English Technology Inservice 11.03.08

• 6+1 Writing Traits--Continue emphasizing these traits as a followup to middle school emphasis. Use in rubrics as well as during instruction and editing.
• High School Writing and Style Guide--Please distribute and regularly incorporate into writing instruction. Students should write their names on copies and keep in looseleaf binders for use in all content areas. Students are expected to keep these booklets from year to year. They may print replacements from the following link:
  http://www.hcpss.org/aboutus/writing_manual.pdf
• INTRANET Access (CLC name and password) and Content
  E-Guides--Curriculum lessons for grades 9 and 10.
  DR Access
  Process to unblock sites--Call number on blocked page.
  Air Card from Verizon--Offers internet access anywhere.
  Kindles (Amazon.com)--Individual electronic devices for downloading etexts; may benefit nontraditional readers.
• Grades are due to ITLs by 10:00 AM Thursday morning, November 6 this week.
• NO Department Meeting on November 11 by consensus of the group in attendance.
• Instead, ETS Training for Criterion Online Writing Evaluation Program will be held November 17 for all English teachers of Grades 9 and 10; Regular and Review Classes. http://criterion28.ets.org/cwe/index.php
• Instead also, CPR Rhetoric Group will also meet sometime this month.
  

August 18, 2008

1. Welcome and Introductions

2. The Nitty Gritty

• Classroom Supplies
• Equipment--LCD Projectors
  Signing Out Materials
  Book Orders
• Wednesday, August 20th County Language Arts Inservice at Long Reach High School
• English Department Meeting Schedule—Room 209
  Recorder; Refreshments
  Monthly Departmental Features Recommendations
  Objectives
• Final English Department Schedule
• CHS English AP Scores--May 2008
• The English Web Page at http://englishroost.blogspot.com
• Teacher Web Pages
• TeacherEase at http://www.teacherease.com/home.aspx
• Writing Folders--Language Arts Expectations
  Sample LA Lesson Plan Format
• Current Addresses/Birthday Celebrations
• Student Aides—Credit, Attendance, Activities
• English Activity Fee--Vocabulary Workshop Books; Cuckoo's Nest for 12 Honors: Vicki Sattler will visit classrooms to collect payment from students; fees cover the cost of each text, plus shipping and tax
• Syllabi, Etc.—3 copies to ITL
  Include Grading Policy, Class Procedures, Expectations, Materials, Departmental Plagiarism Policy, and turnitin
• Substitute Lesson Plans—Keep updated and current in a folder on the Teacher’s Desk in classrooms--Include Syllabi, Objectives, Seating Charts

3. Grade Level Meetings

• Book Charts--Please check for balance and diversity as a team (Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Time Periods, Genres)
• Check current English Book Inventory Binder in 601 for ordering needs

June 9, 2008

• Please remember to update your web page
• Copies of May Minutes--Kristin Shipp
• Summer Reading Info--Corey O'Brien
• Fond Farewells to Cerise Ashburne and Michael Clark
• Happy Summer Birthdays
• Closing Business/Checkout Info--
  End of Year Exit Conference with ITL (by June 16)
  Final Exams (copy and answer key) to ITL (by June 16)
• Student Debts--English Student Obligations due
• Book Inventory--Thank you for promptly returning books to the bookrooms so we can complete an accurate inventory; literature anthologies, grammar books, and dictionaries may stay in classrooms as usual
• Student Writing Folders--Please update, label, and store in your classroom
• Classrooms will be painted this summer: store teacher materials; remove all materials from walls; cover materials to be saved on bulletin boards and open book cases; cover computers
• Recent Department Documents/Updates posted on our Web Page: English Awards; CHS Summer Reading List 2008; AP Lit & Comp Book List 1981-2008
• Happy Summer, Everyone!

~Thank you for all that you do for CHS and for our students.~

May 5, 2008

• April Minutes


• Student Writing Folders--Culminating Activities/Samples--Judy Ryan: CHS English 10; Kristen McManus: CHS English 10 & SAT


• 6+1 Writing Models for Grade 9--Jenny Bartkus: CHS English 9 & Journalism


• English HSA--Tuesday, May 20, 2008
  Parent Meeting held April 23 at 6:30 pm


• APRIL 24 Professional Development FEEDBACK--"Curricular Connections to the Real World"; Long Reach Sessions & Off Site Field Trips


• Proposals for CHS Summer Reading List 2008; Reading Lists from the International Reading Association; Book Lists from NEA's Read Across America, May 2008
  www.nea.org/ref?readinglists


• May 16 CHS Articulation Day--Grade 9 Teachers visit middle schools; Voluntary Technology Meetings; Final Course Enrollment for 08-09—Teachers check grade levels & ability levels; Grade Level Team Planning for 2008-2009 and Research Paper Dialogue


