Thursday, September 29, 2011

Required Reading

I came across this article this morning and thought I would share it. Glancing through the list, there are several we read here at MHS - nice to see we're at least exposing our kids to what the world still considers important reading! So curl up with your favorite this fall and you'd be surprised at how cultured you will feel! 10 books you really should have read in high school

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Autumn Activities

We are well into our novel and have settled into a routine as fall approaches.  It is my favorite season - I've already decorated my house and my classroom!  My family has plans to attend Halloween events at the Detroit Zoo and Greenfield Village.  My daughter's 7th birthday is fast approaching as is the birth of my nephew.  Such a busy, beautiful time of year!

As for our class, Janie has been through her second husband now and is loving her freedom.  She's come to grips with the fact that she hasn't found the love and relationship she so desired with her husbands so she is going to live life her way for a while.  Students seem to be doing well as we move through this book.  Comprehension is good, writing skills are decent.  I still love using the audio book read by Ruby Dee. 

As we continue, we'll have another quiz on Friday and then another chunk of chapters.  And there should be paper assignment coming up soon...

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

September Sanity

Another year has officially begun at MHS. After a wonderful summer of family vacations and day trips around the state I must say I am loving the routine again!  This week will get us started with classroom setup and then Hurston's novel is the first one we dive into.  I brought home a Florida state map and marked the novel's locations so that will be fun (for me!) to reference.  Wish I would have thought to actually visit Eatonville while we were in Orlando, but maybe next time. 

My goals this year are to include much more technology with my students including blog posts, videos, phone polls, and some new online study tools we have available.  I'll be introducing the social issue research paper to my seniors after a 5 year hiatus and I admit I'm excited about that, as only and English teacher can be!  And in addition to the class novels, kids will be responsible for two additional novels from a given list of classics so I'm sure that will prove to be challenging as well. 

Needless to say, my ambitions are high and my calendar is laid out.  So here we go again!