Friday, January 28, 2011

Another week, down!!! Wow!!!

Gifted English II: Vocabulary quiz related to JC, followed by a focus paper assignment and pre-writing. And then an amazing grammar self-assessment.

AP Lit and Comp: "Tintern Abbey" by Wordsworth after a pre-reading activity related to the content of the poem. 'Tis lovely.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Gifted English II: Act V, scene v of JC with visual stimuli AND the awesome, not-ready-for-prime-time JC Scavenger Hunt!!!

NOTE: Our next major literary event is Othello; we will be working primarily from a class set, but if you wish to acquire a copy of the No Fear: Shakespeare series, I just saw over 147 copies available on www.amazon.com for a little over a dollar each. New, they run around six bucks--a bargain at either price point. If you don't want the paraphrased assistance, at least download the play from a reputable source for homework. We will discuss this in class tomorrow.

AP Lit and Comp: "The Chimney Sweep" behind us, we will review Blake and practice two multiple choice sessions based on specific passages. BRING THE LIT BOOK TOMORROW.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Oh, Frabjous Day!!!

Gifted English II: Review Content Vocabulary for Friday's Amazing Quizlet, then finish Act V. Act V questions will be turned in TODAY unless you need extra time. Tomorrow--a weird little activity, and a class vote. And by "weird" I mean "academically weird," not "Weird Science" weird.

AP Lit and Comp: TP-CASTT of "The Chimney Sweep" and a brief introduction to Wordsworth. (Isn't that a cool name for a poet? WORDS and WORTH? I've been contemplating pseudonyms lately and I wish I could come up with something cool, like Natasha Myinkisrunningdry or Victoria M. Verisimilitude (M for Metaphor!) Never mind. I'll just be Anonymous.)

CELL PHONE ABUSERS: You are either staring into your lap with disproportionate wonder or leaving your handbag strategically on your desk. I know what you're doing. Your classmates know what you're doing. I plan to address this in class, AGAIN, but let's be clear: I know that in this day and age, one must surgically remove electronic devices from one's audience. Teachers are bad about this, too, in meetings and such,but I try diligently NOT to be so rude as to stare at a little glowy screen over the underpaid educator earnestly trying to tell me something. Thus, I expect the same from you. Surely you have a student assistant period or a lunch break or, oh, I don't know, an AFTERNOON in which you can text yourself stupid, but please don't do it in my class when I am trying to teach you. School policy lets me take your expensive toy from you, and then your parental unit has to come to school to retrieve it and then you will have some 'splaining to do. Let's not be enemies, but let's be clear: I HATE CELL PHONES IN CLASSROOMS. I bought a device to prevent their use, but turns out that violated a federal law or something, so I have to rely on adolescent integrity. Oh, man. KEEP THE PHONE OUT OF SIGHT AND SET TO STUN AND WE WILL BE FINE. And keep your handbags off the desks and your eyes off of your laps; everyone will feel better about that last bit. It's just creepy.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Oh, the weather outside is frightful. . .

Gifted English II: Collect HW; watch Act IV; begin Act V. Acting!

AP Lit and Comp: More Blake; "London," "The Chimney Sweep," "A Poison Tree." I'll post detailed notes about Romanticism here for you in the next few days.

Sorry so short; had to supervise the drama rehearsal yesterday and stayed late, and the storm this afternoon has knocked me off my kilter. Back to normal tomorrow, n'est-ce pas?

Monday, January 24, 2011

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. APees: Please bring your textbook to class this week, starting Tuesday. Yes, that big, expensive white thing I haven't asked you to use yet. Now is the time, grasshoppers. Now is the time.

2. APees again: If you would like to purchase your own copy of Frankenstein for annotation purposes, bring 2.50 to class by Tuesday, 1/25. I am rush-ordering them to have next week.

3. Service hours: I have a new sign-in log for NHS service hours, to clarify and simplify the process. If you help out in 313 or for Project X--Classified this term, be sure to sign the log. Protects you, protects me.

