Week 14 (11/9-13)
Note: Students did not perform as well as might be expected on their grammar
assessment, given the amount of time we spent preparing. However, do not
fear; they will have a chance to remediate their understanding, or accelerate
to the next unit, depending on their performance.
I will say that many students did quite nicely, and performance had
little to do with their preexisting knowledge of the language and proficiency
therein. I can therefore eliminate the lesson difficulty as the determining
factor in student success. Some other factor is to be credited, and I suspect
that study habits and attentiveness in class are the key.
Now, the easy solution would be for me to lower the standards I've set.
To some degree, I'm doing that, by allowing kids to remediate their scores. I
could accept that grammar is more challenging to today's students,
and as many have, remove or reduce it. This seems irresponsible, and
ultimately dangerous from the perspective of school and student performance.
We've reached a crossroads, of sorts. Students seem to be spending a
lot of time studying, without making much progress. Therefore, if parent
accounts are to be understood, we must determine the cause of student success
or failure.
If your child is succeeding, I'd love to hear how they go about
studying, and conversely, if they are struggling, I'd love to hear specific
difficulties. Please take some time to share your perspective, either way, by
logging into my blog on the class website. Let's become a more supportive,
successful community by compiling the information we have.
Sincerely, Mr. Amos
Monday: Students will identify the complete and simple subject in 10 provided
sentences (Warriner's, p. 8) . Qualified students will complete "Diagramming
the Subject and Verb," Warriner's, p. 22-24. Then, students will cover the
next section of Beowulf.
Homework: Students will complete Exercise 5, #1-20.
Tuesday: Students will work on "Commonsense" Contexts, #1-20 (odd numbers).
Then, we'll grade grammar assignment, and go on to the next section of Beowulf.
Homework: None
