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Today was the final Friday of the 2008/9 school year. Everyone is certainly relieved, students and teachers alike.
Exams start Monday: sixth period has its exam.
Monthly Archives: May 2009
Book Return
Students will be returning their literature books tomorrow. Lost books must be paid for with cash.
Best of Web
To my surprise, this little WordPress site was selected as one of Greenville County Schools’ “Best of the Web” for 2008/9. I get a snazzy image to display on the site:
2008/9 Best of the Web
I’m honored at the recognition, and embarrassed that, at this point, I haven’t been keeping up as regularly as I should have.
Monster Cloze
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Fourth and sixth periods worked on a cloze activity dealing with one of the attorney’s closing statements in Monster. It was a lot of fun, especially in sixth period: I assisted students by giving them riddles that contained the answers to the particular blanks that were stumping them. Epiphanies galore.
Monster for All
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All classes are now working on Monster, even English I. With only a few days remaining, I decided English I should get a break, so to speak.
As such, there’s no homework, for anyone.
Protected: English I Honors Victorian England Project
Testimony and Short Stories
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Second period worked on transitions and powerful verbs. We used two famous short stories — “The Interlopers” and “The Most Dangerous Game” — to look at how an author’s use of powerful verbs can improve the writing by providing sensory details
First, fourth, and sixth periods worked on Monster.
Homework
None.
Monster and Final PASS Testing
12
First and second periods didn’t have class today due to pass testing.
Fourth and sixth periods really started getting into the meaty part of Monster. We had a few people testify and the kids are all excited about the book — an English teacher’s dream. It’s an excellent book for teaching students to read carefully and pick up the implications of what’s being said, and what’s not being said.
Works Cited and Monster
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First period was able to go back to the computer lab to work on the Much Ado About Nothing projects. Additionally, some students should be finishing up their final drafts for the film review. It will count as late work, but that’s better than nothing.
Second period completed their practice with the MLA citation format. The research project will be due the Tuesday after this coming long weekend.
Fourth and sixth periods began reading Walter Dean Myers’ Monster.
Homework
- First period: review (if not already completed).
- Second period: Victorian England project.
- Fourth and sixth periods: none.
PASS Day One; First Takes
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First and second period didn’t meet because we were having the ELA pass test. Students later said it went fairly well.
Fourth and sixth periods had the first take of their Much Ado About Nothing scenes. We filmed the first take and will do one more day of filming. I’ll be using those takes to give students a grade. Here is the rubric for the project.
Final Practice and Research
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Fourth and sixth periods went through their final rehearsals before filming. Second period had their final day of research, and first period worked on their animations.
Homework
- First period: review due at the end of the week.
- Second period: dialogue due at the end of the week.
Acting, Researching, and Preparing
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First period, theoretically, began working on a short animation project for Much Ado. However, the crawling pace of our local network made it impossible to accomplish very much. During class, I handed out the Much Ado About Nothing review rubric to students of first period.
Second period continued with research for their Victorian England and Great Expectations project. I provided second period with a tentative rubric for their project.
Fourth and sixth periods began preparing for the filming project for Much Ado. They divided into groups, chose a scene, and began preparing. Sixth period was especially keen on getting their acting skills honed and delivering a sharp performance on Monday.
Homework
- First period: review (final draft due Friday 15 May 2009).
- Second period:
- complete two pages of research notes;
- complete literary terms review.
- Fourth and sixth periods: none.
Discussions and Research
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A fairly simple day: all periods except second period continued working on the discussion project for Much Ado About Nothing. Most classes will have a test on the play after PASS testing, probably a week after tomorrow.
Second period began doing research for their Great Expectations project.
Homework
- First period: complete character analysis.
- Second, fourth, and sixth periods: none.
Acting! Discussing! Finishing!
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We finished acting out Much Ado in fourth and sixth periods, so all classes are now done with the play. We’re working on group discussions, which will continue through the end of the week.
Second period finished Great Expectations today. We’ll start working on the research project tomorrow.
Homework
- First, fourth, and sixth periods: none.
- Second period: write a short paragraph detailing two ways the novel’s ending can be interpreted.
Completion, Virtually Doubled
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Argh! I just wrote this and it disappeared.
The short version: everyone’s finished or nearly finished with major reading units.
Homework
- First, fourth, and sixth periods: complete the study guide for Much Ado.
- Second period: none.
