December 11 and 12

Homework:
Book projects are due on December 15th and 16th.

We reviewed this in class, but I feel like it needs to be posted. Also, this is information about MLA formatting that you should be able to find on your own.

Quoting Shakespeare

One to three lines

At one point Lady Macbeth calls on night to "pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, / That my keen

knife see not the wound it makes" (I.v.54-55).

Note the following:
The / indicates a line break.
The (I.v.54-55) indicate the Act, scene, and line numbers.
The period is after the end parenthesis.

Four or more lines

At one point Lady Macbeth calls on night with the lines

          Come, thick night,

          

          And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,

 

          That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,

          

          Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark. (I.v.53-56)

At this point you would begin discussing your selected quotation and how it connects to your thesis.

Note the following:

Line breaks are indicated by pressing return.

The period is before the parenthesis.

There are no quotation marks.

It is double spaced.

Tab twice to indent.

 

December 8 and 9

Today we discussed how to write body paragraphs, introductions, and conclusions. You used time in class to write your Macbeth essays.

Homework:
Book Projects

December 4 and 5

Writing an analytical essay.

Today we looked at your close reading exercises and searched for patterns.

By the end of class we want a thesis statement, a list of quotations that may be used, and the format of the paper squared away.

Homework:
Book Project

December 1st and 2nd

Theme!

November 24 and 25

We finished Macbeth!

Homework:
Gold:
Write a close reading of Act V.
Study for vocabulary (quack 4).

Blue:
Finish Macbeth (one more page...)
Write a close reading of Act V.

November 17 and 18

Period 3
We completed Act III and reviewed book project ideas. You'll get a rubric soon!
We started reading Act IV.
Homework:
Close reading of Act III
Make sure you're reading from your choice books!

Period 1
We started reading Act IV and completed a "questions" activity.
Homework: Read from your choice books.

November 13th and 14th

Please close read Act III (period 1) and finish your song posts (period 3).

November 7th and 10th

• Students can study for the vocabulary assessment we have on Thursday OR Friday (next week--depending on when you have class).
• Students can read from their choice books.
• Students need to complete a close reading of the word(s) they are tracking in Macbeth. They need to post this to their blog.
• Students need to find a song of their choice and compare the song to the play so far. Again, this should be posted to their blogs.

November 5 and 6

We've finished Act II of Macbeth.
Make sure you are reading your chosen novel for homework.

November 3, 2014

Today you handed in your second close reading assignment.
You read from your choice books for ten minutes.
You took a quiz over Act I of Macbeth.
We started reading Act II of the play.

Your homework is to read your choice books. You will have a project due on these when we have completed Macbeth. I'll give you more information on the project later.

October 30 and 31st

Please close read one passage from Act I.
(I.iv.65-67)

You will be following a word as we read.
blood... Darby Chelsea Sawyer
colors... Andrew  Courtney Cole
animals... Julia Taylor Miles
gender... Kolton Isaiah
light/dark...Grace Meg Whitney
heaven/hell...Julian Hannah Brooklynn


blood... Makao
colors... Maggie Thomas
animals... Jessie Nolan
gender... Alexis
light/dark...Levi Tucker
heaven/hell... Thad, Emma

October 27th

Period 1:

We finished Act I of Macbeth today.

You handed in your close reading.

You have a vocabulary assessment (quack 2A and 2B) on Thursday.

If you choose to revise your Lamb to the Slaughter paper, then you need to hand it in on Thursday.

Period 3: (10/29--Sub)

• Please turn in your revised papers.
• Please post your close reading assignments to your blogs.
• Please read from your choice books. 
• You may also study for vocabulary.

October 24

Today you took a vocabulary assessment.
Your final draft of the blog post was due.
You need to read through page 25 in Macbeth.

Select one passage from the play and do a close reading of the text.
Remember that we cite lines in the following way:
The Act is a capitalized roman numeral.
The scene is a l/c roman numeral.
The line numbers follow.
Example:

(I.iv.174-175)

Here is a
Close Reading
handout. You do not need to write a paper or even a paragraph. A bulleted list of things you note will work just fine.

