Theme

The theme of a story is the meaning, moral, or main message the writer wishes to share with the reader. This message or moral might be a lesson about life or an insight into human nature. Most themes are not stated directly; the reader must infer them from the details and events of the story. Different readers may find different themes within the same story. Themes can be revealed by

-thinking about the meaning of the title of the story
-skimming the story for key phrases and sentences about big ideas such as courage, freedom, or honesty
-examining how the main character changes or noting what he or she learns about life

MJHS families-

MJHS families-

Please be aware of the following situation:

A male in a white van with no side-body windows and no license plate followed a student closely and repeatedly drove in front of her on Wednesday afterschool en the El Monte area.

Please advise your student to be aware of their surroundings. If you or your student observe a person and vehicle matching the description above, please contact the Chico Police Department immediately at 897-4911 (emergency) or 897-4900.

Initial Reading Assessments

Now that my classes are all reading from a novel, I have the opportunity to hear each student read aloud from a common source. Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to hear every student read at least a paragraph aloud during class. I will then assign a distinction of 1, 2, 3, or 4 to roughly correspond with below basic, basic, proficient and advanced. While it appears on AERIES, This is in no way a graded assignment. Nor is it scientific or formal. Rather, it is a simple formative baseline for me to track growth. When hearing your student read aloud, I will consider many factors including tracking, errors, pacing (believe it or not , most try to read too fast), recognition of dialogue, inflection, volume, and comfort with challenging vocabulary. I plan to complete this informal assessment multiple times this year and to gradually emphasize struggling readers more and more. In a perfect world, everyone ends with a 4 by May. Please understand that this initial score is the least reliable as anxiety is a key issue. I expect many kids are simply scared to read, and we will work through those fears slowly. If you would like to help your student read more confidently, have them read aloud to you at home. Just a paragraph here or there. If they hate it, that’s a pretty good indicator that they need to do it more. Lastly, reading aloud is a very helpful process, but it does not always translate into reading comprehension. If you see your son or daughter reading for school or pleasure, ask them about it. What are they reading? What is it about?...

Thanks.

Kurt Rix

Back to School Night 2011

Website and Contact Information

Rules and Procedures

Grading

Framework and Overview 7th and 8th

Things to Know...

Five Starts in Writing

1. Make a startling claim

2. Pose a question

3. Offer a definition

4. Draw a comparison

5. Make a general statement (not a great choice for a hook)

Things to Know

Binder Reminders/Agendas are crucial to success.

Absences are crippling to performance.

The dress code is in force and doable.

It is hard to be too strict.

Kids lose stuff...expensive stuff.

Kids lie.

Kids steal.

Kids respond to structure and respect adults who maintain it.

Class time is precious.

High school demands students are responsible for themselves.

Contact Information

It is my preference that you use my webpage, mrix.blogspot.com, to access class information.

To contact me please email me at krix@chicousd.org.

I have a voice mail as well but it is very difficult and inconvenient to check here at school.

Grading Policy

I utilize the Aeries web-based grading and attendance program. You can access all grades from this link or the link in the left column.

Grades are points based on the following scale:

10% Homework/Classwork
20% Quizzes
30% Tests and Exams
40% Writing and Projects

I do not grade on behavior, but I do offer up to a 3% extra credit at the end of the semester for students who are a pleasure to instruct.
Example: Caitlin has an 89% at semester's end but she makes teaching a breeze. She gets a 92%. Corey has an 81% but drives me and his peers crazy. He still gets an 81%

Grading Scale:

90 and above- A
80-89- B
70-79- C
65-69- C-
60-64- D
55-59- D-
54 and below- F

Late Work: Assignments may always be turned in late during the semester assigned for reduced credit. Typically reduced credit is an automatic 60% but with larger assignments I am often more generous.

Absent Work: It is absolutely the responsibility of the student to track and complete absent work within a reasonable amount of time for a chance at full credit.

Honesty: Copied or falsified work will be thrown out for no grade.

Revisions: As part of teaching writing as a process, we do a great deal of editing and revision. In that spirit I have a policy that any assignment in the writing/project category can be revised for a re-grade so long as the original was submitted on time.

AERIES Grading Issue

Once again there has been an issue with the Aeries grading program. It appears that all of my students were assigned comments for citizenship and work habits. I DID NOT give any student the distinction of "S" or "N". Please disregard any comment in that column.

Also, each of my students may have received a 3rd quarter progress report rather than a 4th quarter one. For an up to date current semester grade including all 2nd semester work please visit the Parent Portal website. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Kurt Rix

GRADING ERROR

Students and Parents:

Due to a mistake made while posting my progress report grades this past week, every student, regardless of his or her current grade was assigned the comment "NEEDS IMPROVEMENT". Please disregard that remark. I did not intend to give any student that distinction. I apologize for any misunderstandings.

Also, in an unfortunate coincidence, my email and network access has been down since Wednesday 3/23. I have been unable to check or post grades since that day or respond to concerned parents. It appears that both internet and email are functioning today so I will attempt to respond to as many of you as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if my internet suffered another lapse so I appreciate your patience.

Kurt Rix

GIANTS WIN THE SERIES!

GIANTS WIN THE SERIES!

The Elements of Storytelling/Narrative UPDATED

Plot: The sequence of events that unfolds around a conflict, or struggle between opposing forces.

Characters: The people, animals, or imaginary creatures that take part in the action of a story.

Setting: The time and place in which the events occur.

Theme: The message about life or human nature that the writer wishes to convey to the reader.

Point of view is the narrative method used to tell a story. The two basic points of view are first-person and third-person.

Dialogue is written conversation between two or more characters.

Suspense is the excitement that involves readers in a story and motivates them to discover its outcome.

Voice is the distinctive style in which a writer tells a story.

Elements of Plot

Exposition gives background information about characters, conflict, and setting

Rising action is when suspense builds because complications arise that make the conflict more difficult for the main characters to resolve

Climax is the turning point of the action, when the reader’s interest peaks

Falling action or resolution is when the conflict ends and loose ends are tied up

English 7 Semester 1 Overview

1. Literature

A. The Language of Literature: including various short stories, poetry, pieces of short fiction and dramatic selections.

B. Taking Sides

C. Clay Marble

D. Various outside offerings

2. Writing

A. What's in a Name

B. Narrative

B. Response to Literature – Book Review of Clay Marble

3. Vocabulary and Test Preparation

A. The Language of Literature: Test prep. questions after Lit. selections

B. STAR Practice Questions

4. Grammar

A. Parts of Speech

B. Punctuation and mechanics

C. Grammar Workbook Chps. 1-4 with Pre and Post Exams

English 8 Semester 1 Overview

1. Literature

A. The Language of Literature: including various short stories, poetry, pieces of short fiction and dramatic selections.

B. Living Up the Street

C. The Outsiders

D. Various outside offerings

2. Writing

A. “To Be Young, Gifted and _____________”

B. 1 Response to Literature – Book Review of The Outsiders

3. Vocabulary and Test Preparation

A. The Language of Literature: Test prep. questions after Lit. selections

B. STAR Practice Questions

4. Grammar

A. Parts of Speech

B. Punctuation and mechanics

C. Grammar Workbook Chps. 1-4 with Pre and Post Exams