Jennifer Holzhausen's Homework Blog

December 22, 2010 - GRADING UPDATE

Ok... at this point, all I have left to grade and wrap up are the 40 Trend Analysis papers for my two W131 classes (which are lurking behind me on my kitchen table).  Everything else is done and recorded on PowerSchool as of five minutes ago.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at school.  I will periodically check my email but probably not every day.  If you do not hear back from me, please leave me a voicemail at school... if your email went into my spam folder, that's the best way to let me know to look for it.  My school voicemails come across as audio files on my email, so I should get those for sure (unless there is something wrong with the school's phone system). 

Merry Christmas! :)

N-

December 20, 2010 - Q&A AND A BRIEF GRADING UPDATE

Q&A with Mrs. Northouse:

Have you taken any more trips? 

Yep.  We drove to and from Chicago this weekend in the dark, but I didn't get much grading done then.  I did grade W131 presentations in the car on the way to the Science and Industry Museum on Saturday and on the way to brunch and IKEA on Sunday, though.

Is your Christmas shopping completed? 

HAHAHA!  No... slim and nill right now.  I will be lucky at this point if I don't show up with IOU cards for my family on Christmas Day.  :(

Is your Christmas tree up yet? 

No - just a few decorations I received for Christmas from Mrs. Low

Are all of your Christmas cards sent? 

No - I haven't even ordered them yet.

Is your house clean? 

No, but I have done the laundry and washed the dishes quite a few times already.

GRADING UPDATE:

B4 and G4- Draftwork and Homework Participation Scores have all been recorded.  Final Presentations have all been graded and recorded.  All I have left to do for you is to grade the Trend Analysis papers (which have not yet been touched).  Please give me at least another week on those...  I want to finish all of my other classes first, and I probably won't even be able to start your papers until at least Thursday.  And, no, I will not be grading papers on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. 

B1/G1 - Final essays have been graded and recorded.  All grades are now FINAL in these two classes.

B2 - I will be grading your final essays and wrapping up grades in this class tomorrow afternoon.  (In fact, I will probably grade several of them while I sit at the Honda dealership and wait to get an oil change in Jason's car in the morning.)

G3 - I will be grading your Response to Literature essays and wrapping up grades for your class as soon as I finish things in my B2 class.  I hope to have these finished by Wednesday evening.

I hope you all enjoy your Christmas Break! :)

December 16, 2010 - BLUE FINAL EXAMS - 2 Hour Delay

B1/B2 - Students took their Final Exam today. If I did not receive your textbook, please make sure I get it to me as soon as possible.  I have graded the vocabulary portion of the final exam, and those scores are posted.  I will be working on the essay portion of the Final over the course of the next few weeks.  Please be patient with me as I wrap up the semester in all of my classes. 

B4 - Final presentations were completed today.  I will be working on the final drafts of the Trend Analysis paper over the course of the next few weeks.  Please be patient with me as I wrap up the semester in all of my classes.  I will be in touch at some point to give you information from IU if you took the course for credit.  Trend papers may be picked up anytime after Christmas break.

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone! :)

December 15, 2010 - GOLD FINAL EXAMS

G1 - Students took their Final Exam today.  Journals are now graded and may be picked up at your convenience.  If I did not receive your textbook, please make sure I get it as soon as possible.  I have graded the vocabulary portion of the final exam, and those scores are posted.  I will be working on the essay portion of the Final over the course of the next few weeks.  Please be patient with me as I wrap up the semester in all of my classes. 

G3 - Students took their Final Exam today.  I collected all books.  If I have not yet received your textbook or your copy of Night, please be sure I get them as soon as possible.  The final exam has been graded and scores are now posted.  I will be working on the Response to Literature essays over the course of the next few weeks.  Please be patient with me as I wrap up the semester in all of my classes.

G4 - Final presentations were completed today.  I will be working on the final drafts of the Trend Analysis paper over the course of the next few weeks.  Please be patient with me as I wrap up the semester in all of my classes.  I will be in touch at some point to give you information from IU if you took the course for credit.  Trend papers may be picked up anytime after Christmas break.

