I fear I haven’t a clue when my last entry was.  And to be honest, I would check, but once again the site has been so slow that I don’t dare multi-task (write and read simultaneously) on the off chance that it would bog the system down even further.

In any case, I thought it was as good a time as any to connect with the few (?) readers I may still have lingering out there.  The StudenTales book project was completed just before Christmas break and it was none too soon I must say!  I really felt the crunch those last few weeks days and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the completed projects.  I am working to score the projects within the next two weeks (I’ll be asking students to submit them via digital dropbox at school) so that they are accounted for in the semester grade seeing as we spent a full month on them!  I think the most trying thing for me was having both grade levels working on it at the same time.  It made for extremely long computer lab days, even though the projects were completely different.

As much as I was internally whining about returning to school last week Thursday, I’m actually glad we did.  It would be a really long week this week if we hadn’t already eased back into the swing of things.  8th graders began learning about biographies and selected an individual to research.  They will be in the lab tomorrow gathering their information then working on their one-page paper throughout the remainder of the week (drafting Tuesday, conferring/proofreading Wednesday, revising/editing Thursday, publishing Friday).  The final paper is due by Friday 1/11 at the start of class.  It can be typed or hand-written.  If it’s handwritten it will most likely be a full front and back if not another front as well. 

7th graders watched the movie Paper Clips which ties into the book we read earlier this year entitled Chernowitz.  We also talked a bit about civic responsibility, tolerance/intolerance, prejudice and other topics.  This film has served as an introductory activity to our next unit as well.  We will be reading the short story version of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.  Students will be discussing ideas such as the measure of intelligence, multiple intelligences, risks, etc.  In the past students have greatly enjoyed this unit and have generated great discussions!

Thanks for reading and please leave a little note letting me know you’re still here!  I’ll try to work on my patience and resume my weekly entries!!  Cheers!