"We are such stuff as dreams are made on" ~ William Shakespeare

Welcome to room 185, a reading and writing workshop and home to reading and English II classes. To those of us who will spend time here this year, I hope it will be a place where we can explore and share ideas, read deeply, find voice in our writing, and learn more about ourselves, each other, and the world beyond. A workshop is a collaborative effort. We serve as a safe audience to each other, taking risks in our writing and our thinking. We will respect and attempt to understand each other's point of view. Our collective intelligence is far more powerful than one mind alone. The quote above appears in the center of our longest classroom wall. I've saved lots of bare space for student work. I can't wait!

As you enter our room, you'll pass a cabinet covered with magnetic poetry words. After class today a group of poets gathered, and I'm anxious to see what they will create. (They didn't have time to finish...) Students can also check the two white boards (pictured here) for weekly agendas, homeplay (work), and learning objectives. Of course, visiting this site will also provide the same information...

Below is a picture of a quiet reading area. (I'll try to get another picture. This one is not taken at a good enough angle for you to see the floor pillows and carpet.) There is a large, empty leather box to store reading pillows for students who'd like to bring their own. The catch is (isn't there always a catch?) that this space is reserved for serious readers!

To the right is a space behind the door where students can find additional literature sets, baskets of class notebooks, and extra daily handouts. Above the cabinet is a collection of pictures of my beloved dog friends. They are dressed in costume, patiently modeling many of the characters we may get to know in books.

So stayed tuned. I hope you'll get in the habit of checking out this site to see what we're doing in class. If you are absent, it's a great way to stay in touch. If you simply have a comment or question, you may enter it at the bottom of each post, and I'll check and get back to you.

That's all for my picture tour. The first day agenda for English II included a review of our syllabus, a PowerPoint overview of freewriting to be included in the writer's notebook section of our portfolios. Homeplay included a "literary history" letter to me, which is due next Monday or Tuesday (depending on your schedule). Sample letters were passed out to everyone, and extras are available in the weekly work stack.

If I wish nothing else for you this year, it is that you seize opportunity to learn all that you can. You must know the saying, "No pain, no gain." It is through the practice of writing that we become better writers, and it is through the practice of reading that we become better readers. My expectations are high, and yours should be, too. Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. We will be talking more about your choices, your hopes, your dreams. We'll be setting goals in this regard. I wish you the best as I remind you of a quote from Shakespeare, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" (The Tempest).