Our meeting this morning...

Our meeting was mostly informational. We discussed the following.

1. Word walls
2. Objectives
3. Common assessments

4. TOSCRF--I will distribute these as soon as possible with the instruction sheet. The window for completing these is January 20-23.
5. I will give Freshman teachers a copy of the midterm. Midterms should be completed by the end of next week.
6. Vocabulary--I will distribute what I have of the 9th and 10th grade vocabulary lists today. These will need to be updated but they are something to start with.

Thank you!
Cheryl

Updates

Hello All! Hope everyone had a wonderful break. I'm sure it feels like we never missed a day. :)

Anyway, I have some information that I will be giving you later today regarding planning common assessments and vocabulary. Hopefully it will be useful. Please meet with members of your grade level in order to plan some common assessments.

In short, common assessments should include agreed upon skills and concepts, even if the literature you are using is different from other teachers working on the same unit. You'll get an example of this in your mailbox.

Also, we must do more with word walls and vocabulary. We'll discuss ideas at the next meeting.

Lastly, our next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 13th. Please look over the materials you will get later today and come prepared with ideas!

Thank you!

Cheryl

Regents exam vocab

I spent a painstaking amount of time today combing the Regents exams of the last four year to find vocabulary words our students may need to know. This list was generated from approximately 15 exams that were in multiple choice questions and answers. Some of these words are easier than others, but depending on the aptitude of the students they may need them. This is just a preliminary list but I wanted to keep it complete for now until I decided which words were unnecessary. So here you go Cheryl, my grade 11 list and I think you have my 10th?

Reminder

Please make sure I have a list of vocabulary for each grade level and a copy of the grade level assessments...I will be making copies of the vocabulary and distributing them among teachers as soon as possible.

Thank you!

I will also be updating the blog with a summary of our meeting yesterday.

Cheryl

Meeting on Tuesday, the 25th

Hi, All. Our next meeting will be Tuesday morning at 7:45.

I left a copy of an article Anne gave to me on Friday regarding SSR. Please read it, and we will discuss it on Tuesday morning.

I am hoping that Mia can give us an update on the AP vertical planning. We will need to discuss common assessments and specifically what skills we would like students to master at each grade level.

Also, we need to discuss teaching tier 2 vocabulary.

Lastly, we will continue looking at the regents data from last year.

Thank you!

Meeting on 11/18

Today we discussed the following:

1. Vocabulary list--a list of vocabulary from different courses is being compiled.

2. Spelling bee--We will be working on preliminary assessments for an upcoming spelling bee.

3. We began to assess last year's Regents exam to determine, based on student results, what steps we need to take to improve student performance.

Please be ready at the next meeting to discuss other areas you see students' needing to improve on and best practices to share. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 25th, at 7:45 in room 305.

Thank you!

Cheryl

Vocabulary and Data analysis

Hi, Team!

I have placed a request in teachers' mailboxes asking for vocabulary that is important to their subject area, or that they find students struggling with and it is something that crops up repeatedly. I'm hoping that teachers will respond to this and we can work on incorporating some of this vocabulary into our instruction.

Also, I've completed a data analysis of the unsuccessful regents exams from last year. We will be able to look at the types of questions missed and share ways to increase our best practices.

If you can't make the next meeting, please check the blog and hopefully I will have a second meeting so that more members can attend.

Thank you!
Cheryl

Next meeting

Hope all is going well with everyone. I do want to schedule another meeting. I'd like to meet on Tuesday, November 18th at 7:45 in Room 305. Hopefully I will have some data from last year's English Regents to share. We will be going over strategies for getting the students ready for the Regents this year, as well as continuing our discussion from the last meeting.

Please add to the comment section if there is something else you'd like to cover.

