November 24/25, 2008

So my trip to the National Council of Teachers of English convention -- which was held in San Antonio this past weekend -- was very fun and beneficial to my teaching practices. I got tons of new ideas for teaching various genres and skills in my classroom, and I also came home with over 50 new books for our classroom library! I don't think there are many things in life more wonderful than boxes full of free books...but that's just me!

English 1 -- Today in class, students read for the first 20 minutes from their library books. They were also warned that they would only have 3 more class periods of reading time since we are starting book talks on December 10th. After reading and receiving the book talk requirements, students read two poems by Shel Silverstein, and wrote their own poems answering the question: "What can a rose see (on or near the ground) that a tree can't see (way up in the air)? Next students read "in Just-" by E.E. Cummings and talked about the fresh images that Cummings used in his poem about springtime.

English 1 Homework
Read your library book, especially if you are not very far along in it -- you will only have a total of an hour of reading time in class before we begin book talks!

English 2 -- Today in class, students read their library books for the first 20 minutes, and they were also warned that they would only have 3 more class periods of reading time before we begin book talks on December 12th. After reading and receiving the requirements for the book talk, we finished up the rest of Act Three, Scene I of Julius Caesar. Now that Caesar is dead, we are beginning to see what the reprecussions for the faction will be for the murder they committed. Their main problem goes by the name of Mark Antony, who is about to go through a major transformation. Today, we saw a glimpse of him going from the shy best friend of Caesar to the angry, revenge seeking public speaker (to be seen in Scene II).

English 2 Homework
Final drafts of both newspaper pieces due next class.
Read your library books, especially if you aren't very far along in them -- you only have a total of an hour left to read in class!

November 18/19, 2008

English 1 -- Today in class, students read their library books for the first 20 minutes. Afterward, we read two short poems by two famous American poets -- "Fog" by Carl Sandberg and "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost. After reading, discussing, and answering questions about the two poems, students worked on creating a poem that was modeled after their favorite of the two poems. Both poems provided students with great examples of personification and implied metaphor, which are both terms in their Poetry Terms Journal. These examples will be a required item in the poetry portfolios that students will be turning in for part of their final grade at the end of the semester.

English 1 Homework
Finish your imitation poem of either "Fog" or "Fire and Ice".
Instructions are at the bottom of the worksheet you received in class today.

English 2 -- Today in class, students read their library books for the first 20 minutes. Afterward, we began reading Act Three Scene I of Julius Caesar, where we finally learned the fate of Caesar and saw the conspirators' reaction to the murder they committed. Today students were also introduced to the Roman Newspaper Project that they will be working on from now until Thanksgiving. Each student will write an article and a supplementary piece for a newspaper that could have been in print during the time of Julius Caesar. Students received an assignment sheet for the project that explains all the requirements and even gives some topic ideas for their pieces.

English 2 Homework
Rough drafts of both newspaper pieces are due next Monday (Nov. 24th) at the beginning of class, and the final drafts will be due next Wednesday (Nov. 26th). Don't wait until the last minute to get started!

November 14/17, 2008

English 1 -- Today in class, students read their library books for the first 20 minutes. Many people realized that they have less than a month to finish their books before we begin giving book talks (which means that you probably need to start reading your books for more than just the 20 minutes we have in class).
After reading, we talked about figures of speech, and how the three most popular forms of figurative language that are found in poetry are the simile, the metaphor, and instances of personification (which actually a metaphor too). Students recorded the definitions of these three words on their poetry terms journal, and then we read two poems -- "I Wandered Lonley as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth and "Seven Ages of Man" by William Shakespeare -- which both contain examples of the three terms we learned. Last, students began working on their 5 senses poem, which they will finish for homework.

English 1 Homework
Finish your 5 senses poem. This is how to do it:
First, think of a setting that you can vividly imagine in your mind (the beach, the mountains, a busy city street, a country cabin, etc.)
Next, write an 11 line poem describing that setting in the following format:

• Lines 1 & 2 begin with "I hear..."
• Lines 3 & 4 begin with "I see..."
• Lines 5 & 6 begin with "I smell.."
• Lines 7 & 8 begin with "I taste..."
• Lines 9 & 10 begin with "I touch..."
• Line 11 begins with "I feel..." **this line should describe an emotion
• Go back and add 1 simile, 1 metaphor, and 1 instance of personification to the poem

English 2 -- Today in class, students read their library books for the first 20 minutes. Then we finally finished Act Two! At this point, Brutus and his faction of conspirators against Caesar have perfected their plan (though Brutus still isn't sleeping any better at night), and Caesar has agreed to go to the Capitol (or actually he's been conned into going by Decius's strategic flattery and appeal to Caesar's pride). If only Caesar had listened to the soothsayer...because the Ides of March are now upon us. We will see what happens in Act Three next class.

