Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Today's Word: faux pas

Today's Odd Holiday: National No Housework Day, National Day of Hope, and (dare I print this in a high school student blog--be mature, people--we are talking about the dam-builder here) National Beaver Day.

Author of the Day: Tom Stoppard

Gifted English II: Author of the Day, followed by "A Whole Society of Loners and Dreamers" by William Allen, since we did "Porphyria's Lover" on Monday instead. And a review of memoir-writing. And various other cool things.

APees: Yes, you are going to hate me, but it is incumbent upon me to adequately prepare you for the upcoming AP exam. To wit: Timed Writing on a DBQ. We have been FRQing our brains out, and now it's time to put the D in DBQ. Yep. And it's about Jane Eyre! I am so, so relevant. :-)

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.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

TONIGHT is the last chance to sign up for Ireland 2010. I know it's expensive, and I know that times are tight, but if you have a yen to travel, this is a great opportunity. See me or Amy Cotton or Corry Maguire for details, and the meeting is in my room at 7 p.m. Brief but scintillating.

Today's lessons, barring another unwelcome visit from the Fire Marshal (who ordered me to get rid of my Christmas tree, but We Have a Plan that largely involves James Parker running out the back door, cradling said tree and rushing it to my car, in the event of a return visit):

Gifted English II: Final FCAT-tery of the semester with an essay. The topics are predictable, but you are smart, so make it work, people. Make it work. Ten points if ya do. And tomorrow--the wrap-up of satire, and the beginning of my All-Time Favorite Lecture Like, Ever on how history and literature intertwine. You'll laugh, you'll cry; it's better than Cats. Truly.

APeeps: Hamlet Unit Test, followed by distribution of the second Hamlet focus paper. You knew it had to be coming, eh? This one is awesome, though, because it is DIRECTLY aligned to the FRQs of the AP Lit exam. And it's Hamlet-centric! What's not to like? Well, I can imagine, but at this stage of the game I am more invested in your getting college credit than in your short-term happiness. :-)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Sorry about the delay in posting--I was reading a book on efficiency and lost track of the time. I was so wrapped up in learning how to be efficient and not procrastinate that I procrastinated on updating my assignment blog. Since the sophomores are learning all about irony this week, this little blip on the radar is strangely appropriate, but I'm still embarrassed to be so off-schedule. A thousand apologies. Well, that and I've been grading myself stupid with focus papers, make-up tests, and multiple choice practice sessions.

On to the lessons for tomorrow!!!

Sophys: Our Author of the Day resumes tomorrow with the incredible Toni Morrison, one of my favorite writers. Afterwards, we will go over the expectations for the final copy of the Stranger paper which is due Friday for many of you--and to that end, I have a neato handout to give you called Guidelines for Solid Writing. After we go over this, I'd like to go over some of this week's vocabulary words--#21-40 on your literary terms list, and assign AWESOME homework that I meant to assign yesterday.

APees: Yesterday, I watched in amazement as some of you twitched in fear as you took your first multiple choice practice session. Never fear! I will give you back your scantrons so you can monitor your scores, and then we will go over the two prose passages. One of the passages is reprinted for you to annotate as we go. It should be a fun time for everyone!