WEEK TWO: UPDATE

It has been a chaotic start to the semester, with a classroom routine difficult to establish.

The focus of Unit One is language analysis in poetry. Students made cue cards of terms that will be used throughout the semester (and Grade 12). It is important that students learn these terms and be able to explain why and how they are used in texts: tone, diction, syntax, figurative language, and imagery.

We are using the acronym TP-CAASSSTT to analyze poems. For this unit, there are two summatives: Unit Test and Poetry Essay (revealing the personality of the speaker in a dramatic monologue – choice provided).

Students should be researching novels on the ISU book list and making their selection.

WEEK ONE: UPDATE

We had a crazy start to Second Semester! I am hoping we can now settle in and enjoy Unit One: Poetry.

For many students, the analysis of a poem is a new experience. Completing homework will be very important – as it will give them immediate feedback on what they understand, and better yet, what they do not understand. I am available for extra help before school, at lunch, and after school. All they have to do is ask (Be proactive and self-advocate).

Students do have homework this week-end. The length will depend on how much they accomplished while at home on Wednesday and Thursday. They should check their D2L email 🙂

Students must now be selecting their courses for Grade 12. The following is very important:

1. Their login for myBlueprint is the same as their school login.
2. Guidance will be available for assistance choosing courses in Room 111 during lunch Monday, February 25th to Wednesday, February 27th.
3. Students need to select courses, submit their choices, print the sign-off sheet, get it signed by a parent and return to their homeroom teacher by Thursday, February 28th.
4. ALL grade 9-11 students need to follow the above procedure on myBlueprint. Please reassure students that they can still meet with Guidance afterwards.

SEVEN STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

1. Get to know yourself as a thinker and learner. When and where are you most productive? What tends to distract you? Knowing your intellectual proclivities and habits helps you to apportion your time more effectively and to be more productive overall.
2. Set a personal goal for each course. Instead of focusing solely on the grade, consider how each course deepens your expertise in a field of interest or contributes to your overall intellectual development. In other words, motivate yourself in terms of mastering skills and concepts as opposed to getting a good grade or avoiding a bad one.
3. Manage your time and your attention. People who devise detailed, goal-directed schedules are more productive and less stressed. Once you’ve scheduled your calendar, focus and stick to it by setting external stakes (meeting with teachers, a reading group) and rewards (dinner with friends, TV, etc.). During a study session, be in the moment: turn off distractions (cell phones, e-mail) and dedicate yourself to a single task. Divide or continuously switch your attention and you do several things poorly instead of one thing well.
4. Think like a teacher. Instructors have reasons for why they craft their courses as they do. As you move through your courses, spend some time considering these reasons. Ask yourself, for example, why you’re reading this text and this point in the semester or what this writing assignment is designed to help you to do.
5. Review your notes as soon as possible after class. Students forget 50% of what they learn if they don’t review within 24 hours and 65% if they don’t review within a week. Even a brief review pays off.
6. Do a little work on an assignment the day it’s given, preferably mapping out a plan or outline for its completion. Starting a project often proves the hardest part; starting early gets you over this high hurdle with plenty of time to develop your work.
7. Explain a difficult idea, concept, problem, or passage to a friend. Research shows that one of the most effective ways to learn is to teach. If you try to explain what you’ve been studying to another, you’ll transfer the information from short- to long-term memory, and you’ll more clearly see what you understand and what you don’t.

TED TALK: VOCABULARY