October 20-24, 2014

Network overload issues impacted this week greatly. The plan was that everyone would be finished with the 1965 videos by Friday, as well as MLA citations, but we struggled to get online and access the Google Drive. After speaking to our technology people, I found that our network had reached capacity. We were scheduled for a network update this summer, but, because of budget cuts, the other two campuses got their updates, and we didn't. I chide the students when they are frustrated and want to throw their computers through the wall, but, by the end of the week, I actually felt the same way.

Incredibly, they were still able to get something done. The majority have finished the projects and are focusing on the first major essay on what's important in their lives. We spent one class talking about revising vs. editing, and then we looked at a model opening and closing from a National Geographic article and wrote an opening based on the model. I shared Betty Flowers's model of the writer as madman, architect, carpenter, and judge, and I was surprised and pleased when they began talking about themselves that way as they worked on their writing: "Mrs. Shrum, I think I need to be the madman for awhile because I have to create some more writing in this paragraph."

Everyone is officially finished reading and watching The Outsiders, and Core 1 and 3 are working on their sequel assignment. Not only are they showing their comprehension of the novel and the author's style, but they are wanting to know how to punctuate quotes and how to create a first-person narrative. They are touching on many of our eighth grade English SOLs without knowing it. I am asking students to allow me to print a hard copy of their sequel when they're finished so we can share them with Mrs. Voigt's students and between classes. All three classes also learned the word "plaintive" Friday as we began our next round of vocabulary study.

Core 2 is almost at the end of act II of Hamlet. Their comprehension of the play and Shakespeare's language has grown, and many said they no longer need to rely as much on reading online commentaries to understand their assignments. I've been assigning short passages with questions to reflect on, then we watch the various interpretations on film. On Friday, I showed them Ethan Hawke's for the first time, and they really disliked it. They didn't feel it translated well to the modern age.

Encore is still reading Babe and Me, and ECO read and discussed the job of fiber technician that's currently open at Shentel and watched some videos on becoming one. They are also working on creating career board games, but that's been difficult because of a number of absent students this week. We read a skit about a job interview, discussed what a resume is, and then read some terrible answers given during actual job interviews.

October 13-17, 2014

Sorry I'm a little late with the post this week--I was at the Cedar Creek Sesquicentennial all day on Saturday.

We're still tying up the videos and MLA citations, which was complicated this week by network/computer issues; we lost a full day on the computers. Everyone is now finished reading The Outsiders, and Core 1 and 3 are working on the five-page sequel as their performance assessment. We're also sneaking in the movie in bits and pieces; it's one of the few I show because students love the novel so much, and they enjoy comparing the two. They enjoyed seeing the author S. E. Hinton's cameo appearance; she's the nurse when Dally is lying in bed, and he's giving her a hard time, then he says, "You make me sick to my stomach."

All classes continued to review using participial phrases for writing, and I gave them some mentor paragraphs. When we use a mentor text, we use the basic structure of the original to create a new work. Their new pieces are awesome, and I'm hoping to pull some "golden lines" from them to post around the room. I've explained to them that studying parts of speech and grammar has to be joint with writing, or the grammar study is pointless, and they are beginning to understand as they are creating sophisticated pieces of writing with their new knowledge. They also had the option of working on their essay about the important things in their lives.

Core 3 read "The Gift of Cochise," which Core 2 has already read, and they began some CRISS exercises to better understand the story. Core 2 has begun Hamlet. I've assigned very brief passages of the play as homework and encouraged them read simplified versions and commentaries online, if they wish. They then write a reflection to show they understand what it says and how it's progressing the story. They are doing a magnificent job with it, and it's been very exciting to work on the play with them. We're going to see it at Blackfriars in Staunton on December 3, and it's much more interesting if you know the story. I'm using four different film versions and showing different scenes based on what I'd like them to see about directors' choices in portraying the story. I want them see that drama is very much an interpretation of the director, not just the playwright's intention. They've been intrigued to see how different some of the directorial choices are.

Encore finished Honus and Me and comparing it to the Twilight Zone episode, "Extra Innings," then began Babe and Me. They quickly devoured a chunk of the book and made predictions about the story and discussed plot possibilities. It's wonderful to see them independently initiating those activities now after being led to do them with the first novel. They're already asking what the next book will be, but I'm keeping it a secret.

ECO finished the article on LFCC's grant to help the local workforce and began looking at the local businesses who would be hiring through the grant. We looked at Valley Healthlink first because I wanted them to see that there are non-health worker jobs at hospitals, like cooking and housekeeping. We next watched videos about jobs at Shentel and focused on a current job opening in Edinburg for fiber optic technician. It's a job requiring only a high school education that keeps the worker busy and outdoors, pays well, and has good benefits. Some of the guys were excited to see that they could qualify and apply for such a local job. Credit belongs where credit is due--Kobe asked if they could create a game based on job searching, and Mrs. Zimmon and I thought it was a marvelous idea, so they are now planning how to create such a board game. They've split into three teams. When the games are finished, Mrs. Brinkley and Mrs. Voigt said the CSYW would give them a test-play to see if they work and to judge how much fun they are and how educational.

