel out the new rules of the game I am going to give them a challenge to do. Hopefully the clans will bond over the challenge rather than get even more disjointed. I think that the group with Garrett will figure out very quickly that he is a major asset in this challenge. Same for the clan with Mariah, Brooke, Adam and Jeremy. I think Mariah and Jeremy will be able to show off their English skills proving to Brooke that they are assets. We shall see tomorrow.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Day 19: Blood Wars
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Study Hall
Today I got the students set up on their blogs, into their clan groups and started the blood war that they will be competing in during the unit. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as I planned for it to. I got their blogs set up. That part went fine. Then I split them into their clans, told them where to move to and started them on their first tasks; picking a clan name and creating a flag. This did not go so well. Two groups worked really well together. The other two not so much. One group kind of pushed Garrett out and ended up sitting on his laptop while everyone else was coloring. The other group ended up split in the middle. Jeremy and Mariah on one side with Adam and Brooke on the other. The group created two flags because they couldn’t decide what to do for a flag. I told them only one was going up so they had to come to a decision. They took a vote and when the flag Brooke worked on didn’t win she threw a fit. I also saw a lot of people migrating from their group to other groups to gossip, talk and hang out. This was not what I wanted. I wanted them to be on task collaborating with their clan members. I had to keep asking them to go back to their seats or suggesting things for them to do in order to help. The whole thing was not what I wanted. I should have done table groups. I should have been prepared to tell them where to sit. I should have set some time limits. I should have set some more rules. I also should have been more certain about what their prize would be at the end of the unit. I should have been more clear with them and established this at the beginning. I think I need to try this with the next group.
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Study Hall
Today I got the students set up on their blogs, into their clan groups and started the blood war that they will be competing in during the unit. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as I planned for it to. I got their blogs set up. That part went fine. Then I split them into their clans, told them where to move to and started them on their first tasks; picking a clan name and creating a flag. This did not go so well. Two groups worked really well together. The other two not so much. One group kind of pushed Garrett out and ended up sitting on his laptop while everyone else was coloring. The other group ended up split in the middle. Jeremy and Mariah on one side with Adam and Brooke on the other. The group created two flags because they couldn’t decide what to do for a flag. I told them only one was going up so they had to come to a decision. They took a vote and when the flag Brooke worked on didn’t win she threw a fit. I also saw a lot of people migrating from their group to other groups to gossip, talk and hang out. This was not what I wanted. I wanted them to be on task collaborating with their clan members. I had to keep asking them to go back to their seats or suggesting things for them to do in order to help. The whole thing was not what I wanted. I should have done table groups. I should have been prepared to tell them where to sit. I should have set some time limits. I should have set some more rules. I also should have been more certain about what their prize would be at the end of the unit. I should have been more clear with them and established this at the beginning. I think I need to try this with the next group.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Day 18: The 34Second Hamlet
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Time
Class: AP Senior English
Prep Time
I did the 32 second Macbeth with the sophomores again today. It went over even better the second time around. It went so well in fact that Ms. Doughty and I decided to look for something similar to do with the seniors who are starting Hamlet soon. At first the seniors were not cool with this idea. They did not want to get up, they did not want to fall on the ground when they died and they did not want to act it out. But then we started timing them. That was when the race to beat the clock began and they started to enjoy the activity. They were laughing, they were trying to say their lines as fast as they could and they were picking on each other when they messed up. Poor Hanson got to Horatio and he had this huge long line at the end that he kept messing up so all of the students were picking on him for slowing them down. And poor Shawna had Ophelia who also had a long line. They were definitely pumped up for Hamlet by the end of it. They were able to figure out a lot of plot details and it gave us a chance to give them some more background information that will help them read the play. I am curious to see how they do with the play now that they have seen the whole thing in a slightly condensed format. Even though there was a lot more reluctance from the seniors I think that was just because they are older, it was later in the day, they were hungry and they were tired. I am hoping Mondays group will be fun.
