Homework: June 19

This is the last homework post of the year! Yikes...

Honors English 11

• You have portfolios and "This I Believe" essays due at 7:30 A.M. on Thursday (Block 1) and Friday (Block 3). I gave you the speech in class about showing up prepared. So, show up prepared. 
• Any outstanding work (missing essays, essays not uploaded to Turn It In, assignments you were absent for...) must come in to me. There's no more time, folks. 

Survey link

Folks in Honors English 11, blocks 1 and 3:

Please help me out by taking this survey during your class block today. Thanks for your feedback!

Homework: June 18

Honors English 11

• Projects are done and papers are in! You're on the home stretch.
• Tonight, work on your portfolios and your "This I Believe" essays. They are due at 7:30 A.M. on the day of your final. Let me know if you have any questions or need any help!
• Additionally, if you have any work that is still outstanding (meaning, that you haven't turned in yet...), please give it to me immediately!

Remember, you only have a couple days left, and a lot of work to complete. No napping 'til you're done--you can curl up and rest once you're done with the year!

Homework: June 17

Honors English 11

• You finished up your presentations today! Hooray! Thanks for your effort, and your attention to your classmates. I hope you learned as much from each other as I learned from you!
• Block 3 folks, wrap up your Project reflections tonight. I'll collect them tomorrow. Block 1 folks, I've already got yours.
• Turn in your Gatsby essays on Turn It In!
• Work on your This I Believe projects and your portfolios!

Homework: June 14

Honors English 11

• Hooray for presentations--you folks are doing a great job so far! Congratulations on the hard work you've put in, and also for paying attention to and learning from your classmates. We'll wrap up with two presentations on Monday.
• Your homework is to continue your reflection--reflect on what you heard, saw, and learned today, and how it might connect with your own thinking. (See yesterday's post for more specifics.)
• There's one week of school left! In that week, you need to complete these projects, a portfolio, and a "This I Believe" essay (remember, you'll read that essay aloud on your finals day). Whew! Here's some inspiration...a pep talk if you will:

And, here's another video, just because it's cool! (Imagine how much ANALYSIS it must have taken to do this...)
 

Homework: June 13

Honors English 11

• We started presentations today! We'll continue tomorrow, and finish up on Monday.
• Tonight, you'll start a reflection on the presentations...you'll add to it each night of presentations. Please reflect on: 
• What you saw, heard and learned today.
• Connections you can make between ideas presented today and your life, your own topic, other texts, etc.
• Please upload your essays to Turn It In if you have not already done so.
• Start working on your "This I Believe" essay, and your portfolio. 

Homework: June 12

Honors English 11

• Presentations are tomorrow!
• Make sure you plan out your notes regarding what you'll say. Remember, if you think you can just "wing it," you're wrong. Don't be "that kid"--if you find yourself saying, "Oh, I know what I'm talking about, I don't need to prepare," please recognize that that's the first sign of trouble!
• You should have a typed, proofread, and thoughtful one-to-two-page response, due tomorrow.
• Other things you can work on, if your presentation is ALL DONE:
• Your portfolio!
• Your "This I Believe" essay.

Here's a "This I Believe" essay to listen to. Click on the play button to hear her read it out loud...that's the most important part.

PROJECT NOTES!!!

OK, folks! Tomorrow, we start presenting. We'll be in F101,

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Make sure everyone in your group has access to your technology.
• You might need to present without a group member, since we only have a couple of days to complete presentations. Make sure you're prepared!
• Practice, practice, practice! Make sure you know what you're saying, and when.
• You should have your completed 1-2 page reflection with you tomorrow. The reflection should be typed, proofread, and thoughtful.

Homework: June 11

Honors English 11

• You're still working on your presentations! Remember, the fun starts on Thursday in F101--you should all be ready to present!
• Here are things to think about as you refine your presentations:
• Proofread!
• Get rid of any text you don't need--explain more, project less.
• Who's going to say what? What's the plan for the presentation? Though you should all be familiar with all content, you should also be more of an "expert" on one part. How will you explain that? Are the visuals (PowerPoint, Prezi) going to support you?
• You each have an individual piece of writing to do. Make sure that you're working on that. Instructions are on the project handout, and this assignment is due on Thursday.
• A reminder: Please submit your essays on The Great Gatsby to TurnItIn.com. The assignment is up on TurnItIn at this point--I promise!