• June 9 Department Meeting--Closing Business/Checkout & End of Year Evaluation;
  Student Debts; Classroom and Book Inventory; AP English Exam Essays 2008; Updated AP Book List 1981-2008


• Reminder--LA Summer Curriculum Writing Workshops ($125 per day); see the Summer 2008 Professional Development Catalog


• Media Center will close June 2


• Classrooms will be painted this summer: remove all materials from walls and bulletin boards

April 14, 2008

• March Minutes


• "Teaching Rhetoric in HCPSS: Helping Our Students Embrace the Benefits of Persuasive Writing That Transcend the Traditional Classroom" .ppt--Rus VanWestervelt: CHS English 11, Yearbook, & Photography


• "Teaching Strategies for Persuasive/Argumentative Writing" Handout--Tres Wright: CHS English 11 & 12


• Nominations for Senior Awards


• APRIL 24 Professional Development--"Curricular Connections to the Real World": Long Reach Sessions & Off Site Field Trips


• LA Summer Curriculum Writing Workshops ($125 per day)
  

March 10, 2008

• February Minutes
• APRIL--National POETRY Month
  2008 Poster Online http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41
• "LIFE/LINES--Vital Words" Project;
  "Poem in Your Pocket" Day--April 17
• POETRY APPRECIATION Presentation--Dr. Michael Clark: CHS English 11 & 12; Advanced Composition
• HCPSS Secondary Language Arts Teacher Survey
• Spring 08 Department Meeting Dates/Plans
• English Numbers 08-09
• English Presentation to CHS PTSA on March 12
• CHS English Web Page--English Placement Resources
  http://englishroost.blogspot.com/
• Week of March 25--Junior RESUME Writing Week Reminder:
  Teacher taught in ALL English 11 classes;
  Graduation requirement for Junior Interviews
• HoCoPoLitSo 2008 Writing Contest--Entries due April 2nd;
  Promise & Achievement Awards (2)
• APRIL 24 Professional Development--"Curricular Connections to the Real World"; Online Registration THIS WEEK

February 11, 2008

• January Minutes


• MSDE HSA Bridge Plan Info
  County Assessment Data--Second Quarter--Grades 9 & 10
• HSA Review Sessions begin in MARCH/Parent Meeting to be scheduled in APRIL with the 10th Grade English Team


• NCTE National AA Read-In Feedback from 2.04.08
  CHS Literacy Committee initiative


• Teacher Schedule Requests for 08-09


• English Spring Birthday Lunch Mania--Get Ready!
  March (3), April (1), May (3), June (2), July (2)


• HoCoPoLitSo 2008 Writing Contest--Entries due April 2nd; Promise & Achievement Awards (2)


• English Department Award 2008 (1)


• Grammar for Writing Textbooks & Website
  ALL grades at CHS now have one class set per teacher!

January 15, 2008

• USING ONLINE DISCUSSIONS--"Catcher in the What? Tenth Graders Discover Discussion Through an Online Forum": NCTE Convention Presentation (November 2007)
• Corey O'Brien: CHS English 10
• Designing Online Forums: Considerations and a Live Demo; Online discussion forums at http://piccle.ed.psu.edu/ (Pennsylvania State University, University Park) provide familiar discourse spaces for adolescents' conversations.
• Discussing literature and responding to peer writing in these digital spaces outside of the classroom expands students' thinking, social interaction, and audience and rhetorical awareness.

• Monday, February 4, 2008--NCTE National African American Read-In: Brainstorm ideas for English classes to support this CHS Literacy Committee initiative


• 08-09 SCHEDULING
  Teacher Signature Days--January 28-30 (MTW only)
  Criteria for English level recommendations--B average or higher for Honors and GT placement


• Thursday, January 10, 2008--8th Grade Parent Orientation Feedback


• Materials Recently Ordered--
  MagnetSlates and magic magnet pens--Grade 10
  Grades 11 & 12 Grammar Books--One class set per teacher
  Ordinary People--Grade 12
  Spoon River Anthology--Grade 11
  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close--Grade 11
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

November 26, 2007

• CREATIVE WRITING Video & Followup Discussion Rus VanWestervelt: CHS English 11, Yearbook, & Photography
• Sir Ken Robinson: Visionary Leader, British Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (1998)
• "Creating an Educational Environment that Nurtures Creativity" TEDTalk (Technology/Education/Design), February 2006, 19 minutes
  Accessed from http://www.ted.com/

• English County Assessments results for First Quarter
• Recommendations for New Materials
• Thursday, January 10, 2008--8th Grade PARENT ORIENTATION 7-9 pm
  Ninth grade teachers--Please reserve the date!