October 6-10, 2014

More and more students are finished with the 1965 video project, including the MLA citations page. On Friday Core 2 turned in their Outsiders sequels. It was a good day to see some short clips of music from 1965 mentioned in the novel and learn two very easy, very popular dances from 1965, the Twist and the Monkey. Those blurry pics are them in action (I found my new phone isn't good at capturing movement).

Monday began with our first test on their first group of vocabulary words. This was a summative grade (80%), so the handful that didn't study discovered what an impact one poor summative grade makes in the middle of all those formative grades (20%). We read a poem called "Loving Red" by the award-winning poet Amaul Amaud Johnson. They had some questions only the poet could answer. I located him, e-mailed, and had a response by lunch! The poem was rich in symbolism.

We learned what participial phrases are and how they can enrich writing. They are working on their first essay on what's important in life. Core 3 finished The Outsiders on Friday and Core 1 is almost there. Core 2 began watching the movie; many kept their computers on and worked on their sequels at the same time. Some students were so far ahead that they were able to begin planning their next project. They're required to use reading and writing and choose a product to deliver their research. I've given them a planning sheet, which they have to complete, that helps them narrow the topic and plan the steps to complete it. A few so far: creating a portfolio to becoming a certified teacher, improving a volleyball serve through video, coaching, and researching professional advice, a duo researching Vladimir Putin's Ukraine activities, writing a skit, and acting it for the class (including learning some basic Russian phrases), reading selected novels by an author and comparing and contrasting them, researching the deer population of Shenandoah County. We've only started on project planning, so I'm looking forward to hearing more proposals.

Core 2 had a very quick introduction to Hamlet on Friday, a play I haven't taught since I had seniors at SJ. We're going to see in December at Blackfriars Playhouse, so I wanted them to have a background in it. The Lion King is based on Hamlet, so it should seem familiar.

ECO only met once this week because of Aimsweb screening. We began reading an article from The Northern Virginia Daily about a grant they received to improve Valley job skills. Encore finished reading Honus and Me, completed a ten question SOL-style quiz on it, then watched a Twilight Zone episode that was remarkably similar called "Extra Innings." Next week, they'll complete a Venn diagram comparing the two works. (Since The Twilight Zone episode aired in 1988 and Honus and Me was published in 1997, the author clearly took some major inspiration from the episode.)

September 29-October 3, 2014

This week, I showed students how to play Kahoot. I create a game and project it on the front screen. They log in on their computers or phones and click the correct color and shape associated with the correct answer. Kahoot shows who answered first and got the most points and the class rank in answering correct answers. They didn't just like it; they went a little insane over it. I told them I wanted to give it a try with a 10 question "quiz" on keyword searches as an introduction and that I would also give them opportunities later to create Kahoots for the class to play.

They began working on their first formal essay this week: What are the things that matter most in your life right now? I talked about how to preplan and outline essays and why they need to get into that habit. They told me about what they had learned about writing in seventh grade. I told them one of our big objectives this year is to build the stamina to write an essay in one sitting since they will need to do it on the writing SOL in March. We will be working on the essay more this week. They also completed a fifth vocabulary word, succulent, so they are now ready for a vocab quiz on Monday (I generally have them on Fridays, but we had the field trip to JMU, and students chose Monday as the alternate day). There are three sections on the quiz: fill in the blank, write a sentence for the word with strong context clues that show meaning, and match the word to the correct picture. For the second section they can study the exercises we did in class and memorize the sentence for the text because it must not only be correct usage, but also punctuated correctly with all words spelled correctly.

Core 1 and 3 continued reading The Outsiders in class, while Core 2 worked on writing the first five pages of the sequel, which is due this Friday, October 10.

The most exciting activity has been the 1965 research projects, which are drawing to a close. Many students have completed the research, the movie, and the MLA citation page for sources. I won't accept them unless they are A or B quality, so I'm spending a lot of time looking at their work by way of Google, then e-mailing with what needs to be fixed. The video and research will be their first 80% summative grade, so they are important. The pictures I'm showing this week are of students helping and teaching other students how to do different required tasks associated with the project. Teaching reinforces their knowledge, and being taught by a peer is sometimes more effective than getting the information from the teacher. It gives me goosebumps when I see students reach that point in learning. I've sent all students information to plan their next topic: they must use reading and writing to learn a topic or skill and decide a final product, such as a video, skit, e-portfolio, etc.

ECO did an activity from Sir Kenneth Robinson's Finding Your Element to see how their time is currently spent to consider how the want to spend time in future jobs. They also completed a short job predictor and read about jobs.

Encore is almost finished with Honus and Me. Their discussions of the book have become very targeted. It's not unusual for someone to raise a hand and say, I'd like to make a prediction. . ."