I will not be in class today. Work quietly on your haiku reflection: Use the Fitz Style Journal Entry as a rubric.

The final reflection needs to be a minimum of 400 words.

The final touches are ultimately what sets good construction apart from bad construction. Pay attention to these details:

1. Your haiku portfolio must have a main page which includes a meaty Fitz Style essay that introduces your haiku in the form of a reflection. See my previous post for tips on writing a metacognitive reflection. Be sure to touch upon what helped you succeed; what made it hard or difficult, and what techniques you used--in your estimation--more effectively.
2. Linked as sub-pages should be four separate pages with each containing four haiku with four black and white photos.  BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR PORTFOLIO. It does not always format as you hope.

Here's a little video tutorial to help you put together your Haiku portfolio. It is the same steps as I taught you in class, but if you forgot anything, check this out.

Try to get this posted the portfolio posted this weekend, though I will give you some class time on Monday to work out the final details.

The final part of the project is to write a "metacognition" about this project. A metacognition is essentially you writing about yourself doing and completing this project. It is a way to sift through the good, the bad, the awesome and the ugly--and hopefully "explore" what works and what didn't and what your final takeaways from this project were--and are! Use the "Fitz-Style" entry to write this and make it the homepage of your "Haiku Portfolio."

The metacognition is your homework for Monday night, but you are welcome to start work on it before.

Have a great weekend, and I hope your games went well! How did Third's Soccer do?

To honor and respect the observance of Rosh Hashana I have moved the due dates ahead by one day. You are welcome to take the night off from Englsih homework.

As you work on your haiku project, keep the following in mind.

No one is born a great poet, but we are born to learn and practice—and so it would be wise and diligent of you to read and reread the haiku packet and "study" the three haiku techniques; moreover, read the great poets Basho, Issa, and Sapho.

Haiku celebrates the common and the ordinary...

Haiku loves to observe the old and the weathered...

Haiku lets the reader discover, so don't tell the reader what to think...

Have fun...really...

The new gradebook on the new Fenn site, while a good idea, is still not fully functional, and I need a gradebook to share grades with you, so beginning today, I will use Schoology to post your grades and accept submissions for assignments. 

Many of you used Schoology last year, and it is a pretty easy system to use. Section One joined today. I will set up section two, tomorrow--but if you'd like to sign up for the class today, do this:

1. Join Schoology, if you have not already, and register as a student.
2. Enter this code  [ TWCJR-4NP8K ] into the "join" tab of courses dropdown 
3. Get the free iPad app which will allow you to create, edit, and submit assignments on the iPad. Unlike Weebly, it's a pretty good app!

You are now in my course.  As soon as you join, I will begin entering grades into the gradebook.

Let me know it it works. if not. I am glad to help you at school.

Those students who have had me before this year probably remember my love for haiku poetry. For me, learning how to write good and effective haiku is not merely an exercise in writing an ancient poetic form; it is simply good practice to learn how to write well!

Homework: Please read the entire haiku section of Unit One. These three haiku techniques can also be found under resources. 

Students in section two should come to class with at least four well-crafted and considered haiku utilizing and adhering closely to techniques one and two.

Students in section one simply need to come with an open mind... 

Also: go to these websites and cut and paste your three favorite haiku and be prepared to share them in class

1. Basho
2. Issa
3. Buson

Haiku Portfolio Project:

• Create a page called Seasons’ Haiku
• Create four separate sub-pages in your portfolio titled: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall 
• Create four haiku for each season using the techniques we have studied.
• Each haiku should have its own place on the page and be associated with a black and white image
• Write a brief introduction to your haiku portfolio

You have all week for classwork and homework to finish this. 
The final project is due on Monday, September 29.

I just took an evening stroll through your blogs hoping to be entranced and enlightened by a stream of newly sprung journal entries beckoning me to read and savor and enjoy, but the road I took brought me to many a blog entry that said 9/15/2014, which to a blogger is like old cheese in a warm fridge. Your blogs, my blog, every blog thrives on newness, so please, don't put off your work until Wednesday night when you will be cursing me and cursing your fate as you try and write three blog posts and create 26 reasonably intelligent comments+whatever other homework assignment is due on Thursday.

For those of you who already answered the call and are taking small bites out of the week, thanks!  I enjoyed my stroll by your house.

I am expecting you to comment on this piece.

NUTS & BOLTS: Please don't "share" a google doc with me for an assignment. For your assigned work for tomorrow, the "Gift of the Magi" work, you only need to make a pdf of your work and open it in Notability. Section one: you can then airdrop it to me tomorrow in class; section two: you can do the same on Tuesday. Hopefully, we can soon use the dropbox in Finalsite with our iPads.

***If there is ever a due date on a date when you don't have class, the assignment is due at the next class meeting--unless otherwise noted.

