Week of September 29

I do hope that you have been enjoying Caesar this week. We will finish it up by the end of the week.

Monday, 9/29
Define Unit 6, Finish Act III

Tuesday, 9/30
JC Character Activity

Wednesday, 10/1
Voc Act, Act IV

Thursday, 10/2
Act V

Friday, 10/3
Voc Quiz, Character analysis
DUE: Journals

Week of September 22

OK guys, the moment you have been waiting for IS HERE!!! (Maybe it is not the moment YOU have been waiting for, but it IS the moment I have been waiting for.) We are starting Shakespeare and Julius Caesar this week. I hope so much that you enjoy the play as much as I do. This play has it all... conflict, inner turmoil, rhetoric, patriotism, betrayal, revenge, war.. kind of sounds like our current presidential election, huh? :) Seriously, I think you will love the play. Even if you don't, these next two weeks rank among my favorite in the semester.

Monday, 9/22
Watch the Shakespeare A and E, questions over it

Tuesday, 9/23
Shakespeare interview, extra credit, notes

Wednesday, 9/24
BRING POST-IT NOTES
Act I of Julius Caesar

Thursday, 9/25
Act II

Friday, 9/26
Catch up

Week of September 15 (LATE!)

Monday, 9/15

Define Unit 3

Cosby's essay, list of 10 ways to get/lose a guy/girl

Tuesday, 9/16

Speeches

Review sheet for test

Wednesday, 9/17

Vocab act

Nonfiction Test

Thursday, 9/18

Persuasive essay

Friday, 9/19

Vocab Quiz

Lab to type essay and resume

DUE:  Journals

Caesar next week!!!!

September 11

You all did a 9/11 Memorial today after viewing the documentary. I will probably post some of those on this site later. However, I would like to hear some of your memories of that day. I was teaching (my fourth week of my teaching career, in fact) an English II Honors class of 12 people. We were in a little closet of a room during 2nd period when Mr. Rockholt came on the intercom and announced that our country had been attacked. He told us that two planes had hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. He said that we don't have a lot of information at the time, but that we needed to remember the victims. I had first lunch, so at lunch we found out that a plane had hit the Pentagon as well. At some point someone heard that a fourth and fifth plane were inbound. (We later learned about the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.) There was just a lot of chaos and nerves. We did not have TV's at the time and I was a floating teacher so I didn't even have my own computer. My junior English class was fourth period and we went on and worked on our lesson, though no one's minds were on it, including mine. During 4th period (my planning period), I went to an empty room with my fellow teachers and watched the coverage. At that point, some stations were still showing the gruesome images of people jumping from the buildings. It was horrific to watch and there was some element of disbelief about it all. I remember waking up the next morning, how it took a minute for it to sink in that the world was a different place than it had been the previous morning. I was not a mom yet at that time, and I can imagine even now how much more terrifying the whole thing would have been if I had already had children. For some reason, nothing in this world is so scary when it is just you and your spouse. It's when little people depend on you that the fear reaches a whole new level. My daughters were born into a post-9/11 world. They don't remember what it was like to get to airports 30 minutes before your flight, to not have to take off your shoes when you go through security, and to live without the knowledge that our security is a precarious thing. September 11 changed a lot of things for the United States, but the freedom we all share remains the same and we should be forever grateful for that.

The Hero in All of Us?

This unit has some very interesting (real!) events in it. We are working on Rosa Parks and Montgomery Boycott the first part of the week, then on 9/11 and heroism in the end of the week. What are your thoughts on a hero? What does it take for a person to be one? Do we all have the potential for heroism, or only some?

Week of September 8

We will be deep in the nonfiction unit this week. I expect that you will get a lot out of the week in class. Most of the nonfiction during the first of the week will be viewed instead of read. There will be a writing assignment after each one.

Monday, September 8
Grammar concept, watch "The Rosa Parks Story"
END OF 4.5 WEEKS

Tuesday, September 9
Finish "The Rosa Parks Story", write cause-effect essay ("If Rosa Parks had given up her seat, then...")

Wednesday, September 10
Grammar activity, watch "9/11"
DUE: Interview

Thursday, September 11
Finish "9/11", write a 9/11 memorial

Friday, September 12
Grammar quiz, read "The Man in the Water", seminar
DUE: Inspirational narrative

Extra Credit

Anyone who wants extra credit can tell me by Friday who wrote the book that I am reading aloud to you in class.

Week of September 2

We have FINALLY finished the short story unit and will be starting our nonfiction unit this week. Here are the plans for the week:

Tuesday, 9/2
Define Unit 2, Fairy tales activity

Wednesday, 9/3
Voc act, finish fairy tales, nonfiction notes

Thursday, 9/4
Frank McCourt, articles, "Fish Cheeks"

Friday, 9/5
Questions over articles, Vocab quiz
DUE: Journals