Tag Archives: grammar

More Inferring and Grammar

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First and seventh periods worked on The Glory Field‘s fourth part, “April 1964.” The main character has just been offered an opportunity to be the first African American student at a local college. Myers makes reference to Marian Anderson, so we watched her historic performance in 1939 (available by clicking her name above).

Second period began a short science fiction story. We’ll be comparing it to The Giver to determine what some of the elements of good science fiction are.

Fourth period finished up (“Finally!” everyone’s saying.) sentence types. We’ll have a test on it later, and there will be an element on the research project rubric dealing with sentence types.

Homework
  • First and seventh periods:
    • read through page 234;
    • write at least two summaries.
  • Second period: none.
  • Fourth period: read through chapter 52 by Friday.

Thursday Overview

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First period completed the 1930 section of The Glory Field. We completed the plot chart and discussed the upward motion of the plot (how, even though Luvenia doesn’t get what she wants, she still gains something).

Second period went over the escape in The Giver.

Fourth period completed sentence types. We’ll be doing some more isolated practice, and we will certainly be applying the skills to the term paper we will begin shortly.

Seventh period read: so many students were out for MAP make-up testing that I decided not to go forward with the lesson.

Homework
  • First and seventh periods: look over vocabulary words for 1930.
  • Second period: read chapter 22.
  • Fourth period: see yesterday’s update.

Reviewing Words, Notes, and Roles

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First and seventh periods reviewed some vocabulary words, and we began looking at how we’ve used our reader’s journals over the weekend to summarize our reading. First period also began working on a review of the structure of a plot.

Fourth period worked on complex sentences.

Homework
  • First and seventh periods: by class tomorrow, read through 171.
  • Second period: read chapters 16 and 17.
  • Fourth period: read chapter 38.

Reading Hints and Compound Sentences

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First and seventh period used their reading journals as a method of keeping track of what they’ve read. Students have complained about not remembering what they read, so I decided to practice summarizing and make it a required element of the novel we’re reading, The Glory Field.

Second period had a quiz  and then work on The Giver, looking at things from Jonas’s point of view.

Fourth period worked on compound sentences.

Homework
  • First and seventh periods: by Monday’s class, you’ll need to have The Glory Field completed through page 154. Additionally, you’ll need to have three or four one-sentence summaries in your reader’s journal
  • Second period: read through chapter 15.
  • Fourth period: read to chapter 38. You can skip chapter 37, but skim it if you’re interested in seeing how Dickens dealt with writer’s block under the pressure of a weekly installment deadline.

Writing and Review

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First and seventh period wrapped up the first fifty pages of The Glory Field. We’ll have a vocab quiz on Friday.

Second period went over the chapter in The Giver in which Jonas learns that he is to be the new Receiver of Memory.

Fourth period took a break from Great Expectations and began applying previous information about clauses. We’ll continue it tomorrow during the second half of the hour.

My related arts class — creative writing — began today. We did some initial writing for me to get a baseline for future lessons.

Homework
  • First and seventh periods: study for vocab quiz.
  • Second period:
    • read chapters eight and nine;
    • reader’s journal: “Based on what we read in class about the Receiver of Memory, what do you anticipate this job being like?”
  • Fourth period:
    • read chapters nineteen and twenty;
    • use the forms on the “Courses” site to evaluate participation and starters.

Grammar Day

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First, second, and seventh periods went over linking verbs in a desperate attempt to get subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement finished before the PASS writing test next week. We should finish up working on verbs tomorrow.

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.

Sensory Details and Review

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Second period (English I) went over the material from the first half of our parts of speech review (nouns, pronouns, and adjectives). We began reading Antigone.

First and seventh periods worked on sensory language a little more. We’ll start applying that to our memoirs on Monday.

Second period didn’t have class due to the magazine sales fund raiser kick off.

Homework
  • First and seventh periods: questions 1-4, 7 on page 470 (for the selection from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings).
  • Fourth period:
    • read Antigone through the bottom of page 120;
    • look up any proper nouns/adjectives (i.e., “Argives” on page 115);
    • evaluate Lord of the Flies project according to the modified rubric.