4. Sophys! Registration begins week after next, and Guidance is coming to Guide you! More information pending, and soon.

AP Lit and Comp: After we discuss the prompt from the Semester Exam and share a few terrific examples, we are transitioning into the Romanticism Unit. I have a handout for you to facilitate your note-taking, but plan to take notes today, and possibly tomorrow as well.

Gifted English II: After we pass back ALL the work from last term (you might want to save some in a file for next year. . .) we are going head-first into Act IV of Julius Caesar. You have HW tonight: six or seven questions on the act, so the more we do in class, the less HW you might have.

Welcome to the Third Quarter!

Some people have New Year resolutions; I have new semester resolutions. Hopefully you will experience the benefit of the Nicer, Kinder, Gentler Me in the upcoming weeks and months.

I do want to clarify one issue, however, and it isn't mine.

OCPS has formulated new Management Directives, which are rules ALL employees must follow with no exception. To paraphrase: No employee may contact any student about anything unrelated to an assignment or an extracurricular activity; no student may do the same; no texting between employees and students AT ALL unless they are related; no social networking. PLEASE be judicious when e-mailing me; I have tried to be completely accessible to you, especially during scholarship season, but the new rules say that you cannot contact me via gmail anymore. (I always liked using gmail because unlike our school's e-mail server, it had pretty much unlimited capacity for attachments and the like, and I wouldn't get shut down when a bunch of essays hit me at the same time. I'll have to come up with something, I guess.)

I have historically only added students to a limited view of my Facebook feed AFTER they graduate, and I will continue to do so, but I cannot even be ASKED by you before graduation to Twitter, Facebook, or the like. Also, in the past, I've been pretty open with my phone number, mainly for international travel and our service club, but now I will limit all contact to the school number. This is a sound policy, I think, but it is a reversal from a few years back when we were encouraged to be available to you. Unfortunately, some adults lack discretion and have made some illegal, unethical, and sad choices, so these are our new rules.

You can still reach me at jennifer.hilley@ocps.net, or at 407.893.7200, extension 4605. And, as always, I am around before school and during both lunch shifts in 313. But the days of e-mailing me a cool cartoon about Macbeth or asking if I saw Jeopardy! last night are over, at least for now.

(For the record, I have nothing scandalous on the net, nor ever will; in fact, I'm FB friends with some of your parents. But rules are rules and frankly I think this establishes some pretty clear boundaries in a world fraught with uncertainty and ever-changing technological access.)

To infinity and beyond!

January 10, 2011

Okay, so I got a little distracted last week (ten zillion kids needing recommendations, scholarship essays, drama galore, and editing finals) and failed UTTERLY to update this blog of mine. A thousand apologies from the mother ship! Here goes!!!

First, the semester exam schedule is available on the BHS website and is pretty definitive. You have no school next Monday, January 17, so the exams will run Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with two exams on Tuesday and Wednesday and three on Thursday. Teachers will have school Friday to finish grades, but you have to make up any missing exams by January 24 OR THE GRADE CANNOT BE CHANGED. This is not a Boone thing but an OCPS thing due to our awesome new software. Plan ahead!!!!

Here is the tentative schedule for next week at Chez Hilley:

Monday, 1/10:

Gifted English II: Finish the compare/contrast for Julius Caesar; go over Acts I-III in visual form. Final Authors of the Day, too! Almost finished. . .

AP Lit and Comp: TS Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and its connection to Hamlet. This one's a doozy, guys, but a necessary evil for the AP exam. Not to mention for life-long cultural literacy. . .

Tuesday, 1/11:

Gifted English II: Distribute graded work and exam review packets; more Julius Caesar analysis; collect questions for Acts II and III.

AP Lit and Comp: Analysis of Eliot and literary criticism (seven short pieces and your final writing assignment for the semester) and distribution of semester exam review packet.

Wednesday, 1/12-Friday, 1/14:

BOTH CLASSES: Comprehensive examination reviews in class and make-up work opportunities before grades are due.

NOTE: There will be scheduled study periods integrated into the exam schedule, so you can submit make-up work up until Thursday, 1/20/2011.