 In our first week together, we collaborated to create our shared expectations of what GRIT looks like in our classroom. That list of expectations is posted at the front of our classroom, and each student initialed that contract. Throughout our time together, it is important to revisit those expectations and recommit to them.
Specifically, in the week ahead we will be revisiting what our classroom expectations are for the beginning of our class time. These are the behaviors that we agreed help our classroom run smoothly and fairly. Classroom Expectations: Beginning our Class Growth:
Simply stated: If what you are doing interferes with your learning or someone else's, hurts someone’s heart, or prevents you from being your best self - you shouldn’t be doing it. Let's start our semester off strong by working toward getting the most out of our learning time together. This week we will focus on the behavior expectations for the opening of our class time.
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 Hard to believe just how quickly our summer months flew by! Hopefully your summer was filled with adventures and relaxation. I know that I enjoyed some time away to spend with my own family. I had opportunities this summer to travel to Wisconsin and Oklahoma to visit with my extended family. I also enjoyed a trip to the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City in early July, and also participated in a professional development opportunity with local teachers in August. And of course, I got a TON of reading done this summer which I am excited to share with our incoming sophomore students. As we begin our new year together, I wanted to give both students and parents a peek at what to expect from our 10th grade American Literature course. First, you will find a great deal of information about our class posted to this site. Clicking on the "Class Links" menu option above will show you our daily agenda slides with links to all our daily class activities and homework for both our Honors American Literature (HAmLit) course and our Composition through American Literature (CTAL 10) course. You will also find copies of the syllabi outlining units, expectations, and grading policies for both courses on the "Class Links" page. The successful American literature student will demonstrate a willingness to persevere in the face of initial difficulties and will develop the ability to work through the following steps more or less independently:
As the American writer David Carr once wrote, “In order to have a chance at making great work, you have to consume remarkable work.” In other words, students should plan on reading frequently in this class! However, the GHS English Department values the idea that students need to be able to choose some of what they read in a course. We also value volume, variety, diversity, and text complexity in this particular course as well. This can all be accomplished with independent choice reading. Students will have time in class each week to read a novel of their choice. But life-long reading habits are not just built in the classroom. Students need to be reading outside of school as well. The expectation is that students will read at least two hours outside of class each week. If we break that into manageable chunks, it comes out to about 20 minutes of reading, six days a week. We will track our reading progress, share our choice novels through book talks and class discussions, and at the close of each semester, students will complete a reading reflection which will address the accountability factor of your independent reading. A student’s independent reading will also be assessed each semester through their semester exam. Speaking of assessments, it is important to know how students in our class will be graded. Our coursework is broken into formative and summative assignments. Formative assignments are those activities designed to help students improve and practice essential skills. Summative assessments are those end-of-unit writing assignments and tests designed to measure student achievement and skills level. Per our GHS handbook, students must successfully pass all required summative writing assessments in order to earn credit for this class. Late work for a unit will NOT be accepted for a grade once the summative assessment for that unit is due.
It's going to be a great year studying American literature together! I'm excited to jump into our studies together. See you soon! Ms. Ward   We're just about to kick off our new semester, and with the start of a new set of classes, we will also start a new unit. At the start of January, our 10th grade English classes will be reading and reflecting on Lorraine Hansberry's play titled A Raisin in the Sun. And, as luck would have it, the play is also on stage while we will be reading it!
A Raisin in the Sun will be on stage at the Kalamazoo Civic Auditorium from January 13th - 22nd. Great seats are still available and can be purchased here (there is also a small fee for 100% refundable tickets). If you are interested in joining the Ward family, we have tickets for the show on Sunday, January 15th at 2pm. SHOW DATES:
VENUE: Civic Auditorium, 329 S Park Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49007 SEATING AND TICKETS All performances in the Civic Auditorium feature reserved seating. Doors open 30 minutes prior to each performance. Purchase your tickets by clicking HERE.  It's week 4 - our first full week!