Cheryl

AP Vertical Team--meeting fri. 10/17

Please, please, please be in my room by 7:30--Cheryl will be in around 7:45
We really have to get going on these things. I know we are all overwhelmed with things to do right now, but we need to get some main points down.
1. Grade-level literature
2. Portfolio material
3. mid-term assessments--let's not do the lame book one again. Let's find old tasks 1,2,3, and 4. Let's put someone in charge of each now. December will come quickly.
4. Literary terms that will be the main focus per grade level
5. Grade-level vocab lists. (I think I gave out a couple last time? But basically, they come out of the units in the book. I have an SAT list for gr. 11)

AP Vertical Team--short meeting --postponed

9th-Romeo and Juliet,

10th-To Kill a Mockingbird

10th (Caccamise)--Of Mice and Men, Othello, 12 Angry Men, Night, Lord of the Flies, Stuck in Neutral, A Lesson Before Dying

11th--Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible, Scarlet Letter, (see ap syllabus)

12----

Grade 10 AP Vertical Post

Ok my thoughts:
1. Literature for Grade 10. I think a few classics like To Kill A Mockingbird or A Tale of Two Cities and a Shakespearan play (Caesar or something else) along with a historical piece like Night should be mainstays for sophomores. I have found success covering longer pieces of literature by listening to some of the lit with audio and discussing it as a class as we move through it.
2. Literary Elements/Techniques. I think all the basics (setting, theme, plot, conflict, point of view, symbolism, characterization, personification, simile, metaphor,etc...) plus connotation, dennotation, allusion, structure.
3. Types of written works. I think there should be some kind of research based (AP citations) paper (maybe research literary critiques with like the Masterplots series or something critiquing a short story/literary work including annotations),Regents based essays including AP driven tasks (literary analysis), creative writing including memoirs, possibly poetry, narratives. I am also a big advocate of journal writing. My students write a 5 minute journal response for me every other class day on various topics. It is good to keep them writing.
4. Essay skills. I think students should be able to construct a solid thesis statement with topic sentences to write a cohesive 4 paragraph essay. 10th graders need constant practice developing thesis statements along with supporting details.
Ok that is all for now. I did my homework!

Library

Hi all. I am pleased to inform you that we have a substitute librarian now. Her name is Mrs. Carl, and she is a retired city librarian. She is open to teach classes and help with research or anything else you need, so feel free to stop down and introduce yourself. She is teaching a library orientation class with my 9th graders next week. I told her we are all so happy to have her!

Department Meeting

We discussed a number of important aspects today:

1. AP Vertical team--please see the post below regarding the AP Vertical team. The next meeting is October 2, at 7:30. If at all possible, everyone is welcome to attend.

2. Donors choose--Mia let us all know about donorschoose.org. This is a valuable site to hopefully get materials for your classroom.

3. Any suggestions for the SIP can be brought to my attention or added to the comment section of the blog.

4. 8th grade assessment. We determined four main areas that need to be stressed with our students. These are:

Understanding supporting details, specifically “best” supporting detail.

Recognizing vocabulary, both from prior knowledge and through context clues.

Analyzing character

Recognizing questions asking what does “not” fit criteria.

Please come to the next meeting with best practices that address these areas, or ideas on how we can address them.


Our next meeting will be October 7, at 7:45. Please make every effort to be there. More teachers are available in the morning, so I think we'll have to have our meeting before school.

Also, I've put information on the survey I distributed and Just Buffalo in your mailboxes.

Thanks,
Cheryl

BPS English Department site

Make sure that you regularly check the English Department section of the BPS website. You can get there at this address.

There should be updates on pacing guides, etc., so some of your questions might be answered there. I will also check the site and let you know if there is any new information that applies to you or might be helpful.

Thanks!

AP Vertical Team Meeting #1

For the next meeting post:
1. the major works of literature you want to teach/should be taught
2. types of written works completed/essay writing skills
3. literary analysis--reading skills
4. literary elements and techniques
5. group discussion methods


Continue focusing on tasks 1 and 4 in gr. 9 and 2 and 3 in gr. 10 now that exam is in january of 11th

Double-entry journals
annotation
Gr. level grade vocab list
citations in writing

next meeting thurs. oct 2nd

CLT meeting and blog errors...

