28 August - End of Week 2

English 11

A pretty chill end of the week in English class this week. We started off by having our classroom circle to discuss our values and principles for our norms. I'll work on these this weekend and share them with you next week for approval. It's important to me that everyone has a space and a voice in the classroom. I appreciate everyone's attention to that work today.

From there we did some computer based tasks today. First, there was our getting to know each other form and we shared some facts about ourselves. Then, we got into our reading diagnostic for today's class. This test isn't for a grade, but it does help me to understand what I need to focus on as your teacher. At the end, we discussed the WebQuest and Discussion Board post. This isn't due for a while, so you have time to respond.

Over the weekend, consider the question, "What makes a good story?" Think about some of your favorite stories, and yes, video games do count! So do movies and television shows. A rap song or two could also be a story, I suppose. Next class we'll start getting into reading more intensely to discuss what makes a good story.

26 August

English 11

Really fantastic day today as we worked through three texts and understood the importance of reading closely, determining main ideas, and focusing on key language. We finished our work with Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" before going on to the Preamble to the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Our reading work focused on determining main idea, understanding key words, and seeing the tone implicit in the language. I'm really pleased with the work that we put up.

After that, we closed class with some writing and personal reflection where I asked you about the values we should use as we center our class community. I'll take a look at what you wrote in a bit and we'll start with these ideas on Wednesday as we write our classroom norms and guiding principles together.

Other than that work on Wednesday, we will also have a small reading test. This will not be for a grade. It's just a diagnostic to see where you are coming in the door. Come to class with a charged laptop next class. Your test is computer based. It'll be a pretty simple day to end our week together. See you on Wednesday!

22 August - Finishing Week 1

English 11

Great first week together, everyone! I was glad to see so many of you commit to our classroom rules, keep your electronics away, and stay focused for all of the great work that we'll be doing together. Today we had an community builder where we shared some boring facts, then we talked about America and some American problems, before we started our first reading.

We read "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson and discussed his rhetorical situation. Next class, we'll spend a bit more time looking at this text and understanding how Jefferson makes choices and arguments for each of his audiences. We'll also look at some other important documents like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 

Over the weekend, complete your DRC Form - I linked it below. Also be sure to review your slides, recordings, and other resources. I'll see you on Monday!

Welcome to the Year! It's time for 2024-2025 School Year

English 11

Happy First Day of English everyone! It was great to get to know you and to start working with you. I hope that you enjoyed your first class with me. Today in class we went over some key information like our names and pronouns, some procedures and policies in class, and information about what we'll be studying and learning together. 

One of the main things that we learned today was the idea of the rhetorical situation. That means that a text is responding to an event or moment, so it's important to consider some of the elements around a text to consider its full effect. We ended class with a brief reading and writing activity to do a bit of fun creative writing.

For tonight, please get your notebook for class. Next class we'll start to set up that notebook. We'll also be reading next class and start studying a text together, so I'm looking forward to that. All the best! The recording is posted on Schoology under Updates. Remember that the slides are posted under Materials - Current Lessons on Schoology.