Monday, October 1, 2007

It's hard to believe we're already in October! Goodness!

Please remind your parental units about Parent Night tomorrow evening, starting at 6:30 p.m. I have peppermints and butterscotch candies for them, and a plethora of information for them.

APees: Second period needs to take the Act II quiz at the start of the period; everyone else gets their quizzes back and an update on grades. Today we're assessing the use of language in Act III and seeing what FRQs would apply to this particular piece of literature--and I'm assigning the next FP. My condolences.*

Gifted English II: Author of the Day is Thomas Harris, the modern scary-novel writer, after which we will finish the last literary terms list. We'll finish discussing Icarus before engaging in a timed writing opportunity in class tomorrow. Trust me: You'll love it!

*Note to APees: One of you asked me last week how many papers we were going to write this year. I just wanted to remind you that there is a calendar on the syllabus--a calendar from which we've already had to deviate thanks to senior assemblies, panoramic photos, and general life issues getting in the way--but that if you check that you'll see that we are generating short papers approximately every week and a half or so. Some of you have already "gotten the memo" and are producing elegant, concise papers in a fairly short period of time--my goal is that through repetition, the focus paper assignment becomes something that you can generate in under an hour. After all, in early May, and under a highly pressured scenario, you will be asked to generate THREE focus papers BY HAND in two hours. I'm trying to get you ready for that reality, and in the process furnish you with plenty of material to take with you next year to college. That's my logic, anyway, and I hope you understand it. If not, please come see me and we'll talk.

:-)