You will be following a word as we read.
blood
colors
animals
gender
light/dark
heaven/hell

October 22 and 23

Today we read and commented on student blogs.
We continued working with the anticipation guides.

Your homework is to:

Study for vocabulary (period 1 only)
Revise blogs
Read Act I scene I of Macbeth. Come to class with a question or comment on the scene.

Read your choice books.

October 20th and 21st

Today we reviewed literary devices with Kahoot!
We discussed Shakespeare for a bit and went to the library to sign out Macbeth.
We completed an anticipation guide.

Homework:
Study for vocabulary. The assessment is on Friday, but we're Kahooting (this should not be a word) on Wednesday.
Read your choice books.
Write a blog post on one of the five topics discussed in class on Monday. Make sure you connect the topic to your own life. Tell a story!
Power
Ambition
Fate
Guilt
Gender

October 16th and 17th

Today we finished taking notes on literary devices.
We also reviewed vocabulary words.
You will have a vocabulary assessment on October 24th.

Here is a link to my wiki. Quizlets are linked to from this page.

Homework:
Read your choice books and study for your vocabulary assessment.
When reading your choice books pay attention to the following:
Character (protagonist and antagonist as well as character traits)
How do your characters develop and influence one another?
Plot
Theme
Conflict
Setting

October 10th and 14th

We reviewed PSAT strategies today.

1. Only make REALLY educated guesses (when you can remove two options). Skip the ones you don't know.

2. Write in your booklets. Mark questions you might be able to answer if you have extra time. Go back to these if you end up having extra time at the end.

3. Know the kinds of questions you are going to be asked. Because it is a timed test, not having to read directions is key.

4. Remember the vocabulary questions are the only ones that go from easier to harder AND it's only a hard question if you don't know the answer.

Homework: Read from your choice books.

Good luck on your PSAT!

October 8th and 9th

Today you handed in your constructed responses.
We spent some time reading from our choice books and printing our pieces.
We also took notes over literary devices.

Homework:
Enjoy the long weekend!

October 6th and 7th

Today we peer edited your pieces and reviewed embedding quotations.

Due next class:
Final draft of constructed response
Keep reading your choice books.

October 2nd and 3rd

Today we did the following:

1. Created a template for English papers.
2. Reviewed words and phrases to avoid (It is shared to your drive. Print a hard copy if you would like one.).
3. Went over how to write a constructed response including format, thesis statements, and embedding quotations.

Format:

See OWL Purdue site.

Thesis statement:

Throughout Roald Dahl's piece Lamb to the Slaughter, the atmosphere parallels Mary Maloney's state of mind.

1. topic/thesis (with title and author)
2. sentence leading to quotation (contains first idea)
3. embedded quotation
4. discussion of quotation
5. sentence leading to quotation (contains second idea)
6. embedded quotation
7. discussion of quotation
8. concluding sentence

September 29 and October 1st

Periods 1 and 3:
Our assignment is on Google Classroom today. The questions are posted there. You should be able to access them there AND turn them in once you have finished.

Period 3 only:
Please help Alexis access the information she needs on google classroom. She needs the code and such (it is on google classroom announcements).

September 26, 2014

Today we finished discussing "Us and Them" as a class. Your homework is to read Lamb to the Slaughter. You can access the document on our google classroom page.

September 24th and 25th 2014

Today we did the following:

1. Talked about effective blog posts. Thank you Grace, Julian, and Brooklynn.
2.  Discussed David Sedaris' work titled "Us and Them."

Homework:
Select one of the following options.

• Blog about a topic of you choice connected to "Us and Them."
• Comedian Joe Ancis once said, The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well." Do you think that Sedaris would agree with this quote? Do you agree? In a blog post, please share your conclusions with me.

Why Read

I have never been "outdoorsy." I mean, don't get me wrong, I didn't mind being outside when I was a kid. If my mom (it's always my mom) forced me out of the house I had an amazing time. I made soup in puddles with sticky milkweed pods and beyond their prime vegetables plucked from the garden. I built forts from boughs and blazed trails in the woods behind our home. If I had had my choice I would never have gotten dirty or messy. We (luckily) had a brook behind the house, so cleaning up was never an issue. This was out of necessity though. What else was I going to do?

