HI!

Our Student STAR Spectacular!

Below is a video of the photos from our Student Spectacular on May 28th. (Give it time to buffer, and pause the playlist at the bottom of the blog.)

I want to thank you and your parents for coming out and sharing our successes. It was my privilege to be your teacher this year! I love you all!

Grades, Grades, Grades....AGAIN!

Everything is graded, but I am having problems logging onto the electronic gradebook. I guess all the teachers are trying to input grades, too. I will try again in the morning (or later tonight).

Other than the two essays for 3rd and 6th, I am DONE grading!!!! Yay!

Most of you did REALLY WELL! I am so proud. Some of you dropped the ball, but I know you will do better next school year.

FINAL EXAM ONLINE

PERIODS 1, 3 & 6:
Click on the link below to take your FINAL EXAM:
http://www.quia.com/quiz/1839656.html

Period 4:
Click on the link below to take you FINAL EXAM:
http://www.quia.com/quiz/1843414.html

Type in your user name (first and last name, then 455. There are no spaces OR punctuation. For example, my user name would be: christinerodriguez455). Then you need to enter the password I gave you when you turned in your three pages of notes! Your password, by the way, is case sensitive.

You have 2.5 hours to complete the test from the time you start! You CANNOT save the test then go back. It has to be done in one sitting, which should take about 30 minutes. Once you complete the test, you will know your score, even the ones you got wrong. Remember, you still have the essay portion on 6/3, for 1st & 3rd; and on 6/4, for 6th).

The test will be available from this Thursday at 3 p.m. until Monday, June 1, at 11:59 p.m. By Tuesday morning, all of your scores will have been e-mailed to me. HOW COOL!

Do not wait until the last minute, please. Love you all!

ARTWORK & POEMS

Hey, guys and gals. Some of you missed the deadline to submit your poems for our literary magazine. I will give you partial credit if you email it to me by THIS Sunday at 5 p.m. I am also requesting art work. I have already received some nice pieces. If you would like to submit artwork, please do so by Sunday as well. Scan and email your art to me in JPEG or GIF format. Azharea from third period had a fabulous name for our magazine: Nostalgia. Extra credit for her! Looking forward to your poetry! Submit your items to: Ourlitmagazine@gmail.com (follow the guidelines that I gave you)

SMILE!

It was CELEBRATION WEEK FOR MY STELLAR WRITERS !

May 14th - It was dinner for the top dogs at Buca di Beppo's! YUM!

May 15th - The 100 students who passed from my class had a SUNDAE social during lunch. Though you all got rained on, you still came in droves for ice cream and the fixings!

May 19th - All you level 4's and up were treated to doughnuts and juice (that's 90 of you)! What is better is each of the 5's, 5'5's and 6's received "five for a five." There were 15 writers in total to get $5 for getting a five or higher.

To see all of the FCAT Writing stats, scroll down a couple posts in the middle column!

I wish I could do more for all of your efforts! I am so proud of you. Just remember the real reward (and motivation) should be that AWESOME feeling you had when you heard you passed! That is PRICELESS!

FINAL EXAM INFO

BRING YOUR HANDOUTS THIS WEEK, as we'll be working in class on getting your notes done. During exam time, you will prepare your notes, then take the exam online by 6/2 (as long as you do ALL of your notes). If not, the exam is on paper, guys!

It's time to get ready for FINAL EXAMS! Woohoo! You may be afraid, but IT WILL BE OK!

Click here for Lit Tools list - periods 1, 2, 3, & 6
Click here for the Vocab List - periods 1, 3, 4, & 6

You will also need:
~ The Greek god vocab list for periods 1, 3, 4, and 6
~ Night and Julius Caesar, periods 1, 3 & 4
~ The Secret Life of Bees, periods 1, 3 & 6
~ The sixteen types of poetry for periods 1 & 3
~ Greek gods/goddesses, Romeo & Juliet, and The Odyssey for period 6
~ Period 2, all the novels we read in class (Speak, Necessary Roughness, Two Badges, Metamorphosis, Stuck in Neutral, and Farewell to Manzanar)
~ Period 4, yours will be on the novels we read in class (Crank, The Secret Life of Bees, The Host, and The Lovely Bones)

