Students from 6th-12th grade are engaging with varied texts, communicating with peers through meaningful discourse, analyzing the written word, discovering their voices and storytelling powers, developing their thinking skills and building confidence and strategies to approach the world around them through literature and beyond--all thanks to our incredible team of teachers. Join us as we dive into the ELA classroomwith Hayden Griggs, Lindsay Drapkin, Mandy Christos & Molly Gonzalez.
What is a highlight from something you taught in Q1?
Hayden Griggs (ELA 6): A major project for quarter one in ELA for the 6th graders was preparation and execution of our Socratic Seminars. Students learned to collaborate and communicate with their groups in order to prepare their thoughts and ideas and then engage in meaningful discourse with their peers. The topic of their Socratic Seminar, following their reading of The Lightning Thief, revolved around the ideas of heroism and struggle.
Lindsay Drapkin (ELA 7): A standout moment was when my students analyzed The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, specifically how her vignette structure develops deeper themes. Seeing the students dive into how Cisneros uses literary devices to reveal personal and cultural identity was rewarding.
Mandy Christos (ELA 8): A highlight of what I taught in quarter one was a five-paragraph essay on a major theme from the novel, Night by Elie Wiesel.
A major focus was analysis writing and pushing students to think outside the box. Because of this, students produced amazing essays and grew as writers.
Molly Gonzales (HS ELA): In the ELA part of Biology, we looked at indigenous stories from tribes that have historically been connected to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and explored how they taught morality as well as ecological relationships in the area. We also looked at how the story of Deer Lady in Reservation Dogs works to update and adapt the lesson from this legendary figure in Kiowa.
What Are Students Learning in Q2?
Hayden Griggs (ELA 6): Students are engaging with nonfiction, reading The Boy who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, and then using their knowledge of design thinking and creative problem solving to create their own meaningful invention projects. We will discuss what it means to make a positive impact on your community, and they will work to create a project presentation to present during our Invention Symposium at the end of the unit.
Lindsay Drapkin (ELA 7): I'm excited for our unit on Claudette Colvin and the essays students will write about "hard history." Students are diving into the civil rights movement, focusing on Colvin's courageous acts of resistance before Rosa Parks. Students are examining how historical narratives can be shaped and sometimes overlooked. Through this, they'll craft essays that not only analyze Colvin's story but also reflect on the importance of confronting and understanding difficult parts of history.
Mandy Christos (ELA 8): Students are reading Summer of the Mariposas, about 5 sisters who embark on an adventure and encounter witches and other evil legends. Along the way, they learn how to be a family. Students really enjoy this book because the plot is entertaining.
Molly Gonzales (HS ELA): In the ELA portion of physics, students will be creating a dystopia survival team through a narrative project, using the text The Parable of the Sower. In this, students will establish a dystopian setting as well as complex characters who will have to find threads between each other to survive a world turned upside down.
What Do You Love about Being an ELA Teacher?
Hayden Griggs (ELA 6): I love seeing students realize their own potential. I am obsessed with finding a student's favorite genre and topics, and then helping them find their own passions within the world of reading and writing. I love Seeing 6th graders build confidence, make connections, and improve on an individual level. I also love making them cringe by telling bad jokes, and using their own slang to make them realize the absurdity of spoken language and its iterations.
Lindsay Drapkin (ELA 7): I love watching students find their voices—whether through writing, reading, or discussions.
Mandy Christos (ELA 8): I love being able to talk to students about the different messages and morals we learn from books and to hear their thoughts.
Molly Gonzales (HS ELA): I love seeing students take their ideas seriously enough to put them on paper. Finding the confidence and flow to express themselves in new ways is a joy I get from teaching ELA.
What Do You Hope for your Students by the End of the Year in ELA?
Hayden Griggs (ELA 6): I hope that my students, by the end of 6th grade, are able to realize their own potential, see their own strengths, and build confidence through academia. I hope that they go into 7th grade feeling like they can tackle anything, and that they had at least a little fun on their way to greatness.
Lindsay Drapkin (ELA 7): I hope my students will have grown not only in their mastery of the standards but also in their love of reading and writing. I want them to see themselves as capable thinkers and communicators, who understand the power of their words. Ideally, they’ll leave my class with a stronger passion for storytelling and a greater confidence in their ability to engage with literature critically.
Mandy Christos (ELA 8): By the end of the year, I want students to feel confident in writing essays for when they head to high school. I also want them to love reading and to not lose that.
Molly Gonzales (HS ELA): I hope that students see themselves as creators of knowledge rather than receptacles of information. PBL gives students a process that opens the possibility for them to become thought leaders at a young age.
Looking Ahead: Semester 2 Learning
What students will be learning next semester:
- Argumentative writing
- Crafting strong evidence based arguments
- Finding credible sources to support writing
- Analyzation and interpretation of texts
- Point of view, figurative language, mood & effect on reader
- Inference making
- Nonfiction text exploration
