Ghosts Continued / Julius Caesar Act I Video

College Prep 12

• Continued checking reading logs up through chapter 15. (Reminder: There is a 5 point deduction for each day late!)
  
• Checking reading logs through chapter 19 tomorrow.
  
• Print-out of one reading log from "Red Phase" due tomorrow.
  
• Targeting middle of next week for book completion. There are 2 projects attached to this book:
  

  
  

  Essay: this will be assigned after viewing the film Platoon.
  

  
  

  
  

  Self-chosen project from 50 Reading Related Responses sheet or one of your own choice to be approved by me. (Due dates are to be determined.)
  

  
  

  
  
  

  Grade 10
  
  
  

• Copied over answers to questions 6,7,8 from last Tuesday and handed in for a minor grade.
• Reviewed some flaws in the critical lens essays, especially the tendency to summarize rather than use specific details from the story.
• Began watching Act I, up to the middle of Scene ii (line 214: Casca: You pulled me...)
  

Ghost Continued / Caesar Act I, Scene iii

College Prep 12

• Gave one more day to complete up through Chapter 15.
• Should be done through 224, Chapter 19 ("Tears") a week from tomorrow.
• Also due on Dec. 1: one reading log from "Part 1: Red Phase," typed, double spaced to be handed in.
• Distrubuted directions for portfolio project:

1) General
    a) Appearance
        i) Neatly bound to the best of your ability and imagination
        ii) Cover should be sturdy
        iii) Titled
        iv) Designed in a manner indicative of who you are
         v) All pages typed unless otherwise directed
    b) Table of contents
         i) Separated by units/sections.
2) Sections

    a) College applications
         i) All drafts, final on top
    b) Reflection journals
        i) At least 5 per marking period, dated, titled
    c) Literature
        i) Ghosts of War reading logs
          (1) At least 3, one per “Phase”
          (2) Chapter titles, page numbers, date

Grade 10

• Continued reading the play finished:
• PD 3&8, up to Scene iii, line119
• Pd. 4, up to Scene iii, line 44
• Will finish Act I tomorrow. View the video after the break, then take the quiz.

Ghosts Continued / JC Act I Scene i and ii

College Prep 12

• Independent reading. Reminder to finish up through "Satan's Clothes Dryer" for Monday.
  
  

Grade 10

• Vocabulary:

21. iambic pentameter: The most common meter in English verse. It consists of a line ten syllables long that is accented on every second beat
22. Soliloquy: the act of talking while or as if alone
23. Monologue: is an extended uninterrupted speech by a character in a drama.
24. Aside: dialogue intended for the audience and supposedly not heard by the other actors on stage.

• Check crosswords for Act I
• Began reading Julius Caesar, Act I. Finished up through the middle of scene ii, line 178 (Enter Caesar and his Train.)

"This is the House That Jack Built..." / Julius Caesar Intro

College Prep 12

• 
  
  Discussed the parallel between the Mother Goose ryhme with the chjapter "The Town that Achmed Built." Smithoson's use of the rhyme provides a stark contrast with the events of the chapter and the innocence of childhood.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Students were given chapter 15, "Satan's Clothes Dryer," as the target for Monday. Logs will be graded at that time. Late logs will lose 5 points per day until each group of four is completed.
  
  
  

Grade 10

• 
  
  Julius Caesar by Shakespeare was introduced. Students were given the following handouts: act summaries, character descriptions and crossword puzzles for each act.
  
  
  
• 
  
  5 points will be added to each act quiz with the completion of that act's crossword before we begin reading that act.
  
  
  
• 
  
  10 points will be added to the unit test if all vocabulary from the crosswords is written in notebooks.
  
  
  
• 
  
  The major characters were introduced, and we read the summary for Act I, which we will start reading tomorrow.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Absent students NEED to check here for what was covered and use the above link to read what was missed.
  
  
  

More Ghosts / Critical Lens Continued

College Prep 12

• Since college application deadlines are fast approaching, I decided to give my seniors the rest of the week free from homework... unless they are behind. Many seemed very pleased with this idea.
• However, many are behind in the reading. I checked logs through chapter 11, "Basic Training Part II." I would like to be done through page 223 by next Monday.

Grade 10

• Continued writng critical lens essay. Time will be given tomorrow to finish up if necessary.

