Second period met during seventh period’s slot and we began The Giver. We read the first two pages and looked at how the reader’s response journals will work.

Fourth period continued work on Great Expectations. We read chapter three in class and went over chapter four by skimming it.

We also looked at how we can determine significant amounts of information just from skimming. For instance, we inferred from the following passage that Uncle Pumblechook is wordy:

“But I don’t mean in that form, sir,” returned Mr. Pumblechook, who had an objection to being interrupted; “I mean, enjoying himself with his elders and betters, and improving himself with their conversation, and rolling in the lap of luxury. Would he have been doing that? No, he wouldn’t. And what would have been your destination?” turning on me again. “You would have been disposed of for so many shillings according to the market price of the article, and Dunstable the butcher would have come up to you as you lay in your straw, and he would have whipped you under his left arm, and with his right he would have tucked up his frock to get a penknife from out of his waistcoat-pocket, and he would have shed your blood and had your life. No bringing up by hand then. Not a bit of it!” (Great Expectations, chapter 4)

Seventh period didn’t meet today.

Homework

None. (Fourth period’s pre-assigned Shakespeare project is due tomorrow, though.)

Second period finished up the anticipatory set for The Giver. We’ll begin after the coming two days of pass testing.

Fourth period began looking at the themes in Great Expectations that we will be examining throughout the unit. These are the themes we will also use to guide our research project at the end of the unit.

• economics
• family units
• education
• housing
• penal system
• law enforcement
• social classes
• gender roles

(More information will be on the Great Expectations notes page.)

Homework

• All classes: journal.

lipnica_wielka_tartak_centrum

Nostalgia will do odd things.

Second period began a new unit by writing about the perfect world.

Fourth period began Great Expectations. We went through a short exercise in parsing to help students become comfortable with Dickens’ style. I’ve also uploaded a short glossary for students to use while reading Great Expectations.

Lastly, the Greenville County School District Board of Trustees passed the following resolution.

Whereas, South Carolina is experiencing a severe economic crisis that is significantly impacting state revenue and has resulted in General Fund budget cuts totaling $484 million to South Carolina’s K-12 public schools during the past two fiscal years including a cut of more than $42 million to Greenville County Schools General Fund budget; and

Whereas, These budget cuts have reduced the base student cost to $1,764 per student, reflecting 1996-1997 funding levels[. ...]

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE GREENVILLE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES, DOES HEREBY STRONGLY URGE the South Carolina General Assembly to support public schools during this economic crisis and prevent the loss of more teacher jobs by providing new revenue streams such as removing some of the more than $2.8 billion in State sales tax exemptions. [...]

The complete original is available at the GCS web site.

Homework

• First period: turn in journals Monday, March 15.
• Second period: none.
• Fourth period:
  • read chapter two from Great Expectations;
  • complete number two from sentence parsing worksheet;
  • write reader’s response journal entry for chapters one and two (prompts are here); and
  • work on Shakespeare soundtrack project.

Fourth period went over the material from homework video on Dickens’ life. (Stills below) 

Dickens' Childhood

It’s a great video for providing students with a brief biography of Dickens. 

Visiting his father in debtors' prison

The animation makes it just lighthearted enough that it doesn’t feel like a drudgery. 

At work as a law clerk

And students get to see just how prolific Dickens was. 

Books and family

Afterwards, we went over the concept of a reader’s response journal.

Homework

• First, second, and seventh periods: journal.
• Fourth period: reader’s response journal.

Fourth period almost completed work on clauses. We’ll be starting a new unit on Great Expectations, with a grammatical focus on phrases, clasuses, and sentence types, and we are almost prepared.

Homework

• First, second, and seventh periods: journal.
• Fourth period:
  • Watch the Dickens biography;
  • Play the Dickens’ London game;
  • Fill out the 6-5-4-3-2-1 chart associated with it.

Fourth period went over clauses, both independent and dependant/subordinate. This is in preparation for Great Expectations, when one of the grammar focuses will be on sentence type.

Homework

• All classes: journal.

Afterward, first and seventh periods began working on linking verbs, with the eventual goal of working on subject/verb agreement.

Second period evaluated their PASS exams.

Fourth period worked on quoting and the use of square brackets.

Homework

• All classes: journal

Fourth period continued watching Romeo + Juliet and discussed a little about the project.

Seventh period did first period’s work from yesterday, so the two classes are now caught up.

Homework

• All classes: journal.