Dear Parents and Guardians,
Freshman year is a time of many transitions. In January, it feels like the transitions just keep coming. As term two ends and term three begins, semesters and classes change, and the weather cannot seem to make up its mind for more than a couple hours, I find myself reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future. My outgoing Communication and Literacy students were just my guinea pigs for a unit on debate. I have to say, it was one of the most exciting projects I’ve seen! The students were able to research and present both sides of the argument clearly, cohesively, and professionally. They formed and challenged their opinions about major issues in the school and in the world. I was surprised to hear the range and depth of opinions on everything from school uniforms to human rights. First semester Com and Lit students also shared their independent 20 Time projects. Both the work and the reflections were informative and impressive. They learned a lot about the topics they studied, as well as how they learn and how they overcome challenges. As I get to know this new group of Com and Lit students, I am excited to begin our journey of storytelling, public speaking, and learning. I can already tell that this group is primed and ready for a creative and novel semester. Simultaneously, in English 9, students are creating new approaches to old texts, in their Romeo and Juliet Film Proposal projects. It is great to see the teams cut and create scenes from the book. I’m excited to see their takes come to life in both their film and their writing. This past term we have dealt with some of the most challenging texts in the ninth grade curriculum, and the students have brought maturity and insights that make me confident the next semester will continue to be full of growth and complexity. I am rejuvenated by the fresh start a new semester and new faces bring. I am looking forward to seeing the students’ growth over the next few months. Sincerely, Rafi Diamond
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Dear Parents and Guardians,
I am so excited for the start of another year here at Nipmuc! I wanted to take the opportunity to give you a taste of what your children can expect in my class. For those of you with children in English 9, we will be reading texts in a variety of styles. We will focus on the difficult situations the characters face, finding meaning in contradictions, and the ways the authors get complex ideas across. In Communication and Literacy, we will be focusing on the art of storytelling, and public speaking. Throughout the semester we will work together in order to analyze and practice the tools necessary to master these difficult tasks. The district transition from iPass to Powerschool will take some getting used to, but will eventually provide me a new avenue to communicate with you about how your student is doing. Because it is a new system, I plan to experiment a little before deciding on a method that works best for me, but my goal is always clear communication. With that in mind, I encourage the students to reach out to me when they have questions, and I invite you to do the same. Finally, I want to fill you in about the phone policy in my classroom. Because students have access to ipads, students will never need their phones in my class. Therefore, if I see a student’s phone I will put it on my desk until the end of the period. I hope that this will help students learn how to keep their phones on them, without feeling the need to use them during class. This year is already off to a great start! I am so excited to get to know your amazing, talented, interesting, and creative children. Sincerely, Rafi Diamond Dear Parents and Guardians,
This has been an amazing first year at Nipmuc, both for my students and for me. The students synthesized all they learned to produce the highest quality work of the year. In Communication and Literacy, students created their own comic books as a culmination to our Hero’s Journey and graphic novel units. The students created the story and the art for the first editions of their books. 20 Time came to a close, and students were able to present the amazing work they’ve been doing this year. Students shared their work by giving TED talk style presentations about their projects and sharing what they learned through this unstructured project. English 9 closed out the year with To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning story of prejudice and coming-of-age in Depression era Alabama. Students practiced the formal writing process, making claims, using outlines, finding and analyzing evidence, and giving and receiving feedback. They also had the chance to create some amazing mini-projects in reaction to the famous trial scene. They were able to “climb into a character’s skin”, as Atticus says. And just like that, the year is over! I am so proud of the work all my students achieved this year, and all the opportunities they took to take the work into their own hands. I hope everyone has an amazing summer (I’m looking forward to warm weather and nice books!) and I will see everyone in the fall. All the best, Rafi Diamond In English 9 this term, we have been reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Students were asked to respond to the infamous trial scene by taking on the identity of a character who was at the trial and react to what they saw. Students chose some incredibly creative methods for their reactions, including blog posts, poetry, newspaper articles, and vlogs. Take a look at a sampling of their work. Stacy's Blog - An Adobe Spark page https://spark.adobe.com/page/GtGLM9AU6zzv0/ A Holiday Letter from Bob Ewell Dear Relatives, It is coming near the holiday so I decided to send a festive letter telling y’all about what injustices I have faced. My daughter was assaulted by a evil black man and as a loving father I was absolutely horrified. We obviously decided to bring this matter to the police and these people decided on a trial for this man. A trial!? He is obviously guilty, me and my daughter says so. But the trial went on anyway and I did what had to do, I testified for my daughter. I’d say we did a pretty good job, the jury could of called guilty before he even spoke. The black