ELA

English Language Arts - High School

Here's what class looks like (English 9, 55 min periods daily):

--Warm-up video (usually something from YouTube, like vlogbrothers, crash course, scishow, ze frank, wheezy waiter, buzzfeed, etc.). Purpose is to get kids settled in class, give them something interesting to think about, and reduce number of tardies. It works on all counts.

--Writing warm-up (5 minutes, no talking, no stopping, write about anything). Purpose is to get them thinking and settled in class, and also so they get used to writing silently for extended periods of time.

--Daily task - could be a discussion, could be a video about an interesting topic or a process video that shows a skill they are working on, could be reading the novel or shorter nonfiction pieces, could be exploring an idea together and trying out solutions...it really varies. Today, we discussed the project they're starting, then we read from our book (Looking for Alaska) and discussed it.

--Closure - generally is a question/exit ticket, or just a summary/clarification of today's work. No homework is given.

Basically, we start and end together, and there is usually time in the middle to work on some kind of higher-order thinking skills. At the start of the year, there's far more synchronous time because I'm building their academic habits/skills.