Benchmark Clean Up

Today we spent the period finishing up the benchmark tests. When students finished, they had the option of doing prompt A on page 249 or the longer prompt B (for a bit more credit). This should be finished for homework if it was not finished in class.

"Caged Bird"

First Period started with the vocab work on 248. We spent the rest of the period discussing the questions from last night's homework and reading the poem "Caged Bird" (p. 246). Students should add question #7 (p. 247) to the other questions for HW.

Fifth Period did what first period did yesterday.

Tomorrow is the Q1 benchmark assessment. Students need only bring a #2 pencil and something to read or work on if they finish early.

Tuesday: A Tale of Two Periods

First period began the day with a review of the methods of characterization (p. 237) from the Monday notes. We then finished reading the textbook excerpt of Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Students started their homework in class: Margin questions A, B, D and 1-6 on page 247.

Fifth period spent the day at the Macbeth assembly and reviewed the methods of characterization notes when we returned to class.

Thursday is the Quarter 1 Benchmark Exam!

The Quarter Ends Friday!

Friday and Monday

Friday we spent the entire period on the first quarter timed writing assessment. These will be scored by the English Department on Thursday. Students who were absent will need to make up this test ASAP.
Monday we started with a brief review of the vocabulary from Thursday, added some terms to our character notes from p. 237, and read the first page of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

Essays and Mentors

We began the day considering the qualities of a mentor, handed in the essays students wrote yesterday in class, and reviewed the selection vocabulary (p. 237) for the next story.

Thank You Mr. McLaughlin

Today we spent the day writing a response to prompt B on page 220, using some convenient sentence frames (below) provided by Mr. McLaughlin. Students were encouraged to use the frames as written or modify or ignore them based on their comfort level with the task. Students should finish and do a revision (on the same paper; no need to rewrite) tonight for HW.

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“The Necklace” and “$pending $pree”

       In both fiction and real life, people can fall victim to believing that the more they have, the better their lives will be. The problem is that ______________________________________________________
_______________________________________. Both the short story “_____________________” and the non-fiction article “___________________________” deal with this issue.

       In the beginning of “_______________________,” Mme. Loisel believes that she would be happy if only ___________________________________________________. Given the chance to attend ____________________________________, she borrows a necklace that she believes is made of ________________________ so that at the ball she _________________________________________. Early the next morning things go terribly wrong when ___________________________________________________________________, forcing Mathilde and her husband to ________________________________________________ and __________________________________________. Ten years later, the Loisels are ____________________ and _____________________________, but they are finally free of debt. What a terrible price they paid!

       Today’s teen can learn something from the Loisel’s story, because as the article “____________________” points out, nowadays, ______________________________
_________________________________. Because teens nowadays spend an average of ________________ per week, credit card companies __________________________________, and if teens take advantage of what seems like a cool credit card offer, soon enough they can end up __________________ and _____________________________________. Why do teens spend so much and why are they such an easy target? The article suggests that it’s because _______________________________________, and because ______________________________. To help teens avoid the trap of credit card debt, one city ____________________________________
_________________________________. A chart in the article shows that ______________________.

         In my own life, I’ve noticed that ___________________________________________________. In fact, my spending habits _________________________________________. By reading “The Necklace” and “$pending $pree,” I have learned that ____________________________
_______________________________________________.

Revising Time Travel

Today students finally got their time travel essays back and we spent some time reflecting on them and doing a short revision activity. Both the activity and the essays were collected at the end of the period.

"Spending Spree"

Today we started by reading and discussing the "Spending Spree" article on page 221 of the text. Then we wrapped up our discussion of "The Necklace" and I collected the questions and vocab from last week.

The Counselors!

Today we enjoyed a visit from the counselors who talked about graduation requirements and the pathway to success after high school.
HW: 1-8 on page 218

More Homecoming Craziness

We started the day with a quick look at what motivated characters in some of teh readings from earlier this year. We then managed to finish "The Necklace" in period 1 and got within one page of finishing it in period 5 (doomed by the extended lunch).

Motivation

Today we began our look at Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" with a discussion of character motivation in the warm-up. After that, we read the first page of the story and did margin question A.

Mostly Vocab

Today we started with a look at the vocabulary on page 207 (we did this in the warm-ups) and then reviewed the weekend's homework.

Friday!

Today we started with a discussion of status and where it comes from. We spent the rest of the period taking notes and doing the close reading on pages 190 and 191. This should be completed for homework if necessary.

Finally Home...

We began the day with a new seating chart to honor our return to our normal classroom. We had a look at point of view in the warm-up while I checked last night's homework. After reviewing the notes from yesterday, students worked on the notes and close reads on pages 188 and 189, respectively.

Make Up Tests... Mostly

Today students who didn't finish yesterday and who were absent had a chance to make up yesterday's Unit 1 test. The rest of the class worked on notes for page 186 and the close reading questions on page 187 (on a separate sheet). There was also an extra credit assignment given.

Unit 1 Test

Students spent the day on the Unit 1 Test today.

Looks like we are still in m209 Wednesday.

Of Death and Roses

Today we started the day with a quick review of some poetic terms (rhyme, rhythm, repetition and alliteration). After handing in the work from "Streets of Memphis," we practiced and read "Incident in a Rose Garden" (pp. 145 and 146).
Unit 1 Test Tomorrow