English 8 students began a second story in which we look at irony, tone, and mood: Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." We began by looking at all the items that establish the setting (circled in red)...
Archive
What our classroom did in previous days, weeks, months, even years…
Donaldson Center
All students went to the Donaldson Center today, which threw English I Honors off a bit: third period didn't meet at all, so fourth period did some critical thinking exercises instead of getting...
Tone Review and a Test
English 8 students worked tone a bit more after going over another term from our article of the week. English I Honors students worked on their poetry unit test. We were not quite able to finish it,...
Mood and the End of the Unit
English 8 students began reviewing some of the thinking behind the vocabulary in the Article of the Week. Afterward, we finished up tone in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and worked on mood. English I...
Sonnets and Tone
English 8 students looked at the question of tone (the author's/narrator's opinion of the subject at hand) in "The Tell-Tale Heart." English I Honors students finished up their second sonnet, number...
Back Again
I've not been updating this web site all week because of a simple fact: I've been moving it to a new host, with three-times the resources. Things should be clicking along very well on the site now....
Tests
All classes took a test today. Homework only in that case.
Tonal Exception and Test Prep
English I Honors students worked on the poem "My Papa's Waltz," learning that sometimes you can over-analyze a poem, especially when it comes to connotation. English 8 students prepared for their...
Benchmark 2
We had to take another day to finish up the district-mandated benchmark test. Everyone worked on the article of the week for a while as a bell-ringer, though. We'll be getting back to work...
Benchmarking
All students took the district-mandated fall benchmark test today.
Theme and Tone
English I Honors students finished up "The Lanyard" and our examination of tone in that poem. We discovered that the humor comes from the tone. English 8 students looked at theme in Nightjohn.
Lanyard and NJ Completion
English I Honors students worked on Billy Collins's poem "The Lanyard" as we finish up looking at tone, tonal shift, and the lyric moment. English 8 students worked on completing Nightjohn and...
