Please send students to school with an electronic device tomorrow 9th Lit

Good Morning,

Tomorrow we'll be doing an activity that will require students to pull up their current grade breakdowns on StudentVue.  I'd like them to be sent in with an electronic device that can get on the internet (cell phone, kindle fire, etc.).  If they do not own an electronic device, that's fine, I can print out individual student's grades, but it would save trees if they could just pull it up.  

We're doing this for several reasons.

1. I want to make sure they know how to access their grades for the 5th 6 weeks.
2. I want them to be very aware of their grade and progress in the class.
3. I want them to metacognitively think about their effort and write a reflection including specific criteria.  

Thank you for your support!

Yearbook Final Deadlines and Spring Supplement

9th Lit Paper and Homework

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I want to say thank you to the students who turned in their short story narratives over the break.  I'm looking forward to reading them!

I've updated Synergy with the students who did not turn in their narratives with a zero, so that you can tell if your child has turned it in or not.  It will either say 0 or "not graded yet".  If they turn it in to turnitin.com today before midnight, it is late, but they can give me an Errand Pass tomorrow to mitigate that lateness.

Many students also forgot to finish their USATestPrep homework over the break.  If they finish these assignments by Wednesday, I'll take them for full credit.

As a head's up, we are reading one final story, "The Scarlet Ibis," by Wednesday and then we'll have our Short Story Test on Thursday.  Our Unit 3 Vocabulary Quiz is Friday.  Next week, we'll start our poetry unit.

Happy Monday!

9th Lit Grades and Work over the Break

Good Evening,

Today in class we worked on their short story narrative assignments in their Google Drives.  This assignment is due to turnitin.com before midnight on Sunday, Feb 21.  They must have someone read over their assignment and fill out the Peer Editing Sheet before they do their final submission.  This is because I don't want them to lose points due to missing a step.

The assignment, the rubric, and the peer editing forms are all on the Resources page of the blog, if they misplace their copy.

I have also assigned the students several USATestPrep.com assignments, due every Wednesday, this includes the break.  Please make sure they are doing these homework assignments as the more practice they have with the test, the better they'll do.  We'll continue to work through our test taking and problem solving strategies in class with our QotDs (which I completely forgot to collect today--they should turn those in first thing on Monday).  The students should be able to start walking you through their homework, talking about the strategies that they use on each question.

I've been thinking a lot about my 9th Lit classes and I have to say how pleased I am with the students in the class right now.  Some could definitely improve their study skills and their in class focus, but overall, they are amazing students and people.  I'm very glad they are in my class and look forward to them continuing to improve their learning, their grades, and to mature as people.  Please remind them that they do need to keep working, both in school and out, in order to become the best they can be.

Thank you for your support.  I hope you have a fantastic break!

Yearbook January Deadline, Grades, and February Deadline

Happy Break!

First I want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of the students who really kicked rear this week in stepping up and helping the team to make our plant deadline.  I see how hard each of you are working and I love how much effort you are putting into the book to make it awesome. 

Grades are finalized and what comes out on the progress report the next Wednesday of school should reflect what the grades look like right now.

I've spoken with two of the three students who missed their deadlines.  Obviously the pages still need to be finished.  We met our plant deadline for this week, but the next deadline is the rest of the book.  Everything in the main book must be submitted or the book won't get printed.  Please, if a student has earned less than 70 on any of their Deadline pages, that means it's not done, please have them work on these over the break and come back to school with them finished.  I know the editors will be periodically checking the pages (specifically Monday and Wednesday) to proof what they can next week, because when we get back to school we will hit the ground running.  They can recoup some points, although not all points as the pages are late.

We are coming into the final stretch.  We have 2 more deadlines, one at the end of February, one mid March.  These are the last pages of the book, and then the Spring Supplement.  I know how much work they are doing, I know it's too much, but it will be over so quickly then we can relax for the rest of the semester.   We'll still have assignments, but they will be nowhere nearly as stressful.  

Thank you so much for your support.  The book wouldn't be what it is without you.  I truly believe this is the best yearbook Kell has had to date.

Have a great week.

