Hey Everyone,

We’ll be establishing the routines of our workshop time this week.  Students will be working on a number of different tasks during class, including the following:

1. Reading Plan via Google Classroom.   This is due by 8:30am on Thursday.  I’ll be working with students to help select books from a wide variety of genres that are interesting to them.
2.  Rambling Autobiography via Google Classroom.  This is a chance for students to share a bit about their lives informally.  This could also be used for the personal section of the portfolio.  This is due Friday.
3. Beowulf.  We have a simple 5-6 page story that students can read during class.  We’ll be practicing leaving tracks of our thinking as we read.  This should be complete by Friday. This packet is offline (though I’ll work to get it online in the coming days.)
4. The final LA period of each week will be a choice reading day.  We’ll do a bit of grammar review and then students will have the chance to read and conference with me.

If students are working efficiently in class, they should not have any homework other than reading at home.  Ideally, students should be reading for 30 minutes every night (or at least five days a week.)

Have a great week!  -Josh

(Here is a letter I wrote to students explaining the book plan project!)

Dear Remarkable Readers!

The brain research shows that regular reading is the #1 factor for brain development and academic success for kids age 11-15.   You are responsible for reading 30 minutes a night.   This includes weekends, holidays, etc.   Obviously, there might be a day where you don’t read – and that’s ok.  Just be sure to make it up during the following days.  I will not ask you to keep a reading log.  However, if a reading journal/log would be a useful reminder to you, I would be happy to create a system to help.  I will do my best to give you one day per week as a choice reading day in class (usually Fridays) – just make sure to bring your book.

I would like you to create a reading plan.   There are two options.  If you are a roaring highway reader, there is a more ambitious plan for you in the left column.  If reading is more of a rocky road experience for you, there is an alternative option in the right column.  You decide.   I would like you to read a MINIMUM of six books outside of our regular curriculum until February.  Many of you may read many more titles – and that’s great.  And again – these are in addition to the texts you will be reading as part of our language arts class.  This plan is an evolving document – I just want you challenging yourself with different genres.  

I’m also ALWAYS available for book recommendations.  I’m happy to give suggestions and I love receiving them too!

Your books should be books that you haven’t read before.

I’ll be asking that you complete your reading plans by Thursday, September 1st.   I will give you some class time to complete this assignment.  You can start the actual reading yesterday!   Happy reading!   Josh Feiger
Ps.  I welcome Nooks and Kindles.  I ask that you don’t read on a phone.  If you want help setting up an Overdrive account — I’m happy to help you get set up with that as well.  If you want to talk about audiobooks, let’s have that conversation!

It’s been fantastic to finally put faces to names.  To start with LA,  we’ve acted out Beowulf.  We’ve watched bad goat videos.  We’ve tried to figure out what Beowulf teaches us about “us” and “them.”  And we have commenced the reading program.  Students have a chance to choose between “The Highway Reader Plan” and “The Rocky Road Reader Plan” — they’ll be selecting different books from different genres to read over the next couple of days.  (I’ve posted a bunch of reading recommendation resources into Google Classroom.)

Upcoming due dates:

1. Every night:  Read 30 minutes
2. Due Thursday, September 1st:  The Reading Plan.

Ask to see your student’s Google Classroom if you are interested in more happenings!  I’m working to try and get parent access for this resource — stay tuned!

(These are initial thoughts — all subject to change.)

We’ll begin the year exploring how our mythology defines our humanity.  We’ll focus specifically on the hero’s journey, beginning with Beowulf.  We’ll look at how to read a text closely and critically.  Don’t worry — we’ll have a variety of translations – ranging from picture books to excerpts from Seamus Heaney’s translation.   We’ll even poke into parts of the story from Grendel’s point of view.

At the beginning of September, we’ll wrap up our discussions on Beowulf with a “conversation café” where students will have the opportunity to pose their own hypotheses about this classic tale.   Using Beowulf as a foundation, we’ll also begin writing some short pieces about our journeys and our identities.  What do we want to teach our readers?

We’ll spend October continuing to delve into the structure of writing.  We’ll focus both on content and grammar, with specific emphasis on sentence structure, paragraph development, and idea organization.   Our attention will not only be on writing our hero’s journey, but also on critique.  How does one give kind, helpful, and specific feedback?

Stay tuned for more information about genre reading, book groups, check-ins, theatrical presentations, and more as the year progresses!