December 20 & 21

Today and tomorrow, students will take their final exams! It's been a pleasure working with and getting to know this great group of kids!

I intend to finalize grades before I leave on Friday afternoon.

I hope you all have a wonderful, well-deserved break and a happy new year!

Happy Howl-days from Baxter & Boomer!

December 19

We participated in a gallery walk with the other PreAP English II classes and examined the performance task one-pagers.

Students completed an end of course survey.

We discussed the final exam. First period will take their test on Thursday; 4th period's test is Friday at 10:25.

Nothing really interesting on the board today, so here's a comic.

December 18

IRT: ~20 minutes

Students picked up their writer's notebooks. Students also handed in 2 scored articles to add points to the final exam and one pager assignment.

Students began working on the final reading reflection. This assignment is due by the end of the day (11:59pm). Students in 1st period who have difficulty submitting the assignment on Canvas should share it with me on Google Drive instead.

Today's Board

December 17

Students completed a final notebook check form and handed in their notebooks. They had a little time to read independently after that.

Students explored the Big Future section of the College Board site to discover careers and colleges. This was a very abbreviated version of a college research assignment that I would have had students complete if we had more time.

Coming Up:
Tuesday, 12/18: Final Reading Reflection
Wednesday, 12/19: Performance Task 2 Gallery Walk and Reflection
Thursday, 12/20: 1st and 2nd period final exams
Friday, 12/21: 3rd and 4th period final exams; early release at 12:20

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance

December 14

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Count your notebook entries beginning with October 15 and write the number. We will have a notebook check on Monday.

Students received a copy of the final exam review. We will look at this again on Monday.

Students used the remaining class time to complete and hand in the one-pager assignment.

Coming Up:
Monday, 12/17 - Final Writer's Notebook Check
Tuesday, 12/18 - Final Reading Reflection
Wednesday, 12/19 - Performance Task 2 Reflection
Thursday, 12/20 - 1st & 2nd period Final Exams
Friday, 12/21 - 3rd & 4th period Final Exams and early release at 12:20

Today's Board

December 13

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: "Scientific" Happiness Hacks - Students marked 2 things they already do and 3 things they could attempt in order to feel happy. They then responded in their notebooks.

Students used class time to work on the performance task which is due by the end of the class period Friday. They completed a check-in form at the end of class to measure their confidence and share their theme with me.

(Today's board looked pretty much like yesterday's, so here's a comic instead.)

December 12

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Outside Entry

I recapped the assignment for performance task 2, and students used the remaining class time to work. We will have class time Thursday and Friday, and the assignment is due at the end of class Friday.

Today's Board

December 11

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: What's in a name? Many names have special meanings or history. For example, the name Hannah means "favor" or "grace." The name Vito means "life." Write about your own name. Who named you? What does your name mean? Does it have a special ethnic or religious significance? Are you named after someone in your family? If you could change your name, would you?

I reminded students to keep their currently reading page up to date because they will need it when we do the final reading ladder next week.

We discussed the timeline chart and spent more time collaborating and adding information. Students began thinking about Performance Task 2, which is due at the end of the period Friday. The assignment is posted on Canvas. We will have class time the rest of the week to work on this assignment.

Today's Board

December 10

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: "The most valuable thing you have is your attention." - Lynda Barry

We resumed our work on the timeline from last week, adding culture and themes for each story. Students made a copy of the document and added their own independent reading titles. This will be useful as we begin our final performance task tomorrow.

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance

December 7

Students had a substitute today, so here's the agenda. The story is available on Canvas under the Unit 2 module.

December 6

IRT: ~15 minutes
WNB: Article of the Week - "Former President George H.W. Bush Dies at 94" - students read the article and marked 5 things they felt would be most remembered about President Bush and then wrote about his legacy for their notebook entry.

Students completed a peer editing activity with the 55 word story assignment.

Students collaborated to create a timeline of the works we've read this semester. This will be helpful when we begin our performance task next week.

(There was no blog entry yesterday because 1st period was in STAAR testing, and I had a substitute for most of 4th period while I helped with testing.)

Today's Board

December 4

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Write an essay stating your opinion on whether it's better to succeed individually or as part of a team.

We looked at sample STAAR essays that earned a score of "4" to see what characteristics they hold. Students received their STAAR essays from last week and chose one area to improve and revise.

Students will take the English II STAAR EOC exam tomorrow!

Good luck on the STAAR test!

December 3

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: What is more important: what a person thinks or what a person does?

We finished going over the STAAR practice test. Some students needed to write a second version of their STAAR essay; others will get their essays back tomorrow. All grades for this essay will be in Skyward before I leave today.

Students had the remaining class time to finish the 55 Word Story assignment, due today.

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance