Wednesday, January 30th

Today was a good day in communities. Students continued to go to workshops learning more and more background knowledge on their war. Students also learned and dealt with examples of primary sources from old passages from their war. With the interviews coming up with their war veteran all students formed questions and started gathering info on questions to ask and discuss when interviewing their veteran. It was an interesting day and should get even more interesting as it get's closer and closer to interview day with the war veterans of Korea, Vietnam and WWII! Make sure to keep tuning in to see whats happening in the communities world! 

Tuesday,January 29th

Communities today was a little bit shorter due to counseling. The counselors came in to discuss scheduling for next year. In the time we did have students participated in a discussion with their war groups about specific events, generals, turning points, and dates involving their war! It was a very good discussion and students are continuing to expand their knowledge on their war topic. Make sure to tune in to see how the rest of the week is going!

Friday, January 25th

Today in Communities speaker Inky Youngwirth came into talk with everyone. Inky is a former WWII veteran who came in and talked about his past experiences in the war. Inky is a 93 year old man who is still working at Oshkosh truck. He has worked there for 66 years. Inky story is incredible and he has some very good stories about his experience in war. It was great to get him in and to have the communities students learn about him and his story. It was an eventful Friday. Make sure to tune in next week too learn all the exciting things that happen next week.!

Thursday January 24th

Today in Communities we are focusing on the war topic and learning about content. We are still doing workshops and in freshman biology today we shared with our war group about the causes of our war and some main vocabulary words. After we moved to a higher level thinking discussion where Mr. Leib picked two students from each war (WW2, Vietnam, and Korean) and asked some questions about all the wars and the students had to share there thoughts about the question. Then the freshman's went with Mr. Weber and watched what a good war interview looked like well the Sophomore's were with Mr. Leib.

Thank you and goodbye to Communities's first student teacher Mr. Cochran.  A graduate from UW-Oshkosh, he became great help and genuine contributor to the goal of Communities. To the program he brought personal experiences that encouraged and inspired students on their own projects. Such as, his own past project Make Children Visible. Which focused on children in America and everywhere else in the world. This program also contributed to a number of free T-shirts for Communities raffle prizes. Moreover, Mr.Cochran took role as the Social Studies teacher with Mr. Lieb, the main Social Studies teacher, guiding him. From the first weeks to today Communities has seen him grown to become refined and confident in his teaching abilities. From all the students and staff at Communities Thank You Mr.Cochran and good luck to your future.

Mr. Cochran

This day held many promises with the growth of a student, the start of a new chapter, and visitations from superintendent Mr. Stand F. Mack.

 At the start of the day, Communities' own student took the role as a "guest" speaker. This was part of the students' project; which informed students about pandemics, and how it effects our lives. She is open to and maybe presenting at other schools to warn students about the seasonal flu. She not only informed people, but showed growth as she switched from student to teacher.  After the presentation Sophomore Communities student literally started a new chapter with the assigned book Dale Carnegie. This book is not like traditional English books in class, but Communities is anything but traditional. Included in the book is combined editions of How To Win Friends & Influence People and How To Stop Worrying & Start Living. What was more nontraditional was the visitation from superintendent Mr. Stand F. Mack. He observed the routine of the class and was pleased with our style of school. He also, with science teacher Mr. Schinkten, set the new trend of bow ties. Moreover, the events of the day set a great end to the week.

Wednesday January 9th

Today was focused on finishing up How the Body Breaks Down and starting War. 

Each adviser (Mr. Schinkten, Mr. Leib, Mr. Weber, and Mr. Cochrane) chose a group or two to go and talk in front of Communities about their projects. Each group was doing something completely different. One group is doing an event (to see more go to: http://www.facebook.com/events/398706900204764/), another group is doing a raffle, one group went and talked to middle school students, another group made a video, and another person is writing a letter to Wisconsin's government. The whole Communities group used the "Celebration Sandwich" which they told two good things and a thing the group could improve upon. This helps the students become better speakers and also to be able to give people their opinions.

For starting the War project students filled out a sheet. One side had Personal Assets which asked questions like "do you know a family/friend who was affected by war?" and "what skills do you think you can bring to this project?". The other side had Community Assets which asked questions like "what associations/groups/people could help with this project?". Another sheet was also given to students to let them know the specifics of the project. Students will be interviewing a war veteran and then making a digital storybook to forever capture their memories. 

Monday January 7, 2013

On Monday, students had a new structure as to how the day went. They had four thirty minute workshops. They had a tech workshop where they get time to use a computer, a Science workshop so Mr. Schinkten could tell students exactly what they needed to know, a English workshop so Mr. Weber could teach them about how they would be using cameras in the upcoming unit, and a Social Studies workshop so that students could learn some more about WWI.

 Friday ended with turning in reflections, essays, and starting the War unit. To wrap up the recent unit students reflected and explained what grade they should earn. These reflections were turned in today along with their first English essay of the year. Furthermore, teachers kicked off the war unit on Thursday by showing the movie War Horse. In the movie it viewed perspectives of civilians, soldiers and, showed the introduction of technology in WWI. We further discussed the perspectives in war during class today. This was important since students will create a digital story book of a WWII veteran. Many of these veteran's stories are unheard and Communities will record their stories for future generations. It is important that we do this to remember the consequences of war, and be great full of what we have, and those who we can enjoy it with today.

Wednesday January 2nd 2013!

Today students came back from Winter Break. the three hour block was mostly work time. One of the assignments students had to complete was a reflection on your project (so far). Reflection is an important step in any project anyone does. It helps you find the ups and downs so that you can improve in the future! Even if you aren't a student, try reflecting on an activity or project that you take on. Figure out what you did well and what you could improve upon. The planning and action phase are also necessary, but reflection is what makes our projects bigger and better!