If you are not receiving updates when items are posted to the blog, please let me know. There has been some kind of error in getting updates and Mia has been kind enough to agree to look into it.

Also, I will be attending a CLT (Curriculum Lead Teacher) meeting tonight and will post any updates to the blog tomorrow.

Don't forget, we are having a meeting next Tuesday, the 23rd, at 7:45. We will be meeting in room 305. If you have any suggestions for the SIP (School Improvement Plan), please let us know at the meeting.

Cheryl

AP Vertical Team

As Cheryl said I will be heading up the AP Vertical Team. To further the explanation, we will be working to align the curriculum so that students build on knowledge year to year so that they are better prepared for their AP class. This means coordinating information learned at each grade level (vocab, essays, literary analysis, rhetorical devices,etc.) and to what degree that it will be taught. Therefore it is necessary that we have a core team to meet these expectations. As of now the team is: Zagst-12, Caccamise-11, Bouquard-10, Adams-9. This does not by any means imply that others are not wanted or needed to help. We need each teacher's input, but since there are schedule conflicts, we need at least these 4 at all meetings. As always, you can comment or give ideas on the blog or to me or Cheryl, or any team members. Please join us, if you can, for our first meeting Thurs. Sept. 18th at 7:30 in rm. 304. thanks. mia

9/9 Department Meeting

Hi Department!

We had a meeting yesterday after school; I'd like to hold the next meeting on Tuesday, the 23rd, at 7:45 in room 305. If we can hold two meetings every month that will be terrific. If you can't make a meeting please be sure to check the blog for updates.

One important point...Mia will be heading up the AP Vertical team; see Mia for details, and I'm sure she will post updates and meeting teams on the blog. The AP Vertical team, for those who do not know, is designed to improve students readiness for AP courses.

Pts. from yesterday's meeting:

1. Summer reading: Allow the students to complete a makeup assignment, but for less points and in a short time frame. If you allow students to use any book, then take some points off.

2. Portfolio assessment: We would like to have portfolios for students. If at all possible, students will leave McKinley High School with a folder of their best work from freshman to senior year. This will also give teachers a focus for writing assignments for each grade level. I will distribute copies of the form and we will solidify what we cover each year at the next meeting.

3. I need to talk to all junior year teachers to confirm January Regents testing as part of our SIP plan.

4. Book distribution: if you need any more books, please see me. Also, I have organized the small room n 305 as a book center. I am organizing extra copies of books that were found in classrooms or lockers; if you are short a few books, come up to the room or see me and I'll see what I can do.

5. Miscellaneous:

• Please let me know what class sets of novels you have.
• Lauren suggested organizing a Slam Poetry Festival. Lauren you're in charge! :)
• Amy Chase has contemporary books that students can borrow if they sign them out.
• Amy also is interested in suggestions or copies of books that appeal to male students.
• Lastly, the library may be closed this year; we will need to get very creative in terms of research and book assignments.
  

I will get copies of portfolio ideas out to everyone. Please be ready to discuss what you'd like to expect of our students each year. Feel free to comment on the blog with any points you'd like to discuss.

Thanks a bunch!

Cheryl

Input from the Blog-Tardy

I apologize for being late in contributing to this year's ELA blog - I had forgotten how to get to the blog website. Anyhow, I agree with everyone's ideas on holding students accountable for the summer reading assignments, and designing a make-up assignment for those who failed to do it. With tremendous fear in their eyes, many of my freshmen have informed me that they never received the summer reading list and assignment in the mail. I handed more lists out on Friday and told them to get started or wait for a make-up assignment that would earn them some credit. I am not sure how long I should give the students to do the report if they didn't get the assignments in the mail. Also, Ms. Goodrich, an Earth Science teacher in room 96, has asked me several times about reordering the USA Today magazines that Joel had supervised last year. She apparently has information on how to reorder a subscription - is this something that we want to do? Does anyone have comments on how this was handled last year, or opinions on other potential subscriptions? Thank you!