This post is coming two days early, as I'm presenting at the ICE Conference this year (Thursday and Friday) as a local "Spotlight Speaker."
We dove into the Study Sync pilot the past two weeks! We began the unit titled, "Getting Along" which included a selection from The Outsiders - way to get the kids excited about reading the entire book after Taft! We also read an autobiographical memoir by Nicholas Gage - "The Teacher Who Changed My Life." We used this as a springboard for more narrative writing this week. Thursday and Friday, we'll be reading and looking at irony and plot elements of "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O.Henry.
Students filled in a midterm survey to check in (as requested by them!), and we had short one-on-one conversations about their evidence. This seemed to be a positive addition to our system! Next week, we'll have PARCC testing, so we won't be working too hard during class time - we won't have class time for each class each day, either. We're hoping everyone gets plenty of sleep and a healthy breakfast each morning, so we can tackle these to the best of our ability.
We dove into the Study Sync pilot the past two weeks! We began the unit titled, "Getting Along" which included a selection from The Outsiders - way to get the kids excited about reading the entire book after Taft! We also read an autobiographical memoir by Nicholas Gage - "The Teacher Who Changed My Life." We used this as a springboard for more narrative writing this week. Thursday and Friday, we'll be reading and looking at irony and plot elements of "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O.Henry.
Students filled in a midterm survey to check in (as requested by them!), and we had short one-on-one conversations about their evidence. This seemed to be a positive addition to our system! Next week, we'll have PARCC testing, so we won't be working too hard during class time - we won't have class time for each class each day, either. We're hoping everyone gets plenty of sleep and a healthy breakfast each morning, so we can tackle these to the best of our ability.
Further Reading: Standardized Testing Tips for Parents