Due Dates, Grading and Late Work

My Most Excellent Students,

Hope you are all feeling healthy, staying safe, and enjoying the sunshine when it's out.

As I previously stated, I want you to be able to work at your own pace on ELA during the week.

You can submit it as you go, or turn it all in to Turnitin.com before Monday at 8 AM.

I'll be checking your submissions to Turnitin.com later on Monday morning.

If you missed the deadline, that's okay. Don't worry: just try to get it in when you can. No stress.

BUT PLEASE give me a heads' up if you submitted any work after the normal Monday morning deadlines from the previous week's assignments.

That way I can check it on Turnitin.com and give you credit for your work on Powerschool.

Best,
JChapps

A Letter to Parents

Hello Parents,

As I’m sure that most of you have already heard, Birmingham launched its remote learning program yesterday morning.  I’ve taken steps to continue the strong work that we’ve established the first three quarters of the year, and have attempted to adapt as many elements of our regular classroom experience to remain the same as much as possible. Here is an overview of what to expect from your child’s English, Language Arts class as we transition to online.

TIMELINE
Every Monday morning, five short assignments will be posted on our Google Classroom. The assignments will be due the following Monday, allowing students to work flexibly.  Some students may opt to get them all done at once, while others may choose to break them up over several days.  Grading will be based upon participation and completion.

CURRICULUM
Each lesson should last no more than thirty minutes. These lessons will typically include:

SENTENCE COMPOSING 
Two lessons on sentence construction, grammar, mechanics, usage, spelling, punctuation, literacy, and short burst creative narrative writing – whew! -- that we call “Sentence Composing.”  Adapted from the groundbreaking work of Lucy Calkins and Don Killgallon, they will copy a mentor sentence into their Google Doc “Sentence Composing Journals,” study, edit, and analyze the structure of the sentence, and compose an original sentence that follows the pattern.  These have formed the heart of our class and our students have dramatically improved their writing as a result of our daily practice.

MINDFUL READING
One lesson that is essentially an independent choice novel reading activity, called “Mindful Reading.”  They will read for thirty minutes with a guided activity to help develop their metacognition, or “thinking about thinking,” and self-regulation, or the ability to monitor and adjust their own focus and attention spans.  Your child may use either a digital novel accessed during this week’s lesson, or use a physical novel that they already have at home.

HMH WORKBOOKS
Two lessons culled from our HMH workbooks (the “Performance Assessment” and the “Close Reader”).  Many students have already brought copies of these disposable workbooks home, but digital scans will be incorporated into the lessons for students who were unable to retrieve them on such short notice.  We will be doing a short research project as well as reading a selection from The Diary of Anne Frank.

SUBMISSION
Students will turn in most of their work through Turnitin.com as they had already been doing throughout the year.  As I become more familiar with the online app, we will also be using Flipgrid, where students will take short videos of themselves sharing their work or thoughts with the class.  If you are uncomfortable with them using Flipgrid, please let me know and we’ll find another way for them to participate.

SUPPORT
I will be checking my school email frequently throughout the work week.  Also, students are invited to join me on Wednesdays between 10:15 and 11:15 AM for a question and answer ZOOM meeting.  This meeting is optional and there specifically to support student learning.

CONTACT
The best way to reach me is through email at jchappell@birmingham.k12.mi.us. I typically respond within 24 business hours.

Thank you for your patience, and I hope you and your family are all safe and healthy as we go through difficult time together. 

I miss seeing your kids every day in our classroom, and I am honored to have this opportunity to once again serve them as they round third base and head towards high school.

Best Always,
Jonathan Chappell

Optional Zoom Meeting Scheduled for Today!

PURPOSE
Our new, regularly scheduled Zoom meeting is to provide students with support for learning. Please bring your questions.  If you want to pop in just to say "hi," that's great!  But the primary purpose is not social or for being silly. 

You all need to know that I'm here for you, I care, and I'm committed to making the best of the rest of our year together.  Let's get this started!

EXPECTATIONS
Participants must be visible to the host and have a recognizable name (no nicknames) in order to be admitted from the Waiting Room into the Zoom Meeting.

As the host teacher, I can and will remove any students who are being disrespectful towards others, or are behaving in a manner that appears to not be there for learning.

If the meeting becomes too crowded, I'll take groups of several students at a time to answer questions.  If that is the case, you may need to wait your turn in the Waiting Room and I will admit you as soon as I can.

SCHEDULE AND ACCESS

Day and Time:  Wednesdays between 10:15 AM and 11:15 AM.

Personal Meeting ID:  360-051-1821

Password:  excellent

Join URL: https://zoom.us/j/3600511821?pwd=Q1VhMzY4UjloZ1Zsa1FNVHlrTkIwUT09

Week 1 Google Classroom Assignments are Posted!

My Most Excellent Students,

Check our Google Classroom for three newly posted assignments for this week starting today.

The deadline for all three assignments will be Monday, 4/20/20, at 8:00 AM.

If you have any questions, email me at jchappell@birmingham.k12.mi.us.

Also, there will be an open "Office Hours" ZOOM meeting today (Wednesday, 4/15/20) between 10:15 and 11:15 AM.  Instructions to follow.

Best,
Mr. Chappell

Reminder: Remote / Online Learning Starts Next Week

and, if you haven't done so already, all students need to join our Google Classroom.

1. You should have received an email in your bps email account inviting you to join the correct Google Classroom.

2. If you didn't receive an email invitation, here are the following class codes you can use to join the class by each hour:

          1st Hour Derby ELA 8 Chappell
          code:  ukc6vdw

          3rd Hour Derby ELA 8 Chappell
          code:  u5cbsfj

          4th Hour Derby ELA 8 Chappell
          code:  7joeeqy

          5th Hour Derby ELA 8 Chappell
          code:  57wbsfh

          6th Hour Derby ELA 8 Chappell
          code:  4hnee32

3.  If you need a little refresher on how to join a Google Classroom, watch this video:

          https://youtu.be/qSxNLaWm74g

4. If you have any questions or didn't get the email invitation, please email me.

          jchappell@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Best,
Mr. Chappell

Follow the Paper Ball

My Most Excellent Students,

Thank you for the nice emails.  I miss you guys too!  Also, it was great seeing some of you on Zoom earlier this week.

Here's something fun from all of us who are Derby staff to all of you, expressing just that passion:

https://youtu.be/ULHAZki8c6o

Can anyone recognize the movie posters behind me?

Have a great Spring Break next week, and check this blog on Wednesday 4/15/20 as we switch over from district enrichment to online learning specifically for my class.

We'll be zooming every week and switching over to Google Classroom, so if you haven't acted upon the email that I sent you to sign up, please do so ASAP.

Best Always,
Mr. Chappell / JChapps
jchappell@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Week 3 Digital Learning and Enrichment

My Most Excellent Students,

If you haven't done so yet, please see the previous post and join your Google Classroom which begins on April 15th.  This is an expectation and is not an option.

Here are the next three supplemental and enrichment assignments for our class this week:

1)  Writing - Object Haiku

https://classroom.google.com/u/3/c/NTM0NDY1MjA2MTla/m/NjY1OTI4NzAyNzBa/details

2) Thinking - Social Groups

https://classroom.google.com/u/3/c/NTM0NDY1MjA2MTla/m/NjY1OTI4NzAyODJa/details

and 3) Reading - Connecting to Literature

https://classroom.google.com/u/3/c/NTM0NDY1MjA2MTla/a/NTU0OTUxNTMwMjZa/details

If you are have any questions, please email me at jchappell@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Be safe!  I totally miss you guys and think of you every day.  :)

Best,
Mr. Chappell / JChapps