Extra Credit opportunity--Honors English 11

This TED Talk is crazy. In it, a woman who studies brain science describes her experience of having a stroke. In detail, she explains what she went through, what it felt like, and what she learned from it.

In order to complete this extra credit assignment, here's what you need to do:

1. Watch the talk. It's about 20 minutes long, so make sure you have that amount of time to devote!



2. In a comment on this post, respond to this talk. Speak in your comment about: your thoughts on the talk itself, AND your connections between this talk and the ideas of Transcendentalism that we've been studying. Be specific! (To post a comment, click on the link that says "[a number] comments", and add yours. I need to "moderate" comments, so don't be surprised if it doesn't post right away. Make sure you include your name--not your full name, just first name and last initial.)

IN ORDER TO RECEIVE CREDIT for this extra credit assignment, YOU MUST POST YOUR COMMENT BY 7:30 A.M., Tuesday, April 5, 2013, Eastern Daylight Time (that's specific enough, right?).

Homework: March 28

Honors English 11

• Block 1: You folks are off the hook this weekend--you submitted your essays today, and you're all set! MAKE SURE YOU UPLOAD YOUR ESSAY TO TURN IT IN. Additionally, there's an extra credit post above this one. If you're interested, follow the instructions in the post. 
• Block 3: Your essay revisions are due on Monday, so finish them up! Do a good job. When you're done, print it out, and upload it to Turn It In. Complete the extra credit post, if you're interested.

English 12

• Finish your book-to-film analysis of "The Body"/Stand by Me.

Homework: March 27

Honors English 11

• Work on your essays!
• Block 1: Your essays are due tomorrow. Remember to bring the draft with my comments, as well as prep work and your "taxonomy" assignment!
• Block 3: Work on revisions, so you'll know if you have questions you need to ask tomorrow!
• Bring your books tomorrow--Thursday is this week's Friday!

English 12

• Work on your Stand by Me/"The Body" essay!
• Bring your books to class--we'll read!

Homework: March 26

Honors English 11

Block 1: You folks are working on revisions for your essays. They're due on Thursday; you're starting tonight, so you'll know if you have questions you need to ask! I'll be around after school today and tomorrow afternoon for consultation...come on by!

Block 3: You folks don't have homework tonight. I'll get your papers back to you tomorrow, and revisions will be due on Monday. (So, you'll have homework Thursday night, and block 1 won't...call it a trade off...)

English 12

• Complete the graphic organizer for the Stand by Me/"The Body" essay. You will write in class tomorrow, and you'll need to be prepared!

Homework: March 25

Honors English 11

• Tomorrow, we'll wrap up our conversation about Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher." Good work in our discussion today.
• Tonight, you're reading and annotating the excerpts from "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. We'll talk about Transcendentalism tomorrow.

English 12

• We started watching Stand by Me in class today--it's the film version of "The Body." You'll write about how effectively the film translates Stephen King's novella to film. 
• Your homework tonight is to write a one-page reflection on what you've seen of the film so far. Some questions to consider:
• What do you think of the changes made from novella to film--we noticed some already!
• What do you think of the casting of the characters? Accurate?
• What are your thoughts regarding the "emotional core" of the film--is it capturing the "emotional core" of the novella?

Conversations: The Fall of the House of Usher

We had some interesting conversations today in class about Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Fall of the House of Usher." The conversation prompt was LIFE AND DEATH IN POE'S "THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER." After spending 25 minutes or so thinking about the prompt, highlighting evidence and writing some notes, the conversations took on a life of their own, only dying when the bell tolled (see what I did there?). We made connections, had some big realizations:

1. That family tree that has no branches...? Yep, that's what it means...
2. Life and death are closely linked in this story; sometimes things that should be alive aren't, and sometimes things that should be dead aren't. And, that's all probably important, somehow.
3. A "speaking guitar" can say a whole lot.
4. The tarn is alive! The house is alive...not anymore! Lady Madeline is alive...no, she isn't...yes, she is...no, she isn't!

