English 7 - The Phantom Tollbooth

Going Beyond Expectations with Milo!

Can it be? Is it that time again? Time to travel BEYOND EXPECTATIONS into the LANDS BEYOND with Milo, Tock, the Humbug, and a cast of extraordinary characters in Norton Juster's novel The Phantom Tollbooth! Filled with puns, idioms, and word play, the essence of this novel is the love of learning, the journey of discovery, and the extended metaphor of the importance of WISDOM. We are going to enjoy all of that AND explicate, analyze, and learn about language and writing!

Milo and my students are beginning their journey together...

"The little car started to go faster and faster as Milo's brain whirled with activity, and down the road they went. In a few minutes they were out of the Doldrums and back on the main highway. All the colors had returned to their original brightness, and as they raced along the road Milo continued to think of all sorts of things; of the many detours and wrong turns that were so easy to take, of how fine it was to be moving along, and, most of all, of how much could be accomplished with just a little thought."

So, let's get those brains whirling with activity so that we can discover with Milo just how much we can accomplish with "just a little thought"!

Oh, and if you've never read The Phantom Tollbooth, I encourage you to pick up a copy and settle in for a great read. While this is a book marketed for children, it is insightful and thought-provoking for readers of all ages!

English 8 - Argument Essays

The month of February was filled with writing! The eighth graders wrote their Argument Essays, choosing from a variety of topics. The students were nine given statements with which to agree or disagree, including:

The school day should start later for teenagers.

All junk food should be banned on school campuses.
Cellphones can be educational tools. 

The most popular essay topic was "the punishment for texting and driving should be the same as it is for drinking and driving."

The students worked through the writing process: pre-writing, researching (including on-line articles), drafting, editing, revising, revising, and more revising! They also had to create an online survey to gather data which they then incorporated into the body of their essay. 

The students exceeded my expectations with their passionate arguments and critical thinking. 

Next up? A journey into the past: Across Five Aprils and the American Civil War. 

 

Thankfulness

Colossians 2:6-7 

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

 

It's hard to believe that this weekend marks the end of the 1st trimester. One-third of the school year is already over! Wow.

So, in looking back over the last trimester, I have found that I am incredibly thankful.

I am thankful that I have the opportunity every single day to live my life rooted in Christ. 

I am thankful that I teach at Upland Christian Academy.

I am thankful that I work with men and women who love the Lord and share Him with their students and each other every day!

I am thankful that I have the opportunity to teach 6th, 7th, and 8th graders this year in subjects that I love: English Language Arts and Bible and Study Skills!

I am thankful that I got to teach a mini session of Crafty Art.

I am thankful for students with whom I can laugh and be silly and pray and be serious!

I am thankful for students who work hard to learn new things every day. 

I am even thankful for students who don't want to work hard to learn new things every day. 

I am thankful for those moments when my students shine in unexpected ways, when they express their learning so clearly and thoughtfully, and when they surprise even themselves that what we are learning in school "really matters."

I am thankful for a Lord whose mercies are new every morning - after all, I teach junior high!

As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, my prayer is that my students also cling to a spirit of thankfulness, strengthening in their faith, and living their lives in Christ!

 

Let it Shine!

Our school verse this year is Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." God's Word is to light our path as we LET IT SHINE for Jesus! There is nothing greater than serving our Lord, and I am so excited to meet our new students and catch up with my returning ones! My prayer is that Jesus shines through me in a powerful way this year, and I also pray that my students grow in their love for the Lord and in their desire to shine for Him!

It is shaping up to be a great school year (and we haven't even started yet)! Upland Christian Academy is implementing 1:1 iPads in grades 6-12, embracing the benefits of technology and combining those with our high academic standards. After using an iPad and teaching with a smartboard last year, I am excited to take that to the next level with my students. Last year, there were so many things that I thought, "When they all have an iPad, they will be able to _____" Yeah! That moment has arrived! Bring it on!

Counting down: 6 days 'til school starts!

Putting it all Together: _Across Five Aprils_ and the Civil War

Wow! My 8th graders have worked so diligently to put together their culminating projects for our Across Five Aprils and the Civil War unit. Rather than a unit test, they are demonstrating what they've learned through eight required learning "pieces."

These include:

1) a dialectical journal on one of the significant passages, 

2) a poem imitating Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" in which the students are expected to show prominent images of the novel and the war, 

3) a map of the Union and Confederate states along with paragraphs on the significance of three battles fought in both the novel and the war - bridging history and fiction, 

4) a "Rank of Importance" in which the students determine the five most significant events in the life of the protagonist Jethro Creighton, and they defend those choices, 

5) a mini research essay on a significant person, place, or event from the Civil War era, 

6) an analysis of a piece of Civil War art, connecting art, literature, and history, 

7) a choice piece of either "Twitter Tweets," a movie soundtrack playlist, or a photo/word collage, and

8) a Reflection of Learning in which the students reflect on what they learned, how they know they learned it, and how they might use this information in the future. 

I have enjoyed the creative process with them, as they have worked to produce these pieces over the course of only three weeks. One of my goals was for their projects to be designed, created, and put together at school - without any outside help. I wanted these projects to genuinely reflect what my students have learned about literature and history. In order to do this, with limited class time, I have encouraged students to stay after school all week to use the computer lab and my classroom as a working place. The collaboration and camaraderie that I have seen as students encourage one another to do their best has been one of the highlights of my year! I am so excited to put these final projects on display at our annual Achievement Expo this Thursday, May 22nd! 

Above: Students working to complete their projects. 

Culminating projects demonstrate thoughtful analysis and synthesis of what they've learned during this historical fiction unit. 

Nothing is tidy around here this week! Paper, adhesive, scissors, notes, novels, and creative juices are everywhere!

Knowledge is powerful stuff! :)

Book Review - Keeper of the Lost Cities

Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. The protagonist of this story is twelve-year-old Sophie Foster, a telepathic elf who being raised by a human family. She is an outcast in the human world, but finds belonging in the elven world when she is finally located by an elven family that is seeking her whereabouts. This novel combines fantasy and adventure, reminiscent of the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson novels. I found myself crying (of course!) at some moments as well as cheering on the heroine as she makes discoveries about who she really is.

Although this novel is being marketed toward 8-12 year olds, I think that it has an appeal for the teen reader. In fact, I often found myself thinking that Sophie Foster, although only twelve, had characteristics that were atypically mature for a tween.

I would definitely recommend it to my middle school readers looking for an engaging story with themes of loyalty, bravery, and friendship. Oh, and another plus? It is the first book in a series! I love that!

Across Five Aprils - English 8

Combining a love for the Lord, literature, and history is a great way to get students to engage in the study of literature. Add grammar and writing and it is even better!

In my 8th grade English class, we have been studying the novel Across Five Aprils  by Irene Hunt. I have been using this novel to teach not just the plot, character, setting, and theme of the novel, but also to teach about the Civil War, the presidency of Lincoln, the ideas of amnesty and emancipation, writing, researching, vocabulary, sentence structure.... The list goes on! Teaching in a Christian school adds umbrella of teaching everything from a Biblical worldview, seeing everything from the lens of the Word.

As we bring the study of this novel to a close, my students will be designing and creating a project display board - as they take on the role of Literary Curator to analyze and demonstrate their understanding of the novel and its historical context, incorporating, of course, a Biblical worldview. I can't wait to see what they create!