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Time
Class: AP Senior English
Prep Time
I did the 32 second Macbeth with the sophomores again today. It went over even better the second time around. It went so well in fact that Ms. Doughty and I decided to look for something similar to do with the seniors who are starting Hamlet soon. At first the seniors were not cool with this idea. They did not want to get up, they did not want to fall on the ground when they died and they did not want to act it out. But then we started timing them. That was when the race to beat the clock began and they started to enjoy the activity. They were laughing, they were trying to say their lines as fast as they could and they were picking on each other when they messed up. Poor Hanson got to Horatio and he had this huge long line at the end that he kept messing up so all of the students were picking on him for slowing them down. And poor Shawna had Ophelia who also had a long line. They were definitely pumped up for Hamlet by the end of it. They were able to figure out a lot of plot details and it gave us a chance to give them some more background information that will help them read the play. I am curious to see how they do with the play now that they have seen the whole thing in a slightly condensed format. Even though there was a lot more reluctance from the seniors I think that was just because they are older, it was later in the day, they were hungry and they were tired. I am hoping Mondays group will be fun.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Day 17: The 32Second Macbeth
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Study Hall
Today I started the unit on Macbeth with the Sophomores. It went really well! First they took a quiz which felt like it took forever. But then after that I split them up into groups to work on creating a KWL chart. Then I put all of their ideas up on pieces of paper on the board. They came up with a pretty good list of things. Then I handed out the 32 second Macbeth. This is where the lesson really took off. I had the class get into two groups. And their goal was to act the play out in 32 seconds or less. They had so much fun! They were laughing and practicing and determined to beat the clock as well as their classmates. They were also doing a really good job figuring out who the characters were and what was going to happen in the play based on the lines. They knew someone was going to get murdered. They knew there would be lots of blood. They got that there were witches. I think they did a fairly good job figuring out the plot of the play. Also, I loved the activity because it let me know who the actors and who the directors were in the class. I am now thinking that I will assign them their groups for the final project based on which students were clearly really into it and which ones weren’t. It also broke the ice in terms of reading Old English out loud and acting out what is going on in the play. I loved it and I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow!
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Study Hall
Today I started the unit on Macbeth with the Sophomores. It went really well! First they took a quiz which felt like it took forever. But then after that I split them up into groups to work on creating a KWL chart. Then I put all of their ideas up on pieces of paper on the board. They came up with a pretty good list of things. Then I handed out the 32 second Macbeth. This is where the lesson really took off. I had the class get into two groups. And their goal was to act the play out in 32 seconds or less. They had so much fun! They were laughing and practicing and determined to beat the clock as well as their classmates. They were also doing a really good job figuring out who the characters were and what was going to happen in the play based on the lines. They knew someone was going to get murdered. They knew there would be lots of blood. They got that there were witches. I think they did a fairly good job figuring out the plot of the play. Also, I loved the activity because it let me know who the actors and who the directors were in the class. I am now thinking that I will assign them their groups for the final project based on which students were clearly really into it and which ones weren’t. It also broke the ice in terms of reading Old English out loud and acting out what is going on in the play. I loved it and I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Day 16: Debate
Agenda-
Meeting
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free period
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Free Period
Homeroom (during which there was a survey)
Today I decided to do a debate with the Senior class. They had expressed in their last class that they wanted to go over the Anticipation Guide again when Heidi was there because they wanted to hear her opinions and get some good arguments. So this time I made them take sides on the statement and argue their point of view. It was hard because a lot of the arguing was on semantics. Ms. Doughty stepped in a few times to help out one side or the other because a lot of times there were a lot of people on one side or the other. I also got a lot of complaining about not being allowed to be in the middle. Finally I had to tell them to look at it as practice for the AP Exam. I had to say that they will probably be given a prompt where they will have to take a side on an argument. And even if they don’t agree fully they have to convince their audience that their opinion is right. After that the debate got a little bit more heated plus some of the students were more willing to take a side that they didn’t necessarily agree with. They kept trying to use arguments like “what is the meaning of justice anyway?” or “who can really define what is immoral or not immoral” so I had Ms. Doughty who was at her computer at the time to look them up for us. That seemed to help. It kept them from trying to use the argument that the terms were subjective. I think that the activity moved too slowly though. I think that next time I do it I am going to divide the students in half evenly and randomly and then assign them a side of the argument. I also think I am going to try to do a better job watching the time. It would be nice to get through all of the statements. At the end of the play we are definitely going to go back and do another debate about the same issues. I want to see them use evidence from the play to defend both sides of the arguments plus I want to make sure that they understand where in the play these statements come from.
