English 10-1
Catholic Central High School in Lethbridge differs from other area high schools in a couple of ways. In 2010, it became the only school in North American to offer a dual campus opportunity, and it is the only high school in southern Alberta to offer a quarter system timetable.
Because I had a secondary placement, I did not start my practicum until Quarter 3, which began on Feb. 1. My placement saw me teach the entire English Language Arts 10-1 course over 38 teaching days. Then I taught ELA 20-1’s Macbeth and Lord of the Flies for 28 of the 40 days in Quarter 4. I was the only PSIII student at my school.
The class consisted of 21 students with a range of abilities. Their ELA 9 grades ranged from 97% to 54%, and two of the students were ELL, which created a challenge for me as a teacher to make the material appealing and understandable to all of the students.
The ELA 10-1 course spanned 38 teaching days, during which time I initially expected to cover six units (writing & research, short stories, the film Contact, Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, an independent novel study, and Thomas King’s Medicine River) and hit all of the SLOs, and minimum text creation and study requirements as set out in the Program of Study. However, due the time restrictions that accompany the quarter system, I adjusted my year plan to incorporate units on: writing & research, vocabulary, short stories, the film Contact, Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, and an independent novel study). To see what we studied, visit Highlighter: A Place for English 10-1 CCH West.
Under the quarter system, students study two subjects every quarter for three-hour blocks. This presented a challenge for me because I had no experience pacing a three-hour class. I also had to carefully plan my lessons so that the teaching strategies varied. No one wants to sit through a three-hour class of direct instruction. To see what strategies I used along with building a classroom community is 38 days, see my Professional Inquiry Project, Love the Ones You're With: Creating A Classroom Community. I also had to get creative, and weave poetry and visual and multimedia text, as required in the Program of Study, into my five units. There was no time to have a standalone poetry unit. The benefit to the quarter system is that students receive very little homework in this course. The majority of their writing assignments could be completed during class. This not only cuts down on instances of plagiarism, but students can receive immediate feedback and help from me.
The downside of the quarter system is that if students miss a single class, they miss the equivalent of three traditional classes. I created a class website where I will post assignments for students. Keep in mind my film unit is four days in length, so a few missed days quickly adds up.
The school looks for cross-curricular opportunities between ELA and Career and Technology Studies (CTS). INF1030, which introduces students to the “proper use of word processing software, including document creation, editing and printing of formatted documents,” is a natural fit with ELA. The INF1030 projects were a Billy Joel Research Project where students arranged their two references, or allusions, within Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” song to look like a kind of textbook, complete with a title page, table of contents, summaries with images, and a works cited page; an independent novel study formatted as a sophisticated newspaper review; and a science fiction brochure.
Because I had a secondary placement, I did not start my practicum until Quarter 3, which began on Feb. 1. My placement saw me teach the entire English Language Arts 10-1 course over 38 teaching days. Then I taught ELA 20-1’s Macbeth and Lord of the Flies for 28 of the 40 days in Quarter 4. I was the only PSIII student at my school.
The class consisted of 21 students with a range of abilities. Their ELA 9 grades ranged from 97% to 54%, and two of the students were ELL, which created a challenge for me as a teacher to make the material appealing and understandable to all of the students.
The ELA 10-1 course spanned 38 teaching days, during which time I initially expected to cover six units (writing & research, short stories, the film Contact, Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, an independent novel study, and Thomas King’s Medicine River) and hit all of the SLOs, and minimum text creation and study requirements as set out in the Program of Study. However, due the time restrictions that accompany the quarter system, I adjusted my year plan to incorporate units on: writing & research, vocabulary, short stories, the film Contact, Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, and an independent novel study). To see what we studied, visit Highlighter: A Place for English 10-1 CCH West.
Under the quarter system, students study two subjects every quarter for three-hour blocks. This presented a challenge for me because I had no experience pacing a three-hour class. I also had to carefully plan my lessons so that the teaching strategies varied. No one wants to sit through a three-hour class of direct instruction. To see what strategies I used along with building a classroom community is 38 days, see my Professional Inquiry Project, Love the Ones You're With: Creating A Classroom Community. I also had to get creative, and weave poetry and visual and multimedia text, as required in the Program of Study, into my five units. There was no time to have a standalone poetry unit. The benefit to the quarter system is that students receive very little homework in this course. The majority of their writing assignments could be completed during class. This not only cuts down on instances of plagiarism, but students can receive immediate feedback and help from me.
The downside of the quarter system is that if students miss a single class, they miss the equivalent of three traditional classes. I created a class website where I will post assignments for students. Keep in mind my film unit is four days in length, so a few missed days quickly adds up.
The school looks for cross-curricular opportunities between ELA and Career and Technology Studies (CTS). INF1030, which introduces students to the “proper use of word processing software, including document creation, editing and printing of formatted documents,” is a natural fit with ELA. The INF1030 projects were a Billy Joel Research Project where students arranged their two references, or allusions, within Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” song to look like a kind of textbook, complete with a title page, table of contents, summaries with images, and a works cited page; an independent novel study formatted as a sophisticated newspaper review; and a science fiction brochure.
course outline
End of Quarter feedback
On the last day of classes in Quarter 3, I gave students feedback forms about the course and my teaching. The comments that I received were very interesting and helpful. I wanted to explain to my students that I treated them like they were more mature than they felt because it gave them the opportunity to rise to the occasion--and they did! I’m so proud of them for their dedication and perseverance through this course.