There were a lot of other big ideas discovered as we discussed. Check out the "map" of our conversations--I recorded our thinking as best I could (if you click on each image, you can read the text):

BLOCK 1:

BLOCK 3:

Homework: March 21 (and 22)

Honors English 11

• Finish "The Fall of the House of Usher"--read carefully! We'll revisit some of your question on Monday. Make sure you carefully mark up the text, and use "fix-up" strategies when necessary--re-read, look up vocabulary, make connections, develop questions.

English 12

• Finish your Close Reading Essay. It's due on Monday!

Homework: March 20

Honors English 11

• Today in class, we spent time setting up Google accounts and portfolios. Remember, you need to use your school e-mail account and set up your portfolio using the HHS Template. If you needed your password reset, remind me in class next time I see you!
• For homework, read and annotate "The Fall of the House of Usher" to the middle of page 9 (the end of the ballad). Keep an eye on your questions, observations and connections.
• BLOCK 1: We will have 2nd lunch tomorrow. I'll see you all at 10:30!
• Don't forget your independent reading books!

English 12

• Spend some time working on your close reading analysis assignment. I'll be looking forward to seeing what ideas you've developed!
• I'll see you all tomorrow at 12:30--don't forget your independent reading books!

Homework: March 18

Honors English 11

• Work on your essay!!! At this point in our process, we've spent a lot of time both in class and outside of class, preparing to write and writing. When you arrive to school tomorrow, you MUST have a hard copy of your essay with you--bring whatever it is that you have finished writing. I expect that you have at least a thesis statement and a couple of body paragraphs fully developed.
• Tomorrow in class, we'll work on revising introductions and conclusions. We'll also talk about titles.
• IF THERE'S SNOW tomorrow, and it causes us to miss school (really? again?), YOUR ESSAYS are STILL DUE on WEDNESDAY. Do the best you can with intros, conclusions, and a title--use the writing guide to help you. 

English 12

• You should have finished reading and ANNOTATING the text of The Body. If you haven't, do that first tonight.
• Then, work on your Interactive Journal Assignment--the handout from class today. You have three entries to complete, and they should be typed. The entries are due on Wednesday. Get at least one done tonight. They are due on WEDNESDAY even if we don't have school tomorrow.

Homework: March 15

Honors English 11

• Spend at least 20-30 minutes working on your essay this weekend. 
• You'll have time to work in class on Monday. Make sure you have an electronic version of your most recent work accessible.
• If you haven't already done so, please complete the form that's linked from yesterday's blog post.
• Have a great weekend!

English 12

• Finish reading and annotating The Body. We'll do a lot of writing and analysis of the text next week.
• Enjoy your weekend!

Homework: March 14

Honors English 11

• Spend at least 20-30 minutes tonight working on your essay project.
• Bring a copy of whatever you've got done so far to class tomorrow--we'll work in class!
• Click on this link and answer the questions there.
• Bring your independent reading book to class tomorrow!

English 12

• Read The Body, chapters 28 & 29--make sure you make notes and annotate: note questions, observations and connections.
• Bring your independent reading book to class tomorrow!

Homework: March 13

Honors English 11

• BLOCK 1: Move your proof from column one to column two, if it's still relevant to your big idea. If it's not, leave it in column one! Then, use the green sticky notes to provide some analysis: for each piece of proof in column two, analyze how it helps develop your big idea.
• BLOCK 3: Find proof for your idea in column one. Then, freewrite at the top of column two, noting your responses to the questions asked by your classmate, and your observations about your initial topic and your initial evidence/proof.

English 12

• Read and annotate chapters 25-27 in The Body. 

Homework: March 12

Honors English 11

• Do a 15-minute freewrite, in which you consider these questions in preparation for an essay about Frederick Douglass's Narrative:
• I'm interested in writing about...because...
• Some ideas I have are...
• Some questions I have are...

English 12

• Read The Body, chapter 20-24. You'll do some close reading in class tomorrow, so make sure you're prepared!