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone! :)

December 14, 2010 WHITE DAY - ALL CLASSES MET TODAY

B1/B2/G1 - Passed back PSAT scores today.  Gave students what little information I had about their scores and told them to hold onto the score sheets for future reference for applications for colleges and scholarships (if needed).  We discussed the expectations for the final exam.  On the final, there will be 50 matching questions about SAT vocabulary.  There will also be a writing prompt.  I told them they will need to use what they have learned from the research paper unit to properly introduce, use, quote, and cite borrowed material  in their essay.  This may be one paragraph or it may be a full-blown essay.  You will know when you get your final exam.  G1 turned in their journals today, and they received their research papers back.  I then collected the research papers back from them after I gave them several minutes to look through and read my comments.  I walked through as much of the rubric as possible before the end of the block.  These papers will live in the blue benchmark folders until the end of the sophomore year.  At that point, they will be returned to the students along with several other pieces of their writing.  I offered to make copies of the research papers upon request or talk to students one-on-one about their papers if they want to. 

G3 - Students were given the entire block to finish or rewrite their Response to Literature essays, and they were all collected at the end of the block.  They received the review sheet for the Final Exam last week.  They were given a second review sheet today if they needed one. 

B4/G4 - We squeezed in part of a presentation in Gold 4 and students stayed after school to finish one in B4.  In G4, I announced that Trend Analysis papers were due at 4pm.  We will finish our presentations tomorrow and Thursday.  Some of you may be asked to stay after school each day in order to finish the presentations.  Please be prepared for that.  Make arrangements to get a ride, if needed so that you are able to finish your presentation.   

December 13, 2010 - NO SCHOOL TODAY

Well, I am finally home.  I will I tell you more about my trip whenever I see you. 

Since we did not have school today, the schedule is a little "off" at this point.  Tomorrow, I may be seeing ALL of you in what we call a "white" schedule.  That means we will have an abbreviated schedule of all 8 classes.  I have no idea which classes will meet when, but I do know that the shortened schedule will impact some of you quite a bit (only 40 minutes per block).  Soooo... here's the new plan for all of my classes for Tuesday, Dec. 14:

Honors 10 G1 - Journals are DUE ASAP.  At this point, I have three research papers left to grade for this class, and I hope to finish them yet tonight.  Tomorrow, if we have a white schedule, we will go over your research papers so you know how you did.  I will tell you about your final exam, then I'll send you to your next class.  That's about how much time we will have.

Honors 10 B1/B2 - When I see you, we will talk about the final exam and do what we can to review. 

English 9 G3 - Final Drafts of the Response to Literature essays are DUE ASAP.  We will spend the rest of the block reviewing and preparing you for the final exam.

W131 B4 and G4 - Obviously, you will be affected the most by a white schedule.  So... we will probably only have ONE group presentation tomorrow in each class and the rest will all go on Wednesday and Thursday.  Stick to the time limit, and come to class prepared for the presentation.  If you can do those two things, we ought to be in good shape.

Hope you enjoyed your snow day!  I am planning to see everyone tomorrow.  Have a good evening!

N-

 

December 12, 2010 SUNDAY TRAVEL UPDATE - STUCK IN LAS VEGAS

Well, the concert was great last night, and, yes, we have a two-hour delay tomorrow, but, unfortunately, I am still stuck in the Las Vegas airport.    It is now 10:00pm  Indiana time, and I have been grading Gold 1's research papers all day.  I have been here since 7 am Las Vegas time (10:00 am Indy time), and we cannot get out.  We have tried three different airlines in three different terminals all day long, and NOTHING is open.  With that said, I may or may not be at school at all tomorrow due to circumstances which were unforseen.  Here's the plan for my classes in the event that I am gone...

Gold One  - You will review Vocabulary for the Final Exam.  You will have 50 matching or multiple choice questions about Units 1, 2, 3, and 4.  The rest of your final exam is going to be an essay.  You will be required to demonstrate research skills used in the research paper assignment.  Be prepared to write, write, write after you take the vocabulary portion of the final.

Gold Three - Response to Literature essays DUE by the end of the block.  You can have the block to revise and finish (if needed).  They are due at the end of the period.  You can also be reviewing the materials you were given on Friday.

Gold Four - Plan to give your presentations.  There is still a possibility that I will be home in time to come to school for your presentations.  Even if it is the only block I am able to make it to, I plan to be there.  It is highly possible that I will have Mr. Oliver watch your presentations and take notes for me.  In the absolute worst case scenario, we will shorten the presentations so we can squeeze them all in on Wednesday.  I cannot tell you how sorry I am about this.

