23 April - Wacky Wednesday Yet Again!

English 11

Solid work today, everyone! I hope that you enjoyed Flannery O'Connor and her spin on life in the Southern United States. Today we read "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and explored the grotesque, Southern Gothic, irony, and the idea of a ruined Christ figure. It was a heavy reading day, but these are the days that steel us for future testing.

We read the story in order to discover our devices and to explore the darker side of human society. This is definitely one of those stories that will stick with you for a while. Is Lucynell still sitting in that cafe?! We didn't have as much time at the end to discuss some of the meaning from the story, so we'll have to hold that to the end of the unit when we pull together some loose threads.

For tonight, focus on finishing your vocabulary work and your play reading. Friday's class will be focused on our Drama Projects, so having a good chunk of the reading done will help to facilitate that. Remember to use your resources to help you read. They're posted in the Unit Folder. I've posted the common version of our SOL Reading Review Bank, so be sure that your version is updated. If you haven't yet finished your MAP test, be sure to schedule time for Lion Time to get that complete. Looking forward to Friday!

B-Day Homework and Reminders

AP English Literature 
Good job hanging in there while writing our first in class essay! I know some of us had mixed feelings about our writing, but that's okay! We need to start somewhere and now we will just keep improving our writing for the real test in May.
For Friday:
1. Read Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" on pages 454-467. Look for irony, shifts in tone and connections to "Good Country People."
2. Make sure your outlines are turned in online! I have most of the outlines, but not all of them, so make sure they are turned in on Google Classroom!
3. I will get your outline rubrics back to you on Friday. This means your project presentations/ artifacts will be due next Tuesday.
4. If you have any questions about college admissions, Ms. E's information is in the ppt presentation from today on Google Classroom.

AP Research
Hello researchers! Some of us were very productive today. Some of us need to pick up the pace on our ABs.
A few reminders:
1. Keep working on your ABs.
2. Update your task logs.
3. Complete your reflections.
If you have questions for me or Mr. Miller, please let us know next class!

Homework for B-Day Students: 25 April 2018

English IV

Today there were many of you who were absent and missed a day to get some of your novel work done in class. As a reminder, our novel projects are the majority of what we have to do from here to the end of the year. It would be a bad decision to not get this work done and then leave yourself with the last few classes to get caught up.

Friday is a bit of a bonus day for us because of the senior meeting tomorrow. It is important that by Friday you have submitted all of your work for week one and moved through most if not all of the work for week two. Your week three and four projects are a bit more time consuming - and all of this leads to the final presentation.

Be sure that you are crossing the finish line with power and authority, not just hobbling over the line.

AP English III

Today we finished our practice exam. I will have all of the essays graded and returned to you next week. All of you know what I'll be doing this weekend! Be sure that you have read and annotated Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" in advance of our class on Friday. The .pdf file of the story is linked in the previous post. Annotate the story or take notes as you read. It is important that you consider the details around O'Connor's use of language (especially her word choice) as you read.

We'll be spending a lot of time with the story on Friday and we're going back to coin tosses! It's important that you are prepared for Friday's class!

Also, don't forget that Friday is the last day to submit any missing work for this most recent unit. You should also speak to me about making up time for your practice examination if you missed one of the days.

Homework for B-Day Students: 19 April 2018

I hope that you've all had a good week for me. Here are your reminders to take you on into the weekend!

English IV

I hope that you all enjoyed the session today with our college admissions counselor. Hopefully what he said gave you some ideas to consider for what your plans will look like next year as well as beyond that. From there, we spent time working with our novels more before ending the day. Make sure that by this point you have submitted your novel work for Week One. This includes a reading log, a vocabulary card, and your author project. If any of this work is missing, zeroes will be entered after the weekend.

I should also have your essay at this point. If you have not turned in an essay, you will be missing the chance to get feedback on the first attempt and you will only have the second attempt for your score.

All project and essay grades will be in by the end of the weekend. Please check PowerSchool on Sunday for updates.

AP English III

Today was a great opportunity for us to spend some time in small groups learning about our future authors in our unit and important information related to them and their writing which will be important for us in our unit. If you were not in class today, you should get the notes from a classmate or request the slides from me via email. You will be excused from today's in-class work and grading.

Next week we have our AP Practice Exam on Monday and Wednesday. As a reminder, you also will be turning in your copy of Invisible Man on Monday to be checked by me for a final annotation check. This is worth ninety points. You will also submit a final set of vocabulary cards on Chapters 20 through the Epilogue.

By Friday, you should read and annotate our first story of the unit, Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find". As you read, you should annotate for a look at how she builds characters in the story. You may also want to consider family as a larger motif in the story as well as setting. There is a pdf of the story here which you can read and annotate.

AP English III - 18 May 2017 Reading

AP English III

Students - Please use this link to access the digital copy of Flannery O'Connor's short story.

Homework for B-Day Students: Weekend Edition - 19 May 2016

There are only two B-days left in the regular school year!  Yay!  So exciting!

AP English III

Have fun this weekend - that's your homework.  On Monday we'll finish up with Flannery O'Connor, sign up for our food items for our character cafe on Wednesday and round out the year with course evaluations.

English II

If you have any missing assignments or need to take this weekend to finish your website project it is important that you settle that work no later than Wednesday.  Monday will be the day that we will finish our presentations and get back to watching Escape from Sobibor.  On Wednesday we'll finish the film, play some review games, and round out the year.

B-Day Flannery O'Connor Discussion Board

Please respond to the following prompt by attaching a comment signed with your name. Responses received before 4:00 on Friday afternoon will be considered for extra credit on a previous assignment of either one, two, or three points.



As discussed during the reading of the story, Flannery O'Connor is an expert when it comes to creating and using irony within her stories.  In your opinion, which element is the most ironic in the body of the story?  What is this element's greater purpose in the context of the story?  How does irony help Flannery O'Connor to communicate her greater message?

A-Day Flannery O'Connor Discussion Board

Please respond to the following prompt by attaching a comment signed with your name.  Responses received before 4:00 on Thursday afternoon will be considered for extra credit on a previous assignment of either one, two, or three points.


Flannery O'Connor is celebrated as being one of the foremost authors of the Southern Gothic style.  This style relies especially on the use of the grotesque in either characters or situations to clarify O'Connor's greater purpose in the story.  Given that knowledge, what element of the grotesque do you think has the most impact on the story?  What is that impact?  Why is this element of the grotesque and its impact important to the story as a whole?

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!