As a parent of high school student, I know that it is often hard to get a complete picture of what my child has to do. This website is designed to help.
The "Current Unit" link below has all of the work that we are working on in this unit. You will find downloadable pdf files that you can save to your own computer. There are several types of material:
•Discussion notes - from class discussions
•Interactive Notebook Table of Contents (TOC)
•Instruction Sheets - from Learning Stations that your child is working on in class.
•Handouts - working material from the learning stations.
•Assessment Rubic - a completion guide that neatly summarizes the finished product at each station.
•Review Sheets - for the Unit Test
Ask your child which station he or she has worked to get an idea of what has to be finished.
I provide after school tutorials 1-2 times per week in my classroom. My hours are from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. I use an open station approach and kids can move to whatever station or project they need to complete. I also have all of my technology on, so I don't mind if a student needs to use a computer for another class.
I have an open door policy. Students can come whenever they need to up till 4:20. After that we start closing down the room and I am very busy with that task. Students can leave whenever they need to. Once a student leaves, My policy is to not let them come back into my tutorial as it is disruptive.
This four week unit is design to examine the interaction between people and the physical environment. We are looking at North America with an eye to landforms, climate zones and ecosystems for clues about how humans have been shaped by the environment and how it has been altered in exchange. This is our first full thematic unit where students manipulate and interpret data, design graphs, evaluate evidence, learn to screen information, begin to cite information, create persuasive advertising, borrow creative formats, use the internet in a web 1.0 format, and judge the influence of landforms.
Note to parents - This unit marks the "ramping up" of my curriculum as we make ready for 7th grade. I am not using a portfolio approach as I did in the first two units - every assignment will be graded. Click on the green title to see the Unit 3 Rubric along with specific details about each assignment.
"If I want people to think differently, if I want them to understand that this place is different from anything they've experienced, then it has to look different. You can't serve up the same old thing and then expect people to rethink their approach to the world."
Barry Frew - US Navy Center for Executive Education
We are building a new Grady campus! Your parents and teachers are discussing a new wing with room for 600 students. I would love to see what you could design. I have included a link to a Grady Map without the T-buildings. Try to fit your design into the space, leaving room for the football/soccer field. Before you start look at the "Language of School Design" booklet to get some ideas about how schools reflect research into learning. Go for it! What should your school look like? Make sure that you let me see what you come up with.
To back up what I do in the classroom, I would love for you to review the research findings supporting my classroom structure. If I am doing something that doesn't work for your child - let's talk. I learn something every time I talk with a parent that helps me qualify the strategy so that WE can formulate success. Take a look at the findings and synthesis below and let me know what you think.
There is a good link at Lexicon of Learning to help explain any educational terms.
HISD is currently revising the district grading system in response to a new law passed during the last legislative session. The new policy should be available by the start of school.
To see the homework assignments at the 6th Grade Team website, click this link:
As you are working on your research topic in my class, you will need to be systematic in your exploration. You may follow any process that works for you, but I ask that you have the following steps in order to be thorough in your research. I have added links to assist you below, so please feel free to use them.
A hobby that I include as a fun extension of my course outside the classroom. Letterboxing came to the United States in 1996, with the publication in the Smithsonian magazine of an article about this very old hobby in the United Kingdom. Letterboxers carve stamps and hide them around the world, leaving clues online at sites like Letterboxing North America. There is a good explanation at Letterboxing in America FAQ. There are lots of boxes hidden, see if you can find them and "stamp in".
Unlike "Geocaching", which requires an expensive GPS unit that does the "locating" for you, letterboxing requires you to think about the clues in order to locate the hidden letterbox.
I have a letterbox hidden on campus. If you are in Mr. Adam's art class, he will be talking to you about creating your own letterboxer stamp. You can also come to the monthly letterboxing club meetings where you can design and create your stamp and logbook.
This page is designed to keep parents up with the latest research findings in the area of brain research. One website, Dr. Kathy Nunley's is particularly useful as a clearinghouse for information. Another useful link is the News from the Neurosciences link at the New Horizons Learning web page. A serious subdivided linking page is at Brainresearch.org which is a good launch pad for inquiries about specific brain function.
I use music in my classroom to help kids transition from one activity to another. Songs are signals for specific team behaviors to assist each child to move from one activity to the next.
By popular request, the lyrics of song used in my classroom are:
Instrumental songs:
Snorkel by Leo Kottke - Closure song
Interlude by Modest Mouse - Quick Transition
To see what we were doing on a specific date, click on the file for that week. I must say that every group of children is different, so as we begin to understand children we can best:
Included in this section are tools that we use in my class to better analyze and understand the ideas and issues of the cultures we are exploring. Gathered from around the net, with some originals thrown in, the list expands as new ideas are found.
Just added material from Harvard's Project Zero - really well-constructed thinking/discussion routines for use in the classroom.
This 3 1/2 week unit is designed to consolidate mapping and general geography skills. We are creating a "learning atlas" in our interactive notebooks based upon the seven continents. This atlas will grow as we explore issues in depth during the year. This unit can be found on pages 14 - 27 of the interactive notebook. Students will return to these continent maps and the adjacent "thinking" pages throughout the year to add information, thoughts and observations.
Click on the link below to find handouts and the Table of Contents (TOC) for this unit.
This mini-unit involves learning how to work as cooperative teams. More than just sitting in group settings, true cooperative teams work together to ensure that all team members are involved and learning.
Every teacher at Grady has an enrichment class that they create for the school. My enrichment this year is web mastering. I train students to create and maintain web pages for Grady teachers. The class meets twice a week on Green block days.
