Great Things are Happening in Room 1601
English Language Arts classes have been busy these first few weeks of the 2019-20 school year. Freshmen have made Mrs. E.’s heart sing! They have gone over and above the requirements for their independent reading, with many of them ready to start a second book. *can you hear Mrs. E.’s heart singing?* They will participate in their first Literature Circles and Book Talks on the 16th. Freshmen have also submitted their first Writer’s Notebook.
Sophomores have been working on a unit called Purposeful Reading. They’ve read and discussed an excerpt from a novel, annotated two articles, made a visual representation as a form of note-taking, and deconstructed a poem. After each reading assignment, they have been giving meaning to and making meaning from the texts by giving written responses in their Personal Communiqué Journals. Each entry discusses a passage that resonates with them, connecting the reading with their life experiences or observations.
Juniors have just finished reading the original screenplay (1957) for 12 Angry Men. They brought their characters to life, using stage directions to help them move, vocalize, and interact with one another to bring the play to life. They acted (performed) like a jury, discussing the evidence and using personal observations to weigh the credibility of evidence and witness testimony. Juniors have also been studying vocabulary and creating informative posters, writing acrostic poems, or designing word constellations to better learn and own the words.
Mass Media students created digital one-pagers to introduce themselves, but also to demonstrate their current understanding of visual presentation elements. Students are currently studying the who, what, why, how, when, and where of propaganda as we prepare for our first large scale project: a study of propaganda through history into contemporary times, after which they will create their own campaign involving the different techniques of propaganda and advertising.
The materials for the Literary Breakout Boxes arrived this week. Students in several classes helped to put the storage drawers together and unpack, sort, and store the materials. Thank you, ELA and Mass Media students. You were awesome and showed some great team work skills.