November-December+2009

toc =November/December 2009 Department Meeting=

Informational Items

 * I came across this short article on plagiarism. This link will take you to it: [|Click here]. Could this be something we give a try in Comp & Comm?
 * Julie attended NCTE in November and saw this video she thought we should all see on [|Copywrite / User's Rights]
 * Exams (Any deviations from this need to be approved by the office. Please work with me on this, so I can assist.)
 * January 14, Blocks 2 & 4
 * January 15, Blocks 1 & 3
 * Books - Lost & Found: Please use the **Text Book** link at the left to report books that students turn in that were not signed out to them; as well, use that link to see if your student's lost book has been found
 * End of semester survey: There will be some sort of survey to assess how the learning maps worked for the semester. It is part of our assessment and revision process. Please be specific and concrete, so meaningful changes can be made.

Shared Instructional Strategies

 * George shared 5 minute writing approach. "The more the kids do, the less you do." The kids write whenever they are doing literature and do so for 5 minutes at the start of the block. It kick starts the class. They can answer if they have done homework. It is geared to the level of the kid. Randomly collect work from the kids so he never takes a paper from each and every kid. Grades on a scale of S, S+, S- or 0. S = expected response; S+ = above expected; S- = below expected or didn't seem to read; 0 = didn't do it. Hard to get an S+. (Lost the part about how this converts to numerical grade.) Does promote doing homework.
 * Ann shared a unit she had created in Moodle. She talked about how she could upload documents, links, etc. to sort of go paperless. She collected a lot of background information to get the kids thinking about the period/unit. Also supplied vocabulary and other documents. Lots of pain upfront but then it is there. She also talked about a Visual Essay assignment that was part of the unit, combing pictures, quotes, and personal connections to the topic. Showed the publishing aspect of things at the end.