English 2

Yesterday in class, students went to the library computer lab to begin creating their digital narratives. Those students who had not yet completed their storyboards (slackers!) sat at the library tables to finish them while students who did their homework worked on formatting their stories in PowerPoint. Next class, we will be in the library again, this time to record narration and insert music files to complete the stories.

Homework

• Bring your music files and digital pictures if you didn't do so for last class -- save them on a flash drive, CD, or some other external storage device. Also, if you want to use www.blabberize.com, you need to do it at home and save your blabberize file to your external storage device and bring it to school (the IT department is refusing to unblock blabberize, of course).

English 1

Today in class, students took a reading check quiz over chapters 19, 20, and 21 of To Kill a Mockingbird. After the quiz, we viewed the second half of the trial scene of the TKAM film. Students discussed the differences between the book and the film and also discussed the themes and characterization that are presented throughout the trial. After discussing the trial, students read chapter 22 of the novel. To end class, students thought about whether or not Mayella Ewell should be considered a third mockingbird in the novel. They began outlining their argument for or against this idea on a persuasion map.

Homework

• Read chapters 23, 24, 25
• Finish writing paragraph on the back of persuasion map handout

English 2

Today in class, students finished watching Freedom Writers. After the film, students discussed the reasons why people write down their life experiences and the benefits of doing so. Students learned, after reading several personal narrative stories in our short stories unit and writing their own personal narratives, that writing can be used as a means of catharsis, that it can help people achieve validation in their lives, and it is a great tool for reflecting on the past. After the discussion, students read "The First Day" , a story by Edward P. Jones in which a woman recalls she and her mother's jouney and changing relationship on her first day of school. To end class, students began an activity that will help them add strong action verbs, verbal phrases, and figurative language to their writing in order to make it more descriptive and powerful. Fourth block, we will do this verbs and verbals activity next class since we ran out of time today.

Homework

• Finish verbs and verbals practice sheet after reading the handout from class.
• Add 2 verbal phrases & 1 simile or metaphor to your narrative. Change half of your "be" verbs to action verbs.

English 1

Today in class, students took a reading check quiz over chapters 15 and 16 of To Kill a Mockingbird. Next, we read chapters 17 and 18, which begin the all-important trial scene in the novel. After reading, students watched the first half of the trial scene of the TKAM film. In addition to the character blocks they completed for homework, students also created character blocks for Mayella and Bob Ewell, both of whom we get to know much better during the trial.

Homework

• Read chapters 19, 20, and 21

English 1

Today in class, students took a reading check quiz over chapters 9 and 10 of To Kill a Mockingbird.

After discussing the chapters they read for homework, we read together chapter 11, during which we encountered one of the most important ideas of the book: courage. Finishing chapter 11 brought us to the end of Part One of the novel. Part Two of the book promises to bring even more exciting events in Maycomb.

To finish class, 8th block began their nursery rhyme assignment, while 5th block, who is a little ahead of the game, presented the new nursery rhymes they created in the same parts of speech pattern as the original one they were assigned.

Homework

Read chapters 12 & 13 (no Thick and Thins this time)

8th block - finish nursery rhyme assignment

English 1

Today in class, students took their reading check quiz over chapters 2, 3, and 4 of To Kill a Mockingbird. They also turned in their thick and thin questions which we used as our discussion guide for the chapters they read. Next we read chapter 5 aloud in class. To end class students viewed a video on the parts of speech and completed a note sheet that they will use to make a parts of speech "cheat sheet" next class period.

Homework

• Read Chapters 6, 7, and 8 of To Kill a Mockingbird

English 1

Today in class, the students' week of work finally came to an end with the culmination of their scene performances. Overall, they did a great job paraphrasing Shakespeare's language into modern phrasing and presenting their interpretations to the class. Although I know my students will miss Romeo and Juliet, next week we will be starting To Kill a Mockingbird. I can't wait!

Homework

NONE