Jennifer Holzhausen's Homework Blog

August 31, 2009 (Gold)

G1/G3 - Vocabulary assignments for "A Sound of Thunder" DUE.  In G1, we discussed definitions for synonyms and antonyms (pages R70-R71 in back of textbook), then students completed a worksheet for practice.  Went over those together in class.  In G3, we started by going over the Synonym and Antonym worksheet for practice.  Both classes reviewed the five parts of the plot diagram.  Journal: "Do You Believe In Monsters?"  Discussion.  Read in class "A Sound of Thunder" (pages 34+).  Students worked with partners to complete a plot diagram and cause/effect worksheet for the story.  In both G1 and G3, we ran out of time today. We will work on the Plot Diagram and Cause/Effect chains in class at the beginning of the period on Wed.  Assignment: Answer Questions #1-9 from page 48 (which has been copied for you) ON YOUR OWN PAPER and complete the synonym practice worksheet on the back.  On Wednesday, you will be taking the Benchmark Writing Assessment.  You may have time to read after the test, so bring a pleasure reading book with you.

G2 - Draft #2 of the Summary DUE for peer-editing.  Students went to the computer lab today.  I had groups peer-edit and work on revising their papers for Wednesday.  The students who have applied to IU for the credits were asked to complete the application process online.  The rest of the period was spent working on the 5-paragraph Senior Reflection paper.  Assignment:  Senior Reflection and Draft #3 due at the beginning of the block on Wednesday.  I will take Draft #3 as the official "Rough Draft" and make comments for you.  If you were absent today, be sure to have everything ready to go on Wednesday.  We will start the next unit on Wednesday as well.

August 28, 2009 (Blue) SSR Day

B1/B4 - Vocabulary assignments for "A Sound of Thunder" DUE.  In B4, we started by going over the Synonym and Antonym worksheet for practice.  Both classes reviewed the five parts of the plot diagram.  Journal: "Do You Believe In Monsters?"  Discussion.  Read in class "A Sound of Thunder" (pages 34+).  Students worked with partners to complete a plot diagram and cause/effect worksheet for the story.  In both B1 and B4, we were able to go over that in class.  Assignment: Answer Questions #1-9 on page 48 (which has been copied for you) ON YOUR OWN PAPER and complete the synonym practice worksheet on the back.  On Tuesday, you will be taking the Benchmark Writing Assessment.  You may have time to read after the test, so bring a pleasure reading book with you.

B2- Vocabulary assignments for "A Sound of Thunder" DUE.  Journal: "Do You Believe In Monsters?"  Discussion.  Read in class "A Sound of Thunder" (pages 34+).  Students worked with partners to complete a plot diagram and cause/effect worksheet for the story.  In B2, we will go over it at the beginning of the period on Tuesday.  Assignment: Answer Questions #1, 2, 5, and 7 on page 48 (which has been copied for you) and complete the synonym practice worksheet on the back.  On Tuesday, you will be taking the Benchmark Writing Assessment.  You may have time to read after the test, so bring a pleasure reading book with you.

August 27, 2009 (Gold)

G1/G3 - Reviewed the 5 parts of the plot diagram.  Parents, if you have an opportunity, quiz your child on these five parts. We will be testing this material next week.  In G3, we finished our discussion and notes from last time (pages 24-27).  Students then read "Checkouts" (p. 28+) and answered the ten questions in the margin with a partner.  I spot-checked answers, then we went over all of them.  Began Notes: Cause and Effect and Synonym/Antonym.  In G1, I started to go through a simple powerpoint presentation for cause and effect notes, when the power on the imager shut down on me.  The bell rang as we were going through some of the examples.  I'll go back to this with G1 on Monday.  In G3, we were able to get through the cause/effect material, then I quickly gave students definitions and examples for synonyms and antonyms (pages R70-R71 in back of textbook).  G3 students were asked to practice with synonyms and antonyms through a worksheet.  We will go over that together at the beginning of the period on Monday.  Assignment:  Vocabulary definitions for "A Sound of Thunder" (worksheet) and the vocabulary questions on the back of the worksheet.  G3: Also complete the Synonym and Antonym worksheet for practice.

