Jennifer Holzhausen's Homework Blog

January 31, 2020 (Gold)

G2/G3 - In class today, I collected Article of the Week Response #3, then students watched a documentary over The Scottsboro Boys and their trials. This took the entire period today. No Assignment!

G4 - DENs for the second "Happy" article DUE. I checked and returned double-entries with individualized comments/scores. We then moved into some discussion about the video we watched in class last time. We watched two additional videos and discussed them as well. Next, we discussed the article as a class and moved into a list of points for possible use in the Critique paper. That was all we had time for today. Assignment: Please choose one of the two articles you have read to pursue for your Critique paper. Write the summarizing sentences and then a one-paragraph summary. Have those ready to go for next time.

January 30, 2020 (Blue)

B1/B4 - Quiz: Chapters 8-11. After the quiz, we started going through some notes and information about the trials of the Scottsboro Boys. There is a Google Slides presentation posted on Moodle (and Classroom), and I distributed several handouts today. Students took notes, responded to questions, and we discussed everything as we went through the materials together.  Students chose a "homework question" and responded to the question in their journals. That is all we had time for today. In class next time, we will watch some documentary footage about the trials before going back to the second half of To Kill a Mockingbird next week.  Assignment: Article of the Week #3 (Death Row) Response is due on Monday.

B3 - Research Day #4 Bibliography Entries and Notecards DUE by the end of the block. I spot-checked almost the entire block today. Assignment: You do not have an assignment, but I would encourage you to get ahead! Start working on typing up a list of all of your Bibliography Entries with working links to the articles. You might want to sketch out an outline. Getting a good start on this will save you some time and stress later when things ramp up again next week.

January 29, 2020 (Gold)

G2/G3 - Quiz: Chapters 8-11. After the quiz, we started going through some notes and information about the trials of the Scottsboro Boys. There is a Google Slides presentation posted on Moodle (and Classroom), and I distributed several handouts today. Students took notes, responded to questions, and we discussed everything as we went through the materials together.  Students chose a "homework question" and responded to the question in their journals. That is all we had time for today. In class next time, we will watch some documentary footage about the trials before going back to the second half of To Kill a Mockingbird next week.  Assignment: Article of the Week #3 (Death Row) Response is due on Friday.

G4 - DENs for "Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness" DUE. I graded and returned DENs in class today. We discussed the sample analysis paragraphs for "The Plug-In Drug," then we discussed the article for today. Towards the end of the block, students watched a video and practiced "Notice and Focus" and "The Method." Assignment: Read "Happiness: Enough Already" and do a DEN for Friday.

January 28, 2020 (Blue)

B1/B4 - We started the block today with Article of the Week #3: Death Row. I gave students 20 minutes in class to begin reading, annotating, and writing their responses. Those will be due on Monday. From there, students were asked to write a half-page journal associated with "Snow." After some sharing and discussion, we went over the review sheet for Chapters 8-9, went through the vocabulary for Chapters 10-11, and students began reading the assignment for the rest of the block. Assignment: Finish Chapters 10-11 and the review sheet. Be ready for a quiz over Chapters 8-11 next time. AOW Response #3 is due on Monday.

B3 - Research Day #3 Bibliography Entries and Notecards DUE by the end of the block. I spot-checked almost the entire block today. Assignment: Get ahead! Start working on Research Day #4, which is due by the end of the block next time.

January 27, 2020 (Gold)

G2/G3 - We started the block today with Article of the Week #3: Death Row. I gave students 20 minutes in class to begin reading, annotating, and writing their responses. Those will be due on Friday. From there, students were asked to write a half-page journal associated with "Snow." After some sharing and discussion, we went over the review sheet for Chapters 8-9, went through the vocabulary for Chapters 10-11, and students began reading the assignment for the rest of the block. Assignment: Finish Chapters 10-11 and the review sheet. Be ready for a quiz over Chapters 8-11 next time. AOW Response #3 is due on Friday.

