A Week of Blended Learning: What it Looked Like for Junior Honors This Week

This week, I tried to be very purposeful in how students were selected to attend class.  Here is the break down of the week for Junior Honors English:

Monday:
All students attend class.
Film discussion with novel groups.
Discussion/assignment of argumentative essay.

Tuesday:
Two Reading Groups attend to work on drafts, get one-on-one assistance from Mrs. Schmitt
Two Reading Groups out of class to draft on own.

Wednesday:
Other two Reading Groups attend to work on drafts, get one-on-one assistance from Mrs. Schmitt
Yesterday's two Reading Groups out of class to draft on own.

Thursday:
All students attend class.
Whole class practice and individual practice for integrated quotes, MLA citations, works cited.
Get feedback from Mrs. Schmitt.
Return Literary Analysis Tests; discuss opportunity for retakes

Friday:
Selected students are invited to attend class.
Invitations are based on:

1. Make up missed test

2.  Redo your test

3. Work on MLA issues (students who need more practice based on yesterday's work)

Here are students working on the Tuesday/Wednesday drafting days:

Okay, okay, SP is on her phone, but she got right to work. ;-)

Real World Grammar

It is not my style--nor really helpful to students--to teach grammar in isolation.  If I notice a particular trend in student writing, I will address it in class.  If the problem is more wide-spread, I will choose whole-class instruction.  If the problem more so relates a few students--or even just one--those students will receive additional instruction in their area of need.

However, sometimes, I like to review a grammar rule by looking at it as an error out in the real world.  I have a rather extensive collection of photos, brochures, documents, etc. of misspelled words, improperly punctuated sentences, and so on.  On occasion, I will share these with students, and we review the importance of clear written communication.

Lynn Truss's The Girl's Like Spaghetti and Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! are two of my favorite resources to see two sentences side by side that have the same words--but different punctuation.  And, then, they have totally different meanings!

Here are a few examples of my photos:











And here are my students reviewing (and correcting) some of the examples:





I love this picture of MK thinking about the error:


And here, she's got it all figured out!

Prep for Summative Assessment--Blended Style

To prep for a summative assessment in our Literary Analysis Unit (with Transcendental texts), students completed a formative assessment today: a mock summative.  Students were given the actual test that will be used on Monday (we will simply use a different text to answer the questions).  In class Thursday, students read a short story and then completed this document:

 Name________________________________Period__________Date__________

1. Choose one character for analysis.  Character:_________________

Identify the dominant characteristic of this person:_________________________

Provide evidences from the given pages:

2.  Select a quote from the passage that provides good story-telling details, and explain its significance.

Quote:_____________________________________________________________________

3.  a. Explain how two characters in this passage might be foils for each other.  

What attributes of each character are meant to be highlighted?

Character 1 traits:

Character 2 traits:

b.  Why is this contrast important?

4.  Choose a sentence with a syntactic construction that you think is significant.

Sentence:______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Explain why the SYNTAX is important in this particular sentence.  What effect does it have?

Next, students reviewed their answers with a partner:

  

Students who felt comfortable and confident about the test were excused from Friday's class.  Students who had more questions or struggled with the formative practice were invited to attend class on Friday.  This way, students who need more attention and help received a bit more one-on-one attention from the teacher.  Students met with the teacher to go over their answers in detail--or to complete an extra practice passage.

Readers are Leaders

This year, I decided to try to motivate students to read by displaying WHOLE CLASS progress.  In our class, when students finish reading an independent reading book, they share with the class:

1.  What they read
2. a summary of the book (no spoilers!)
3. a rating of the book (scale 1-10)
4.  what type of reader they think would enjoy this book.

They earn a ribbon to add to our board, and we add to our whole class tally.  So far, I think it has been working--more and more students share their reading, and as a result, I think more students are willing to share their accomplishments.

Here is our current board:

A Homecoming Fit for a Prince...or Princess

Confession:  there is a part of me that hates Homecoming Week.  The glitter.  The feathers.  The cyberbullying.

But most of me loves Homecoming and all that it entails.  I attend the events to see my students in action.  I love their school spirit.  I love their smiles.  I love how, in spite of some of the aforementioned bullying, Homecoming has the ability to bring us all together in a way that doesn't happen at any other part of the year.

I give you Homecoming 2016, as experienced through the lens of my iPhone:


TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK: The Broncos clinch the MSL West Title.  I love this photo the most because it shows how they work together even when the clock isn't ticking.



Cheerleaders brave the cold and rain--after walking in the parade to boot!



These Bronco Super Fans are at every soccer game it seems...



That volleyball float was rather impressive!








Go Broncos!





I love the smile on CK in this one!


Varsity Soccer opened up a Whole New World for us at the Pep Assembly.




Broncos Get LOUD!



Back in the classroom:  Film Students work in groups to compete in Reverse Charades.  The WHOLE team gets up to act out while ONE student guesses the film being acted out.

This is a pretty good Forrest Gump.





Dumb and Dumber



The bear attack from The Revenant:

The Hobbit:



Word Games with the Juniors:
Period 1 selected Apples to Apples, Scrabble, and Word-A-Round
Period 6 selected whole class Balderdash