Friday, March 24, 2006

I am not at my best today--call it National Boards Sleep Deprivation. Apologies all around, especially to Mr. AJVB, to whom I was fairly caustic in first period.

Here's what we did:

AP Lit: Badly executed quiz on The Orchid Thief and discussion of various things Floridian. It went mostly well near the very end.

Gifted English IV: Teeny quiz on Romanticism, followed by "The World is Too Much With Us" by Wordsworth.

Gifted English II: HW for the weekend: Bring in a review of a cultural text for collaboration and review on Monday. Today, we went over puns, the outside reading assignment, the need to sit in a decent fashion in today's clothing, lemurs, long Welsh town names, Poem of the Day, and the need to embrace controversy as a writing subject. Congratulations to Savannah for being published in New Voices courtesy of tomorrow's Orlando Sentinel!!!

For the record, here is the name of the town I love so much in Wales: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Be nice to Stu. I am working on the very tail-end of my boards.

AP Lit: Read the passage from The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.

Gifted IV: Finish the Romanticism study guide; quiz tomorrow.

Gifted II: John Steinbeck sentence modeling passage from Cannery Row.

Wednesday, March 22

AP Literature and Composition: Go over yesterday's timed writings; I would like each of you to read at least two other student essays before we resume with whole-class discussion. Also, I plan to introduce The Orchid Thief text today.

Gifted English IV: One more poem by Blake, and a good start on the Romanticism guide you will work on tomorrow.

Gifted English II: We're going to look at one more piece of non-fiction, "A Whole Society of Loners and Dreamers," in the yellow text, before we launch into our mini-unit on review writing. Your written review will be Focus Paper #2 for the quarter, and will center on a cultural text (CD, film, book, lecture. . .)

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Still recovering from jet lag over here, but hey. . .

Advanced Placement Literature and Composition: Timed writing connected to the AP exam FRQ-style question. Hopefully you will write about something connected to Jane Eyre and WSS.

Gifted English IV: Finish Romanticism lecture/discussion, complete with cartoons, and go into the study guide with the textbook.

Gifted English II: Bring your lit book! We're reading about warts. Good times. (Actually, it's not only about warts. . .it's a metaphor.)

Monday, March 20, 2006

Long time, no post! The past two weeks have been frenetically busy, but very rewarding. To wit: I just flew back from England, Scotland, and Wales with a fantastic group of students after having spent Spring Break exploring art, literature and history amid the freezing cold. It was wonderful, but it's hard to re-acclimate to Florida and its more tropical feel.

Grades have been posted, and if you are still in arrears or owe me make-up work, please see me ASAP or e-mail me at hilleyj@ocps.net.

Advanced Placement Literature and Composition: Please acquire a copy of Beloved by Toni Morrison for our next major reading assignment, and prepare for a timed writing in class tomorrow. Today--discussion of revisionism and a close reading of Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, part III. Coming up: a quick look at postmodern lit with The Orchid Thief by Orlean.

Gifted English IV: The most linear class we've ever had--lecture/discussion on Romanticism.

Gifted English II: Assign next outside reading; select one of the following: Notes from the Underground or Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky or Utopia by Sir Thomas More.
Your focus paper on Othello (assignment: defend Iago!) is due Friday; five extra points if you visit the Writing Center between now and Thursday before submitting your paper for review.

Welcome back to the fourth quarter!!!

Friday, March 3, 2006

Advanced Placement Literature: Donne and Marvell.

Gifted English IV: "Rape of the Lock" by Pope and Heroic Couplets.

Gifted English II: Quizlet on Othello; continue Act IV.

Thursday, March 2, 2006

AP Literature: Metaphysicals and verbal introduction to Beloved.

Gifted English IV: "Top of the Food Chain" by T.C. Boyle.

Gifted English II: Act IV, scene i--be ready for a quizlet tomorrow. . .

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

AP Literature: Questions for Jane Eyre and Guidance Newsletters.

Gifted English IV: Finish "Modest" and answer questions.

Gifted English II: Act III quiz and Act III discussion questions.