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Castillo, Ms. Melina » Home

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Hello!  My name is Melina Castillo.  I'm very excited about teaching 7th grade English/Language Arts for the Film and Media Magnet in my 27th year in the education industry.  I am starting my 6th year here at King MS. My wide experience in the field makes me appreciate the T.S. King MS community even more.  TSK has parents who are involved in their children's lives.  The teachers here are dedicated to give their best to the students and their families.  I am in a very special place!
 
This page contains the syllabi for the classes that I teach, the grading policy, my philosophy about educations, and my expectations.  All documents will be here all year for your reference.
 
This page is also designed to provide parents and students information about major assignments/projects and upcoming events, so please subscribe to the page to get notifications every time a new post is added.  Forms, templates, rubrics, and writing samples are housed here too.
 
Of course, the information housed here are available on Schoology.  However, since it is easier to find posts here than going through the daily Schoology Updates, you might want to come here to look for things that are over a week old/posted over a week ago.
 
Office Hours:
I know that students sometimes forget things or have simple questions about assignments.  For these types of questions, please send me private Schoology messages.  If a student needs more in-depth, one-to-one assistance, a student may make an appointment to have a Zoom session with me from 7 - 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and/or Wednesdays.  These Zoom sessions are by appointment only and must be made ahead of time (not on the same day).
 
Parents are encouraged to send private messages through Schoology or asked to email me directly at [email protected] if you need to set up a one-to-one meeting or a teacher-team meeting.  Schoology messages are the easiest and most dependable way to communicate. As the syllabus states, if messages are received by 7 p.m. on weekdays, you will likely get a response that same evening.  Messages sent after that will likely not receive a response until the following day.
 
In cases of emergency, and you need to reach me immediately, you may send me a text message using this phone number (747) 221-6610.  Out of respect for my private life, please avoid contacting me before 8 a.m., after 7 p.m., and on weekends.  I am providing this number for you in case you need to get in touch with me immediately and can't wait for the Schoology message to be read.
 
Facts About Me
 
Education Background
1. Bachelor's Degree:  Loyola Marymount University
2. Teaching Credential:  Mount Saint Mary's College
3.  CLAD Credential (allows me to teach students who are English Language Learners):  Stanford University
4.  Master's Degree:  Pepperdine University
 
Professional Experience
1. 17 years teaching (so far)
2. 3 years as an Assistant Principal in middle and high school
3. 2 years as a Principal for a 6-12 SPAN school
4. Curriculum Developer
5. Teacher Coach and Mentor Teacher (Master Teacher)
6. Teacher Professional Development Developer and Trainer
7.  Administrator Trainer
 
Fun Facts
1. I love animals, dogs in particular :-)
2. I enjoy eating milk chocolate (Swiss and U.K. made are the best!)... yum!
3. Reading is fun!  Really!
4. My favorite book of all time is S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders.
5. No morning is complete without green tea.
6. Travel --- the best way to learn about and appreciate others!  I travel every chance I get.
7. I'm proud of being a multi-racial person.
8. The sound of the ocean waves is relaxing.
9. Learning is fun! Truly! My world just expands and keeps on growing with every learning experience!
10. I'm a proud nerd :-))
 
 

Posts

"I Am" Poem

This is the template for an "I Am" poem. 
 
1. Use the template to tell me more about yourself.
2. Later in the school year, you will be able to use this as a character analysis assignment for novels that you read. 

Annotating the Text

Attached are symbols for how to annotate the text.  If your have a paper copy of the book, use a post it note to mark up the book with these symbols.  If you have an electronic copy of the book that allows you to annotate, use these symbols.  If your eBook does not allow you to annotate, use these symbols as you write notes about the book, and use the notes during class discussions.

Article/Informational Text Features

Attached is a labeled article to teach you what the text features are of an article.

Study this.  Use the information for the Newsela quiz due March 18.

Use this as a model (the format) for your Native American article which will be due on Monday, March 23, at 9 p.m.

5 Paragraph Essay Sample

Analyze what makes this essay an "A" by looking at your notes and finding the elements that the student included.  
 
Look at how direct quotes are used and imbedded in the paragraphs. 
 
Look at how citations are done.
 
Pay attention to how the student wrote the into and the conclusion. 

Sample MEAEAEAL paragraph

                                          Character Analysis
 
     The antagonist in the short story called "Korean Cinderella" is Omoni, Pear Blossom's step-mother.  The first reason why she's the antagonist is because she teased Pear Blossom about going to the festival by saying, "Pear Blossom may go after she weeds the rice paddies."  This is a tease because the rice paddies are so large that it would have been impossible to weed it, so this shows how Omoni is mean to Pear Blossom.  Another evidence from the text that shows that Omoni is an antagonist is that the text says, "When Omoni and Peony saw how beautiful Pear Blossom was, they were jealous of her.  Omoni made her work day and night and constantly found fault with her."  This quote proves that Omoni is an antagonist because jealousy and treating a person badly are characteristics of an antagonist.  The final reason that shows how Omoni is an antagonist is seen when Pear Blossom arrived at the festival, and Omoni called her a liar and scared Pear Blossom by saying that the girl will be arrested.  This act is an act of an antagonist because Omoni had no reason to scare Pear Blossom since the girl did not do anything wrong. There are several incidents in the text that proves how mean Omoni was to Pear Blossom making Omoni the antagonist in the story.