Welcome Back from Winter Break! Happy New Year and Let's Read Well in 2018!

Please turn your cell phones off and keep them out of sight for the remainder of class today and everyday this semester unless I give you specific permission to use them in class!

Please find a seat in a desk (not a computer station) toward the front of the room.

We will not start the Reading Plus Program until tomorrow in class.

Today I would like to explain a few changes that you can expect to see in our class for second semester.  

Changes to Reading Improvement for Spring Semester:

• You will have LESS assignments to complete each week in Reading Plus!
• We will be reading a class novel together in class on Mondays (Collaboration schedule) so no one will be working on computers on Mondays.
• You will be filling out a DRL on Mondays (for the class novel), Wednesdays (for your SSR book) and Fridays (for your SSR book) in class and turning them in every two weeks for points.

The first class novel that I we will be reading as a class is The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian by Alexie Sherman.  This is considered somewhat of a graphic novel so it is filled with words, funny sketches and cartoon artwork that depicts what is going on in the text.

Summary of the plot:

This is about a boy who is trying to find out who he really is and what he is really capable of even though he comes from an environment where it is normal for people to get drunk, fight and disrespect one another. He learns that he has to leave his surroundings to find his true potential but he also learns that it is important to never forget where he came from or the traditions or people who shaped him into the person he really is.

Summary video Shmoop: Part Time Indian

Pass out DRL

Write down title, author and prediction and begin chapter one in class.

HW=

Get off to a beautiful start in class this year by reading tonight to an active listener on your Home Read Log.