1. What did you like best about this course?
I like how we got work periods and the Billy Joel Project.
How I learned to write better using all of the information she gave us.
The short story unit and how we got to pick our own novels for the novel study.
I enjoyed the Shakespeare unit, watching movie along with text to help understand the material.
2. Did this class engage your interest? Why?
It did but I still think English will be my least favourite subject.
I've started reading at home because I realized there were lots of other books I wanted to read.
I want to learn how to write better and become better in English, and I think she helped me do this.
Kinda because I want to be able to spell better and have a better vocabulary and it helped with vocab.
Some projects were interesting such as the memoir, brochure and the Billy Joel Project, but others such as Romeo & Juliet, precis and allusions were not as interesting.
3. Did you meet with the teacher outside of class to discuss your work? Why or why not?
Yes, because my writing still needed to improve.
Yes, because I was asking about how to redo a certain assignment.
No, for it never seemed necessary for me, though she did make her availability for outside chats very clear, which is nice to have in case.
4. Did you find the comments on tests and other written work helpful to your understanding of the class content? Why?
Yes, it shows you did or did not do well at, which makes your learn.
Yes; they never failed to pinpoint what I needed to improve on in the future.
Yes, because they helped me see what I did right and what I need to improve on.
The comments were very helpful! They helped me understand where I went wrong and what I could do to strengthen my work :)
5. What do you think is this teacher's greatest strength?
The energy she brings to class.
Being well organized and prepared every day.
Her knowledge about writing, and how to do it properly.
Genuinely being interested in the subjects and giving feedback.
Assigning due dates. She always made sure we had enough time to complete an assignment to our greatest ability, which I greatly appreciate.
6. What suggestions would you give to improve this teacher's teaching?
If I have one, maybe talk a little bit slower.
Make the vocabulary test sentences a bit easier.
Have more time in class to work on projects and stuff.
The amount of time that we get on certain projects. For some writing assignments we only got a couple of days.
7. Did you use the class website? Why or why not?
Yes to look at assignments.
When we had the Romeo and Juliet final, I looked at the examples from other students.
I thought it was helpful that she put important unit things on it for when you missed a day of class.
8. Did you sign up for Remind? Did you find it helpful?
Yes, it made me remember when things were due.
Yes because it would let me know when an exam is or test.
Yes because she made us sign up for it but it was helpful because you could talk to her outside of school.
1. What did you like best about this course?
I like how we got work periods and the Billy Joel Project.
How I learned to write better using all of the information she gave us.
The short story unit and how we got to pick our own novels for the novel study.
I enjoyed the Shakespeare unit, watching movie along with text to help understand the material.
2. Did this class engage your interest? Why?
It did but I still think English will be my least favourite subject.
I've started reading at home because I realized there were lots of other books I wanted to read.
I want to learn how to write better and become better in English, and I think she helped me do this.
Kinda because I want to be able to spell better and have a better vocabulary and it helped with vocab.
Some projects were interesting such as the memoir, brochure and the Billy Joel Project, but others such as Romeo & Juliet, precis and allusions were not as interesting.
3. Did you meet with the teacher outside of class to discuss your work? Why or why not?
Yes, because my writing still needed to improve.
Yes, because I was asking about how to redo a certain assignment.
No, for it never seemed necessary for me, though she did make her availability for outside chats very clear, which is nice to have in case.
4. Did you find the comments on tests and other written work helpful to your understanding of the class content? Why?
Yes, it shows you did or did not do well at, which makes your learn.
Yes; they never failed to pinpoint what I needed to improve on in the future.
Yes, because they helped me see what I did right and what I need to improve on.
The comments were very helpful! They helped me understand where I went wrong and what I could do to strengthen my work :)
5. What do you think is this teacher's greatest strength?
The energy she brings to class.
Being well organized and prepared every day.
Her knowledge about writing, and how to do it properly.
Genuinely being interested in the subjects and giving feedback.
Assigning due dates. She always made sure we had enough time to complete an assignment to our greatest ability, which I greatly appreciate.
6. What suggestions would you give to improve this teacher's teaching?
If I have one, maybe talk a little bit slower.
Make the vocabulary test sentences a bit easier.
Have more time in class to work on projects and stuff.
The amount of time that we get on certain projects. For some writing assignments we only got a couple of days.
7. Did you use the class website? Why or why not?
Yes to look at assignments.
When we had the Romeo and Juliet final, I looked at the examples from other students.
I thought it was helpful that she put important unit things on it for when you missed a day of class.
8. Did you sign up for Remind? Did you find it helpful?
Yes, it made me remember when things were due.
Yes because it would let me know when an exam is or test.
Yes because she made us sign up for it but it was helpful because you could talk to her outside of school.