Meeting
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free period
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Free Period
Homeroom (during which there was a survey)
Today I decided to do a debate with the Senior class. They had expressed in their last class that they wanted to go over the Anticipation Guide again when Heidi was there because they wanted to hear her opinions and get some good arguments. So this time I made them take sides on the statement and argue their point of view. It was hard because a lot of the arguing was on semantics. Ms. Doughty stepped in a few times to help out one side or the other because a lot of times there were a lot of people on one side or the other. I also got a lot of complaining about not being allowed to be in the middle. Finally I had to tell them to look at it as practice for the AP Exam. I had to say that they will probably be given a prompt where they will have to take a side on an argument. And even if they don’t agree fully they have to convince their audience that their opinion is right. After that the debate got a little bit more heated plus some of the students were more willing to take a side that they didn’t necessarily agree with. They kept trying to use arguments like “what is the meaning of justice anyway?” or “who can really define what is immoral or not immoral” so I had Ms. Doughty who was at her computer at the time to look them up for us. That seemed to help. It kept them from trying to use the argument that the terms were subjective. I think that the activity moved too slowly though. I think that next time I do it I am going to divide the students in half evenly and randomly and then assign them a side of the argument. I also think I am going to try to do a better job watching the time. It would be nice to get through all of the statements. At the end of the play we are definitely going to go back and do another debate about the same issues. I want to see them use evidence from the play to defend both sides of the arguments plus I want to make sure that they understand where in the play these statements come from.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Day 15: Round Two
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
I did the same lesson I did yesterday again today with the seniors. Except this time I made everyone sit in a circle while we talked about the Anticipation Guide. I had a much smaller class and I thought the circle would make it easier for me to see everyone. I liked the circle and I think it worked well. However, the students did much less arguing and debating. They were much more wishy washy. They kept saying it depended on the situation. They also came up with different examples They referenced books and TV more where the class before were using more historical references. I think that because this was a class of all girls and their interests were so very different from the other class it was harder to get them to have the same reaction. They often all agreed on their reactions to a statement. That made it hard for me because I wanted them to disagree. It was also a lot easier to sway them. In the end they changed their view on moral courage versus physical courage and on revenge as being a way to get justice. I think that I am going to do this again with them like I will with the other class but I am going to split them up and assign them a side to debate from. I think they need more structure. Plus I think it will be good for them to practice taking a side they don’t necessarily agree with. It is good to have that ability especially when writing persuasive papers. And we most certainly be revisiting the guide at the end of Hamlet. I think that will really help this class a lot.