 

December 10, 2010 (Blue)

B1/B2 - ALL GRADES ARE IN FOR THESE TWO CLASSES, AND GRADES ARE FINAL (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE FINAL EXAM GRADE).  Journals were due at the beginning of the block today.  Students took the test over Antigone as I graded their journals.  After the test, I passed back research papers in B2 and went over them.  I had students spend some time going through each page to read comments and look at the types of errors which were marked.  I offered to sit down and talk about the research papers one-on-one if needed and even offered to make photocopies if needed.  In the meantime, the research papers will live in the blue benchmark folders in my classroom (or Mr. Oliver's next semester) until the end of the year.  I apologize again for taking so long to get these back to you.  Thank you for being so patient with me!    ALL tests and journals have been graded and posted at this time.  Assignment: IF THERE IS A SNOW DAY ON TUESDAY, PLEASE CHECK THIS BLOG FOR UPDATES.  I WILL POST YOUR FINAL REVIEW SHEET ON THIS SITE IF NEEDED.  PASS THE WORD.

B4 - The first group gave their final presentation today.  Assignment:  Two more groups will give their final presentations on Tuesday.  See you then! :)  IF THERE IS A SNOW DAY ON TUESDAY, PLEASE CHECK THIS BLOG FOR UPDATES.  I WILL POST THE PRESENTATION SCHEDULE AND EXPECTATIONS FOR THURSDAY ON THIS SITE IF NEEDED. 

Have a great weekend!!!!!! :)

December 9, 2010 (Gold)

G1 - Students took the test over Antigone today.  After the test, we went through the journals to create a master list for this class.  I have finally started grading the research papers for this class and grades will be posted on a daily basis as they are finished.  These take 30 minutes each (27 kids in this class = 13 1/2 hours of grading time).  I have 25 to go.  Thank you for being so patient with me!    Assignment: Journals are due on Monday!   IF THERE IS A SNOW DAY ON MONDAY, PLEASE CHECK THIS BLOG FOR UPDATES.  I WILL POST YOUR FINAL REVIEW SHEET ON THIS SITE IF NEEDED.  PASS THE WORD.

G3 - Students worked on Introduction and Conclusion paragraphs today.  We had some samples that we went over in class, and students were given the majority of the class period to write.  At the end of the block, I gave students a final exam review sheet.  It tells you what will be on the final exam and what you need to study.  Assignment:  Final Drafts of the Response to Literature essay are due on Monday.  They will NOT be accepted late.     IF THERE IS A SNOW DAY ON MONDAY, PLEASE CHECK THIS BLOG FOR UPDATES.  YOU ALREADY HAVE YOUR FINAL EXAM REVIEW SHEET.  BE SURE TO STUDY IT FOR THE FINAL EXAM.

G4 - The first two groups gave their final presentations today.  Assignment:  Final Drafts of the Trend Analysis paper are due on Monday.  Two more groups will give their final presentations.  See you then! :)  IF THERE IS A SNOW DAY ON MONDAY, PLEASE CHECK THIS BLOG FOR UPDATES.  I WILL POST THE PRESENTATION SCHEDULE AND EXPECTATIONS FOR WEDNESDAY ON THIS SITE IF NEEDED. 

Have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!

December 8, 2010 (Blue)

B1/B2 - Vocab. Test over Unit #4.  After the Vocab. Test, we went through the journals and created a "master list" in each class.  Students are expected to have half a page, a title, and the date for each journal on our list.  If you have been absent, you are expected to make up the journals you missed.  I gave students a  review sheet to work on in a small group for the rest of the block.  Assignment:  Study for the test over Antigone (50-75 multiple choice questions) and prepare your journal for assessment for Friday.  You should study and prepare for the test.  You can prepare by reviewing the following information:

•     Themes and Literary Terms Worksheet
•     Family Tree and Cast of Characters
•     Lecture notes over Greek Tragedy, the Theater, and Aristotle's Tragic Hero
•     Know who lives and who dies at the end of the play
•     Be able to identify the speaker and/or interpret various quotes from the play
•     Tragic Heroes Worksheet
•     Wouldn't hurt to reread the play if you have time!

B4 - Binders were DUE for the second assessment today.  Several people had final drafts of the Trend Analysis paper due today.  I collected those, then students worked on their final presentations for the entire block.  Assignment:  Final Drafts of the Trend Analysis paper are due from several of you tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 9).  If you were absent today, your binder is due ASAP.  The first Final Presentation will be given on Friday!