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 [...]

We added some examples of sensory language from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. For one passage, I showed instead of telling:
I looked around the room that I had never in my wildest fantasies imagined I would see. Browned photographs leered or threatened from the walls.

I took some pictures while students worked, [...]

First, second, and seventh periods worked on sensory language in the excerpt from Maya Angelou’s  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. We paid special attention to the following passage:
“It was the best of times and the worst of times . . .” Her voice slid in and curved down through and over the words. [...]

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 [...]

First, second, and seventh periods worked on vocabulary for the reading we’ll be doing tomorrow.
Fourth period had a quiz and Q&A session on the latest chapters of the novel. We ended doing work with pronouns as part of our parts of speech review.
Additionally, fourth period began working on the rubric we’ll be using to evaluate [...]

We will be reading a selection from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tomorrow as part of our memoir unit. As the selection is set in the Depression, we looked at the Depression a bit today and began thinking about what to expect from the piece.
Second period began wrapping up the symbolism [...]

Second period worked on improving their diction in their memoirs, specifically focusing on creating more specific nouns and verbs. I spoke individually with several students about their drafts and ways to improve it. The class is slowly coming to realize that writing is a long, time-consuming process.
First, fourth, and sixth periods had a selection test [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods ended units on an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. We’ll be having a very short selection test tomorrow.
Second period worked on editing their second drafts. We spent a little time concentrating on the lead, but we also looked at content gaps again.
Homework

First period:

study for [...]

First period discussed the excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings after a quiz.
Second period discussed the memoir form, pre-writing techniques, and began writing pre-writing for their memoir.
Fourth and sixth periods began the excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, working in groups to discuss questions about the use of details [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods took a look at the Great Depression as represented in two songs. We’re trying to activate prior knowledge and add new knowledge about the Depression so that Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings makes more sense.
Second period finished up the book.
Homework

Second period: none (quizzes online).
First period:

Letter from [...]

First period had a quick review of nominative and objective case personal pronounse.
Second period finished up the dialogues combining characters from Journey Home and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Some students took grammar handbooks for the self-study parts of speech review.
Fourth and sixth periods finished up reading the excerpt from An American Childhood. [...]

First period continued looking at mood and author’s purpose with the selection from A. Dillard’s An American Childhood.
Second period continued working on their dialogues.
Fourth and sixth periods began reading the selection from An American Childhood and started looking at how Dillard creates a mood of fear in the piece.
Homework

First period: complete mood chart (classwork)
Second period:

continue [...]

First period read a passage from An American Childhood by Annie Dillard.
Second period continued with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Fourth and sixth periods worked on vocabulary in preparation for the next selection.
Homework

First period:

Questions 1-7 on page 142;
Vocabulary builder on page 143;
Selection test coming Tuesday or Wednesday.

Second period:

Read chapters 28-30;
Complete essay on the Depression, [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods began a new selection that will focus on mood. Our first task: determine what mood is and how writers create it. And to do that, we … listened to music and watched movie trailers. We did this to see what mood is: an atmosphere created by a work of art. [...]

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 [...]