2017-18 Week 6 — September 25-29

Posted by mrsturnerblog in Weekly Update

Hello again! I’m so sorry for the long absence here on the blog. Life took over and ran away with me. Last weekend I was at the Senior Retreat–wow, what a weekend! I can’t wait for that weekend with y’all, but we have to get on about the business of Junior year first!

Let’s take a look at what’s going on this week in class:

  • English 11 — Week of Sept 25-29
    • Monday, Sept 25
      • I have been reminding you in class his for a couple of weeks now that you should be doing this reading, but make sure that you are reading The Great Gatsby outside of class. You should be finished with Chapter 5 by Friday. You are welcome to use the independent reading time in class to work on this assignment or to do your reading outside of class.
      • In-class essay–you will receive a topic at the beginning of class and you will organize and write a well-developed essay during class. This will be turned in at the end of the class period.
    • Tuesday, Sept 26
      • Read and annotate Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments” and compare to “Declaration of Independence”
    • Wednesday, Sept 27
      • Discuss and analyze “Declaration of Sentiments” and “Declaration of Independence”
    • Thursday, Sept 28
      • Begin reading and annotating “A Jury of Her Peers”
    • Friday, Sept 29
      • Article of the Week 6 due. (This is on Google Classroom already.)
      • Discuss “A Jury of Her Peers” and the discussion questions
  • AP Lang & Comp — Week of Sept 25-29
    • Monday, Sept 25
      • Columnist Project #3 due
      • In-class essay–to be assigned and completed in class
    • Tuesday, Sept 26
      • Discussion and activity based on AP’s 9 pt rubric
    • Wednesday, Sept 27
      • Analysis and discussion of Monday’s essay sample responses
    • Thursday, Sept 28
      • Provide peer-to-peer feedback (anonymously) on student essays
    • Friday, Sept 29
      • Rhetorical Device Weekly 1 deadline moved to 10/2
      • Discuss the writing and feedback process from this week.

We’ve got a busy week ahead filled with reading and writing. Yay!

I wanted to take a minute and give a special shout-out to the AP students. I’ve been reading some of the work that you’ve been doing on essays and the Columnist project, and I’m really impressed with the insight and analysis that you’re showing so far. Keep up the good work!

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Severe Weather and School

Posted by mrsturnerblog in Uncategorized

Hello, students. Are you all recovered from that amazing game against St. James?! I think my heart rate is still elevated!!

I have gotten some questions about school tomorrow. In case you’re not sure, we officially still have school. Any information on that will come from Mrs. Ceasar after the Archbishop makes the decision. Mrs. Ceasar cannot make that call without his approval. Yes, Troy and Auburn and AUM have cancelled classes. I just saw that Montgomery Public Schools have cancelled, too. That doesn’t mean that we will. I’m sure they’re all talking about it and deciding on the best and safest course of action for our students and families.

When a decision has been made, all families should get a SchoolCast message from Mrs. Ceasar with the information. My family gets a call on each cell number (mine and my husband’s) and an email to our family email. I’m sure Mrs. Dickson will be sending out an email like the Sunday email, too.

Be safe everyone. You’re all in my prayers.

2017-18 Week 3 — September 5-8

Posted by mrsturnerblog in Weekly Update

Happy Labor Day! I hope that you all enjoyed the long weekend! I raced off to the Georgia Coast to meet my extended family, and I soaked up the gorgeous natural wonders that Jekyll Island holds! 🙂 Awesome!

We’re finishing up with summer work this week in regular English, and in AP, we’re jumping right into the curriculum. Let’s take a look at what’s in store for this week:

  • English 11 — Week of Sept 5-8
    • Tuesday, Sept 5
      • Reading Rate during Independent reading time
      • Writer’s Journals prompt
      • Assign Article of the Week (see Google Classroom)–due FRIDAY
    • Wednesday, Sept 6
      • Summer reading books and Signpost posters
    • Thursday, Sept 7
      • Discuss book club pairings
        • Consider the following books. Each group will do one of these pairings this semester. I’ll talk to you more about this in class on Thursday, but you may do a little research to see what you’d be interested in:
          • Group A–The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
          • Group B–“Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry & All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg or Just Mercy by Bryan Stephenson
          • Group C–“The Crucible” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
          • Group D–1984 by George Orwell and Feed by MT Anderson
      • Present posters from Wed
    • Friday, Sept 8
      • Article of the Week due (see Google Classroom)
      • ACT English practice test for benchmark purposes
  • AP Lang — Week of Sept 5-8
    • Tuesday, Sept 5
      • In-class essay
    • Wednesday, Sept 6
      • Discuss Columnist Project (more info in Google Classroom) and Rhetorical Device Weekly assignments (more info in Google Classroom)
      • Rhetorical Précis & Joan Didion’s “Santa Ana Winds”
    • Thursday, Sept 7
      • Rhetorical Spectrum discussion
      • Brian Doyle’s “Joyas Voladares”
    • Friday, Sept 8
      • Columnist Project Week 1 due
      • AP m/c practice quiz and analysis

It’s going to be a busy week! Let’s have a great one! Don’t forget that the St. James game is Friday night. Let’s cheer on our Knights to another victory! Go Knights!

