Never stop dreaming. Work hard. Be compassionate.

"Not all of us can do great things, but we can do little things with great love."

- Mother Theresa

These are excellent words to live by. I put them here as inspiration and to remind us that education is about the whole person.

Mother Theresa's words have inspired many people to remember that the little things matter. They may even matter more. So, work at the little things. Let your curiosity be open and free, work hard, challenge yourself, be polite, compassionate, respectful and interested in being a good person, and the rest should follow. When you make mistakes, recognize them and learn from them. This is growing. Never be a prisoner of resentment, believe in yourself and challenge yourself.

Academically, we will be engaging the Common Core standards and we will be using the NYS Modules. In our studies, we will be working to develop and enrich your understanding of complex texts of fiction, non fiction, poetry, plays and video and audio productions. We will build on your skills of reading critically, closely and actively. We will develop each person's level of writing. We will write critically, creatively and in various genres. We will work on making rich assertions, using a complicated array of texts in our attempts to find and understand voice. We will also look at how we watch, listen and present and we will have opportunities in various genres to produce videos, podcasts, speeches and presentations.

I teach:

• English 11
• TV Production
• YHS Writing Center

Learning should be interesting and fun. I hope this year will continue to spur your curiosity and nurture your love of learning.

Have a wonder filled year.

Mr. Sposato