Friday, January 30, 2009

Clean Out the Folders

There will be a folder dump on Friday, February 6th. Anything that is left in folders will be recycled. Nothing new will be added to folders after Friday, January 30th.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Grades

I have updated grades.
What is on School View should reflect accurately what I have.

Meaty Discussion Questions

Remember:
The purpose of discussion is to explore ideas. Your questions should be formulated to allow the class to explore the ideas. Do not deliberately formulate questions that support your position.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Vocabulary Help and Practice

Mrs. Pearson and Mrs. Nelsen in the CRC sent this link to teachers. It's a great source where you can practice vocabulary. It might be good review before standardized tests.

It's worth a look.

http://www.knowhow2gowisconsin.org/

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

AP Planning Ahead

B-Day: Work day for Macbeth groups--this is the last time in class you will have.

Friday, January 30th: Poetry explication work--bring one in to have it peer reviewed to make it better. Keep both versions to show improvement in your showcase portfolio.

Monday, February 2nd: Enrichment--many students will be at some music thing or another--so we will offer enrichment to those non-musical folks (like Forsberg) by showing Act 1 on Hamlet.

A-Day: Act 1 and Act 2 Macbeth presentations.

B-Day: Act 3 and Act 4 Macbeth presentations.

Friday, February 6th: Act 5 presentation--remediation/enrichment as warranted.

Monday, February 9th: Macbeth test. Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair...

Friday, January 23, 2009

Forsberg's Students' Papers

I have completed the papers that I received on the due date. I will have the scores posted soon.

I was pleased with some papers because they were focus, clear, and direct.
I was disappointed with the papers that lacked focus, had vague themes, and did not demonstrate quality of thought. Many papers seemed like first drafts and the assessment reflects that.

If you wrote and rewrote your paper and did not do well on the paper, come in and see me. If you wrote quickly because writing the paper became "urgent," take this as a wake-up call.

Macbeth

Finish it up this weekend!

Review of Expectations concerning deadline when students are absent

If you have a planned absence from class, you must make arrangements beforehand with your teacher to take care of work that is due while you are gone.
If you are absent the day a paper is due, you are expected to submit your paper via email to your instructor to meet the deadline for full credit.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Self-Reflection

Hey folks,
We'd be interested in hearing from people via email what they would like more practice with in their quest to improve their literary anaylsis skills. Let us know!

Conferences this week

Hey folks--it's conference week.
We will be here from 3-8 on Thursday evening.
We will be talking about what's happening in class rather than handing out grades.
If you want to discuss grades, please print off the report from SchoolView.

Wednesday after school we have a staff meeting--which means it will not be a good time to schedule a meeting with us. Sorry!

Friday we will be brain dead from Conferences, so be patient.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Signing books in and out

Hey Folks,
With scanning books in and out, we have to do something different with them.
1. If you get a report that you have a fine or fee for a book from English, you MUST return the book to Mrs. Melby in the front office to get it cleared from your record.
2. That means if you have dropped off a first-trimester book to sign in, take it from where you left it (Forsberg's students) and return it to her; otherwise, we can't clear the record.

The Thank You Letters

Folks,
When we go over in class what to do for an assignment, and then people make mistakes that we have covered it disappointing.

Here are frequent mistakes that lost points on the letters:
No stamp
No signature
Wrong spacing.
Not full left-block
Inside address mistakes (wrong information, wrong order, too much information)
Abbreviations 1/17/2009 is an abbreviation for January 17, 2009.
Comma rather than a colon after the salutation.
Too informal "Dear George:" rather than "Dear President Bush:"

Let me stress how important it is to follow formats when they are given to you. Read the rubric for what you will be graded on.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Reminders

Bring reading material for Friday.
The explication for your addition novel is due "A" day.
In-class essay will be Friday next.
Macbeth is to be completed soon.
Remember to finish your reader's notebook entries.

Forsberg Reminders

Remember to check your grades and what a "work in progress" means for you interview/resume grade.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Names and Addresses of Interviewers for Friday

Friday Interviewers

Table 1
Kristin Krahler
Rasmussen College
8301 93rd Ave N
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445

Table 1
Kristin Krahler
Ramussen College
8301 93rd Ave.N
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445


Table 1
Captian Tracy Stille
City of Maple Grove
Police Department
12800 Arbor Lakes Pkwy
Maple Grove, MN 55311


Table 2
Dr. Kate Maguire
ISD 279
Educational Service Center
11200 93rd Ave N
Maple Grove, MN 55369

Table 4 (AM)
David Zelinski
Homeshield
11975 Wisconsin Ave N
Champlin, MN 55316

Table 4
Dolores Garcia Lowe
Mid American Financial Group
301 Carlson Parkway
Suite 300
Minneapolis, MN 55305




Table 8 (AM)
Kristine Zelinski
Project Management Engineer
Loram
3900 Arrowhead Drive
Hamel, MN 55340

Table 8 (Mid Day)
Ann Wynia
North Hennepin Community College
7411 85th Ave N
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445

Table 10
Corrie Craig
Community Education
Educational Service Center
11629 99th Ave N
Maple Grove, MN 55369

Table 10
Julie Halverson
ISD 279
Educational Service Center
11200 93rd Ave N
Maple Grove, MN 55369


Table 12
Jeanette Neumann
Robert Half/ Account Executive
800 Nicollet Suite 2700
Minneapolis, MN 55402


Table 14
Linda Muller
Community Relations Manager
Velocity Sports Performance
8900 109th Ave. N. Suite 700
Champlin, MN 55316






Table 15
Sonny Hilyer
ISD 279
Educational Service Center
11200 93rd Ave N
Maple Grove, MN 55369










Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

We teachers met tonight and we have some things you should know:
1. Bring the copy of a poem you want to use for an explication to class on "A" day 13th/14th.
2. Your additional text and explication needs to be completed by "A" day January 20th/21st. The prompts are on the blog. Look for them.
3. The in-class essay will be written on Friday, January 23rd.
4. Macbeth is to be completed by Monday, January 26th.

Reminder:
You need to be annotating the texts that you read or dialog journaling with you partner on it. You should be writing a minimum of three times a week to be excelling at this!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Interview Sign Up Sheets

They will be on the cabinets in room 288 at 7 AM Tuesday, January 6th. As much as possible, sign up for a time during your English class period.

Forsberg