Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Post date: Aug 26, 2015 7:37:11 PM

Another awesome day at GLR! (Until I lost my post and had to redo it! :-( ) Senator Grassley's visit was a wonderful way to start the year. The students had awesome questions, and as one student said, "Senator Grassley answered them straight on. He wasn't like other politicians that tried to go around the issue." I think the kids represented the young people of the Midwest wonderfully!

In Literature 9 we're desperately trying to get both classes (1st hour and 5th hour) on the same page. It will take us a few days, but I'm determined that both classes will get the same activities. In first hour we signed up for Remind (a text messaging service used for communication with students), then because we had Senator Grassley's visit, they were assigned a puzzle over figurative language and literary terms. Just do your best! Both classes worked on a logic puzzle regarding the name of a particular soda pop. This is something we're going to continue to do to strengthen our reading muscles. In fifth hour we reviewed my website and discussed make-up work. Then we solved the murder of Mr. Kelly. This was really an activity on collaboration. It was great to see how this class worked together so well.

In English 10 we have the same problem we have in Literature 9 - uneven classes. Second hour didn't even meet due to the Senator, but sixth hour is going forward with both engines running. We reviewed my website and the make-up policy. We then played with a little play dough. I almost didn't do this activity because I thought high school kids would think it was dumb. Boy was I wrong. After they all created something that represented themselves, they had to go around the room and explain their creation. Speech #1 done! I hope we can continue to have fun and learn at the same time.

In American Government we returned to class a little later than anticipated, but hey, we were talking to a senator! I reminded the seniors that they set the atmosphere of a school that can be felt for years to come. I challenged them to create a legacy that they will be proud of. We then reviewed the cell phone policy (bags or jail!), We started to create my participation cards, but time got away from us, so we'll finish that later. Their only assignment is to read about the colonization of Pacific Island.

I hope that the year goes as great as the last two days. I know the honeymoon period is always short-lived, but I'm really excited about how 2015-2016 is starting out!