September 19-23, 2016

This past summer, I attended a week-long writing marathon in New Orleans. The purpose of a writing marathon is to write in the company of other writers and share writing. It's a time away from standardized tests, red ink, and grades for the sheer enjoyment of writing. For our first marathon at NFMS, I took the students to three different locations on campus. First core had some issues with their Chromebooks, so I allowed them to use phones this time. They all said they enjoyed the experience and hoped we'd do it again soon.

Pictures from the First Writing Marathon: Click Here Go to the top right and click "Present" to go full screen.

We continued to finish our data collection with pretests, the STAR, Aimsweb screening--it's so nice when all of it is behind us. Students are reading The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton and continuing to learn a few vocabulary words each day to incorporate into their writing. They are also working on an Article of the Month assignment for both English and science, which is due October 14. They have to annotate an article and write a letter to the next president, which is actually a persuasive piece of writing with a claim supported by evidence. They've been given graphic organizers, videos, and an audiofile of my reading of the article as tools to help them complete the work. I give some workshop time every day in class to complete assignments.

The letter to our sister schools in Alabama and Oregon were due Friday. We've worked on them for three weeks, and some students still aren't finished. Please remind them to get it done if they haven't. Also, students are required to come to class with only three items: earbuds, their charged Chromebook, and a book to read. Many aren't bringing what they need and asking if they can return to their lockers to get it. As of this past Friday, after being reminded every day since school began, I told them no locker after class starts. As well, some students aren't charging their Chromebooks and then come to class with a dead Chromebook and ask to sit near an outlet. I've let them know that's the same as not having the Chromebook. Please remind your student of the requirements when they come to class each day.

Upcoming due dates: Annotated coal article and Letter to the Next President: due October 14.
Core 1: Outsiders reflection journals #1: due now.
Core 2: Outsiders reflection journals: due Oct. 7
Core 3: Outsiders reflection journals: due Oct. 4

Mrs. Shrum with her writing Krewe in New Orleans, July 2016