Pronouns and General Stores

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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

First, second, and seventh periods began the selection from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. We read about Maya’s grandmother’s general store and how it was like a private fun park for Maya growing up. We closed the lesson writing about our own special places.

Fourth period finished up working on pronouns in our review of the parts of speech. We also discussed the journal project (three entries a week, each at least 300 words); I tried to impress upon them the simplicity of the assignment. Here is a sample entry.

Homework
  • First, second, and seventh periods: complete “My Special Place” topic.
  • Fourth period: draft/notes of the three examples students will use in the Lord of the Flies project (which will be due next Friday).

Completion and Prepositions

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I was out ill Thursday and Friday, hence the lack of progress reports.

First period completed The Giver. We began a culminating project: a newspaper from Jonas’s community. Our publishing date will be approximately one week after Jonas leaves. We finished the day’s lesson by brainstorming possible topics.

  • The search for Jonas.
  • The effects of the memories being released on the community.
  • The effects of the community seeing color.
  • Interviews with Jonas’s friends and family.
  • Reports from the meetings of the community’s council of elders.
  • An interview with the Giver about what could have gone wrong.
  • An investigative journalism piece that asks the question, “Did the Giver encourage Jonas to escape?”
  • The effect on the number of requests for Releases (would it go up or down?)

Second period began with a quick vocabulary quiz. Students finished up Antigone in class Friday. We’re working on the final lesson, finishing up tomorrow. We’ll spend a couple of days working on the culminating activity (a comparison/contrast of Lord of the Flies and Antigone using elements of sociology as an analytical framework), then we’ll begin the Beast: Great Expectations.

Fourth and sixth periods continued working on Algernon. We’re just about done — we’re tying up loose ends. We also worked on prepositions today.

Homework
  • First, fourth, and sixth periods: none.
  • Second period:
    • quiz three Wednesday;
    • “breaking the law” rewrites Thursday;
    • read the project overview (to be posted here and at courses.ourenglishclass.net this evening).

Complex Persuasion

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Second period took a break from Romeo and Juliet to look at the four types of sentences:

  • simple,
  • compound,
  • complex, and
  • compound-complex.

The other periods began with a quick starter. One exercise: make a prediction about the following passage:

The ground-breaking ceremony for the new game arcade began quietly. The ceremony was solemn, with builders, bankers, and investors making nice speeches about the value of the arcade for the community. Twelve kids had been invited to break the ground. They waited with their shovels. The signal came for the first boy to dig a shovelful of dirt. He dug; but he could not resist tossing the dirt high into the air so that it fell on the next kid in line. There were giggles from the young people and glares from the adults. The next person, Ellie, stepped up and dug a chunk of dirt, her eyes twinkling.

Fairly obvious what happened next.

Afterward we began our persuasive writing. There will be a prize for a select number of people Thursday, and the winners will be determined in a debate, with another teacher serving as the judge. We’ll then go back and look at the arguments to determine which persuasive techniques each group used.

Today, we prepared the presentations:

Fourth period preparing

Fourth period preparing

Fourth period preparing

Fourth period preparing

Fourth period preparing

Fourth period preparing

Sixth period preparing

Sixth period preparing

Sixth period preparing

Sixth period preparing

Sixth period preparing

Sixth period preparing

Homework
  • First, fourth, and sixth periods: none.
  • Second period:
    • read the review of sentence types;
    • complete the activities.

Addendum: if you’re using a Greenville County Schools computer, you will not be able to access this grammar review because it’s blocked. I suppose it’s somehow an inappropriate resource.

The GCS filtering software blocks the University of Ottawa

The GCS filtering software blocks the University of Ottawa

Mood for a Day

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First, fourth, and sixth periods had a selection test on “Cub Pilot,” conflict, and prediction. Hopefully everyone did well. After the test, we began the next selection by talking about mood, which is the feeling that a piece of writing creates in a reader.

Second period had something of a catch-up day. We went over indirect objects and in doing so, determined we needed to have a general parts of speech review. We’re going to have an individualized review, starting tomorrow. Students will review at home on their own, and we’ll devote a little class time to questions they might have. Hopefully, before the end of the month, we’ll have a good understanding of the parts of speech.

Homework
  • First, fourth, and sixth periods: none.
  • Second period: chapters 24 and 25.