The Hughes News
Sophomore Honors English Newsletter ~ January 2019
LEARNING ANYWHERE
To reiterate what the school emails have communicated, we teachers are NOT allowed to assign new work on the canceled day that is to be collected the next school day. (After all, not everyone has access to the internet, some will lose power, others will have family emergencies, and, in the case of snow, all of us will be digging ourselves and our neighbors out!) However, whatever homework was originally due on the canceled day is, of course, still due the next school day, and whatever quizzes or tests that were originally scheduled for the canceled day will still be administered the next school day.
THE REAL-WORLD MIDYEAR
A few years ago, I started asking Wakefield alums, college students, and university professors what their college midterms and finals look like--since my job is to prepare students for college and career. And not a single person mentioned those pesky 150-question multiple choice tests. (Instead, the common response was a project, paper, or discussion that synthesized the learning thus far.) This was refreshing, since the pattern of memorize-regurgitate-forget-repeat had, for years, frustrated teachers and students alike. Further, if students had already met the standard the first time around (in, say, October), why was I assessing them--again--on the same standard a few months later? It felt more like a "Gotcha!" than a true litmus test of student growth. Desperate to create a real-world assessment that better prepared my students for what they'd see in college, I turned my Midyear and Final Exams on their heads.
In that vein, your student's Midyear Exam will consist of three parts: 1) a written reflection on their first-semester growth as a reader, writer, and thinker; 2) a small-group book-club-like discussion on their favorite book to date (with questions provided ahead of time); and 3) a whole-class discussion on reading in general (which will require students to examine a series of sources [e.g., nonfiction, fiction, video clips, infographics] shared ahead of time).
2019 READING CHALLENGE
Goodreads also held their 10th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards in 2018, with over five million votes cast! Check out the winners here.
Goodreads also features an annual reading challenge that opens up every year on January 1st. As of publishing time--and just two days since the challenge began, approximately half a million readers have committed to reading 30 million books in 2019! The best part? Your student reader is one of them! Ask your reader how many books s/he committed to enjoying in the coming year. Even better? Join in on the fun here!
How to Contact Me
Email: beth.hughes@wpsk12.org
Website: msbethhughes.org
Location: Wakefield Memorial High School, Farm Street, Wakefield, MA, United States
Phone: (781) 246-6440
Twitter: @msbethhughes