Homework: April 30

Honors English 11 (D)

• Write the first paragraph of your literary criticism response. Have some ideas about the second paragraph...we'll talk about it in class tomorrow.
• Read your independent book!

English 11 (F)

• Spend about 20-25 minutes checking out these online resources for preparing for the SAT. Remember, you won't really be able to study everything for this test, but it's very helpful to practice and familiarize yourself with the types of questions you'll be asked.
• Khan Academy is an online resource for many subjects, including SAT prep. If you go to the link on the right hand side of that link's page, you'll see SAT Reading and Writing Practice.
• The College Board SAT site also links some resources, including question of the day. There are apps to try out, too, if you want to get them on your phone.
• If you know of, or find, other helpful resources, comment with a link!
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• Work on your project! I've met with some of you, and some of you are well on your way to completing the essay and starting to put your presentation together. For others, it's the other way around. Some of you still owe me proposals...
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (A)

• Edit, clarify, and revise your first essay paragraph. Then, write up the second. Bring it with you to class on Friday, and we'll discuss. The final version (2-3 paragraphs), with works cited, is due on Monday.
• Read your independent book!

Homework: April 29

English 11 (F)

• You have two questions to answer, in two separate, thoughtful, detailed paragraphs. They are:
• Is Gatsby great?
• Is Gatsby great?
• Remember, we talked in class about how these are two different questions (hint: the italics are key!). We also talked about what GREAT can mean.
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• Work on your projects. Start writing. Remember, I showed you how I might start mine. (It's below, if you want to revisit its brilliance.) It might look like a bit of a mess, but it's my mess...  :)  Writing will help you figure things out. 
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (A)

• Write the first paragraph of your literary criticism response. Have some ideas about the second paragraph...we'll talk about it in class tomorrow.
• Read your independent book!

English 12 (B)

• Work on your projects. Start writing. Remember, I showed you how I might start my essay. (It's below, if you want to revisit its brilliance.) It might look like a bit of a mess, but it's my mess...  :) Writing will help you figure things out. 
• Read your independent book!

I started writing my essay in class, in front of you. You might have noticed many things, but mostly this: It's a mess right now...which is ok. Thinking and writing can be pretty messy, and ideas don't just line up for us and wait for us to catch them. As I told you in class, this page shows a combination of fully formed ideas, fledgling ideas, and questionable ideas. I'll end up revising this a lot, and I highlight, use ellipses, and skip lines to capture what I want to say. This is all part of my process...yours may be different!

Homework: April 28

Honors English 11 (A and D)

• Spend about 20-25 minutes checking out these online resources for preparing for the SAT. Remember, you won't really be able to study everything for this test, but it's very helpful to practice and familiarize yourself with the types of questions you'll be asked.
• Khan Academy is an online resource for many subjects, including SAT prep. If you go to the link on the right hand side of that link's page, you'll see SAT Reading and Writing Practice.
• The College Board SAT site also links some resources, including question of the day. There are apps to try out, too, if you want to get them on your phone.
• If you know of, or find, other helpful resources, comment with a link!
• Read your independent book!

English 11 (B)

• Work on your project! There's a "theme" resource posted earlier on the blog...it might help!
• Read your independent book!

Resource for seniors working on THEME projects

So, folks...you've been working on these theme projects! There are a lot of interesting ideas out there. Here's a resource that you can use to check your thinking. Though you won't use any of these verbatim, you can check your theme to make sure that it follows the structure--that it is a full, specific idea.

Homework: April 16 and 17

Honors English 11 (A and D)

• Over vacation, read that article called "The Chameleon." In D block, I showed the trailer for a film/documentary that was made about this story...it's pretty crazy. You can find the trailer here, and the article here. The trailer is really just to pique your interest and give you some context; it's article that I want you to focus on. It's long, but fascinating. It provides a written "portrait" of a man and his identity development. (Some might say that Nick Carraway, in The Great Gatsby, does the same thing...with a very different story...)
• As you read, mark it up a bit to help you remember when we talk about it in a couple of weeks. Make quick notes about your observations, questions and connections. Consider this question: WHAT does the profile tell us (say) about this man, and HOW does the writer tell the story?
• Read your independent book, too!

