The Final Post

Dear parents & students,

The academic year is definitely in its home stretch. If you’re here because you’re currently looking for P.E. ideas/workouts, I’ve just posted this week’s lesson plan. If you’re receiving this update because you didn’t unsubscribe from Intro to Shakespeare or CP Writing updates, then I’ll give you a quick update as well.

My two academic classes are wrapping up on our Google Classroom sites. We’ve reached Act 5 and the final assignment in Romeo & Juliet. Students are creating prompt books for a scene of their choice. That means they are editing and blocking scripts, completing character reports, and designing scenery and costumes. This is a two-week assignment and is due next Monday. We have a Zoom meeting scheduled for tomorrow at 1:15 for students who have questions about this assignment.

CP Writing students should have written a timed essay in response to their choice of writing prompts, or, if your child is a procrastinator, you know what she/he will be doing late tonight. The purpose of this essay is to simulate a standardized essay question or a college short answer/exam question. I also assembled a reading packet of basic resume information this week. Tomorrow when we meet by Zoom at 2:30, I’ll explain the final writing assignment for this class. It’s also due on Monday, May 18.

The ACTS Co-op year ends on May 18. My goal is to finish grading by the end of the week and send out final grade reports. By the way, your child can easily access his/her course grade at any time just by logging into Google Classroom. I uploaded first semester and third quarter grades last month.

If you need to get in touch with me, please do so. Thank you for letting me partner with you this past year,

Laura Ford

Course updates, COVID 19 edition

If you are expecting an update for CP Writing or Intro to Shakespeare, you won’t find one here. All course materials, instructions, and correspondence has been moved to Google Classroom. Through the end of the 2019-20 academic year, I fully expect to conduct both of my academic classes via Google Classroom.

What am I doing with this site then? Strangely enough and contrary to the site name, I’m moving my two Girls’ PE classes here. I think that weekly workouts will be easier post via blog than email.

Check out the page for Girls’ PE if you want to join us. No, it’s not the same as a group PE class, but at least you don’t have to show up in dress code.

Take a break from reading this and writing that for a bit. Get moving, ladies!

Time for another update

Dear parents & students,

February is fast coming to a close. Eek! That means it’s time for me to update everyone on what we’re doing and where we’re going as we head into spring.

In Intro to Shakespeare, we have just begun our fourth play and our first tragedy. Macbeth is a perennial favorite because 1) it’s shorter than other plays, 2) the plot is unbelievably fascinating, and 3) the language is compelling. If you think you know little or nothing about Shakespeare, you probably are familiar with famous lines from Macbeth:

• Weird sisters: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
• Weird sister #2: “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
• Macbeth: “It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
• Lady Macbeth: “Out, damned spot out, I say!”
• Macduff: “What… in one fell swoop?”

In addition to completing a word study and participating in classroom activities, students will prepare a dramatic reading for the final project. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.

Lastly, I distributed video permission slips yesterday to students who will be attending the April 1 performance of Henry IV, Part 1 at Blackfriars. The theater company needs this form completed and signed in order to admit students. There are instructions to opt out, and I need all forms returned to me next week, March 2.

In writing news, we have begun the research process. Yesterday was the first checkpoint for students. If your student was present, I checked for three source cards and 30 note cards. Let me again reiterate that if your student is absent, the research project deadlines still apply. Because this is an ongoing two-month assignment and because I am purposely not assigning other work, it is not okay to ask for–or assume–delayed due dates.

Next week I need all CPW students to bring in source source cards–formatted in MLA style–and 60 note cards. If you were short on sources or notes yesterday or if you were absent and did not email me, this is your one week of grace: I will retroactively give a grade for yesterday’s assignment when I see all 60+6 cards. Please understand that if you do not bring me physical cards, I can’t give you a grade–no matter how amazing a person you are.

Yesterday students turned in their second set of dialectical journals. I have not begun grading them, but I do know that not everyone submitted this assignment. Again, let me say that dialectical journals are an ongoing assignment; no one should spend more than 30 minutes a week reading and responding to the assigned topic. At a couple of points during the research project, I will assign specific journal prompts; however, it will not be a regular, weekly assignment.

Finally, dear writing students, let me encourage you to use the research packet that I lovingly wrote, copied, and collated for you. There is a wealth of helpful information contained within your packets. Let me also encourage you to use https://www.noodletools.com/free/  to format your source cards and, ultimately, your works cited pages.

Fondly,

Mrs. Ford

Progress reports!

Yes, it’s the halfway point of our co-op year, and I sent home grade reports for the first semester of Intro to Shakespeare and College Prep Writing. Parents, you know this because your students happily turned over those reports or stuck them on the refrigerator for everyone to see. Of course.

If this wasn’t your experience yesterday, please ask to see the progress report. Or send me an email.

Concerning other areas, CPW students will be starting a research project in February. All due dates, requirements, and point values will be announced far in advance. Teaching the research process is something that I enjoy, and students who complete all parts of the process should see positive grades.

Shakespeare students are halfway through Henry IV, Part 1, and I have paid our deposit for the March 18 matinee of Henry IV, Part 2. I will send payment details in an upcoming email. In February we will move on to tragedies, beginning with Macbeth. Please make sure you have purchased the Folger edition of this play.

I will post individual course updates later this evening.

A small Grinch-y request

Dear students:

I am happy to accept electronic submissions from you. Unfortunately, I do not read and/or grade your work on my iPhone; therefore, please do not send me screen shots. More specifically, I am happy to read writing assignments that are formatted in either MS Word or Google Docs. That’s it though. Please choose one of those two options. If you are able to scan a document or if you can convert a file, please select PDF format. Again, this is the part where I am asking you not to take a picture with your phone’s camera. My eyes have reached middle age, so please be kind to them.