Volunteers Needed

I need help! (But we all knew that, right?) Anyway, I am looking for volunteers to assist me with our Student Showcase Spectacular on 5/28. I have already purchased a bunch of items (and plan to buy more), but I could also use the following:

Bottles of soda, homemade desserts (Sylvia, brownies; Jeanette, cookies ~haha!), coolers of ice, help with the door on that night, help with setting up that day/night, help with cleaning up, help with setting up the technology (William/John, that's you~haha!), help getting the displays ready, some kids to read/recite their poem(s), help with assembling our literary magazine, and anything else you can think of.

Please comment to this post if you can help me on that night, or if you can assist me in the days before by preparing the room.

Invitations will go out tomorrow! LOVE YOU!

YOU ALL ARE SHINING STARS!

Of my 102 students who took the FCAT Writes, 100 of you passed! That is 98%!!! YOU ALL ARE AMAZING!

I want to give a special shout out to my Regular English Class...100% of you passed! That goes to show that honors or not, success is possible! With hard work, success is the end result! In the history of me teaching tenth grade, this is the FIRST regular class that had a 100% success rate! I AM BEAMING WITH PRIDE!

The state average of passing students was 77%; you all were 98%. The state average of students earning a score of 4 or higher was 60%; you all were 87%. The state's mean score was 3.8; your mean score was 4.4!!! That's AMAZING! My hat's off to you!

Here are my TOP DOGS:

Level 6 - Heather, Adrian, Michael L., Jessica Mart. (The only four in our school to earn a 6)

Level 5.5 - Yovanni T., Blanca R., Maite, Angel V., Marvin M.,

Level 5 - Fanny, Kassandra, David, Javier, Ivana, Michelle G., Karina, Carel, Jennifer M., Gina, Pablo, Jessica Men., Nelson M., Richard P., Nahobi, Katherine

There were 30 4.5's; and 34 4.0's, which is INCREDIBLE!

Be ready for your rewards and recognition - YOU ALL DESERVE IT!

Pinwheels for Peace

Thanks to Mr. Binder, our trust counselor, for gathering all of us to show that peace reigns at HGHS. Now, lets take that out into our homes and community! Many of you wrote amazing haikus! I am so impressed with your talent, enthusiasm, and kindness! Keep up the good work!

A special thanks to Mrs. Davis for arranging for Mr. Louis Schneider, a Holocaust survivor, to come and speak to the tenth graders. This week our classes have been reading Night, which recounts Elie Wiesel's ordeal in Auschwitz. All of these wonderful activities have made this week a vital learning experience to remember! I hope my students will always use this experience as a guide for how to be instruments of peace throughout their lives!

Shakespeare Day Slideshow

I wanted to thank those of you who made our Shakespeare Day/Renaissance Fair so special! I had a wonderful time, and it looked like you all did, too! A special shout out to Mrs. Davis and her crew for a JOB WELL DONE! We look forward to our school-wide fair next year!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pinwheels for Peace

Next week, we will be doing Pinwheels for Peace. Please see below for a sneak peak. I look forward to doing this activity with you in class. Peace be with you and your family now and always :o) Love you guys

FINAL DRAFTS

Your final drafts will be due a couple days after I return your papers. I have not returned all of the rough drafts yet, but when I do, I will announce the due date. I was trying to meet with each of you, but with my large class sizes, it's been a challenge. I am actually up grading right now :o) It's 4:30 a.m. haha!

SMILE!

Hear ye, hear ye!

We're celebrating Shakespeare on April 23rd! During class that day, we will have our "Ye Olde Renaissance Faire." In preparation for our celebration, you will need to select a committee. I am asking that you look at the categories below, ponder on them, and choose one based on your abilities, interests, and schedule.

We will need Fortune Tellers, Bards & Actors, Musicians, Craft and Game Supervisors, Food Folks, a Decorations/Banner Crew, and a Shakespeare History table.

