Penry
Karen Penry, Middle School Language Arts
Hello and welcome! I am so excited to begin another year at Cloverleaf Enrichment School. I love teaching middle school, and I especially love finding new ways to get students thinking, questioning, creating, and surprising themselves with what they can do.
In English-Language Arts, we will read, write, discuss, and explore how authors and speakers use language to shape what we think and believe. This year, I am putting more of the discovery in students’ hands. Rather than simply telling them what something means, I want them to notice it, question it, argue about it, and figure it out.
Students will also spend time in The Exchange, our afternoon elective. This year’s theme is the 1893 World’s Fair, and we will use it as a springboard for logic, debate, problem-solving, game theory, and creativity. Students will negotiate, build, teach one another, solve puzzles, create projects, and defend their ideas.
My goal is simple: I want students to leave my classroom knowing more than they knew when they walked in—and knowing that they are capable of figuring things out.