English 1

Today in class, students finished up with the peer teaching poems activity that we started last class. We then read and discussed three fantastic famous poems: "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, "Harlem" by Langston Hughes, and "I Walked a Mile" by Robert Browning Hamilton. Students in 8th block turned in their novel of choice projects and gave book talks, and 5th block had a few extra minutes to work on their novel projects.

Homework

• Study your poetry terms
• Finish writing your imitation poem
• 8th block -- be ready for the final
• 5th block -- finish your novel of choice projects

English 1

Today in class, students spent the first 20 minutes reading their choice novels and working on their projects that are due this week (next class for 8th block, Friday for 5th block). Then, students took on the teacher role as they prepared group presentations of poems and then taught their poems to the rest of the class.

Homework

• Read your choice novel and work on your project

English 1

Today in class, students read their choice novels and then read three poems that all feature birds as symbols of hope and/or freedom: "'Hope' is the Thing with Feathers" by Emily Dickinson, "Sympathy" by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. To end class, students answered questions about and discussed the poems, and they drew a picture of the images the poems evoked for them.

Homework

• Finish your bird drawings

English 1

Today in class, students read their choice novels for 20 minutes. Next we talked about Shakespeare's poetry, and read a few of his most famous: "Seven Ages of Man", "Sonnet 18", and "Sonnet 130". We discussed the conventions of a sonnet, and talked about the two "categories" that into which Shakespeare's sonnets can be divided. Sonnet 18 is a "fair youth" sonnet while Sonnet 130 is a "dark lady" sonnet. Students also worked on learning to annotate poems, and for homework, they are also challenged with creating their own sonnet, making sure to follow all of the conventions we talked about in class.

Homework

• Finish writing your sonnet. Remember that sonnets must:

- Be 14 lines long

-Have 10 syllables per line (following iambic pentameter)

-Follow the idea of 3 quatrains and an ending couplet

-Follow the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg

-Be about love