9.26.12 Reminders 10th Grade

Today in class you continued working with the list of apartheid laws and answering questions for five that you selected from the handout.  You can find the electronic version of the handout here.

For each of the five practices that you select, answer:

• Why was this practice unjust?  
• Why do you think the practice was in place?
• What were the penalties for violating this practice? (Put n/a if the penalty is not provided.)
• How would your life be different if this policy were legal in the U.S. today?

We also began reading Cry, the Beloved Country.  

You received progress reports.  If you had a very low grade, it was likely because you had zeroes on important assignments, namely writing assessments.  Here are the assessments we've done in class so far:

·       “Two Friends” Moral Courage Reader Response

o  Write about a time you or someone close to you showed true courage. Was it moral courage? Why or why not? Why is “Two Friends” a good example of moral courage? Use at least two specific details from the book to support your answer.

·       RAFT Of Mice and Men assignment

·       RAFT: Quiz Grade Chapter 1 / Choose One Topic

R: Role	A: Audience	F: Format	T: Topic
George	Aunt Clara	Letter	Write a letter from George to Aunt Clara explaining why it’s so much trouble to take care of Lennie.
Aunt Clara	George	Letter	Write a letter from Aunt Clara to George explaining why he should take care of Lennie anyway.
Dead Mouse	Dead Mouse	Dramatic Monologue	Write a short speech from the perspective of the dead mouse in Lennie’s pocket, describing his short journey with George and Lennie.

·      Of Mice and Men Robert Burns “To a Mouse” quote essay: Many people in the novel suffer from disappointment as they see their dreams destroyed.  Choose any three of the following characters and discuss what reasons they have to be disappointed about their life: Crooks, Curley, Curley’s wife, George, Candy, or Lennie.  How does the line from Burns’s poem, “The best laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry” apply to their lives?

9.26.12 Reminders 10th Grade Periods 1, 3, 6

Today in class we continued reading Cry, the Beloved Country.  Periods 1 and 6 read chapters 8-9, and period 3 read chapter 10 and part of 11.  You need to make sure you're keeping up with the study questions.  It will be way harder for you to complete those questions if you wait until the last minute.

I also issued progress reports today.  Many people had very low grades because of missing assignments, namely the essay on "A Private Experience."  For good measure, I'm going to give you the prompt again, and you can click here to access the text of the story.

o  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story “A Private Experience” centers on the emotional connection established between two women during a riot in Kano, Nigeria. In a well-developed essay, analyze the story using the following prompt.

o  The riot in the story begins when a Christian Igbo man runs over a copy of the Holy Koran; afterwards, Hausa Muslims drag him out of his car and decapitate him. Incorporate evidence from text to give examples of the religious and cultural conflict at the heart of the story. What do the women have in common? What are the differences between them? How does Chika view the Hausa woman? What stereotypes does she hold? In what ways does the Hausa woman live up to those stereotypes? In what ways does she defy Chika’s expectations? Do you think the cultures discussed in this story will ever be at peace? Why or why not? 

You may turn the essay in late (you'll receive a 20 pt. penalty, but it'll still help your grade tremendously).  Get it to me as soon as possible.

9.20.12 Reminders 10th Grade 5th Period

Today in class you gave your presentations on Steinbeck's Harvest Gypsy articles.  After the presentations, we read and analyzed Robert Burns's poem "To a Mouse. . ." and discussed how the central ideas of the poem parallel the central ideas in Of Mice and Men.

Finally, you wrote a short essay for the following prompt.  You were to finish the essay for homework and turn it in tomorrow.

Many people in the novel suffer from disappointment as they see their dreams destroyed.  Choose any three of the following characters and discuss what reasons they have to be disappointed about their life: Crooks, Curley, Curley’s wife, George, Candy, or Lennie.  How does the line from Burns’s poem, “The best laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry” apply to their lives?

Tomorrow you will also have a vocabulary quiz and we will begin viewing and analyzing the film Of Mice and Men.

9.20.12 Reminders 10th Grade Periods 1, 3, 6

Today in class we read through the end of chapter 5 in Cry, the Beloved Country.  You need to make sure that you have answered the study questions for the chapters, and be ready to explore the use of literary devices in the chapters tomorrow.

You do not have homework tonight.

9.19.12 Reminders 10th Grade 5th Period

Today in class you worked with your groups on the Harvest Gypsy articles: the study questions, the summaries, and the preparation of your presentations.  You will be presenting your articles to the rest of the class at the beginning of the period tomorrow, 9/20.

You can find the text of the articles here.

We will continue working with Steinbeck's work and Of Mice and Men through this week and the beginning of next week.  You will be having a vocabulary quiz on Friday.

9.19.12 Reminders 10th Grade Periods 1, 3, 6

Today in class we read and discussed chapters 1-4 in Cry, the Beloved Country and answered the corresponding questions in the study packet.

