The Impact of Social Distancing

Hey everybody!  Hope your extended spring break is going well.  I just posted a link in Google Classroom for an optional assignment, some feedback an connection opportunity for those of you looking for something to do.  Enjoy!

A Quick Note About the Grade Book

To all my students and families:
I know times are crazy, and I hope everyone can enjoy and long spring break.  I just went through the grade book, and have entered all of the assignments that I currently have in my collection.  So as of right now the grade you see in StudentVUE should be correct.  If you log on and it seems wrong, feel free to email me right away and we'll figure out what's going on. 

For flipgrids that were recently responded to, I gave feedback if you entered your email address.  Just check your email and you should see a note from me.

Something important to remember: The grades in the grade book are from before everything went sideways, and I'm not adding anything newer to the grade book until after spring break. 

I hope everyone is safe and healthy!

Mr. Johnston

Lesson of the Day: Friday, March 13th, 2020

Unfortunately I wasn't able to be at school today, and the announcement that we would be having an extended spring break came after I made my sub notes, so what I had planned isn't what happened.  Today the substitute did a 1 day lesson that you can't really replicate from home.  So if you're tuning in to see if there's any work for my class today, don't worry about it! 

I wish you all a very calm and healthy extended spring break.  I will check my email throughout the break, so don't hesitate to contact me if you need clarification on something we did this past week.  I will post again as we get closer to the first of April.

Lesson of the Day: Thursday, March 12, 2020

Today we spent some time talking about our arguments for Hamilton vs. Jefferson.  The most important announcement is that the flipgrid info is posted in Google classroom, along with the password and rubric for how I will be grading.  Be sure to get on the Google classroom for that link to the flipgrid!

Flipgrid Rubric

1.     Response is longer than 1 minute, less than 4 minutes (5 pts.)

2.    The student introduces the topic in a clear, lively, and interesting fashion.  (5)

3.    The student supports the opinion with identifiable reasons and concrete evidence. (10 pts.)

4.    The student uses commentary to show how each quote connects to the claim or main idea. (10 pts.)

5.    The student stays focused on their claim. (5 pts.) 

6.    The student concludes with a restatement of the expressed opinion that encourages either agreement or action from the audience. (5 pts.)

Lesson of the Day: Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Today is our last day in class to work on Hamilton vs. Jefferson.  We started with a class discussion about how we decide if we can trust someone (see link below), and then we spent the rest of class preparing our outline for what we want to say in the flipgrid.

• How do you know if someone is trustworthy?

Lesson of the Day: Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Today we prepared the arguments we will make on our flipgrids.  This involves an entry ticket conversation, as well as taking a quick look at some of the other documents written by both Hamilton and Jefferson.  Follow this link for the video:

• Hamilton vs. Jefferson Final Claim Video

Lesson of the Day: Monday, March 9, 2020

Hello everybody, today we read through two letters; one from Alexander Hamilton, another from Thomas Jefferson.  Both were written about a similar topic and you're going to be asked to decide with of the two founding fathers you believe.  Here are some helpful videos to show what we did:

• Hamilton's Letter Video
• Jefferson's Letter Video
• Guiding Questions WS Video

Hamilton vs. Jefferson

Alexander Hamilton were approximate political opposites, yet they both served in the first cabinet for President Washington.  In this assignment you'll read a letter from both Hamilton & Jefferson, and decide which of the two you prefer.

• Slideshow
• Letters & Worksheet
• Outline
• Outline with sentence frames