Wow...plenty has happened since I wrote last. First off, 9hrs of parent-teacher conferences were given over the course of 3 days, with a total of 64 parents/guardians visiting.

Yesterday(Tuesday 11/18) was our first snow day of the year!!!

In the academic realm, English 11 has begun a mini-unit on Jon Krakauer's book "Into the Wild."
We're going to create a Bucket List, CV poem (modeled after Lisel Mueller) and read sections of the novel that relate to the following essential questions:
• What is the relationship between nature and American identity?
• What does it mean to be a rebel?
• What is the relationship between self and society?
• What is success?
• How do we construct identity through our actions, interests, values and beliefs?
• To what extent is community essential to happiness?
This should be a great mini-unit.

In English 12, we have begun pre-reading activities on "Night" by Elie Wiesel. The novels have been handed out and it's always nice to have students read a novel that is as attention-grabbing as "Night."

The Chromebooks have been a great SUCCESS!!!!!

Til' I shuffle off this mortal coil...let there be blogs

Yea, I've never read a blog. I've never written a blog--nor, have I ever thought that blogs really mattered. There is only so much RAM in my brain and filling it with blogs or what is/was/will be in blogs seems to me like a wast of space.
Now, why am I creating a blog? Why am I adding to the detritus of blog posts that exists? The answer is simple.
IT IS WHAT YOU DO.
There are too many avenues that comprise communication. And if there are too many avenues, then I want to try and be running full speed down them all. (Yes I did not say drive...I'm a runner-->50 miles per week and I do count.)
This blog is a chronicle of my current profession: South Haven High School ELA Teacher. Right now my schedule reads 2 sections of ELA 11 and 3 sections of ELA 12. I also am the head of coach Track and Field / Cross Country for both genders.
As of today, I have 144 students with an average of 29 students per section. This makes for a plethora of personalities, types, and student learning styles. There are 144 students and AT LEAST 144 different people that I see, know, and educate.
So here's the skinny:
ELA 11 - literary essays devoted to short stories that we've read throughout the unit
(Greasy Lake, A&P, The Lady or the Tiger?, To Build a Fire, Snows of Kilimanjaro, A Good Man is Hard to Find, A Sound of Thunder, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Battle Royal)
ELA 12 - Just finished a unit devoted to independent reading resulting in a novel research project (presentation) which was related to a theme of their independent reading novel.
Now, we've kicked off a unit focused on the holocaust...more to come on that!

And, so begins my blogging.