Reminders:

• If you are an 11th grader (which will be very few people), you will be taking the Georgia High School Writing Test on October 3.  I will be holding tutorial for the test in my room from 3:00-4:00 today and tomorrow, next Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the two days before the test.
• Underclassmen picture day is September 24th.  We will be going to the auditorium as a class to have pictures taken.  Look your best!

9.17.12 Reminder Ninth Grade Honors

Today in class we performed a close reading of "The Judgment of Paris" and you began working on an essay assessment.

Here is the essay assignment.

In “The Judgment of Paris,” Paris awards the golden apple, signifying the highest standards of beauty, to Aphrodite.  What was his motivation?  Given the three choices by the goddesses: power, honor and respect, or the love of the most beautiful person in the world, which would you select?  Explain your answer.  Use evidence from the text to support your opinion about Paris, and to justify your own motivations.

9.17.12 Reminders for 10th Grade 5th Period

Today in class we worked on vocabulary from Of Mice and Men.  You will be having a quiz on these words on Friday.

The words are

1. tattered
2. aloof
3. meager
4. apprehension
5. subsided
6. ego
7. jeer
8. woe
9. cringe
10. vicious
11. frantically
12. monotonous

You do not have homework tonight.  Tomorrow we will begin a group assignment on some of Steinbeck's nonfiction pieces.

9.17.12 Reminders 10th Grade Periods 1, 3, and 6

Today in class you continued reading the list of apartheid laws and answering questions for five that you selected.  You can find the list of laws here.  The questions you are to answer for each are:

a. What is unjust about the practice
b. Why was this practice in place?
c. What were the penalties for violating this practice?
d. How would your life today be different if any of these policies were legal here in the United States?

Tomorrow we should begin reading the novel, Cry, the Beloved Country.

You do not have homework tonight unless you need to finish the assignment above.

9.14.12 Reminders Ninth Grade

Today in class you presented your findings on the mythological being you and your partner selected to research.

You do not have homework for the weekend.  Enjoy it!

9.14.12 Reminders 10th Grade 5th Period

Today in class you finished the questions from the study guide for Of Mice and Men, and you answered ten short answer essay questions about the novel and its themes.  You also took a vocabulary quiz on the words from chapters 1-3 in Of Mice and Men.

Next week we will continue working with Of Mice and Men.

You have no homework for the weekend.  Enjoy it!

9.14.12 Reminders 10th Grade Periods 1, 3, and 6

Today in class you had a vocabulary quiz on the words from "A Private Experience," we finished notes on the background for Cry, the Beloved Country and colonialism, and you received a copy of some of the laws in place during apartheid.

You can access the apartheid laws here.

Your essay for "A Private Experience" was also due today.  Many people did not hand in their final draft of the essay.  You may turn the essay in on Monday, still, but you will receive a 10-point deduction in your grade.

You have no homework for the weekend.  Enjoy it!

PowerPoint for Cry, The Beloved Country

This is a test run of using google docs to give you some of the resources that we use in class.  I believe you need to have a google account to access the documents.  You can get a google account for free by going to gmail.com.

Click here to access the PowerPoint that we took notes on today.

9.13.12 Ninth Grade Reminders

Today we attended the Gulfstream leadership assembly, so if you were absent, you do not need to worry about making up any assignments.

Tomorrow, Friday the 14th, you will be presenting the information you gathered for your mythology pair/share assignment.  Each person has to participate in the presentation to receive full credit, and you will be receiving separate grades for the written component and the presentation part of the assignment.

Next week we will be moving forward with Edith Hamilton's Mythology as we gear up to read The Odyssey.

9.13.12 Reminders 10th Grade 5th Period

Today in class we finished reading Of Mice and Men.  You need to be sure that your study questions for the book are complete so that you can use them in the assignments we'll be completing about the book.

Tomorrow, Friday the 14th, we will be having a vocabulary quiz on the words from chapters 1-3 of Of Mice and Men.  You will also have a short comprehension quiz on chapters 5-6 of the novel.

9.13.12 Reminders 10th Grade Periods 1, 3, and 6

Today in class you took notes on the Powerpoint presentation that had background information for Cry, the Beloved Country.

If you are in periods 1 or 3 and had trouble getting your notes written down, you need to speak with Ms. Queen to see if she can get you a copy of the Powerpoint.

Tomorrow, Friday the 14th, you will be having a quiz on the vocabulary from "A Private Experience."  The essay on "A Private Experience" is also due tomorrow.

We had trouble getting the video to load in some classes, so if you missed it, you can watch it here.

9.12.12 Ninth Grade Reminders

Today in class you worked with your partners on your mythology pair/share project.  This was the final day that you would have class time to work on this assignment.  Anything that you did not finish today will need to be completed by Friday when you present your projects.

