First Quarter

This quarter we have given variety of pre-assessments to students on all three grade levels.  This supports the 3 R’s of rigor, relevance, and relationship.  Readiness assessments help the teacher determine the students’ skill levels and design lessons/differentiate accordingly, which supports rigor.  Learning style and interest surveys help the teachers tap into how students learn and what might engage them.  Again, teachers can design lessons and differentiate with the data provided by these surveys.  This supports relevance as we make our lessons more meaningful to the students.  It also supports relationship as it helps us get to know our students.

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Riptides:
One example of how a readiness assessment was utilized was in English 8.  We created figurative language learning stations based on a readiness survey.  Each student’s station schedule was personalized to meet their needs. 

Mr. Keyser's students did a performance task on the topics of citizenship and the important documents that shaped our government.  Students were given the “GRASPS” of four tasks and were able to select the task that best appealed to their interests.  As a side benefit, many students learned to use some computer programs that they had not used before with this task, such as Microsoft Publisher, etc.

Mr. Keyser wanted to bring the Constitutional Convention to life for his students, so he organized a simulation activity in order to give this important historical event more relelvance to his students. Students were given three plans for a student bill of rights. The groups had to first discuss the points in each plan and eliminate 5 items. Then they had to look for redudancy in the remaining items. Next the groups selected their preferred 10 items. If 4 out of 5 groups agreed on an item, it made it to the class chart. If there was not a 4/5 majority, then the item had to go to negotiations and voting. Once complete, these class items will become the Students' Bill of Rights in Mr. Keyser's class. What a great way to encourage critical thinking and to bring new meaning and relevance to a historical topic!!

Mrs. Labiosa's students had a musical introduction to satire, parody, and irony. After a figurative language pre-assessment, we noticed that irony, parody, and satire were areas of weakness. Therefore, we designed an engaging whole group lesson featuring music from Weird Al, Saturday Night Live clips, and an assortment of political cartoons around the classroom. At the conclusion of the lesson, students had the choice to create a parody, a satirical poem, or a story using irony.

Calypso, Spinnakers, and Argonauts:
In Science 7 students actually used their data from the science skills pre-assessment to participate in a data analysis activity.  They were able to see first hand how we use data which led to the students making recommendations to their teacher based on the results of their data.

English 7 classes had a musical introduction to literary allusion.  This lesson had something for everyone: music, video, and poetry.  Students found allusion in songs of yesterday and today while having a little history lesson courtesy of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."  Students also found numerous allusions as they enjoyed the music of Alfred Yankovic.  (Yes, that's Weird Al)

Calypso, Islanders, Argonauts: Students spent much of this quarter studying mythology in English. Students on Calypso, Islander, and Argonauts created mythological tabloids. Greek myths contain some pretty outrageous characters doing some pretty outrageous things. This makes them ripe for satire! Students became tabloid reporters as they hunted down the juiciest mythological gossip and the wildest tales. They put them all together in tabloids that would look quite at home on a grocer's shelf near you!

Spinnakers: Students spent much of this quarter studying mythology in English class. An important concept in the unit is understanding how the mythological characters are connected to one another. Spinnaker students designed products based on three mythological characters. Their products had to not only relate to all three characters, but through their product's advertisement jingle they had to show the connection between all three characters. This proved to be quite challenging, and there were some moments of dissonance, but it is through challenging tasks that students really learn and grow.

Navigators: Mrs. Edgars students took a learning style pre-assessment. After students saw their results, they were given a variety of activities from which to choose in order to begin the unit on Identity. For example, linguistic learners could write poetry while interpersonal learners could interview one another.

Mrs. Edgar's students participated in a Socratic Seminar on their recent novel, Taking Sides. A Socratic Seminar is an open-ended discussion group that encourages students to express themselves and to delve into the deeper issues of a given text. Questions are designed to encite discussion (and sometimes even disagreement) in order to stretch students' minds past the surface of the text. For many of the students this was their first Socratic Seminar, and they did a great job!

Mrs. Stephens' students became scientific writers. Students researched various atomic theorists. After taking notes on their theorist and studying how his theories helped influence the scientific community, students wrote articles about their scientists. Then the students learned to use Microsoft Publisher to create their articles in a newletter format. Students will also have the opportunity to read each others' articles, as well as the opportunity to give and receive feedback on their own writing. Once the articles are edited and revised, they will be bound together as a booklet on these influential theorists.

Admirals and Penguins: Mrs. Thomas's and Mrs. Weigl's students have been RAFTing in English! No, they did not go into the water. RAFT is a differentiated writing strategy. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, Topic. Students are given a chart with various configurations of Roles, Audiences, Formats, and Topics. This is a great way to teach kids that every piece of writing, no matter how big or how small, has these elements. It also allows the students to have some guided choices in their writing. Students had to demonstrate their knowledge of the current novel, The Starfisher, and relate the main character's experiences to those of modern immigrants from a set of articles.

Mrs. Weigl's students had a musical introduction to figurative language. Students examined song lyrics looking for metaphors, similes, hyperboles, and more. Students also were also able to watch the music videos to accompany the songs. Songs were assigned based on the level of difficulty as a result of a figurative language pre-assessment.

Hurricanes: Mrs. Freeman's students are becoming curators of a mock air and space museum. Students will be crafting an interactive display teaching one of the topics from their unit on space. We are also fortunate enough to be getting a little help from our friends at NASA! When their projects are complete, we are hoping to have the 6th grade science students come and visit our museum.

Dr. Denny's students have been reading Flowers for Algernon. Dr. Denny wanted the students to learn more about special needs. Students researched IQ tests and even interviewed special needs teachers. Then students were given the task of creating a respectful, well-rounded special needs character. This portion of the project proved to be challenging to many of the students as they had to create an original character with a disability, while keeping the character respectful and multifaceted.

Hobie Cats: One example of how a readiness assessment was utilized was in Mrs. Spagnolo's English classes.  We created figurative language learning stations based on a readiness survey.  Each student’s station schedule was personalized to meet their needs. 

Mr. Broglie's students have embarked upon the We the People program. This is a simulated hearing where students write speeches and prepare to answer tough questions about our Constitution and the founding of our government. Students also must be prepared to apply what they have learned about history to modern day issues.