I added the film project extra credit to people’s PSA assignments – please check to make sure that yours is on there, if you did a project.

I also wanted to tell you all how grateful I am to have had the chance to be your teacher this year. You have made me look forward to getting up and going to work everyday, and I am so proud of all that you have achieved. I really want to stay in touch, so I created a Facebook group (optional, of course) where I’ll post things occasionally that I think may interest you (articles, scholarship opportunities, pictures from my Vietnam trip, etc.), and where you can post to share what’s been happening with you. (We’re not allowed to be friends on Facebook, which I think is a good idea – this way, I won’t see any of your personal business, and you won’t see mine.)

If you’d like to join (and please join! right now, it’s just me and Ms. Newton), click the link below:

www.facebook.com/groups/mschapmansclass

3rd period, I’m so sorry – we were having too much fun yesterday, and I forgot to take you down to the laptop room to check in your computers. I talked with the tech guy, and he said just to ask you to come on your own some time when you have a spare moment. So please make sure you check yours in before the school year is out!

On Monday, we took the essay portion of our final exam. If you were absent, you need to come in on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday to make it up during lunch.

Here is a review to help you study: Pre-AP English 1 Spring Semester Final Review

Today in class, we learned about pronouns using puns!

Pronouns and Puns

We got almost to the end of Romeo and Juliet – we’ll finish up next week.

Some important dates (next week is very strange because of the schedule):

Period 1: laptop-turn-in day is Tuesday; your scripts (and videos, if you have chosen to do one) are due Thursday

Period 3: laptop-turn-in day is Wednesday; your scripts (and videos, if you have chosen to do one) are due Tuesday

Period 4: laptop-turn-in day is Wednesday; your scripts (and videos, if you have chosen to do one) are due Tuesday

Period 6: laptop-turn-in day is Thursday; your scripts (and videos, if you have chosen to do one) are due Wednesday

Period 7: laptop-turn-in day is Tuesday; your scripts (and videos, if you have chosen to do one) are due Thursday

Also, on Monday you will write your final exam essay. This will count for 50% of your final grade. Here is the prompt: Essay Prompt You may plan over the weekend, but based on what all of the English 1 teachers decided, you may not bring notes or an outline with you. When you sit down to write on Monday, you must do so with nothing but the lined paper and your pencil.

Finally, I wanted to mention that I graded your vocabulary review quizzes, and there were a lot of A’s and a lot of F’s. Those words will be on the final! Overall, vocabulary will count for about 10% of your final grade. If you were dissatisfied with your score, I would highly recommend that you use the weekend to study.

We learned about clauses today in class!

Independent and Dependent Clauses and Dinosaurs

We also continued watching Romeo and Juliet.

We continued watching Romeo and Juliet in class today. We discussed an AP-style set of questions about a passage from the play, as well as a handout on sonnets with a homework assignment:

Please write your own Shakespearean sonnet. It must:

1. follow the line pattern and rhyme scheme of Shakespearean sonnets.
2. be in iambic pentameter.
3. be interesting, funny, or amusing.
4. be illustrated.
5. be typed.

This will be due at the start of class on Friday. Please come to class to pick up hard copies of handouts.

Today in class, we continued reading Romeo and Juliet as we acted out the famous fight scene between Mercutio, Tybalt, and Romeo. Next, we watched that portion from the film version.

In class today, we acted out the famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet! Afterwards, students took their vocabulary quiz. I want to encourage you all to keep studying your words (remember, Vocabulary.com can help you practice) so that you will be ready for the final.

We’ve been watching PSAs in class for the past two days. I’ve seen some really amazing ones, and I hope their producers will let me post them on the website!

We talked in most classes about a very exciting project to close up the end of the year. You will be writing scripts based on the works we have read in class this year. If you film it, you are eligible for 10 points of extra credit on a major grade, which should be worth a lot! Here is that project assignment page. Pre-AP English 1 Script Project If you would like, you can talk with a group this weekend and get started working. We’ll show these on our very last day of school together!

Finally, please make sure that you are ready for your vocabulary quiz on Monday (no new words; over all of the words we have covered this semester; remember that you can study using Vocabulary.com!).

Mr.Casteel, whom you know from our trips to the library this year, is Bellaire’s nomination for Teacher of the Year. Vote for him here if you would like to see him recognized.