Juniors – Week of 1/23/2012

Monday, 1/23: We have not had school on a Monday since December 19. Wow! Welcome back to Mondays. Vocab quiz over first two units; five new vocabulary words (churlish, circumlocution, circumnavigate, deciduous, deleterious); chapter IX of FD’s Narrative (finish at home); HW: flashcards due on Friday (no sentences this week); check your poet project due dates!

Tuesday, 1/24: Meet in MC for poet research/work on notecards (or annotations)

Wednesday, 1/25: FD’s Narrative – chapter X and next poetry assignment (poem with words left out, due Monday)

Thursday, 1/26: I am out today at a district workshop; read chapter 10 of the Narrative (and, time permitting, watch March on Birmingham video and/or read “Coming of Age in Mississippi”)

Friday, 1/27: 30 notecards (or annotations) due today ALONG WITH AT LEAST ONE POEM BY YOUR POET. Be ready to explain (in your groups) biographical influence and how you might analyze this poem in a literary way.

Juniors — Week of 1/17/2012

FYI: I updated the Frederick Douglass link! You may now access the Narrative at a UVa site.

Tuesday, 1/17: Race/identity poems due today; five new vocabulary words (auspicious, belie, bellicose, bowdlerize, chicanery); bib card model; FD Narrative chapters 5 & 6; HW: flashcards due Thursday; sentences due Friday; refer (often!) to poet research due date checklist – bib cards (or a working bibliography, which you may annotate for next week) due Friday!

TOMORROW (Wed): Ed plan reviews with counselors. Meet in front office and come prepared (your ed plans are signed by teachers and parents!)

Wednesday, 1/18: Meet in counseling office — before/after counselor meetings you will quietly read chapters 7 & 8 of the Narrative and grade a peer’s grammar test — bring a red pen!

Thursday, 1/19: flashcards due; pending approval, Frederick Douglass sidewalk chalk art! WE NEED SIDEWALK CHALK — PLEASE HELP!

Friday, 1/20: sentences due; vocab quiz today; then to MC for poet research help…

NOTE: vocab quiz rescheduled for Monday, 1/23

Juniors – Week of 1/10/2012

Tuesday, 1/10:Welcome back! Five new words today (abjure, abrogate, abstemious, acumen, antebellum); free write about identity; listen to This American Life: “Shouting Across the Divide” (start 41:25 into program); free write response to program; read five new poems (“On Being Brought from Africa to America” by PhillisWheatley; “Frederick Douglass” by Robert Hayden; “Learning to Love America” by Shirley Geok-Lin Lim; ”Race” by Elizabeth Alexander; “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes); HW: vocabulary flashcards due Thursday; set 4 grammar corrections due Friday (sentences only — bring questions!); vocabulary sentences (remember format? if not, ask!) due Friday; find a poem about “race” at www.poetryfoundation.org for Friday to share in small groups; write an original poem (topic is race/identity) due Tuesday!

Wednesday, 1/11: Start Frederick Douglass’ Narrative (class sets of this book, but it is also available full text, link to left)

and…check out this short TEDX talk (start paying real attention around minute 6): http://blog.onbeing.org/post/14507132103/jay-smooth-ted-talk-about-race-and-pockets-of

Thursday, 1/12: flashcards due; Narrative

Friday, 1/13: set 4 grammar paragraph quiz; poet research project — topics due today (parent signature); sentences due; race poems to share due; Narrative

Juniors – Week of 12/19/11

Monday, 12/19: Poem 4 (“Can’t repeat the past?”) with visual component due today (we’re going to save these for a reading in the new year, so that I may read them first); finish study guides in groups and work on 3 open-ended questions for Socratic seminar tomorrow.

Tuesday, 12/20: The Great Gatsby Socratic Seminar (three questions due today — for use in class and to turn in)

Wednesday, 12/21: Final Exams periods 1-3 (vocabulary #1-#53 and The Great Gatsby)

Thursday, 12/22: Final Exams periods 1-3 (vocabulary #1-#53) and The Great Gatsby)

WOW! You are one semester closer to your LAST year of high school. Congratulations, happy holidays, and happy 2012!

Over the break, rest, relax, laugh, read for fun, eat pancakes, and browse around on poets.org and the reputable parts of the world wide web and in your textbook for ideas for the big American poet research paper (due February 27, 2012). Email me if you need direction/advice. Visit the public library. Find a biography (this can count as indepedent reading points in the third quarter!). Familiarize yourself with your topic’s poetry. Start reading!

Juniors – Week of 12/12/11

Monday, 12/12: finish watching EMO; grammar correctives Set 3 (due Wednesday); Gatsby chapters III & IV (what we don’t finish in class becomes homework); HW: TWO elevator pitches are due this Friday, 12/16 (one must be on a book from the summer reading list)!

