Mark Braam » Greetings from Mr. Braam!

Greetings from Mr. Braam!

Hi, I am Mark Braam.
I am an English teacher at Fairfield High School. During the 2022-23 school year, I am teaching five bells of sophomores in College/Career-Ready English 10 and one bell of a fifth-year Journalism/Media course.
In addition to being an English teacher, I have been a journalist for the better part of a quarter century, working both in Washington, D.C., as a sports and political reporter and editor, and here as a news editor and designer at The Cincinnati Post and The Cincinnati Enquirer. You might see me at many school events with a camera in my hands and journalism students at my side!
I hope to meet you all, in the classroom, at parent-teacher conferences, or via Zoom, phone or email; meanwhile, here is my own webpage on the district website.
I have this page for a number of reasons:
1. So I can send home news (and sometimes share photos!) of what we are doing or will be doing;
2. So I can post reminders and class-specific files
3. So I can post some educational videos that I make from time to time;
4. So I can post some links to some great educational resources;
5. So I can permanently post some files, such as the class syllabus and class policies, and update them as needed; and
6. So parents and students can get an easy notification each time that I post something new.

How does this work? On the right side of this page, there is a "SUBSCRIBE" button. If you click on the subscribe button, and register, you will get an email notification every time that I post something new to the page. Please note that there is a separate page for class files, which is actually where most new things will get posted. That means you need to subscribe to both pages, please!

Now, not everything that I post will be earth-shaking(!!!), but at least you will know when and if I do.

This is a good and fast way to pass on news, get copies of homework assignments, and to permanently post some items (such as the class syllabus).

Take a look and see how it works! Please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Mr. Braam
P.S. Many things are still different this year due to the COVID-19. THINGS WILL CONTINUE TO CHANGE!!!! That means there will also be many messages that will go back and forth, and sometimes from different platforms. PLEASE ... be patient as we all (teachers, students, parents and administrators) continue to adjust, sometimes on the fly.
 

Posts

Why We Proofread

Today we began going over the reasons why we proofread things.

The accompanying (very real) photo was one of the examples as to why!!!.

Your child likely has the remaining part of a worksheet that we began in class today on proofreading marks that will be due on Tuesday (however, it is possible that they finished it during school).

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!!!!

No School Reminder!!!

A quick reminder that there is no school Friday, Aug. 29, due to a teacher in-service day, plus there is no school the following Monday due to Labor Day -- a four-day weekend for students.

I hope you get to enjoy this last-gasp of summer!

 

Day 2 of SLOs

We finish our English SLO testing Tuesday, Aug. 26.

There is no studying to be done. The testing is to create a baseline so that we we know much your child already knows about the subjects we will be teaching during the year.

Thursday Open House, Aug. 28

Greetings! 
Just a quick reminder that Thursday, Aug. 28 will be the Fairfield High School Open House, where you get a chance to meet all of your student's teachers.

It begins at 5 p.m.

You will get to spend 10 minutes with each teacher, following your child's schedule (with 5 minutes between each bell).

It ends at roughly 7 p.m.

I am looking forward to meeting you all!!!!

Mr. Braam

Letter to the Teacher/Home Issues-Questions

I hope you are having a nice weekend!
Just as a reminder, there are two things due Monday, Aug. 25:
1. The parent/student signature and contact sheet from the last page of the syllabus, and

2. The Letter to the Teacher.

The syllabus is already attached.

Attached are the Letter to the Teacher instructions.

Note some students have already turned in the signature sheet.

Links to Valuable English Class Resources

I have just posted a number of new links on my links page to some of the best websites I know for helping writers. I will add many more as time goes along, but these are among the best (particularly the link to the Purdue Owl).

As of right now there are three categories:
* Writing/Grammar/Etymology Sites

* Literature Sites

* Reference Materials

Please give them a look. Let me know if you have any suggestions to share!