topham's attic: 4th weekend in oct...but NOT the last!

Friday, October 22, 2010

4th weekend in oct...but NOT the last!

Yes...it's true!

This October, 2010, has 5 Fridays, 5Saturdays and 5 Sundays, all in one month.

It happens once in 823 years.

So there! And considering that I heard on the news this morning that it is gong to be a cold, snowy winter due to the effects of the same El Nina that kept us dry and warm this summer, I guess I'll take a slightly elongated October.

:-)

Anyway...

Here is the stuff you need to know:

CW: It's been a great week. Have a great weekend. Do lots and lots of revisions and get your binders in order; bring everything in on Monday!

E3H: It's time for an Asher Lev essay. The assignment is this: In My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok shows us an internal battle between faith and tradition on the one hand and personal freedom and artistic passion on the other. In a 2-3 page essay, explore one specific element of the book that illustrates this dynamic. As I have said several times, your specific topic ought to be a single element of the book that somehow appeals to you. Be as inventive in your approach as you want to be, but be sure that you are on topic. A draft is due to me no later than Wednesday. I will read these in the order they come in, so earlier is better. (Also remember that WW is Monday, so an x.0 draft is due.)

E2CP: It's time for a third essay for you! Your assignment will be based on Our Town, Harold and Maude, and/or the Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau. You are going to have quite a bit of flexibility here, so choose the topic that you can write about best, OK? There are three possible selections, and I am linking each to helpful selections from the text. (Here are the Thoreau/Emerson quotations, for those of you who never seem to be able to locate them.)

What does Thornton Wilder's Our Town teach us about life in the 21st century?
In what ways can we consider Harold and Maude a modern Transcendentalist film?
In what ways do the themes of Harold and Maude echo the themes of Our Town?

The thesis paragraph of this essay is due to be emailed to me by SUNDAY NIGHT along with an OUTLINE of the rest of the essay, including significant quotations you believe will probably help you in each paragraph.

We will discuss these on Monday and then proceed to write the rough drafts Monday night.

Today's silly 70's song:

and...

(have a nice weekend)

Notes to Parents

8/24/14

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.

Karen

Feel free to email me any time at ktopham@lfschools.net.

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31Halloween

topham's attic

Friday, October 22, 2010

4th weekend in oct...but NOT the last!

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