Check out the sites below for some help:

http://www.renfaire.com/
http://www.party411.com/theme127.html

http://www.42explore2.com/renaissance.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/shakespeare_william.shtml

Wear your toga in honor of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar! Below are sites to help you form your toga Remember, you have to wear your uniform under your toga, no exceptions :o)

http://www.howtomakeatoga.info/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPaFtZIZmfk

http://how-to-make-a-toga.blogspot.com/

Questions About Critical Response Papers

Hey! Happy Spring Break!

If you have any questions about the paper, post them here. I will check this daily and offer some help if you need it.

SMILE! I miss you already!

LITERARY TOOLS TEST

Remember, there is a literary tools test this Thursday (periods 1 & 3) and Friday (period 6). BE READY! The list of lit tools is posted on the column on the left about half way down! Study, and you will do great!

DO YOU FEEL LIKE THROWING IN THE TOWEL?

If you feel like quitting on your critical response paper, DON'T. Remember, pain is weakness leaving the body (in this case, weakness is leaving your mind). YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!

Now, if that pep talk did not help, know that I am only a phone call away. If hearing my lovely voice (barf) is going to be the only thing to keep you from quitting, please call me.

SMILE OODLES ~ AND KEEP WORKING. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

ROUGH DRAFT TIME ~ WOOHOO!

Your rough draft due date has changed SLIGHTLY, so pay close attention:

You can turn in your rough draft the day you return from Spring Break (Monday, April 13 for periods 1 & 3; Tuesday, April 14 for period 6). However, if you turn it in by THIS Wednesday (period 6), or Thursday (periods 1 & 3), you will get extra points added to your rough draft score. I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO IT BEFORE BREAK, AS IT WILL BE A MONKEY ON YOUR BACK THE WHOLE WEEK! Below is a sample, as well as some helpful websites to assist you with your in-text citations. Rest assured, we will review this in class on Monday and Tuesday. If you want to start your rough draft this weekend, you can do so...and add your citations in later.

The page requirements for your papers are 4-5 for sophomores, and 3-4 for freshmen.

SMILE!

To see a sample of a rough draft, CLICK HERE!

Click HERE to learn how to use "in-text" citations.

Click here to see another source to cite your work... A GOOD ONE, TOO!

GRADES

Grades are completed for the following periods: 1, 3, 4, 6. I will finish period 2 tonight or first thing in the morning.

Be advised that if you made a B or C, you likely received a 2 in effort. With a little more umph, you would have had a higher grade. The few D's and F's I had received a 3 in effort. In addition, conduct grades dropped slightly. If you were caught cheating, you received a "B" in conduct, no matter how quiet you were.

Congratulations to many of you for your improvement! I am proud of you. Those of you who backslid a little, use it as a motivation to be your best you. It is crunch time, and it is only going to get harder this last quarter. One thing I know is...YOU CAN DO IT! You just need to give your full effort.

SMILE!

Looking Ahead to Next Week!

OK - 6th Period, I will not see you on Monday to prepare you for the title and reference pages. I am adding a sample of each, along with comments on those pages. Remember, one inch margins, 12 pt Times New Roman for EVERYTHING!

Periods 1 & 3, if you want to do yours this weekend, feel free to take a gander at this post, too!

Remember, this is due on Wednesday for 6th, and Thursday for 1st & 3rd.

ANY QUOTE, EXAMPLE, OR LYRICS YOU PLAN TO USE IN YOUR PAPER THAT IS NOT YOUR IDEA OR YOUR WORDS, MUST BE REFERENCED.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY SAMPLE REFERENCE PAGE
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY SAMPLE TITLE PAGE

CLICK HERE TO SEE PURDUE UNIVERSITY'S SITE FOR APA STYLE - GOOD STUFF!
CLICK HERE FOR ABOUT.COM'S INFO ON APA STYLE - ANOTHER GOODIE!

For your "Running head," it can be aligned at the left margin, or the center. Thanks to David (per. 3) for pointing it out and correcting me. Every "great" teacher needs humbling at some point. In this case, a mediocre teacher! haha!