Miss Kelley

8K/8McD: Edmodo, Reading, Writing

Dear 8th Grade Parents:

Thank you all for your support during my recent illness; I am finally on the mend and hope to be caught up on returning work to students following Christmas vacation. Thank you also for your support while I attended NCTE/ALAN. It is no small compliment when I say that it was my most significant professional learning experience since I finished my MA at Bread Loaf.

I am posting for two specific reasons:

Edmodo
I would like to again strongly recommend that all parents (moms and dads) sign up for Edmodo access. You can find your unique student code on the progress reports that were sent home before Thanksgiving. I can also very easily send your code again. Edmodo will provide you with a more complete picture of what is going on in our classroom each day, and what your child should be working on at home. You can also download the Edmodo app to your iPad or cell phone. Students are expected to check Edmodo daily, either at school or at home.

Daily reading and writing
Your child has two standing assignments each week: to read for 30 minutes from their independent reading book each night, and to complete 5 pages of handwritten "draft" writing each week. It is very obvious to me who is reading and who is not. This reading is mandatory, and should happen before television, before video games or social networking, and before texting with friends. Students who are not reading at home will find it impossible to meet the 50-book requirement this year. I appreciate your support. (For background on the importance of independent reading and the 50-book requirement, please see Readicide by Kelly Gallagher and The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller.)

The 5 pages of draft writing is a new requirement, and consistent with the requirements of other schools that use writing workshop. Students are encouraged to write about something that interests them. (Suggested topics were also sent home for those who are not interested in anything). This is also a chance for students to try out ideas for upcoming writing assignments. Every piece of literature begins with a writer putting a rough idea down on paper; that is what I am asking students to do with this assignment. Currently I check the 5 pages during writing workshop on Fridays. Students, however, are encouraged to write daily instead of waiting until Thursday night. This is not something that they are given time to work on in class. I have already been impressed with some of the ideas that I have seen during Friday workshop, and I look forward to working with students on revising and polishing these pieces.

I am including links to two blog posts and a video that have been shaping my own thinking lately about writing and learning. I encourage you to check them out.

Seth's Blog: Talker's block

Seth's Blog: Stupid and lazy

 

As always, please contact me via email with any questions, concerns, ideas, or compliments.

Merry Christmas!
Miss Kelley

8K/8McD: Grades, Comments, and Conferences

Dear 8th Grade Parents:

Thank you for all of your feedback regarding our reading, writing, and social studies program in the middle school. Hearing questions and concerns directly from stakeholders makes for a stronger program and a stronger community.

I always pay close attention to the student standardized test scores in the areas that I teach; we also receive information from the high schools about our graduates' placement in 9th grade courses. Our most recent graduating class scored very well on the reading and language arts portion of the Terra Nova, and a higher than average number of them placed into advanced courses in 9th grade. We will receive the data later this year (and after the school year ends) about how successful our graduates were in 9th grade. The most helpful feedback, however, comes directly from our former students, so if any current 9th graders are still reading this, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you specifically about your 9th grade experience.

First quarter grades will arrive just before or after this post. A few words about what makes up the three grades that I assign:

READING: The reading grade is weighted 50% literature study and 50% independent reading. Literature study first quarter included daily poetry, read-alouds, and our study of Sharon Draper's Out Of My Mind and the students' written response to the novel. For independent reading, 25% is based on the student's progress toward his or her individual reading goal, and 25% on the number of books read and the improvement in individual reading habits.

LANGUAGE ARTS: The language arts grade is the writing grade, and so performance in writing workshop and on formal writing assessments makes up 80% of the grade. This includes use of conventions on formal social studies writing as well. The other 20% is a combination of spelling practice and study, daily editing practice (and the lessons on conventions that are embedded in this practice and discussion), and study of new grammar forms through sentence imitation.

SOCIAL STUDIES: For now, the social studies grade is not weighted for categories. Typically, reading and note-taking assignments are worth 10 points, short written assignments—like the Article of the Week (AoW)—are worth 20, and long assignments are worth 50-100. In-class essays, which will begin second quarter, will also fall in the 50-100 point range. Students had the opportunity to redo and resubmit any AoW assignment for a higher score.

I did not write any comments on report cards this quarter; instead, I am currently working on the long form comments that I will send home prior to conferences. As you know, I will not be available for conferences this fall as I will be attending the annual NCTE/ALAN (National Council of Teachers of English and the Assembly on Literacy for Adolescents at NCTE) Convention and Workshop from November 17 through November 22. I recognize that this is an inconvenience for parents, and I appreciate your support. Please let me know if you would like an appointment for either a telephone or in-person conference after I return.

I will be conferring with students individually this week about their most recent writing assignments (and new proofreading rules), their 2nd quarter reading goals, and their Civil War research papers. Our class time was very limited last week due to Loyola Shadow Day and the Explorer test. As such, I have moved the deadline for the final social studies paper; students should start turning them in by the end of this week. The absolute last day to turn them in without penalty is November 16.

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Miss Kelley

8K/8McD: Assessment Update

Dear 8th Grade Parents:

Students were sent home this past Friday with four assignments to share with you.

