21 February - Happy Friday!

English 11

A good day to end the week today in English 11. I'm really excited to see what you all did today for your reading quizzes, and I was so happy to see the great thinking related to Gloria Steinem's article. Here's our review of class.

We started the day by reflecting on our central question for the year - What are some American problems? Why are they important? Whom do they effect? We had some very vibrant conversation and drew a lot of connections between problems, their impacts, and the various texts we've read this year. From there, we looked at "Women Are Never Frontrunners" by Gloria Steinem. In the article she discusses sexism, misogyny, and the impact that this has on women no matter who they are in America. Steinem takes a political approach, but we can see the reality of her words in every day life. 

To end class, we completed our quiz on our books. If you didn't have time to finish, please be sure that it is turned in by Monday morning so that I can score it. In the quiz, we focused on a key passage and demonstrated our ability to understand and interpret the passage. The quiz was open book. If you were not in class, you can feel free to complete the quiz on your own, or we can meet at Lion Time.

Be in touch with any questions or concerns that you may have. We're going to be pivoting to focus on our projects here at the end of the unit, so be ready for that! Keep reading and making progress through your books. That's the best way to prepare for what we have ahead.

Have a great weekend!

Homework for 30 August - B Day Kids

Hello B-Day Students!  Welcome back!  It was great getting to know you and to start working with you for the year.  Please see the reminders below for your work tonight.

AP English III

Tonight we have two things to complete to prepare for our next class.  First, make sure that you have reviewed In Cold Blood - section one "The Last to See Them Alive".  As you are reviewing, consider your annotations.  You may see something that you missed before, mark it now.  Secondly, we have our article by Joan Didion called "On Keeping a Notebook" which is found at this link.


Please read the article. Take notes on paper or print the article and annotate it. Be sure to organize your notes by paragraph numbers. As you read, consider the questions we discussed at the end of class today:
1. Why does Didon write? Why does Capote write? Are their goals similar or different? How?

2. Does art have to be true? Can there be numerous kinds of truths?

Outside of this - have your parent contact form and your honor code pledge.

English II

Don't forget to complete your parent contact form and to get your supplies for this class.  After that, remember our key question from today:  What happens when there is no respect in the world?  Try to consider this as a jumping off point for Thursday's class.

Homework for the Long Weekend/Tuesday - 1/17 and 1/22

Students,

This snow day couldn't come at a better time.  We've already got the day off tomorrow so we don't have to worry about making up the time.  Hopefully it snows enough that the hill on the road up the block from my house will get good and icy for sledding.  If not, I'll just have to enjoy being here tomorrow finishing up some work.  Here are your reminders for the weekend or Tuesday night before you come back in on Wednesday/Thursday.

AP English IV

This weekend you need to read Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" from your Perrine books.  As you read, always annotate.  Pay especial attention to O'Connor's use of religion, grotesque, and irony.  Also, be sure to pay attention to the narrator as well as the characters within the story.

After you finish reading you are going to complete a 1Q1P assignment based on the story.  You need to select a sentence from the story which is anywhere from ten to thirty-five words long.  Write that sentence at the top of your page and then below present a full reading of that quotation.  Wring every bit of meaning out of all of the parts of the quotation.  Leave no comma unturned!  This is a great activity to prepare you for larger analysis type assignments which we will begin to approach this nine weeks.

AP English III

Over the weekend you have some reading to do for me.  First, read Arthur Miller's article entitled "Why I Wrote The Crucible" - remember that the copy I gave you is edited to avoid giving away plot points, if you read a different version of the article, be sure not to give away major plot moments.  Also, you need to begin reading Act I of The Crucible.  I'd like for you to read to the entrance of Rev. Hale of Beverly.

As always, annotate everything highly.  We're venturing into a new foray studying drama, but I think it's going to be great fun.

English IV

Over the weekend you all don't have any homework to complete for me.  However, I would invite you to continue the process of reflection we started in class due to the fact that you all have a very important goal to reach this year and some of you are falling short.  Remember, I'm here to help if you need it.

Freshman Focus

Your homework will be posted on Tuesday after our class.

Happy end of the first semester everyone!  Come back energized to begin the long slog to summer vacation!