Welcome to the official newsletter for all things Language Arts and Mr. Goldhammer. The purpose of this newsletter is simple: to allow parents and guardians a way to stay informed about their student's Language Arts experience and to promote involvement in his/her education. This newsletter is updated regularly and should be a great way to finally get an answer to that dreaded "what'd you learn at school today" question students so cleverly try to avoid. As "Hey Parents!" is a bit of an experiment, be sure to pass on any comments or suggestions that you may have. Enjoy.
January 5th
Tue, Jan 5 2010 01:52
Happy new year and thanks for checking in for the latest Hey Parents! update. The beginning of the year always makes for kind of a crazy time here at the high school--vacation's over, things feel like they should be starting anew, but really, the semester is just about to end. It can be a stressful time for students--finals, projects, grades, etc. To help everyone manage these next few weeks, I thought I'd give an update as to where we are at and what you can expect to see your student working on.
Sophomore students are at an interesting spot--we finished A Separate Peace right before break, read an outside reading novel (click here for details) over vacation, wrote a quick in-class essay, and are just about to start tackling Sophocle's Oedipus Rex and Antigone, two classic Greek plays that deal with tragedy, murder, a little mystery, and well...a few other things (if you know Oedipus, you probably get what I am getting it). The plays are a pretty quick read (the majority of which will be done in class) and students will get a chance to wrap their heads around these classic pieces of literature. It makes for a nice, quick unit that should probably take us about 2.5 weeks. From there, it will be on to another novel--most likely Their Eyes Were Watching God...but more about that in the next update.
In addition, you should also be seeing your student regularly studying his/her vocab and lit terms. As explained in an earlier update, this is a cumulative program--with about 20+ words/terms being added each week. So, there should be lots of flash cards and regular reviewing for each weekly quiz (Fridays). These quizzes and terms can definitely be tricky, so the more help reviewing you can offer, the better. We are about 200+ words into it already (click here for the list) and most students are doing great and boosting their vocabulary and familiarity with some pretty complicated literary terms. So, get involved and see if your student can tell you the difference between synecdoche and metonymy.
In Creative Writing, now is the time where--if one's not careful--things can start to get a bit frenzied. While the course is winding down, the end of the semester demands a lot in the last few weeks. There's still 2 major pieces to be written; an issue of the class anthology, Floodplain, to be put together; a handful of smaller assignments; an outside reading book to finish; and a final reading to do in front of the class. Be on the lookout for regular Creative Writing homework and for your student to be plugging away at an outside reading book while at home. Although I say it every update, the work being produced by these students is phenomenal, if you have yet to get a chance to read anything they've written, be sure to do so...you'll definitely be impressed.
Thanks for checking in. Expect the online grades to be constantly changing over the next few weeks--there's quite a bit of work to turn in and even more to plug into the system.
Thanks for staying involved,
Eric Goldhammer
LA Teacher &
Department Chair
Mount Si High School
Sophomore students are at an interesting spot--we finished A Separate Peace right before break, read an outside reading novel (click here for details) over vacation, wrote a quick in-class essay, and are just about to start tackling Sophocle's Oedipus Rex and Antigone, two classic Greek plays that deal with tragedy, murder, a little mystery, and well...a few other things (if you know Oedipus, you probably get what I am getting it). The plays are a pretty quick read (the majority of which will be done in class) and students will get a chance to wrap their heads around these classic pieces of literature. It makes for a nice, quick unit that should probably take us about 2.5 weeks. From there, it will be on to another novel--most likely Their Eyes Were Watching God...but more about that in the next update.
In addition, you should also be seeing your student regularly studying his/her vocab and lit terms. As explained in an earlier update, this is a cumulative program--with about 20+ words/terms being added each week. So, there should be lots of flash cards and regular reviewing for each weekly quiz (Fridays). These quizzes and terms can definitely be tricky, so the more help reviewing you can offer, the better. We are about 200+ words into it already (click here for the list) and most students are doing great and boosting their vocabulary and familiarity with some pretty complicated literary terms. So, get involved and see if your student can tell you the difference between synecdoche and metonymy.
In Creative Writing, now is the time where--if one's not careful--things can start to get a bit frenzied. While the course is winding down, the end of the semester demands a lot in the last few weeks. There's still 2 major pieces to be written; an issue of the class anthology, Floodplain, to be put together; a handful of smaller assignments; an outside reading book to finish; and a final reading to do in front of the class. Be on the lookout for regular Creative Writing homework and for your student to be plugging away at an outside reading book while at home. Although I say it every update, the work being produced by these students is phenomenal, if you have yet to get a chance to read anything they've written, be sure to do so...you'll definitely be impressed.
Thanks for checking in. Expect the online grades to be constantly changing over the next few weeks--there's quite a bit of work to turn in and even more to plug into the system.
Thanks for staying involved,
Eric Goldhammer
LA Teacher &
Department Chair
Mount Si High School