Last Week Before Winter Break-- Have a Blast!

Here are the things we are doing to wrap up the text, The Things They Carried, and also the PEP portion of our program.:
Week Dec 14 - 18
Comma Splice Exercise
Theme and Thesis Handout

Assignments and stuff from this week

Monday, November 30th
Tuesday/Wednesday, December 1 and 2
Thursday/Friday, December 3 and 4
Speaking of Courage One-Pager Assignment Sheet (we will finish on Monday)
Have a great weekend and--- READ!

Read and enjoy your break-- lessons from this week

We wrote a poem from words we "found" in the story: "How to Tell a True War Story," and we also talked about how to write a great objective summary by considering plot and writing a one-sentence "movie pitch" before we write the summary. Here are the details and assignments:
Found Poem: Directions 
 Found poem process and example
Objective summary lesson and read "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong."
Over the break: please read for three hours, total, as a minimum in the book you have chosen-- read as much as you like after that--have a great holiday!
Mrs. E

Read at will!

we had a fabulous visit from Ms. Beazizo and got our groove on with a new book to read! Please bring your book to class on Monday--thanks!
Mrs. E

This Week: November 9 - 13

Grammar and writing skills: we worked on proper ways to punctuate with the words "but" and "however." We also had a lesson about comma splices and how NOT to make them, and then we had some fun with metaphors.

Here is what we did after we read "How to Tell a True War Story" in our text

How to Tell a True War Story:  Theme Topics

1--the beauty and gore of war (how war looks).

2--the pain of losing your best friend (how war feels)

3--the insanity that comes with silence/being silenced (what silence sounds like)

Which story (part) in this chapter deals with each of these topics?

            1.

            2.

            3.

How To Tell a True War Story: paragraph

Use TEXTUAL EVIDENCE as SUPPORT for your SPECIFIC answer to the questions.

PROMPT#1: Is the baby water buffalo scene more disturbing than the author’s description of the death of Curt Lemon?  Be specific (include phrases from the text) in your answering paragraph.

PROMPT#2: Of those you have read in this book, which story seems the most true, and why?   Be specific (include phrases from the text) in your answering paragraph.

First Week of November!

Monday we finished the RL.2 assessment-- please see me if you haven't completed it.
Tuesday/Wednesday: We got jiggy with some grammar! Please view this power point if you missed it: The Causes of Clauses
We also took a look at what we like to read-- here is a copy of the document: What we like to read

Thursday/Friday: We finished presenting songs from our Slaughterhouse Five projects and we also thought about being stuck in a moral/ethical dilemma like Tim O'Brien is in his story:"On The Rainy River.
 Here are the ideas and situations we discussed: Situational Ethics and Moral Absolutes
HOMEWORK: Read the story, "How to Tell a True War Story" before class on Monday (period 6) or Tuesday (periods 3 and 4).

Punctuation Infatuation!

Here is what we did last week--
October 29/30:  we also took an assessment about theme and how it is developed in fiction texts (RL.2 Standard). Please let me know if you ahve to take this still. Thanks!
Mrs. E

Thursday October 23rd Activities

Here is what we did today-- Please read through the first story in our new text, The Things They Carried, if you have not done so yet--thanks!
Mrs. E
Thursday stuff

New Text Coming Up!

We started presentations of projects as well as some analysis of images related to our new text: The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. Please check out a copy if you haven't already.
OPTIC METHOD
Use the method above to examine and analyze one of the
IMAGES FROM THE VIETNAM ERA if you were absent.

Leaving the Slaughterhouse

IN class we took some analysis questions, answered them in small groups and presented our insightful answers tot he class. If you were absent, please choose one of the questions from document link below and write a short paragraph, with support and citations from the text, and hand it in when you return.
S-5 Analysis Questions

October 5th and 6th

Here is the lesson we did in class!
Here is the playlist project we introduced as the final project for the Slaughterhouse Five unit
Example from class
Playlist Project
Essay style Liner Notes

Equality in a Vonnegut Short Story

Here are the activities from class. Please finish reading through Chapter 9 in Slaughterhouse Five by Monday, October 5th.
Monday will be a regular B day.

