Socratic Paradox

Socratic Paradox

English I students conducted a Socratic seminar about the short stories “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi.” We used the more formal paired alignment of the Socratic seminar, which we will use later in the year for more formal...
IGP Prep

IGP Prep

All classes took a bit of a break from English while Mrs. Torlay, one of our counselors, explained to everyone what the IGP (Individual Graduation Plan) will look like. HomeworkEnglish 8:  prepare for the test on Friday over our first two stories (Story 1 is here...
Workshop and Inference

Workshop and Inference

English 8 students worked on their Friday inferring writing work. We’re still on the same text about Paul and Alice, this time focusing on the nature of their relationship. English I students finished their first major writing assignment on “The Cask of...
Major Grades and CFAs

Major Grades and CFAs

English 8 students took their first district-required (or perhaps it’s just school-required — I’m not sure) CFA today on summarizing. Since we’re not using Mastery Connect exclusively for the CFAs (many thanks to the powers that be for that...
Plot Analysis and Ephipanies

Plot Analysis and Ephipanies

English 8 students finished up “There Will Come Soft Rains” and did a plot analysis of the story. Tomorrow we’ll finish up with practice creating a summary. English I students continued discussing “The Cask of Amontillado,” focusing again...
Reading Rains and Casks

Reading Rains and Casks

English 8 students finished up reading “There Will Come Soft Rains” as the second story in our first unit. We’ll be analyzing its plot and working to summarize it tomorrow and Thursday. English I students began the analysis of “The Cask of...
Participles and Feedback

Participles and Feedback

English 8 students finished, in accordance with the district pacing guide, a couple of lessons covering participles and participial phrases. We worked on materials from the workbook — practice with identifying participles. The switch from isolated participles...
Participles and Assessment

Participles and Assessment

English 8 students worked on a grammar lesson on participles, connected with our current story “The Brave Little Toaster.” We used this slide show with embedded Pear Deck questions to introduce the topic. We’ll continue working on it tomorrow using...
Summarizing and Workshopping

Summarizing and Workshopping

English I students were going to spend half the day finishing up their final drafts of their “Dangerous Game” analytic paragraphs. However, we discovered quickly enough that we needed more time to work on the drafts, so we ended up spending the entire...
Writing and Analyzing

Writing and Analyzing

English I students worked on their first analytic paragraph, which is about “The Most Dangerous Game.” We worked in groups to focus our topic sentence after looking at the rubric and a model selection about “The Sniper.” English 8 students...