Happy writing!

Mrs. Ford

December break, end of semester, etc.

Hi all.

I’m grading papers today, and I wanted to formally notify everyone that next Monday is the deadline to turn in late assignments. In CP Writing, a number of students did not submit the grammar homework on dangling and misplaced modifiers, and a couple of students are still finishing their dialectical journal entries. Please know that unless we have corresponded about special circumstances–such as illness or scheduled travel–all assignments are due on Monday, December 9.

Accordingly, students in both classes should be completing homework assignments for next Monday. In Intro to Shakespeare, students are writing their final Contemplation Question response–phew!–and completing the Acts 3-5 test for Twelfth Night. We will begin Henry IV, Part 1 in class, but there is no scheduled reading assignment this week.

In CP Writing, students are working through a packet on President Kennedy’s inaugural address. This week’s lesson centers on parallelism as an additional rhetorical technique that writers/speakers sometimes use. Students should also complete Grammar Evaluation #2.

ACTS will not meet for three weeks, and I am not assigning homework over Christmas and New Year’s weeks; however, I will be sending home course work that students will need to complete before we return in January 2020. Please look at your vacation schedules and decide when and how you should complete this work. Shakespeare students will be reading the Act 1 of Henry IV, Part 1 and keeping a reading log. CP Writing students will be reading Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech and will be drafting part of a rhetorical analysis essay; they will also be adding to their dialectical journals.

After the first eight weeks of class, I sent home grade reports with students. Towards the end of January, I will send home first semester grades.

On a very final note, no student informed me that s/he would be missing class for the Holiday Bazaar–I think that’s the correct name–next week, and I do intend to teach full lessons on Monday. If your student is a creative entrepreneur with plans to sell his/her wares, please make every effort to attend class. Additionally, if your student is absent for any reason, please make arrangements to submit assignments and pick up hard copies of handouts.

And I think that’s enough for now! I look forward to seeing everyone soon, and I know we’re all looking forward to a pause in our schedules to celebrate a gift far more precious than the writing left behind by Shakespeare, Kennedy, or King–

Laura Ford

A note to CP Writing parents & students

(If you’re taking Introduction to Shakespeare’s Plays, you can also glean some helpful information and are welcome to read along, too.)

Dear parents & students,

I’m pleased that many students are showing independence and responsibility by contacting me outside of class to submit papers and assignments, to ask clarifying questions, or to notify me of upcoming absences. These are all signs of maturity, and I love it when the students contact me themselves; that means I don’t have to know what sort of coaching is going on behind the scenes at home.

That being said, it’s always a good idea to double check with me in class if you (think that you) emailed me a copy of your essay because you had a printer malfunction. If you miss a class or know that you will be absent, please send a quick note to either verify that you’ve read the website or to indicate that you need more information.

We have finished our unit on narrative essays and are now moving at a brisker pace as we juggle grammar, reading, writing, and rhetoric. This pace will continue until we reach the research portion of the course next semester. Therefore, if you plan to be absent, I usually need an extra day to gather your upcoming assignments if you would like them in advance. Otherwise, I do expect students to check the website and complete assignments on time.

Next week is our eighth class meeting and marks the (unofficial) end of our first quarter. I will have cumulative grades ready to share with students in two weeks.

Happy fall to all,

Laura Ford

 

A quick reminder…

Hello busy parents & students,

We are almost one month into this academic year, and we have hit our pace in both Intro to Shakespeare and CP Writing. I’d like to highlight two or three items:

1. Shakespeare students should have begun memorizing Titania’s speech to Oberon (MSND 2.1.125-142). We will hold a recitation in class on October 7.
2. Writing students are in the process of drafting two essays: a personal narrative and a college application essay. Personal narrative drafts were due this past Monday, and college essay drafts are due next Monday. Final narratives are due at the beginning of class on October 7, and final college apps are due at the beginning of class on October 14.
3. I do not accept assignments that are more than one week late unless the student has extenuating circumstances and has communicated with me.

In both classes, the majority of students show evidence of having completed assigned reading at home, and we’ve had enjoyable discussions. The Shakespeare group is a bit silly, but the goal of this course is to enjoy and understand Shakespeare’s plays. In CP Writing, there is a large number of large bodies packed into a not-so-large classroom. I appreciate your students’ cooperation during class.

On a final note, if you need to submit an assignment electronically, you may do so by attaching a Word document to email. My address is on the course description handout and in the ACTS roster. You may also share a Google Doc with me through Google Drive.

Happy Fall,

Laura Ford

 

September Start

Good morning, parents and students.

Yesterday was a successful start to the ACTS academic year. Fourth period students were cooperative and engaged, and everyone participated as we tackled a ridiculous scene from Act 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In fifth period, we read and discussed two short narratives by well-known American authors.

I’ve posted updates to both course pages. Please note that the only time you will receive an email is when I write a new post on the main page. When I update the Shakespeare and CP Writing pages, you won’t receive a notice in your inbox. Please cultivate the habit of checking the appropriate course page each week.

Because there was a handful of absences and a few parents reported that their textbooks hadn’t arrived on time, I am including more links than usual. Typically if I give students a hard copy, I won’t re-post it online. For this week, I have posted handouts in both classes and links to reading assignments for College Prep Writing students.

If you need any help or clarification, please contact me.

 

 

A few words on summer…

Sonnet 18

By William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.