English 2 Homework

Pick up the pace on reading your library book. Many of you are probably only reading the book for the 20 minutes each class period, and you only have about three weeks before we begin book talks.

November 12/13, 2008

English 1 -- Today in class, students read for the first 20 minutes of class from their library books and then wrote a journal in their writer's notebooks about the contents of their books so far. After reading, we began our poetry unit by reading a catalog poem by St. Louis born and raised poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, and another free verse poem by great American poet, Walt Whitman.

English 1 Homework
Write a catalog poem modeled after "Daily" by Naomi Shihab Nye
Remember to bring your textbooks and library books next class

English 2 -- Today in class students read their library books for the first 20 minutes the period. Next, they learned about parallel structure which is a grammatical skill that many sophomores have issues with in their writing. After practicing writing parallel sentences and recognizing and correcting unparallel sentences, we began reading Act Two, Scene II of Julius Caesar.

English 2 Homework
Remember to bring your library books to class

November 10/11, 2008

English 1 -- Today in class, students read for 20 minutes from their personal choice books. After reading, students got into their TKAM Newspaper groups to assemble and put the finishing touches on their newspapers. When each group was finally finished, we ended class by passing the newspapers around the room so that each group had an opportunity to check out others' final products.

English 1 Homework
Remember to bring your textbook from now on. We will be beginning our poetry unit.
Please bring your TKAM book to turn in if you have not done so already.

English 2 -- Today in class, students read for 20 minutes from their personal choice books. After reading, they journaled in their writing notebooks about what they have read in their books so far. We also continued reading Act Two, Scene I of Julius Caesar, which details the conspirators' plan to assassinate Caesar.

English 2 Homework
Remember to bring your library books and textbooks to class

November 6/7, 2008

English 1 -- Today in class, students read for the first 20 minutes from their chosen reading books that were checked out last class period from the library. After reading, Mockingbird Newspaper groups got together to do peer revising and editing of their writing pieces. They also worked on formatting their papers so that all pieces from all group members will fit on the space provided. Next week, the groups will finish the project in class.

English 1 Homework
Type all pieces for your portion of the newspaper. This includes your article, your obituary/editorial, your advertisement (unless you are designing and drawing it yourself), and your fourth choice piece (unless you are drawing the comic strip by hand).

English 2 -- Today in class, students read for the first 20 minutes from their chosen library books. After reading, I showed Act One of the Julius Caesar film. We finished up class by beginning Act Two, Scene I, which shows Cassius, Brutus, and the rest of the faction against Caesar making specific plans for assassinating the leader on the ides of March.

English 2 Homework
1st block, remember to bring your textbooks back to class in addtion to your personal reading books. 4th block, remember to bring your choice reading books as well.

Parents: Thanks so much to those of you who voted YES on Prop T. Since the proposition passed, next year the district will be able to reinstate many of the cuts that were made to our budget this year, including textbooks, professional development, and tutoring services!

November 3/5th, 2008

English 1 -- Today in class students took a trip to the library where they chose their own books to read in class. From now until the end of the semester, students will read silently for the first 20 minutes of every class. As part of their final exam at semester's end, they will be giving book talk presentations about their personal choice books.

After the visit to the library, students were given an opportunity to get together with their newspaper groups to share the rough drafts they created for both their article and their advertisement. After group time, I showed students examples of an obituary and an editorial piece from the St. Louis Post Dispatch as models for the other writing pieces they will be creating for their newspapers.

English 1 Homework
Create a rough draft of your editorial/obituary
and a rough draft of your fourth "choice" piece (this is either the block of classified ads, the advice column, the comic strip, or the "Hometown Face" interview)
**For those of you who neglected to complete your homework from last class, this means that you need to have a rough draft of all 4 pieces ready for next class.

English 2 -- Today in class, students read their personal choice books for the first 20 minutes. After that, we recapped Act I Scene 2 of Julius Caesar, which we finished last class, and continued our reading of the play with Act I Scene 3. We also discussed the classes' opinions of Brutus and Caesar, and which man was more sincere in his actions (Brutus being concerned maintaining the Roman Republic or Caesar refusing the crown 3 times).

English 2 Homework
Complete the Act 1 worksheet by filling in the ovals with each character's opinion of Caesar and completing the two questions at the bottom of the page. Remember that your Quote Notes will help out a lot with this sheet.

Remember, no school tomorrow! Remind your parents to vote and keep Proposition T in mind!