English 12 (B)

• Work on your projects! I should have received a proposal from each of you...and I haven't. So, make sure you write up a paragraph about your theme idea, your texts, your initial thoughts about what you'll write and present, and any questions you have. Share it with me in Google Docs. I'll comment back, and you can work over vacation.
• We've been studying Hamlet. Make sure you've watched the Hamlet video (embedded below) up to 1:15:00. We'll talk more about the story after break. If you haven't seen The Lion King in a while, find a good time over break to watch that...it'll help!
• Read your independent book!

English 11 (F)

• Read chapter 9 of Gatsby. Big things have been going down...how will this whole story wrap up?!
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• Work on your projects! I should have received a proposal from each of you...and I haven't. So, make sure you write up a paragraph about your theme idea, your texts, your initial thoughts about what you'll write and present, and any questions you have. Share it with me in Google Docs. I'll comment back (at some point, though I'm on vacation, too, remember!), and you can work over vacation.
• We've been studying Hamlet. Make sure you've watched the Hamlet video (embedded below) up to 1:27:00. We'll talk more about the story after break. If you haven't seen The Lion King in a while, find a good time over break to watch that...it'll help!
• Read your independent book!

Frankenstein's creation meets modern life...

This "short film" aired recently on SNL...I couldn't help but picture Victor Frankenstein's creation. What's the theme/message here, do you think?

Homework: April 15

Honors English 12 (G)

• In class today, I handed out an article called "The Stranger in the Photo is Me." This essay is a model for your final personal essay. Read it, and make notes about the essay--WHAT is the author saying about his life, and HOW is he saying it (what specific language/words does he use)? We'll talk about this essay in class tomorrow. (You can find it here, if you weren't in class today. It's the first couple pages...you can ignore the questions...)
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (A)

• You started working in class today to categorize the information in the Gatsby critical essays. Keep working on that tonight. By tomorrow, you should have categorized information for the topics on the left-hand side of this chart.

What did the essays say about these topics?

*Gatsby *Nick *Tom *Daisy *Jordan *Other characters

*The 1920s *The American Dream/American-ness *How the novel links to the present *Language (tone, imagery, symbols, description, momentum...) *What the novel is “about”: the theme, moral or central argument

• Read your independent book!

English 12 (B)

• Continue to plan and gather evidence for your project. Tomorrow in class, I'll ask you to write a proposal.
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (D)

• You've been working on categorizing and organizing the info from those articles. The chart is above. Make sure that by Thursday, you've completed the task, and have organized the info from all of the categories above.
• Read your independent book1

Homework: April 14

English 12 (B)

• Work on your project! Tomorrow, I want to see some prep and planning IN WRITING. You should spend 20-30 minutes. Write a lot of ideas down...you can change things, and add to them, as you continue to plan. Check out the map that we started in class today for an idea of how you might do your own. Remember, Kortney started out with the idea of the texts she wanted to work with, and with the question in the center of the map. We brainstormed some of the answers to the question, then noticed a connection of "health and emotional well-being." The theme will develop from there...

• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (D)

• Work on organizing the information from the critical essays. In class, we went over the ways that you might organize this: A chart, a map, a list. Remember, you're categorizing the information in the articles by character. Make sure you keep track of which article each piece of information comes from.
• Read your independent book!

English 11 (F)

• Finish reading chapter 7!
• Complete your signposts map/chart for chapter 7. 
• Read your independent book!

Homework: April 11

Honors English 11 (A and D)

• For next class, finish reading the packet of literary criticism. Remember, you should make notes about your questions and observations. Specifically, identify: 
• What is the claim the article is making?
• What support does the author use to support the claim?
• Do you agree with the author's claim?
• Read your independent book!

English 11 (F)

• Now that Gatsby and Daisy have reunited, everyone's going to live happily ever after, right? Start reading chapter 7 to find out! You should read and annotate to page 134.
• As I mentioned in class, there's online SAT prep information offered through the website Khan Academy. Check it out if you're looking to get ready for that big May 3 test date.
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• Work on that project! Start figuring out what you're going to say, what your texts will be, etc.
• We watched some more of Hamlet--the ghost scene! The video is embedded in a post below; you can watch to 38:10 or so. We'll talk about the scene, and what the ghost requests, next week.
• Read your independent book!

