Friday, January 29, 2010

Today's weird holiday is Free Thinkers Day and Fun at Work Day. Since I try to think freely and have fun at work every day, I'm not sure what to do differently, per se, today, but I might wear a funky hat.

Today's word is fungible, which means easily broken.

We'll leave Ireland alone for today. I can't pronounce anything anyway and will depend on the kindness of strangers, as I usually do when I travel.

Gifted English II: JC vocabulary quiz; plan for Lupercalia; review for JC unit test early next week.

APees: "Rime" journal entry/reaction paper; Iron Maiden Air Guitar Day with their version of "Rime." AWESOME.

NOTE: I will be out of town this weekend with limited internet access. I will try to check messages, but I am a busy girl. If you need a letter of recommendation or have an existential crisis, try to hold on until Monday. Have a great weekend, and have fun at BRAVE AID!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Mrs. Corbin will be with you today; be nice to her, as she is one of my favorite people. I have to do Medical Testing Part II today but will be back Monday, by hook or by crook. The final chapter is Tuesday afternoon, so Mrs. Corbin will be back with periods 5-7, but then I should be good (God willing and the creek don't rise) for a while. And thank you to all of the sweet children with good thoughts. It's been a rough few weeks.

Gifted English II: Turn in your HW to Mrs. Corbin, and then work for the first part of the period on JC questions related to Act III. (I'll be picking up the Act II questions, which are lengthier, by the end of the period Monday.) At the halfway mark of the period, she is going to turn on the DVD player and let you watch Acts I and II of the play. The version you will be watching is from the early 1970's, featuring Charlton Heston as Mark Antony and Sir John Geilgud as the doomed dictator. Enjoy!

APees: Today you will work on your reading journal with respect to Frankenstein. There are a few extra copies of the novel on the shelf up front if you need one, and there are extra copies of the journal assignment on the podium. Your first entry MUST be from one of the epistolary chapters (or can comment on all of them en masse) so today is NOT a day to be checking Facebook surreptitiously (I know what you are doing back there, you) nor frantically finishing calc homework for Dr. Tachon. Read! Read!

*hope it snows*

Friday, November 6, 2009

A myriad of fun activities awaiting us today!

Gifted English II: Focus papers are due today by 3:30; of course, I prefer if you submit them in class during first and second period so we can have a Title Parade. After I collect focus papers from (some of) you, I'll give you a few minutes to review your Poe vocabulary words, and then we are taking the awesome and mighty Poe Vocab Quiz, complete with rat-related clip art and a bonus question. Then, and only then, will we watch the opening scene of The Count of Monte Cristo while we generate a list of How This is Not From the Novel in Any Way, Shape, or Form.

(Note: I don't like showing movies in class; in fact, we only have two other films scheduled for this year--Julius Caesar and Monty Python's Holy Grail. Both of those are worthwhile and related to my curriculum, but a movie day is a day we don't interact and I fail to see the point of that. You may as well have a robot for a teacher.) This may be the only day we watch CMC since I'd really, really like to start the satire unit on Monday. If you want to see more, you might have to come by at lunch or after school on Wednesday. Or go home and add it to your NetFlix queue. You are the digital generation.)

APeeps: After I return the Act II quizzes from yesterday, some of which contained inadvertently hilarious answers, we will take a long look at the soliloquy from Act III, scene i--the famous one you may remember from Billy Madison. Hamlet has now spun from grief to anger and back to grief again, but this one really resonates as he questions the entire scope of the human experience. After we deconstruct this brilliant speech, I have an additional resource for you--a recently published article related how Hamlet is still relevant to 2009. Fantastic stuff, or so sayeth I.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Happy Friday! Tonight, we play Dr. Phillips, and I'm sure another astonishing victory is in store for the Boone Braves. Wear orange and white today and revel in your revelry.

Before first period, we will be collecting for Project X-Mas. I am asking second period to count the coins during BBC and then we will make our first deposit with the school bookkeeper during third. One week down; three to go! Awesome!

Gifted English II: Author of the Day, followed by a review of "Top of the Food Chain" and collection of your discussion questions on "Modest Proposal." Then. . .and I hope you brought your textbooks, because I had you write down to bring your textbooks. . .we'll be reading a satirical tale by Mark Twain called "The Lowest Animal."

HW: Read Candide.