G2 - Outloud, I read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. We discussed traditions we blindly follow without knowing the purpose or reason.  Tied to this to the Zimbardo Prison Experiment.  Discussed the article.  I checked Draft #1 of the Zimbardo Summary.  Students had some time to peer-edit in class.  I offered to take a look at the Zimbardo summaries during prep today.  Students will get those back before they leave for the day.  Assignment:  Pick one of the two article summaries you have done so far and type up a second draft.  Use the comments of your peers to help you.  The Guidance Presentation will be next Friday, September 4.

August 26, 2009 (Blue) SSR Day

B1/B2/B4 - Reviewed the 5 parts of the plot diagram.  Parents, if you have an opportunity, quiz your child on these five parts. We will be testing this material next week.  Students read "Checkouts" (p. 28+) and answered the ten questions in the margin with a partner.  I spot-checked answers, then we went over all of them.  Notes: Cause and Effect and Synonym/Antonym.  Went through a simple powerpoint presentation for cause and effect notes, then gave students definitions and examples for synonyms and antonyms (pages R70-R71 in back of textbook).  Students practiced with synonyms and antonyms through a worksheet.  We went over that together.  Assignment:  Vocabulary definitions for "A Sound of Thunder" (worksheet) and the vocabulary questions on the back of the worksheet.

August 25, 2009 (Gold)

G1/G3 - Students finished the "scrambled stories" activity at the beginning of the period.  Journal:  (G1 only) Write about a crush you have experienced.  I asked students to change names to protect the innocent.  Notes/Discussion: Plot and Conflict.  Went through the five parts of the plot diagram and read/reviewed/discussed pages 24-27 in the textbook.  Students took notes and defined key terms along the way.  Assignment:  None!

G2 - Checked Draft #1 of the Summary (Milgram OR Parker).  Discussed the Parker article.  Distributed some guidelines to help students with their peer-editing and revisions.  At the end of the period, I gave students time in class to work with their groups to peer-edit their first drafts of the summary paper.  Assignment: Read "The Stanford Prison Experiment" by Philip Zimbardo and type up a first draft summary for this article for Thursday.  If you remember, bring two copies.  I will be looking at them to see if there are major errors you need to know about before completing a second draft.

W131 PARENTS: I do not need to see you at Meet the Teacher Night, but you are more than welcome to come if you so choose.  I really just want to re-emphasize the fact that there will not be any grades posted on PowerSchool for W131 until after the Summary is graded... this won't be until sometime in middle or late September.  Typically, I do not contact parents of students in W131 unless it is absolutely necessary (i.e. the student is failing).  It is a college class, and, as far as I know, college professors do not contact their students' parents for any reason.   

August 24, 2009 (Blue)

B1/B3 - Passed back and went over the Reading Comprehension Pre-Test.  Students were given opportunities to ask questions about what they missed.  If you missed class today, be sure to meet with me at some point to go over your test.  Journal:  Write about a crush you have experienced.  I asked students to change names to protect the innocent.  Discussion.  Notes/Discussion: Plot and Conflict.  Went through the five parts of the plot diagram and read/reviewed/discussed pages 24-27 in the textbook.  Students took notes and defined key terms along the way.  Assignment:  None!

B2 - Passed back and went over the Reading Comprehension Pre-Test.  Students were given opportunities to ask questions about what they missed.  If you missed class today, be sure to meet with me at some point to go over your test.  Notes/Discussion: Plot and Conflict.  Went through the five parts of the plot diagram and read/reviewed/discussed pages 24-27 in the textbook.  Students took notes and defined key terms along the way.  At the end of the period, I asked students to work in pairs to read "Checkouts" (page 28+) and answer the ten margin questions together.  We will continue/finish this activity in class at the beginning of the period on Wednesday.  Assignment:  None!

