We opened today’s class with a short discussion of Orientalism in The Count of Monte Cristo. Then students practiced vocabulary words from CMC List 3 by relating them to Harry Potter, in preparation for our quiz on Monday (please remember – the quiz will have words from all three CMC lists – you can study using the lists on Vocabulary.com). Finally, we discussed using gerunds and gerund phrases. Please see me for gerund handouts – in the meantime, you can study gerunds using this website and this website.

Remember that your documented essay (WORTH A MAJOR GRADE) is due on Monday. Please turn it in with your rubric. If you need help putting together your Works Cited page, I would recommend Citation Machine or Easy Bib.

And I pushed the due date for CMC Reading Guide 7 until Tuesday!

I’m sorry that there wasn’t a post yesterday! HISD’s servers had blocked our class website for some reason!

On Wednesday, we discussed how to write an MLA-style paper, and I gave students time to begin drafting their documented essays on heroes (which, as a reminder, are due on Monday).

If you have any questions about how to format your paper according the MLA style, I highly recommend that you consult this site. There are all kinds of great resources there, including a sample paper that shows you exactly what yours should look like.

I also announced that students had the opportunity to earn 10 points of extra credit on their vocabulary quiz by attending Bellaire Orchestra’s performance of Nosferatu this Friday and answering these questions:

Answer the following questions before you attend:

1. What do you already know about Nosferatu and the vampire Dracula story?
2. What are you curious about/what do you want to know about Nosferatu?

After the performance answer the following three questions:

3. What did you learn?
4. Did the movie raise any questions for you?
5. Please describe in detail one particular scene where the score affected, enhanced, or changed the mood/tone/meaning of the story.

On Thursday, students worked in small groups to create posters demonstrating the relationships between the different characters in The Count of Monte Cristo. Hopefully this helped you all to understand a bit more of the storyline! I have put the posters up in the hallway outside my classroom, so if you’re ever confused about who exactly did what in the novel, go check them out!

Remember, your next reading guide is due tomorrow!