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My name is Dr. Julie A. Brua, and I am very excited to return as a member of the staff at St. Joseph Catholic School! I have been blessed to work in education for over 36 years, teaching students from grade kindergarten through adults.

 

I have earned the following degrees:
 
Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from University of Illinois at Urbana with 13 years of experience in teaching English Language Arts in grades 6-7-8 while at Deer Path and Northbrook Junior High Schools;
  
Master of Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Illinois at Urbana;
 
Type 75 Endorsement in Administration from DePaul University;
 
Doctorate in Educational Administration and Superintendent Endorsement from Northern Illinois University;
 
Chief School Business Official Endorsement from Northern Illinois University; and, 
 
English as a Second Language and Bilingual Endorsement from Benedictine and St. Francis Universities.
 
I have spent over 22 years in leadership positions while also serving in many roles associated with my faith: cantor, RCIA sponsor, religious education teacher, 8th grade Confirmation sponsor, Catholic school principal, etc.  My daughter Audrey, who went through religious education at St. Joe's, is going off to college this fall. My husband RJ and I live in Libertyville, and in our spare time, we enjoy exercising, spending time with family, and spoiling our dogs Paisley and Colsen. I feel blessed to be here.
 
About our English language arts program:
 
All of our middle school students will complete HMH Grammar lessons, and we will incorporate Gretchen Courtney's writing program and other genres of writing. 
 
Our program offers support to students in many forms.  In addition to the help and support I provide to all students in the classroom, IXL, an online practice program, offers additional support to students, including step-by-step demonstrations.    
 
All of our students will leave St. Joseph Catholic School with a solid foundation in grammar and writing and will be ready for the challenges of high school English language arts. 
 

Posts

Week at a Glance: January 16-19

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
    • Module 2 Review - Wednesday, January 17
    • Module 2 Assessment - Thursday, January 18
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience through animal research topics
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of verbs, adverbs, preposition, conjunctions, and interjections
    • Quiz - Tuesday, January 16 - Linking Verbs  Part II
    • Module 3 Review - Thursday, January 18
    • Module 3 Assessment - Friday, January 19
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to expository research teams for Fever 1793
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
    • Module 2 Review - Wednesday, January 17
    • Module 2 Assessment - Friday, January 19
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to Why I Love SJCS essays

Week at a Glance: December 18 - 22

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to research topics
Grade 7:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to debate topics
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to informative writing and presentations

Week at a Glance: December 11-15

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to research topics
Grade 7:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to debate topics
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of parts of speech - nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
    • Assessment: Friday, December 15
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to informative writing and presentations

Week at a Glance: December 4 - 8

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of parts of a sentence
    • Assessment: Friday, December 8
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to research topics
Grade 7:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to elevator speechs
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of parts of speech
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through parts of a sentence
    • Assessment: Friday, December 8
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to informative writing

Week at a Glance: October 30 - November 3

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of punctuation rules (quotation marks, apostrophes/contractions)
    • Quiz: Monday, October 30; Assessment: Thursday, November 2
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to personal narratives
Grade 7:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to memoir vignettes
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules (quotation marks, apostrophes/contractions, ellipsis points) 
    • Assessment: Monday, October 30
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to speeches

Week at a Glance: November 27 - December 1

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through parts of a sentence
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through parts of a sentence
  • Review: Monday and Tuesday, November 27-28; Assessment: Wednesday, November 29
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through parts of a sentence
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to speeches

Week at a Glance: November 13-17

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through parts of a sentence
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to personal narratives
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through parts of a sentence
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to memoir vignettes
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through parts of a sentence
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to speeches

Week at a Glance: November 6 - 10

Grade 6:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to personal narratives
Grade 7:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to six-word memoirs and memoir vignettes
Grade 8:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to speeches

Week at a Glance: October 9-13

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of punctuation rules
    • Review: Thursday, October 12; Assessment: Friday, October 13
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to character trait journal entries/writing
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules
  • o produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to descriptive writing
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules.
    • Review: Tuesday, October 10; Assessment: Thursday, October 12
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to cause/effect writing

Week at a Glance: October 23-27

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of punctuation rules (quotation marks, apostrophes/contractions)
    • Review: Friday, October 27; Assessment: Monday, October 30
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules (quotation marks, apostrophes/other uses of apostrophe)
    • Review: Thursday, October 26; Assessment: Friday, October 27
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules (quotation marks, apostrophes/contractions, ellipsis points) 
    • Review: Thursday, October 26; Assessment: Friday, October 27

Week at a Glance: October 16-18

Grade 6:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by writing a 4-paragraph personal trait essay
Grade 7:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience  through crafting a descriptive writing letter
Grade 8:
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience through cause/effect essay

Week at a Glance: October 2 - 6

Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to character analysis paragraph writing 
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules
  • Review Wednesday and Thursday; Assessment Friday
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules.
  • to work on teambuilding through ELA group tasks, argumentation groups, etc.

Week at a Glance: September 25 - 29

Grade 6:
*Please bring headphones to class on Monday - 6Brua
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to character analysis paragraph writing on Monday and Tuesday. No class Wednesday through Friday due to Camp Duncan.  
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by narrative writing with story modes: narration, exposition, dialogue, interior monologue, and description. We will finish comic strips with dialogue on Monday and finish the narrative drafts early this week.
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by argumentation essay writing: background, position/thesis statement, integrating evidence through in-text citations, and works cited. Body paragraph 1 in outline due Monday. We will work on Body paragraph 2 starting Monday and finish the argumentation draft this week.

Week at a Glance: September 18 - 22

Grade 6:
*Please bring headphones to class on Monday and Tuesday.
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by  introduction to character analysis paragraph writing
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by narrative writing with story modes: narration, exposition, dialogue, interior monologue, and description.
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by argumentation essay writing: background, position/thesis statement, integrating evidence through in-text citations, and works cited.

Week at a Glance: September 11 - 15

Please have a set of headphones and bring to school by Monday, September 11.
 
Grade 6:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through the study of capitalization rules: groups, organizations, religions, titles, structures, events, objects, first words, etc.
    • Study Guide Review - Tuesday, September 12
    • Assessment - Wednesday, September 13
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by Bingo card writing/journal and introduction to character analysis writing
Grade 7:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by narrative writing
Grade 8:
  • to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking through punctuation rules
  • to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience by argumentation reading/writing