Thursday, March 26, 2009

Period 1:
Present current events
Breathing Underwater test

Period 2:
Present current events
Share Things Fall Apart Passages
Writing from a secondary character's perspective

Period 3:
Our Town: the essentials
Creating the plan

Period 5:
Writing prompt: "I was so bored..."
Sharing
Work on personal writing

Thought for the day...
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
— Carl Sagan

Wednesday, March 24, 2009

Period 1:
Finish Animoto videos & share
Discuss Breathing Underwater - What should you know?
What is happiness? Success? How do you measure it?

Period 2:
The culture of the Ibos
What role do values play in literature?
How do the myths illuminate the culture?
What is Things Fall Apart about?

Period 3:
Share responses to AI
Work on "Our Town"

Period 5:
Writing prompt
Share
Feedback for Lauren & Rachel

Thought for the day...
To find something you can enjoy is far better than finding something you can possess.
— Glenn Holm

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Check out some of the COOL LINKS on my new website. They can help you practice skills and also help you complete my assignments...

Period 1:
Reading quiz & discussion
Finish Animoto projects

Period 2:
Reading quiz & discussion
Final review of personal myth papers - does it meet senior writing expectations?

Period 3:
Finish AI
Begin response paper

Period 5:
Writing prompt
Peer workshop
Goal setting

Thought for the day...
"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."
— Emily Dickinson

Friday, March 20, 2009

HAPPY SPRING (or mud season)

Please be kind to Mrs. Williams. Enjoy the long weekend & I'll see you on Tuesday.

Period 1:
Vocabulary quiz
Reading quiz
Inside/Outside box

Period 2:
Vocabulary quiz
Reading quiz
Personal myth papers

Period 3:
AI: Artificial Intelligence, continue viewing

Period 5:
Publish or perish day...

Thought for the day...
"I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden." - Ruth Stout

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Period 1:
Present current events
Reading quiz & discussion
Continue working on Breathing Underwater projects
Animoto

Period 2: (period shortened due to advisories)
Present current events
Reading quiz & discussion
Work on personal myth drafts

Period 3:
Viewing AI: Artificial Intelligence
Themes discussion

Period 5:
My Hometown Cheer
Writing prompt & feedback
Publish or perish entries due tomorrow

Thought for the day...
"Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better." - Albert Camus

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Period 1:
Review vocabulary
Breathing Underwater reading quiz & discussion
Work on theme presentations

Period 2:
Review vocabulary
Introduce colonialism & post-modernist thought
Begin personal myth papers

Period 3:
Anticipation paper for "Super Toys Last All Summer Long"
Begin AI: Artificial Intelligence

Period 5:
Goal setting
Write to a prompt & share

Thought for the day...
"The best way out is always through."- Robert Frost

Friday, March 13, 2009

Two Friday the 13ths in a row....

Period 1:
Vocabulary quiz
Breathing Underwater quiz and discussion
Relationships
Beginning a character study

Period 2:
Vocabulary quiz
Discussion of American Born Chinese
Read & discuss myths
What is your mythology?
Working on memoirs

Period 3:
Our Town work - return to Act II?

Period 5:
Publish or Perish Day!!!
Reading/commenting on one another's writing.
Goal setting

Thought for the day....
"Before the beginning of great brilliance and beauty there first must be a period of complete chaos." - I Ching

AND a bonus quote because it was too good to hold onto....
Kurt Cobain - "Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are."

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Period 1:
Present current events
Reading quiz & discussion on Breathing Underwater
Publishing beast fables
Relationships...

Period 2:
Present current events
Learning about the myth of the Monkey King
Reading Asian (Chinese, mostly) mythology & sharing thoughts - visit yesterday's post to learn more
Work on personal memoirs

Period 3:
Exploring Our Town

Period 5:
Writing creatively - Remember tomorrow is PUBLISH OR PERISH DAY
You can publish a work in progress to ask for feedback....(well, technically all writing is a work in progress).
For today's prompts: Write about 7 wonders of the world - they can be fictional, personal, or the real things OR write about something you lost OR freewrite.
You can always respond to the thought of the day.
Remember changing perspectives opens up even more opportunities.

