English 10-CP/Honors Macbeth Motif Projects

All students in English 10 classes recently completed motif projects that attempt a creative representation of a key motif from the play Macbeth.  Students also wrote an explanation of their project, incorporating relevant quotes from the play that support their interpretation, and then they will present the projects to their classmates over the coming weeks.  

Some of these projects are quite visually arresting and powerful:

Rayna Reddy's "Light" Motif Project

 

Alexandra Ortiz's "Hands" Motif Project

 If you have a 10th grade student, ask him/her about these projects.  We're all very impressed by what our students have been creating!

WPS PreK-12 ELA/Drama Program Review Committee Visit

From Tuesday 11/8 to Thursday 11/10 a committee made up of various educational professionals with expertise in literacy development as well as drama and ELA curriculum and instruction will be visiting Weston to undertake a review of the ELA/Drama program in all grades.  The committee members will hold forums, visit classrooms, and respond to a charge document, made up of questions about the work of the department's' programs, to produce a report that the chair will present to the School Committee in early 2017.

Below is a link to more information about the committee's three days of work, including details about various forums that might be of interest to the community.  We encourage all interested parties to attend a public forum or otherwise be sure to provide input to the visiting committee.

Visiting Committee Information

Back to School Night - 2016

The members of the English Department enjoyed meeting their students' parents on Wednesday, October 5 at the WHS Back to School Night.
  

Gina Chaimanis with parents

Journalism teacher Gina Chaimanis provided an overview of the course in the Mac Lab, where students meet for the Journalism class and create the school newspaper, Wildcat Tracks.

Editors Alina Hachigan and Grace Wang

 


Then the paper's editors, Alina Hachigian and Grace Wang, shared a bit about the reality of putting together a school newspaper from the student perspective.



John Minigan treated his Shakespeare students' parents to a quick lesson on iambic pentameter and how it can impact meaning in a play.

John Minigan explains meter

Brenda Hagan

And Brenda Hagan explained how her 10th grade students post their ideas about what they are reading to Google Classroom and comment on one another's posts.  She then uses that information to help create the next day's lesson.


These are just a few of the presentations English teachers shared with parents as they explained the range of curriculum and learning experiences in our classes.  

If you were unable to attend Back to School Night, please contact your child's teacher to learn a bit more about his/her English class this year.  We love to share what we are doing with parents.

Welcome!

This is the first post on the new Weston High School English Department's blog.  The teachers of the department hope to share news with you about exciting learning and other experiences going on in our classrooms and beyond.

As it's still early in the year, here are a few ideas of how to check in on what your child is doing in English this year:

• Ask your child "What did you learn in English today?" and don't take "Nothing" as an answer!  Our experience with students is that, if pushed just a bit, they can usually confirm that learning is happening and even provide a few specifics about what they've learned recently.  We are reading and writing with them all of the time, and our in-class activities and lessons are designed to expand what they know about the texts and what they can do as writers. 
• Check out your child's English teacher's TeacherWeb page:  https://tw.weston.org/    Some of our pages require a "Key" to enter, and while you'll learn that information at next week's Back to School Night (hope to see you there, 10/5 starting at 7:00 p.m.), you can always send the teacher an email request for the information, which he/she will happily provide.
• Come back here to this blog.  We'll be updating it with photos of students working, information about what's going on in our classes, and much more.

 Hope to see you here again in the future.

The WHS English Department