APees: Hamlet Act III quiz, followed by a lively discussion of the Sample Test IV from the Sixth Edition AP Practice Book. The passages were fascinating, but we need to look at how you address questions in this format. I am also distributing the next focus paper assignment, which is due next Friday. You have three topics to select from.

Friday, September 12, 2008

This picture if of the train station in Wales next to the town with the huge name: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. And you didn't believe me. At least this town isn't as lengthy a name as the village in Thailand named
Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphop
nopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharn
amornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit. Don't even ask me what that means.

Today is Orange and White Day! Dress in our school colors today--I'm going to, complete with orange satin ballroom skirt--and you get to go to lunch ONE MINUTE EARLY! 60 whole seconds! Wheee! Our game tonight is away but I hope the weather plays nicely and ya'll get to go.

Reminder: Wear sneakers on Monday, if you care about the state of your feet. There might be a reason for all of us to dutifully troop out to the practice field during the first portion of first period. Just saying.

College Application Help Sessions before and after school today in my classroom.

Remember that the Writing Center is open next week in room 315 during A and B lunch on Tuesday and Thursday! Consultants can eat lunch in 313 on the off-days.

Sophys: Author of the Day is Louise Erdrich; vocabulary quiz #4 is today, too. First period can move on to Genre Studies (notes will be posted this weekend, btw) and second period still needs to finish the O'Brien tale. We get our textbooks next Tuesday. . .finally!

APees: Focus papers are due today by 4:30 p.m. in person AND on www.turnitin.com by midnight tonight. I'm gratified to see that many of you have already posted by now. Good for you! Today: Sophocles and his attitude towards women; modern implications of the tragedy; review of principal characters and quotations from the play. ORex test is Tuesday.

K12 Planet: I have been dutifully updating my electronic gradebook each day, which is supposed to automatically upload to K12 Planet. Several of you have been telling me that your classes are appearing on the site, but none of the grades are. Last fall, we had some technical problems with this company and 22% of our classes were off-line for weeks; I don't quite know what the deal is now, but we've just hired a new tech guy and I anticipate this is a priority.

So what can we do to ameliorate the woe?
First--if your parents are concerned about your progress, you can always get one of those progress reports and have each teacher fill it out. If you're seeking more instant gratification, I just learned how to e-mail your parents or you through the electr0nic gradebook (score!) so you can see how you're doing. And I am ALWAYS willing to print out a grade slip for you at any time.

Why not just post grades each week on the bulletin board?
I'm sketchy on posting grades with student numbers, as some of my colleagues do--I really think it compromises student privacy. Really--if your last name is Aardvark, everyone is going to know that you are the first student on the list; if your last name is ZZZZZ, everyone will know you're the last. Also, what if you go look at a massive list of grades and see a ton of As and Bs, and you are the sole F? Not that I can envision that happening to YOU, of course. See what I mean?

So please see me if you have questions--I give work back as quickly as possible, so youc an track your progress, and I will happily communicate progress with you between standard report cards and progress reports as you need it. I hope that K12 will get going soon, but we do have options. I will do all I can to help you succeed and learn.

Have a safe and productive weekend!

Friday, September 5, 2008

FRIDAY!!! Glorious, glorious Friday. Please wear ORANGE AND WHITE today to celebrate Boone's awesomeness. We really are pretty awesome, aren't we? And if you wear the aforementioned colors, you get to go to lunch one minute early! ONE WHOLE MINUTE! That's like sixty seconds of tater-tot goodness!

Gifted English II: Vocabulary Quiz #3, which is in a slightly different format than before. We're wrapping up our miniature unit on irony today, too. Author of the Day is Yukio Mishima. Your Art Opportunity today, to celebrate your Giftedness (aka: weirdness) is to draw something that symbolically relates to any of the words on your vocab list this week. Perhaps Odysseus flailing around on his boat? Or Johnny Appleseed chasing a tortoise? Or a better version of my Titanic sketch, complete with a confused Celine Dion on the deck of the doomed ship?

APees: Oedipus Rex!!! Hello, King! I know you know the story, but the play itself is quite readable and very easy to follow. Sophocles was a genius. Today, we will discuss aspects of the tragedy and how the Greek model sets the stage for, well, everything else. You need to READ. Really READ. Another focus paper is imminently approaching. . .