Mrs. Simmons' Space

 

Poetry test will be on Thursday, June 5th.

 

The test on Unit 4 will be on Monday, June 2nd.

 

The test on the Financial Life Skills unit will be on Tuesday June 3rd.

 

I have scheduled the mock job interviews to complete the second major project for Tuesday, May 13th. Students are reminded to dress appropriately for the interview as they will be marked on how they conduct themselves throughout the entire process.

 

The test on The Giver will be Tuesday, May 13th. Also, students were assigned attribute webs on Jonas and Jonas' community which are to be completed for Thursday, May 15th.

 

I have started the career decision making unit with the class using the system presented in the popular book What Color is Your Parachute for Teens. I have also distributed the major assignments for this course.  The first, due May 23rd will consist of all of the activities involved in the Parachute unit, which we will be working through in class. Students should be sure to do these things as they are assigned to prevent last minute completion. The second assignment, due on June 6th, is a career research assignment in which students are to select an occupation they find interesting and write a paper about the duties, educational requirements, etc of that job. They are also to interview a person in that occupation and pass in a transcription of the interview along with their assignment. Guidelines for this will be carefully reviewed in class. Students have been given a detailed overview of these assignments.

 

We are progressing nicely through the novel, The Giver and this week we will be working through the remainder of the chapter questions (chapters 19-23). I handed out the essay topics for the novel last week. There is a choice of 4 topics and it is due on May 26th.

 

Over the last couple of weeks, I have assigned a number of shorter homework assignments which I will take in and check on a regular basis without prior notice. These include employability skills, communication skills, diversity, and working safely. Students are urged to complete these quickly in the event that I take in homework unannounced.

 

We have been working on the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry for the last week and we are now on Chapter 7. I expect the novel will take approx a month to complete and that we will average one chapter per day. So there will be chapter questions to do every day. Unless students finish their questions in class, there will always be homework to do.

 

Just an update on what is happening in senior high Ethics. Since second semester began, we have covered Captial Punishment, Euthanasia, and are currently in the middle of the Abortion issue. As usual, students have readings and questions due nearly every class on the issues being covered and, just a reminder that the second major assignment is due on Friday, April 11th. Oral presentations are scheduled for May 27th and May 30th (if required). Be prepared for May 27th as I will call groups randomly.

 

This week we are finishing the unit on Short Stories/Essays/Biography with a selection from The Story Of My Life by Helen Keller. We will be working on this for a couple of classes and then I will move on to the novel. There will be a test on the Short Stories unit on Monday, April 7th. Students will have to read an unseen selection and respond to questions which will require them to demonstrate a knowledge of the literary concepts they have learned so far this semester.

 

I am finishing the unit on Peer Pressure, Assertiveness, and Drug Addiction this week and will be testing it on Friday, April 11th.

 

The next Planning 10 test is in one week (Monday, April 7th). I will be reviewing for the test today and tomorrow but will be moving on to the next section tomorrow as well. I have also assigned homework on the Employability Skills chart and exercises on Pages 178-180 in the textbook, whcih is due on Monday, April 14th. The second major assignment (the job application) is due on April 30th.

 

We are currently working on some short biographical selections and this week students have questions on "By Any Other Name" and "Rosa Parks". They will be given a selection on Florence Nightengale to work on over Spring Break. I have also given out the topics for the first major assignment, which is due on April 11th.

 

We have moved on to resumes and covering letters now and the next homework is not due until after Spring Break (March 31st). Students are to choose from a sample selection of job ads and write a covering letter for that job. Also a reminder that the occupational research assignment is also due on March 31st.