October 31

Happy Halloween!

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Of these five values (loyalty to family, obedience to local and national laws, observance of religious beliefs and customs, following your own conscience, achieving respect and recognition), which one do you believe is most important? Explain your response.

Students should read a book from the AP list this 9 weeks. I've shared a highlighted list on Classroom to help them narrow down their choices. I also have copies available of many of the options.

Students began studying Greek roots. We will have a quiz next Tuesday (11/17).

Students received an analysis packet that we will complete as we read Antigone. The first two pages are notes about Greek drama that students need to fill in using the Slides on Classroom.

We read the Prologue and completed the character comparison chart in the packet.

I totally forgot to take a picture of the board before preparing it for tomorrow, so here's a festive picture instead! Be careful out there tonight!

Happy Halloween!

October 30

IRT: We visited the library during our reading time today.
WNB: In your own words, define the word "tragedy" and give examples. Why are movies, books, the news, etc. so concerned with tragedies? How are they used as a form of entertainment in our society?

Students read and filled in an outline about Greek drama and checked their notes with their tablemates. We filled in more notes about the story of Oedipus Rex so we'll be prepared to begin reading Antigone tomorrow.

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance

October 27

Fourth period students took their midterm exam today.

I intended to have all grades finalized before I left today, but a few meetings got in the way of that plan. All grades will be finalized by Sunday evening. Sorry for any inconvenience!

October 26

2nd
Students handed in their revised persuasive essays before we began the midterm exam. Students who needed more time to complete the test stayed during A block to finish.

4th
IRT: ~20 minutes

We reviewed items for the midterm exam. These slides are also available on classroom.

Students handed in their revised persuasive essays.

Our exam is tomorrow!

Today's Board
(I just noticed that I forgot to change the date...sorry!)

October 25

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: How can ordinary people be heroic? What could motivate them?

I advised students to draw a line on their currently reading page to indicate the beginning of the new 9 weeks. This will be helpful when we get to the end of the semester.

2nd
We reviewed items for the midterm exam. These slides are also available on Classroom.

Students had time to work on their revisions of their persuasive essays. Those who chose to revise handed them in before the end of class.

Our midterm exam is tomorrow!

4th
Students received their persuasive essays and began working on revisions. Students who choose to revise should hand those in tomorrow.

We watched another version of Julius Caesar and looked for similarities and differences.

We will do an in-class midterm review tomorrow.

Today's Board

October 24

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Outside entry

We finished up our analysis of the persuasive speeches in Act III of Julius Caesar.

Students began working on the midterm reading reflection on Google Classroom. This is due today (before 11:59pm).

I returned the persuasive essay to 2nd period students today. We will take time in class tomorrow to work on revision. Band students who will be absent may hand in their revisions on Thursday.

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October 23

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Outside entry

After reviewing the literary terms test, we continued reading Julius Caesar and watched the funeral speeches in Act III, Scene 2. We will continue this work tomorrow.

Students received a copy of the midterm review (also available on Classroom).

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance

October 20

Students had 1 hour to choose a topic and write a persuasive essay.

I'll have the midterm review ready on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Today's Board

October 19

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB:

I reminded students to be sure their Currently Reading pages are up to date in their notebooks. Here's an example. 

Title, author, # pages total, genre, date started, date finished/abandoned (include pages read when abandoned), 2 sentence reflection.

We discussed how to use transitions effectively to connect ideas between paragraphs. These notes are available on Classroom.

We finished up our introduction to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and read Act I, Scene 1, and the beginning of Act III, Scene 1. We will continue reading on Monday because we're writing an essay in class tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning is the last opportunity for students to retake the literary terms test if they scored below a 70%. 

Also tomorrow, we will write a persuasive essay in class. Students will be allowed to use their notes.

Today's Board

October 18

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: After a four corners activity where students determined their level of agreement with different statements, they chose one statement to respond to in their notebooks:

1. Too much ambition inevitably leads to disaster 
2. Politicians are more concerned with power than with issues affecting people's lives 
3. Violence leads to more violence
4. Crowds can be easily moved and manipulated to violence.

We looked at examples of different ways to write an introduction to an essay. These notes are available on Classroom.

We learned about ancient Rome and Julius Caesar to prepare for our reading of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. These notes are available on Classroom.

Students who scored below 70% on the literary terms test may retake the test Thursday before or after school or Friday before school. We will go over the whole test in class on Monday.

Today's Board

October 17

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Netflix or YouTube? Students wrote about which video service is best.

Students who did not hand in their articles from yesterday were reminded to do so today.

We went over the literary terms test. Students who would like to spend more time reviewing specific test questions may come in Wednesday or Thursday before or after school (7:40 or 3:45) or Friday before school (7:40). Students who scored below 70% may retake the test Wednesday or Thursday before or after school (7:40 or 3:45) or Friday before school (7:40).

