STAR testing

We are going to take the STAR reading test today. Please do your best on this reading comprehension test. Again, this is so we can understand how you read and learn. Do your best.

• Click here to go to the link for the test.
• For your username, use the same name you are logging into the Chromebooks and computers with.
• Your password is your student ID number - but ONLY the number - i.e. 121XXXX - if you are unable to gain access after TWO tries, please ask for help before trying a third time.
• You will be presented with two choices - select STAR Reading
• Sometimes, the system will request a “Monitor Password.” If this happens to you, the password is “admin”
• If you are presented with a list of teachers, please select “Rigler”
• Take the test! Do the best you can!

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Homework for the weekend: Read + annotate "What is a Myth?"

Vonnegut Stories - Journal Entries

As we continue to work with various texts, there will be diffferent ways of using writing to expand your thinking. We've already discussed annotations this week. Now we will turn our attention to writing in your journals and the various forms those responses can take.

Yesterday at the end of the group work I asked you to write a short personal response to the summary, conflicts, and ending of "Unready to Wear." These in-class responses are a valuable tool - not only do they capture your thinking in the moment but also they give you an opportunity to flesh out your thoughts and expand them. Perhaps you didn't share an idea out loud in class, or you were moved by something someone else said, or have new questions at the end of a discussion or activity - the in-class response is a great place for all of that.

Sometimes you will write a more extended journal response. These go beyond the several minute in-class version, and instead are an opportunity to more fully express and explore your ideas.

• These journal responses are not formal essays. They are supposed to be messy and rough in spots, yet do focus on a point and your ideas about it.
• These responses will include quotations from the text (use your annotations!) as well as comments about the language and ideas they contain.
• They reflect your ideas, including potential connections to other texts, to current events, to anything you use to increase your understanding of it.

We'll try a test one today, focused on the last two stories you read: "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" and "Harrison Bergeron." Of course you can use your annotated versions of the stories as well as any notes you take. You can go in one of two possible directions:

• Character-Based. You can compare / contrast one character from each story, making a conclusion about what is important about them.
• Theme-Based. You can write about a theme or idea present in both stories. Are the messages the same in both stories, or different?

You'll have the rest of the period to write your journal response. Write it in a new Google document. When you are finished, please submit it to turnitin.com - I'll be happy to help you with that part. I will give you feedback on your work in a way that will help guide you toward writing excellent journal responses as we move forward. Don't worry about the grade - focus on figuring out some cool things to say and getting your thoughts onto the page.

• Journal Response Rubric

Vonnegut and a Field Trip

We'll start off our Tuesday with a little field trip! No, it's not to

although that would be cool. Instead, we are going to the ARC - the academic resource center! I'll explain more about that when we get there.

When we return we'll focus our attention on the first Vonnegut stories we read: "Unready to Wear." We'll do some small group work, including writing a summary, naming the conflicts, and examining the ending. We'll also write a personal response as steps toward our first journal entry.

• Journal response rubric

Tonight, your homework is to read and annotate the other story in the packet I gave you yesterday: "Harrison Bergeron."

Happy Monday! Short stories and some logistics

Greetings! Happy Monday - your first cycle 78 day!

We'll start with a few logistics...

1. A quick tour of the blog
1. Posts
2. Pages
3. Calendar
4. Classroom Policies and Procedures
2. Using Infinite Campus
1. Check your grades / submitted work
3. Checking in homework
4. Assigning tonight's homework
1. "Report on the Barnhouse Effect"

Working with our first short story - "Unready to Wear"

1. Classwork 
1. Annotating - why?
2. Annotating - how?
3. Exploring the story - reactions, thoughts, and conclusions

Tonight's homework:

• Read and annotate "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" and annotate it. 

Short Stories - weekend homework

For the weekend, you will be reading a short story - "Unready to Wear" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Please read the story and annotate it using whatever system you used in middle school.

We'll discuss both these different methods and the story on Monday.

In case you lose your copy of the story, here is a link to a pdf of it.

All About Me videos

We'll use class time today and tomorrow to create a short video. The goal is to tell the class a little bit about who you are with the help of pictures and videos. We'll use iMovie software to help us (you are free to use different software) - here are the directions:

1. Open iMovie - watch the tutorials if you need (linked below)
2. Select "Trailer" and a theme you want to use 
3. Edit the text areas to make it a story about you - start with phrases like "I am..."
4. Use photos or videos to build your story - show what you care about, what you enjoy doing, what you think it is important for people to know about you.
5. Photos do not have to include you (there can be some landscapes to set up the story) but the majority of them should. They can be of just you, with members of your family, with friends, in different places, doing different things. 
6. When you are finished, save your movie to your Google Drive.
7. Go to the document for your class below and insert a link to your video so we can watch them!
1. 1st period films
2. 3rd period films

We're changing to a class blog!

Yes, after a brief experiment with Google Classroom I've decided I don't like it - we will be switching to a class blog starting on Monday. Thanks for your patience!