Tomorrow (Thursday, 9/13) we will be going to the gym for a leadership assembly.

Friday you will present your projects. This assignment counts as two separate grades, a test grade for the written part and a quiz grade for the presentation.

9.12.12 10th Grade 5th Period Reminders

Today in class we read chapter four in Of Mice and Men.  You should be caught up on the study questions through the end of chapter four.  Again, it's in your best interest to complete these questions as we read the chapters together in class rather than to wait until the end.

Tomorrow you will be having a short comprehension quiz on chapter four.

Friday you will be having a vocabulary quiz on the words from chapters 1-3 from the novel.  Here are the words

1. mottled
2. tramp
3. pantomime
4. anguished
5. morose
6. yammer
7. pugnacious
8. flounce
9. contort
10. rouged
11. disengage
12. derision
13. receptive
14. squawk
15. solitaire

9.12.12 Reminders 10th Grade Periods 1, 3, and 6

Today in class you worked on your essay for "A Private Experience."  The final draft of the essay is due on Friday, September 14.  You may write the final draft by hand, neatly, or you may type it.


The essay topic is

The riot in the story begins when a Christian Igbo man runs over a copy of the Holy Koran; afterwards, Hausa Muslims drag him out of his car and decapitate him. Incorporate evidence from text to give examples of the religious and cultural conflict at the heart of the story. What do the women have in common? What are the differences between them? How does Chika view the Hausa woman? What stereotypes does Chika hold? In what ways does the Hausa woman live up to those stereotypes? In what ways does she defy Chika’s expectations? Do you think the cultures discussed in this story will ever be at peace? Why or why not?

Your paper should be a minimum of four paragraphs.  You can find the full text of the story here.


You must turn in the plan that you created for the essay with your paper to receive full credit.


Remember, too, that you will be having a vocabulary quiz on the words from "A Private Experience" on Friday.  

Here are the words:

garish
machete
hostel
waft
mortuaries
surreal
henna
diagnosis
zealot
murmur
repose
chi
ghoulish
raucous
omniscient
instinctively
legitimise
Mecca
corpses
rosary
carcasses
sheaths

Ninth Grade Honors Reminders 9.11.12

On Monday, 9/10, you were to write the essay for the following topic during class:

“In much the same way as many of our books and movies depict the Hero’s Journey in some way, so too are most stories told using recognizable archetypes.  With so many of our stories following these patterns, how do we avoid becoming bored with what is, essentially, the same story told over and over again?  Provide specific archetypes from films and books to support your assertions.”

You were supposed to finish the essay during class, and a couple of people turned it in.  If you did not finish it, you were to finish it for homework.  If you have still not finished the essay, you may turn it in tomorrow (9/12) with a ten-point penalty.

Today in class we worked on a mythology pair/share project with a randomly assigned partner.  The pair/share presentations will begin on Friday (9/14) and continue on Monday (9/17) if we need the time.

On Thursday, 9/13, we will be attending a leadership assembly in the gym.  You need to report to class first, and then we will go to the gym together and sit together (so that I can keep track of your attendance).  

Fifth Period Reminders 9.11.12

We are currently reading Of Mice and Men.  Right now we are at the end of chapter 3, and we will continue reading the novel tomorrow.

To access the audio of the story, go here.

You will be having a vocabulary quiz on Friday on the following words:

1. mottled
2. tramp
3. pantomime
4. anguished
5. morose
6. yammer
7. pugnacious
8. flounce
9. contort
10. rouged
11. disengage
12. complacent
13. derision
14. receptive
15. squawk
16. solitaire

Be sure that you are keeping up with the study questions for the novel!  You don't want to wait until the end to answer them because it'll be way more difficult for you.

"A Private Experience" Reader Response (Periods 1, 3, and 6)

Your writing assessment for "A Private Experience" is the following prompt:

Writing Situation:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story “A Private Experience” centers on the emotional connection established between two women during a riot in Kano, Nigeria. In a well-developed essay, analyze the story using the following prompt.

1)      The riot in the story begins when a Christian Igbo man runs over a copy of the Holy Koran; afterwards, Hausa Muslims drag him out of his car and decapitate him. Incorporate evidence from text to give examples of the religious and cultural conflict at the heart of the story. What do the women have in common? What are the differences between them? How does Chika view the Hausa woman? What stereotypes does Chika hold? In what ways does the Hausa woman live up to those stereotypes? In what ways does she defy Chika’s expectations? Do you think the cultures discussed in this story will ever be at peace? Why or why not?

Your essay should be a minimum of four paragraphs and should include examples from the text.  The final draft of this essay is due on Friday, September 14.  You must plan for the essay and include the plan to receive full credit.

You can find the full text of the story here.