Thursday, March 25, 2010

Gifted English II: "Once More to the Lake" by EB White, a terrific example of memoir. Ready carefully, annotate, and answer the questions at the end. We're starting the fourth quarter with this amazing tale.

APees: Jane Eyre quiz, followed by more Jane Eyre. The test for this novel will be Friday, April 9, 2010. Yes, I know that's the Art Festival. Yep.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Gifted English II: Introduction to non-fiction, including an epic story about the Titanic. You'll marvel at the details. Or not.

APees: Jane Eyre review.

ALL CLASSES: Spring Break speech. Really. YOU WILL SEE MY FACE.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Reminder: The Advanced Studies Department is visiting us today. I am thrilled. I anticipate their presence during third period.

Gifted English II: Diagnostic grammar test to see what skills we need to reinforce in the all-important fourth quarter; ideological introduction to the next outside reading assignment; if time, resumption of Author of the Day. Clearly, I stink at having y'all do this, so I give up. It's more important that YOU learn about the authors the world has to offer rather than have you watch other kids struggle with tri-fold boards and dioramas.

APees: Sonnets; two of 'em. One from Sir Thomas Wyatt, who was briefly Henry VIII's favorite until he was beheaded (which always makes friendship awkward) and one that is a revisionist 20th century take on a similar theme. TP-CASTT, ahoy! Ahoy!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Gifted English II: We're registering for next year's classes today; meet in 313 and we will proceed to the Media Center together as a happy learning family. If we finish early, we can move on to the next exciting activity in Giftedland. Bring a pencil tomorrow, btw.

APees: Syntactical analysis of a passage from Jane Eyre; the current reading assignment is Chapters 21-26. We're also going to take a close look at one multiple-choice passage and related strategies. Tomorrow: Two Renaissance-themed sonnets, TP-CASTT style.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Sophys: Othello paper ("Defending the Indefensible: Iago") is due by 3 p.m. in person AND on www.turnitin.com by midnight tonight. If you have lost the class info, here it is: go to the site, and the course number is 2782492 and the password is Classof2012. If you can't remember your already-established password, e-mail me a copy or imbed a copy in the text of an e-mail and send it to either jennifer.hilley@ocps.net or hilleyj@gmail.com.

In class today, the Othello unit test. If you need to finish the questions on page 1147 you may do so after the test or on Monday during registration. Bring a pen or pencil tomorrow! And your brain!

APees: Jane Eyre quiz #3, followed by an analysis of physiognomy from Chapter 18-19. Awesome. Your next reading assignment is chapters 21-26.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

So much work, so little time. . .

Gifted English II: Sophys, your Othello paper is due tomorrow by 3 p.m. in my hand (Friday, 3/19) AND on turnitin.com OR by e-mail to me by midnight that night. See me if you have questions; we will go over format once more today. THEN: Finish the questions on page 1147 of the Pearson text and review for the Othello test tomorrow. No worries! You KNOW this play!

APees: Review Jane Eyre, Chapters 13-20; go over tone vocabulary for the AP exam; possibly analyze a sonnet. In other words, a great day in AP Land. For me, anyway. Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day! As the tradition goes, wear green today to avoid being pinched. Granted, as an OCPS student you have the unalienable right to NOT BE PINCHED by anyone on school grounds, but the policy does not go so far to protect those of you who actively seek pinching or who escape the school grounds to local food constabularies. Cool fact: Didja know that Patrick was ENGLISH, not IRISH, but was kidnapped and taken to what we now call Eire? Yep.

Gifted English II: Today we need to address a handful of fairly complicated questions from Othello in the burgundy book. You may work with a partner. The Othello unit test is scheduled for Friday, and we will review extensively in class tomorrow. ALSO--the Iago paper is due Friday by 3 p.m. We went over some elements of his character in class yesterday, and today we'll review apt thesis statements.

APees: Today is the second and final Eyre in the Air reading day. The quiz for chapters 13-20 is scheduled for Friday. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous, so. . .enjoy!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Greetings and salutations!

Gifted English II: We have finished Othello! Which means that we have not finished our analysis of Othello. Not by a long shot. Today: Thesis statement help for the Iago paper, a screening of The Great Smother via Kenneth Branagh/Morpheus's vision, and beginning the questions (the super-challenging questions, btw) in the burgundy book. Othello test is probably Friday. It's really a fun test, complete with clip art and quotes and fun times. You'll laugh; you'll cry; it's better than Cats.

NOTE: Our next outside reading is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe; you should be able to check it out of the Media Center starting later this week. I'll confirm and double-confirm with the MC personnel.

