6th Term Blueprint

Dear students,

The end of the year will be upon us before we know it. This post will be a general guide to help you navigate what is coming.

We have, including this upcoming week of May 16 – 20 (week 14) SIX weeks before the end. I will be leaving a bit early for a trip to Italy, so we must wrap things up before then.

1       Week 14 (May 16 – 20) read first quarter of your book

2       Week 15 (May 23 – 27) quiz on first quarter, read second quarter, autobiographical writing, part one

3       Week 16 (May 30 – June 3) quiz on second quarter, read third quarter, autobiographical writing, part two

4       Week 17 (June 7 – June 10) (Monday June 6^th is off for Dragon Boat festival) quiz on third quarter, read 4^th quarter, autobiographical writing, first draft

5       Week 18 (June 13 – June 17) quiz on 4^th quarter, hand in autobiographical writing final draft

6       Week 19 (June 20 – June 22) (I leave Thursday June 23^rd) Final exam on book (formal assessment)

You can expect to address all of the standards shown in our course syllabus. Notice that in addition to writing an autobiographical narrative, you will be speaking about it. We will also have a homework assignment on writing a business letter. Otherwise, I feel homework will be limited to answering questions about the assigned reading, with possibly an article reaction put in there, and one or two graded blog assignments in which your reflections and comments will be considered.

PLEASE NOTE, that at this point, some students have not turned in all of the work for the second marking period (5^th term) and must do so by 10 P.M. Tuesday night or risk getting a zero for that assignment. I will attempt to email students to let them know if I feel they have something missing Sunday night (today).

Regards,

Mr. Catlin

End of Term 5 Notes

Hi there! I hope you enjoyed your mother's day.

I'd just like to put three things here now: 1) the calendar information concerning upcoming assignments for the next week or so exactly as it appears on e-learning, 2) general comments about term 6 (3rd marking period), and 3) mid-semester survey results and comments later when I have time to update it.

calendar information

Thursday 5/12 Group presentations

All groups be ready as if you are presenting on the first day (Thursday)! Then we can decide randomly who will go first. Two groups will present. One group will have four people, and the other group will have five people. Each group will get a group grade - all the same, for one half of the presentation grade. And each individual in the group will receive an individual grade based on how he or she did on the presentation, also for on half of the presentation grade.

Friday 5/13 Group Presentations

Group presentations for Romeo and Juliet and General Shakespeare. Each group will get a group grade - all the same, for one half of the presentation grade. And each individual in the group will receive an individual grade based on how he or she did on the presentation, also for on half of the presentation grade.

Friday 5/13

Reflective posts HW12 by 2 P.M.

This should be the fourth Friday reflective post after you created your blog (that was HW9). So I will be looking for at least four posts to collect into a final HW assignment for this marking period. They should have included what went through your mind when you were reading our class materials or having class discussions, or what you learned or felt about that learning. You should have included something about a favorite author, the two weeks away from school, and this week put also write about a book you would like to recommend. You could also write about your interests or other things you are reading personally or even in other classes. Fix "blog creation" mistakes. Points added for excellent or deep writing and wonderful templates. MUST BE DONE BY 2 P.M. because grade 9 scores are due that day!

Friday 5/13

Extra credit due by 2 P.M.

This is the last possible day I can accept any extra credit! There is the Times of Upheaval article and When We Hated Mom article. For the first one, you can do a 150-word summary and a 250-word reaction, and for the second only a 250-word reaction is possible. Each fifty (good) words gets you one or two bonus points on a homework assignment. That is up to 26 points available. Then I also offered to accept a short report (I said 250 words, but it can go up to 500) on your two weeks in Malaysia and Singapore. For this, you need to write: what you learned about yourself, your classmates, something special that happened, what you learned about Malaysia and Singapore, and being a global citizen. You could also add sustainability and cultural sensitivity as possible substitutes or additional topics. Each fifty-word block of good writing earns one or two points on a quiz or homework, wherever it is needed most.

General plans for the next marking period

Read Fahrenheit 451 – make sure you have your book this week.

Do Autobiographical writing – get started early writing memorable scenes from your early life.

Maintain the availability of good articles every week, but if they are required, make the time to go over them in class.

Increase speaking in class – warm-up discussion, group work, literature circles, mini-presentations, debates, speaking activities and games, speaking tests (practice and for a grade).

Please continue weekly posts on your blog every Friday – that should make for five more.

Watch one movie – book to literature, preferably something related to something we are reading. Honestly, this movie watching may take place after I leave for break, see below. I have a pretty good version of Romeo and Juliet we may want to watch.

Note –I will likely be leaving for Italy some days early, and this WILL affect our formal assessment, which will happen on 6/22 for one period (perhaps we can do one period of it on Friday 6/17). The writing portion must be completed early, by 6/17.