Peppler’s Classroom Blog

My apologies if you have tried to access this blog over the past few weeks.  First, it was the network outage at school, but–more problematic–the Edublogs site that I use has been down (periodically, I think); every time I have logged in to add something, it has been blocked.  This is very frustrating to me, obviously, and I’m sure to you as well.

I am exploring other options for keeping all interested parties up-to-date.  I would like to continue this format, as it is easiest for me.  I am also open to suggestions…

For now, I’ll keep trying to post here.  Perhaps, Edublogs has remedied their server issues.

We were in the lab again today to finish the rough drafts (writing the conclusion) and revise the draft using the scoring guide that was posted.  Students need to bring a hard copy of the best draft they have to class tomorrow.

Also, a reminder once again of the Vocab 11 quiz tomorrow.

I gave the students a little more information on the Study Guide for First They Killed My Father.  I encouraged them to get a jump start by going to the wiki page that I set up and beginning to brainstorm what should go into the project.  This a real opportunity for them to be creative and constructive, and to build something of real value–not just to them, but to potentially many, many other students.  I’m sure they don’t really understand yet the magnitude of the possibilities…

Today, most classes spent the majority of their time in the lab, drafting their character analysis papers.  We will have a little more time on Thursday, but that will likely be it.

I also gave/reminded all students about the “assignment” to register for our class wiki on wikispaces.  This is to provide them editing access for some real collaborative work in the coming weeks.  They must do this by Friday, so that I can “approve” everyone’s registration before next week.

Instructions for doing this are on the HOME page of mrpeppler.wikispaces.com.  Students need to follow the instructions CAREFULLY; a number of you were a little careless and have been rejected as a result.

If you have any questions, you can ask in class or email me.

I was one of a number of teachers that are incorporating new web technologies into their class who was recently interviewed for a JS article on blogging and other online discussions.  Hopefully, there will be much more for this reporter to write about as more teachers see the need for and power of some of the web tools that are now available. 

I really hope this isn’t the 15 minutes of fame we were all promised…I was hoping for something a little more exciting

Seriously, I am still planning on using more of them in a variety of ways even in my freshman classes. There are so many doors I could open up for my students…

Killing two birds with one stone (what number idiom is that, Mick?), I thought I’d just lump Monday and Tuesday together.  We are continuing and most likely finishing the film version of TKAM.  Students should continue to create their similarity and differences chart, and the list of film techniques they notice.

Don’t forget also that Vocab Unit 10 exercises are due on Wednesday, March 28.

Note to parents:  I am doing some continual updating of ParentConnect in preparation for submitting grades mid-week.  If you have any questions, just email me.  I will print grade sheets for the students as soon as everything is entered.

I just posted some links to a great website for vocabulary and allusions made in the novel. These are organized by chapter, so they are very easy to use.

Just go to the Classroom Wiki, and click Literature Resources.

I’ll keep adding to the list. If you see any you like, let me know and we’ll keep building the pages.

My apologies for the absence of any entries until now.  I arrived back to school two days late (yesterday was my first day back) due to some unexpected travel delays.  I’ve been trying to catch up since coming back…

Hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday break with family and friends.

Tuesday and Wednesday, students worked on their outlines for the ad comparison paper and studied for the next vocab quiz, which has now been postponed to next Monday, January 8th.  Thursday and Friday they had portions of the class periods to work in the computer labs to draft the body of their paper, and I reviewed topic sentences and transitions and asked them to look carefully at these as they continued to work.

Monday, they will have their quiz and we will go over final exam stuff (i.e. what will be on it and how they should study).  Tuesday, we’ll return to the papers and discuss intros, conclusions, and revision.  Papers will likely be due next Friday, Jan. 12.

For the parents, I will be updating my gradebook soon, so ParentConnect should reflect those changes in the next few days.  Thanks for your patience!

…if you decide to post (whether you are student or other), please read the Read This Before You Post page before beginning your response.  Thanks!

Parents:

Want a quick and easy way to find out what’s happening in your son or daughter’s English class? Would you like to confirm when that upcoming quiz really is? Or would you just like to hear how the day went and get some insight into what they are learning?

Those are just a few reasons why I created and continue to maintain this blog. Here are a few more:

• Absent students can find out what they missed.
• Lost the handout from a few days ago? No problem! Just check out the Wiki (link to the right) and get pdf files on DOL, vocab, assignments, and other classroom activities and routines.
• A collection of links to a variety of useful (and not-so-useful!) sites.
• Upcoming: Students will be able to contribute to online classroom discussions on topics relating to course content in a moderated environment.

You can find the blog at peppler.edublogs.org or on the school’s web page under “Staff Websites”.

I just got an alert from the server that hosts this blog that it will be down for upgrading over the weekend.  I don’t know what that means for accessing it, but I doubt you will be able to until Monday.  Sorry for this inconvenience that is out of my hands…