2017-18 Week 2 — August 28-September 1

Posted by mrsturnerblog in Weekly Update

We had a great first week in Junior English and AP Lang! It’s good to be getting back into the swing of things. We jumped headfirst into some reading and writing last week, and we’ll do more of the same this week.

Let’s take a look at what we’re doing in class this week.

Here we go!

  • English 11 – Week of August 28-September 1
    • Monday, Aug 28
      • Small group sharing about hero’s journey
      • Essay planning/outlining
    • Tuesday, Aug 29
      • In-class essay on Summer reading
    • Wednesday, Aug 30
      • Whole group reflection on hero’s journey in summer reading novels
      • Journal writing time
      • Reflection on hero’s journey connections in their lives
    • Thursday, Aug 31
      • Hero’s journey narratives
    • Friday, Sept 1
      • Mass day–wear your mass uniform and dress shoes today!
      • Article of the Week due (this will be handed out on Tuesday)
      • Introduction to Notice and Note Signposts
      • Mrs. Turner’s Advisory going on Encounter today (Mrs. Turner’s 5th period will be taught by Coach Patterson)
  • AP Lang – Week of August 28-September 1
    • Monday, Aug 28
      • Thank You for Arguing Application assignment
    • Tuesday, Aug 29
      • “Rock Van” analysis and response
    • Wednesday, Aug 30
      • Thank You for Arguing application writing assignment–make sure that you’re prepared to write about some of the ideas from your summer reading
    • Thursday, Aug 31
      • SOAPSTone introduction and practice
    • Friday, Sept 1
      • SOAPSTone and Children’s books
      • Mrs. Turner’s Advisory going on Encounter today

Have a great week!

Great start so far!

Posted by mrsturnerblog in Uncategorized

Hello, Juniors!

We’re off to a great start! I’m excited about what we’ve done so far, and I really loved what we did today in class. You all jumped in and did a good job of taking a chance and working through the things I asked you to do! I think we’re going to have a great year!

Since I know a few of you (especially our new folks) don’t have your computers yet, I wanted to make sure that you can access some of the things that we’re doing in class. You can do these things on your phones, so feel free to try to do those from home and keep from falling behind. Hopefully we’ll get those computers in and into your hands ASAP so that we can all move forward together.

Most of you have already joined ReadTheory.org. If you’re new to Montgomery Catholic, please go to ReadTheory.org and sign up for an account. Once you do that, you need to click on My Teachers and invite me to be your teacher so that I can monitor your progress. My email is on the syllabus that I handed out. 🙂 This site is one of the best ways (other than just reading, which we’re also doing) to work on your reading comprehension. For my class this week, I’m having everyone log into the site and do the pre-test and one of the quizzes. This is a good way for me to get a good baseline score and see where everyone is. We checked this afternoon, and you should be able to log in using your phone (from home, please, and not from school), so you might be able to keep up that way. Otherwise, we can get you caught up when you get your computer.

The other thing that I have up is Google Classroom. That’s the online home for our class, and there will be many assignments that we turn in through that site. You can download the Google Classroom app on your phone and log in (you’ll need to use either your Montgomery Catholic student email or your Montgomery Catholic family email). The other option is to use a different computer and go to google.classroom.com. The codes for my classes are

  • English 11: dqae6u4
  • AP Lang:  txikmkk

Once you’re logged in there, you can click on the survey link and fill that out. Again, you can do this from your phone or you can do it once we get everyone connected on the computers. 🙂

I hope this helps any of you who might have been wondering how to keep up without the computer or anyone who might have been confused or missing an assignment. As always, I’m more than happy to answer any questions through email or you’re welcome to set up an appointment to meet with me at school.

I’m looking forward to a great year. These first three days have been fun, and I think I’m really going to enjoy teaching these Juniors.

OH!! One more thing–guess who is in the lead with the penny wars right now? US!! Keep bringing your pennies in, and make sure to bring some silver coins (or dollar bills!) to put the other classes in the hole! 🙂 Go Juniors!

 

 

 

2017-18 Week 1 — August 21-25

Posted by mrsturnerblog in Weekly Update

Happy New Year!!

I love the first day of school! It’s exciting to be back with everyone and see what this new year has in store for us all. Plus this will be a short day, so it’s like we get to get in, get our feet wet, and go home and take a nap. That’s my plan, anyway! 🙂

I’m excited to welcome all of my new Juniors to English 11 and AP Lang this year. I think we’ll have a great year together. Junior year is pretty great–you’re upperclassmen, finally, and you don’t have the pressures (yet) of applying to college and deciding where you’ll be once you graduate. Pretty sweet!