Honors English 11
Lesson and Questions for Harrison Bergeron
IMPORTANT: Below is a link to the story we listened to in class so you can read it without the audio book: YOU DO NOT NEED TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ATTACHED TO THE TEXT OF THE STORY ON THIS LINK-- THE WORK WE DID IN CLASS IS IN THE OCTOBER 1ST/2ND ABOVE.
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

Limericks are hard to write-- and funny!

Tuesday and Wednesday (9/29 and 9/30) We practiced feeling the rhythm of language with this exercise. Have fun!
Limericks to write

For Monday:

Read through Chapter 7 of Slaughterhouse Five by the beginning of class on Monday.
Here is the exercise we worked on yesterday and today in case you were absent-- we did this in our journals:
OPTIC method for analyzing visuals

2015 First Assignments

Here is what we are up to so far:

1- Read through chapter seven of Slaughterhouse Five by Monday, September 28th
2- The first essay-- pretest is Due September 24th or 25th, depending on your class period days.

TTTC on Courage and Guilt

Courage and guilt and a lot of other complex emotions come up in the parts of the text we have just read.  Here is the assignment we will do in order to process our thinking on these issues:
One Pager Project

Poetry and Prose and Projects!

Project Drafts Due on Monday!

We have been writing poetry based on phrases and sentences we found in the story "How to Tell a True War Story."
We will finish up Friday morning and begin reading the story called, "The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong."
Found Poetry Assignment
Found Poetry Example
FOR MONDAY/TUESDAY

SWEETHEART WRITE: Directions: Read the intro. material and write a substantial paragraph or two as you discuss your ideas about the prompt and include at least two specific references to events from the story to back up your opinion.

INTRO:

Fiction: A Lie that Tells a Truth—Remember: The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong is not about a girl who comes to visit her boyfriend in Vietnam—it is about what war, especially this particular war, does to people.

The author (Tim) has stated that the effectiveness of a “true war story” has little to do with literal facts and everything to do with producing in the reader a “gut reaction” (69, 78). Tim O’Brien wants to offer the reader an emotional connection with the experience of the soldiers who had to fight in Vietnam.  This is what he calls telling the “truth (78).” 

PROMPT: So, what is the “truth” about war that O’Brien is trying to get across by telling the story about what happens to sweet, innocent Mary Anne?

Beautiful Wreckage and Other Impossible Images

The Truth about war and life and people and love and all of it-- that is what literature is trying to get at. Authors weave fictional stories in order to tell us how life can feel or seem or even be, according to them.  To provide a translation of experience into story-- that is the job of the writer.
 As you read this text, pay special attention to what Tom O'Brien is saying about how stories are constructed and how they function and, yes, why we need them.
Poem that talks about this idea so perfectly:
Beautiful Wreckage  

ASSIGNMENT: Read the story, "How to Tell a True War Story" from the text: The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien.

New Text!

We are now reading The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, one of the finest contemporary authors you may ever have read. He writes stories about the Vietnam War, but he also talks an awful lot about stories themselves and what they can mean and how they are crafted and how they function in our lives.  It is really terrific stuff.
AP testing has kept us out of the library this week, so we have been reading in class. Here is a link to a copy of the text online so that you can catch up if you have been gone or just need a little more time to read.
The Things They Carried online text.
we have finished the first three stories as of Thursday ("The Things They Carried,", "Love," and "Spin"), and we will talk about the military draft and read "On the Rainy River" on Friday.
Assignments:
1-  The Things They Carried Critical Read.
2- "Rainy River" Write

Journal Write for April 30th

Please go to this link and read the article-- we will write about the idea of technology and how we can fit it into our lives smoothly:

Ozy Link

Journal write:
NEW RULES  4/30/2015
Cell phones and Facebook and twitter, oh my! Snapchat caught me in a nap-- Oh snap!
Texting while driving is a relatively new problem, even if distracted driving is as old as the kids screaming in the back seat..
Write three NEW rules that might allow us to manage our phone use the best way, according to you.