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
I did the same lesson I did yesterday again today with the seniors. Except this time I made everyone sit in a circle while we talked about the Anticipation Guide. I had a much smaller class and I thought the circle would make it easier for me to see everyone. I liked the circle and I think it worked well. However, the students did much less arguing and debating. They were much more wishy washy. They kept saying it depended on the situation. They also came up with different examples They referenced books and TV more where the class before were using more historical references. I think that because this was a class of all girls and their interests were so very different from the other class it was harder to get them to have the same reaction. They often all agreed on their reactions to a statement. That made it hard for me because I wanted them to disagree. It was also a lot easier to sway them. In the end they changed their view on moral courage versus physical courage and on revenge as being a way to get justice. I think that I am going to do this again with them like I will with the other class but I am going to split them up and assign them a side to debate from. I think they need more structure. Plus I think it will be good for them to practice taking a side they don’t necessarily agree with. It is good to have that ability especially when writing persuasive papers. And we most certainly be revisiting the guide at the end of Hamlet. I think that will really help this class a lot.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Day 14: Flying Solo
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free time
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Prep Period
Today my mentor teacher had a meeting to go to so I was left alone at the end of the day with our seniors. It was awesome! I did a lesson where first they took a virtual tour of the Globe Theatre. Then they competed to see who could answer all of the questions on this quiz over the tour. The first one to finish and have all of the correct answers got a bag of M&M’s. They were pretty stoked to win the candy. Then I had them fill out an Anticipation Guide for Hamlet and we talked about that. The students were great! They are all so smart and they did a great job coming up with examples from history and from books they had read to support their arguments. They had quite a good little debate going on back and forth but they expressed the wish that Heidi had been there. She was at home sick and a lot of my students in the class said they wished she was there to debate even more with them. I think that is what we are going to do on Wednesday when Heidi gets back. I will make the pick a side and then let them debate it using lots of examples. Then I think when we get to the end of Hamlet I will pull out their lovely little work sheet again and have them debate and discuss the same ideas but in light of the play. I have a feeling that many of their opinions will change. Especially about revenge. Many of the students thought that revenge should be planned out. I think though that once they get to the end of Hamlet they will be on the opposite side. Let’s face it, Hamlet draws the whole tortured soul thing out a little too long.
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free time
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Prep Period
Today my mentor teacher had a meeting to go to so I was left alone at the end of the day with our seniors. It was awesome! I did a lesson where first they took a virtual tour of the Globe Theatre. Then they competed to see who could answer all of the questions on this quiz over the tour. The first one to finish and have all of the correct answers got a bag of M&M’s. They were pretty stoked to win the candy. Then I had them fill out an Anticipation Guide for Hamlet and we talked about that. The students were great! They are all so smart and they did a great job coming up with examples from history and from books they had read to support their arguments. They had quite a good little debate going on back and forth but they expressed the wish that Heidi had been there. She was at home sick and a lot of my students in the class said they wished she was there to debate even more with them. I think that is what we are going to do on Wednesday when Heidi gets back. I will make the pick a side and then let them debate it using lots of examples. Then I think when we get to the end of Hamlet I will pull out their lovely little work sheet again and have them debate and discuss the same ideas but in light of the play. I have a feeling that many of their opinions will change. Especially about revenge. Many of the students thought that revenge should be planned out. I think though that once they get to the end of Hamlet they will be on the opposite side. Let’s face it, Hamlet draws the whole tortured soul thing out a little too long.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Day 13: Workshop
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
Today I again played the name game from yesterday with the two English classes. In the senior English class I also did a small workshop on how to write a paper using another text to inform on the literature being analyzed. I used an example from a paper I had written to show them what we were looking for as well as a paragraph Ms. Doughty created about the play, Medea, that they are writing about in relation to a medical text in order to prove the character Medea has a mental illness. They seemed to grasp what I was trying to show them. Before I did the workshop they were all doing a really good job quoting a medical reference in regards to symptoms of the illness they thought Medea had but they weren’t quoting Medea. They were just giving examples of places where she showed that symptom. There were other problems as well in many of the papers but mostly with how to use quotes from two different sources. I am hoping that this will help improve their writing. They have been given the weekend to fix their papers up and then turn them in on Tuesday. I guess I won’t know if the workshop actually helped or not until then.
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
Today I again played the name game from yesterday with the two English classes. In the senior English class I also did a small workshop on how to write a paper using another text to inform on the literature being analyzed. I used an example from a paper I had written to show them what we were looking for as well as a paragraph Ms. Doughty created about the play, Medea, that they are writing about in relation to a medical text in order to prove the character Medea has a mental illness. They seemed to grasp what I was trying to show them. Before I did the workshop they were all doing a really good job quoting a medical reference in regards to symptoms of the illness they thought Medea had but they weren’t quoting Medea. They were just giving examples of places where she showed that symptom. There were other problems as well in many of the papers but mostly with how to use quotes from two different sources. I am hoping that this will help improve their writing. They have been given the weekend to fix their papers up and then turn them in on Tuesday. I guess I won’t know if the workshop actually helped or not until then.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Day 12: Name Game
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free time
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Prep Period
Today I did a name game with the students in both English classes. I had them write their name on a piece of paper. Then I called for three volunteers. I then told them they were to mix the pieces of paper with their names on them up and I was going to guess which name went with which face. Their goal was to stump me. The students had a lot of fun trying to stump me but I got everyone right. After we did that a few times I went around the room and said everyone’s name. I got them all right! I was pretty impressed with myself for being able to remember everyone’s name. And the students seemed to be having fun with it. I know I was! I hope that the next activity I do with them goes so well.
