December 11

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - John Dalberg-Acton

I passed back the persuasive essay that students submitted for a major grade and the Socratic packets from Friday. I'll have the minor grade essays complete by the end of the week. Students will have a notebook check on Thursday.

We revisited Julius Caesar and completed some practice SAT questions.

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance

December 8

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Outside entry -- Next notebook check is Thursday, 12/14.

Students participated in a Socratic Seminar and discussed our essential question for this unit: How do texts connect the human experience across time and culture? We had great discussions about family, fear, and how we connect with books.

Next week, we'll begin reviewing some of the major works from this term and studying sections of new pieces.

Today's Board

December 7

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: If you were not scared, how would you live your life? (from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/9-questions-for-humanity)

Today's Notebook Entry

Students read/listened to three more short essays ("Roll Away the Stone," "Our Lives are Ephemeral," and an excerpt from an interview with Cheryl Strayed) in preparation for tomorrow's Socratic seminar. We discussed the process and how it will be graded and began writing questions and statements for tomorrow's discussion. The prep sheet and rubric are posted on Classroom.

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December 6

Students took the STAAR English II EOC test today!!!

December 5

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: What does it mean to be human?

We reviewed the reading section of the STAAR practice test from last week and discussed different strategies for answering questions.

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December 4

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: Horror movie or comedy movie? Create an argument!

We discussed the notebook entry and built an outline for both sides. We reviewed the revising and editing section of the STAAR test from last week and discussed different skills. We completed a few activities on Chomp Chomp over word choice as part of this review. Check out the Grammar Quizzes site for more practice on commonly confused words.

Today's Board

Week-at-a-Glance

December 1

IRT: ~20 minutes
WNB: What kind of traditions do you and your family have during the holidays?

Students completed a reflection activity over the last two essays and determined which one they would like to submit for a major grade.

Students who had not completed the STAAR practice had time to do so. We'll go over this in class beginning Monday.

Today's Board