July 23, 2008

to be or not to be

The heightened sense of enthusiasm before a new school year is always fun. Lesson plans. Expectations. Lofty goals. The excitement of things to be learned and things to be taught. This year Kevin has quite a schedule. Together, he & I are doing Spanish 2, and Joshua/Judges for Bible. ReighAnne is teaching his chemistry and his Algebra 2/Geometry (in exchange for my teaching her 4th grader reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary and critical thinking); for the co-op portion, Kelly is teaching a college writing course, Sandy has government, Marcia economics, and I have literature. This year's reading list is: And Then There Were None (because co-cop starts before the wedding is over and I need an easy-read at the beginning!); The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; The Picture of Dorian Gray; Lord of the Flies; The Old Man & the Sea; The Great Gatsby (which we complete just in time for the Jazz Program at the Carson Center); Brave New World; Hamlet; and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead. We're taking a "Human Nature in Literature" approach to this year's curriculum and I think it will be fun.

Now, the big question is: How do I give grades to six students based mainly on in-class participation?

3 comments:

Sandy said...

Good luck! Maybe give them some no-brainer (if they've done the reading) oral or written questions for a certain percentage of the grade each week, and then they can earn the rest by giving X number of reasonably intelligent answers during discussion time? Problem is, you have to keep track of it as you go... but I bet they'd make sure you wrote it down! Sorry, that's all I got!

EmmaLeeAnne said...

NICE BOOK SELECTION!!!! I hope that mine this next school year is half as good as what you picked out for them! I'm jealous. want to come teach English 4 at Graves?

*Lindsay*Jordan* said...

OMG!!!!!!!!! AND THEN THERE WERE NONE IS MY FAVORITE BOOK/PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *super excited* I wish you were my english teacher, we had to read crud like "Cruddy" and "Lost in Parasdise" ewww. That story had the biggest run on sentences ive EVER seen