Soundings is an integrated program located in the Radnor Middle School in Wayne, Pennsylvania. It was started by Mark Springer, who also created Watershed, an integrated program for 7th graders. What makes Soundings so unique is that the students take control of their learning. They choose three themes at the beginning of the year and work on each for 1/3 of the school year. They have a daily log book in which they answer log questions, which are essay questions that tie into the current theme, write what they accomplished during the day, what their goals for tomorrow are and also interpret quotes found by their fellow classmates. They pick affirmations at the beginning of the year, which are words they want to be represented as. They assess themselves by taking self assessments. They have a reading journal in which they put entries of books they have read. They can present it in any possible way e.g. a summary, discussing the book at lunch, a diagram, or any other way they want. There is much more to do in Soundings than described here, though. Soundings is a great program that lets students control their learning and be independent while learning to work in a group with others as well.

6/6 SC #35 (Mollie/David A)

6/6 Timeline #5

6/3 Test Clocks

6/2 Final reading journal check (and index copies)

6/2-5 Time/Universe Project due

6/7 The Luau!

What was the "best" book you read this year? What made it the "best"?

"A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world." -John Le Carre Quotester: Robert