Today we looked at Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking in preparation for beginning The Joy Luck Club next week (The Rape of Nanking ReadingRhetorical Analysis of The Rape of Nanking).

A couple of announcements:

1. No after-school movie on Friday!
2. We’re beginning The Joy Luck Club on Monday; I would recommend seeing if you can get a copy from Half Priced Books. The school has some copies to check out, but I’m not sure if we will have enough for everyone.

In class today, we talked about “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” and did a lesson on adjectives and adverbs (see the grammar section of the website).

Two important announcements:

• Please go to the SCC on Tuesday, October 9 instead of our classroom — we’re going to hear a presentation about scholarships to study abroad.
• We will be starting The Joy Luck Club on Monday, October 15. We have some books to check out, but I don’t know that we have enough for everyone. If you would like to get your own copy, you can order it here, go to a local bookstore (there should be plenty at Half Price Books), or bring $14 to the school to order one.

In class today we continued to work on our essays. Please make sure that you have finished NoRedInk by this Friday.

We finished our notes over verbs today in class (see the Grammar section of the website) and then we watched this short video:

After that, students chose groups for their essays over the Odyssey (The Odyssey – Group Essay on Theme). You must give me a paper copy of this on Monday!

Today in class you will be writing a short essay. Click here to submit your response. If you are absent, please come make this up Tuesday during lunch (I will be absent on Friday).

After you are finished, please begin your new assignment on NoRedInk.com (due Friday).

After our discussion of the second part of the Penelopiad, we began talking about verbs (please see the grammar section of the website for the notes and lesson).

There’s no homework for the weekend, but you will have an essay quiz over the Odyssey on Monday!

Today we talked about some of the major issues in the Penelopiad, and we continued working with NoRedInk.com. Homework for tonight is the second part of the Penelopiad (The Penelopiad Part 2 Reading Guide  and  The Penelopiad – The Maids).

We had our last talk about the Odyssey today! It was an epic adventure for us as readers. We also talked about what happens to the characters after the epic is over, and we watched John Green’s summary and analysis:

Homework for tonight is to read the first part of the Penelopiad (The Penelopiad Part 1 Reading Guide and  The Penelopiad – Penelope).

Finally, we will be watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? this Friday after school. The movie will be finished at 5:45 PM.

We had a lively discussion about Odysseus’s scheme of revenge in class today! Students also worked on their diagnostic for NoRedInk. Homework for tonight will be Books 23 and 24 (13 – Books 23 and 24 and Books 23 and 24 Reading Guide).

Please make sure that you have joined Noredink.com using the links in the post immediately below this one.

After our quiz over nouns today, students began working on a diagnostic using Noredink.com — you did not need to finish that (I will give you time in class tomorrow).

Please make sure to read Books 21 and 22 tonight and complete that reading guide (12 – Books 21 and 22 and Books 21 and 22 Reading Guide).