man then testified is absolute tomfoolery. I didn’t pay much attention to what he said but I could sense some people might of actually thought that he said anything truthful. To add to that the jury took way too long to come to the obvious conclusion and it started to make me feel a slight amount of anxiety. But in the end he was found guilty as he should be. And as the respectable man I am I had to tell Atticus off, he should of never defended a obviously guilty man, I didn’t even do much, just told him I was gonna get him even if it killed me. After that that nothing really happened, just the usual. Happy holidays, the Ewell family. Switching Sides - A Poem from Dill's Perspective Before the trial began, “Guilty” is what I figured he would be. I still decided to go to the trial, Because it was something I had to see. The trial was in session, Mayella’s argument was clearly true. I definitely believed her, And I knew many others did too. Mayella’s turn was over, It was time for Tom to speak. I knew that we was lying, his argument was weak. Atticus was making his final points, Tom Robinson’s death was nearing, I felt he was guilty the entire time, Until Atticus said something I couldn’t stop hearing. He said we know the truth, And the truth is, Some Negroes lie, some are immoral, And some can’t be trusted. (Lee 273) He said this does not apply to black men, But to all of the human race. When Atticus stated this opinion, I was extremely surprised in the face. I realized the truth, And changed my mind. How is this possible? I must have been blind. Tom is not guilty, But Bob Ewell didn’t care. Because of his lies, Tom will now be sent to the electric chair. Dear Parents and Guardians,
I am excited to have your child in my class this semester for Communication and Literacy. On the docket for this term is an array of narrative writing, some new lenses for literature, public speaking, and personal growth through teamwork and independent projects. This class includes many long term projects, some fun texts and hopefully a few laughs. Already we had the chance to stretch our minds through riddles, work in teams to create common understandings and get to know one another a little bit. We will begin the term with a personal narrative unit. We will study storytellers and become storytellers, ourselves. Then, we will study mythology, graphic novels, archetypes, heroes, and villians. There is a full semester independent project, which students will be planning and executing on their own, and a final public speaking unit. One of the first lessons on communication for the semester will be about how to send professional and appropriate emails. It is important to me that students take the lead on their learning and reach out to me for help. Part of the goal of this class is to challenge students to become their own advocate. Simultaneously, my primary partners in student growth are the people who know them best. Therefore, I ask that you fill out a quick (I promise, it’s actually quick!) survey about the best form of communication between yourself and teachers. I try to be as accessible as parents to students and parents, and use all of the methods in the survey, but if you have any pressing questions, the quickest way to reach me is via email at [email protected]. To keep up to date about assignments and homework, please join our google classroom as a guardian, and feel free to check iParent as assignments are graded and posted. Please take a couple of minutes to fill out the survey, which can be found here (https://goo.gl/forms/ctQos1c2uQ2lgzPE2). I can’t wait for a successful semester of learning and growing. All the best, Mr. Diamond Dear Parents and Guardians,
After getting through the transition into high school in term one, term two was all about getting down to business. The students made major strides in their reading and writing and presenting this term, including tackling many daunting tasks with poise and gusto. In English 9 we faced some of our hardest texts in the curriculum, most notably, Romeo and Juliet. Although the language seemed foreign, at first, by acting out the scenes and making our way through the text slowly, we unpacked some important messages and themes. Students wrote about symbols in the famous “balcony scene”, presented their own pitch for an updated version of the play, and even filmed their own scenes! In Communication and Literacy, students started focusing more heavily on their 20 Time projects this term, especially as their TED talks loomed. By the end of the semester, each student wrote and presented a speech about their experiences with their independent project, including reflective looks at the major ups and downs of the long term project. The speeches almost eclipsed our introduction to Graphic Novels and our look at Superman. Students became experts in identifying and analyzing motifs and allusions, especially when they connected to archetypes. They took that knowledge and set off to create their own superheros, each one with the power to address a major social issue of our time. With that, the semester of Communication and Literacy is over. I am so proud of the hard work and creative thinking that happened in those classes. It was a pleasure to have these students and I look forward to seeing all that they accomplish. In English, we have another semester to look forward to, where we will be studying memoirs, role models, and social activism through our next two texts, Night, by Elie Wiesel, and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I am looking forward to another excellent term! All the best, Mr. Diamond As 2018 comes to a close, and I know that my students are spending time with those closest to them, my wish is that they are taking some of the ideas from our classroom back home with them. In addition to a well deserved break, I hope that my Communication and Literacy students think about the supernatural solutions to social issues they created in their comic books and look for opportunities to apply real world solutions to those same topics. I know that as my English 9 students prepare to tackle the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, in groups, they are using what they learn from their homes to inspire their work together in class.
