Automatic Email Posting: On Break

Greetings.

We have reached the end of the first semester for the 2018-2019 school year and are now on winter break. I will be back at school on January 7, 2019. 

If needed, you can contact me again at that time.

Thank you and have a great winter break.

Bank of Parent Email: What is Academic Reading?

Thanks for your email.  Academic Reading is a class that students take in addition to English 1.  Students work daily on reading and writing skills.  The teacher works both on academic skills (summary, paraphrase, vocabulary, main idea, answering academic questions from across the curriculum) and on student attitude and interest in reading (daily reading from self-selected books and regular teacher conferences).  A normal day would involve reading time, a writing focus, and core skills building.  We believe that writing and reading go hand-in-hand.  On Fridays, students begin the day with a logic-puzzle, which helps develop executive functioning skills, grit, persistence, and inferential skills.   

If students demonstrate enough growth by December, we move them out of the class and into another elective or a study hall. 

Please let me know if you have additional questions.  And good luck with the transition to high school for Nina.

Regards,

Bank of Emails to Parents - 8th grade registration

Interesting in Challenging Placement?  Fill out form and send me example paper

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for emailing about your child’s ninth grade English placement at Hinsdale Central.   If you haven’t reviewed the online information yet, please see the document titled “English Course Placement - Class of 2023,” which details differences between English 1 and English 1 Honors. 

If you are interested in challenging placement into English 1 Honors, please fill out the change form.  It would be helpful if you included your student’s current middle school and English Language Arts teacher’s name in the “rationale” section at the end of the form.  Additionally, I would appreciate if you would send me two additional things: 1) supplementary standardized testing scores for the student (these can be PDFs or photos); and 2) an example piece of academic writing that your child completed in 8th grade.  These attachments, along with the information in the online form, will provide context to the fall MAP data.

If you have a previous MAP test report at home, it will list all of your child’s historical MAP data.  If you don’t have access to MAP data, any standardized testing will do, including the Iowa Basic Tests, PSAT, or ACT.  For the writing sample, please send argumentative writing rather than creative writing.  If there are additional things that you’d like me to consider, send that along, as well.

Best Regards,

David Lange

English Department Chair

dlange@hinsdale86.org

630-570-8350