We discussed how to format a claim and body paragraphs for a persuasive essay. Students will put this process into action on Friday.

We watched John Branyan's "The Three Little Pigs" as an introduction to Shakespeare's language before we begin Julius Caesar tomorrow.

Today's Board

Updated Week-at-a-Glance

October 16

IRT: ~15 minutes
WNB: Articles of the Week - "The Case for Banning Guns" and "The Case against Banning Guns"
Students read and marked the claim, facts, and counterargument in each article. They then chose one argument they agreed with and explained why in their notebooks.

Students had about 35 minutes to read and mark the articles, write their notebook entry, complete a form on Classroom, and read independently.

We finished up the SOAPSTone analysis of the "Cat Bill Veto." We also finished the argument and persuasion notes (on "Part 2" Classroom).

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance

October 13

Students took the Literary Terms test today. All grades have been entered in Skyward. Students who scored below 70% may schedule a retake before school or after school Wednesday, 10/18, or Thursday, 10/19, next week.

On Monday, we will resume our work with argument and persuasion.

Weekend homework: READ!

Today's Board

October 12

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Share your thoughts regarding Mr. Finch's announcement about the cancellation of block lunch. Do you agree or disagree with this decision? Why? What can students do to earn back the privilege?

I reminded students about the literary terms test that is tomorrow. I also passed back the "On Nuclear Disarmament" packet.

We resumed our discussion of the Anna Quindlen speech by applying the SOAPSTone strategy.

We read Adlai Stevenson's "Cat Bill Veto," and students worked in groups to analyze it using SOAPSTone. We will pick up this work on Monday.

Today's Board

We had a bit of a "tough love" discussion about our reading habits. I've told students all semester that they always have homework for my class--read their choice book for 20 minutes. I showed them the math for this 6 weeks of in-class reading (28 days x 20 minutes/day = 560 minutes total). More than half of all students have not met the minimum requirement that the equation revealed (560 minutes x.75 pages/minute = 420 pages). On the other hand, about 7 students have surpassed that number, which is awesome! I believe independent reading time holds considerable value, which is why I make time for it in my classes. I hope students will renew their commitment and begin reading more outside of class.

October 11

All sophomores took the PSAT this morning, so I didn't see 2nd period today. In 4th period, we had 20 minutes of independent reading time. We also discussed techniques that advertisers use to persuade us to buy a product or think a certain way.

This Week
Literary Terms test on Friday!

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance

October 6

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: The notebook check is today's entry, completed on a Google form.

Students who did not hand in the "On Nuclear Disarmament" work yesterday were reminded to do so today.

Students received a review sheet for next Friday's literature terms test (also available on Classroom). We learned about gerunds and infinitives to prepare for a few questions on the test.

We continued our discussion of Anna Quindlen's speech from Wednesday, looking for examples of repetition, parallelism, analogy, and allusion. We began working on a SOAPSTone chart to analyze the speech, and this is where we will start our work next time.

Today's Board

October 5

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: The newspapers are full of reports about war, epidemics, terrorism, and environmental crises. Some problems are so serious that they may threaten civilization. What can be done to make the world safer?

Students read "On Nuclear Disarmament" and answered questions. Students who did not finish in class will need to complete it at home and hand it in tomorrow. The story is posted on Classroom for students to use outside of class.

Notebook check tomorrow!

(Second period had a substitute today; however, they were given an agenda to follow that included the same information posted here.)

October 4

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Outside entry

We visited the library during independent reading time today. I reminded students that they need to read a nonfiction book of at least 200 pages before the end of the 9 weeks. They'll be writing about it on their midterm.

We will have a notebook check Friday. Students who have been absent should check the blog for missing entries.

We continued our discussion of argument and persuasion. Students practiced writing a claim statement that could serve as the anchor for a persuasive essay. We then read Anna Quindlen's commencement speech and looked for examples of repetition, parallelism, analogy, and allusion. Since I will be absent tomorrow morning, we will finish this work on Friday.

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October 3

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: What's on your mind? Write about anything that you're feeling strongly about right now: politics, yesterday's topics, or anything else you've been thinking about.

We will have a notebook check on Friday.

We completed a PSAT writing practice and discussed the answers.

We took notes over argument and persuasion (day 1 notes posted to Classroom). We will continue this work tomorrow.

Today's Board

October 2

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Choose one to respond to in your notebook: "A stumble may prevent a fall" or "Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness"

We recapped our evaluating sources notes from Friday, and students worked to find sources on different controversial topics. We discussed what made those articles persuasive: this conversation will work as an introduction to what we will be talking about for the next few weeks.

Today's Board

Week at a Glance