English 8 students had their first Socratic Seminar about "Thank You, Ma'am." Both fifth and sixth periods did a fine job, but sixth period's seminar was perhaps the best first-time seminar I've...
Archive
What our classroom did in previous days, weeks, months, even years…
Integrating Quotes and Socratic Seminar
English 8 students went over one more word from the article of the week before transitioning to one of the most enjoyable activities we do: the Socratic Seminar. Today we only had time to get...
Effective Readers’ Skills Conclusion and TS/CD Work
English 8 students did some more work with the article of the week, looking at the context clues for "refraining." We also completed "Thank You, Ma'am," going through the first review of effective...
Analysis and a Shift
English 8 students made the shift from a think-aloud to the "Same Something" protocol -- in other words, the kids began implementing effective readers' skills. We're forming the foundational...
Summarizing Versus Analyzing and A Trip Inside My Head
English 8 students began looking at the basic skills that will inform everything we read this year: effective readers' skills. We started with the AOW, their first: We finished with a Think Aloud...
Schaffer Planning and Group Work Guidelines and Modeling
Third and fourth periods tried their hand at their first Schaffer paragraph, which was about, somewhat ironically, the usefulness of the Schaffer paragraph. Third period Schaffer helps writers plan...
Schaffer Analysis and Getting a Baseline
English I Honors students took the day to analyze, first as a class and later in pairs, a few nearly-perfect examples of Schaffer paragraphs. English 8 students got thrown in the deep water to see...
First Day 2019
We had a great first day, with all classes up and working on various skills from the beginning. English I Honors students dove right into the writing model we will be using this year, the Schaffer...
Welcome to the 2019/2020 School Year
Welcome to the new school year, your eighth-grade year, the final year at Hughes. I am excited about this coming year and the plans I and other teachers have made to help you improve your reading...
The End, 2019 Edition
We came to an end today -- the 2018/19 school year finished today, and once again we had some tears, lots of hugging, and a few smiles. Good luck to all those finishing middle school and heading on...
Next to Last Day 2019
Today, we had our penultimate day of the 2018/2019 school year. I gave a couple of students our classroom camera and sent them around the eighth-grade hall. Tomorrow we'll be having eighth-grade...
Dodgeball
Today was an out-of-the-ordinary day: students only went to their first two periods (related arts) before coming back on the hall for some time signing yearbooks followed by a dodge-ball tournament...