Homework: June 10

Honors English 11

• You're working on presentations...hooray!
• You worked in class today, and at the end of the block, you all decided on what you were going to do for homework. So, do that. Remember, you should spend AT LEAST 20-30 minutes tonight working toward making your group project a success. If you finish your task more quickly, you might want to take on something else!
• Remember, theme can be tricky! For example, this page provides a great resource for developing a theme idea. If you look at it quickly, you might get the impression that the site lists a whole lot of themes, but it doesn't! Instead, it lists important topics, and the theme is what the text(s) says about the topic.
• This page provides some examples of common themes. Check yours against the examples given here. It's not going to be the same as any of these, but it should have the same features. It should make a statement about the story's main idea or message, but shouldn't be story-specific (meaning, it's not the plot, and it can apply to more than one text if another text has the same message).

Homework: June 7

Honors English 11

• Today in class we watched Restrepo, a text that you'll use to make connections with your The Things They Carried story and Big Fish. Please finish watching the film at home this weekend; it's available on YouTube, and there are about 10 minutes left (we ended at 1:19 in class). Your homework for the weekend is to write a reflection on the film and make some connections with the themes and topics you're studying for your project. Use the handout from class to guide you. Remember, this assignment will be part of your group work, so complete it thoughtfully.
• On Monday, we'll continue project work. Be ready to think hard and work hard!

Homework: June 6

Honors English 11

• We started projects today! Hooray! You worked in class on identifying some important content and themes of your story. Over the next few days, you'll prepare a presentation to share your insight with the world (of your class).
• Your Gatsby essay revisions are due tomorrow. Make sure you bring that whole packet with you (with your mind map and your draft with my comments) along with your final.
• Tonight, you're doing some project prep. You should write a page, in which you cover the following topics:
• What are you thinking, so far, about the theme(s) that your story relates? And, HOW does O'Brien get those themes across? What have you noticed about your story that will be relevant to your group's work? What connections might you make between/among your story and other stories in the book? How about Big Fish?
• How can you make sure your group is successful?
• Do you know that you'll be out of class on one of the project days? (Check the blue calendar.) If so, note it.

Homework: June 5

Honors English 11

• It was great to listen to you all discuss The Things They Carried today, in our "speed-conversating" format. :) You shared some great insight with each other, showing that you have complex and thoughtful understandings of the characters and stories. As I've told you, you'll continue to work with and study the text in groups. We're off to a great start!
• Tonight, you're writing a "semi-formal" response for The Things They Carried. You're choosing one of the prompts that we discussed in class today, and exploring it in a one-page response. Include specific details, and make sure you analyze what you think and why. You might discuss shifts in your thinking, and/or the way your conversation(s) today influenced what you think and why you think it.
• Remember, too, that you need to complete your Nate Fick/Tim O'Brien interview response. Click here to go to the prompts!

Homework: June 4

Honors English 11

• Today, we took a trip down memory lane...to your Gatsby essays! I passed them back to you, with all of my wonderful insight (that I know you've all been waiting for!), and you started working on revisions. Final drafts--for grades this time!--are due on Friday (though, like I said in class, I could be convinced on an individual basis to extend that to Monday...talk to me BEFORE Friday if you'd like to discuss this option).
• Tomorrow, it's time to discuss The Things They Carried! All of it! Get ready for it, because we'll be discussing THE WHOLE THING. True. (Or is it...? What is truth, really?)
• All of your written work is due tomorrow, as well. Remember, you'll need to "show" me your reading!

Homework: June 3

Honors English 11

• Today in class, we finished watching the Fick/O'Brien interview. This is the link for the interview. By Thursday, June 6, at 7:30 A.M., you must write and post a comment to the interview on the blog post linked here. The comment should be 1-2 paragraphs, and should:
• respond to the interview (what resonates with you?)
• make connections between the interview and O'Brien's text (and, other texts from this year?)
• Continue working on reading and completing your The Things They Carried work. It's all due on Wednesday (not Tuesday as originally announced).
• Bring your Gatsby book to class tomorrow, and make sure your Gatsby essay is available electronically--Google Docs?