John Marshall Recommended Summer Reading List

2017-2018, Grades 7 & 8

(Updated by Christina Shepard, MLS on 5-23-2017)

 

7^th grade

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
          *You may want to read “13 Reasons Why” first
School of the Dead by Avi
·         If you cannot find this one, please try one book by Avi. “Nothing but the Truth” is one of his recent, and popular books.  He is a Newberry Award winning author.
The Fixer by Jennifer Lynne Barnes
The Iron Trial by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School) by Jen Calonita
Walk on Earth a Stranger (Gold Seer Trilogy) by Rae Carson
All Fall Down (Embassy Row, book 1) by Ally Carter
The Selection by Kiera Cass
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart
The Glass Sentence (The Mapmaker’s Trilogy) by S.E. Grove
Under Their Skin by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Still a Work in Progress by Jo Knowles
Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes by Mary E. Lambert
Seven Wonders book 1: The Colossus Rises by Peter LeRangis
Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman
Legend by Marie Lu
Fast Break by Mike Lupica
Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A Nielsen
The Scourge by by Jennifer A Nielsen
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
Ghost (Track) by Jason Reynolds
The Blackthorn Key (First in series) by Kevin Sands
The Swap by Megan Shull
Falling Over Sideways Jordan Sonnenblick
Loser by Jerry Spinelli
The Running Dream (Schneider Family Book Award- Teen Book Winner) by Wendelin Van Draanen
Variant by Robison Wells

8^th grade

I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynne Barnes
The Compound by Bodeen
      *If you did not read it already.  Fallout is the second book.
Rook by Sharon Cameron
Walk on Earth a Stranger (Gold Seer Trilogy) by Rae Carson
Swagger by Carl Deuker
Court of Fives (series) by Kate Elliott
The Walk On (The Triple Threat 1) by John Feinstein
Unbreakable (Legion) by Kami Garcia
Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive by Laura Hillenbrand
I am Number Four (Lorien Legacis) by Pittacus Lore
The Only Game by Mike Lupica
Delirium (Trilogy) by Lauren Oliver
Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen
Life As We Knew It Susan Beth Pfeffer
If You’re Reading This by Trent Reedy
The Looney Experiment (Blink) by Luke Reynolds
Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
Steelheart (The Reckoners) by Brandon Sanderson
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
It’s a Wonderful Death by Sarah J. Schmitt
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Most Dangerous by Steve Sheinkin
Scythe (Arc of a Scythe) by Neal Shusterman
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
No Place by Todd Strasser
The Running Dream (Schneider Family Book Award- Teen Book Winner) by Wendelin Van Draanen
Next (D-Bow High School Hoops) by Kevin Waltman
By Your Side by Kasie West

Student Response to Technology Enhanced Questions (TEQ) in Standardized Testing

Student Response to Technology Enhanced Questions (TEQ) in Standardized Testing

As educators, we are constantly preparing our students for the next challenge.  Many times, those challenges are in the form of standardized tests.  Standardized tests have evolved from paper and pencil to online testing.  Online testing has changed the fundamental format, and interaction students have with the content.  These new types of test questions are called Technology Enhanced Questions (TEQ).

​TEQs are not the same as paper and pencil tests students in the past have taken.  They are much more demanding of student interaction like a video game, and educators cannot use the same techniques for teaching test taking skills such as process of elimination.

​Some of the issues students face when taking the test are screen size.  At times, they have to take a test on an economic desktop, or laptop, and the screen may only be 14.5 inches.  The questions can consume a very wide portion of the screen.  Additionally, students may not realize they need to scroll down to see the complete text.  

Younger readers are especially surprised to discover the text for a question can be on as many as three pages.

​TEQs can have multiple correct answers.  Previous tests would provide answers with four or five choices, and usually one or two correct answers.  With TEQs, it is more common to have multiple correct answers.  Students cannot use process of elimination.  They must know the correct answer(s).

​Students do not interact with the tools on some standardized tests until the test.  If possible, students will have an opportunity to take a pre-test, or practice test and educators should have students take full advantage of that time to practice.  Students who are accustomed to using highlighting, or tools to “mark-up the text,” often have no tools to do so in TEQs.

​Often times, the standardized test is not in line with what the students are being taught at that time.  Students might be learning Pythagorean Theorem next week, but are taking the standardized test on those skills this week. 

​Besides the amount of time it takes to set-up the technology for each student, the TEQs add time to standardized testing.  In order to take a twenty question middle school math test, it takes a proficient math teacher nearly two hours to completely work the problem to answer all the different answer choices, and students may only have one hour.  This does not account for students who receive extended time such as English as a New Language (ENL) students, or students with an Individual Education Plan (IEP.)

​Using Airslates, or Smartboards with the protractor, compass, or rulers in instruction is one method for familiarizing students with tools available on TEQ questions.  Educators can also provide questions with multiple correct answers.  Many students are working on improving reading skills, but they also need reading stamina to complete TEQs.  Offering 10-20 minutes of voluntary sustained silent reading periodically is one technique to improve reading stamina.

​In summary, as educators are planning for students who will be taking standardized testing using TEQs in the future, we have new considerations to make in our teaching and planning.  With this knowledge, and the creativeness of educators, we can develop new test taking skills to help prepare students for the testing environment as presented by TEQ style tests.

Written by Christina Shepard 

"Back Home in Indiana"

    On October 25^th 2016, the “Top Readers” and “Book Club” programs sponsored by the John Marshall Community High School library media center were able to attend the performance at the Indiana Repertory Theatre due to the generosity of the Central Indianapolis Community Foundation Library Fund and the Alan Cohen Fund.