August 21, 2009 (Gold) SSR Day

G1/G3 - Students spent the first fifteen minutes of class reading for pleasure today.  After they read, I asked them to complete a pleasure reading log in their binders, and I signed off on them for their participation points.  These will be collected when the log is filled, and I will assess them based on whether or not they had me sign them each day after they were completed.  Obviously, if they lose the sheet, they will not get their points at that time.  After pleasure reading, I distributed the pre-tests and answer sheets.  I had students check their answers and gave them time to ask questions about the ones they got wrong.  Please know that I am not concerned about their scores on these pre-tests at this time.  These will be used to determine where we need to go for the rest of the year in order to prepare them for the End of Course Assessment for English 10.  We have plenty of time at this point to make progress.  After we finished going through the test, we spent about 3 minutes writing about a unique topic in each class.  G1 wrote about a green squirrel named ? (I forget) and G3 wrote about an orange pterodactyl named Brooke.  After everyone wrote creatively about their class topic, we combined them into a loose "story."  We then discussed the elements of a GOOD story. :)  Today, I emphasized organization and a sequence of events.  We emphasized that with one of two scrambled story activities.  Students worked in groups to put together and read the first story in order.  This pretty much took the rest of the period.  G1 received their letters of introduction back from me with comments and a score.  Students were asked to record their grades on their grade record sheets as a back-up for PowerSchool.  Assignment:  None!

G3 - Applications DUE.  Collected late syllabus forms, etc.  Checked the 18 summarizing sentences students were asked to write for today.  Discussed the sentences they wrote.  Gave students copies of the notes for summary writing (my lecture notes really - not exactly user-friendly, but I promised them that the notes get better as we go).  Orally, I gave students a sample thesis statement for the Milgram article. There is another sample thesis in the notes.  Students were given time for the rest of the period to start writing the first draft summary or to read the next article in class.  Assignment:  Read "Obedience" by Ian Parker and type up a first draft summary of either article we have read so far.  Be prepared to share it with your group on Tuesday, and REMEMBER: If you aren't here, your paper needs to be here.  If you do not have a paper here on Tuesday, you will lose 10 points from the Draft Work Participation grade. Also, if you do not read the second article, we won't have much to talk about.  READ! :) 

August 20, 2009 (Blue) Mrs. Northouse was out today.

I am sorry I am late posting this... I was out for a funeral.

B1/B2/B4 - Students were asked to take a Reading Comprehension Pre-Test for the majority of the period.  When they were finished, they were given the opportunity to read for pleasure for the rest of the period.  No Assignment!

August 19, 2009 (Gold) SSR Day

G1/G3 - Parent Contact Information DUE. Pleasure Reading Book DUE. Checked pleasure reading books. Students took most of the period to complete a Reading Comprehension Pre-Test.  We will go over these in class on Friday.  When they were finished, they were allowed to read their books until the end of the period.  Assignment: Bring pleasure reading books back to class on Friday along with all other materials.  No additional assignment.

G2 - Collected applications.  Watched a 16-minute Dateline video clip about obedience to authority and the Milgram experiment.  At length, we discussed "The Perils of Obedience" by Stanley Milgram.  Next, we discussed the first three steps in the chart for Summary writing on page 25.  At the end of the period, I told the students how to break the article into sections and told them where I thought those divisions would occur.  Assignment:  Write one complete summarizing sentence for each of the 18 sections of the article.  (You will have 18 solid sentences when you are finished.)  If you haven't read pages 21-39 yet, be sure to do that by Tuesday so that you have a better understanding about where this first paper is going.  We'll be writing the first draft of the Summary for Tuesday, so the sooner you read this material, the better.  APPLICATIONS AND CONSENT FORMS ARE DUE ON FRIDAY. 

August 18, 2009 (Blue)

B1/B2/B4 - Parent Contact Information DUE.  Pleasure Reading Book DUE.  Calendar change:  The Pre-Test will be given on Thursday--not today.  Students spent the first fifteen minutes of class reading for pleasure today.  If they did not bring their own book, they did not get points for bringing one.  Those students were forced to borrow a book from my shelf today.  After they read, I asked them to complete a pleasure reading log in their binders, and I signed off on them for their participation points.  These will be collected when the log is filled, and I will assess them based on whether or not they had me sign them each day after they were completed.  Obviously, if they lose the sheet, they will not get their points at that time.  After pleasure reading, we spent about 3 minutes writing about a unique topic in each class.  B1 wrote about a blue dog named Madison.  B2 wrote about a pink monkey named Bob.  B4 wrote about a green shark named Jade.  After everyone wrote creatively about their class topic, we combined them into a loose "story."  We then discussed the elements of a GOOD story. :)  Today, I emphasized organization and a sequence of events.  We emphasized that with two scrambled story activities.  Students worked in groups to put together and read their stories in order.  This pretty much took the rest of the period.  Assignment:  Come to class on Thursday with a pleasure reading book and something to write with.  You will be taking the pre-test for most of the period.  No additional assignment.