Homework: September 20

Creative Writing (E block)

• Read "The Page" and make some quick notes.
• Keep working on "Why Write?"

Honors English 11 (G block)

• I'll release your vignettes back to you. Start working on a revision of ONE of the vignettes. I'll give you a rubric tomorrow.
• Book club is tomorrow. Fill out those organizers, and be ready for a great discussion.
• You'll have a vocabulary quiz on Friday.

English 11 (A block)

• Read True Diary to page 100.
• Make flashcards for your new words. Draw some emojis on them if that helps you remember!

Homework: September 19

Honors English 12 (G block)

• Tomorrow, we have a guidance meeting. 
• Wednesday, we have book clubs--meeting #2. You received an organizer to fill out; if you didn't get one, make sure to grab one tomorrow. 
• I'll be giving you a reading to do for Wednesday, too--you can come grab it if you want to look at it early.
• Friday we'll have our first vocab quiz/Day 2 check in. Make sure you're studying those words!

English 11 (A block)

• Read to page 81 in True Diary.
• If you didn't know the words that were on today's test, study them! They'll come back again...

Honors English 11 (C block)

• Read to page 218 in True Diary--we'll finish the book on Wednesday!

English 11 (D block)

• Read to page 117 in True Diary for next class.
• If you didn't know the words that were on today's test, study them! They'll come back again...

HOMEWORK: September 16

Honors English 11 (C block)

• Study for your vocabulary quiz. Practice sentences, study language, make connections.
• Make sure you've read up through page 198 in True Diary. Read ahead if you have time!
• Finish watching Children of the Plains. There are 10 minutes left (start at 30:00). The link is here.

English 11 (D block)

• Read True Diary! To page 98!
• You have your first vocabulary/Day 5 check in on Monday. Here are some hints on how to study:
• Study current week’s words—make sure you know what the definitions mean! (Check notes from class, and use vocabulary.com to help clarify.
• Practice using the words in sentences. Use vocabulary.com, your notes, and wordsinasentence.com to help you.
• Compare words from this week to other words you've studied in the past. By asking, “How is ________ like ______________?” you’ll be practicing definitions and looking at the distinct meanings of each word.
• Try to think of examples and situations to use the words that make sense to you. Use mnemonic devices to help you remember. Think about the way the word sounds, draw pictures, think of characters you could use it to describe. We’ll practice this in class; figure out what works best for you (and check in with me if you need help).

Creative Writing (E block)

• We'll talk about "Why Write?" next week--finish reading and marking if you haven't already. 
• Keep thinking/planning/writing ideas for your own "Why Write?"

Homework: September 15

English 11 (D block)

• Read True Diary! Keep going in the book, making sure that you're up to page 76.
• Study your vocabulary! Remember, we have a quiz on Monday.

Creative Writing (E block)

• Wasn't it nice outside today?
• If you haven't finished reading "Why Write?" do that for tomorrow. 
• As always, Read your book, spend more time outside, and do some writing.

Honors English 12 (G block)

• Read Room! We'll talk about your "St. Lucy's" one pagers on Monday. Your next book club meeting is Wednesday. Use the weekend to get caught up.

English 11 (A block)

• Read True Diary! You should read to page 66.
• Study your vocabulary--you have a quiz on Monday!

Homework: September 14

Honors English 12 (G block)

• Carefully read and mark up the story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves." Use the prompts on the slide to help guide your reading and thinking. You'll do some writing in class tomorrow about this story.
  
• You should complete drafts of your vignettes for tomorrow, as well. You don't need to print them (unless it's helpful for you to do so). As long as they're saved in Google Classroom, I'll be able to access them.
• Start studying that vocabulary--you'll have a quiz next Friday.

English 11 (A block)

• Make sure you've read to the end of page 31 in True Diary.
• Study your vocabulary--practice using them in sentences.

Honors English 11 (C block)

• Read True Diary through page 178.
• Study your vocabulary! Practice using the words in sentences.

