The new school year has brought significant change for me. On the personal side, my daughter has launched herself from college to the working world, which involved a move to New York City. On the professional side, I have been launched from one academic team and end of the seventh grade hall to another, which means a new perspective both from the classroom windows as well as from different colleagues. These changes have thus launched the new year with great excitement and anticipation of the adventures that lie ahead!
Another newcomer to our Green Revolution team is science teacher Jacob Masenior who, on the second day of school, exuberantly visited me first thing in the morning to ask if I would introduce the word palpable, from the Latin palpare (to touch). I said that I would be happy to oblige as that word would be quite easy to incorporate. I told classes throughout the day that the intelligence and thoughtfulness was palpable in the room as they brainstormed guidelines for a productive and dynamic year.
I'm anticipating that in the upcoming weeks I will note that their creativity will also be palpable in our room. Hints of creativity will begin this week with our reading of George Ella Lyon's poem, "Where I'm From". After deconstructing the language and form of this poem, students will embark on composing their own biographical poems. While writing, conferencing, and revising in class, they will begin at home a self-reflective 3D project that incorporates their poem in the project. I love to do this activity each year as it gives me a snapshot of so many things about each student: who they are as individuals, their understanding and use of language, their writing skills, and how they work within groups as well as individually. Projects will be due on or before 9/27 so that you will be able to enjoy viewing them at Open House.
I will publish a blog post at the start of each week to give you an overview of our work. I will also list the homework for the week and attach relevant handouts, (Please know that occasionally homework for a given class may shift due to extenuating circumstances, like an assembly that ate up class time, or we got sidetracked on a rich discussion that I didn't want to cut off). In any event, students are writing their homework daily in their planners, and I've encouraged them to check this blog when they are absent in order to stay current with their work as much as possible.
So, cheers to a happy new school year launched with changes, thoughtfulness and creativity that can spark endless possibilities for growth and learning!
Homework:
Tuesday: no homework (unless you didn't bring in a writer's notebook yet, then need to do so)
Wednesday: finish poem brainstorming chart
Thursday: work on poem
Friday: draft of poem due Monday for conferencing
Handouts:
I Am From project instructions
