HHS Speech classes
In Mitch Gaffer’s Speech classes at Huron High School, students are finishing the delivery of speeches with the purpose of persuading. To persuade, a student’s speech must give reasons why their position on their chosen thesis is right and should be accepted. Students have selected persuasive speech topics such as the value of school uniforms, the real damage from climate change, gun control laws, and whether Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi is the better soccer player, as well as many others. Students are required to use evidential support to prove the strength of their position. They have already done speeches with the purposes to demonstrate and inform this semester. Students were taught an 8-step speech writing process that they have been using to prepare and practice these different speeches.

In Speaking Out class, students are finishing a study of nonverbal communication, including what nonverbal communication is, how nonverbal affects the communication process, and how it is used in our daily lives. Students have analyzed the nonverbal communication in different scenes from movies like “Star Wars,” “Dances with Wolves,” and “Independence Day.” They also studied the nonverbal sign language done by Koko the gorilla, an ape that was taught sign language and learned to use over 1000 signed words in her 40-year experiment with Dr. Francine Patterson.

Submitted by Mitch Gaffer

HHS Language Arts
In all Sheltered Language Arts classes, the students will be spending the last few days of the school year taking NWEA reading and language usage tests and completing final projects. Specifically, students in Sheltered LA 9 are doing review of the concepts that they have been working on throughout the year. Sheltered LA 10 is studying the hero’s journey, analyzing the journey of various heroes in literature and movies, and completing a final project. Sheltered LA 11 is reading “Fahrenheit 451,” and the students are having some great discussions as they finish up with their final projects. The LA 11 class just completed their research papers, and they have begun reading “Of Mice and Men.”

Submitted by Laura Iverson

Second Grade ESL

The second grade English Language Learners have been hard at work at Madison. The newcomers have been working on Antonyms. They are working their way through opposites and giving examples. Their final project will be to create antonym alligators. They also worked on learning all the U. S. coins and made fun coin gardens to decorate the classroom.

The team-taught classes have been working on opinion writing. They wrote several opinion pieces, and their final opinion was about their favorite kind of pizza. The students published their writing and made cute shape pizzas to finish off the unit. The pull-out EL classes are working on comparison writing, a chameleon research project, and a

“Frog and Toad Together” book study. It has been a very busy year here at Madison and teachers are so proud of all the students’ growth this year!

Submitted by Joselyn Schmitz