Tuesday, Nov 25....This Is It!

I am at a meeting today in Melbourne learning more about what to teach you when.

Today's plans include

• Write in your Writer's Notebook. You choose the topic.
• Turn in your Seven Habits project.
• Take the Julius Caesar vocabulary test.
• Complete and turn in the Review Packet.

Now go and have a great break!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Go, Pioneers!

Good luck to the Pioneers as they compete against Greenwood!

Good luck to the band as they play splendidly and represent good ol' Batesville High in such a grand fashion!

I will not be attending the game...working on homework! Boo hoo! Have a HUGE project due on Monday. Yes, being a student is stressful!

Drop me a comment and let me know how the game goes. Okay?

Gentle Reminders

This week, on a blog that I read on a regular basis, we were asked to post our blog url's if we have a class blog. Nice to know that our class is there...we are right there in the 21st Century Learning! Let's keep it up!

For Wednesday, Nov. 19:

1. Test over Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens.
2. 3A: Julius Caesar composition is due also.
3. Progress reports due today to the office.
4. Happy #4 wedding anniversary to me! I do hope that each of you one day (...more like several years down life's road) have a spouse that you like as much as I like and appreciate mine!

For Friday, Nov. 21:

1. Beat Greenwood! Well...not in class, of course!
2. Please let me know on Wednesday if not going to be in class on Wednesday. I need to determine if we will continue reading/listening to Julius Caesar...or plan to do something else in class Friday. Maybe time to type your anecdotes?
3. Review vocabulary...test on Tuesday!
4. Review grammar: prepositions, appositives, and participials.

For Tuesday, Nov. 25:

1. Julius Caesar vocabulary test.
2. Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens project due. Should include five anecdotes with at least one literary term used in each. This project should be a minimum of six pages: 1 title/cover page and one page for each anecdote/literary analysis.
3. I will not be class on this day. Just found out today that I will be attending a workshop on that date.

Happy Thanksgiving! No homework! Take some time to rest and reflect on why you are who you are...and take time to appreciate who you are, for you are very blessed, intelligent young people.

Be thankful!

A Look Ahead

This week begins the fourth week of this nine weeks! Progress reports will be going home soon!

Seven Habits:

1. Begin reading Habit 5-6.
2. By this Friday afternoon, plan to post your second entry based on this book. This time include at least one bolded appositive and one participial phrase and one vocab word.
3. Continue selecting your anecdotes for your project.
4. Want to really publish one of your life-experiences? You can! I will show you this week in class where you may submit and how you can win prizes for this!

Ladder of Questioning:

1. We will review this process online utilizing Google Docs with John Keat's poem "A Song About Myself."

Julius Caesar:

1. This week, we begin reading and listening to one of Shakepeare's great dramas!
2. The project for this unit will be to write a synthesis essay, which means that you will be given two others works from which to read and develop your thesis and evidence. To assist in your writing this essay, you might consider taking notes on content as you read this drama.

Grammar/Phrases:

1. We will be reviewing appositives and participials and then discussing gerunds. Diagram all!
2. Click here or click here for two sites on diagramming if you need more examples.

Let's have a great week!

According to Sean Covey, "you have two ears and one mouth." Why does he point this out?

November 3-7

Wednesday, Nov. 3:

• Grammar pages 30-31 due. Review participials.
• Vocabulary review...should time allow.
• Think! What anecdotes would you like to include in your Seven Habits project? This project is due Wednesday, Nov. 25.
• Guest speaker today! Dr. Paul Hance, our school board president, will join us and give a book talk or two.

Friday, Nov. 7:

• Vocabulary quiz on words 16-30 today!
• Review participals.
• Blog post about Seven Habits is due today. Need to bold at least one appositive phrase.
• Need to have read through Habit 4 (page 162) in Seven Habits.
• Targit Test today! This test is modeled after the test your junior year, which is required by the state of Arkansas.
• Discuss "Ladder of Questions," using "Marigolds" as a model.
• Continue brainstorming about anecdotes to include in your Seven Habits project.

A Look Ahead

Tuesday, Nov. 11:

• Begin reading/listening to Julius Caesar in class.
• Discuss/review gerund phrases.

Thursday, Nov. 13:

• Read/listen to Julius Caesar.
• Discuss/review gerunds.

Friday, Nov. 14:

• Post #2 due on blog about Seven Habits. Need to bold one participal and one gerund phrase within this post.

Hopefully posting these assignments here and on the white board, as well as discussing them in class, will help us all have a win-win plan!

Staying Safe Online

Please go to this link and read another English teacher's (Dana Huff from Georgia) comments about Internet Safety.

Just could not say this any better myself!

Published Authors!

Your Letters to the Next President are published!

Want to see your writing in print? Click here to access all the published letters. Then click on Arkansas. See Batesville? There you are!

Great job! How does it feel to see your writing another screen besides your own blog?

A Three-Rung Ladder

Diggin' deeper? Thinkin' more critically? Climbin' the ladder?

Let's dig, let's think, let's climb to a greater understanding of the texts we are about to read.

First, let's give credit where credit is due. The source for this concept is The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English. For the past two summers, I have attended Pre-AP English training, first a two-day workshop and then a five-day workshop this past summer on the campus of ASU, at which this book served as our mentor text.

How will we utilize this within the classroom? First, we will develop questions for each step on the below three-rung ladder about a text that we will read together entitled "Marigolds" by Eugenia Collier.

Three-Rung Ladder of Questioning

1. Literal Level
   * Factual
   * Address key elements
   * Answers found directly in text.
2. Interpretive Level
   * Inferential
   * Motive of author or a character
   * Answers found by following patterns and seeing relationships amongst parts of the text.
3. Experienced-Based Level
   * Connecting
   * Link text to prior knowledge, other texts, or experiences
   * Answers found by testing the ideas of a text against readers' schema.

Next, we will analyze John Keats' poem "A Song about Myself." You may also find a copy of this poem on our class wiki at Mrs G Info.

Using this poem as our mentor text, your lit circle group will meet online via Google Docs as you share collaboration on a form that I will email the discussion director within your group.

Why are we studying this poem? Yes, to continue our study of our thematic unit Who Am I?

Then what? As we read Julius Caesar, each of you will be required to develop questions for each level for each act of the play. Why? The development of these skills are not intended to just fill sheets of paper and "kill another tree." The reality is this: these skills will greatly enhance your success in your AP courses, your score on your AP exams, which ultimately will result in your being a step-up on the college ladder of success!

This post may also be found at Treasure Chest of Thoughts.