Welcome back (heh)

Once again, a new semester and new students; we strive to do better than we did the previous semester...

I'm grading my classes a little bit differently this semester compared to previous semesters; In my core subjects, all activities are broken down into one of three types of assignments- participation, tests & quizzes, and projects. The bulk of the activities performed in class will fall under the Participation category- homework, classroom activities, AIMS prep- and will be worth 40% of the final grade. Tests & Quizzes, while rare, will account for 20% of the final grade. Finally, Projects will generally account for one or two major activities per unit and will also account for 40% of the final grade. I will not be giving extra credit this semester, so it is imperative that students complete all of their work to the best of their abilities and in a timely fashion.

The Creative Writing class will be graded according to only two areas- Participation (worth 50% of the final grade) and Portfolio (also worth 50%). Participation, once again, will take up the bulk of points given in class until the end of the semester, and most of the points will be given purely on a pass/fail basis. While projects will be examined and feedback will be provided, this is a workshop class and students need to be able to turn in work that is less-than-perfect without being penalized in order to learn how to improve. From all of the work that they hand in, students will select 10 assignments to put in their portfolio and then write a defense of their work which will recieve the final grade. Because of the nature of this class, it is possible that students may appear to have very high grades until the end of the semester. The portfolio, ultimately, is what will tend to decide the actual grades. I encourage parents to always look at their child's work and to offer constructive criticism to help their child improve.

This semester my classes will be focusing on AIMS preparation- although none of the 7th or 9th grade students take AIMS this year, it was the general feeling that a coordinated- and early!- approach to the test might help put students in a better position when the test rolled around next year. To that end, both of my core subjects will be practicing from the Buckle Down AIMS 3rd Edition texts in addition to regular coursework.

In terms of what students can expect to see and do, it varies a little from class to class. The Academy English class (traditional 9th grade English) is reading a novella by Lois McMaster Bujold called The Mountains of Mourning. As we read it, we are also examining issues of difference and acceptance, coming of age, and justice and mercy. There will be several short quizzes and a project to round out the unit.

Junior Academy English (tradional 7th grade) has begun reading Tangerine by Edward Bloor. Thus far, I have had nothing but good results from teaching this book as the main character is about the same age as my students and they can relate well to him. The story lends itself well to discussions about struggling to overcome obstacles, finding a place for yourself in the world, and facing the world with integrity. We will complete several short quizzes, a short dramatization, and a comic book project before we complete this unit.

My Creative Writing class has been working on a unit on poetry and found language. As the week draws to a close, we have nearly completed this unit- students have written shaped poems formed from encyclopedia entries, made poems based on the signs we see in everyday life, and copied down the nonsensical phrases that we speak each day without thinking about them. In addition, we've worked on cinquains and started to explore the different forms and terms used in poetry. On Monday, the second homework assignment is due- a poem based on overheard phrases and expressions.

This semester promises to be exciting. We've lots to do, but as long as we keep moving forward, the task should not be insurmountable. I encourage anyone who has questions about the course material, work, or schedule to contact me via the Telesis Academy website.

Reading Responses

We've recently started focusing on reading responses in all of my classes. A question I am frequently asked is, "Mr. Leckrone, why do we have to do this? How does this help us?" This is often connected to the belief that the book (or the method) has no relationship to the student's actual life and, therefor, cannot possibly teach the student anything.

The purpose of reading responses is to get students into the habit of thinking about anything and everything they read. Some students, of course, do this already; many students, however, do not.

According to Wolfgang Iser, "The significance of the work...does not lie in the meaning sealed within the text, but in the fact that the meaning brings out what had been previously sealed within us....Through gestalt-forming, we actually participate in the text, and this means that we are caught up in the very thing we are producing. This is why we often have the impression, as we read, that we are living another life." (Iser, The Act of Reading, pp. 157, 132)

In other words, while texts may have meaning in and of themselves, the more profound meaning is the one that is created when the reader actively considers what the text could possibly mean in relation to his or her own knowledge, life and context.

A great deal of information is available on this subject, from wikipedia pages to individual school and teacher web sites. I found several sites particularly useful when investigating this technique:

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/home/theory.html
http://www.centralischool.ca/~bestpractice/response/index.html
http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/adjust/improvereading.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reader-response_criticism

The methods I am currently using for reading responses are very simple- low-tech, if you will. Students read from their text and, as they read, they write down sections of the text that they have questions about or that they find interesting. Ideally, students could use sticky notes to mark the place in their text, thus limiting the interruption of their reading processes. After marking the places, they go back and write a single sentence about each section they've marked. Responses should demonstrate a variety of different kinds of thinking- musing, prediction, analysis, comparison.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Once again I would like to strongly encourage any and all parents to send me a quick email- even if it's just to make sure the links work- through the Telesis website. In order to do this, follow these simple (I hope) directions:

1. Go to http://www.telesis-academy.org/

2. Hover your mouse over the menu that reads "About Telesis"- this should bring up a list of options.

3. Select the link that says "Contact Us"

4. Click on my name on the page that comes up (I'm the fifteenth name from the top.)

Thank you for your support- this will allow me to send you up to date information regarding assignments and potential problems so you don't get blindsided.

Descriptive Writing

Students are working on descriptive papers in all of Mr. Leckrone's English classes. What characterizes descriptive writing, you ask? Simply put, it is used to describe a person, place or thing in vivid detail.

From The Writing Site.org (www.thewritingsite.org):

Goal: Descriptive writing vividly portrays a person, place, or thing in such a way that the reader can visualize the topic and enter into the writer’s experience.

Uses: Descriptive writing appears almost everywhere and is often included in other genre, such as in a descriptive introduction of a character in a narrative.

Characteristics:

• elaborate use of sensory language
• rich, vivid, and lively detail
• figurative language such as simile, hyperbole, metaphor, symbolism and personification
• showing, rather than telling through the use of active verbs and precise modifiers

MyGradebook Login

Students and parents can log in to My Gradebook at any time to see how they are doing in Mr. Leckrone's English Classes. To do so, you need first to visit the website, then to type in the Classword and the student's password.

Website: http://www.mygradebook.com/

Classwords:
American Novels: TEL_NOVELS
Academy English: TEL_SR_ENG
Junior Academy English: TEL_JA7_ENG

Passwords will be provided to students during classtime and may be adjusted through the website.

Class Blogs

Where to go and how to get there...

American Novels: http://amnovels.blogspot.com/

Academy English: http://acadenglish.blogspot.com/

Junior-Academy English: http://jaenglish.blogspot.com/