Don’t like reading lots of text on a screen? Neither do I. Here’s the link to download and print.
August 25,2014
Dear Ninth Graders,
Welcome to English 9! I am truly very excited to be starting the year with all of you. We (the other English teachers and I) spent a long time this summer looking at what we will do over the year and this should be a fun, engaging, and challenging class for all of you. It’s a great time to be a ninth grader at PA. We will be getting our very own Chromebooks very soon, our first venture into 1:1 student-computer ratios, and I can’t wait to start figuring out how to integrate them into our class activities. I’m kind of new to the world of Google so I’m going to need a bit of help from all of you, but I know you’re all up to the challenge.
Before I tell you more about English 9, I’ll tell you a little bit about me. Some of you may have had older siblings or friends who survived my class, so they’ve probably filled you in on a few important pieces of information: I have to have a cup of tea with me in the morning or I get exceptionally grumpy, I often braid my hair without a mirror while teaching, and I share lots of anecdotes that are mildly amusing but mostly boring. I also have weird obsessions with Shakespeare, To Kill a Mockingbird, Feed, a story called Harrison Bergeron, World Cup soccer, and the 1985 classic movie, The Princess Bride. I also make students read and write a lot. I think that pretty much covers it, but let me know if you hear anything else.
I have to confess, I am very excited to come back to school after a year at home with my children. I have a little girl, Sophia, who is five and a little boy, Leo, who is one. We call Sophia the hobbit and Leo the gremlin, and I think the names are pretty fitting for both of them. Being a mom is really fun but honestly, there are only so many times you can read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and watch Frozen before you start to lose your mind and start fitting every thought to the tune of Let It Go. I also spend a lot of time changing diapers, building Lego spaceships, and reading the same books aloud over and over. I am excited to talk about reading and writing with people who can actually speak, read, and write (even if some of you might not like reading and writing as much as I do).
When I’m not spending all my time being a mom or a teacher I spend every second I can outside. I love to walk, hike, run, or just sit outside with a book. In fact, I’m even writing this letter outside. I ski a lot (cross country, downhill, and Telemark), enjoy riding my bike (although I have avoided mountain biking since I almost killed my husband by taking him on a trail that was not suitable for beginners), and love spending time on the Waterbury Reservoir canoeing or kayaking. When I’m not outside I like doing yoga, writing, and, when I have time, watching slightly dorky British TV shows like Sherlock and Downton Abbey. This summer, however, I did spend a lot more time than usual in front of the TV watching World Cup soccer. Like most American soccer fans, I have a lot of backup teams to cheer for when the men’s team and generally route for Italy first, then Spain. This year I had to change loyalties a lot and I still ended up on the losing side when I cheered for Argentina in the final. I also love cooking and baking and pretty much anything involving chocolate.
There are a few things I am hoping to do differently in English 9 this year. The first has to do with grading. One of my least favorite questions to hear as a teacher is, “What did I get on this?” This question annoys me for one fundamental reason; it shows that most of us are more concerned with the number attached to our work than we are with the quality of the work itself. When you hand in work I want you to think about questions like this: how does my work demonstrate what I have learned? How can I improve my work to show I know more? How can I better organize this writing to get my ideas across? This year your writing assignments won’t have numbers on them when they come back to you; instead, they will be accompanied by learning scales that show how you have made and can continue to make progress toward mastering skills involved in the work you are doing. Of course, you can still find the number grade if you log into your Powerschool account, and you will still have numbers attached to things like vocab quizzes, it’s just the returned assignments that will look different.
The good side of this is that you can remember your goal is to “get it” and demonstrate understanding of the material we cover in class. Think of the numbers on your Powerschool account as a record of what you’ve handed in and how you have made progress, not as a static number you can’t change. This means that you can keep working at things until you do “get it” and demonstrate understanding. One of my favorite teachers has a saying he shares at the beginning of each of his classes: the one who does the work does the learning. I want you to work and I want you to learn; I will give you every opportunity to learn and I will expect you to work hard to do this learning.
The second thing I want to do this year is keep our class digitally active. We have a fantastic opportunity to improve communication, collaboration, and creativity with our new Chromebooks. I know perfectly well that you will have plenty of ideas for how to use them to enhance all that we do in class and I can’t wait to hear them. You guys are all digital natives; you live and breathe technology and integrate it into your lives in a way I never have. I have grown up with evolving digital technology and while I use it as a tool to improve my work, it’s not second nature to me. I need help keeping afloat in the digital world and I’m hoping you guys can encourage me as I learn.
Now that you’ve made it this far, it’s time for your assignment. You are going to write me a letter back. In this letter you will share a whole bunch of things. I would like you to:
- Introduce yourself as a person, telling me about your interests outside of school. Tell me about your family, the tv shows on which you Netflix binge, the music you are listening to as you do your homework, the sports you love to watch or play (and why), the hours you spent helping your uncle logging out in Eden, why you so prefer Jolly Ranchers to Life Savers, or any other interesting quirks or qualities you feel comfortable sharing with me.
- Introduce yourself as a student, sharing your academic strengths and weaknesses. Explain how you felt about Middle Level Language Arts, how you prefer independent or whole-class readings, about a piece of writing that made you really proud, or about how you really consider yourself a math and science kind of person but are determined to do your best in English this year.
- Introduce yourself as a millennial, explaining how your middle level iPad, your personal computer, your phone, and your various methods of digital activity help shape you as a person. This could mean that you tell me about specific apps and programs that you couldn’t live without, why you so desperately love following Darth Vader on Twitter, or why it’s so much easier to interact with your peers on social media rather than in person.
- Share any dreams, fears, or concerns you have for this year.
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love when the nights get a little earlier and cooler and the leaves start to turn, and I especially love the energy at the start of the school year. It feels like everything is possible; you have months ahead of you to learn and grow and we have a whole year to figure out how we can best work together. I can’t wait to get started.
Sincerely,
Ms. Cedeno
P.S. Your letter back to me will be due on Thursday, August 27th. You can submit it on paper but I would prefer you share and save it into your folder with the following naming structure: Letter of Introduction Lastname Firstname
P.P.S Email me if you have any questions.
P.P.P.S. This is what I call a “diagnostic” assignment, which means I use it to get to know who you are and how well you use language and organize writing. Your work will be assessed via the “Small Writing” learning scale you can find either in your Dashboard folder or on the class website.
English 9 Online 