WELCOME BACK

Welcome back to a new, exciting school year!!! If you've found this assignment blog through the Boone Website, or if you're linking from livejournal, then you're probably enrolled in one of my classes for the 2007-2008 school year: Gifted English II or Advanced Placement Literature and Composition.

School begins on August 20, 2007 at 7:20 in the morning. (Suggestions: Be there before 7! Parking and traffic are both heinous on the first day!) Teachers will be returning on August 13, and we will have orientation for new students and all parents on Thursday, August 16 at 7 p.m. I'll post more details here when they are available, and you should have already rec'd a copy of the Boone Smoke Signals with dates, times, and announcements of community interest.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SUCH FOR MY STUDENTS

Gifted English II: You were assigned summer reading; Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and The Stranger by Albert Camus. You will be taking a check-reading test on the second day of school, so you still have time to read quickly or re-read for clarity. Please recall my speech about SparkNotes. I hate SparkNotes, and you should, too.

AP English Lit: Your summer project involves a focus paper, due August 24, 2007, comparing and/or contrasting some theme, motif, or symbol in Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Chopin's The Awakening. Please bring your books with you to our first class meeting; we will be discussing various elements of naturalism, characterization, and imagery in both novels with respect to Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor.

Travel and Clubs: As usual, I have two trips planned for this school year: a graduate trip to London in November during the Thanksgiving break (open only to 18-year-olds and over, due to pub restrictions--we can't even eat in a pub after 7 p.m. if you are under 18) and a terrific trip that is almost full to Florence and Venice for Spring Break. My tour guide, Russ Russell of Art Events, Inc. will be co-hosting a travel meeting with me on Tuesday, August 28 at 7 p.m. in room 313 at Boone. If you are interested--or potentially interested in future excursions--come for snacks, questions, and answers.

The first meeting of the Information Society (InSoc) will be Friday, August 31 in room 313. We have much to discuss and plan--NaNoWriMo this November, and ushering for the OSF, and a fall chocolate party. Plan to attend. There are no dues to join this club, although snack donations are always welcomed, and everyone is an officer.

As always, if you have any questions, you can reach me at hilleyj@ocps.net.

See you all soon!!!