Our first unit in both the honors American Literature (HAmLit) course as well as the Composition through American Literature course (CTAL 10) focuses on what it means to be American. Students are reading a novel of their choice from an American author which will serve as a mentor text during this unit. We will examine what we learn from this writer about the values, beliefs, and perspectives on the American identity. Additionally, we have been exploring excerpts from a wide variety of American voices - foundational texts as well as contemporary voices, poets and journalists, women and men, colonial writers and immigrant voices. This week we will add our reflections on these readings to our Unit 1 Note Catcher in order to prepare us for the essay we will write at the close of this first unit. Over the course of this unit, students are asked to develop their own definition of what it means to be American based on their readings from a wide variety of American voices. We will also be revisiting our learning and behavior contract for our class - our GRIT matrix. Last week we spent some time reflecting on our progress as readers. We used our writer's notebook to establish some goals and strategies to help us recognize our Growth as readers. This week we will revisit our goals for Respect. What does respect look like in our classroom? We spent time as a class during our first week together coming up with the habits and routines that demonstrate respect. In order to ensure that we are using our time to the fullest, this means being in your seat when the bell rings with our weekly wordplay handout on your desk, making sure phones and earbuds are away before class begins, and making sure that we are listening to one another, responding at appropriate times using appropriate language. We'll spend time reviewing our daily and weekly routines this week and talk more about what respect looks like in our daily classroom space. At the close of our week, weather permitting, we'll head outside for our reading day and to do some tie-dying in preparation for Homecoming Spirit Days the week of September 20th-24th. I'm looking forward to our first full week together!
Today was our first full day of classes, and later this evening our parents will join us for our Back to School Night at the high school. We're starting off strong!
For those of you planning to join us for this evening's Back to School open house, here is our schedule for the evening: 6:30 p.m. Doors Open at the Auditorium entrance 7:00-7:15 p.m. 1st hour (w/ brief welcome video from Adam Lancto) 7:20-7:30 p.m. 2nd hour 7:35-7:45 p.m. 3rd hour 7:50-8:00 p.m. Seminar 8:05-8:15 p.m. 4th hour 8:20-8:30 p.m. 5th hour 8:35-8:45 p.m. 6th hour I'm looking forward to meeting the families of our Honors American Literature (HAmLit) and Composition Through American Literature (CTAL 10) students! 
It is hard to believe that we are already five weeks into our school year. This is definitely a year that we won't soon forget! We had a few little hiccups as we kicked off our year with both in-person and virtual learners joining in our classes at the same time, but in the last few weeks, we have made some adjustments, tried new tools, and even managed to have a bit of fun along the way! Let me share just a few of the highlights from this past month of learning.
In our second week of class, my ninth grade Composition Through Literature students had the opportunity to chat virtually with author Tiffany Schmidt. We had just read the opening to her crime novel titled Hold Me Like a Breath, so students got to ask Mrs. Schmidt about her inspiration, her writing process, and all about the publication process. Mrs. Schmidt shared some great advice with us about how to develop the specific details of scenes, something that we will be able to incorporate into our own writing in the coming week as we start to work on our personal narrative essays. 
Last week, students in both our Independent Novel Studies and ninth grade English classes had another opportunity to hear from virtual presenters. Katie Lawrence and Christine Hekman from the Grandville Kent District Library branch joined us in our classes to share some of the resources that our community library has to offer. They also book talked a ton of great new books for us as well. We heard about new murder mystery novels, poetry books, graphic novels, and so much more. My list of books to read grew exponentially! And speaking of books, check out the books that our Independent Novel Studies students have been sharing in class over the past month!
Are you looking for a good book to get lost in? Students in my Independent Novel Studies class can help!
During our first unit of the semester, we have been exploring the variety of genres available to readers. In order to learn more about the diversity of books out there, students have been sharing book talks each morning. We have compiled our talks into the slide show below in order to share with you just some of what we've been reading. As we book talk more novels, we'll add more slides. So check it out! Let us help you find a good book to read!
Happy Spring Break! It's our Week 4 check-in!
I'm beginning to feel a little repetitive, but as you know, things have changed again! This time, however, it feels like we have a better understanding of where we're headed for the remainder of our school year. As you know, last week Governor Whitmer closed all Michigan schools for the remainder of the school year. Parents and students received an email from both Mr. Bearup and our principal Mr. Lancto with some updates. You'll find all the updates and information posted on the Grandville Public School website at https://www.gpsbulldogs.org/apps/pages/coronavirus. This week is our spring break, but next week begins our learning at home! Your teachers have been working hard the past few weeks to put together a plan that supports your learning in your different courses and gives you opportunities to connect and learn virtually with your classmates. In fact, if you didn't complete last week's Google form Week 3 check-in, please do so. It will help me figure out the best way to stay in touch with you in the coming weeks.