   A quick highlight of honorably mentioned Indiana-isms during the performance:
 

"Back Home in Indiana" stage at the Indiana Repertory Theatre

   Michael Jackson, Eugene V. Debs of Terre Haute who was jailed for 10 years for violation of the Sedition Act 1918 but also lead our trade unions and received nearly 1 million write-in votes for President, Ryan White who taught us about HIV/AIDS, James Dean the farm boy from Fairmount, Lewis “Lew” Wallace the author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ, Mishawaka and genocide of native Indian tribes, Diana of the Dunes, Gene Stratton Porter, Famous Hoosiers, Cole Porter, James Whitcomb . . .  

   Hoosier hospitality, devoted mothers, the history of the Ku Klux Klan, the underground railroad, the history of the republican and democrat party, five vice presidents (possibly six with Michael Pence), Hoosiers are slow to change and quick to apologize for everything . . .

   “Coloring Inside the Lines” when African American people lived on Indiana Avenue, Brightwood neighborhood with outdoor plumbing, Madam C. J. Walker

   William Leon Garrett… first black basketball player for Indiana University in 1947…

    Alice Gray… Diana of the Dunes

   Corn, tomatoes, pumpkins, persimmon, muskmelon

   Cardinal, tulip tree, limestone, maple syrup, Wolf Park

   Three young people played music and provided vocals: a fiddle player, a banjo/bass guitar/cello player, an acoustic guitarist.  The narrator doubled as lead vocals, and played some of the lead male characters.

                                                                                 ***

"Book club" and "Top Readers" write their reflections after the IRT performance "Back Home in Indiana."

 

 

When we returned to school, I had all the students quickly annotate on the dry erase board what they were taking away from the performance.  The next day in the hallway, I could see their little eyes dancing like Christmas reflecting on all they learned about their home state consolidated into a two-hour and 45 minute musical and acting performance.

                                                                                   ***

Grants written by: Christina Shepard

Entry written by: Christina Shepard

My first Indiana Fever game

 

 



Daryl Odom and Christina Shepard h/w
Indiana Fever vs. Chicago Sky Sep. 9, 2016

Not only did hubbie take me to my first Indiana Fever game to see Tamika Catchings before she retires, but he also took a selfie of us.

Thank you to Tamika for being a role model to so many young women in our community.  I am grateful I was able to see you play.

Thank you to my husband, Daryl Odom, for being a coach and mentor to me and our children over the past 18 years.  Every day is an adventure.

John Marshall Students Get Trained to Use a 3D Printer



Grant Michel from 1st Maker Space trains John Marshall Students to use a 3D printer

 

Through a grant provided by the Central Indianapolis Community Foundation for entrepreneurship and financial literacy, John Marshall Community High School was able to purchase a 3D printer to start their own maker space.

Grant Michel, a liberal arts major, from http://www.1stmakerspace.com/ delivered the 3D printer, and provided the training.  Together students made a chip clip from downloading a file from http://www.thingiverse.com/.

It took about 6 minutes for the chip clip to “print.”

The next step was to create their own projects.  Using https://www.tinkercad.com/ students created a name tag.

The 3D printer incorporates elements of manufacturing and design to include: geometry, computer programming, computer hardware development, CAD software techniques.  Students learn how y=mx+b, the slope-intercept formula actually comes to life as they plot points on the y-axis, x-axis, and an additional z-axis needed for 3D printing.

The 3D printer uses .stl files, which are like .pdf files, but pdf is two dimensional and stl is three dimensional.

If you take a photo in a .jpg format and need to convert it to and SVG (scalable vector graphic, you can do so using http://picsvg.com/.

Grant written by:  Christina Shepard

Blog entry by: Christina Shepard

John Marshall Community High School Winter Break Bucket List

What could you do for winter break to make it wonderful?  Here are some suggestions from your school library media specialist:

1. Have some hot cocoa!
2. Make a snow angel.
3. Read (you knew this was coming) Charles Dickens book "A Christmas Carol."
4. Listen to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Ballet"
5. Join a Christmas choir, or go caroling.
6. Make paper snowflakes.
7. Make a snow fort.
8. Make a snow person, like Olaf from Frozen.
9. If you can find a hill in Indiana, go sledding.
10. Spend time with your family.
11. Read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. Moore.  This is actually a poem.
12. Go see Christmas lights.
13. Make a blanket fort.
14. Be Santa's secret elf, and do a random act of kindness for someone else.
15. String popcorn. (You can make a popcorn, or cranberry garland, and hang it outside to feed birds.)
16. Have a game night.
17. Take a special family photo.
18. Have a PJ day.
19. Kiss under mistletoe.
20. Start a new tradition.
21. Construct paper chains.
22. Write a wish list, or a 2016 goals list.
23. Participate in a Christmas ornament exchange.
24. Read the Christmas story in the Bible in the book of "Luke," in chapter 2.
25. Make a New Year's Resolution (Mrs. Shepard wants two A's on your report card!)
26. Read or watch "Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburgh.  Did you know he was a sculptor, and wrote Jumanji?
27. Take a winter nature hike.  How do the trees change?  Can you find pine cones?
28. Learn about Saint Nicholas.
29. Work on a puzzle while listening to holiday music.
30. Have a picnic under the Christmas tree.
31. Kiss at midnight on New Years.
32. Dance!
33. Make a holiday playlist.
34. Throw confetti
35. Develop an indoor/outdoor work-out routine.

Disclaimers: In the 2015 calendar, muslim religions celebrate the birth of the Prophet Mohammed on Dec. 21, Dec. 26, or Jan. 3rd by exchanging gifts and making donations to the poor.  Jewish cultures celebrate Hanukkah before our winter break from Dec. 6-14th. 

Indiana State Standard: World History, Standard 2

WH.2.1 Review the development and key concepts of major world religions and philosophies including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity,  and Islam.  (Sociology)

Christina Shepard 

Media Specialist

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