APees: We need to go over three more FRQ's like we did yesterday, after which we are doing a discussion of Chapter 12 in Jane Eyre and a syntactical analysis. If you need to take the Jane make-up quiz, see me any time tomorrow. It should take about 10-15 minutes, so budget your time accordingly.

NOTE: Our next reading assignment is Heart of Darkness by Conrad. The MC has a number of copies, but you might find it helpful to acquire your own. Last year, I found a vendor that sold copies for two bucks each; the cover price was listed as a dollar, but they marked them up a bit AND charged shipping. But if it's worth it to you to save a trip to a bookstore, then we can put in an order together before Spring Break and have the books a week or so afterward. I'll take a poll tomorrow.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Beware the Ides of March; the Ides of March, beware! Mwahahahahahahahaha. . .

Some general housekeeping: A river of graded work needs to go back today, and for those of you who have been racking up absences, please see me ASAP to get make-up quizzes, etc. back on track. I am uploading grades for this quarter beginning next Wednesday, March 24, so the sooner the better. Go, ProgressBook, go.

ALSO: Several of you have asked for reprints of rec letters for scholarships. See me as soon as possible to facilitate this due to my increasing suspicion that my classroom computer is dying. It has made mastadon-like noises in the hard drive region of late, and it's eight years old, which in computer world is practically primeval. And it takes forever to boot up. And it no longer likes my Lord of the Rings screensaver. And it cusses at me when it thinks I'm not paying attention. We have long had an adversarial relationship, this computer and I, and now as it goes gently into that good night it is raging against the dying of the light. So letter-needers: See me ASAP. Really.

Today's Curriculum! 'Cause we got some!

Gifted English II: Finally, finally finishing the O. The Great Smother is upon us, and it does beg the question: At what point does someone who was smothered, then uncovered, then gives a speech, which denotes a use of oxygen, seem to unrealistically die? Desdemona embraces her quietus with fortitude and stumbles through a speech before succumbing to the great beyond, but medical scholars and disbelieving audience members alike say What What? Of course, we have to see what happens (if anything) to the dastardly Iago. Life's not fair, kids. Not at all.

APees: We put the F (as in Fun) in FRQ today, oh yes we do, and we apply said FRQness to Jane Eyre. And we will talk more about Jane, and possibly do a close reading of a selected passage. Bronte is so awesome. Like totally.

FCAT is Behind Us!/Thursday, March 11, 2010

Thank you so much to the students who made this such a cooperative, peaceful FCAT administration. The students I worked with were exemplary and sweet and I so appreciate the seniors taking a couple of days for reflection and college exploration. And the few who showed up and hung out with Mr. Undieme learned a lot!

Welcome back to Normality, such as it is in 313. . .

Word of the Day: presage

Holiday Today: Johnny Appleseed Day, World Kidney Day, and Nametag Day.

NOTE: This weekend is the end of Daylight Savings Time. Don't forget: Spring Forward; Fall Back! So yes, you lose an hour, but think of the residual psychological happiness when evening lingers longer and you have daylight to spare as the afternoon wanes. Before you go to bed Saturday night, move your clocks an hour forward, and while you're at it, have your parents (or you!) check the batteries in your smoke detector. Safety first! And I'm not even a fire marshal!

Gifted English II: Discussion questions for Act III of Othello (really more of a transition into the depths of Act IV) followed by the distribution of an awesome focus paper topic. I'll go ahead and give you the prompt: DEFEND IAGO. This should be interesting! And then, if you're good, and we have time, we will watch Othello have a meltdown in the Kenneth Branagh-directed film version.

APees: Collect and go over the Jane Eyre questions from the past two days, preparatory to the awesome and insightful quiz we get to take tomorrow. And if we have time, I'd like us to look more closely at a specific passage from the novel in AP exam format. We have FRQs to go over; I know how much y'all love those three little letters.

NOTE: The AP Practice Exam will be administered on two consecutive Wednesday sessions after Spring Break in the Media Center, and you need to select one of the two to attend. I think the dates are April 14 and April 21. Mrs. Covert and I are taking turns supervising these sessions, and ALL AP Lit kids need to do this. It is a massive part of your Q4 grade. If you know in advance that you have a Wednesday conflict we can schedule an alternative for you, but be judicious about this--you really need two consecutive hours to write your little brains out. Plan ahead, please; I'd hate to go to war with the 21-year-old manager of Hollister or whatever who, like, totally needs you to work. Pardon the sarcasm; I'm bitter today. Love to all!

For the seniors who are discovering college. . .