Homework: April 10

English 11 (F)

• Study your vocab!
• We'll have a reading and quotation quiz tomorrow for Chapter 1-6 in Gatsby. Make sure you've read the book and have made some careful notes--then you'll be ready!
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• In class today, we discussed projects. I showed you my initial mind map, and walked you through my idea, and what I'm considering. (It's posted at the end of this post--check it out!) As I told you, I haven't narrowed down a theme just yet, and I haven't narrowed down exactly which texts I'll use. Right now, it's time to think of the options, and work on developing an idea. Be expansive at this stage (consider more options and ideas) instead of reductive (trying to narrow everything down and simplify). Your more interesting ideas will come from time spent thinking.
• Then, we watched, read and discussed some of Hamlet. If you missed it, you can check it out at the end of this post. We watched through the end of the "scene of advice" (Laertes gives advice to Ophelia, Polonius gives advice to Laertes, Polonius gives advice to Ophelia...). We started around the 15 minute mark today, and watched to 28:45 or so.

Honors English 11 (A)

• Continue reading the packet of essays on Gatsby! Check yesterday's post for the details and guiding questions.
• Read your independent book!

English 12 (B)

• Work on project planning. I showed you my "mind map" today...here it is again in case you want to check out my musings. Remember, this is step one in the process. It's about 20 minutes or so of working and thinking. As I said in class, your process right now should be expansive (as in, consider many ideas! Pose lots of questions, and make some connections!) instead of reductive (as in, narrow it all down and pick three texts and come up with some idea even if it isn't that interesting and just go with it...). You'll narrow your idea down soon enough, but you need to do a lot of thinking in order to have a strong and interesting project.
• Read your independent book!
• And, if you haven't seen it recently, watch The Lion King. No joke. It'll help you with Hamlet. 

My mind map. I did this while sipping a 2-pump white mocha misto with skim milk at my local Starbucks.

Scribbler writing contest!

Consider entering some of your work in The Scribbler writing contest! The Scribbler is HHS's literary journal. Many of you have written some wonderful poems, essays and short stories. Submit them for publication!

Here's the information:

The Scribbler Writing Contest

Categories:

Poetry (up to 5 poems)

Fiction (up to 10 pages)

Nonfiction (up to 10 pages)

Cover Art (8 ½ x 11; must include the title The Scribbler)

Submission:

The Writing Contest is open to all students of Hudson High School.

Submit writing electronically to Ms. Hobbs at her school email address...let me know if you need the address!

Submit cover art to Ms. Carol Hobbs at F104, or mailbox at the main office, or scan and submit electronically.

Include with submissions: category entering, your name, address, phone number, email, and grade in 2013-2014 school year.

Deadline: Tuesday, May 13

*Contest winners will be published in our September 2014 print edition. Winners will be announced in early June 2014.

Homework: April 9

Honors English 11 (A)

• Work on reading that packet of essays. The first just explains what literary criticism is. The others (there are 5) are essays that make some claim or argument. By NEXT TUESDAY, you should make sure you've read and annotated the whole packet. 
• Questions to focus on:
• What is the main claim being made by each essay?
• What is the evidence that supports the claims?
• Do you agree with the argument/claims?
• Read your independent book!

English 11 (B)

• Start thinking about and planning out some project ideas. 
• Read your independent book!

Here's the poem we heard (and watched) in class today. This will be my "third text" for the project. What will yours be?

Honors English 11 (D)

• You're working your way through that packet of essays. Read, annotate and be ready to discuss on Monday.
• Read your independent book!

Homework: April 8

Honors English 11 (D)

• Start reading that packet of essays. The first one will give you an overview of literary criticism...it's helpful info.
• MAKE SURE YOUR ESSAY IS ON TURNITIN.COM. That's pretty important.
• Read your independent book.

English 11 (F)

• Read chapter 6 in Gatsby, and complete the reading road map handout. 
• Complete your vocabulary word handout. Check yesterday's post for the links to the two helpful sites.
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• Work on your project. You should be starting to map out ideas, and you should be figuring out what you want to write about.
• Hand over that "homework assignment" to your folks.
• Read your independent book!

