Welcome to Quarter 4 - Basha AP English

[Devon C Adams]

Parents,
Spring Break is almost over and your students are heading back to classes on Tuesday. I wanted to briefly overview fourth quarter here for you.

Great Gatsby - the classes are reading this 1920's Jazz Age novel. They were asked to have a copy by the end of break and I handed out several before we left. I am sending links out to the students today that have the full text online and also downloadable to read on their ereader (Smartphones, Ipod Touch, computer, etc…) or to print out if they choose.

More and more research is being done electronically (to the point where there are libraries without paper books now) and to best prepare students for this college reality, I am introducing an online (free) technology tool called Diigo. I just presented on this last week at the Annual Conference for College Composition and Communication, and it's a powerful tool for gathering sources, organizing bookmarks, and annotating webpages (yes, annotating directly on the webpage). For this small, safe, free application to work best, it must download a small file inside of the browser. I would not suggest anything dangerous. Do consider permitting your child do download this inside their Firefox browsers.

(If you'd like to review the presentation my colleague and I did last week on Diigo, navigate here. http://e-wave.wikispaces.com/Diiging+digital+annotated+bibliographies+with+Diigo)

Students are reading Independent Reading Books and there were challenges with procrastination last quarter so I highly encouraged them all to read that book over break. They were given the book list beforehand and all are contemporary nonfiction.

Most IMPORTANTLY, AP testing is in early May here at Basha HS. All test fees are due by March 31st to the bookstore. If they aren't paid for, the student will not be able to test. We will continue to test prep and write through the quarter until the test.  We are planning a full test practice session in April. I hoped to do it on a Saturday but this may not work out. I may need to schedule this on a school day from 3-530~pm. It is optional and students are encouraged to attend through a nominal extra credit; this is the perfect practice for the real test. I will make sure you know that date.

Lastly, you may know from your student that we have an intern this semester, Ms. Costley. She is working on her graduate degree at ASU and has been with us two days a week since February. The students will work on a writing project with Ms Costley and I in the next few weeks.

Thank you for reading this lengthy email. I didn't send many last quarter and am making up for it. :)

Devon Adams

--
DCA


***************************************
Devon Christopher Adams
Mesa Community College
Basha High School
English Department
devon...@gmail.com
http://www.dcamd.com
http://del.icio.us/nooccar


"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school"
-Albert Einstein


"For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to 'give a meaning”' to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression."
- Bresson