My hope for the coming year is that our community of learners continues to grow as individuals and together. I hope that this is a year where we can learn with each other and from each other, especially when we disagree. At Nipmuc, I am inspired every day by how much the students learn when they take time to be listener to each other. I hope this New Year brings you and your family peace, happiness, health, and love, Mr. Diamond Dear Parents and Guardians,
With the first snowfall here, and shorter days, it is almost hard to remember back to the scorching days that kicked off the school year. But just one term into High School, your children have changed even more than the weather! This term has been one of growth, creativity, and building and strengthening relationships in the classroom. In just a few months, students in Communication and Literacy read myths from thousands of years apart, started working on 20Time projects, became the narrators of their own story, and kept each other accountable when it came to group presentations and modern day connections. In English 9, we’ve read vignettes, novellas, and plays, shared research, wrote essays, and led whole class discussions (yes, the whole class, yes without me leading!). I was particularly impressed this the thoughtfulness and creativity behind the social issues research project the English students completed. Each group tackled one issue related to Of Mice and Men and analyzed the book, the time period of the book and today through the lense of their topic. Pictures of some of their creative and thorough presentations can be found on twitter (https://twitter.com/MrDiamondEng/status/1055188103806271488). In Com and Lit, students are spoiling every story they encounter by identifying all the archetypes they recognize from ancient myths. With their knowledge of archetypes, students were able to create new myths that incorporated the elements of storytelling and folklore that they read about. They also included some beautiful and detailed cover art. With all this talk of archetypes and heroes, it was only natural to begin reading Superman for all Seasons. Students are enjoying the graphic novel and are using their skills as readers to appreciate some of the allusions that comic books do best. In English, students are on their feet reading the words of The Bard, Shakespeare. Although the language of Romeo and Juliet can be challenging, the themes of adolescent, and forbidden love, family loyalty, fate and free will, seem to speak to the students. Looking forward to term 2, I am excited to see students develop public speaking skills and resent their 20Time projects, to see how students approach adaptation in Romeo and Juliet, to read their writing, and continue to watch them learn with and from each other. I am looking forward to a strong year. Have a great weekend and a happy Thanksgiving! All the best, Mr. Diamond The best part about teaching came on Wednesday when my students came into my classroom for the first time this year. This year’s Freshman class at Nipmuc is an excited bunch. Even the sweltering heat of last week could not stop their enthusiasm. Together we started to create some idea of what our class will look like. In Communication and Literacy, the classes worked in groups to answer the questions: Why do you communicate? How do you communicate? and What is “literacy”? One classes’ answer, “We communicate so we can understand others, to share thoughts and ideas, to get answers, and so we can help each other out”, demonstrates the thoughtfulness of the class. Another group argued to include “non-verbal” communication in how they communicate, extending the idea beyond words. The third class tied literacy to comprehension saying, “Literacy is the ability to comprehend and understand vocabulary.” This definition emphasizes the power of literacy as a source of knowledge. Next, the classes turned inward as they studied three great writers’ quotes about the Self (shared below). Each student chose one quote that resonated with them and shared what it meant to them. This lead to a great discussion about how we see ourselves in relation to each other and to the world. In English 9, students handed in an array of creative and thoughtful summer reading assignments, from timelines, to poems, to character scrapbooks, and even a clay bird. The projects demonstrated a range of interests as both readers and creators. I am excited to see how this passion manifests itself in our classroom. With so much learning, reflecting, and sharing already happening, it is exciting to imagine what is in store for the rest of the year! Mr. Diamond Here are the three quotes we looked at in class (they are also posted on the wall). Which is your favorite https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19H1cz_ea_9eqApTN93wgHCyZ9_RLePGZfmrmTi_XvgY/edit?usp=sharing |