4/20/07
Juniors:
Today we finished up working on the winCS curriculum. If you decide to work ahead at home, please let me know so that I can ensure that you get credit for your work. Our Gatsby essays were due at 4pm today, and if you have not turned it in; it is late! I will gladly accept late papers and you can turn in a passcard with it to get your credit back.
Monday and most of next week will be eaten up by the ACTs and PSAEs. We will also have a small Gatsby ‘Quest’ (Not quit a quiz, not quite a test. Get it?) on Friday. This is more a review than anything to ensure that you’re ready for the final. We’re almost done with school, don’t let finals sneak up on you!!
Senior Speech:
Today we continued on with our dramatic interpretations. They were awesome! We’re over halfway through, and I expect to finish up next week. Once we’re done, we can start on our television spots! When we finish television spots, if we have time remaining we’ll use it to remember CHS and our time here. It’s already nearly time to say goodbye. How sad!
Senior English:
We’re wrapping up poetry shortly, and you’ll each be choosing poems to present to the class. So make sure you know your poetry terms and the way to analyze poems.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Poetry, Papers, and Extra Credit
4/19/07
Juniors:
Today in class we continued on the winCS curriculum. You need to make sure that you have completed the posttests. Also, today, we went over the various forms of extra credit that are being offered in this last quarter.
I am going to give you extra credit if you aid Mr. Kinser in his clean up Christopher program. You will receive 10 extra credit points. Mr. Kinser will give me a list of all the participants. If you go, you can do a good deed and get rewarded for it too!
I am also assigning you two extra credit projects that you may choose to undertake. Originally, we were going to make a movie out of The Great Gatsby as an assignment, but time constraints have forced me to cut that. Instead, you may do this project but it will be for extra credit. You are not limited to assigned groups. You may work with a group of your own choosing. No more than 4 Juniors are allowed in a group. Movies must relate to the novel and cover a chapter of the novel. Also, the original extra credit attached to the movie project, designing a movie poster, is still available. You may create a movie poster for The Great Gatsby. Make sure your poster relates to the book.
You also need to have your paper ready to give to me tomorrow. Your Great Gatsby analysis paper is due at 4pm! I will be in the classroom until then. After then, it is late!
Senior English:
Today we practiced analyzing poems. The last couple days we learned how to analyze a poem, and since many students were away at W.Y.S.E., today was a perfect day to relax and look at how poetry can be analyzed. Students got some good practice in for their future poetry analysis paper. If you were not able to make it to class today, don't worry. We'll be analyzing poems again at a later date when more students are here.
Senior Speech:
The dramatic oral readings continue! Today we got through four readings, and tomorrow I expect to get through four more. When we finish with these, we can begin our television spots!
Juniors:
Today in class we continued on the winCS curriculum. You need to make sure that you have completed the posttests. Also, today, we went over the various forms of extra credit that are being offered in this last quarter.
I am going to give you extra credit if you aid Mr. Kinser in his clean up Christopher program. You will receive 10 extra credit points. Mr. Kinser will give me a list of all the participants. If you go, you can do a good deed and get rewarded for it too!
I am also assigning you two extra credit projects that you may choose to undertake. Originally, we were going to make a movie out of The Great Gatsby as an assignment, but time constraints have forced me to cut that. Instead, you may do this project but it will be for extra credit. You are not limited to assigned groups. You may work with a group of your own choosing. No more than 4 Juniors are allowed in a group. Movies must relate to the novel and cover a chapter of the novel. Also, the original extra credit attached to the movie project, designing a movie poster, is still available. You may create a movie poster for The Great Gatsby. Make sure your poster relates to the book.
You also need to have your paper ready to give to me tomorrow. Your Great Gatsby analysis paper is due at 4pm! I will be in the classroom until then. After then, it is late!
Senior English:
Today we practiced analyzing poems. The last couple days we learned how to analyze a poem, and since many students were away at W.Y.S.E., today was a perfect day to relax and look at how poetry can be analyzed. Students got some good practice in for their future poetry analysis paper. If you were not able to make it to class today, don't worry. We'll be analyzing poems again at a later date when more students are here.
Senior Speech:
The dramatic oral readings continue! Today we got through four readings, and tomorrow I expect to get through four more. When we finish with these, we can begin our television spots!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
WinCS and Poetry
4/17/07
Juniors:
Today in class we began working on the WinCS curriculum. These activities are designed to practice skills that will be used in the ACT and other standardized tests. Hopefully, since you’ll have encountered these activities before in my classroom when you go to take the tests, you won’t be as nervous. The activities will be graded, so make sure to do them carefully. If you want to work on them at home, go to http://roe.wincshost.com
The program will ask you for your first name and your last name as well as a pin number. Your pin number is your student ID number.