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free time
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Prep Period
Today I did a name game with the students in both English classes. I had them write their name on a piece of paper. Then I called for three volunteers. I then told them they were to mix the pieces of paper with their names on them up and I was going to guess which name went with which face. Their goal was to stump me. The students had a lot of fun trying to stump me but I got everyone right. After we did that a few times I went around the room and said everyone’s name. I got them all right! I was pretty impressed with myself for being able to remember everyone’s name. And the students seemed to be having fun with it. I know I was! I hope that the next activity I do with them goes so well.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Day 10: Bad Writing
Agenda:
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomores
Free period for rubric planning
Class: AP Lit Senior
Lunch
Prep Period
Students today spent time working on their papers in both English classes. In the senior class their rough draft was due. They put some final touches on them and then hand them to us to read. I was really surprised at how the students wrote. I expected them to be better writers because they were in AP. A lot of them didn’t have any quotes from the play they were writing about in their papers and many of them were badly organized. I started to think about it and really I’m not sure why I thought they would better writers. Just because they are in AP doesn’t mean they are automatically good writers. I know that when I was in high school I was in AP because I was a better writer than many in my grade but the class itself is what made my writing good. I wonder if maybe I should do an intensive writing unit with them. I don’t think they have gotten as much practice writing as I think they need. AP at my school was all about the writing because we knew we were going to have to take the AP exam and in order to do well on it you needed to be able to write a decent essay in 45 minutes or less. How are my students going to be able to do that? I think I need to review essay writing basics with them and then allow them to break the rules. I think we need to talk about audience, point of view, objective, and subject again and how all of these things affect what we write. I think I need to dig out some of my old papers and show them some examples of the good, the bad and the ugly so that they get an idea of how to write a good paper. And maybe I need to have them take a few practice AP tests to show them what they need to be able to do in a short amount of time. It makes me sad to think that even the writing of AP students is not good. I know that a lot of students in regular classes don’t write well also. Why has writing gotten to be so bad?
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomores
Free period for rubric planning
Class: AP Lit Senior
Lunch
Prep Period
Students today spent time working on their papers in both English classes. In the senior class their rough draft was due. They put some final touches on them and then hand them to us to read. I was really surprised at how the students wrote. I expected them to be better writers because they were in AP. A lot of them didn’t have any quotes from the play they were writing about in their papers and many of them were badly organized. I started to think about it and really I’m not sure why I thought they would better writers. Just because they are in AP doesn’t mean they are automatically good writers. I know that when I was in high school I was in AP because I was a better writer than many in my grade but the class itself is what made my writing good. I wonder if maybe I should do an intensive writing unit with them. I don’t think they have gotten as much practice writing as I think they need. AP at my school was all about the writing because we knew we were going to have to take the AP exam and in order to do well on it you needed to be able to write a decent essay in 45 minutes or less. How are my students going to be able to do that? I think I need to review essay writing basics with them and then allow them to break the rules. I think we need to talk about audience, point of view, objective, and subject again and how all of these things affect what we write. I think I need to dig out some of my old papers and show them some examples of the good, the bad and the ugly so that they get an idea of how to write a good paper. And maybe I need to have them take a few practice AP tests to show them what they need to be able to do in a short amount of time. It makes me sad to think that even the writing of AP students is not good. I know that a lot of students in regular classes don’t write well also. Why has writing gotten to be so bad?