Thought for the day...
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." -Eleanor Roosevelt

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Period 1:
Review "Trifles" and Breathing Underwater
Share character maps
Bus evacuation drills

Period 2:
Discuss the end of Things Fall Apart
Read and discuss "The Strong Breed"

Period 6:
Review "The Strong Breed" and end of Heart of Darkness
Work on hero essays

Thought for the day...
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
— Carl Sagan

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Period 1:
Vocabulary Quiz
Present Current Events
Work on Breathing Underwater Projects

Period 2:
Vocabulary Quiz
Present Current Events
Personal Narrative Work
Happy Birthday Jacquie & Liz

Period 6:
Vocabulary Quiz
Present Current Events
Personal Narrative Work
Discuss Heart of Darkness

Thought for the day...
Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
— Elizabeth Lawrence

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Period 1:
Review Vocabulary
Breathing Underwater Quiz & Review
Work on Maps...

Period 2:
Worked on literary essay introductions - finding the focus/thesis
Discussion of Things Fall Apart

Period 6:
Discuss Heart of Darkness
Work on literary essays

Thought for the day...
"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet." Jean Jacques Rousseau

Monday, September 22, 2008

This is a short week so don't forget vocabulary for Tuesday!!

Period 1:
Discussed Breathing Underwater
Collected Technology Papers
Worked on Nick Maps - tracing the key developments in Nick's story & relationship with Caitlin. Don't forget to include at least 3 quotes on your "map" and you need to include past & present!

Period 2:
Discussed changes at the end of Part One in Things Fall Apart
Worked on Yeats' poem: "The Second Coming"

Period 6:
Discuss Heart of Darkness
Defining and identifying irony

Thought for the day...
John Lennon - "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."
Apply this thought to your text under study.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Period 1:
Vocabulary Quiz
Small Discussion Groups on Breathing Underwater
Technology Paper work

Period 2:
Vocabulary Quiz
Discussion on Things Fall Apart
Personal Narrative Work

Period 6:
Vocabulary Quiz
Discussion on Heart of Darkness
Literary Essay Revisions

Thought for the day...
"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."
- James Thurber

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Period 1:
Breathing Underwater Quiz & Discussion
Present Current Events
Work on technology papers


Period 2:
Things Fall Apart Quiz
Passage Discussion
Present Current Events

Period 6:
Present Current Events
Share Judging Joe thoughts
Introduce Heart of Darkness
Revising Literary Essays

Thought for the day...
"Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting."
— Aldous Huxley
How has reading impacted you? Magnified you? Added to your life?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Book orders are due today!!
AND... Yearbooks are on sale now. See a yearbook member to purchase one.

Period 1:
Discuss Breathing Underwater
Finish Passage Reviews

Period 2:
Discuss Things Fall Apart
Pass a Passage activity
Writing group conferences

Period 6:
Discuss All My Sons
Hero's Journey
How to critique personal narratives

Thought for the day...
"The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live."
— Joan Borysenko
How will you choose to live?

Monday, September 15, 2008

Period 1:
Breathing Underwater Quiz
Passage Discussions

Period 2:
Things Fall Apart Quiz
Examining Personal Narratives

Period 6:
Ethics and All My Sons
Began Act II

Thought for the day...
"A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it."
— Roald Dahl, BOY: TALES OF CHILDHOOD

September 12, 2008

Period 1:
Vocabulary Quiz
Discussed Breathing Underwater
Worked on Technology Papers - Draft due Monday!


Period 2:
Vocabulary Quiz
Discussed Things Fall Apart
Worked on personal narratives

Period 6:
Vocabulary Quiz
Writing Conferences
Anthem Games

Thought for the day...
"The reading of all good books is like a conversation with all the finest men of past centuries."
— Rene Descartes
Who are you conversing with today?