Remember to work slowly and carefully (Just like on the real tests!) because you cannot go back!
Senior Speech:
We finally got started on our oral interpretations! I have to say, they were astounding today! I can’t wait to see more tomorrow. If you haven’t already turned in your script to me, do so IMMEDIATELY!!! They are late and you may not give your oral interpretation unless I have had a chance to look over your script—So I need them a day in advance.
Senior English:
Today we began poetry. I went over the forms of poetry and how to analyze poetry. You need to be familiar with poetry terms, such as ‘stanza’, ‘verse’, ‘meter’ and ‘septet’. In the future, you will choose a poem and describe it to the class using literary poetic terminology. If you have forgotten the literary terms, find them from a friend!
Juniors:
Today in class we began working on the WinCS curriculum. These activities are designed to practice skills that will be used in the ACT and other standardized tests. Hopefully, since you’ll have encountered these activities before in my classroom when you go to take the tests, you won’t be as nervous. The activities will be graded, so make sure to do them carefully. If you want to work on them at home, go to http://roe.wincshost.com
The program will ask you for your first name and your last name as well as a pin number. Your pin number is your student ID number.
Remember to work slowly and carefully (Just like on the real tests!) because you cannot go back!
Senior Speech:
We finally got started on our oral interpretations! I have to say, they were astounding today! I can’t wait to see more tomorrow. If you haven’t already turned in your script to me, do so IMMEDIATELY!!! They are late and you may not give your oral interpretation unless I have had a chance to look over your script—So I need them a day in advance.
Senior English:
Today we began poetry. I went over the forms of poetry and how to analyze poetry. You need to be familiar with poetry terms, such as ‘stanza’, ‘verse’, ‘meter’ and ‘septet’. In the future, you will choose a poem and describe it to the class using literary poetic terminology. If you have forgotten the literary terms, find them from a friend!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Welcome Back!
4/16/07
Welcome back, everyone. Spring Break has come and gone already, leaving us with this final stretch before the school year is over. I was glad to see everyone back, happy, energetic, and hopefully well rested. I have some fun stuff planned in these last weeks, so don’t get ready for summer yet! There’s still plenty we’re going to do.
Juniors
Today in class we worked on our essays. Today was the only day that students will have to write their essays in class.
Essays are to be two pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman font and formatted with 1-inch margins. The acceptable topics and the prompt is available if you scroll down in this blog. It is the second prompt posted in the post titled ‘Prompts’.
English 4
Today in class we all worked on our research papers. A rough draft of the paper is due in two weeks on the 30th so be prepared. Due dates have a nasty tendency of sneaking up on us. We’re going to be working on poetry for the remainder of this week.
Speech
Tomorrow we start our oral interpretations. If you have not turned in your outline/scripts for your oral interpretation do so IMMEDIATELY!! You’re already late, don’t make your speech late too!
Welcome back, everyone. Spring Break has come and gone already, leaving us with this final stretch before the school year is over. I was glad to see everyone back, happy, energetic, and hopefully well rested. I have some fun stuff planned in these last weeks, so don’t get ready for summer yet! There’s still plenty we’re going to do.
Juniors
Today in class we worked on our essays. Today was the only day that students will have to write their essays in class.
Essays are to be two pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman font and formatted with 1-inch margins. The acceptable topics and the prompt is available if you scroll down in this blog. It is the second prompt posted in the post titled ‘Prompts’.
English 4
Today in class we all worked on our research papers. A rough draft of the paper is due in two weeks on the 30th so be prepared. Due dates have a nasty tendency of sneaking up on us. We’re going to be working on poetry for the remainder of this week.
Speech
Tomorrow we start our oral interpretations. If you have not turned in your outline/scripts for your oral interpretation do so IMMEDIATELY!! You’re already late, don’t make your speech late too!
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Bearcat Break Time!
Well, we're almost there! I didn't make a blog yesterday, and I'm sorry about that. All of the Juniors were busy signing up for the ACTs and the seniors spent the day diligently researching either their speech oral interpretations or their English 4 paper.
Today, thanks to the shortened schedule yesterday and today, will be spent catching up with most of the Juniors. First hour did not meet yesterday, so they'll finish up their bubbling. Sixth and Seventh hours are done with bubbling, but Seventh is being dropped today. So, sadly, they miss out on some group time to work on their Gatsby movies. Sixth, however, will meet and will be given time to work on their movies in their groups. Hopefully after break we can squeeze some more class time in on this.
Our seniors today will have a nice and light day. I think it's best to slide into Spring Break, right? We've had a busy week already, English 4 students completed a Literary Analysis paper and the Speech students have chosen their dramatic readings, created an introduction to it, answered the questions in their oral interpretation packet and turned the whole thing in to me. So I think a day spent playing English 4 Survivor (For the English 4 students only) and fine-tuning our dramatic readings (For the Speech students) is in order.