The first was the edited copy of the essay that students wrote on the First Ammendment; final, clean copies were entered in a contest earlier this month. These assignments did not receive a grade, as it was students' first formal writing assignment this year and was used to establish their baseline for writing. I did two things with these papers: I proofread them for typos and obvious mistakes, and I used them to give each student one or two new writing rules to learn and follow. Also, because we were pressed for time (the information about the contest arrived late in September), I did not assess them on content or organization. These are skills that we will work on throughout the year, and they will be specifically addressed in later assignments. I have scanned copies of these essays if they do not make it home to you, so please let me know if you did not see the essay.

There were also three Article of the Week assignments. (Click here to see the assignments.) Each assignment was worth 20 points; 10 points were for marking up the article and answering short questions and 10 were for the longer written response. Here were the scores for both classes:

An 8 was the default score for following the directions, a 7 meant something was missing, and a 6 meant redo. On the positive side, a 9 meant impressive, and a 10 demonstrated critical and original thought. Examples of assignments that received 20/20 are available to students via Edmodo, which I will introduce to parents in a later post.

Article of the Week is a social studies assignment designed to increase students' background knowledge about the world and current events (which is key to success on standardized tests) while at the same time increasing critical reading and writing skills. We know from our discussions with both New Trier and Loyola that students from across the township are lagging when it comes to reading informational text. We also know that our emphasis needs to be on skills rather than content. As such, students are being asked to do more reading and writing this year, and less memorization of facts. The thinking, reading, and writing practiced in the Article of the Week will form the building blocks for later writing assignments.

Students have two longer assignments due this week: an annontated bibliography/research topic description for social studies on Tuesday, and a final copy of their Out Of My Mind extra on Wednesday. While I have been encouraged by the drafts that I have seen of the creative writing assignment, we clearly have much work to do when it comes to research skills. Students have not made good use of their time in the library on Fridays, and tend to give up if a source is not immediately available via Google. This is something that we will clearly continue to work on.

It is essential that this work is turned in on time as the quarter ends on Thursday. A shorter-than-usual Article of the Week assignment will also be due on Thursday, as is a very rare opportunity for extra credit.

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns. Email is the best way to reach me, but I will be happy to return your email with a phone call if you prefer.

Miss Kelley 

8K/8McD: Writing Update

Dear 8th Grade Parents: 

8th grade students have two writing assignments that are currently ongoing.

Last week we completed our in-class reading of Sharon Draper's Out Of My Mind, and students are currently working on writing epilogues, lost chapters, alternative scenes, and scenes from new points-of-view. The students will be assessed in two areas: their understanding of the book (as demonstrated in their piece) and the progress they have made with writing since their first finished essay earlier this quarter. Completed drafts are due October 18; we will be revising in class this week and editing next week. Final drafts are due Wednesday, October 26. Our current in-class read is Gary D. Schmidt's Okay for Now. 

In social studies students have each chosen a Civil War topic to research. Topic requests were due last week and assigned on Friday. Students then had time in the library on Friday to begin researching their topic. An extended and more specific research topic explanation and an annotated bibliography are due on Tuesday, October 25. We went over this briefly in class today, and will continue to work on it this week. Research notes and outlines are due November 1, and final papers are due November 8. We have spent a lot of time discussing plagiarism and proper citation already this year, and will continue to do so. The majority of the research writing will take place in the classroom, though students should be reading and taking notes at home. Students also continue to have assigned reading and notetaking from their textbooks, and are also reading and working in a text about plagiarism. We will take a one-week break from the Article of the Week assignment this week to focus on the research assignment.

I do have one finished piece of writing that needs to be brought home for hanging on the refrigerator; I will make it a priority to get them scanned so that they can be brought home. You will get the copies with my notes on them; the finished copies were entered in a contest.

As always, please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns.

Miss Kelley

8K/8McD: Middle School Parent Information Night

Dear 8th Grade Parents:

I look forward to seeing all of you this Wednesday, September 14, at Middle School Parent Information Night. The evening will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Xavier Room with Mr. McKenna, followed by classroom visits.

My presentation that night includes details about our work in 8th grade reading, language arts, and social studies. I will also be sharing information about reading and writing instruction "then and now", my approach to teaching both independent reading and literature, and plans for the study of the history of the United States and current events. I will also discuss our current use of technology in 8th grade.

Still need to fill our your 8th Grade Parent Information Form? Click here to do so.

I will see you on Wednesday.

Miss Kelley

8K/8McD: Welcome Back

Dear 8th Grade Parents:

Today I was able to meet briefly with each homeroom to start preparing for this school year. We will start our normal schedule on Tuesday, and I will see your children three times each day, for reading, language arts, and social studies. While all three classes will be coordinated, for this school year at least, language arts and reading will remain a block in the morning, and social studies is a single class in the afternoon.

Please take a few minutes to subscribe to this blog.  Additionally, there are times that I will need to contact parents by email directly. Please click here to let me know the best email address to use to contact your family. 

As always, please contact me via e-mail with any questions.

Miss Kelley