September+2009

September 2009 Meeting

I would like to hold some of this month's meeting virtually, i.e. on this web page. With that said...


 * 1) Next physical department meeting: Monday, Sept. 28, 2009, 3:00 pm
 * 2) I have posted two discussion items above (CLICK on the DISCUSSION tab) on the topic of **starting a 9th grade Honors** class. Click on the discussion tab, and select the discussion topic (SUBJECT) you would like to share your thoughts on. I need you to respond before the physical department meeting on 9/24. You must be a member of the wiki to post; if you aren't, request membership and I will grant it.
 * 3) It is already time to be thinking about revisions and changes to the Course Selection Manuel for 2010-11.
 * The course selection manuel can be downloaded here:[[file:COURSE SELECTION BOOKLET 09-10 to board.doc]]
 * Here are the circumstances under which courses can be added: "The course being added is coming from a department that is in the midst of the second year of re-write and the new course is part of that re-write, or the course proposed is one that had been considered the previous year for possible inclusion by the course selection manual team (two principals, Director of Secondary Education, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction). The mini-curriculum committee for the department that is recommending the course needs to have seen and approved of the course before final submission.*"
 * So, by the way I read the above, we could technically put in the same proposals we did a year ago for another consideration. Does anyone want to pursue that course of action? See me if you would like to do so (preferably by 9/18 since I have to coordinate with both Alison at RL and the mini-curriculum chair on all proposals).
 * Note: I have proposals on file for the following courses: Biblical Lit, leveling Comp & Comm, English 10/Comp&Comm Combined, and Shakespeare.

At the physical department meeting, the idea of sharing an instructional strategy that has worked for you was introduced.
 * Scott kicked things off by demonstrating Wordle, a website that takes any text that can be copied and pasted and makes a word collage from the result. The larger the word, the more frequently it is used. Can be used for identifying main ideas. Words can also be removed from the collage, and then the college "reformulates" to reflect the words that are now high frequency. Used for excavating down to other significant ideas of a text.
 * Missy shared an activity she uses to kick off the research paper process in Comp & Comm. Missy divides her class in two groups and they debate a topic such as school uniforms from both sides of the issue. The first time through the process, the students can use only what they know / have inside their heads. Everyone must say something, and everyone must say something different. The next block, the activity is repeated, but the students have a small amount of research time to find evidence to support their side. The debate repeats, this time moving much more quickly. The kids //get// what the research paper is all about.