freshmen transition night

FRESHMEN TRANSITION NIGHT

THANK YOU FOR COMING!

Purpose To inform parents of HS expectations.

To strengthen the parent-teacher bond.

TRANSITION ITEMS

TEXTS The Americans

To Kill a Mockingbird

Of Mice and Men

Ragtime

Johnny Got His Gun

If I Die in a Combat Zone

House on Mango Street

GRADING

FormativeSharedAssessment

30%35%

35%

We use formative items to inform us where kids are getting it and where they are not!

Adjust instruction based upon trends in formative work

Won’t do well in the big game without practice Summative work without the formative practice

Won’t earn a scholarship without playing in games Doing the formative work with low performance

on the summative items.

PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS

INFINITE CAMPUS CODES

Assignment is Missing

Not counting for or against grade, yet.

Assignment is Missing

Is counting against grade.

Exempt

Student is not required to do this assignment.

Rewrite

Student is to rewrite the assignment and resubmit

STANDARDS-REFERENCED GRADING Will break down assignments by “writing

traits”

Assignment will read as follows:

Paper – Ideas and Content Paper – Organization Paper – Conventions Paper – Style

Offers more specifics in terms of feedback

RETESTING On quarter exams students may retake

specific parts of the exam

Literal-level Reading Grammar / Usage / Mechanics

Must attend Interventions to be eligible!

REVISING Writing is a process.

Understand that students may not “get it” the first time.

Revision option available on large papers and projects. As delineated by individual teachers

Conference or Cover sheet to submit a rewrite.

GRADING PERIODS Quarters 1 and 3 – Progress grades

Quarters 2 and 4 – Grades of Record On transcript “Count”

Eligibility / Interventions – Pulled Thursdays

GRADES They do “count” now.

On the official transcript

Earn credits for passing courses Need 23 to graduate 4 must be English

FAILURE TO EARN CREDIT? Think economically to motivate students.

Now….these classes are FREE!

Make-up credits….have to pay for them! On-line courses Summer school Squishing additional courses into a future year

Can’t take something they “wanted” to take

ALIGNMENT IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT Horizontal (within a grade level)

Vertical (between grade levels)

We do talk to one another about….everything. Past performance in class Lessons that work well Assessments Data

BUT…. There will be variation between classes

Not all AS classes are exactly the same.

Not all Junior English classes are exactly the same.

EXTRA CREDIT Like a Hail Mary pass

We don’t give EC opportunities

Focus from our side is more about the learning than the points.

DROP FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADES? Middle schools ARE preparing kids well

academically!

Learning curve increases in high school

Students adjusting to….

DROPPED GRADES? (CONT.) Size of school

Speed of assignments Long-term AND short-term going on at same time.

Freedom of choices

High expectations

Learning curve

Skill development (not just content)

WHAT DO WE DO? A lot of reading

Novels Short stories Poetry Non-fiction items

A lot of writing Essays Poetry Paragraph responses Note taking

WHAT ELSE? Public Speaking

Short and long speeches Impromptu and prepared

TechnologyWill useWill produce

LIFE LESSONS Forming an opinion on an issue

Using evidence to defend said position

Taking risks

SELF-ADVOCACY To take responsibility for choices

To practice time management

To experience challenges

To speak for themselves

HOW YOU CAN KEEP UP Access Infinite Campus

Grades Messages

Class dependent – Course Schedule

Ask your student

Date of Class

Reminders

Handouts from Day

Assigned Work

Lecture Material

OBSERVATIONS OVER 15 YEARS Students struggle with work load and

expectations at first.

Students DO figure it out. Give them time.

Find their currency (video games, sports, phones)

Many students can be believed. Some cannot. We are competent individuals.

Grading papers takes time….100 students at 15 minutes each = 25

hours

Planning time we receive each week = 6 hours Includes planning, prep, hall duty!

COMMUNICATION Email is best

Phone is less good (never at desks)

Contact anytime

Will push for student involvement in process

ACADEMIC WRITING

ART OF WRITING Some items are up for interpretation (Art)

Word choice Sentence variety “Voice”

SCIENCE OF WRITING Some items are non-negotiable (Science)

Punctuation Spelling Organization (somewhat) That examples are needed!

Sets of three!

THEY SAY….I SAY STRUCTUREOverall structure of academic writing. Idea that much discussion already

exists about any assigned academic topic.

Students are entering into that conversation through their writing.

Not seeking to write the “Right” response / paper.

Seeking to write a “valid” response

THINK OF IT AS…. Superhighway of

Ideas

People long before and long after the students’ assignment WILL be debating the same questions we ask!

THEIR PAPER SERVES AS…. The on-ramp to that

highway.

They are taking what they have learned, forming their opinions, and writing their thoughts for all to see.