Day 9: Excitement
Agenda:
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior Lit
Study Hall
The day went well. Creative writing was again amazing. The class was super excited to be talking about and involved in the creation of our world. Today we decided on the name of the world, how the world came to be and how the magic in our world would work. Unlike the adults on Friday who could not come to a consensus the class was much more willing to talk and to combine ideas. They were much more willing to compromise so that everyone could be involved and heard. In the end they managed to come to an agreement they were all happy with. After they were done making these decisions they still had a little bit of time to work on their stories and on their individual regions. They were again enthused to get to writing and as soon as they were given the chance they went to it, silently tapping away at their keys on their keyboards. After class many were reluctant to leave and stayed to talk for a minute before heading to their next class. One student even came in during our study hall so he could keep talking about the world with us! The students are loving this almost as much as we are. It’s great! I am so excited to be in the class with them. I think they are really learning about what goes into the creation of a story and of another world entirely. I will be interested to see what happens when they get started on their longer pieces. I think some really amazing stuff will be coming out of this class. I have been trying to think about what other types of things need to be done with the class in order to make sure their writing is superb. Maybe we can do some mini lessons on grammar or spelling. One or two students are having trouble with that in their postings on the wiki. Or maybe we can do something about the importance of a name or creating a character profile. I just think that with a class this excited about learning we should take advantage of it to teach them as much English as possible.
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior Lit
Study Hall
The day went well. Creative writing was again amazing. The class was super excited to be talking about and involved in the creation of our world. Today we decided on the name of the world, how the world came to be and how the magic in our world would work. Unlike the adults on Friday who could not come to a consensus the class was much more willing to talk and to combine ideas. They were much more willing to compromise so that everyone could be involved and heard. In the end they managed to come to an agreement they were all happy with. After they were done making these decisions they still had a little bit of time to work on their stories and on their individual regions. They were again enthused to get to writing and as soon as they were given the chance they went to it, silently tapping away at their keys on their keyboards. After class many were reluctant to leave and stayed to talk for a minute before heading to their next class. One student even came in during our study hall so he could keep talking about the world with us! The students are loving this almost as much as we are. It’s great! I am so excited to be in the class with them. I think they are really learning about what goes into the creation of a story and of another world entirely. I will be interested to see what happens when they get started on their longer pieces. I think some really amazing stuff will be coming out of this class. I have been trying to think about what other types of things need to be done with the class in order to make sure their writing is superb. Maybe we can do some mini lessons on grammar or spelling. One or two students are having trouble with that in their postings on the wiki. Or maybe we can do something about the importance of a name or creating a character profile. I just think that with a class this excited about learning we should take advantage of it to teach them as much English as possible.
Day 8: Accreditation
Agenda:
Accreditation
Today we spent all day in a meeting going over self-reflections and core belief statements for accreditation. The day was long. There was a lot of debate about how things should be worded and what things needed to be added or removed according to how important they were to what the people visiting were looking for. I didn’t have a lot to contribute to the conversation. I was amazed by how people worked on this. There was a lot of back and forth and sometimes it seemed like the group would never come to a consensus because everyone wanted something different. Sometimes even the compromises were shot down because they were yet something else to add to the different ideas on the table. No one seemed like they were completely happy. In fact everyone seemed bored or if they weren’t bored they were irritated and miserable. This was a long process that didn’t seem to be getting anyone anywhere. Despite all of the disagreements people remained civil. No one called anyone else names and there wasn’t a lot of yelling. I was impressed by that.
Accreditation
Today we spent all day in a meeting going over self-reflections and core belief statements for accreditation. The day was long. There was a lot of debate about how things should be worded and what things needed to be added or removed according to how important they were to what the people visiting were looking for. I didn’t have a lot to contribute to the conversation. I was amazed by how people worked on this. There was a lot of back and forth and sometimes it seemed like the group would never come to a consensus because everyone wanted something different. Sometimes even the compromises were shot down because they were yet something else to add to the different ideas on the table. No one seemed like they were completely happy. In fact everyone seemed bored or if they weren’t bored they were irritated and miserable. This was a long process that didn’t seem to be getting anyone anywhere. Despite all of the disagreements people remained civil. No one called anyone else names and there wasn’t a lot of yelling. I was impressed by that.
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