I hope that you are enjoying yourselves so far as we count down the days until Christmas. (That would be 2 at this moment).
Recapping vacation assignment stuff:
CW: Your assignment is to find a way to explore your journey through four years of LFHS writing education:
Examine pieces from each of your high school years.Find work from each of the Writing Workshop experiences you have had and trace your growth as a writer through this fall.
What have you learned?
What have been the greatest catalysts of that growth?
With what do you continue to struggle?
Where will your future focuses be?
Quote from your own work.Liberally sprinkle this with bits and pieces of you.Finally, put it together in a micro-portfolio (no need for anything fancy this time) that illustrates your personal writing journey over the last four years.
You may do a mini-portfolio, but I’d actually prefer that you do this in a completelydifferentformat.Try something you’ve never tried before.Make a DVD* or CD-ROM.Make a web-site** or blog***.You are creative people: be creative!The rules are that you must explore your career in writing as noted above, but the format is wide open.
* Lots of programs make this easy.I’m a Mac girl myself, so I use iMovie.Easy as pie.
** Mac has one for this too: iWeb.I imagine Vista has one, but I don’t know that universe.
*** Here’s a super-simple option and it’s universal:use Google!If you create a free account on Google, they will guide you through the creation of a blog, provide templates, and publish it for you!
So…have fun!
This is due when we get back, so we can share them in class on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.(I won’t be here on Friday due to Theatre Fest.)
Want an example or two?
Try: Johanna's web page, or Heather's blog, or Lilly's blog, or Betsy's blog, or Sarah's blog. I can't show you Angela's or Ed's Publisher-based newsletters, or Casey, Julie, Katherine or Cat's movies made with iMovie or a similar Windows program, but these are also things I have seen in the past couple of years. The examples I've given here are not necessarily the best; they are just the ones I have online access to. Still, they should provide ideas.
Questions? Email me!
E3H:Your assignment for break is pretty simple and direct: Read Chapter Four and annotate it.
E2H: As for you all: if you have read an posted on Chapter 20, you're done for the vacay. Enjoy the rest of it! (If you have NOT...do it now!).
Christmas is in the rear view mirror. The New Year's ball has been put away in its silo for another year. M&M's that ten days ago were green and red are now red and white; hearts have replaced wreaths. Time moves inexorably on.
Exams are in eight days.
Unless, of course, you are in CW, in which case you don't have one! I have to say, though, that I am thoroughly enjoying your portfolios and your final projects and looking forward tot he rest of them. Here are a couple of links to today's projects: Neil's poem; Emma and Julia's web pages. If I can figure out how to link to Laura's rap, I'll let you know. :-) Brittni, can you send me the Word file on your project so I can link to that?
E3H: We (barely) got started discussing Chapter Four. Tomorrow: Stephen has an epiphany.
E2H: Tonight, read "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver (p.160). Review the rubric. Tomorrow you'll be taking an in-class practice mini-final.
I really have little today that is new. Our CW countdown stands at 10. (Do you know where your portfolio is?) There's snow in the air, on the ground, and in the forecast. I'm overwhelmed with everything. And I'm trying to get out the door.
:-)
Today's super-hilarious thing is a link. Do follow it. You won't regret it. :-)
In case you can't tell, Mrs. T is not a big fan of the white stuff. In my perfect world, it would snow once each year: late on Christmas Eve. The resulting fall of white velvet would remain on the ground throughout a peaceful Christmas Day, and then a warm wind would blow temps up into the fifties, melting it all before I get out of bed on the 26th. (This actually happened once in my life. But only once. And unfortunately even that year the snow fell again; in my prefect year it would just go find a home in the Arctic.)
Anyway...
Today we sit 11 days in front of Christmas Break. (CW, do you know where your portfolios are?) Time to think put the thing together, seniors: there are many pieces ot this puzzle that are not "pieces" for this puzzle.
E3H: We began discussing Ch 2 today and will continue tomorrow. Have you posted on any issues you're having? Although the discussion boards are optional, I'd hope that you'll each be on there at times during our reading of this book, as these conversations can be edifying. (Notice how I sneaked the WOD in there?) Continue reading and annotating: we'll be in Ch 3 by Wednesday or Thursday.
E2H: We began discussing the migrant road today and we'll do more tomorrow. Keep reading: we'll be up to Ch. 20 by the end of the week for sure...perhaps earlier. Boards are open for discussion!
I have not blogged much this week, and that's unusual for me. I apologize. I think it's just because I have not had much to say. We had great workshops on Monday and Tuesday (and all week in CW) and then the discussions have been wonderful in all lit classes, but since there has been no new assignment and the conversation was ongoing, I did not have a real reason to blog.
Still, I should have done so, if only to make sure everyone who was not in school knew what was going on. So here is where we are:
We are 14 days before Christmas break. (CW: Do you know where your portfolio is?) Lit classes will not have scheduled workshops before break so that we can make significant headway on our novels.
E2H: Read chapters 11-15 and post for Monday. We'll be moving into 16-20 later in the week.
E3H: read Ch 2 and annotate for Monday. We'll be moving into Ch 3 later in the week.
Anyone whose scheduled conference falls during workshop and who has fewer than five current conferences, please be certain to find a time to reschedule and see me.
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another (or your first) year at LFHS.
What you have heard is true. The English teacher has lost her ever-loving mind and is not going to be giving any grades at all in her classes this year. Not. One.
There will be no percentages, no numbers, no scores, no letters, no anything that will count toward anything that will end up being averaged for a final grade. But before you call in the men with the white coats, let me explain:
As I hope you have read in the doc your son or daughter (I have always hated the phrase "your student" when addressed to a parent) should have showed you, there is a wealth of research that indicates that grades--or the need to achieve them--are the single greatest thing that stand in the way of a great education. Studies show that the most influential thing a teacher can do to help a student grow academically is to allow him or her to self-grade. Most teachers would rather climb Mt. Everest dressed only in a swimsuit.
But the thing is: our academic system is severely broken. We say that our goal is to get our students to master Common Core Standards, and that is all well and good. But if that is truly the goal, then why do we care how long it takes them to master them? I'm serious. Think about it this way:
Try to remember back to when you were learning how to ride a bike. Oh, it was scary. You needed all kinds of support at first, lots of help from Daddy or Mommy. Then they let go and you were very, very wobbly. Probably you fell off, maybe several times. It took quite a while before you completely mastered the skill. But when you had...you had it down perfectly for the rest of your life.
Now imagine if you were being graded on that learning experience the way schools grade you. We would not score those first scaffolding attempts with Mommy and Daddy, but then...oh, you failed those quizzes when you fell off. And those wobbly rides? C's at best. Then a bunch of B's probably before you finally settled into 100% forever. But if we graded you right at that point, you'd probably average, oh, 83% or so. Why?You've mastered the skill perfectly. So why do you not get 100% if that is what we say we care about? Why on earth do we care about all those earlier times when you didn't have it down yet?
That will be what we go for here. Students will know what the goals are. They will understand what an "A" student looks like. And they will know when they have mastered an objective. Those who do so earlier than others will become tutors to those who have not yet done it: everyone gains from this and the newly learned skills, instead of being quickly forgotten as things studied for a test usually are, will continue being applied as masters tutor their classmates.
That is an awful lot to imagine will happen because I don't give grades this year, but what the heck: if you don't dream big, you never win big, right? The research is behind this, as is the school administration. I'm happy--well, actually I am excited--to pilot this concept at LFHS. As always, I'm glad to discuss this or anything else with you.