A Soldier and Death / Critical Lens Essay Take 2

College Prep 12

Last Friday 2nd period watched the video "A Soldier and Death" as period 7 was going to be attending an presentation by the author of Ghosts of War, Ryan Smithson. Today, period 2 went to an award assembly so period 7 watched the video, which is an old Russian folk tale. Students should have read through page 138 in Smithson's book, the end of "Relief." There should be a total of 12 reading logs so far.

English 10

• Critical lens essays from last week were returned. Students were reminded of the importance of including litereary elements as per directions. On the the Regents exam students will lose 3 out of 6 possible points for neglecting this directions. Many students neglected this on this last essay, which was scored as a minor grade.
• After review, a new critical lens exam was distributed. Appropriate parts were underlined. Students were offered 10 extra credit points for including a competent planning page. Essays were begun and colected. We will continue tomorrow.

Ghosts Continued / Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past week. I will be out again tomorrow.

Grade 12

• Continue reading Ghosts of War.
• Checked reading logs for first three chapters today. Will check through 6 on Thursday.
• Should be up to at least chapter 8 by Thursday.

Grade 10

• Finished kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour."
• Tomorrow is an exam on vocab 1-20 and the short stories done over the past two weeks: "The Monkey's Paw," "The River, the Bass and Sheila Mont," and "Story of an Hour."
• Vocab is as follows:
• 1. Theme: a unifying idea that is a repeating element in literary or artistic work
  
  Ex: “Never give up.” “Accept what can’t be avoided.” “The need of the one outweighs the need of the many.”
  2. Tone: a literary technique, that is a part of composition, that shows the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work. Tone may be formal, informal, intimate, solemn, sad, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many other possible attitudes.
  3. Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a clash or discordance between what a speaker / writer /actor says or does, and what he or she means or what is generally understood. There are three types of irony: verbal, dramatic and situational.
  4. Allusion: An indirect reference to some piece of knowledge not actually mentioned. Allusions usually come from a body of information that the author presumes the reader will know.
  5. Symbol: something used for or regarded as representing something else; ex. The grim reaper=death, huskie=football team, eagle=America
  6. Allegory: a story meant to be read symbolically.
  7. Elfin: Relating to or suggestive of an elf, Having a magical quality or charm
  8. Empathy: understanding and entering into another's feelings. Different than sympathy which is to feel sorry for; empathy is to feel the same as.
  9. Hedonism: Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses
  10. Anguish: excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain
  11. Anecdote: short account of an incident (especially a biographical one)
  
  12. Profound: showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth; great, important meaning
  
  13. Thesis: A statement that is maintained by argument
  
  14. Annotate: to supply with critical or explanatory notes; comment upon in notes
  
  15. Poetry: the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
  
  16. Prosody: study of poetic meters and writing verse; the particular system of verse in a poem.
  
  17. Prose: the ordinary form of spoken or written language
  
  18. Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily means one thing is used to mean another, thus making a comparison, as in "a sea of troubles" or "All the world's a stage" (Shakespeare).
  
  19. Simile: a figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared using ‘like’ or ‘as’, as in “she is like a rose.”
  
  20. Conundrum - (noun) 1. a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun 2. an intricate and difficult problem
  
  
  

Fertile Ground by Mr. Lambert / Poetry Intro

College Prep 12

• 
  
  Discussed chapter one of Ghosts of War, students gave feedback, all postitive
  
  
  
• 
  
  Identified the heart of the chapter as 9/11, and the authors visit to the site. I then read a personal essay to the class of my own visit to the site.
  
  
  
• 
  
  I will be out tomorrow. Essays are due. I will check logs for chapters one through three on Wednesday.
  
  
  

Grade 10

• Added the following vocabulary words:
• 15. Poetry: the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
  16. Prosody: study of poetic meters and writing verse; the particular system of verse in a poem.
  17. Prose: the ordinary form of spoken or written language
  18. Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily means one thing is used to mean another, thus making a comparison, as in "a sea of troubles" or "All the world's a stage" (Shakespeare).
  19. Simile: a figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared using ‘like’ or ‘as’, as in “she is like a rose.”
  20. Conundrum - (noun) 1. a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun 2. an intricate and difficult problem
  
• There will be a vocabulary test on all 20 words next week.
  
• Tomorrow, students will write a critical lens essay with the substitute.