Today in class, students worked in groups to do some basic research over the French Revolution as a way of preparing for reading Count of Monte Cristo.

I assigned the first reading guide (due Tuesday) – electronic copies of all reading guides are available under the Count of Monte Cristo tab.

For homework for tonight and tomorrow night, students are to write an essay about revenge. Here is that prompt: Revenge Essay Prompt The essay is due on Friday.

Finally, remember that I am showing the film Marie Antoinette after school on Friday (from 3:30 to 5:30) if you would like to come – it’s worth 10 points of extra credit on your vocab quiz from this week!

Today in class, we discussed the background of the French Revolution as it will relate to the Count of Monte Cristo. We went over this background guide (CMC Schema Study Guide) and watched the Crash Course video under the CMC section of the website.

Homework is to finish the reading guide for The Black Count.

Today students took their vocabulary quiz over the St. Lucy’s words. If you missed this assessment because you were absent, I would strongly prefer for you to come make it up tomorrow during lunch. If you cannot come tomorrow, you must come on Friday. Students who have not made up their quiz by Friday will receive a zero.

After the test, students began reading a chapter from The Black Count, a biography of Alexandre Dumas’ father and the inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo. We will also be using that essay as the basis for a project I’ll tell you about later this week, so please make sure that you keep your copy. The reading guide that goes along with it is due on Wednesday. I don’t have electronic copies of those materials, so if you were absent, please come get them from me.

And as a reminder, your essay about civilization is due tomorrow (Tuesday).

Today in class, we reviewed vocabulary from St. Lucy’s and talked about appositives and appositive phrases. Here’s a link to review if you would like. Both vocabulary and appositives will be on your quiz on Monday, so study up! Remember too that your civilization essay is due on Tuesday.

Today we continued our study of St. Lucy’s by looking at how literary devices are used in this story. Here is that assignment – whatever students did not finish in class with their groups is due at the start tomorrow. SLHFGRBW – Literary Devices – No Key

Homework over the next few nights is to write an essay explaining what you think civilization is. Civilization Essay Prompt Civilization Essay Rubric That assignment is due Tuesday.

Today in class, students made portfolios of all of their writing from last semester. I’m sure we’ll be adding to those quite a bit this spring!

Afterwards, students began reading the short story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.” SLHFGRBW – Story

Homework for tonight was to illustrate a quotation from the story. If you were absent, you can choose one from the following packet. SLHFGRBW – Plot Illustrations Remember, I don’t expect you to be an amazing artist, but I do expect you to give your best effort. That means using all of the space, drawing with detail, and coloring.

Welcome back!

I hope you all had a fantastic break. I enjoyed my time off, but I’m eager to start the spring semester – we have a lot of fun stuff coming up.

Today in class, we discussed colonialism and post-colonialism using this PowerPoint (SLHFGRBW – Post-Colonial Literature) and taking notes on this page (SLHFGRBW – Presentation Notes) – this will help us with the short story we are reading tomorrow.

Homework for tonight was to listen to two podcasts (here and here) and answer these questions (SLHFGRBW – Podcast Questions). You also need to bring your decorated writing folder in tomorrow.

I’m glad to see you all back!

http://www.amazon.com/Count-Monte-Cristo-Bantam-Classics/dp/0553213504/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420406234&sr=1-3&keywords=the+count+of+monte+cristo

If you ordered one from the school, I’ll give it to you Tuesday. Otherwise, please make sure you have your copy ready to go on January 12.