Monthly Archives: October 2010

Were you surprised?

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I sure was! I think I mananaged to keep the secret from all of you crew members – I did tell the other captains (i.e. teachers) in a fit of excitement.

This is what happened:

I managed to get 30 tickets for School Days which will take place on November 2nd for us. I gave those tickets to Admiral Ekster. She was in charge of those tickets.

For the weekend tickets, I gave those to my students who earned an A or a B in my class. Many of those students went above and beyond the call of duty – staying late and doing extra credit.

This means that some crew members doubled up – some will be going Tuesday *and* were given a weekend ticket. Honestly, I don’t feel guilty about that. All of my students could have earned either an A or a B, especially with the extra credit assignment.

Turn your work in.
Do a good job on the assignment.
Don’t be absent.
Stay late/come in early when you don’t understand.
Take advantage of extra credit when you can.
Study for tests/final exams.

I don’t assign homework unless we don’t finish the assignment in class, so it can all be done at school.

I can’t make any promises that my A’s and B’s this term will be given any cool awards. In fact, no one knew last term that they were working towards tickets – they earned those grades on their own – because they WANTED the good grade.

In essence, if you were given a ticket – keep up the good work. I really want to get all A’s and B’s for this term. Oh, and I want all of you to exempt from my final exam. 🙂 That would be the best present EVER!

Flat Riley

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There is a new extra credit project up for Term 2. It is the Flat Riley project for the Texas Renaissance Festival. Check out the crazy instructions in Angel LMS.

Also, make sure that you are here on time for Vistas Visits this Friday – there is a HUGE surprise. All I’ll say is that we are going to have someone special read the mission statement in the morning. 😉

I am SO HORRIBLE at keeping secrets!

Gradespeed?

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Most of the time, I am pretty good about getting things graded in a timely manner. However, I just wanted to let you know that Term 2 classes are not showing in Gradespeed. Yes, I know we can see Term 3 and Term 4, but they are working on it.

As of right today, these will be the grades we have in the Gradebook:
1. Creative Coloring Group Work
2. Creative Coloring Response
3. Carpe Diem Translation
4. Obituary (major writing grade)

Welcome to the Crew Term 2!

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Classes are up in Term 2, so I’m sure that quite a few of you are wondering just what the “Poop Deck” is.

First of all, it has nothing to do with poop. Honestly. The poop deck is a sort of small cabin that is located in the back of the ship. Poop comes from the Latin word “puppis”, which means stern (that’s the nautical term for the back of the boat).

And there you go. You just learned what a poop deck is.

And if you make a comment on any of my blogs posts (it doesn’t have to be this one), I’ll give you a free 100!

Term 2

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Finals are over.

Can you believe it? It just feels like we started school only a few weeks ago, and some you are are actually graduating and leaving Vistas! Congratulations!

I will be accepting the French Scavenger Hunt until Friday. Remember – if you do a good job on this, it can increase your AVERAGE by five points.

I am really excited that so many of you were passing before we took finals. Because of that, I have a surprise for my students with top grades in my English IV classes. Tee hee!

In fact, this isn’t the only suprise that I have for Vistas – I can’t *wait* to share everything with you guys. I am so BAD at keeping secrets. 🙂

If you are graduating, then fair winds to you! Otherwise, I look forward to seeing the rest of you around campus.