Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Gifted English II: The Author of the Day is children's novelist Judy Blume and the Word of the Day is "subtle." Today, after I collect the HW you did last night (creating a paragraph out of monosyllabic words) we will share some with the class before reviewing the room list for tomorrow's PSAT. Afterwards, we will go over content vocabulary and prepare for our next unit.

AP Literature and Comp: If you missed the MacQuiz yesterday, you need to take it today during lunch or after school. It only takes about ten minutes. Today: Macbeth, Act IV scene ii and iii with corresponding analysis.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Be nice to my sub! I have a family ceremony to attend. I might be back, so be good. . .you never know when I will emo into the room expecting greatness.

Word of the Day: filial

Holiday of the Day: National Chili Day!

Gifted English II: Othello; finish the Act II questions. You may then watch Act I and part of Act II on the video, with careful fast-forwarding. I am leaving specific instructions for the sub. (Second period: you have a quiz, remember?)

AP Literature and Composition: Written response to a DBQ; this one is about Charlotte Bronte. AWESOMENESS PERSONIFIED. I love this prompt; love, love, love.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Today is my half-birthday; not that I celebrate it or anything, but I am keenly aware that in a year and a half I will be forty years old. FORTY. I know people say that forty is the new twenty or whatever, and I know I don't look my age (between the generalized immaturity and the sole benefit of being fat--non-wrinkling, I am perpetually 27 or so) but dang. 40. Makes one think. I need to write that novel like NOW.

::self-pitying rant over::

Let's check out the curriculum!!!

Word of the Day: amalgam

Today's Holiday: Battery Day, Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (sounds sexist but is actually encouraging) and Chocolate Mint Day.

Gifted English II: Final Lupercal meeting; Othello again. Awesome!

APees: Shelley focus paper assignment (oh, don't act surprised) and Keats again--this time, "Nightingale." Romanticism creative project is due by March 2, 2010.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Word of the Day: emblazoned

Holiday of the Day: Ash Wednesday. For those of you commemorating Lent or the 40-Day-Challenge, what are YOU giving up? I am trying to give up negative thoughts. A few years ago I gave up caffeine and cursing at the same time, and it was an epic fail. This year, I long to be more focused on the positives of our lovely world.

Gifted English II: Othello vocabulary quiz, followed by a deep foray into Act II with related questions. Awesomeness abounds!

APees: Keats, Keats, Keats.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

'Allo, guvner!

Here are our lessons for today:

Word of the Day: abstemious

Irish Word of the Day: cuidiú (help)

Today’s Holiday: Thomas Crapper Day

Gifted English II: Julius Caesar Act IV questions; reminder of memorizations pending; transition to Act V

AP Lit and Comp: Begin “Rime”—notes on board; analysis chart.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Today is my Mom's birthday! What do you get for the woman who has everything--well, all she wants is time with me, so I'm taking her shopping and for a manicure. Girls day out. After school hours, of course--I'm a role model for today's youth and would hate to be absent on such an illustrious day as today, because. . .

Dun dun dun. . .

We have fascinating things to do and learn today! I am so excited!

NOTE ABOUT THIRD QUARTER: For many students, third quarter is the worst quarter. For seniors, graduation is just far enough away as to seem unattainable, yet close enough to terrify with the Real World Oh My Goodness Really thing. For sophys, it is an amalgam of FCAT-osity, scheduling joy, and the sudden sinking realization that your junior year is creeping up on you. Historically, many of my talented learners have removed themselves from school on their own recognizance more than usual during the famed and feared third quarter, but this need not be you. Think about this: Third quarter is actually a magical time, suspended between a three-day weekend and Spring Break, in which you can re-evaluate, re-assess, and re-vitalize your educational path. Did your grades suck worse than a vacuum cleaner first semester? Time to bring them up! Colleges will only see final grades! Get moving! Did you fail to invest in your relationships with others or did you falter in taking advantage of the rich social resources BHS has to give you? Did you make poor life choices and NOT listen to your English teacher's puppet shows? Now is the time. . .now is the time. . .to seize the brass ring of determination and wrap it exuberantly around your head. LET'S GET BUSY!!!!!!!!!!

