Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Today is the PSAT at Boone, and the schedule is going to be very altered from the norm.

I will be in my classroom my 6:30 to tie togas for seniors; at 7:00 I have to go pick up my testing materials for the freshmen and juniors who will be participating in 313. I will tie more togas during fourth period, whenever that is, and hopefully my afternoon classes will have some time left in them after the adjusted bell schedule. We are supposed to finish PSAT by 10:30 in the morning, but I highly doubt that will happen based on past experience. Thus:

1. If you have no first or second period, plan to arrive at school after 10:30.

2. If you have AP Calc or AP Physics first period, prepare to be frozen in that class for a long, long time. Yay math! I think it sounds fun.

3. DO NOT COME TO MY CLASSROOM unless you are on the testing list. This test determines National Merit and I don't want any interference.

After the test is over, normality re-asserts itself (we think) and the bell schedule starts up again with fourth. Both lunch shifts will be "normal" and then we will have truncated fifth, sixth, and seventh periods. Since I distributed "Preludes" by T.S. Eliot yesterday after the Mactest, we will most likely analyze this in the few minutes we have together before we launch into New Things. Sophys: I won't see you at all. BE GOOD.

After school, I have a Mandatory Fun Department Meeting in room 315 but then will be available for further assistance re: college essays. See me if you are interested.

Good luck to all! Eat a good breakfast and get a good night's sleep!!!!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Dear Students,

I don't have this officially, but apparently we won't be distributing progress reports tomorrow in the traditional format. Your parental units will be encouraged to log in to ProgressBook and view your averages there. We are still working on the nuances of this new system, but I'm sure I'll have info to send home regarding this shift.

ALSO--I have letters to distribute to the sophomores about the PSAT, which is coming up in mid-October. Each of you is already signed up to take this test, at no cost to you. This test is the single-best indicator we have for preparedness for multiple AP courses next year, and will help you prep for the National Merit Scholars competition.

Gifted English II: Author of the Day is Margery Kempe, after which we have an awesome vocabulary quiz for words 81-100. Then: More Antigone, Scene 4!

APees: After a brief but scintillating quizlet on Macbeth, Acts I and II--har har--we are going to launch full-on into Act II, scene iii--the Porter sequence.

HW this weekend: Gifted English II--finish reading Antigone; APees--read the essay by Thomas de Quincey called "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth" that I am distributing tomorrow.

Regarding NHS: Please consider your timing when asking me to sign your form or give you service hours. I'm always glad to help, but some of you are having trouble sensing the tone. If I am surrounded by students seeking help with college essays, or am assiduously working on something in the Writing Center, flinging yourself to the head of the line and demanding something Right Now is not the way to fly. Sense the tone, people. And learn to recognize when an eye-roll is aimed at you.

That said, I am glad to help. I know these forms are due next Friday. If you need help, come see me--but be nice about it!!!

Much love to all. Really!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

PSAT scores are in! If your first period teacher did not give them to you yesterday, be sure to specifically ask for them today. I have a PowerPoint I am to show you that can explain the scores. And I'll use puppets, too.

Sophys: Act I and Act I questions; quick review of content vocabulary for tomorrow's quiz.

APees: R&G Are Dead, Act II and hopefully Act III.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Yes, it looks like we've missed a day here, but honestly, what would be the point of listing assignments for a day in which all of my beloved sophys spent the whole morning taking PSAT, and then my equally-beloved APees had 20-minute long class sessions? At least I got to read my pop-up book of Coleridge to the seniors. That was fun.

On to Thursday!

Sophys: Brief deconstruction of the PSAT experience, followed by Author of the Day presentations from Josh, Morgan, and the regularly scheduled peeps for today. We need to finish reviewing Antigone and deciding what to do about the Antigone test--today or tomorrow? It's super-short (33 little questions) but we need to do it. Reminder of CMC peer edit experience tomorrow.

HOMEWORK FOR TENTH GRADE: Count of Monte Cristo Rough Draft. NOTE TO TENTH GRADE: I still need to schedule some make-up work for a handful of you. See me ASAP, please. Kthnxbye. (See? I can speak AOL.)

