Mon, Tue, & Wed

I couldn't log on for the past couple of days. Let's see, I assigned the 9th graders to write a "spooky/suspense" story which is due on Friday. I will ask for volunteers to read their stories aloud, and the story that is the best gets a big chocolate candy bar. I'm trying to stay in the spirit of Halloween. I also assigned the accompanying Holt handouts for "The Cask of Amontillado." I reviewed the story with them on Tuesday because they had a test on it today. A number of students did well, and I noticed that some students scored higher than the last story test. However, I had hoped that they would all have done better considering I practically gave them the answers yesterday. I've broken down their grades into 4 categories: Tests, classwork/homework, group/participation, and writing. I plan on averaging their current grades next week. I'm getting in a better habit of thanking each student by name whenever they answer or read. I also use some students as examples of doing good work. Their next writing assignment is an analysis of nonfiction material. They may also have to do some outside research. There are four articles on the death of Edgar Allen Poe to choose from. I'm thinking of trying something a little different for their essay. They will have 4 choices for presentation: a research paper, an editorial, a speech, or a letter. I've been finding myself getting attached to this class because I want them all to succeed. However, they have to work, and work hard, if they want credit to go back into regular classes.

And then there's 8th grade. It's amazing what a difference one year makes. I even had one of my 9th grade students stay after to finish his work. He commented, "You have a lot of talkers in this class. We're not that bad. Are we?" I told him no. But as much as they whine and complain, a majority of the time the 8th graders do their work, but it's a constant challenge to keep them on task. Idle gossip is the culprit that interrupts the learning flow. We worked on adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions this week. We also started a new story, "Too Soon A Woman." They seem to be interested in this story, but what surprised me today was when my talker girl asked when we were going to read The Diary of Anne Frank. She seemed genuinely interested. We lost one student to home study and we may be losing another to special ed. The girl who I thought had already been reassigned, wasn't, but it's quite possible she may be soon.