Focal points for this quarter:

Gifted English II: Shakespearean studies, grammar, and the resurrection of the Author of the Day project, FCAT skills, Lupercal festival

APees: Romanticism unit; thesis statement development for AP FRQ prompts; writing conventions

Word of the Day: bilious

Irish Word of the Day: Dia duit (hello)

Today’s Holiday: Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day (seriously)

Gifted English II: Resurrection of Author of the Day project, beginning next week/Julius Caesar recap of Venn diagram and new content vocab from Act IV; reminder about Elements of Style by next week as well. HOMEWORK: Finish definitions and acquire Elements of Style.

AP Lit and Comp: Review of Wordsworth concepts; samples from semester exam FRQs; transition into Coleridge (with pop-up goodness). Frankenstein reading quiz tomorrow for Part I (different format from first quiz.) Distribution of graded work. HOMEWORK: At least one journal entry for Frankenstein; bring lit book tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Today should, hopefully, be the last day of my medical woe. I will be on campus until the conclusion of B lunch, so if students in the afternoon classes have any questions come find me.

Word of the Day: ameliorate

Today's holiday: Unidentified, but I can tell you that January is apparently California Dried Plum Digestive Month. Yay for prunes!

(And many, many thanks to JM Bell for the AWESOME bubble wrap calendar. There was much rejoicing all day long.)

Gifted English II: A continuation of our compare/contrast analysis of The Speeches, followed by a brief screening of Acts II and III of the play.

APees: After a journal entry that is thematically related to Wordsworth's poem, we will begin analysis of "Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey," his landmark lyric poem--written entirely in blank verse, and entirely as a draft--about a return visit to a special place. I love this poem and hope you love it, too; one line in particular has always resonated with me: "The best parts of a good man's life/The little, nameless, unnumbered acts of kindness/And of love." Wow.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Project X-Mas helpers: We will be collecting jars before school tomorrow. I have a parent conference at 9:00 this morning and won't be back in the classroom until probably right before first period starts. I have additional Ziploc bags for collection on my desk;' take what you need.

Today is saxophone Day and Marooned Without a Compass Day. If you could find an inventive way to combine both celebrations, that would be. . .interesting.

Gifted English II: Discuss elements of "A Modest Proposal" and segue into the related essay, "Top of the Food Chain" by T.C. Boyle. Satire afoot! NOTE: You need your literature book tomorrow. Not the yellow one we keep in the classroom, either--BRING YOUR BOOK TOMORROW.

APees: 25 minutes to finish the multiple choice, then we're going over Act III, scene iv. I will score the MC tests after school and we will go over the passages tomorrow in class. HW tonight: Act IV, scenes i-ii.

What are we going to do with all of the previous words of the day? I have a master list of the words we've already learned, and I will post them here in the next day or so. We will add ten more words and then either have a quiz on all of them or find a creative way to assess your understanding of the words. I think vocabulary is important, but diction enhancement cannot be our only focus at this stage of the game.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

APees: Several of you have requested supplemental material to ameliorate gaps in your reading history. Without engaging in any disrespectful rhetoric towards ANY of my colleagues, we do have to acknowledge that some courses require different reading than others, and some of you have expressed concerns that frequent in-class allusions are flying over your heads. To help, I spent a large part of my weekend compiling two documents for you: a recommended reading list that every AP student should have read by the end of high school in an ideal world, and a summary packet of the titles I teach in my tenth grade English class. Both are optional, and completely voluntary. The goal here is to level the playing field as much as possible before you take that test in May. Please don't think I am teaching to the test--the test is a separate product from the course, and I cannot take moral responsibility for whether you pass that test or not. HOWEVER--let's be realistic. You signed up for this class for a variety of reasons, but I'd assume that one of them was to avoid having to take freshman comp next year. So here is another tool in your arsenal to help you achieve that goal if you feel that you're missing some titles--or if you didn't read them when they were originally assigned. (I did not fall off of a turnip truck and I'm aware that some of my illustrious scholars don't read everything they are supposed to. This is why we have "grade distributions" and "bell curves" and "lousy third quarters.") That's a very long-winded way of saying that the copies are in, and you are welcome to one if you'd like. Once I master the art of imbedding pdf files, you can get it here, too.