WHAT SHOULD I READ?
POETRY MONTH Check out some of the poetry resources and activities I compiled for you to connect with poets during April's National Poetry Month. There will be no virtual check-in this week, but if you need anything, don't hesitate to email me. We'll talk soon! Stay safe and stay in touch! Ms. Ward
Well, we are into our third week of learning from home. I hope that you have found a good book to get lost in and have taken this opportunity to learn something new! Since last week, there have been some changes in how our learning at home will work in the coming weeks, so be sure to keep reading. Just like last week, I will post a link for our virtual meet up on Wednesday, April 1st (no joke!) to our Google Classroom page if you are interested in chatting with your classmates.
INDEPENDENT READING: If you are looking for something new to read, check out this list of recommended books from Katie and Christine at Grandville's Kent District Library branch - http://bit.ly/KDLbooks. All of these books and more can be accessed through https://www.kdl.org/downloads. APRIL IS POETRY MONTH: For those of you that are interested, I'll be posting some optional poetry readings, performances, and writing prompts to our daily agenda slides to inspire you throughout the month of April. LEARNING: As you read in the email that you received from Mr. Lancto on Monday, there have been some recent changes with our online learning (https://bit.ly/GHSupdates). Teachers are now able to provide feedback on work that was done prior to the break, and students are able to make up any outstanding work! This week you will notice that I am adding feedback to your writing pieces turned in prior to our break and adding in grades to our Infinite Campus gradebook. For those students that are missing or need to make-up work that was to be completed prior to our break, I will also be emailing individual students about options for turning in those assignments. As things are changing quickly, it is important that you login to your email and Google Classroom spaces regularly. The link to the optional learning opportunities can be found at https://bit.ly/GHSoptional. I have also posted some optional reading and writing prompts to our daily agenda found on our Google Classroom space. I miss you! I hope that you are able to join us on Wednesday for our virtual check-in. I miss seeing your faces each day. Know that I am thinking of you. Stay safe and stay in touch, Ms. Ward
I hope that you are doing well and feeling healthy in the wake of all that has been happening. I would love to hear more about what you've been up to this past week! You'll find a link to connect virtually posted to our Google Classroom page if you are interested.
VIRTUAL SPIRIT DAY: This Friday, March 27th, we're putting on a virtual spirit day! Snap a pic or short video (10 seconds or less) of you in your favorite Grandville gear and either post it to our Google Classroom site or email it to me. I'm going to compile all the photos into a video which I'll send out at 3pm this Friday! Feel free to share your pride on social media on Friday using #GrandvillePride. LEARNING: As you may have read in the recent email that you received from Mr. Bearup and Mr. Lancto, there's a great deal of optional learning that you can do during our time away from the classroom, but your teachers are not able at this time to assign any additional work, post grades, or provide feedback on any work that was done prior to the break. This is an effort to make sure that all students have equal opportunity to learn the required material for our class. When we return to the classroom following this break, we can discuss ways to make-up missed work and continue with work we have done in our current unit. However, for right now, take care of yourself, check in with family and friends, and take this opportunity to learn something new that you've always wanted to learn. The link to the optional learning opportunities can be found at https://bit.ly/GHSoptional. I miss our class and our cheesy videos. I miss our low-highs. I miss our jokes and our general goofiness. I miss seeing your faces each day. I miss you. Know that I am thinking of you and am looking forward to seeing you all soon. Take care, Ms. Ward |
Author
Ms. Jen WardAn interest in helping young people discover and define their writing voice and reading interests drives Ms. Jennifer Ward to cultivate a student-centered learning environment, one that supports individual learning goals and incorporates purposeful use of technology. In March 2017, Ms. Ward was named teacher of the month by Michigan's 86th district state representative, Thomas Albert. In March 2016, she was named a TED-Ed Innovative Educator and is also a Google Certified Innovator, National Writing Project Consultant, and a 2014 PASCD Emerging Leader. Ms. Ward taught for 13 years in a Philadelphia suburban district and returned to her home state in 2015. In 2017, she joined the Grandville High School bulldogs! Archives
September 2023
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