BLOG/Week 1

 

Fields/8^th Language Arts/WEEK 1

 

Students: Any one of these dates/expectations could change due to unforeseen circumstances… We could get so involved in a discussion one day that we fail to move ahead at the predicted pace, I could be absent, we could have a different schedule, etc.  The best way to use the blog and your agenda is to look ahead always; see what lies AHEAD.  If you do not look ahead and plan ahead, you may come to class one day unprepared.  Once I hand out the day-by-day tracking of the course, you will have all dates for the first trimester and insert them into agendas. This lengthy project takes quite a lot of time and should be in your hands by Friday of this week.

 

SUMMARY:

This week we will be doing a little bit of “housekeeping” during the first couple of days… I have several documents to hand out re: upcoming assignments; we will enter a few dates on AGENDAS, talk about the weekly BLOG, teacher policies, student expectations, intruder drills, fire drills, AED’s location in case of emergency, etc.  As far as academics this week, we will have quiz on summer reading, A Separate Peace, and begin our discussion of this classic novel.  Students will submit or present ideas from the written work they did.  Here is how the breakdown of the week will look:

 

Monday, 8-12: All students: A DAY : Welcome, handouts, due dates for upcoming assignments, books distributed, instructions re: how we will approach discussion of ASP and what I expect from students in those discussions.  Students have HOMEWORK:  Bring in signed syllabus; bring in summer reading work for the next time we meet; be ready for quiz on ASP.

 

Additional HW that arose out of class discussion: _______________________________________________________________________

 

Tuesday: 8-13: Blocks 2, 3,4:  I will collect signed syllabi; I will make first writing assignment: On-level students will write 5 paragraph essay revealing most important parts of their personal museums as an assignment that accompanies one of the themes in ASP; students will have ASP quiz over summer reading.  Students should have their summer reading work in class today, although we may not get to that work until Wednesday.  Students have HOMEWORK: Tomorrow,  if your block meets this class, you should have typed in New Roman Times/12 font 3 questions that you have about ASP; also, you should have typed 3 direct quotes that you feel were most important or most confusing or just plain interesting.  This is often a good jumping off spot for class discussions.  These may or may not reflect actual dialogue between characters; you choose.  Please do not conspire with a neighbor about what to choose; use your own brain.  Since you were asked to annotate or at least to take notes in your reading, chances are you have several underlined.  Use correct quotation marks and MLA documentation that you learned last year.  If you do not recall, go online and ask ol’ GOOGLE.

 

Additional HW that arose out of class discussion: ______________________________________________________________________

 

Wednesday: 8-14: Blocks 2, 7, 6, 3  Blocks 6 & 7,  Turn in syllabi;  see and do what was assigned yesterday for the kids who met with me; look above for your homework and for what will be done in class today;  blocks 2 & 3 will be working with summer reading; we will be in literary circle up on the sofa and in front of the room, where we always discuss literature; feel free to have a drink with you or a snack. Starting here, you should all be working on a vocabulary exercise every night; also, you probably want to make flash cards; if you do a little work each night re: vocabulary, chances are you will truly learn/know these words as opposed to just having them in short term memory for test. Remember for every vocab test, you need to spell the word, be able to find contextual clues that call for the correct word in a sentence, know antonyms and synonyms. You should also start studying roots packet/page 1 for your first roots test; do a little each night to make this task easier as well.  For roots tests, you need to know root’s meaning, at least 2 of the words and definitions that are root derivatives and show up in right hand column, and be able to figure out new words you’ve NEVER seen based on your root knowledge. HOMEWORK: Tomorrow,  if your block meets this class, you should have typed in New Roman Times/12 font 3 questions that you have about ASP; also, you should have typed 3 direct quotes that you feel were most important or most confusing or just plain interesting.  This is often a good jumping off spot for class discussions.  These may or may not reflect actual dialogue between characters; you choose.  Please do not conspire with a neighbor about what to choose; use your own brain.  Since you were asked to annotate or at least to take notes in your reading, chances are you have several underlined.  Use correct quotation marks and MLA documentation that you learned last year.  If you do not recall, go online and ask ol’ GOOGLE.

 

 

Additional HW that arose out of class discussion: _________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

Thursday: 8-15:  Blocks 4,7, 6: Turn in syllabi; give block 7 their analogue writing assignment re: ASP.  Starting here, you should all be working on a vocabulary exercise every night; also, you probably want to make flash cards; if you do a little work each night re: vocabulary, chances are you will truly learn/know these words as opposed to just having them in short term memory for test. Remember for every vocab test, you need to spell the word, be able to find contextual clues that call for the correct word in a sentence, know antonyms and synonyms.  We will have in class discussion of ASP.  You should also start studying roots packet/page 1 for your first roots test; do a little each night to make this task easier as well.  For roots tests, you need to know root’s meaning, at least 2 of the words and definitions that are root derivatives and show up in right hand column, and be able to figure out new words you’ve NEVER seen based on your root knowledge.

 

Additional HW that arose out of class discussion: ________________________________________________________________________

 

Friday: 8-16: All classes: Today is last day to earn credit on parent-signed syllabi; we will continue to discuss ASP.  You will still be referring to/making use of/presenting ideas from summer work and from the 3 questions/quotes you have prepared.

 

Additional HW that arose out of class discussion: ________________________________________________________________________

 

REMEMBER:  You have ONGOING HOMEWORK throughout the entire 8^th grade that involves studying vocabulary, studying roots, and once we get to grammar, studying grammar, the last of which will be subject to frequent POP quizzes.  Please keep up each day; do your best – this is an important year for you…  I hope that your first week went well.

 

 

 

Susan C. Fields 8th grade Language Arts Davis Leadership Team The Davis Academy 7901 Roberts Drive Atlanta, GA 30350 770-671-0085     Main Line Ext. 144

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