Today we discussed a very important writing structure that we will use all year – PIE. Here is the PowerPoint that we used to take notes: The PIE Method for Building Paragraphs (2)

No homework for tonight! 🙂 Tomorrow we start reading the Odyssey!

Homework for tonight is very important! Please make sure that you complete it. Here is the assignment: Podcast Homework

And here is the link to the podcast.

We spent our class time looking at background history and geography for our Odyssey unit.

Today in class, we talked about the qualities of an effective summary. We decided that summaries:

• are significantly shorter than the original work.
• are designed to communicate the main ideas and plot of the original work.
• emphasize clarity and breadth over style and detail.

Your homework was to write a one-page summary of the Trojan War in preparation for our study of the Odyssey.

We also took our Dracula 1 vocabulary quiz – if you missed it, please come make it up on Friday during lunch.

I hope that all of you had a productive day while I was away at jury duty! As some reminders:

1. Your This I Believe essay is due on Monday. (Not a draft! The final thing. Please make sure to bring your rubric to turn in with it.)
2. We’ll be taking a vocabulary quiz over the first Dracula list. You must have completed the practice quiz on the back of the list and have it ready to show to me for a grade.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Here is what I have been told to have you try:

1. Reboot the computer.
2. Open a different browser (Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, etc.).

If something funky is still happening, please do the following:

1. Take a screenshot of the problem (you can do this by using the “snipping tool” – search for it by clicking the Windows button in the bottom left corner of your screen and then searching for “snipping tool”).
2. Email the screenshot to me along with a clear, concise, professionally-worded explanation of what the problem is.

I’ll relay this information to the powers-that-be to try to get them to resolve the problems.

Today in class, we began brainstorming and pre-writing for an essay we will finish later this week. If you were absent, this is what you need to do:

1. Generate a list of statements starting with “I believe…”
2. Create a chart with two columns titled “Evidence From My Life” and “Evidence From The World” and fill it out to explain why you believe one particular statement.
3. Come up with a list of specific, high-impact words you could use in your essay.

There is no homework due on Thursday, but I do want you to master the Dracula 1 list on Vocabulary.com so that I know which words we need to focus on.

Happy Fall Holiday!

As I announced in class, students have the opportunity to earn some extra credit by taking the mock PSAT this weekend at Bellaire. You can sign up at this link. If you take the test, I will either replace your lowest quiz grade with a 70 (if you scored below a 70) or add 10 points to your quiz (if you scored above a 70).

We started today with a quiz (if you were absent, please come make it up during lunch). Afterwards, students annotated a graphic of the Hero’s Cycle with the story of the Little Prince and began practicing for the Dracula 1 quiz using Vocabulary.com. Please make sure that you do your best to complete Dracula 1 on Vocabulary.com ASAP – that will help me figure out which words we need to focus on.

We continued discussing the words from the Odyssey 1 vocabulary list – afterwards, students had time to study using Vocabulary.com and the practice quizzes. Please remember that your quiz on Monday will be over both Odyssey Lists 1 and 2 as well as verbs.

We finished up our lesson on verbs today – please make sure that you have completed the verb notes and practice pages by Monday (I know it looks like a lot of paper, but it really shouldn’t take a long time; if you find yourself struggling, please talk to me).

Next, we started talking about the Odyssey 2 words. We’ll finish that up tomorrow.

Homework for tonight is to finish reading The Little Prince and complete the mini-essay page (you do not need to type a separate document – just answer the questions on this page): TLP Mini-Essay