Let’s take a look at what we’re doing in class this first week. This week both Eng 11 and AP Lang will be on fairly similar schedules, but after this week, you’ll see big differences in what we’re doing.

Here we go!

  • English 11 – Week of August 21-25
    • Monday, Aug 21
      • Half day of school. Remember that we release at 11:30. If you don’t drive, please make arrangements to be picked up early.
      • Intros/class overview
    • Tuesday, Aug 22
      • Syllabus, Procedures, Expectations
      • Read Theory baseline test (make sure that you have your computer!)
      • If you have a book that you’re reading for fun, bring it to class. We’ll start our 10 min of daily reading today. 🙂 If not, you’ll pick one from my shelves.
    • Wednesday, Aug 23
      • Learn to Think & Analyze activity–bringing your thinking caps and your enthusiasm 🙂
    • Thursday, Aug 24
      • Practical analysis
      • Introduction to reading frames
    • Friday, Aug 25
      • Mass day–wear your mass uniform and dress shoes today!
      • First Article of the Week due (this will be handed out on Tuesday)
      • Discussion/definitions of a hero
      • Be prepared to discuss your summer reading book with regards to the hero’s journey
  • AP Lang – Week of August 21-25
    • Monday, Aug 21
      • Half day of school. Remember that we release at 11:30. If you don’t drive, please make arrangements to be picked up early.
      • Intros/class overview
    • Tuesday, Aug 22
      • Syllabus, Procedures, Expectations
      • Read Theory baseline test (make sure that you have your computer!)
      • If you have a book that you’re reading for fun, bring it to class. We’ll start our 10 min of daily reading today. 🙂 If not, you’ll pick one from my shelves.
    • Wednesday, Aug 23
      • Thank You for Arguing application writing assignment–make sure that you’re prepared to discuss some of the ideas from your summer reading
    • Thursday, Aug 24
      • Learn to Think & Analyze activity–bringing your thinking caps and your enthusiasm 🙂
    • Friday, Aug 25
      • Mass day–wear your mass uniform and dress shoes today!
      • Practical analysis
      • Introduction to reading frames

So that’s it! It’ll be a quick week, but we’re going to jump right into the learning. We’ve got quite a bit to do this year, so you’ll find that we’re working all the time. I try to bring in fun and interesting things, though, so hopefully you’ll enjoy it.

One last word–I know that some of you have been having problems with new uniforms from the uniform store. If this is you, I hope that you’ve already contacted the office about it. Do your best to show up as “in uniform” as possible.

Wait, one more–I’ve seen quite a few of you around who are still in need of that back to school haircut. 😉 Please make sure that happens tomorrow (after the eclipse–we want your eyes to be safe) if it hasn’t happened already. Let’s get this year started off on the right note! 🙂

I’ll see you all tomorrow bright and early. Go Knights and go Junior Class! 🙂

Welcome 2017-2018 Juniors!

Posted by mrsturnerblog in Reminders

Hello new Juniors! I’m hoping that you’ll be able to subscribe to this and start seeing my posts now. As we move through the rest of the summer, I’ll post from time to time just to keep you up to date on things. I might also post random articles or stories that I think you might find interesting or inspiring.

Please make sure to sign up for email notifications so that you get an email when I post a new post. This will make it easier for you to keep up with things (and you won’t have to remember to keep coming back here to check!). In the right sidebar, there’s a section labeled “Follow Blog via Email.” Simply put your email address in the white text box in that section and click Follow and you’ll get an email whenever I post.

Thanks! I’m looking forward to a great year!

AP score interpretation

Posted by mrsturnerblog in Reminders

AP folks,

I know that some of you have already gotten your scores through earlyscore.org and that some of you will be getting them tomorrow. As you look at your scores, I want you to make sure that you interpret them the right way. A score of 3 is not “passing” and a score of 1 or 2 is not “failing.” There is no passing or failing on this exam.

This class is taught on a college level, and the exam is really testing your readiness for college-level learning. This is how the AP folks interpret your scores with regards for meeting the demands of first-year college English.

  • 5 = extremely well qualified
  • 4 = well qualified
  • 3 = qualified
  • 2 = possibly qualified
  • 1 = no recommendation

If you scored a 3, 4, or 5, then AP believes that you would be successful in college level English classes right now. (Remember that most of you took this as a JUNIOR, one year away from college.) If you scored a 2, then you’re possibly qualified–there’s power in a 2! If you scored a 1, then it means that College Board believes that you still need more time to develop your thinking and writing–but guess what? You have that!

Regardless of how you scored, you have learned a ton this year, and you will be more successful in your college-level English/writing classes now than you would have been before. You are leaving my class more qualified, competent, and capable to interpret the world around you, so any score on this exam, whether a 1 or a 5, should be considered successful. This is one test: one day, one indicator of what you know and are able to do. I’m super proud of you all!