Journal 1-1

English 11
I introduced the quotation paragraphs today. The students seemed to have less difficulty with it this year than they did last year. 2nd period was completely flat, there were no questions. I noticed that everyone seemed to get right to writing paragraph-style instead of making notes first and then filling in things later. I haven't really peeked over anyone's shoulder yet because I don't want to frighten anyone in to stopping. Also, most students seemed to take the full ten minutes to plan and write. After quotation paragraphs, homework was due. I had asked students to summarize an article about Native American Literature using Jim Burke's summary model as a frame; I allowed the students to use their summaries when they took a little reading quiz. Not everyone did their summary, but the ones who did seemed to do pretty well. After the quiz, I started to tie the concepts from the article back to our discussion from Friday about our favorite children's books. We used a Venn diagram to highlight some of those ideas. The bell rang before we could get too far in to the discussion, so we'll have to finish it tomorrow.


reflection
I'm happy to see the kids taking more risks than last year's group. I don't know if it's because I anticipated their questions better this year, or if they're just more likely to jump in and begin. After 2nd period, I remembered to specify that students didn't have to write in paragraph form right away - they could use bullet points or webbing if they wished. I did see a lot of writing, so I hope they're in to it. As for summaries, they all looked good (if I had to evaluate them visually, without reading a word). after the reading quiz, I did something completely new to me. I had the students answer two questions on the back of their quiz: #1 - do you think you passed this quiz; and #2 - do you think you have any spelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes on your summary? I'm trying to move towards reflective learning. I equate these little questions with the food journals that dieters keep. Maybe if their problems are there in black and white, they'll be more likely to confront smaller issues (like laziness) head on. I asked these questions because last year, one of my biggest headaches was the "silly" error. Students wouldn't use punctuation, or they wouldn't capitalize, or they didn't indicate the title or author of the piece of literature they were writing about. It drove me CRAZY! I hope that by reflecting on what they are doing, students will become more aware of their actions and self-monitor a little better. Nobody is really talking yet (it's only the third day of classes), so I'll have to wait bit for their personalities to show up.


English 12
We also began with writing, but instead of the quotation paragraphs from last year, we used journal prompts. 10 of the 12 students in this class were in my class as juniors, so it's really easy to get things going at the beginning of the year! The students seemed to settle in really well. It helped that I didn't have to give 10 minutes of directions right off the bat! Since so many of the students were mine from last year, my instructions were, "Remember the quotation paragraphs from last year? OK, well, instead of quotations, we're going to be working with journal prompts instead. Any questions?" There were a few, but the students were mostly rephrasing what I just said or asking for reassurance/clarification about stuff we do later in the week (mini-lessons and peer review) The students who were new seemed to catch on pretty quickly - at least they were writing and responding to the prompts. After journals, we returned to the college application process. We didn't finish (again!), so we'll continue tomorrow.

reflection
This group was a LOT louder than my juniors, but they all know me already. I had expected some grumbling (a LOT of grumbling) form the students when they learned about the journal paragraphs in place of last year's quotation paragrpahs, but there was less than usual. Whiner boy did ask me if two sentences was long enough. I turned it back to him and asked, "Knoing what you do abou tme, my standards and my classroom, do you think two sentences is enough?" He though "no" and surprisingly that was the last I heard of him today. Usually he digs his heels in for every single thing we do, but today he didn't. Mohawk Boy (for his har, not his heritage0 spent the period giving serious answers (with his serious face) to every question I asked, only to confess a moment later that his answers were completely made up. He told me that he had scored an XXXX on his SAT, which surprised me. I didn't think he'd take the SAT. Writer Boy (whose hero is James Bond, literary version) also took the SAT this summer, but that didn's surprise me. The girls seemed pretty in charge today - they were looking up phone numbers for me and generaly dragging the boys along in their wake. I wonder if filling out the college application is doing more harm than good? It seems a little man to ask them to fill out the section asking for awards received since 9th grade and hear the crickets chirping in the fire tunnel instead of the scratch of pencils. Most kids left the entire third page blank because they haven't taken any tests (ACT, SAT), haven't won any awards and haven't applied to any other colleges. I feel a little guilty, but I really think this is a good experience for SOME of the kids who MIGHT decide to later attend college.