I hope that everyone has a safe and fun Spring Break. I want to see everyone back here, happy, healthy, and full of energy when we get back. I will make sure to have all the grades in my gradebook up and posted online by the end of the day today. That means that you can check them out any time! (This could help those of you who are getting unhappy midterm report cards)
Today, thanks to the shortened schedule yesterday and today, will be spent catching up with most of the Juniors. First hour did not meet yesterday, so they'll finish up their bubbling. Sixth and Seventh hours are done with bubbling, but Seventh is being dropped today. So, sadly, they miss out on some group time to work on their Gatsby movies. Sixth, however, will meet and will be given time to work on their movies in their groups. Hopefully after break we can squeeze some more class time in on this.
Our seniors today will have a nice and light day. I think it's best to slide into Spring Break, right? We've had a busy week already, English 4 students completed a Literary Analysis paper and the Speech students have chosen their dramatic readings, created an introduction to it, answered the questions in their oral interpretation packet and turned the whole thing in to me. So I think a day spent playing English 4 Survivor (For the English 4 students only) and fine-tuning our dramatic readings (For the Speech students) is in order.
I hope that everyone has a safe and fun Spring Break. I want to see everyone back here, happy, healthy, and full of energy when we get back. I will make sure to have all the grades in my gradebook up and posted online by the end of the day today. That means that you can check them out any time! (This could help those of you who are getting unhappy midterm report cards)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
A Windy Day!
4/3/06
Except for the weather, today was a quiet day for all my classes. We were visited by Tom, who is with the Art Institute of Chicago. He discussed how students could pursue a career in the arts-- be they culinary arts, graphic design, or even video game layouts. If you were interested in hearing more from the school, but forgot to get a form here's the school's website: http://www.artinstitutes.edu/chicago/
In English 3 news, our paper has had to be pushed back. There simply isn't enough time before break to allow you guys to write a paper. I also did promise a break (relatively) free from homework. So I am pushing the due date back to the week after Spring Break. I'm certain everyone is crushed. In a similar vein, our test has had to be cancelled too. We need to sign everyone up for ACTs. Don't worry, though, there will be other tests in the limited future we have before summer.
Tomorrow, in speech, if it isn't too wet we will be going outside to practice our oral presentations. Hopefully all the rain has passed us by and tomorrow will be a lovely day. If it turns out to be too cold, too wet, or storming tomorrow then we'll have to cancel this. Hopefully things will go off without a hitch.
Lastly, in English 4, we'll continue working on our research papers. You've got plenty of time now, but after break we'll have to get back into literature. Soon we'll be working on poetry and poetry analysis. It's twice as much fun as literature.
Except for the weather, today was a quiet day for all my classes. We were visited by Tom, who is with the Art Institute of Chicago. He discussed how students could pursue a career in the arts-- be they culinary arts, graphic design, or even video game layouts. If you were interested in hearing more from the school, but forgot to get a form here's the school's website: http://www.artinstitutes.edu/chicago/
In English 3 news, our paper has had to be pushed back. There simply isn't enough time before break to allow you guys to write a paper. I also did promise a break (relatively) free from homework. So I am pushing the due date back to the week after Spring Break. I'm certain everyone is crushed. In a similar vein, our test has had to be cancelled too. We need to sign everyone up for ACTs. Don't worry, though, there will be other tests in the limited future we have before summer.
Tomorrow, in speech, if it isn't too wet we will be going outside to practice our oral presentations. Hopefully all the rain has passed us by and tomorrow will be a lovely day. If it turns out to be too cold, too wet, or storming tomorrow then we'll have to cancel this. Hopefully things will go off without a hitch.
Lastly, in English 4, we'll continue working on our research papers. You've got plenty of time now, but after break we'll have to get back into literature. Soon we'll be working on poetry and poetry analysis. It's twice as much fun as literature.
Monday, April 2, 2007
4/2/07
Well, today I was gone on a field trip with the Speech class. We went to the WSIL broadcasting station in Marion, and then on to the Clearchannel radio station. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! I especially enjoyed announcing the song on TAO. Who knew we could all be DJs for a day?
While I was gone, everyone in English 3 took some time to sign up for the ACT tests. We're not quite done with that, but we will be by the end of the week. Unfortunately, this means that we loose time to work on our essays. Please keep working on them on your own. Otherwise you will wake up on Thursday with no paper!!
Tomorrow, we will have a guest visiting our classroom. He will be giving us a lecture on futures in art. It ought to be a fun day.
I also have groups set up for our Gatsby movie. Hopefully I can announce them along with a small surprise.
For the seniors, keep up the research. You're almost done! How cool is that?
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