Quick note: You can expect a lot more belated blog entries for a while. If I don't get to it during the day some time (yesterday, I was busy with finalizing those grades), I likely won't write until the next day. I'll do my best to write each day, but with softball starting and chess team activities still going on, it might be difficult some days.
Yesterday, we did some more research review stuff. I swear that we're starting actual Holocaust-related things Tuesday. The students completed a worksheet using the textbook. They also took their benchmark assessment on research which should have been very easy for them.
I also gave the students a grade reflection sheet for the third nine weeks. I'm going to look those over, add a few things, and give it to them to show parents Wednesday.
Hopefully, I'll have a Tuesday entry later today.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Friday
Gosh, I'm tired. And it's strange that I'd be tired since Mitch Daniels and a lot of the Indiana congress people keep telling me that I don't really do anything.
Today's vocabulary word parts:
sol means "alone" like solo, solitary, and the game Solitaire
fic means "to make" like fiction, specific, and personification
surg means "rise" like surge, resurgence, and insurgence
gram means "writing" like with telegrams and epigrams. And pangrams, a sentence that contains every single letter of the alphabet. (The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.)
potent means "power" like potency, potentate, and omnipotent
and the suffix -i means "plural" like octopi, nuclei, and fungi
Speaking of which, I've always considered myself to be a fungi. Fun guy. . .get it?
We spent a lot of the period with a review activity and our textbook. We looked again at the research project steps, reviewing things like taking notes on note cards, paraphrasing to avoid plagiarizing, parenthetical citation of sources, bibliographies, and the difference between primary and secondary sources.
My first class read Terrible Things, a children's Holocaust allegory by Eve Bunting. There wasn't much time to discuss it, so we'll finish up with that on Monday before diving headfirst into the Holocaust stuff. My other two classes will read and discuss that on Monday.
Have a lovely weekend! I'll be spending most of it figuring out my students' grades. If you have any questions about those, give me a call or send me an email.
Today's vocabulary word parts:
sol means "alone" like solo, solitary, and the game Solitaire
fic means "to make" like fiction, specific, and personification
surg means "rise" like surge, resurgence, and insurgence
gram means "writing" like with telegrams and epigrams. And pangrams, a sentence that contains every single letter of the alphabet. (The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.)
potent means "power" like potency, potentate, and omnipotent
and the suffix -i means "plural" like octopi, nuclei, and fungi
Speaking of which, I've always considered myself to be a fungi. Fun guy. . .get it?
We spent a lot of the period with a review activity and our textbook. We looked again at the research project steps, reviewing things like taking notes on note cards, paraphrasing to avoid plagiarizing, parenthetical citation of sources, bibliographies, and the difference between primary and secondary sources.
My first class read Terrible Things, a children's Holocaust allegory by Eve Bunting. There wasn't much time to discuss it, so we'll finish up with that on Monday before diving headfirst into the Holocaust stuff. My other two classes will read and discuss that on Monday.
Have a lovely weekend! I'll be spending most of it figuring out my students' grades. If you have any questions about those, give me a call or send me an email.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday 3/10
Yes, we've pushed the research stuff back another day. I'm ready to go, but I was missing some band students today and just didn't feel like starting things.
I forgot to mention the word parts we went over yesterday, so here's a list of those with the ones we went over today:
jus means "law" like with justice and unjust
lum means "light" like with luminous and bioluminescence
annu (also anni and enni) means "year" like annual and anniversary
mob means "move" like an automobile or mobile phone
rogat means "ask" like interrogative sentences or a surrogate
parl means "speak" like parliament (or parliamentary procedure) and parlance
cant means "sing" like an incantation or a canticle
apo means "away" like an apogee, an apology, or an apostle
sen means "old" like senile and senior
andro means "man" like an android or polyandry
gyn means "woman" like gynecologist or a misogynist
We went over appositives in greater detail and looked at a practice worksheet. We also took our vocabulary quiz (the students said it was more difficult than Tuesday's test; 48% of the students in my first class got an A on that first one, by the way) and had some time to work on things.
We will review research stuff and start looking at the Holocaust tomorrow. I promise!
I forgot to mention the word parts we went over yesterday, so here's a list of those with the ones we went over today:
jus means "law" like with justice and unjust
lum means "light" like with luminous and bioluminescence
annu (also anni and enni) means "year" like annual and anniversary
mob means "move" like an automobile or mobile phone
rogat means "ask" like interrogative sentences or a surrogate
parl means "speak" like parliament (or parliamentary procedure) and parlance
cant means "sing" like an incantation or a canticle
apo means "away" like an apogee, an apology, or an apostle
sen means "old" like senile and senior
andro means "man" like an android or polyandry
gyn means "woman" like gynecologist or a misogynist
We went over appositives in greater detail and looked at a practice worksheet. We also took our vocabulary quiz (the students said it was more difficult than Tuesday's test; 48% of the students in my first class got an A on that first one, by the way) and had some time to work on things.
We will review research stuff and start looking at the Holocaust tomorrow. I promise!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Wednesday
Well, I intended on starting the Holocaust unit today. I just didn't feel ready, and I am running to the public library (downtown and Wayne Township branches) this afternoon to get some materials for the students to use on their research. Unfortunately, I just found out that a bunch of my students will be out of class tomorrow for some band rehearsing which means I might have to put it off at least in that class for another day.
We graded yesterday's vocabulary test, so the students know what they got. The scores aren't bad on this one, and there were a lot of 90%+'s which made me happy. Tomorrow will be another 50-point vocab. review test. Remember, that vocabulary chain assignment is due by the end of the week.
