It's hard to believe, but we're already into Quarter 2 of this school year.  Your child has only 3 quarters left in their sophomore year!  Time flies!

This quarter's blog post includes the following:
-Resources for parents: Google Classroom, Remind, and now sharing GOOGLE DRIVE FILES!
-Collection 1 recap
-Collection 1 essay due Wednesday
-Looking ahead to Collection 2

Click here or on the "read more" link below and to the right to learn about what we've been up to in English 2H and how you can support your teenager at home.  Thank you for your continued support!

If you are on this site, that means that you want to be "in the know" and get involved in your child's education.  So THANK YOU!  You are a VITAL piece of the puzzle in these oh-so-important high school years.

Click the "Read More" link to the bottom right to learn about some ways that you can continue to stay up to date on what is going on in our English 2 Honors course.    I hope you take advantage of both opportunities.  At the bottom, I share the quick updates for my class.

Thank you for joining me on this school year voyage!​

I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU to sign up for the very same  "class" that your child has signed up with in order to see what messages they get.  Their enrollment information can be found on the bottom "There's An App For That" section of my  Technology Page.  You can also choose to sign up for my separate Parents Remind "class"; instructions can be found on my Parents Home Page.   I  sent out a reminder of an upcoming exam earlier in the semester, but only 8 parents were enrolled at the time, so hopefully more of you can sign up and stay connected! ​

You may have heard your child talk about Scholar Cards in my class.  Allow me to briefly explain what these are.  

They are brightly colored (so they don't lose them!) index cards that I hand out each quarter.  When students participate in class by sharing their knowledge, they can earn "scholar credit" for the day (limit one a day).   On the spot, I give them a score of 5,4,or 3 (if they get a 2, they get a chance for a better score later in the period), all of which earn credit. I do this so they receive immediate feedback from me and I build a culture in my class where all scores are equally appreciated.  Students  write on their cards themselves and turn them in at the end of the  period for me to stamp.  This is a formative assessment in their grade book.  Students should try to earn at least one stamp a week!

A 5 is when a student shows incredible mastery of the content and blows me away with their insight; they are rarely given and definitely coveted.  A 4 is given when students understand both the complex and simple  concepts of a lesson or question.  And a 3 demonstrates a student's simple or basic understanding, or it can be the result of a simpler question that I posed that didn't yet require complex thought.

 Students can also earn "credit" for demonstrating Habits of a Scholar: leadership, collaboration, preparedness, showing initiative or being proactive, coming to my before/after school Office Hours, and more!

You can learn more by visiting my College and Career Readiness page  or asking your child how many stamps they have so far.  

   This semester 's accomplishments:

• introduction of the year-long Digital Portfolio Project (ask your child to share his/hers with you!)
• a significant focus on Writing with multiple opportunities for practice and a large amount of teacher feedback.  Students set quarterly writing goals and reflected on these goals in their portfolios.
• various technology-based projects
• introduction to blogging (will really start next semester)
• OREO (Outside Reading Educational Opportunity)
  • a fiction book of their choice
  • Theme Multi-Intelligences Projects
• Unit on Social Conformity & The Creation of Identity
  • 12 Angry Men
  • Non-fiction articles
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Short stories
• Unit on Ethical Responsibility
  • Of Mice and Men
  • Short Stories

PERIODS 2 & 5: As we wrap up the semester, we are beginning a mini-unit on "Coming of Age" where students will be studying famous authors and their writing style in order to emulate their skills and write their OWN creative short stor!

PERIOD 1:  This class and I are working closely together as we pilot a NEW TEXTBOOK called StudySync!  I highly encourage you to have your child show you  what we are learning on this very digital platform.  It requires that students really think, while giving incredible support!  Students have been giving me their feedback daily as we both figure out its new learning tools.  We will rejoin the other 2 class periods at the end of February once this pilot is completed. Myself and about 25 other 7-12 teachers will be deciding on the textbooks which will be purchased and ready for first-time use for all GGUSD 7-12 students in the fall of 2016.  This is a big undertaking, but an exciting and rewarding one as well!

Want to know more?  Ask your child to share their Google Classroom or Google Drive Toolbox with you!  You can also go to the Students tab above-->English 2H-->2H Voyage Board for our weekly agenda, announcements, and homework!  Click the button above for quick access.

I have a quick correction to make from the email I sent out to all parents on September 20th.  Ms. Smart, my student teacher, will be co-teaching periods 2, 5, &  6, not 1, 5, 6.  My apologies if this caused any confusion.

Kind Regards,
Mrs. Housepian