|
March 13, 2002
Our Saturday, March 2 Workshop focused on Responding to Student Writing. Our main guest speaker, Lyn Motai, talked about responding to content, and SFSU faculty addressed marking, self-monitoring and responding to grammar.
The workshop was well attended and the teachers appreciated going back to their classes with practical suggestions and materials. Here are further reports on our High School activities.
Phillip and Sala Burton
Lars Carlson and Jessica Bruner are currently collaborating with me on writing new curriculum for Burton’s Advanced Composition course. We are adding a unit on cultural issues in which the students will be reading from several sources and then writing a response essay in which they choose provocative ideas and respond with their own points of view. They will also be doing a cultural exploration project.
In Leona Mason’s Cultural America class, students just completed writing essays about Latin American immigration, and they are currently working on original acts à la Teatro Campesino (the farm workers political street theater).
Balboa
Kevin is doing paragraph development with Melinda’s class. Students did great on creating topic sentences and did an example of analysis. He is embarking on a form of the Advertising Essay in Darrick’s class and will be helping Shaun Bond’s class as they begin their last research essay before they graduate in June.
Westmoor
At Westmoor, Michael Kramer’s class has just finished a unit on violence in television that we created together. It was a chance for them to practice writing on a non-fiction topic. Included among the skills we worked on in class during this unit were separating facts from arguments and opinions in the readings, organizing paragraphs according to the TEA lesson that Kevin presented in a workshop last semester, and the biggest challenge, writing a rebuttal paragraph with a concession word in the topic sentence.
When grading the papers, Michael and I discussed the issues that had been presented in the last workshop, and he used a grading sheet for the first time with his class, which he found very helpful.
In Vicky’s class, I recently taught a lesson on Christiansen paragraphing. She and I are currently helping students during English class time with a research paper that they are working on for their History course. And in Jeff Weather’s class students are reading Their Eyes Were Watching God. We’ve been meeting to discuss ways of making sure students are reading, and making in-class work on the novel both fun and productive. I will soon be demonstrating for him how I conduct small group discussions when teaching literature.
Lincoln
Esther did a workshop for the World History class this week on how and why students need to pre-read. She also talked about how pre-reading helps to identify main points, and how this is important when they need to decide on what to focus on and study for their weekly quizzes. Esther gave a mini workshop in Connie’s class on how memory and the learning process work. In Reid’s class, the students are getting started on the ‘No Addiction Campaign Essay Contest,’ and did some pre-writing with the students. Next week the students will come in with drafts of their papers and Esther will take the class through the revision process.
Mathematics
Washington, Westmoor and McAteer
The MAP Workbook has been adopted as the textbook in math class at Washington High School. The students and teacher find it appropriate, stimulating and fun.
Current topics covered in the MAP program include Topic 12 Linear Regression (Do heavier cars use more gasoline?), Topic 13 Perimeter and Area, and Topic 14 Surface Area and Volume. These geometry lessons lead up to Topic 15 Soda Can Geometry where students can apply their knowledge to a practical problem of minimizing cost in making aluminum cans. Graphing calculator use is being taught as a tool to help solve these problems. The math faculty welcomes our help and supports the MAP program by bringing snacks for their students, providing classrooms to teach in, giving credits for students attending and using the mock ELM to help focus instruction.
General CAPI News
THE CAPI/CPDI Reading Institute proposed by the CSU was on the agenda for the faculty meeting at Washington High School March 13. A brief introduction about CAPI at Washington and flyers about the institute were given out.
Meetings with other staff and principals are scheduled. Kathy Munderloh, Stephen Fredericks and Sophia Ramirez will go to a meeting in Los Angeles March 19 to discuss the Mathematics part of CAPI. the language is changing from ‘remediation’ to ‘proficiency.’
High schools are preparing to accept the students from McAteer, which will be closing in the fall of 2002. CAPI currently has an active MAP program at McAteer and we know the students will take the math skills they have learned from the CAPI program to their new schools.
The CAPI program is becoming better known. The School Board in Sacramento called for an interview and it will be published. Westmoor includes CAPI in its principals letter, and our site teachers are being asked to do in-service presentations to the whole faculty.
Sincerely,
Kathy Munderloh
kkpm@sfsu.edu
|
