Thursday, September 30

Today, we looked again at the idea of irony.

We discussed the concept of fairness and the idea that, in America, "all men are...equal."

We read the short story "Harrison Bergeron", by Kurt Vonnegut. The story is about a future America. In 2081, the US government has placed handicaps on the citizens in order to make everyone equal.

We will have a class discussion on this short story tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 29

Today, we discussed "irony" in class. Irony is whenever there is a difference between expectation and the reality. We listened to the song "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and then we watched a clip from "Good Morning, Vietnam" that uses the song in an ironic way.

We did our daily log, and then we took a short quiz on the story "Love."

Finally, we read the story "The Bet" by Anton Chekov. We looked at the story for examples of irony.

Tuesday, September 28

Today, we focused on symbolism. A symbol is any object that is itself and stands for more than itself.

Students did a daily English log. As part of the log, they wrote a journal about their favorite teacher.

Students then read a brief short story, entitled "Love", on p.181 of the book. In this story, a narrator tells about one of her favorite childhood teachers. Throughout the story, the teacher is compared to a flower.

Students did the "Study and Discussion" questions, p.184, as homework.

Monday, September 27

We did our Daily Log activity, which is a combination of grammar, vocabulary, and journal writing. This took about 25 minutes.

After this, we read the short story "Marigolds" by Eugenia Collier. For homework, students had to answer the "Study and Discussion" questions on p.82 of their textbook.

Friday, September 24

Today, we continued our discussion of code shifting.

We took a look at the "Speech Accent Archive", which shows how different people all over the world speak English. This is located at:
http://accent.gmu.edu/

We also listened to different historical speeches and examined how the speaker changed their language in order to fit the situation. We looked at MLK, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech (link to the audio below):
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

Some classes listened to Barack Obama's Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2004/barackobama2004dnc.htm

Thursday, September 23

Today, we discussed the idea of "code shifting." People from all over the world speak different forms of the English language, depending on their age, gender, religion, etc. We must learn how to adapt our language based upon our situation.

Wednesday, September 22

Today, during my first two blocks, students took the turn of being the teacher. Groups of students taught mini-lessons to the class on topics like character, plot, and point of view. We didn't get through all the groups, so the rest will go tomorrow.

In Block 4, we read the story "A Pair of Silk Stockings" by Kate Chopin. It was pretty awesome.

Tuesday, September 21

My first two blocks (1&2) broke up into groups and went to the computer lab to design lessons. Tomorrow, in class, the different groups will take turns teaching material to the classes. Some of the different concepts are plot, character, point of view, etc.

They will teach the class and then give the class a short quiz to determine if they taught well or not.

My 4th block learned about "character." They read the story, "The Beginning of Grief" and did the questions that follow the story.

Monday, September 20

Persuasive essays were due today. Late essays will have their grades adjusted accordingly.

We started our look at the elements of fiction. The elements of fiction are things like plot, character, irony, etc. Today, we are focusing on plot. I introduced Freytag's triangle as a visual representation of plot.

We read the story "The Monkey's Paw" (page 30 of our book). The full text is also available online at
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/reading/activity/3080.html.

Friday, September 17

We discussed two forms of figurative language: similes and metaphors.
We looked at two examples of these in poetry: "The Base Stealer" and "Dreams."
We also talked about the Harlem Renaissance.
Finally, students proofread their essays.
Final drafts of the essays are due on Monday.

Thursday, September 16

Today we discussed two literary terms: diction and alliteration.

We looked at some poems that use diction and alliteration ("Women" by Alice Walker, and "Reapers), both from our literature textbook.

Students also revised their essays with a series of questions I handed out.

Wednesday, September 15

Today, we read "In the Jungle" by Annie Dillard and discussed the four reasons an author will write non-fiction: to entertain, explain, inform, and persuade.

We also worked on first drafts of our persuasive essays. We'll continue tomorrow by doing some revision.

Tuesday, September 14

Today we read an article about gay high schools. In some parts of the country, GLBT (gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender) high schools are being created to avoid the bullying that the students experience. This is a controversial issue.

The article can be found at this link:
http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-37-spring-2010/homo-high

(Or, you could type "homo high teaching tolerance" into a Google search.)

Students completed a worksheet based upon the article.

Finally, students had to do pre-writing based upon the following prompt:
"Imagine that a gay-friendly high school is proposed for Liberty County. Would you support this idea? Why or why not?
Write a letter to the school board telling them what you think they should do."

STUDENTS ONLY HAVE TO PRE-WRITE. I WILL GIVE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ESSAY WRITING TOMORROW.

Monday, September 13

We focused on conclusion writing today. Students wrote conclusions to pair with the introductions that they wrote on Friday.

Also, the class took a grammar quiz using the CPS (remote) system. This quiz reviewed major grammar concepts.

Today is Monday, which means tutoring is offered afterschool from 3:30-4:30. Bring something to work on!

Friday, September 10

We continued our focus on persuasive writing today. Students learned about how to write introductions to persuasive essays, using a hook and a thesis to be effective.

Students completed a worksheet on writing introductions.

Thursday, September 9

Students received progress reports today. If there are any errors on your progress report, please inform me of the mistake. I will apologize and do my best to fix it in a timely fashion.

We also watched a short video from CNN about the Koran book burning planned for this Saturday. We discussed the idea, as it strongly connects with our course themes of prejudice, tolerance, and multi-culturalism.

Finally, we worked on pre-writing. We introduced the different types of pre-writing to students and did some practice pre-writing.

Wednesday, September 8

Today, all students took a diagnostic test using our CPS (remote) system. This test was designed to determine what students know and how we need to modify our teaching in the future.

We also discussed persuasive writing some more.

Tuesday, September 7

Mr. Graci was absent today.

We began a unit on persuasive writing. This is important because all students will need to take a writing test (in 11th grade) in order to graduate.

Today, students looked at different persuasive essays and evaluated them. Tomorrow we will discuss what goes into a good persuasive essay.

Friday, September 3

Students took a test on "Night."

Students also watched a video on racism and discussed it.

Finally, we tested out the CPS (classroom performance system). Next week, students will use this to take a classroom evaluation.

Thursday, September 2

We discussed the book "Night." Students handed in a worksheet about the book.

We also discussed the test on "Night", which will be given tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 1

Students took a quiz on Chapters 7 & 8 of "Night."

Students went to the computer lab. There, they researched Elie Wiesel, the author. They used the information to create a brochure about Elie and his life.

Homework is to finish the book.