This is NOT a test!

Thanks goodness that whole week of intense testing is over.  I know many of you have to still go through AP tests, but here is English class we are on to other things.
THREE VITAL POINTS:
1- You must be finished reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at this point. The activities we will wrap up with depend on you having a good understanding of what happens in the book and a chance to think about what it might all mean to us, here, in the year 2015.

2- Here is the activity we began this week and will continue with on Thursday:
Women and Heroes

3- We are also experimenting with how understanding sentence structure can change our writing lives:
SENTENCE STRUCTURE HANDOUT TO KEEP AND USE
We handed in a grade-able sample of a sentence that begins with a participial phrase today-- see me if you were absent.

Papers Due!

Wednesday, April 15th:
Tax returns and Major Papers are DUE!
Thanks!
Mrs. E

Cuckoo for Arguments!

We are working on the elements of argumentative essays as we finish reading the text:
April 13th Lesson
April 14th Lesson   PTSD Pamphlet
Evidence:
1- We did a "One Minute Mystery" in class-- see Mrs. Eddy for handout.
2- Nurse Ratched Speaks: Critical Reading Exercise
Criteria for Argumentation:
Argument vs persuasion and criteria for Carnegie Hero Award.
Reading: Finish Part 3 of the text by Thursday, April 16th
Wednesday the 15th we go to the testing lab to learn about the testing site for SBAC
Next Week: SBAC testing.

Guilty by Insinuation

Wednesday April 8th:
Here is a critical reading into the words and effects of Nurse Ratched's character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey.
Here is the assignment we worked on in class in groups. PLEASE find a classmate to consult with if you need to make this up outside of class--thanks!
"Guilting" Raised to an Art Form
Mrs. Eddy

The "science" behind the Cuckoo's Nest

We are currently learning about the lobotomy, a procedure that is used, but never mentioned by name, in the text.  Everyone in  the time that the book was published would know what this procedure was, as we will see in the film. Here is the assignment for the film or your own research if you choose not to watch the film:
The Lobotomist: Documentary film: PBS: The American Experience 2008.
Lobotomist Assignment: Reaction Paper

Cuckoo Questions and Article on Teacher Angst

This week we read through page 69 and answered the following questions with short paragraphs:
Questions #1 Cuckoo
Oregonian Article Instructions:
1-Read the Essential Question and keep it in mind as you read and mark the article.
2-Answer the question with your ideas on the front of the page.
3-Turn the page over (the article is just one page-- the .pdf attached here has three-- sorry!)turn the page over and, on the back, write a short reaction paper:
Q: What do you think about the ideas brought up in the article? Please address yourself to specific ideas/statements from the text as you write freely about your own opinion.

HOMEWORK:
Read through page 91 by Monday, April 6th
Time Line and Budget for Book Project due Monday, April 6th

Make it up!

Hey, if you need to make up an assignment or the quiz on Acts I and II of Macbeth, here's your chance! Just memorize one of the speeches from the play on the link below-- perfectly-- recite it to Mrs. Eddy and I will change your grade on the quiz to a B+ grade. Great opportunity to get some Shakespeare in your mind and help your grade at the same time--win-win-- which is more than I can say for Macbeth!

Passages to Memorize for Make-up Assignment: CHOOSE ONE

Semester Project Deadlines and Proposal Formats

Here is a copy of the project pieces-- you should have a copy with you always with the deadline dates filled in as we go. Please have your proposal done by Thursday or Friday, depending on your class period.
Project Planning Sheet
Proposal format

Two Theme Worksheet

We did this in class-- please see me or check with a classmate to see what we did-- here is the handout:
Two Theme Tracking: Macbeth

Student Paths

Three Steps to Life After High School:
Here is a site associated with a grant form Western Oregon University and designed to find out what students like you are interested in as far as opportunities after high school. Colleges really want to know what you want so that they can offer it to you. Your information will not be used for marketing or other nefarious purposes, and the site really does offer a lot of great information from students like yourself as well as links to university and scholarship sites.

