How do I bring up my grade? 9th Lit

Hello All,

I've had several students ask, "How can I bring up my grade?" so let's talk about it.

1. Students have a test over the Odyssey tomorrow.  They have all of the material they need to succeed, provided they have done the reading and completed their summaries and guided reading notes.  They can use these things to study.
2. I sent home a Spring Break Optional Writing Assignment.  It is due the Monday we come back from break.  It is live on turnitin.com now.  If you have below an 85 in the class, I would not view it as optional ;)
3. I sent home EOC Incentive Contracts.  You can sign and return this tomorrow for a little bit of extra credit.  If you come to the 4 of 5 tutoring sessions, work hard, and positively participate, you can earn an extra test grade.  You can also complete practice tests on usatestprep.com. 

After we get back, we have our Romeo and Juliet Unit, the EOC, and we'll end with Lord of the Flies.  That's another 2 unit tests, 2 writing assignments, and a handful of quizzes.  It's not a lot and not a lot of time.  If you want to bring your grade up, the time starts now.

I believe in you!

9th Lit Weekend Homework

Hello All,

Our students need to read until the end of Part I in The Odyssey in order for us to be ready for the test Thursday.  Depending on the class, this is 8-10 pages.  They should take point by point notes and be able to answer the questions in the Reading Guides.  Be prepared to discuss what happened on Monday, and to ask questions about any specific point they didn't understand.

Happy Friday!

9th Lit EOC Insentives

Hello Everyone!

We are 23 school days away from the EOC, so lets start talking about incentives for you to be prepared.

You can see the contract here as well as under Classroom Materials on the Resources page.  I need it signed and returned.

Basically, if everyone in the class passes the EOC with a 72 or greater, we will have a pizza party.  If you get 80 or higher on the EOC, you can EXEMPT the final unit test.  Also, to prepare you for the EOC, you can attend 4 out of 5 Boot Camps before or after school or complete USA Test Prep Tests with 80 or better on each.

Yearbook Last Deadline

Hi everybody!

This is it!  Our last deadline is Monday and then we will be D.O.N.E. with the yearbook itself and only have getting through Distribution Day, selling out of yearbooks, wrapping up of the year and getting ready for next year for the last 9 weeks of class.

Just a little more and then we can relax.  All of this hard work is worth it, the book looks amazing.

Happy Friday!

Poetry Project and The Odyssey 9th Lit

Happy Friday Everybody!

The extension for the Poetry Project was yesterday.  However, as I told the students in class, if they turn it in today, it is only one school day late--which is what Errand Passes are for.  Also, if they turn it in Sunday before midnight, it will still be one school day late.

If you want to see if your child turned their Project in, ask they to show you where they submitted it on Turnitin.com.  The Submit button will have turned into the View button.

Today we went through our Background information on The Odyssey (they should have a Literary Terms sheet to finish over the weekend--they can use google) and we'll begin reading The Odyssey in class on Monday.  At the beginning of the semester your child checked out a 9th Lit text book, so each day you should be able to look on the calendar of the blog, see what we read in class, and have your child be able to summarize the main events--have them tell you what was going on.

This unit we're going to seriously start pushing the students to become more independent readers, especially since we are so close to the EOC.  We'll read some chapters and sections together, but more and more ask them to read independently then be prepared to discuss and ask/answer questions.  Please support them at home in this endevour as well.  Several of the chapters will have to be read for homework if we want to finish the unit before Spring Break.  I don't want them to have to remember the material over the break if we can help it.

This means that we'll start reading Romeo and Juliet in April, finishing right around the time of the EOC, and hopefully have time to read Lord of the Flies the final few weeks of class.

While the library does have copies of Lord of the Flies for checkout, you may want to purchase a physical or digital copy of the book so that they can take notes on the pages themselves.  The final exam will be on this text.

We are less than 9 weeks away from the end of the semester--that is not a lot, but that is enough time to pass or fail.  Please make sure you're working with your child to stay strong until the end.  I know that we're pushing them hard in the classroom, but as always, it is up to them to do the work.

Have a great weekend!

Yearbook Pizza Party

Happy Friday!

Our final deadlines are approaching in the next 2 weeks (eep!), so we talked about a work late pizza party next Thursday.

I'll be staying late and will order pizza for anyone who works with me.  I'm planning on staying until about 6:30.

This will be our last big push to get everything done!

Weekend Work 9th Lit

Good Afternoon!

Students have a couple of assignments that we started this week and if they needed more time, I've given them until Monday at the beginning of class to turn in.

1. The Vocabulary / Poetry Terms activity 
2. The Question of the Day for the last 2 weeks (10 total)
3. The E. F. Compare and Contrast Quickwrite
4. sorry (in the poetry packet--answer the questions on the right)

Links to all mentioned above are on the Resources page.

Some students finished all of these in class.  The only one I've collected (from about 10 students total) is number 3.  All students should be able to show you the rest, including where they marked the text in their packet for the Edmund Fitzgerald.  

As a head's up, I will be collecting their packets next week to see if they've been analyzing and marking their texts like I've been asking them to...

Happy Friday!

Letter to the Future and Poetry Packet

Good Morning,

First I'd like to say thank you to the students who turned in their Letters on time.  Thank you for taking care of business.

For the students who haven't, I've put in the 0 that they've currently earned.  They may turn it in tonight for a late grade.  Please make sure they do so.

I plan to catch up on the writing grading over this weekend--those grades should be in by Monday.

This week we've started our Poetry Unit.  This will take us through next week and the test is currently scheduled for Monday, 3/14.  They will have a writing project and possibly a presentation :)

Happy Wednesday!