Romeo & Juliet

ROMEO & JULIET

For reading class Levi, Katie, Jordan, and I completed an intense study of  the play Romeo and Juliet. We started reading and acting out the play every day in class. This meant that everyone needed a role, but since there were only 4-6 participants, depending on absences, most of us had multiple roles. I don’t exactly recall who was what specifically, but I know for certain that I was Romeo. And, unfortunately, Katie was absent through most of the beginning of the play, and Mrs. Tiff was busy, so Mr. Tony had to be my Juliet. This never bothered me because I knew Mr. Tony would be mature about it.

Over the course of several weeks we got to stand up and participate in re-enacting sword fights, quarrels, speeches, and conversations from the play. We even got to watch the

Students use Google Classroom to graph early American Slavery

The addition of Google Classroom and access to Chromebooks helps students master math and computer skills while concurrently studying early American history. Today students and staff utilized the document sharing ability of Google Classroom while discussing slavery in early America. Each student could share his ongoing progress with the teacher, Mr. Eck, in real time from their computer. When Mr. Eck recognized something noteworthy or important in a students work, he could send the images to the projector and allow everyone to see the information.

"The ability to give immediate feedback to students is so important", Mr. Eck explained. "If you can catch a mistake or thinking error right away, you can stop it or correct the thinking error before it becomes ingrained in the students head. The students also get a kick out of having their accomplishments shared with their peers; this technology helps build confidence."

Student Levi A. posted to this blog today, explaining what he learned today in class. He, along with the other students, experienced a multi-discipline lesson, incorporating reading and writing skills, social studies, mathematics, and technology. The inclusion of these new resources - Google Classroom and the Chromebooks - has improved the educational experience for students at the Milton AEP.

Rudyard Kipling

The Biography Channel episode on Kipling is at - http://www.biography.com/people/rudyard-kipling-9365581

Romeo and Juliet

This past week the students have read and acted out the play Romeo and Juliet. Today, we went to see the play acted out by a professional group of actors at the Williamsport Community Arts Center. After watching the play, the class went out for Pizza.

The students also decided to try test their acting abilities by filming a few scenes from the play. 

Milton Standard-Journal Trip

With a lot of help from Mr. Kevin Mertz, the students were able to get an up-close and personal look at operating a local newspaper. Students observed the Milton Standard-Journal being printed, talked with the press operator, developed a plate from that day's paper, looked on as lay-out staff organized the next days advertisements, and learned from Mr. Mertz what the daily routine of a reporter is at the local paper.

The students arrived at the newspaper's office in Milton PA just as the presses started rolling. The Standard-Journal is printed late in the morning for an afternoon delivery. The chief press operator explained to the students how they had to "waste" copies as they lined up the plates. Three different color plates and a black plate need to be aligned while the press is running. This process takes time and an experienced hand. 

Students get Glimpse into Photo-Journalism

When Robert Inglis of the Sunbury Daily Item newspaper stopped by the Milton center to take pictures, he wasn't aware that the students were going to "ambush" him with questions about photo journalism. Mr. Cromley has been running a writing unit on newspapers. A copy of the Daily Item was pulled apart and taped up on the walls from the previous day's lesson. Mr. Inglis was the photographer who had taken the picture on the front page of the edition.

The students asked good questions. When asked what makes a good picture, Mr. Inglis quickly snapped a picture of the student from the front of the classroom. He then went over and took a close-up of the student. He then had the students gather around the camera and showed them the differences, explaining how angles and composition change the "feel" of the shot.

When asked about training, the importance of continuing ones education was made clear. Mr. Inglis explained that most photo-journalists have more than a high school diploma and that, in a competitive market, you need to have a solid education.

The question of ethics brought up new terms that the class had not been exposed to. "Hard News Photos" are photos that are shot live. They are not staged or posed. To do so would violate the ethics of photo-journalism. One of the few exceptions to this rule are what Mr. Inglis called "Grip and Grins", photos that you would take of a group of people at an event like an awards ceremony or ribbon cutting.

Students Model Constitutional Convention

Social Studies, Literature, and Writing classes combined for a very important cross-curricular unit to start out the school year. After reading numerous pieces of writing dealing with morals and character values, students discussed, debated, and created a meaningful Class Creed.

In Mr. Eck's social studies class, students studied the early history of our countries government. The Articles of Confederation were studied and the flaws of our countries first "constitution" were discussed. Understanding the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, students then learned how Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, John Adams, and other early leaders advocated for a second convention.

Mr. Cromley focused the language arts classes on readings that dealt with the importance of strong character values and a moral foundation. Students read ancient creeds like the Athenian Oath. They reviewed contemporary pieces like the Boy Scout Oath and The American Creed. Other popular pieces - "Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten", "Law of the Jungle", and "Charge of the Light Brigade" - were compared to the normative system of the PATH Alternative Ed. program.

Ms. Steph introduced the Path of Life Model, discussing the values and healthy traits that are the foundation of the model. As part of the therapeutic group, traits of successful students were also discussed.

Using the knowledge and wisdom acquired in their studies, the students modelled our countries founding fathers and convened a student convention to discuss the creation of a student oath or creed. Mr. Cromley presented "The rules of discussions" and the students debated on what they felt needed to be included in their resolution. By the end of the week, a rough draft had been agreed upon. The students agreed to postpone ratification of the document to allow a time for reflection. If any parts needed to be changed, they would reconvene.