Here is the Jane Eyre assignment in the event that you were not here today or you've already misplaced it. These are due, on your own paper, by Thursday at 3 p.m.

Grazie!

AP Lit and Comp

Jane Eyre: Reading Assignment

Congratulations on getting out of school for two blissful, college-preparatory days! In the meantime, please answer the following questions as thoroughly as you can while you read. Love to all. Answer on your own paper; some are opinion questions and cannot be “incorrect” unless you fail to adequately respond.

Chapter 6

In this chapter, Jane receives another lesson in strength, this time from Helen Burns. What do you think of Burns' diction and speech? What do you think of her philosophy?

Chapter 7

What do you think of Mr. Brocklehurst's philosophy of education in this chapter?

Discuss Brontë's feelings on the "nature of man". Is she being serious or tongue-in-cheek?

Chapter 8

Compare Jane Eyre to other mistreated heroines from children's stories (Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White). Knowing that Jane Eyre is the novel that broke many rules about how a mistreated heroine should act, compare and contrast them to Jane.

Chapter 9

Pay attention to the lush descriptions of Miss Temple in chapter 8 and spring at Lowood in chapter 9. How would descriptions like these affect readers in the mid 19th century? How do they affect readers of today?

Notice the parallels between life at Lowood in the spring and Jane's new lifestyle. How is this "pathetic fallacy" a form of foreshadowing?

Chapter 10

Read the first paragraph of chapter 10. If Brontë means that she has only related events that are important, what are those important events and how are they important to Jane's development as a character?

What do you think of Jane's prayers for a "new servitude"?

What can you make of Bessie's character in her differing reactions to Jane's looks and her abilities? What is the effect that Brontë is trying to convey to the reader?

Pay attention to the appearance of a mysterious Mr. Eyre.

Chapter 11

What do you make of the first two paragraphs in chapter 11? Analyze this passage with regard to literary theory and the nature of the narrator.

What affect does Mrs. Fairfax's description of Rochester have on the reader? How does Brontë achieve this affect?

Monday, March 8, 2010

So I went home sick today after third period, thus beginning FCAT Week with a veritable bang.

Seniors: You should have rec'd the Jane Eyre questions for Chapters 6-11. THESE ARE DUE THURSDAY UPON YOUR RETURN. I am replicating the questions for your convenience in the next blog post. There WILL be a quiz on Chapters 6-11, most likely Thursday. Enjoy your two days of College Discovery and be sure to bring a note upon your return.

Sophys: I did teach you this morning, and we went over your testing locations. Please go to bed at a decent hour tonight and take this process very seriously over the next two days. This can affect your graduation AND your potential course placement. Be well! Be well!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Gifted English II: Quiz for Othello, Acts I-III. And then more Othelloness.

APees: Quiz for Jane Eyre, Chapters 1-5. Then more Bronteness.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Word of the Day: norm-referenced

Holiday of the Day: Among a myriad of other weird days, the one I like the most is "March Forth--Do Something Day." I do think that everyone can benefit from a little bit of anti-procrastinatory impetus, so get to it! Whatever you have been postponing, from a HW assignment to a personal chore--get it done!

Gifted English II: We need to go over some FCAT stuff for next week, from test prep questions I will be sending home with you to the actual testing schedule. Afterwards, we will review The Elements of Style and take an awesome, if brief, quiz, before resuming our study of Othello. NOTE: There will be a quiz tomorrow on Othello, Acts I-III. If you have been conscious for the past few days you should be fine.

APees: Per my e-mail to each of you, today is Eyre in the Air! You will be given a reading pass and permission to sally forth and find a comfortable spot in which to engage in the world's most delicious activity: READING!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Today's word: truthiness

Today's weird holidays: I Want You to Be Happy Day, National Anthem Day, Peace Corps Day, and What if Dogs and Cats Had Opposable Thumbs Day?

Gifted English II: Othello, Act III--handkerchief, handkerchief, handkerchief.

APees: Jane Eyre, close reading of the text; 3rd period needs to read "The Chimney Sweep" by Blake; "A Poison Tree" if time permits. Eyre in the Air may well be tomorrow, if the weather holds. Most likely, it will be Friday. And Senior Brag Sheets!!! Prepare to brag about your innate awesomeness.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Gifted English II: After we review The Elements of Style in preparation for a quiz later this week, we are launching headfirst back into Othello, Act III. This act is the turning point of the play, and features a great deal of symbolism attached to a handkerchief.

APees: Romanticism Projects are due today! Each student will present his or her project to the class and explain how it ideologically connects to the tenets of Romanticism.