G4 - Microtheme #1 DUE. After collecting papers, I asked students to generate some inquiry-based questions for potential use on the Research-Based Analysis paper at the end of the semester. Those questions were submitted through the Google Doc posted on Moodle at the bottom of the page. After some thinking and discussion, we then moved on to some discussion questions to begin our second unit, the Critique. I distributed copies of the Homework Calendar for this unit (which also lives on Google Classroom as a live document), then we previewed the second paper, Microtheme #2. From there, groups read/discussed "The Plug-In Drug" to begin practicing some "critique" strategies and sample analysis paragraphs. At the end of the block, we discussed the Double-Entry Notebook assignment expectations (template on Moodle). Assignment: Read "Yes, Money Can Make You Happy" (p. 273+) and complete a double-entry notebook assignment for Wednesday.

January 24, 2020 (Blue)

B1/B4 - I collected Chapter 4-7 Review Sheets to see how students did, and students were then given a quiz over Chapters 1-7. Students wrote a journal about "The Neighbors." After sharing some of their stories, we went through the vocabulary for Chapters 8-9, and we began reading Chapter 8 in class today.  Assignment: Read Chapters 8-9 and complete the Review Sheet.

B3 - Research Day #2 Bibliography Entries and Notecards DUE by the end of the block. I spot-checked almost the entire block today. Assignment: Get ahead! Start working on Research Day #3, which is due by the end of the block next time.

January 23, 2020 (Gold)

G2/G3 - I collected Chapter 4-7 Review Sheets to see how students did, and students were then given a quiz over Chapters 1-7. We went over the vocab from Ch. 4-7 in G2 and review for Chapters 4-7 in both G2 and G3. G2 watched the episode of The Little Rascals and responded to it. In G3, students wrote a journal about "The Neighbors." We went through the vocabulary for Chapters 8-9, and we began reading Chapter 8 in class today.  Assignment: Read Chapters 8-9 and complete the Review Sheet.

G4 - Unofficially, students produced drafts of a Summary for today for peer review/discussion. I shared some sample papers with students, and we discussed how they would be graded/scored. For much of the rest of the block, groups worked through their own papers and discussed the scoring in the same way we did as a class with the samples. Assignment: Microtheme #1 is due on Monday. Please print two copies of your paper before class. Submit it on Google Classroom.

January 22, 2020 (Blue)

B1/B4 - In class today, I collected AOW #2. We then went over the Chapters 1-3 Review Sheets. I showed an episode of The Little Rascals, and students reflected on the episode using connections from the book and the material we have been studying about the time period. We then went through the vocabulary for Chapters 4-7. We started reading Chapter 4 together. That was really about all we had time for today. Assignment: Read Chapters 4-7 and complete the review sheet. Be ready for a quiz over Chapters 1-7 next time.

B3 - Research Day #1. Three bibliography entries and 9 notecards were due by the end of the block. I spot-checked almost the entire block. Assignment: Start working on Day #2 Research.

January 21, 2020 (Gold)

G2/G3 - G2 had a shortened block today due to a Guidance Presentation. In class today, I collected AOW #2. We then went over the Chapters 1-3 Review Sheets. I showed G3 an episode of The Little Rascals, and students reflected on the episode using connections from the book and the material we have been studying about the time period. We then went through the vocabulary for Chapters 4-7. That was really about all we had time for today. Assignment: Read Chapters 4-7 and complete the review sheet. Be ready for a quiz over Chapters 1-7 next time.

G4 - Summarizing sentences for the Zimbardo article DUE. I checked those and we discussed the article. We wrapped up with documentary footage of that experiment. Assignment: Unofficially, prepare a draft Summary for next time.

January 17, 2020 (Blue)

B1/B4 - We started the block by viewing two short video clips to go along with our ongoing conversation about racism and prejudice. Students wrote reflection pieces in their journals about the discussions and the videos we have seen. After sharing a few of those reflections, I asked students to complete a vocabulary pre-reading activity for Chapters 1-3 of To Kill a Mockingbird.  We went over that together,  I then distributed copies of the novel, and students started reading Chapter 1 of To Kill a Mockingbird in class.  Assignment: Read Chapters 1-3, complete the Review Sheet and be ready to discuss it next time. In addition, you have an Article of the Week Response due next time as well.

B3 - Article of the Week Response #2 DUE. Preliminary Topics Worksheet DUE (on Classrooom). In class today, we went through notes on Bibliography Entries and Note Cards. Assignment: Start working on the first three sources. Three Bib Entries and 3 notecards for each of those sources will be due by the end of the block on Wednesday. DO NOT get behind.