Sophys: Field trip to the Media Center! Be sure to bring your ID or five dollars with which to procure another one. Author of the Day is Jane Austen; we will review SOME of the vocab words for our second-to-last literary terms list; fun and frolicsome-ness with new textbooks.

APees again: ORex test; if we finish early, two awesome poems in the literary anthology thematically related to ORex. We will be doing some transitional work with poetry before we launch into the next awesome, awesome unit: Shakespeare!!! Although I don't know if I have the energy to redo my huge chart thing about Henry VIII and the whole Tudor mess. I will say this, though--if you are watching The Tudors on Showmax or HBS or Cineshow or whatever those premium channels are (I'm a teacher, and poor, and therefore don't subscribe) then you are getting a very, very skewed idea of history. Or that wretched movie with Natalie and Scarlett. Pretty dresses; ugly adherence to accuracy. Entertainment rocks, though, eh?

Word of the Day: apotheosis (noun): elevation of an individual to a state of divinity

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Today is an anniversary felt very deeply and poignantly by many Americans; seven years ago, terrorists struck on American shores and the sense of complacency felt for so long here was shattered. I hope that none of you are particularly upset today, but I would ask you to take just a moment and consider how lucky we are to live in a country with all of the vast resources and freedoms as America, and if you know someone personally who suffered as a result of the 2001 attacks, you have my empathy.

On the the academic side of things:

Sophys: Thank you for being so focused and intensive with your reading day! Back to business today. Our Author of the Day is Margery Kempe. You have a vocabulary quiz tomorrow on the fourth subset of words; I am NOT reviewing this week (although I will make the distinction between oxymoron and paradox in class) so please be responsible and study diligently. Today: Finish "Billy" and analysis; short writing assignment.

APees: We need to talk about the T-shirt issue each period; there might be a pop quiz on ORex and we need to discuss the Glaysher essay in-depth. Focus papers due tomorrow; let's discuss themes and look at Jocasta's responsibility in all of this mess.

Writing Center training will be during A and B lunch shifts today in room 302. We relocate to 315 next week.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Announcement: If you are interested in going to Germany this spring break, the informational meeting will be next Tuesday night at 6:30 in my classroom. I have some forms if you would like to share information with your parents and not hit them with sticker-shock at the meeting. Travel, I'm afraid, is not cheap. The only thing I can say with certainty (and a lot of modesty) is that I am fun to travel with. You won't get away with a lot of bad behavior, but we will have fun and there will be much rejoicing!

SENIORS: You will meet with your Guidance Counselor on Monday, September 8. Come to my class first so I can take roll and ascertain your presence on our lovely campus before we sojourn together to the Student Services Centre*.

Gifted English II: Finish O. Henry's tale in second; evaluate it in first. Author of the Day is John Keats, after which we will review the common errors from the first paper and go over Guidelines for Solid Writing. It has clip art! And then, time permitting, we'll look at yet another short piece of ironic fiction--this one set in a war.

APees: Common error review, which won't take long, and then we'll begin introducing the transitional materials to Greek tragedy, a.k.a. Oedipus Rex. You don't need your anthology today, but you will on Friday. Handouts: FRQs and Sophocles Biography (read for homework.)

Word of the Day: mendacious (adjective): dishonest, full of trickery or chicanery
Have you noticed how I try to define words with other SAT words? How mendacious of me, if I didn't just admit that.

*Apropos of nothing: I hate, hate, hate it when American locations appropriate "Britishisms" to class up the diction. For example: Pointe Orlando, which I call "pointy." I know this is just one of my myriad of character flaws, but "centre," "towne," and "colour" drive me "batty" when utilized by Americans. We don't speak English, people! We speak SAE: Standard American English! We don't use "lifts", or live in "flats", or "snog" the "bobby" after he gives us a "brolly" (kiss the cop after he gives us an umbrella, -ella, -ella.) I love England, really really, but dang. The most egregious offender is Seminole Towne Centre Shoppes. I will never patronize such an establishment. Not that you care. I need to drink less coffee.