Your assignment is to read two books. A free choice book in your favorite genre, and a memoir.
On the first day of class, you should have prepared the following with your memoir:
Evidence of annotations
Analysis paragraph
300-word book reflection
More expanded explanation can be found below on the assignment handout below:
Hello and Welcome to the 2024-2025 School Year!
email me at igardner@rsu21.net
In Sophomore English, you can expect writing instruction to not just be regular practice such as reading responses, essays, and creative writing. We will also spend a lot of time developing your understanding of grammar and expanding the vocabulary you use in your writing.
Most of our units will be devoted to reading and understanding our three Sophomore English texts: The Kite Runner, Macbeth, and The Great Gatsby. However, I believe that regular choice reading is essential to developing reading skills, so students will always be expected to have their own reading material.
Within the first few days of English class you'll hear the term "Harkness" which is a method I believe is essential for not just understanding content but also developing communication and collaboration skills.
About Me:
This will be my fourth year teaching Sophomore English at KHS.
I'm originally from Maine, but left to attend college in the Midwest, after college I spent some years traveling and living in different areas of the U.S. I've taught English in Iowa, Idaho, Texas, and now Maine!
I live in Kennebunkport, and outside of school, I spend my time reading, hiking, gardening, practicing yoga, cycling, and longboarding.
I am also an advisor for the school newspaper, The Herd, and am the school organizer for the Poetry Out Loud competition and advisor for the Poetry Out Loud club.
Classroom Policies
Grading
Formative 40%
classwork, homework, drafts
Summative 50%
Papers, projects, tests, quizzes
Academic Responsiblity 10%
Late Work and Re-Dos
Respecting assignment deadlines is about respecting your teacher's time, and your own learning progression. Late work will be accepted with the following conditions:
Communicate
Learning to ask for an extension and communicate with your instructor is a great skill to develop. Before I will accept late work, a student must speak with me before the assignment deadline.
Last Acceptable Day
Throughout the quarter, I will set LAD deadlines. This means that no more late work will be accepted past that day. This will often be before a long weekend or at the halfway point in the quarter. This policy will keep any late work from piling up and ensure that we stay focused on the current deadlines rather than previous work.
Assignment Re-Do
Some assignments, mostly summative assignments, can be redone. This process will require many steps, primarily using the teacher's feedback to grow and reflect. Only assignments turned in on time will be able to take advantage of a redo.