Notes from Class Entry #1 (of many, hopefully)

Anticipating Week 1.

This week we’ll begin our second semester under our reorganized approach.  Considering outer space from various angles, we’ll puzzle over the question, “What’s out there?”

Last week was a work week.  We talked about what went well last semester and what we’d like to do differently this semester.  We chose a pre-test, settled on rosters and writing groups, put together the readers.  We finalized lesson plans for the first two weeks of class.  We made a big calendar for the wall detailing the study opportunities available on days we don’t have class.  

We made table tents so the students will know where to sit when they come in on the first day.  We tweaked our system for taking attendance and collecting homework.  We organized the supply closet.  

C bit the cords off of the two computer keyboards he managed to get us on the sly; having cords attached could get us into trouble because the cord comes with the possibility of accessing a CPU.  And, obviously, we don’t have scissors, hence the biting.  

We made plans for how we want to use our newly approved study hall time, at one point using a March Madness style bracket to decide which book we’d read in the new book club.  (Fahrenheit 451. Not my pick.)  We met with the math coordinator for the college program to talk about possible collaborations.

I wrote letters of support for the inside teachers with upcoming dates with the parole board.  The inside teachers wrote survey questions for collecting information from our students that might be useful in grant writing for my salary.

Last night, the teachers would have walked students through the reader and all of the resources in it, and they would have started our warm-up writing assignment, the classic RAFT.  Choose one of each:

ROLE: astronaut, alien, Pluto, black hole

AUDIENCE: earthlings, aliens

FORM of writing: letter, movie trailer, election speech, play, poem

TONE: condescending, fearful, aggressive, comical, doomsday, apologetic

Tomorrow night, we’ll share first drafts in the writing groups and offer feedback.  Homework: Revise!