Welcome to our English Language Arts classroom in Gwinn, Michigan. Our high school is tucked in the pines in the beautiful and remote Upper Peninsula. My students are quirky, fun, and high energy. I teach 10th through 12th graders whose interests range from playing sports to participating in drama camp to showing farm animals at the county fair.
Our school is categorized as highest poverty.
All students are offered free breakfast and lunch, and I am thankful that they don't have to worry about what they will eat and instead can focus on what they will learn.
My Project
My 10th and 12th graders do 10 minutes of Sustained Silent Reading at the beginning of every class period. I try to keep my classroom library shelves stocked with books that will engage them. Throughout the year, I take requests from students of books they want to read. This project includes books they've asked for recently including American Sniper, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Prey, and Patina.
After SSR, students record the pages they've read in the reader's log section of their notebooks.
They also do daily activities such as journal entries, grammar exercises, vocabulary acquisition, and learning literature terms. These activities are also recorded in their notebooks. I am requesting new composition books and page tabs for the second semester.
Lastly, I am requesting candy. For each student's birthday, I give them a treat in a plastic Starbucks-style cup with a domed lid. The cup is filled with candy, topped with white crinkle paper for the 'whipped cream,' with a colorful pencil added for the 'straw,' and a Tootsie pop for the 'cherry' on top. The students love these special treats, but I am running out of candy mid-year. We have lots of birthdays to go!
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