The English room at Waverly High School has been loud, busy, full of laughter, learning and all things 'new' this week! A brief overview of what we have been doing, you ask? Well, I'd love to...
The freshmen are finishing up their unit on characterization. We have been discovering and learning about many authors...authors whose memories can still be felt today if we are willing to look for them..... Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes and Truman Capote all still have relevance in 2015.... and when they were still with us, they made their characters come alive! The freshmen have been reading stories and poems from these authors, and we have been discussing characters that we know from 2015 that compare to those in author's stories. We have also talked about how we make them come to life through the mood, dialect and voice of the author. Their latest adventure is creating themselves as a character in 3rd person, and I'm anxiously awaiting tomorrow's discussion about this.
The sophomores have had a busy week of traveling back in time with Medieval literature and alo setting up and blogging about their #geniushour. We had a huge discussion today on Internet responsibility and the importance of a leaving a positive digital footprint in this day and age of technology. Last week the sophomores spent Monday through Thursday taking their state assessment tests in English Language Arts. This week, they will have spent Monday through Thursday taking their state assessments in math. *sigh* These are amazing individuals with individual talents and gifts... you sure can't measure that with a test score!
The juniors are in the midst of their Transcendentalism unit... we are talking about what it means to be a non-conformist in 2015 as compared to the time of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Many are really loving the concept and ideology behind this movement, and they are loving how it relates to their own lives! After learning about Mr. Emerson, each student scoured poetry through music lyrics and mood to find, what they thought, would have been Emerson's theme song. They also got to find their own, perfect, theme song that matched them perfectly.
The seniors started the week talking about irony from W.W. Jacobs, 'The Monkey's Paw' and we are ending the week discussing Sir Thomas More's "Utopia".... we have been comparing that to many types of "utopias" that are still trying to be found in 2015....when someone finds a real version of it, please let me know. I will book a one way ticket!
#geniushour is underway ..... and there is a lot of excitement buzzing around the halls about it. I really have never seen students so excited about learning, and applying what they have learned to real life... something bigger. We have networked with some great people all over the USA, and many students are finding mentors to help them along their journey. They have created their blogs, and I will be making those available for you all to view, make comments and encourage them through to success!
There are great things happening! Stay tuned as we venture down the 'road less traveled'....
Safe 'travels',
Flem~
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