We started studying Hamlet in class today. If you missed it, you can watch the first 15 minutes of the film here: 

Homework: April 7

English 11 (F)

• Complete your vocabulary word! Make sure it looks nice and will project well. You'll "present" it for us in class. You can use this site for the definitions, and this site for the etymology (root, history) of the word.
• Read chapter 6 of Gatsby by Thursday. There will be a bit of time in class tomorrow.
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• Start working on your final project. Consider potential texts, potential group members (do you think working in a group would be best, or would individual be better?), and potential themes to explore. Also, consider your questions, so you're ready to ask them!
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (A)

• For Wednesday, complete a 3-paragraph response for the article "A Whole Heap of Ashes."
• Summarize
• Respond
• Connect
• Start reading and marking up the analytical essays in the packet. We'll be talking about them once we finish the film.
• Read your independent book!

Homework: April 4

Honors English 12 (G)

• Read your independent reading book!

Honors English 11 (A)

• Finish reading and annotating the essay "A Whole Heap of Ashes."
• UPLOAD YOUR ESSAY TO TURNITIN.COM!!!
• Read your independent reading book!

English 12 (B)

• Read your independent reading book!

Honors English 11 (D)

• Write a 3-paragraph response to "A Whole Heap of Ashes." 
• Summarize
• Respond
• Connect
• Read your independent book!

Homework: April 3

English 12 (B)

You folks did a great job today, discussing the lessons and issues that connect Frankenstein and the modern world. Tomorrow, we'll continue to discuss the other two topics.

• Tonight, write a thoughtful and detailed reflection on today's discussion. Mention specific points that you and your classmates made, and reflect on your understanding of the question. Feel free, also, to write about other questions and ideas that the discussion prompted for you.
• Make sure you bring your book with you--I'll be checking annotations!
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (D)

We watched some more of the F. Scott Fitzgerald documentary. It will help you understand him as a person, and also help you see where some of those big ideas of his came from. If you didn't get to see it, I've embedded part one below. When that wraps up, you should also watch part 2. Feel free to watch more, if you're interested!

• Finish up that Gatsby essay. Make sure you post it on Turnitin.com. I forgot to go over titles with you...do your best to come up with something great. We'll take a couple minutes tomorrow in class...
• Read your independent book!

English 11 (F)

• Complete your Gatsby "emotions and characterization" map. Remember, it should cover chapter 5's events. Map out at least 8 different events that show a shift in emotion, either subtle or dramatic. Include page number, brief description, and emotion!
• Study your vocab!
• Read your independent book!

Homework: April 2

Honors English 11 (D)

• Keep working on that Gatsby essay! You should work on revising that thesis and writing that body paragraph or two. We'll have time to check in tomorrow if you have questions. I'm around after school tomorrow, if you need help or have questions.
• Read your independent book!

English 11 (F)

• Read and annotate chapter 5 of Gatsby. Additionally, complete the "scavenger hunt" assignment sheet.
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• Great job with today's discussions, folks. Tonight, write a reflection on the discussions: Discuss your own participation, what you heard and learned from the discussions.
• Be ready to write an in-class essay on Friday! Bring your book and your seminar notes--I'll be checking them.
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (A)

• Keep working on that Gatsby essay! Finish it up for Friday, and make sure you bring the draft with my comments. I'm around after school tomorrow, if you need help or have questions.
• Read your independent book!

Homework: April 1

English 11 (F)

• Read the first half of Chapter 5. This is, as I like to call it, the MOST AWKWARDLY AWESOME chapter in all of literature. It's so good. Just picture it as you read--you'll be able to FEEL the embarrassment vicariously. It will make you squirm.
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 12 (G)

• Prepare for seminars, which will take place tomorrow! Some texts to consider:
• Frankenstein, obviously. That will be the focus of the discussions.
• "The Overprotected Kid"--what connections does this possibly have to Frankenstein? Any?
• This quotation...agree? Disagree? What does Frankenstein say?:

• Perhaps, if you're interested in checking it out, this TED Talk about the ethics of bioengineering:

• Other texts that we've studied, or that you've read...
• Read your independent book!

Honors English 11 (A)

• Continue to work on your Gatsby essay. You should be working on revising that thesis, and writing that new paragraph or two to develop your big idea. Remember, focus on a couple specific areas of detail that represent what you want to say.
• Gather all of your materials together (see the list I posted yesterday). Tomorrow, we'll watch a little more of the F. Scott Fitzgerald documentary, and we'll probably start the feature film as well. I'll be checking annotations and work while you watch.

English 12 (B)

• Finish up that Frankenstein book! Look at how the Doppelganger idea plays out as the story comes to its conclusion. AND, start preparing for those discussions--you have the topics on the handout you received in class.
• Read your independent book!