“VALID”Freaks kids outThey want to find the ONE right

answerThey want to give the one answer that

the teacher has in his or her head

But…

There are oftentimes many possible interpretations to any given text.

THEY SAY…I SAY Arguments are already out there.

We want them to do the following:1) Gather information2) Form an opinion / interpretation3) Write and support why their opinion /

interpretation is VALID

SUPPORTING THEIR OPINION / INTERPRETATION Students often think that just because they

say it, that it will be believed…..

Example: taking the car out on a Friday night

Thesis: they should be able to take the car out

SUPPORT? WHY should they be able to take the

car out?

They are 16. They have their driver’s license. They need to be popular.

What is clear in the kids’ minds with these examples?

What leaps to the adults’ minds with these example?

CLEAR SUPPORT The evidence the students provide must be

CLEARLY tied to HOW their thesis statement is proven valid

The task… Explain how it is clear to OTHER people A certain amount of explanation is required!

POINT OF ACADEMIC WRITING?To share a writer’s perspective on a

given prompt.To think about the topic and what it is

asking first.To formulate THEIR responseTo share THEIR responseTo offer a VALID interpretation of the

text

NOT to write and think at the same time

PROVE A POINT / TAKE A SIDE Topics:

Dropping the atomic bomb during WWII was essential in ending the war.

Interning the Japanese-Americans during WWII was a necessary evil.

The Allies followed the advice of Sun Tzu and The Art of War during their invasion of Normandy.

ACADEMIC PAPER REQUIREMENTS Write in 3rd person

He, him, his, she, her, hers, they, them, it, one NOT first person

I, me, in MY opinion

Write in past tense – history papers

Write in present tense – literature papers At minimum – stay in same tense throughout Upper-level skill!

WRITING / REVISION PROCESS1) Pre-writing

a) Outliningb) Webbingc) Free writing

2) Drafting

3) Revisinga) Shifting ideas / contentb) Filling in gaps with ideas

4) Drafting…revising…drafting…..a) Students get stuck hereb) They feel that EFFORT should be enoughc) Perhaps at one time it was enoughd) NOW they have to work a little more!

5) Proofreading / Editinga) Word choiceb) Sentence structuresc) Voiced) Punctuation

6) Publishinga) Turning it inb) Class wikic) Class blog

COMMON ISSUES Students “vomit” on paper – turn that in. Teachers have expected students to do some

revising on own time!

Teachers give comments – may correct / point out a few mistakes that are in ENTIRE paper.

Students correct only those items that are marked!

Students feel that effort = success in writing. Teachers look for logic of thought and

coherence of arguments regardless of effort.

Teachers offer rewriting options. Students do not take advantage of that

opportunity.

MLA FORMATTING

We focus on MLA at Legacy in ALL disciplines.

The nuances of MLA, in specific, are not the point.

The point is CITING sources and information!

WHEN TO CITE? Borrowing ideas from previously released

texts. Paraphrase

Take meaning of the original text and place in own words into their paper

Borrowing words from previously released texts. Direct quote

Take exact words from original text and place in own paper

HOW TO CITE In-Text Citation

“sas;ldkfjwie;asldkfjiwa;slkdj” (Smith 56). “asldfkjasd…as;lekrjeia;sd” (Jones 18). “asdlfkjas;dlfkj [ he] aslfjiewa;l” (Wilson

34).

For every text that has been used IN the paper, a works cited entry must be created on the Works Cited Page

Found at end of essay Strict rules about HOW to cite

TEXT FORMATS IN WORKS CITED PAGE Book

Smith, John. Writing Can Be Fun. Boston: Heineman, 2005.

Website Jones, Tim. "Writing Suggestions for Freshmen."

The Writing Center. 10 Oct 2007. Northwestern Writing Center. 17 Nov 2008 <http:// www.writingcenteratnorthestern.com/writingtipsforfrosh>.

TURNITIN.COM Web-based paper collection system

Three components

Plagiarism checker

Grademark

Peer Review

GRADEMARK VIEW

COMMON ISSUES WITH TURNITIN.COM Students claim that home computers are not

compatible with Turnitin.com Does not take WordPerfect formatting

Students claim a paper has been turned in. Students must finish the submission process.

COMMON ISSUES WITH TURNITIN.COM Students look only at numerical grade they

earned Teacher / peer comments are more valuable in

the learning process than just a number.

Students sit around and wait for their grade to be emailed to them. Students must logon to website to see grade /

comments

EVALUATION Writing assessment will always be subjective! Not based upon effort

Try to increase objectivity by Using a 6-Trait rubric Benchmarking

Needs to be an inherent trust with the evaluator

Credible? Years of experience

As teacher As writer

WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT TO KNOW??

Thank you so much

for coming!