Week 3/30 – 4/3

English II - We will finish watching our film and then pass out The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck.

English III - Introduce the NING; your blog reflections over ch 7-8 are due on Wed 4/1.  We will be discussing ch 9-11 on Wed, and you will be at the Junior retreat on Friday.  We will be back in the computer lab for class on Tues 4/7.

Creative Writing - We will continue working on the supernatural children’s stories this week!

Week 3/23 – 3/27

English II – You will have ONE last day in the computer lab to finish your Gatsby Meets the Press newspapers on MS Publisher.  Use your time WISELY!  Then, we will begin watching a Gatsby related film as a reward for all of your hard work!  I will return your graded exams by the end of this week.

English III - We will continue reading Frankenstein and I will pass out instructions on how to prepare for our scientist debate (or trial- we’ll see!) and we will begin working on our Ning soon.  I am going to pass out a parent permission form for using the Ning and will need it back A.S.A.P…

Creative Writing - March is flying by and we are nearly finished with our poetry unit!  We will work on metaphor poems and devote the remainder of this week to REVISING all of our work to date.  Next up: Short Stories!!!

Week 3/9 – 3/13

UPDATE: Sophomores (B Day) - your Gatsby TEST is postponed until Tuesday, March 17!!! (Gatsby Meets the Press will also be pushed back 1 day!)

English II – Mon/Tues you need to finish the Gatsby by classtime, there will be a quiz and we will discuss.  I will also provide a handout to help you prepare for the Socratic Seminar (American Dream) for Wed/Thurs.  Fri/Mon there will be an in class test.

English III – You need to be working on your I-Search papers, and you should have conducted your interview by class on Tuesday.  You should bring in your Works Cited page Thursday.  We will be starting The Romantics (poetry) this week, and I will be passing out your Frankenstein novels soon!

Creative Writing – We will finish up our closed form poetry and moving to free verse by the end of the week!

Week 3/2 – 3/6

English II – By Tues/Wed you should have read Ch. 7 and you should be prepared to discuss the chapter and the characterizations and motivations.  A lot is going on here, so give yourself time to read and annotate.  Thurs/Fri we will spend the entire class in the computer lab.  You should have read ch. 8 by Thurs/Fri and then finish the book (ch. 9) by Mon/Tues.  *I reserve to give quizzes unannounced.  Be prepared.*

Gatsby Meets the Press newspapers are due by the end of next week.    (Tentatively Friday the 13th or Monday the 16th.)

English III – Monday and Wednesday will be spent in the computer lab working on your I-Search papers.  Remember that these papers are intended to be personal, relevant, and helpful in your actual planning.  Please take advantage of this time to learn more!  (Note: the style of the paper should still be FORMAL, even though you are allowed to use the word “I”.) 

For Wednesday:  Bring in 2 printed off sources AND your questions for the interview you will conduct. What we do on Friday depends on how well you utilize the class time.  You need to have conducted your interview (phone/email OK) and bring in the answers by Tuesday, March 10th.

Creative Writing – We are going to get serious about revising the closed form poems before we let loose and start free verse poetry.

 

Week 2/23 – 2/27

English II – This week, you have a quiz over Chapters 5 AND 6 on Wed/Thurs.  There WILL be vocabulary (off your “Magic Squares”) on this quiz-  be prepared.  Wed/Thurs you will also be performing the skits you created at the beginning of the week!  Feel free to bring props and make it fun!  *We will be back in the computer lab Fri/Mon to work on the Gatsby Meets the Press papers!*

English III – We’ll wrap up our Enlightenment unit by finishing the movie, “Gulliver’s Travels,” on Tuesday.  I will be passing out an explanation of our I Search Project.  We will start brainstorming and prewriting on Thursday.  On Monday (March 2nd) we will go to the library during class.  The unit schedule is attached to your handout.

Creative Writing -   Monday – blog comments for Personal Memoirs, finish present analysis of song lyrics

Wednesday – dive in to POETRY unit

Friday – REVISE PERSONAL MEMOIRS; continue writing poetry

Week 2/17 – 2/20

English II – We will spend a good deal of time in the library working on the “Gatsby meets the press” projects- phase one.  This means you should be focusing on the FIRST list of articles that need to be written (2 per topic).  The quizzes are also getting harder - if by any chance you have not read, catch up quickly.  Be prepared to spend Thurs/Fri leading a discussion on Gatsby himself.  (You will have read through Chapter 4 – almost halfway – by then.)  Final draft of character essays (with peer edited version attached) is due Monday/Tuesday.

English III – You should be ready to engage in a dialogue regarding the effectiveness of satire.  We will be reading excerpts from Gulliver’s Travels, in addition to the examples we have already read and discussed and then you will be writing your own 1-2 page SATIRE.  Put some thought into it now, as choosing a topic will be challenging, and this is a very challenging genre. 

Creative Writing - Kicking off our POETRY unit!   Bring in your favorite song LYRICS and make sure they are classroom appropriate.  You may bring in a favorite poem if song lyrics do not appeal to you.  You will be analyzing and sharing with the class.  *You should have finished BOTH memoirs and our Creative Nonfiction unit is finished, for now.  (We will come back to it at the end of the semester for the portfolios…)

Week 2/9 – 2/12

Sorry I’ve been gone, my son and I are feeling much better!

English II - Read through Chapter 3 in Gatsby, begin work on Gatsby Meets the Press (see Webquest for additional details).   Watch for characterization and symbolism – don’t forget to annotate. (post-its/notebook paper are fine.)

B2 and B3:  1 page paper showing relationships between main characters due Mon, Feb. 17

A1: 1 page paper (see above) due Tues, Feb 18

B5: 1 page paper due (see above) Thurs, Feb 19

English III – Watching Gulliver’s Travels as introduction to Enlightenment Unit.  Introduce SATIRE.

Creative Writing - Finish up Family Memoirs.  Next week we will begin our POETRY unit!!!