Adam's+Portfolio

=Adam Wright's Portfolio =  The following represents a sample of the work I've been engaged in for the past two years as an English teacher at South High School in Denver, Colorado. On this page you will find assignments and instructional activities I've created, as well as student work from the two courses I teach, American Literature and English Language Acquisition.



American Literature


**The American Dream**
 The foundational unit for American Literature is an exploration of the American Dream. Here is the description of the summative assignment: [|American Dream Project.doc]  And excerpts of student essays: [|Student American Dream Excerpts.doc]

**Literary Analysis**
 Students hone their skills of literary analysis in this unit while reading //The Pearl // by John Steinbeck. Here is a powerpoint that I use to introduce the unit: [|The Pearl.ppt]

**Memoir Writing**
 For the final project of the year, students write a memoir piece reflecting on a significant event from their past. In their writing, students employ the literary techniques they observed while reading //The Pearl // by John Steinbeck and //<span style="color: rgb(57, 98, 34);">Buried Onions //<span style="color: rgb(57, 98, 34);"> by Gary Soto. The students strive to emulate the good habits of these mentor writers. Here is the assignment description: [|Where I'm Going Rubric.doc]

<span style="color: rgb(61, 106, 42);"> And two excerpts of student writing: [|Student Excerpt Where I'm Going, Where I've Been.doc] [|Student Example 2 Where I'm Going, Where I've Been.doc]

<span style="color: rgb(54, 91, 36);">English Language Acquisition, Level 2
<span style="color: rgb(54, 91, 36);"> Vocabulary acquisition is one of the most important parts of learning a new language. Every two weeks, students in this class encounter 10 key vocabulary words in multiple situations, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will remember these words. All the words either appear in class readings or reflect a key concept being studied at the time. Included here are two practice worksheets, a powerpoint presentation, and the final spelling/vocabulary test. [|Spelling Practice 1.0.doc] [|Spelling Practice 1.1.doc] [|Vocab Slideshow.ppt] [|Spelling Test 1.doc]

<span style="color: rgb(52, 89, 39);"> Grammar is also an important part of language acquisition. The first powerpoint presentation is used to introduce students to the concept of present progressive verbs, and the second is used to guide student practice with present progressive verbs. [|Present Progressive Verbs.ppt] [|Present Progressive Pictures.ppt]

<span style="color: rgb(54, 88, 34);"> Students read a variety of materials in this class, including abridged and edited classic novels. I use this powerpoint presentation to set the foundation for a reading of //<span style="color: rgb(54, 88, 34);">Les Miserables //<span style="color: rgb(54, 88, 34);">. [|Les Miserables.ppt]

<span style="color: rgb(68, 112, 46);"> In this writing assignment, students wrote a letter as if they were soldiers during World War I. To prepare for this assignment, they read about WWI in the textbook, viewed a slideshow (included here), and watched a short clip of trench warfare from the film //<span style="color: rgb(68, 112, 46);">The Lost Battalion //<span style="color: rgb(68, 112, 46);">.

A slideshow of images of trench warfare: [|WWI trenches.ppt] <span style="color: rgb(65, 104, 44);"> A grading rubric for student work: [|WWI Letter Rubric.doc] <span style="color: rgb(61, 92, 40);"> Two examples of student letters: [|Student Example 1 WWI letter.doc] [|Student Example 2 WWI letter.doc]

<span style="color: rgb(51, 89, 33);">Professional Development
<span style="color: rgb(51, 89, 33);"> I was asked by the administrative staff at my school to present to my colleagues on the use of student learning objectives in the classroom. Here is a powerpoint presentation I used: [|Wrighting Learning Objectives.ppt]