Tuesday, 12/13: Gatsby chapters 5

Wednesday, 12/14: Grammar correctives (sentences) due — quiz over paragraph in class; Gatsby chapter 6

Thursday, 12/15: Grade grammar correctives; Gatsby chapters 7 & 8

Friday, 12/16: Elevator pitches due today; assembly schedule; finish Gatsby! HW: In chapter 6 of Gatsby, Nick tells Gatsby, “You can’t repeat the past.” Gatsby replies, “Can’t repeat the past? … Of course you can!” Write an original poem (typed, titled, 14 lines at least) in which you consider this exchange, sort of take a stance, and respond. Please create/draw/find a visual to accompany your poem (perhaps a great opportunity to dig out an old photo) for the board. Due Monday (we’ll share these if you’re willing)!

Juniors — Week of 12/5/11

Monday, 12/5: Poem #4 due today (what is simple but not ordinary); Walt Whitman recitations begin; no vocabulary this week…any homework TBD

Tuesday, 12/6: Finish WW recitations; start watching Eight Men Out; have a copy of Great Gatsby by tomorrow, please.

Wednesday, 12/7: Read Matthew Bruccoli’s preface to The Great Gatsby (in small groups — if you are absent and your copy does not have this preface, ask me for one — I have copies); watch a few minutes of Eight Men Out; no HW

Thursday, 12/8: Short intro to F.S.F.; read Chapter 1 of Gatsby; watch a bit of Eight Men Out time permitting…

Friday, 12/9: Grammar Set 3; read Chapter 2 of Gatsby; watch a bit of Eight Men Out time permitting

Juniors — Week of 11/28/11

Monday, 11/28: Scarlet Letter reflections (and letters) due today; watch 20 min excerpt of Dead Poets Society; 5 new vocabulary words (mesmerize, meticulous, milieu, nemesis, nictitate); HW: Flaschards due Thursday; sentences due Friday (topic is WALT WHITMAN); write a poem due Monday (typed, titled, 14 lines long, etc. — topic is what is simple but not ordinary)…and, be prepared to recite your Whitman memorization one week from today (on Monday, December 5)!

Tuesday, 11/29:Walt Whitman packets and Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to Walt Whitman”

Wednesday, 11/30: Scarlet Letter DJs are due today; continue Whitman

Thursday, 12/1: flashcards due; Whitman “soccer” (wear sneakers!)

Friday, 12/2: sentences due; vocab quiz (new words only); independent reading catch-up day OR Whitman biography…TBD

NOTE: Two elevator pitches are due on Friday, December 16! Woot!

Juniors — Week of 11/21/11

Monday, 11/21: due today – Walt Whitman poem for memorization (recitations are first week in December); Scarlet Letter group 9 (last chapters); SL vocabulary assignment (all words so far this semester — this assignment replaces the test originally scheduled for Wednesday) and activity – due Wed.; HW: SL vocab assignment/letter activity due this Wednesday; SL DJs and study guide is due next Wednesday, November 30!

Tuesday, 11/22: ASVAB test periods 1-3; those who will be in class (and periods 4 and 6) may work on SL vocab assignment and letter activity or read independently toward second quarter goal.

Wednesday, 11/23: Scarlet Letter reflection (due TBA) in class all hour (short classes due to Fine Arts Assembly)

Happy Tofurkey Day!

NOTE: Monday after Thanksgiving break (11/28) is a DEAR day — bring your book!

Juniors — Week of 11/14/11

Monday, 11/14: Young Goodman Brown; This week’s HW: Flashcards due on Friday; sentences assignment TBA (due next week); by next Monday, find and commit to a Walt Whitman poem (use bartleby.com for a “copy” of Leaves of Grass; poem must be at least 14 lines long, with portions of longer poems being okay) — you will memorize and recite this upon return from Thanksgiving break, and I’ll need a copy!

Tuesday, 11/15: Five new words (lucubrate, magnanimous, maharajah, malapropism, meretricious); Scarlet Letter groups One & Two (1-3 and 4-6)

Wednesday, 11/16: Scarlet Letter groups Three & Four (7-8 and 9-10)

Thursday, 11/17: Scarlet Letter groups Five & Six (11-12 and 13-15)

Friday, 11/18: Flashcards due today; Scarlet Letter groups Seven & Eight (16-19 and 20-21); group Nine presents on Monday; WW poems “due” Monday

 

Juniors – Week of 11/7/11

Monday, 11/7: R & T timed writing (postponed from last Friday) – due end of hour; HW: vocab flashcards (see last Friday) due WEDNESDAY; sentences (grammar rules are dashes and less vs. fewer — show facility with one or the other in EVERY sentence) due THURSDAY

Tuesday, 11/8: Scarlet Letter AP test in groups

Wednesday, 11/9: flashcards due; Intro Nathaniel Hawthorne and Scarlet Letter; SL group assignmetns

Thursday, 11/10: sentences due; Scarlet Letter; HW: TBA

Friday, 11/11: Veteran’s Day – no school