It’s looking like my post about what we did yesterday during class (Wednesday, September 18) didn’t go through for some reason – did anyone see it? Hmmm… if I can’t figure out what happened with it, I’ll post a new summary.

Today in class we continued with vocabulary, worked on our Reaping POV rough drafts, and (in most of the classes, depending on time) we looked at chapter 11 of Hunger Games, in which we get some surprising insight’s into Katniss’s character regarding her strength and sensitivity.

Rough drafts of your Hunger Games POV Reaping scene are due tomorrow, along with your two prewriting sheets. All of those items will count for grades, so please be sure to turn them in. Reaping Scene Rough Draft Instructions <- I’m putting the instructions for that assignment in this post – I included them in yesterday’s phantom post, but I’m not sure if people had a chance to access it in case yesterday’s summary really has disappeared. And here are the two prewriting sheets again, just in case:

Expanded Moment Planning and Pre-Writing

POV Reaping Pre-Writing – Page 1

Hope everyone is staying dry!

Today we took the BOY (beginning-of-year exam)! It’s not the most exciting thing we’ll ever do in English, but it is important, and I want to thank you, students, for taking it so seriously and doing your best work.

If you were absent, make an appointment to come by and make it up – looking at my schedule for the rest of the week right now, I think the only time I am going to be free in Friday during lunch tutorials (I have meetings at lunch Wednesday and Thursday, I’m helping to proctor the PSAT tomorrow afternoon and have a meetings Thursday and Friday after school). If Friday during lunch won’t work, let’s see if we can get you done with the exam early next week.

Also – many of you have been asking about when your Reaping scene rewrite is due – we’ll talk more about that tomorrow! I just don’t want you fretting – it’s not for homework tonight.

I’m going to go ahead an attach our word list and PowerPoint for this week, just in case you feel like getting an early start.

List 3 Vocabulary Presentation

Vocabulary List (Pre-AP) – Week 4

It was great to see everyone after this long weekend! I enjoyed the time off, but to be honest, I missed y’all!

We spent the bulk of our time today taking our vocabulary quiz, which included an essay comparing the situation in Syria to the plot of The Hunger Games using some of the words we studied last week. I have graded two periods of quizzes so far, and I’ve been impressed with your insights! If you were absent today, please come to tutorials during lunch on Wednesday or Friday to make up your quiz. We also graded the multiple-choice portion of the quizzes from today and last week – I’m reviewing your sentences and essays to see if you used the words in context correctly.

Just some notes on some things I’ve seen so far from your quizzes:

• I have noticed that collectively (one of our words from the first list, and one that many people seemed to have a little trouble with – it doesn’t mean that you are good at collecting things, but rather, “as a group”) one of the issues students seem to be facing is that you’re more confident in identifying the words as you are reading than composing sentences of your own using them. I would suggest that you really study the notes from the PowerPoints that we take, in addition to paying particular attention to how the words are used in example sentences.
• I’ve also noticed a relationship between the quality of notes that people are taking as we talk each day about the words, and their final scores on the quizzes. I wonder what could be at work there… 🙂

No homework for tonight!

Syria Article PDF

Expanded Moment Planning and Pre-Writing

I hope that everyone is having a fantastic long weekend! I’m using the excuse of having a cold to curl up with a great book (Zadie Smith’s White Teeth – hilarious!) all day.

Some important reminders about what we did/talked about on Friday:

1. Students, you have a vocabulary quiz over our second list of words on Monday. If you left your list at school, go back and look at the earlier posts in the week to download another one. Two other important notes about vocabulary – your answers to the questions that we talked about in class for each word are due on Monday, before you take your quiz. If you missed any because you were absent or didn’t have enough time to answer, please go download the PowerPoint and use it to do the questions. Also, as a reminder for students in Pre-AP classes – your quiz is going to require you to analyze a news article about Syria. If you would like to read the article early to be better prepared, you can download it from the link above.
2. We also worked on the expanded moment graphic organizer portion of our Hunger Games Reaping POV scene rewrite. As a reminder, that assignment will require you to rewrite the scene of the Reaping from the perspective of a character other than Katniss (so it still needs to be in first person, just told from, for example, Peeta or Prim’s point-of-view). That graphic organizer needs to be completed by the start of class on Monday. (You do not need to have your scene written!)
3. Please continue reading The Hunger Games if you have not already finished it! The last chapter we talked about in class was 10, so you should be a little beyond there. Speaking of which…

Today in class, we are discussing the next five words on our vocabulary list in preparation for our quiz on Monday. Students are responsible for responding to the corresponding question for each word on the PowerPoint in a complete sentence – I’ll ask students to turn those responses in tomorrow (we’ll finish the last five words tomorrow for Pre-AP classes).

We’re also talking about the strategic use of narrative time – shaping a story by skipping over or condensing the parts of it that are less relevant, and taking the time to develop “expanded moments” for portions that are significant. We’re reading pages 124 to 130 of The Hunger Games in class as an example of a moment that doesn’t actually take a long time (30 minutes or so of Katniss’s life), but that is developed with sensory language, internal narration, dialogue, and other literary elements to help the reader feel like a part of this event.

Students are turning in their revised hyperbole paragraphs and their yearbook surveys. There is no homework for tonight, unless students have not finished any assignments that are overdue.

As a special reminder, we have yearbook pictures tomorrow! Please remember to bring your picture order form, if you would like to get a set of your photos.

POV Reaping Pre-Writing – Page 1

Vocabulary List (Pre-AP) – Week 3

Vocabulary List (Academic and CP) – Week 3

Today in class, we introduced this week’s vocabulary words (electronic copies of the lists are above). We’ll have our second vocabulary quiz on Monday over these.

We also went over the etymology of the first five words. Students answered the questions in the following PowerPoint about those words on a sheet of notebook paper (complete sentences!) – I’ll take those responses up at the end of the week for a grade.

Week 3 Vocabulary Presentation

Finally, we watched the “reaping” scene from the Hunger Games movie as a refresher for what we’ve read in the novel, in preparation for rewriting that scene from another character’s perspective. Students completed the pre-writing questions from the document at the top of this post.

A few reminders:

• Open House is tomorrow! Please encourage your parents to come.
• We will have yearbook pictures on Thursday during our class time. Make sure to wear an outfit in which you would like everyone to remember you! If your parents would like to purchase copies of your pictures, please have them return the order form to the photographer on Thursday.
• Yearbook questionnaires are due back tomorrow for a homework grade.
• For period 1, 3, 4, and 6, the hyperbole assignment revision is due tomorrow. For period 7, it will be due on Thursday.

Hyperbole Revision Assignment

Today we took our very first vocabulary quiz – woohoo! If you missed it, please come by and make it up during tutorials. I’m available during lunch and after school, but please let me know ahead of time if you are planning on coming so I can be sure to be there.

Also, we talked about revising your hyperbole assignments. For those of you in periods 1, 3, 4, and 6, your revisions are due on Wednesday. For those of you in period 7, your revision is due on Thursday.

I’m uploading an electronic copy of the Hyperbole Revision assignment and rubric if you misplace the paper one I gave you in class – click on the link to access it.

HG Chapter 1 Vocabulary – Pre-AP

HG Chapter 1 Vocabulary Discussion

Here is the vocabulary list and a PowerPoint discussion of the first 20 words! Good luck on your quiz on Monday!