APees: Cartoon Day, in one view; Introduction to Hamlet Day, in another. There will be some bad art, some Lion King analogies, and a lot of lecture. Please come prepared to NOT interrupt me for once. I love you guys--especially some of you gregarious types--but please lay off the espresso. For serious. Notes on Hamlet to follow in an upcoming post.



HOMEWORK FOR APees: Act I, scene i--read, understood, analyzed. It's short so make it so. NOTE TO APees: Several of you are missing work due to absences. Please see me ASAP to schedule the love. Grades are due next Friday for this quarter, people, after which NO work will be accepted nor resubmissions evaluated.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008: The Ides of October

Every sophomore and junior will be taking this test this morning, as will the AVID and Gifted freshmen. In other words, 1700 kids will be taking a standardized test and the entire campus will be disrupted. On the plus side, I believe passionately that this test is the most valid marker we have to ascertain a child's preparedness for more rigorous course work; I think it's far more valid (both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced) than many other tests to which we subject our young people. On the minus side, though, I'm not a fan of classroom disruption, and I'm not too wild about being relocated to the math building while freshmen are relocated to my bizarre yet happy classroom environment.

Hopefully, the PSAT will be a positive experience for everyone, and my afternoon AP classes will not be impacted in any significant way.

Sophys: Go to bed early the night before the PSAT, and eat a well-balanced breakfast beyond your usual Pop Tart and Coke combo that some of you favor. I will miss you terribly and will see you on Thursday!

APees: We'll have to see how much time is left, but I do want to go over some final thoughts on Macstuff and prepare for the transition to all things emo and Danish. In other words--Hamlet is coming, and some of you will develop a celebrity crush on him a la Mr. Darcy and others of you will find him insufferable. Hakuna matata, peeps.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Another great day on the Res!

Here's some semi-random clip art to share:







Cookie Monster!

Now on to the World of Academics:

Sophys: Author of the Day presentations, followed by shared Awesome Homework Assignments. I want to go over some PSAT tips and let you know where you are testing tomorrow. Good luck to all; it looks like I will be proctoring the test for juniors from Ca-Cu.

APees: 4th and 5th will take multiple choice practice test #2 from the CLIFF book; 6th and 7th will be going over the Frost poem and then reviewing both the sonnet and the prose passage from Dickens. I will also be going over the relocation list for tomorrow's PSAT.

Monday, October 13, 2008

22 days until the National Election!

1 week until Homecoming Festivities begin!

2 days until the PSAT!

Sophys: Distribute the Count of Monte Cristo focus paper assignment and discuss; review PSAT vocabulary; distribute HW for this evening and go over (monosyllabic critical thinking fun times!)

APees: Analysis of Frost poem in relation to Macstuff; multiple choice practice. I know you can't wait!

If you need to take the make-up version of the Mactest, see me after class today to schedule some time tomorrow or Wednesday. I cannot give a makeup test today due to other commitments.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

I've just been informed that I have a meeting before first period and another meeting immediately after seventh--both mandatory, my favorite word--so I won't be able to conference with anyone about college essays unless you can give up A lunch. Yay for meetings!

Sophys: Review PSAT vocabulary; review CMC for tomorrow's fun test, review Antigone for the take-home essay test, review PSAT strategies (hey--are you seeing a theme here? Lots of REVIEW.)

APees: MacFinalization in preparation for an eventual Mactest. I'm thinking Friday.

Apropos of Nothing: Project Runway Finale, part I is tonight! Just saying.

Primary Text Supplement for AP Lit:

AP Literature and Composition
Literary Criticism of the Macplay by A.C. Bradley
(from his series of 17 lectures on the play, presented in 1935)

4. SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MACBETH AND LADY MACBETH

. . .From this murky background stand out the two great terrible figures, which dwarf all the remaining characters of the drama. Both are sublime, and both inspire, far more than the other tragic heroes, the feeling of awe. They are never detached in imagination from the atmosphere, which surrounds them and adds to their grandeur and terror. It is, as it were, continued into their souls. For within them is all that we felt without the darkness of night, lit with the flame of tempest and the hues of blood, and haunted by wild and direful shapes, 'murdering ministers,' spirits of remorse, and maddening visions of peace lost and judgment to come. The way to be untrue to Shakespeare here, as always, is to relax the tension of imagination, to conventionalize, to conceive Macbeth, for example, as a half-hearted cowardly criminal, and Lady Macbeth as a whole-hearted fiend.
These two characters are fired by one and the same passion of ambition; and to a considerable
extent they are alike. The disposition of each is high, proud, and commanding. They are born to
rule if not to reign. They are peremptory or contemptuous to their inferiors. They are not children
of light, like Brutus and Hamlet; they are of the world. We observe in them no love of country, and no interest in the welfare of anyone outside their family. Their habitual thoughts and aims are, and, we imagine, long have been, all of station and power. And though in both there is something, and in one much, of what is higher honour, conscience, humanity they do not live consciously in the light of these things or speak their language. Not that they are egoists, like lago; or, if they are egoists, theirs is an egoisme a deux. They have no separate ambitions. They support and love one another. They suffer together. And if, as time goes on, they drift a little apart, they are not vulgar souls, to be alienated and recriminate when they experience the fruitlessness of their ambition. They remain to the end tragic, even grand.

Definition: egoisme a deux: 1. "Selfishness of two" or "double selfishness"; a satirical description of love, variously and dubiously attributed sometimes to the French medieval writer of romances, Antoine de la Sale (circa 1385-circa 1460), to the 18th century philosophe, Antoine de Lassalle, and to the Swiss-French belle-lettrist, Madame de Staël (1766-1817): "L'amour est un égoïsme à deux," which translates as: "Love is a selfishness of two."

2. A situation in which two people are in love with each other but lack brotherly love for others.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Can you believe it's already October? At least there is a sense of coolness in the air. Autumn is upon us!

Today is National Vegetarian Day, and something about Circles. Many thanks to both Eric K. and Megan B. for providing us with all of the wacky days in October--hilarity will ensue.

Sophys: Count of Monte Cristo Final Reading Day As Voted on Democratically by Most of You. Yes, I know some of you don't like reading in class--it's too quiet, or it's too visually distracting, or you're not in the mood at this hour in the morning. If you'd rather read this amazing critical essay ABOUT CMC you can read that instead. Regardless, Dumas is getting his claws into your psyche this morning, and hopefully this will help all of you catch up.

Planning Ahead, Sophomore-Style:

1. This Friday, October 3: Mastery Test for 120 Literary Terms. Multiple Guess; bring a pencil.
2. Next Thursday, October 9: Count of Monte Cristo Test (essay and short answer format.) Bring a pen.
3. Wednesday, October 15: PSAT. You have all been signed up to take this test, and the 20.00 fee has been covered by school improvement funds. You will be excused from your first three classes that morning for testing, and you will need to bring a pencil. This test is important to you in several ways; as we discussed in class, it's A) the best way to prepare for national merit Qualifying next year; B) a measure by which we can best place you in AP classes next year and the year afterward, and C) terrific practice for the SAT and ACT. Pleas take this seriously. It is a highly respected, nationally recognized exam that is actually interesting in content.

APees: Sixth period needs to take the Act III quiz, due to ongoing delays from last week's Senior Panoramic Picture. Everyone else will forge straightaway into Act IV, scene i analysis, and develop thesis statements for the MacFocus Paper that is due next Tuesday. (You still need to bring your finalized thesis statement and rough materials with you Friday for in-class conferencing.) MacGoodness all around! And more cartoons on the board.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Congrats to the BHS football team for defeating Winter Park on Friday night!

Reminder: The Writing Center is open Tuesday and Thursday during both lunch shifts for anyone who might need help with college essays. I'm usually available before school each day, too, but I have some parent conferences scheduled this week and you might have to see me in the WC instead.

APees: Finish Act I of the Macplay; content vocabulary for the Macplay; possible quiz if we get to it on Act I. Definitely tomorrow if not today.

Sophys: "Prologue" and "Parados" of Antigone--you need your textbooks! Reminder about CMC and this week's literary vocabulary--our last list! After the 120 Terms mini-unit is complete, we will have an overall mastery test and then shift into PSAT vocabulary.