We reviewed our sentence combining and took a very short quiz. I also introduced another sentence-combining tool for their writing toolboxes--the appositive. They're tricky at first, but once the students get comfortable with them, they can really help their writing fluency.
Book reports due by Friday! As I'm getting more and more make-up work, I'm seeing those grades go up and up. Hopefully, this last little piece of the grade puzzle will put them where they need to be.
We graded yesterday's vocabulary test, so the students know what they got. The scores aren't bad on this one, and there were a lot of 90%+'s which made me happy. Tomorrow will be another 50-point vocab. review test. Remember, that vocabulary chain assignment is due by the end of the week.
We reviewed our sentence combining and took a very short quiz. I also introduced another sentence-combining tool for their writing toolboxes--the appositive. They're tricky at first, but once the students get comfortable with them, they can really help their writing fluency.
Book reports due by Friday! As I'm getting more and more make-up work, I'm seeing those grades go up and up. Hopefully, this last little piece of the grade puzzle will put them where they need to be.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday
Quick reminder: Friday's the big day. Check the last blog entry for the stuff I need from my students this week, including the book report. That book report will be a big chunk of their independent reading grade for this nine weeks.
We did some sentence combination practice today, both together and individually. I think we're ready to move from compound and complex sentences to another sentence combining technique--appositives.
Vocabulary test one (50 word parts) was given today. Some of the students seemed pretty confident about this one. I hope they did well!
A lot of the class time was used for work time. It was a great opportunity to get some things finished up, to work on book reports, or to ask me about missing work. I wish more students would have taken advantage of it.
Big big Holocaust unit starts tomorrow. This will involve a lot of work, including some research.
We did some sentence combination practice today, both together and individually. I think we're ready to move from compound and complex sentences to another sentence combining technique--appositives.
Vocabulary test one (50 word parts) was given today. Some of the students seemed pretty confident about this one. I hope they did well!
A lot of the class time was used for work time. It was a great opportunity to get some things finished up, to work on book reports, or to ask me about missing work. I wish more students would have taken advantage of it.
Big big Holocaust unit starts tomorrow. This will involve a lot of work, including some research.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Monday
Because of what can only be described as a crippling depression, I did not post anything Thursday or Friday. Sorry for the inconvenience.
While I'm thinking about it--if anybody would like to buy me a mini-van, let me know.
Here's what is due by the end of this week:
>>> all make-up work (obviously, since this is the end of the nine weeks)
>>> a book report on the 2nd book the students read this nine weeks (they got a half sheet about this today)
>>> the vocabulary "chain" assignment (preferably, they should do that by tomorrow since the first of four vocabulary review quizzes is tomorrow)
>>> the "The Tell-Tale Heart" writing (we started it last week; they should be done by tomorrow, but if they're not, I'll accept them until Friday)
We reviewed sentences (compound, complex, etc.) today since it had been a while. We'll continue to work with that this week. There will be some grammar stuff on the next round of ISTEP, so we have a lot to cover before then.
Let me know if you have any questions as we end this nine weeks.
While I'm thinking about it--if anybody would like to buy me a mini-van, let me know.
Here's what is due by the end of this week:
>>> all make-up work (obviously, since this is the end of the nine weeks)
>>> a book report on the 2nd book the students read this nine weeks (they got a half sheet about this today)
>>> the vocabulary "chain" assignment (preferably, they should do that by tomorrow since the first of four vocabulary review quizzes is tomorrow)
>>> the "The Tell-Tale Heart" writing (we started it last week; they should be done by tomorrow, but if they're not, I'll accept them until Friday)
We reviewed sentences (compound, complex, etc.) today since it had been a while. We'll continue to work with that this week. There will be some grammar stuff on the next round of ISTEP, so we have a lot to cover before then.
Let me know if you have any questions as we end this nine weeks.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wednesday
As promised, there's not a whole lot going on this week. We're reviewing vocabulary with some little game-type things and continuing to focus on ISTEP.
Reminder: The students have a vocabulary assignment (a word chain!) that is due some time next week. Next week, they will have a 25 word part test Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. If they do their chain before Tuesday, it'll be a good review activity for them. I'd strongly recommend they spend a little bit of time every night with their old word parts.
We went over the Howard Hughes constructed responses, and I gave back two extended responses, one which they wrote last week (I think--the one about "reading") and one that they wrote all the way back in November. I think a lot of the kids saw improvement which is good since that's exactly what we're shooting for.
Speaking of ISTEP, they had their big 55 minute writing today. The group I was with didn't do great on it, and I was heartbroken and irritated. As the day went on and I talked to more and more of my students, I grew a little more optimistic though. From what they tell me, it seems they maybe did pretty well. Either way, I get paid the same.
At least this year. . .
Reminder: The students have a vocabulary assignment (a word chain!) that is due some time next week. Next week, they will have a 25 word part test Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. If they do their chain before Tuesday, it'll be a good review activity for them. I'd strongly recommend they spend a little bit of time every night with their old word parts.
We went over the Howard Hughes constructed responses, and I gave back two extended responses, one which they wrote last week (I think--the one about "reading") and one that they wrote all the way back in November. I think a lot of the kids saw improvement which is good since that's exactly what we're shooting for.
Speaking of ISTEP, they had their big 55 minute writing today. The group I was with didn't do great on it, and I was heartbroken and irritated. As the day went on and I talked to more and more of my students, I grew a little more optimistic though. From what they tell me, it seems they maybe did pretty well. Either way, I get paid the same.
At least this year. . .
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