Homework: September 13

English 11 (A block)

• Study your vocabulary words! Quiz is on Monday.
• If you haven't read to the end of the second chapter in True Diary ("Why Chicken Means So Much to Me"), make sure you've done so by tomorrow.

Honors English 11 (C block)

• Read True Diary--check earlier post for pages.
• Make flashcards for your vocabulary words and start studying them! Quiz on Monday. 

English 11 (D block)

• Study your vocabulary words! Quiz on Monday.
• If you haven't read to the end of the page 43 in True Diary (there's a cartoon at the bottom of the page!), make sure you do so by next class.

Creative Writing (E block)

• Finish reading and marking up the story "Why Write?" We'll discuss it next class.

Homework: September 12

First, thanks to Mr. Reinhardt, Ms. Chilton, HUDTV, and all the students/faculty involved in today's September 11th remembrance. If you missed today's program, you can find the link to the audio and video here.

Honors English 11 (C block)

• Read True Diary! Your schedule is posted in an earlier post--for tomorrow, read to page 129.

English 11 (D block)

• If you didn't finish reading the first two chapters of True Diary, do so for tomorrow. We'll keep going with the book tomorrow!

Creative Writing (E block)

• Complete the revision of your "____ Summer" piece. (The instructions

Honors English 12 (G block)

• For class on Wednesday, be prepared to discuss the first section of Room. This includes completing the Discussion Organizer you received in class; directions are on the front page!
• For class on Thursday, make sure you've completed your vignette drafts in Google classroom, and make sure you've read the story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves."

Homework: September 9

Creative Writing (E block)

• For Monday: Start your Territories of Writing in your journal (use the handout provided to help). Feel free to cut out words/images from magazines, print out pictures, etc., and use them to decorate the cover or inside of your writing journal. Start a list of topics that might make for good stories.
• For Tuesday: Finish a final draft of your "_____ Summer" story.

Honors English 12 (G block)

• For Monday: Read and mark up the packet of readings I gave you in class today. Each deals with an element of growing up.
• For Monday: Make some notes/start drafting a vignette of your own, based on a story (person/place/thing/event) from your neighborhood. Use Cisneros's vignettes as a guide. 
• For Wednesday: Read to page 56 in Room and complete the book club prep work. You can do the work right on the organizer if you want; you don't have to type it up separately this time.

English 11 (A block)

• Make flashcards for your new vocabulary words, and start studying them! Use vocabulary.com to help you. Make sure your flashcards have definitions that you understand!

Homework: September 8

Honors English 12 (G block)

• Read Room. Your schedule is:

9/14: Presents

9/21: Unlying

9/28: Dying

10/6: After

10/12: Living

• Start drafting a vignette, based on your "neighborhood stories." Use Cisneros's vignettes as inspiration and guide. We'll have time in class tomorrow to do some writing, as well.

English 11 (A block)

• Complete your Reading Reaction for the documentary "Children of the Plains," using the bright pink paper with instructions, as well as your notes, to guide you. You can find the film here if you need to revisit any segments.

Honors English 11 (C block)

• Do some quick research for the poem "Reservation Mathematics." Look up:
• Wounded Knee
• Little Big Horn
• Lucille Clifton (what's the allusion in the poem?)
• Write a 1-paragraph reaction to the poem, focusing on what you noticed and what you wonder.
• Read True Diary, up to page 100. (I'll give you a little bit of time to read in class on Monday, too.
• Reading schedule for the rest of True Diary--read ahead if you have time!
• For Tuesday, 9/13: to page 129
• For Wednesday, 9/14: to page 151
• For Friday, 9/16: to page 178
• For Monday, 9/19: to page 198
• For Wednesday, 9/21: to page 218 (we'll finish in class that day!)

English 11 (D block)

• Complete your Reading Reaction for the documentary "Children of the Plains," using the bright pink paper with instructions, as well as your notes, to guide you. You can find the film here if you need to revisit any segments.

Homework: September 7

Honors English 11 (C block)

Read True Diary to page 73. Be ready to discuss and compare to other texts.

English 11 (D block)

Get your syllabus signed.

Creative Writing (E block)

Finish your story draft.

