Thursday, September 11, B Day

In case you didn't hear, fellow PLD teacher Mr. Timoney had his baby his last week. To be more specific, his wife had the baby. Although I don't have a picture, I imagine the little guy looks a lot like the drawing to the left. Anyway, on to the roundup!

B1 and B3- AP Senior English- They both did the same thing today. A brief discussion of the reading, (Writing about Literature) followed by an in class essay over "The Child by Tiger" or "The Destructors". I have only looked at a few of the essays, but I am expecting them to be a lot better. HW: Read Ch.3 "Characterization" and Mary Hood's "How Far She Went". I have strong feelings about this story, so I cannot wait to discuss it!!

AAAHHHH!!!! My fear has come to life! September 8-10

When I started this, my biggest fear is that I would forget one day and that day would become another and so on and so on. I am not the most organized person in the world, so it was probably a little foolish to think this would NEVER happen. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. I am going to try and put Monday-Wednesday, September 8-10, in this post.

Monday Sept.8, A Day:

A1- Adv. HAVPA- They took their test over Art and Architecture. I thought we would have time to start the music unit, but I was wrong. Although the test was difficult in place, especially the beginning architecture terms, the art stuff was fun as the students busted on the colored pencils and markers.

A3- Sports Writing- They took their football quiz and worked on recognizing different ways to gather information.

A4- HAVPA- Also took the test. Also took the whole block. Also enjoyed using the colored pencils and markers.

Tuesday Sept. 9, B Day:

B1- AP Senior English- This is the class that I thought needed to step up to the plate. And, to no one's surprise, they did. A great discussion of "Interpreter of Maladies" that even included some extra pics that Parvathy sent me and I put in the PowerPoint. In class essay on Thursday!!

B3- AP Senior English- This class was having good discussion before and that did not change. Lots of participation. They also have an in class essay on Thursday!!

Wednesday Sept. 10 A Day:

A1- Adv. HAVPA- We began the day by looking at PLD's CATS scores in the online Lexington Herald-Leader. Do you know the only area that PLD was over 100? That's right, Arts and Humanities. I explained to them why we do what we do. Short answer: It works! We began taking notes on the music terms and even played a couple of selections from my iPod. Can you believe only one person had ever heard "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince?!?!? I am getting so old. They are supposed to bring in music examples on Friday.

A3- Sports Writing- After reading about UK football for the 100th time so far this school year (probably an exaggeration) we worked on identifying errors using the PLD Style Sheet and reviewed for the Ch. 1-3 quiz which will be on Friday.

A4- HAVPA- We also discussed the CATS scores and I hoped that served as motivation for some students in A1 and A4. A few more of them had heard "Summertime", so I don't feel quite so old as I did earlier. We finished the music notes and they are supposed to bring in music examples on Friday as well.

I hope I don't have to do any of these giant posts again. Too much time. I need to add a Post-It note to my computer reminding me to take five minutes at the end of the day or something.

Anyway, I should be back this afternoon with a post for today.

Wednesday September 3rd- B Day

B1- AP Senior English- We first broke into small groups to discuss the Harold Bloom handout. While some students provided some insight, I had hoped for more participation from the class. The annotated bib is due on Friday before midnight.

B3- AP Senior English- This class had a lot more to say about the Bloom handout. Perhaps there is just more energy in the afternoon. Annotated bib is also due Friday.

All Summer Work will be returned on Friday and we will discuss writing AP Essays.

Tuesday September 2nd- A Day

Go Cats!!! What a great way to spend a Labor Day Weekend!

A1- Adv. HAVPA- We finished up the work with the Visual Art Viewing Guide and moved on to the Architecture terms. On Thursday we will take a short tour of our school and fill out an Architectural Viewing Guide. The test over Art and Architecture terms will be on September 8th.

A3- Sports Writing- After a discussion of the UK v. UL game and watching a video clip of Pryor's touchdown we brainstormed some questions for PLD's new football coach. We will take his answers and use them to develop our first major writing piece.

A4- HAVPA- The same as A1. Hopefully our tour of PLD will go off without a hitch. There seems to be a lot of random students roaming the halls during fourth block.

Thursday August 28th- A Day

It's not every day you put in a solid 12 hours, but I guess today is a special day. I must admit, I enjoy talking to parents. It is nice to connect the parent with the student because I feel like I learn a lot.

A1- Adv. HAVPA- What a great group! We went on what could only be described as a kinda lame scavenger hunt (we didn't leave the room. or our seats), but then we took a little field trip to the glass highway (which is what I accidentally said instead of hallways). As we observed the painting and attempted to fill out our first Visual Art Viewing Guide I was impressed with how well behaved every one was. Seriously. Great group!!

A3- Sports Writing- Today we did our article summary on the UK/UL running game and even the most die hard football fans learned a thing or two. We then went through the UK schedule game by game to make our analysis, reviewed the football work, and completed the Chapter 2 worksheet. A busy day!!

A4- HAVPA- The kids were great for the scavenger hunt (probably still a little lame), but everyone seemed to run out of gas when we went upstairs to fill out the Art Viewing Guide. A large number of kids (not mine) were wandering the halls during A4 and this only served as a distraction. We will probably need to spend some time going over the guide next class. All in all, however, still a good day.

I am waiting for the final two sections of open house and then it is on to watch some football, Obama, and grade some papers!

Wednesday August 27th- B Day

I realize I haven't used a picture in for a couple of posts, so here you go. UK kicks off the season on Sunday against UL. I will be watching that game, even though I should be grading AP English papers.

B1 AP English- A little late on the start because of the senior group picture. And I kind of forgot to remind them to read the Plot and Structure section. We did talk about "The Destructors" and tried to figure out who exactly was the protagonist and antagonist. It was a little bit harder than it sounds. HW: Read the essays and give an Above 5 or Below 5 score to the circled essays.

B3 AP English- More of "The Destructors"!! I like this story. How can you not love a scrappy bunch of kids who come together to achieve their goal? Apparently, it's quite easy based on our discussion. Homework is the same as B1.

Tuesday August 26th- A day

I am getting bad at keeping up with this stuff. Last night, I was preparing for yet another fantasy football draft. What can I say?

A1- Adv. HAVPA- We had a nice fun review over the visual art terms we learned last time and we slowly, but surely, finished the PowerPoint. Not that we have the visual art terms, and the illustrated examples, we need to learn how to use them.

A3- Sports Writing- My bet with Beau was changed from TO v. Chad Johnson to TO v. Braylon Edwards. That makes me a little more nervous. We learned about football positions today and read an article about Bud Mackey and his prison sentence. We also watched a couple of clips from ukathletics.com.

A4- HAVPA- We also finished the PowerPoint. It took us a little longer, but hey, what are you going to do? We did have a fire drill last week during this block.

I will see this crew again on Thursday, which is also Open House!!