English I (fourth and fifth period) continued working on poetry; today we added the importance of connotation. We went over what connotation is:

Afterward, we did some practice with connotation before moving on to the next poem, a selection in which connotation plays a critical role: “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden.

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

We’ll be going over the poem more fully tomorrow, adding into the mix the role connotation plays in the development of the poem.

English 8 students took a brief break from Nightjohn to go over a quick review of the difference between fragments and sentences.

We did some group practice with a few examples before getting into some individual work on No Red Ink. Next week we will be using our newly-refreshed understanding of fragments to analyze voice in Nightjohn.

Homework

• English 8: 
  • complete chapter 2 questions on Nightjohn on Moodle (as necessary);
  • work on the article of the week as necessary.
• English I Honors: 
  • complete work initial steps to understanding “Those Winter Sundays”;
  • work on parts of speech identification practice on Moodle and No Red Ink as necessary;
  • continue assessing the “Necklace”/”Gift of the Magi” paragraphs on Moodle.