Homework: September 6

English 11 (D block)

• Finish up your Intro letter--bring it with you to class tomorrow.
• Get your course syllabus looked at and signed by folks at home.

Creative Writing (E block)

• Do about 15 minutes of thinking, organizing, pre-writing for your own "version" of Bradbury's "Rocket Summer." Consider images, sentence structure, etc. You'll write the actual piece in class tomorrow, but I want to see some pre-writing!

Honors English 12 (G block)

• Read and mark up the Cisneros vignettes. Consider PURPOSE (what are they saying?) and STYLE/LANGUAGE (how are they saying it?). Be ready to discuss thoughtfully tomorrow.

English 11 (A block)

• Get your syllabus signed, if you haven't already done so. We watched the first half of the documentary "Children of the Plains" in order to prepare for our first novel of the year. You can find the documentary here.

Homework: September 1!

Honors English 12 (G block)

• Write your intro letter!
• Finish drawing your neighborhood, and be ready to talk about it on Tuesday.
• Get your supplies--especially that composition book!

English 11 (A block)

• Finish your letter, if you need to.
• Acquire a composition book, as well as a folder/binder for English class.

Honors English 11 (C block)

• Read the first few chapters of Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Stop at the end of the chapter "Hope Against Hope." (It ends on page 43, where the picture with the Rez/Hope sign is.)
• Read your IR book, too!
• Get your school supplies: a composition book and a binder/folder.

Welcome back! August 31, 2016

It was great to meet everyone today--hope you had a wonderful first day back.

Honors English 11 folks (C block), make sure you finish up that introduction letter and bring it with you to class tomorrow.

Creative Writing folks (E block), give that story "Rocket Summer" from Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles a quick read. Mark up a couple of sentences/ideas/images that you like a lot (or that you have questions about) and be ready to talk about it on Tuesday.

SUMMER READING!

Hey folks! Here's the link for the summer reading book list.

Honors English 11--essay titles

Hello everyone!

For your The Things They Carried project essays, I'd like you to use the following format for your essay title:

interesting title: explanatory title

So, the first part is the traditional "what's this essay about--the jazzy version" kind of thing. The second part will be a very clear statement of the part of the project you completed. So, maybe something like this:

The Guilt We Carry: An Examination of Culpability in "Speaking of Courage" and Restrepo

Or like this:

The Stories Keep the Man: The Importance of Legacy in "The Lives of the Dead" and Big Fish

Give it a try! You'll sound all fancy and academic. And, I won't have to guess at which part of the project you completed. Win-win!

A reminder: in MLA format, titles are centered, after your heading. They aren't in bold, or underlined, or anything. Check out the writing guide if you need a reminder!

Remember to upload your essay to TurnItIn.com

Summer reading book survey link

When you're ready, go to this link and choose your first and second choice for summer reading. Remember, we're just trying to gauge interest here, to figure out if there are some books that a lot of people want to read, and others that no one's interested in. You're not making any final decisions right now, but please do think through your choices so we can get the most accurate information!

Resources: The Great Gatsby literary criticism response

Here's a link to the HHS Writer's Guide. Use it to help you finish your essay!

Page 27 is helpful for the format of your paper...follow the directions!

All classes...end of the year!

You folks all know what you're working on, so, as you noticed, I haven't been updating this site every day. You have an electronic copy of the calendar for your class--it came to you via text. If you don't have it, check in with me. You can also access your class's calendar through the "Remind" box to the left.

Make sure you're:

• Working on your projects.
• Studying your vocabulary.

Homework: June 3

Honors English 11 (B and F block)

• Complete your DAY 2 quiz TAKE HOME quiz--due next class. Make sure you upload to TurnItIn.com and bring a hard copy to class.
• If you missed any part of Restrepo, you can find it here.
• Remember, you have a BIG 100 word vocabulary test coming up! It's on the 16th. Study for it. You can access the full list of words here.

English 11 (A block)

• Work on organizing, gathering information, and starting to write your essay.
• The full list of vocabulary words is here.
• And, here's the calendar for the rest of our year!

Homework: June 1

See yesterday's post!