Dave Molloy
February 2012
We have begun Expert Projects. The goal is for students to gain some expertise on a topic of their choice that pertains to American history or American culture. They can choose a specific event, a historic individual, a place that holds significance, or a specific time period in American history. I want students to pick a topic in which they are truly interested.
I will work students to select a topic that is realistic and manageable for this project. Students will have approximately one month to complete the project.
We will have some research and work time at school, but students will need to work each night at home to keep up with the project and to meet the due dates along the way.
Classroom Updates
Student Writing
We are doing lots of different types of writing this year. Many of the topics are assigned by me, but students get to choose their own topics as well. This week I introduced Student Choice Writing. It is pretty straight-forward. Each quarter, students will write one piece of poetry and one piece of prose on whatever topic they choose. At the end of the quarter, they need to show evidence of every stage of the writing process, from the earliest draft, all revised drafts, and their final draft to get credit. Students have further written instructions on this. Expect to see them working on this writing at home.