“If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.” 
― Tom Peters 

It's tough to grow without any growing pains. As teachers, this has been a tough start to the year with Finalsite just now starting to have all of its functionality, trying to figure out how best to use the iPads, and getting use to the new schedule and assign due dates in a numerical calendar when we have alphabetical days. It has not been easy, and I apologize for any confusion.

For the next few weeks, we will be working our way through The Crafted Word Unit One from beginning to end. By this coming Tuesday, I want to be finished through the "Sentence Building" exercises, so we can move on to the Haiku Portfolio project, which will occupy almost a week of work. We will work on all of the material in class and as homework. As much as possible, we will start work in class, and you will finish the work as homework.

As of this writing, Section One has read Gift of the Magi in class. We will finish the Active Reading Rubric in class on Thursday. Section Two will complete this work in class on Thursday, too. 

Both classes will start the Reading Response in class on Thursday.

We will hold off on the Comma Rules 1-3 until we reach them in the unit.

I will explain this all in class, and hopefully "figure out" a way to assign the work in a way that is simple and logical and allows for you to plan thoughtfully when, where, and how to finish the assigned work. My hope is to plan out the work for each seven day cycle to be completed by the start of each cycle.

Blogging, portfolio development, and commenting will always be an ongoing expectation with each cycle requiring four journal entries and commenting at least twice on each your classmate's blogs. You will always receive extra credit  for additional blogging and commenting.

I hope this helps, and I am sincerely sorry if there is or has been any confusion about what is due when.

The bottom line is to come here if you are confused. This blog is our hub, our center, and our main class resource. Let me know if your read this...

~Fitz

NOTE!!! Section One should re-download the Unit One Pages Doc by scrolling down to the post below this (or I can airdrop you tomorrow).

Homework: Master this rule: Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions and complete the exercises in The Crafted Word Unit One Document. It is not due until Monday, but you can do it early if you want.

So, yet, and, or, nor, for, but


Commas with conjunctions must have an independent clause (meaning, it can stand alone as a sentence) BEFORE and AFTER the conjunction and comma.

• I need to buy a new computer, so I am going to the mall.
  
• It is a cold day, yet it is a beautiful day on the mountain.
• Sally is happy today, and she is feeling better.
• I am either going to climb the mountain, or I going to die trying.
• I am neither talented, nor is there a place for me on the team.
• Do not show up at my house, for I am not going to be home today.
• I am not a good basketball player, but I am an amazing baseball star.

A comma and a conjunction can always be replaced with a period or semi-colon instead of the comma and conjunction.

• It is raining, so I am not going to school. [comma and conjunction]
• It is raining; I am not going to read. [semi-colon]
• It is raining. I am not going to study comma usage. [period]

It’s good to know where a road is taking you. Part of my problem as a kid your age was that I hardly ever knew why I was studying what I was studying, and I never seem to know what was coming around the bend. It was just by a stroke of luck that I had a few teachers who sensed a bit more in me than I sensed in myself,  and so I was able to stumble my way through high school, college and a good part of the globe before settling down to teach English to you guys--and it's a job that is a gift from heaven because I really like this job and because you teach me as much as I teach you (or as much as I hope I teach you).

Maybe because my head has a way of racing a million miles an hour, or maybe because I too need to edit and revise my teaching; but I have never done the same curriculum from year to year--similar, maybe, but never the same.  This year I feel like we have the gift of a great classroom, the right tools and a schedule that gives us "time" to create more than I ever dreamed possible--and creating is the life-blood of learning.

All creation starts with muddy hands with which we can shape the wet clay of possibility. My muddy puddle started this summer when I looked long and hard at how I taught and why I taught and what I taught, and that is what prompted me to post by the lighthouse: Fitz English:  Read.  Write.  Create.  Share.  Collaborate.  Assess.  Reflect.

And I want to make this happen in simple and straightforward way. It is something we have to make happen together, and it may well be a road that we have to smooth out together as well. The first road we travel is called "The Crafted Word: Unit One." It is one of five units I put together this summer with the belief that it will help you become a better writer, reader, and creator; moreover, our blogs and portfolio's and studio's will allow us to create share our work with each other and the world in amazing ways.  

I have already shared this unit---or most of it at least--in class today. Section two will receive it tomorrow. I created the unit in Pages, and I do feel it would be best to work on it in Pages as well. Pages should be a free download for you in the app store on your iPads. If you download Pages today, I can share the unit with you via airdrop tomorrow.

Each unit is a series of exercises, readings, and prompts that covers the basic skills any good writer and reader needs--and then some, (I hope). Most all of your required work can be completed in the unit itself because it is basically an online textbook. I will grade and assess your work using Notability.

Every worthwhile adventure should be an odyssey from which you emerge a stronger person.

You will. I believe in you.

Are you ready?

Click on this link The Crafted Word Unit One to download the Pages doc from my dropbox/