Announcements:
Xeroxing
The school owners have asked us to check the amount of Xerox copies we order. They say there was an inordinate increase in the photocopying expenses in March. We agreed that we would continue with our policy of asking students to purchase the bound packets of material we ask them to bring to class. However, we also admitted that we generally produce a lot of class material that cannot always be ordered as a full packet for students to buy.
Musical
Unfortunately, Hairspray won’t be on stage this year. 3rd and 2nd polimodal students, especially boys, were not ready to devote the time and effort that a musical requires. Therefore, the project has been put off until we come up with a different approach to recruiting actors. We discussed the possibility of opening up the invitation to the whole school and then work with those students that really want to have the experience.
Tech workshop
Cecilia, Alina, and Silvina will give the tech workshop at some point in mid-May. There is no set date yet, as Charlie continues to discuss with Analía whether it will be during or out of class time. There was a consensus among the Department members of the benefits of having this workshop at school, and strongly support the idea of Thursday afternoons as best time for it.
Invitation to share new material
Charlie mentioned he has seen some excellent new material developed by different teams this year. He invited teams to share this material with the rest of the Department. Seeing what colleagues do is inspiring and contributes to everyone’s professional development. [Whenever you produce something that is worth sharing, please email it to me and it will be published in the Department blog.]
Diagnostic report per level
7th Grade: Great group, enthusiastic… Level of English is very good. Currently working with authentic material. Students filmed home-made episodes after Dog Whisperer… The have worked on unit on pets, and are about to start with another one on Freedom and Slavery…
8th Grade: Good groups even though there are too many per class… They are enthusiastic, enjoy participating and are always willing to work… There’s a self-confidence issue in several students who feel they’re “bad, don’t know any English”…. Teachers are consciously working on building up their self-esteem…
9th grade: Good groups, better than last year’s… There is a remarkable difference between girls and boys both in terms of physical appearance and maturity. Boys tend to be childish, dull, unmotivated, while girls are competitive, and do their best…. In general, teachers were a bit disappointed in their writing skills… Norita has started sending a note to parents of weak students… Every team is encouraged to do the same at this point and throughout the month of May, an appropriate time for parents to act early on to help their kids overcome their difficulties.
1st Polimodal: Weak group… very immature… Several of the girls are good but a few boys constantly disrupt class… In general, students seem less ready…. In one language group, Silvia is doing her best to encourage them, and she sees a positive response from them… It’s not the same with her Global Studies group… These kids find it hard to focus and be productive in class.
2nd Polimodal: Teachers are please with the division into heterogeneous-level groups, all of whom are doing the A2 program. In general, students have a responsible attitude. The mixed groups are working well. Several of them are not used to getting 3s and 4s in their assignments but they work hard to improve and get a better grade on their second draft…
A long discussion ensued about the approach to teaching writing… It was proposed that students get used to putting their ideas on paper freely, to use the language creatively, and understand that by writing they discover what they think and what they want to say, rather than thinking only first and then trying to write the final draft of a paper.
3rd Polimodal: One of the groups of English Language B is more troublesome. Some students have the notion that because they’re in English B, they should not be expected to work and produce much.
The A2 groups are working very well even though there are a couple of students there who will have to work very hard to stand any chances of passing the exam.
Curriculum balance
Carlos reminded everyone of this year’s goal of keeping a balance between Global Studies and Literature contents in the EDI subject.
Also, only the 9th grade team has made arrangements to implement the SSR program. The 7th and 8th grade teams were strongly encouraged to follow suit. They were asked to discuss ways to make it happen soon, and inform Carlos about any help they may need to do so.
Planificaciones
The deadline to submit your Planificaciones is April 26. You should both email it to Carlos and submit a hard copy to him.
FAAPI project proposal
Carlos proposed to present a workshop on creative writing throughout all ages and levels at this year’s FAAPI Congress in Córdoba. The idea would be to share a variety of strategies to promote creativity among students and encourage them to take risks and explore ideas, visit new worlds of their own invention, and delve into the creation of people and places as a way to find personal satisfaction, have fun, and develop their writing skills. He read a few ideas to apply with literary texts as an example of the various ways to tread on the path of creative writing. The proposal is on the floor, and Carlos would like to know who is willing to take part in the project.
According to the number of presenters, we can brainstorm about different perspectives to shape the type of workshop we want to offer. Teachers from the primary school will be invited to join in too.
Note: I’ll be happy to work with everyone in shaping the proposal to submit to FAAPI. However, since this time, most of you have already had experience as presenters at a congress, I hope I won’t be in every group/presentation. I do need to know who would like to join in. Please, email me back to confirm your participation, and/or if you have any comment, doubt, or concern.
On a different token, after our meeting and in conversation with some of you, it was brought to my attention that we should be ready to foot the bill on most of the expenses implied in this venture. We’ll ask for financial support from the school, however, especially this year, we may not get as much as other years.
I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you.
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