Welcome to English!

Hi everyone! This blog is designed to foster communication among the different classes. You have a few assignments to respond, but you are welcome to log on and post any time. For your first assignment, please respond to this post or to someone else's comments. Let us know something English related -- something you read that you enjoyed (even if it was back in 2nd grade!) or an English teacher you really liked -- let's keep it positive, especially this first time. There will be future blog opportunities for you to vent frustration or ask for clarifications.

This is the first year I've tried something like this -- please give me feedback about how it goes and what you think. This is also a place to give me feedback about other things. For example, you might say, "I really liked that 'Harrison Bergeron' story, but I wish we'd spent more time talking about it." Or you might say, "I'm glad we're not going to spend a long time talking about those literary elements... I think once was enough!" You might find lots of people feel the same way you do and that will help me be a better teacher -- which will help you be better students.

To start our first blog, I'll let you know one of my positive experiences with English:

When I was in fourth grade, I wrote a silly spelling story about a princess with a broken leg. When my teacher gave it back, she said, "Great story!" and for the first time ever I thought maybe I was good at something in school. Before that, I hated reading and hated writing and thought school was a waste of time. I wasn't instantly smart or anything like that, but it did make me think that maybe there was more to all this school stuff than I'd thought before. I'm so glad she said that!

I look forward to reading what you write! Please be kind to your classmates, but write whatever makes sense to you.

Here's to a great year!

--Ms. Thompson

p.s. Right now, the blog is open to the public. Please be careful about the information you include. As I get your e-mail addresses, I will add you as authors and then we can close the blog to only those we invite to view it.