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
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