Homework: March 11

Honors English 11

• You finished Frederick Douglass's Narrative; now, we're going to prepare to do some in-depth thinking and writing. Your homework tonight is to use the "Taxonomy" handout that I provided in class. Pick one question from each section of the handout, and respond. Remember to do this on a separate sheet of paper, and start at the bottom of the Taxonomy (answer a "remembering" question first, then an "understanding" question, and so on all the way to the top...you should end up with six responses).

English 12

• The two assignments listed below should have been completed by the end of class today, but were not for many of you. So, you might need to:
• Complete the Important Events organizer, if you haven't already done so.
• Complete the analytical paragraph about one of the Important Events (we talked about it in class today; the assignment is at the end of the Important Events organizer).
• Your homework assignment tonight: Complete the assignment "Talking back to Chris."

Homework: March 7

Honors English 11

• Finish the book! Tonight, you'll finish chapter 11 of Frederick Douglass's Narrative. Make sure you annotate! Tomorrow in class, we'll look at the preface, letter, and the appendix.
• Complete a response in your journal--choose 3 quotations from the reading, and provide your analysis regarding each quotation's significance.
• Don't forget your independent reading book--we'll read tomorrow!

English 12

• Complete any work that you need to make up. By today, you should have read through chapter 19 in The Body. You had a handout today to work on--it looks at the significance of key events. Make sure this reading, and the handout, are complete.
• Read chapters 20-24 for tomorrow.

Homework: March 6

Honors English 11

• Finish reading Chapter 10 tonight. Make sure you annotate, marking your questions, observations and connections.
• If we don't have school tomorrow, you'll read chapter 11, too. That way, we'll be able to discuss the whole book on Friday!

English 12

• Read chapters 16-19. Make sure you annotate, marking your questions, observations, and connections.
• MANY of you need to spend some good, quality time working to get caught up. We're going to keep moving, so make sure you're putting in the time you need to be successful!

Homework: March 5

Honors English 11

• Remember, chapter 10 is the massive chapter in this book (and, it contains the massive paragraph that spans five whole pages!). Tonight, you'll read to the top of page 63 (that's the end of the mega-paragraph). Make sure you read and annotate carefully. Keep your insights from class today in mind as you read. Add to your ideas and observations!

English 12

• Read chapters 13 and 14 in "The Body." 
• Finish the paragraph you started in class. Remember, your question is: What does Stephen King want readers to know about the experience of growing up, and how does he share his idea?
• You might use this structure to start write your topic statement: In "The Body," Stephen King (verb, like describes, develops...)        (strategies...think about how)     to show        (what)             about the experience of growing up.  (Remember, this is a first draft, so we can "clean up" the language once you have a good idea.) Use your notes from class today, and check out the photo of our discussion, too!

Conversations about Frederick Douglass's Narrative and Stephen King's The Body

We had some big conversations in both Honors English 11 and English 12 today, using an Academic Conversations structure. There was a lot of good thinking going on--I had a hard time keeping up to take notes! This work is all part of the process of building strong analytical ideas, in preparation for some substantial writing once we've finished the texts. Here's what the board ended up looking like after each conversation (you can click on each image to enlarge):

Honors English 11 (block 1)

English 12 (block 2)

Honors English 11 (block 3)

Homework: March 4

Honors English 11

• Read and annotate chapter 9 of Frederick Douglass's Narrative
• Add to the quotations/analysis chart we started in class today. Find a quotation from chapter 9 that connects to the quotations already on the sheet, and explain why you chose it. We'll work with this assignment in class tomorrow.

English 12

• Finish your Mapping "The Body" assignment--you should complete the organizer as well as the visual map.
• Many of you have not submitted the "Close Reading Response Quiz"--finish that and hand it in!
• We move on in our reading tomorrow--make sure you catch up with your work so you don't get left behind!

An analysis of POWER in Frederick Douglass, chapter 1

In Honors English 11, we're reading and analyzing The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself. An early writing assignment asked students to establish a thesis statement that analyzed the role of power in Chapter 1 of the narrative, then develop their arguments with evidence. Katie did a great job of presenting a thoughtful statement, then providing clear evidence and analysis to support it. And, she did this all in about 10 minutes! Take a look: