Thursday, April 29, 2010

Freshman Homework for the Weekend

First, your facebook projects are due on Wednesday for A-day and Thurday for B-day. Bring your projects with you to class.

Your assignment for the weekend is to read in your novel for ONE HOUR! Then you need to answer question seven and either six or eight.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Freshmen!

Don't forget to put your bibliographies in the box. I've already graded a few that were turned in this morning. What I've seen so far has been good but there have been minor errors. Please pay attention to things like capitalization, punctuation, formatting, etc.

Let me know if you need any help!

Announcements for English III - 4/28

Students,

The final drafts of your "Song of Myself" will be due on Friday. If you have questions or concerns about this assignment - please come and see me ASAP to conference on your writing. Remember that I'm specifically looking for the imagery of your piece as well as interesting word choice and an overall message.

Furthermore, we will have a quiz on Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman on Monday. You will be asked about two poems by these author's you've not seen before. Spend time over the weekend investigating and reviewing important elements of their style.

Don't forget that you have a group meeting on Friday. I'll be checking in with your groups again this week. Read your books!

Looking forward to our scavenger hunt tomorrow!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Homework for All Classes - 4/27

Juniors:

Today you'rea going to do one of the best writing assignments of the course. You're going to write a poem about one event in your life. Remember, you want to select an event about which you can write in a lot of detail. Take time to remember the event. What did you feel? What did you see? What did you learn from the experience?

Bring in a draft tomorrow. The more complete your draft, the better the final draft will be.


Freshmen:

Tonight you have to compile your bibliography for your facebook project. Remember that you should show all of the sources that you used for this assignment in MLA format. When you submit the bibliography, make sure that you alphabetize the sources.

Ask for help if you need it.

Monday, April 26, 2010

B-day Homework - 4/26

B-day Students:

Tonight you need to read in your novels for thirty minutes and answer either question number three OR question number four. In addition, you need to complete the reading of the myths I gave you today in class.

We will go over the information about the myths on Wednesday.

Friday, April 23, 2010

English III Homework - 4/23

Over the weekend you should all read your novels. Get ahead on your reading so that next week you will not be behind on Friday. Keep up with your group members' pacing.

I was very impressed by the level of discussion that I saw today with most of the groups. Keep going back to your notes and discussions as you continue to read. As you read, if you have questions, please ask!

Finally, I want to address Sparknotes. Sparknotes will be helpful for you in providing summaries and some ideas about the text, but you cannot rely on these to do well on this project. Do not rely on the Sparknotes - do the reading and ask me if you don't understand something.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

English III Homework - 4/21

Tonight for homework you don't have any assignments to complete for me. But, you probably have reading to accomplish for your group. Spend some time tonight and tomorrow night accomplishing your goals.

Thursday I will not be in class - you will watch two video biographies of authors that we will study next week. I will not assign any reading for Thursday night either, so that you can finish your group assignment.

On Friday I will spend some time checking in with everyone about your reading. If you've got questions, please come with those.

Lastly, if you didn't finish your reading of "A Rose for Emily" please reread it or finish the reading by next week.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

English III - Work for 4/20

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Tonight you need to read the story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. Complete the worksheet as well as read the story. As I said in class today, it's best to complete the vocabulary before you read, then read the story, then go back and answer the questions. Things will make much more sense after you read the story once.

We'll discuss it tomorrow in class.

I really hope you enjoy it - it's one of my favorites.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Homework for 4/19

Juniors:

Tomorrow you have an exam on Transcendentalism and Romanticism. We went over the pieces that you need to know for the exam tomorrow today in class. Be sure that you know the poetry written by Longfellow and Bryant as well as the essays by Emerson and Thoreau. Your exam will have multiple choice questions about each piece as well as some short answer questions.

Freshmen:

Finish reading the excerpt about the Trojan War. Also, read your novel for thirty minutes and answer question two from the Independent Reading Journal sheet. Be sure that you use a direct quotation to answer your question.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Junior Work - 4/16

Juniors - This weekend you should begin reading your novels. Hopefully you came up with an acceptable reading schedule amongst your groupmates. You should focus on reading and accomplishing your goals this weekend.

Furthermore, it would be a good idea to begin studying for your Romanticism/Transcendentalism Quiz. You should be acquainted with "Nature" and "Self-Reliance" by Emerson as well as "Walden" and "Resistance to Civil Government" by Thoreau. These will be the pieces you should know for the exam.

Lastly, bring your books to class on Monday. I would like to spend some time reading in class on Monday.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Homework for All Classes - 4/15

Juniors: Don't forget tomorrow to bring in your reflections on your new experience as well as your novels for the independent project. Tomorrow we are going to spend time going through the project so that you understand all of the components. Furthermore, don't forget to finish reading Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government." You've got the last three pages of this piece to read. We'll review the last bit of information tomorrow.

Freshmen: Your final drafts of your movie reviews are due on Monday/Tuesday. Please staple your rough draft to the back of your final draft and turn it in to the box. Also, you should spend some time this weekend reading your novel. Remember to have your book with you every day of class for independent reading time.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

English III - Homework for 14 April

This assignment is not due until Friday. The first thing that you need to do is think of something that you have never done before. Think of a new experience. Then - go out and do it. Gather proof of this experience: if you're going out for dinner to new food, keep the reciept; take a picture of you in the woods; find some way to prove your experience.

After you complete the experience, write a one page reflection of the experience. Tell me about what you felt while you went through the experience. What did you learn. Did you transcend?

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

English I - Homework - 4/13 and 4/14

Tonight for homework you need to write the first draft of your movie review. Your rough draft should come to class with you on Thursday/Friday. Your draft needs to have the following elements:
  1. Your introduction paragraph should grab the reader's attention, compare the film to the play in a few sentences, and then state your thesis. Your thesis should answer the question, "Did you like the film? Why?"
  2. Your second paragraph should summarize the main events of the movie. Use your viewing guide for help. Don't give too much away - like the ending or other climactic events.
  3. The last paragraph should be the support of your opinion with details from the movie. Bring it back to your argument.
  4. Overall, remember to be interesting and honest.

Your draft should be no more than 300 words - a page and a half double spaced. I look forward to seeing what you think of O.

English III - 4/13 Homework

Tonight you have a bit of Transcendental reading to do. Please read pages 193-198 from Thoreau's Walden. I want you to just read the sections titled "Economy," "Where I Lived and What I Lived For," and "Solitude."

As you read this selection, take notes on the following ideas:
  1. How is Thoreau putting Emerson's preaching into practice? Note specific details.
  2. Keep track of the metaphors in "Where I Lived..." - Thoreau compares people and society to a lot of things. Keep track of the metaphors and their meaning.

See you tomorrow!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Homework - 4/12

Freshmen and Juniors -

You don't really have any "homework" to speak of tonight. However, all of you have an assignment concerning a novel relatively soon. Juniors - you need to get a copy of your book if you haven't already done so. Be sure that you have a copy with you in class on Friday. Freshmen - we will go to the library on Thursday and Friday of this week to get your books. You may also want to get your own copy or bring one from home to read - if you do this, make sure that you have it by Thursday/Friday so that I can approve it for the nine weeks.

That's all.

Juniors - Have you been misunderstood yet?

Thursday, April 1, 2010

SPRING BREAK!!!!

Happy Break!

Read! Play video games! Enjoy the outside. Go camping!

Read!

Juniors - don't forget about your papers. Also, get your books.