Yearbook Deadlines January and February

Hello all,

Most of our students have been working hard and overcoming the challenge of losing so many of our classmates.  I'm very proud of their dedication and effort.

With that said, many of them haven't submitted everything they need to for their January deadlines, which is why I haven't put in that grade yet.  I need those pages finished, checked, and submitted by early next week.  Students also need to make sure they have all of the material they need (quotes and pictures) for their February deadline, as the break is going to take away a lot of the networking time we usually have.

They can do it, I know they can.  However, they do have to make sure they stay on top of their responsibilities.

If you have any questions, please feel free.

Grades and One Week before a Break 9th Lit

Hello All,

I hope you are having a happy Friday.

I just finished updating the grades for the Road Constructed Response--it was wonderful to read your children's submissions.  They are all amazing and wonderful people with interesting histories and unique perspectives and plans.  I can't wait to see what they become as they continue to grow.

I plan to get as many of the other, smaller, classwork grades in as I can early in the week next week.  However, with the 2 major assignments in, as well as the quizzes, you should have a pretty accurate measure of how well you're child is performing in the class.  If you wish to discuss things with me specifically, I encourage you to email me.

As a head's up for next week:

Monday we'll finish "The Necklace," although if they pre-read over the weekend, they'll be better prepared for class.  We'll also introduce the Unit 3 vocabulary words.  I know that we'll have a week long break in between the introduction and the quiz, so don't forget to go over the words over the week.

Tuesday we'll get some Edgar Allen Poe background and start to read "Cask of Amontillado."  Some students read this in 8th grade, and that's okay.  We're going to go a little deeper into the story.  I will have a sub that day as I'll be in an all day meeting (fun!  Ask your student what kind of irony that is...), however, I don't give busy work.  I expect the students to work hard meet their goal by the end of the day.  They'll need to to be prepared for Wednesday.  There may be a quiz...

Wednesday-Thursday we'll finish "Cask" and prewrite for Friday.

Friday we'll be in the lab (1115) to type the next major writing grade--something about a narrative, I may have hinted?

After the break we have one last short story, then the test.

Have a great weekend!

Homework every night -- 9th Lit

Hello All,

I've been noticing an unfortunate and frustrating trend in our Lit class.  Many students aren't doing their homework (although more students in 3rd period did do their work last night).

I know that students resist doing homework, so we had a discussion about it today.  The point of homework (not busywork, because I don't give busywork) is to reinforce the skills that we practice in class each day.  If students see it several hours later, and practice that skill several hours later, studies have shown that they have increased retention and concept obtainment--that's the point of homework.
We also discussed the point of high school.  At the end of the day, you go to high school to learn how to learn.  At some point, their boss could say, "Hey, look at this thing.  I like this thing.  Make me a thing like this thing," and our students would need to go through the steps of:

1. What are the elements in that thing that work?
2. How do I get (research) the information I need to replicate those elements?
3. How do I put it together in a pleasing way in order to get my point across clearly and neatly?
4. How do I make sure I'm giving my boss what s/he wants?

This is what we do with each assignment.  We build these skills so that students are able to go through these steps on their own by senior year.  We might be doing it through a fun story, but the end goal is still the same: To make them better communicators and able to give their bosses what they want in order to be successful.

So, the students have homework every night.  They do need to reinforce their USATestPrep skills, as well as their vocabulary skills, but every night they should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What did we do in class today?
2. Why did we do that?  What skills did we learn about/practice?

Today, we're reading "The Most Dangerous Game" in their textbooks.  We're pulling out examples of simile, metaphor, and personification to see how the author used imagery to create the mood and irony in the story.  We'll be adding how the author sequenced the story using the stages of plot and examples of characterization to build the images in your mind tomorrow.

Their homework specifically for tonight is to finish reading "The Most Dangerous Game" and fill out their handout.  Their handout is specifically asking them the questions that reinforce the skills we've been practicing in class.  They will have 2 assignments using this knowledge tomorrow, followed by a quiz over "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Lottery."  Some questions will be comprehension questions.  Some will be applying the skills we have been practicing in class.

If you have any questions, please let me know.