11 October - Happy Friday

English 11

It felt nice to get a bit back to normal today with class after the strange day that we had on Wednesday. Thanks, as always, for a great session today. We did a bit of a transition today as we went from Unit 1 to Unit 2 - this included some feedback, time for our projects, and then time to work on some new content and ideas.

I loved seeing the dedication that you all brought to our project workshop after the feedback. I hope that you found everything useful in terms of our review. Remember to pay this forward into your projects. When your project is complete you've commented on three excerpts to find all of our unit literary/narrative devices. Turn in your work via Schoology. I am happy to meet with you next week during a Lion Time if you need more help. Remember, we won't have any more time in class to work on this project.

From our project work we began our transition into Unit 2 - The Harlem Renaissance. We talked a bit about the history and context for this moment in history. Over the next few weeks we'll explore by reading, writing, and listening. We'll study a mix of poetry, music, and non-fiction in this unit. We listened and analyzed "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday today as a first step. At the end of class, we finished our words for List Two. We'll review a bit next class and take our Vocabulary Quiz on 22 October. This will be one of the last grades of the quarter.

9 October

English 11

Today we had a super short class because of the extension of testing on the PSAT/SAT. We had about thirty minutes together today, so we spent that time on our projects for Unit 1. Remember that your project grade will replace your test grade, so it's a great built in revision for you all. 

Remember the big elements of the project: three excerpts, annotated for all of our devices, note the topic and theme for each excerpt. It's best if you do this work in a Google Doc or Slide show. Next class we'll do some writing to finish the project. If the project is ready, you'll be able to turn it in on Friday. The final due date for the project is October 21.

Next class we'll start Unit 2 - The Harlem Renaissance and Research. It'll be a great unit focused on studying poetry, music, non-fiction, and doing some research on American problems. I'm excited to take you all to an exciting moment of history for our nation. Have a great rest of your day!

7 October

English 11

Simple day today in English 11 - we took our unit reading test. At the end of each unit, you'll see something like what you saw today. I'll ask you to read something and show your knowledge of what you've learned in the unit. I'll have these tests scored and returned to you next week. We'll do some feedback and then open up the options for retesting. If you found today's test difficult, let's meet and discuss that before too long. Remember it's important to put in the work to develop skills, especially when it comes to reading and writing.

Next class is going to be a bit low-key since many of you are taking the PSAT that day. I expect you'll be a bit fried after testing. We're going to watch a video about our next literary period and have some small discussions about Unit 1. We'll also take a bit of time to work on projects. Here's to our next time together!

1 October - New Month, End of the Week

English 11

Great day today in English 11 everyone! I hope that you enjoyed your first day with station rotations. For today's class we spent our time working through review tasks to get ready for Monday's test. We did some reading, some work on our projects, some arts and crafts, and everything was about reviewing and preparing for Monday.

Remember that for your test on Monday you'll have a story to read and then about twenty questions. There will be a question about each of the literary devices in this unit. Be sure that you can identify them and comment on how they help an author to create a theme or message. You'll have the whole class period to work on your test. Projects will be due at the end of next week. Remember that working on your project will help you to be ready for your test.