1- Watch this very short video: http://vimeo.com/100939878

2- Please go to this site to register and take the short assessment : http://www.mystudentpath.com/

Explore and use the site whenever you wish--I hope you find it helpful.

PERFORMANCES!

HERE IS THE GRADING RUBRIC--
HAVE A BLAST WITH THESE SCENES AND YOU WILL DO WELL!

The King is Dead!!

Today we talked about how the people in Shakespeare's time saw the universe and their role in it-- then we viewed two versions of Act II, scenes 3 and 4 and the aftermath of Duncan's death. Please complete the study guide through Act II by Monday if you have been absent.
Next Week: 
Monday-- rehearse scenes!
Tuesday: Forecasting for next semester in period three-- other classes rehearse.
Wednesday: Show time! EXCEPTION: Period three will have one more day to rehearse as they had to do forecasting on Tuesday--have FUN with the PLAY!

Poetry Week with Drama!

Poetry Recitations and Macbeth-- it has been one terrific week! Below are the assignments we are working on:
1- Complete the Macbeth Study Guide THROUGH the end of Act I-- finished Act One on Feb.12th

2- Reflection paper on your experience reciting poetry-- was DUE: Feb 11th

3- Choose your group and begin to prepare your own, unique adaptation of a scene: Macbeth Performance
Start on Feb 13th--- perform on Feb.25th

Today's Stuff

Here is the agenda 
and partner assignment-
- Tuesday, Feb 3rd

Monday's Stuff

Today we read and finished the Study Guide Entry for Act I, scene 2. Please get the notes (link on prior post). Also-- we talked about character issues and paraphrasing.
Lesson/Journal
Write these three words on the printout of your poem:
Paraphrase
Visualize
Memorize
HOMEWORK: Paraphrase each line or sentence in the poem you are going to memorize.

Macbeth Begins!

Here is a link to the study guise-- We are only though scene one so far.
Macbeth Study Guide

Please remember to bring a copy of your poem to class with you on Monday!

Shakespeare and modern poetry, too-- AWESOME!

we started brainstorming ideas about theme topics for Macbeth today in class-- we will write the paragraph tomorrow in class.
Macbeth Theme Topic Assignment

we will check out Macbeth tomorrow, too, and also preview the performances of some students in the National Poetry Out Loud competition. We will be memorizing one poem in class and reciting it under low-stress circumstances, but PLEASE let me know if you are interested in the school competition on Feb.18th.
we will be in the computer lab for this assignment on Thursday, January 29th
Poetry Search Assignment
We will recite poems in class on Tuesday, Feb. 10th

Awesome Macbeth stuff:
Macbeth Internet Fun

Modern Times!

Be sure to keep up with the reading for Gatsby 
Complete your logs and notice color references.
Friday's Lesson:
Modern Literature Notes (take your own notes from these and put into the Cornell format from the last post with THAT Essential Question).
Modern Poem Lesson: The Mirror
Next Week;
Reading Quiz: Monday, January 12th
Writing Folder Check: Tuesday, Jan 13th, in class
Green Light Article: Writing Task Wednesday and Thursday
Color Symbolism Paragraphs-- These and your completed Reading Logs will be the final test for Gatsby-- due on Friday (class time provided on Friday to finish)
FINAL EXAM: Jan 21-23rd, depending on your class period: In Class Essay comparing Of Mice and Men and Gatsby OR just on Gatsby (there will be a choice of prompts) PLUS analysis questions about Romanticism and Modernism. Open book and open note!

Go, go Gatsby!

Here are the two worksheets you need as you read Gatsby-- we are keeping track of color symbolism as well as writing a reading log as we go through the text.
Connotations of Color
Gatsby Reading Schedule and Log Directions
Please be sure to catch the John Green Crash Course video we watched as an introduction to the text, too.
MODERNISM EXAMPLE FROM ART:
Nude Descending Staircase by Marcel Duchamp
Modernism Notes Format
Please get the notes on Modernism that we took on Monday, Jan. 5th from a classmate if you were absent--thanks!