If I had it my way (and I often did), I would get lost in books. When I say lost, I mean that I would begin reading and three hours would feel like twenty minutes. I would stay up to read "just one more chapter" and end up finishing a book. I would look around, ready to talk about it only to find that everyone in the house had fallen asleep. It was even worse if I was reading and everyone was awake. I'd look at them (sobbing--I loved dramatic tales) and wonder how they could go about their days when Mr. Darcy was being intolerable, or when Charlotte was passing away.

Our Wiki

https://shelten.wikispaces.com/Honors+Blogs+2014-2015

https://shelten.wikispaces.com/Honors+Blogs+2014-2015

Reading was an escape, but it was more than that. It is more than that. Books are about learning.
I read to escape.
I read to learn.
I read to experience.
I read to explore.
I read to laugh.
I read to cry.
I read to feel.

Interesting Lines

There's something special about being read to. You feel connected. You know that that person is taking time out of their day to read to you.

I found the cover interesting enough, so I read the first page, and then the next...and the next. I was hooked.

the Auto-Parts Magazine for some reason made me so happy. My dad would get it out and lay on the green painted ply-wood floor we had, and I would lay next to him and look at the pictures of parts, just parts, and smile the entire time. I was baffled by that magazine, apparently parts to cars, motorcycles, bikes, lawnmowers, etc. just amused me. We would lay there for a sold hour and I wouldn't take my eyes off of the magazine or stop smiling.

This was my favorite story because of the way he read the book, and the way he used different cowboy voices for each character.

To think that a book can strengthen my love for my mom is so powerful and proves that reading has had such an impact on my life. 

That stopped suddenly when I unknowingly drew something "inappropriate" for the biology section of my encyclopedia. 

I was on the couch almost like I was in a psychologist's office. 

My dad and I have always been really close and sometimes he says lines from the book to me out of nowhere.

I slept most comfortably with a book under my pillow, so much so that when I went over to my friends house, I put a Harry Potter book under my pillow to replace the one at home.

 I always loved reading that book at least twice a day but three times would be better. 

I'm not sure if I could really read yet, but I did like to hold books and look at them.

When I became frustrated with the slowness of reading aloud, I chose my own books and read to myself.

The next time my dad offers me a book I will definitely take it right out of his hands and read it. 

...he referred to objects, such as a phone being a talky thing, I thought this was interesting because I always wonder if dogs think of things like that.

...my dad must have read that to me five times. Im sure he didn't enjoy it, but he read it to me anyway.

September 20

Today we finished presenting Pieces of You projects.
We set up our blogs. They are listed in the wiki below.
WIKI

I also directed you to Google Classroom. Our code is...
2unkv8

Your homework is to read and annotate the Sedaris piece. Also, write a blog post about reading (experiences, enjoyment, loathing, et cetera).

September 15 and 16

Today we continued our discussion of media. We also discussed "And of Clay are We Created."

Homework:
Pieces of You
Read choice book

September 11 and 12

Today we talked about choice books for a bit.
We wrote about "media" as a topic.
Questions (for those of you who were stuck) are as follows:

1. How does media coverage influence our perception of events?
2. Does media coverage (the news) heighten our awareness and empathy, or does it desensitize us to harsh realities?

We set up some "norms" for class discussions. I'm writing the notes from both sections here and I'll combine them into a handout.

1. One person at a time.
2. Watch your voice level.
3. Multiple opinions in one room works well.
4. No put downs.
5. Stay on topic. Ask "Can we change the topic now?" before moving on.
6. Be attentive.
7. Rule of 3.

Homework:

Pieces of You (still due on Thursday and Friday of next week)

Read (and annotate) "And of Clay are We Created"

September 8 and 9 2014

Today we continued discussing Jocasta. For our first discussion of the year I feel like it went fairly well. I'm looking forward to many more.

Homework:
Find a novel that is at or above your reading level. Read for at least 30 minutes before we meet again. You'll complete a project with this book later in the year, so I'll be checking your novels.
Pieces of You is due on the 18th and 19th of September.