You guys have ROCKED our intro to the school year and to close reading. I am both excited and impressed. We are in for a GREAT year! 

For a quick update --

This week we finished up our Where I'm From projects, and we spent a bit of time discussing what quality work looks like along the way. We decided that quality work: 

• Shows evidence of time and effort
• Is neat & attractive
• Is though-out and well-reasoned
• Meets all requirements of the assignment
• Is work you can be proud of

From what I've seen of your projects so far, they look like quality. 

Today, we had one final poetry analysis for the week. We read and interpreted Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night" and did a little writing-to-understand activity. 

Hello there! 

Excellent work this first week, guys. After plenty of getting-to-know-you activities, procedures review, and name games, we finally got to real-life English class. 

We learned and applied a few annotation strategies, and got after our first poem, too, George Ella Lyon's "Where I'm From." 

After your small group discussions, you decided it was a lovely little poem reflecting on the speaker's special family moments and memories. Kudos to you guys, by the way, with how you handled our three close reading questions: 

• What happened?
  
• How did it happen?
  
• Why is it important?

It's going to be a good year, I can tell. :)

Today we worked on writing our own "Where I'm From" poems, and like I said in class -- your experiences and your stories are wide and varied, and they are all important, and that's what makes this assignment so much fun. Click here and scroll down, and you'll find the template that is due on Monday. 

And, as promised, here are a few pointers for the assignment...click to read on...

What a wonderful and positive kick off we've had to English class this year! So far, classes are looking great -- great attitudes, lots of enthusiasm, and a real eagerness to learn. Today, we talked about procedures, you received your course description, and we learned our two class rules: work hard and be nice. 


We also spent a little time getting to know one another. One thing we considered was what it would be like to spend a day in somebody else's shoes. This year, it is incredibly important to me that I get to know each and every one of you and to help you grow as learners and as people. Remember: it's about being better than you are today. 

I am looking forward to our year together, and I'm so excited to learn more.