We Don't Have A Minute To Spare! We Need Notebooks Fast!

Funded Aug 25, 2010

Thank you so much for your generous donation of notebooks. The students diligently record their thoughts in journals and "Do Now" type questions that get them thinking about the topic of study for the day. We also use them to write rough drafts, and so far they have written essays about their Internal and External Identity as well as scripts for a puppet show about a creation myth.

My students are all recent immigrants and they study the content of the high school curriculum and the English language simultaneously in this immersion academic setting. Our school highly values writing, and we have made the commitment to make writing a part of every lesson. We try to do a mix of low stakes and high stakes writing. Low stakes writing is not graded, but it is a chance to experiment with writing and getting one's thoughts on paper. For many of my students this is their first time writing in English, and it's important that they have the space to do so without judgment. We also spend time on learning the structure and content of formal essays, or high stakes writing that is evaluated. We utilize the writing process to get to the end product of the essay and the prewrites, revisions, and rough drafts we write in the notebooks help us get to the final product.

Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Mary ”

With gratitude,

Ms. Godley