Monthly Archives: March 2019

Thursday, March 28

Today in class we completed some prewriting for the essay that you will compose tomorrow (STAAR Preparation Essay 1 Rubric).

I also told you about the Dracula-themed critical reading exam (multiple choice) that you will take on Monday instead of a quiz; you’ll read three different kinds of passages (a poem, a nonfiction article, and a selection from a novel that is not Dracula) and answer some STAAR-style questions.

Homework for tonight is the next chapter of Dracula (Dracula Reading Guide – Chapter 19).

Wednesday, March 26

Today I passed out permission slips to watch the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola version of Dracula (rated R). You have three options if you would like extra credit for this:

  1. You can watch this with our classes after school on Friday — I will be editing out what I consider to be the R-rated material.
  2. You can watch it at home with your parents over the weekend — I will give you the viewing guide along with the times of the pieces that I will be skipping.
  3. If your parents are not comfortable with you watching an edited version of the film either with me or with them, talk with me one-on-one and we can find an alternate vampire film for you to watch.

With our class time today, students read this piece of literary criticism (The Zoophagous Maniac) and compared it to Chapter 18 (Dracula Reading Guide – Chapter 18).