9 May 2011--Today we started with a journal entry. The journals were due today. The students were then given a viewing guide and began watching, "The Great Gatsby." Remember that testing starts tomorrow--good luck to all!
5 May 2011--Yesterday the students continued to work on their 1920s research assignments and many of them finished. Today they were not in class.
3 May 2011--We finished, "A River Runs Through It." The students then went to the computer lab and began a research assignment over the 1920's, which is the time period of the next thing we're working on, The Great Gatsby.
2 May 2011--Today we took the unit test over the Modern and Contemporary units. The students then wrote a journal entry and finished by continuing to watch, "A River Runs Through It."
29 April 2011--We made it through the week even though it looked a little sketchy for a while. We started today with finishing the test review for the Modern/Contemporary Units. The test will be on Monday. The students then wrote a journal entry and began watching, "A River Runs Through It," which is an example of a memoir and it's set during the 1920's which we will be looking at in our next unit over The Great Gatsby.
28 April 2011--We began today with a review of particples, or verbs used as adjectives. The students then read a poem by W.H. Auden called, "The Unknown Citizen" and we took a quiz over one of the poems that we read yesterday, "Mirror." We then took notes over Truman Capote and read his short nonfiction work, "A Ride Through Spain." This concluded the contemporary period, so we finished up with a test review. The test will be on Monday.
27 April 2011--What a wonderful rainy Wednesday! As if we needed more rain. Today the students started class with a review of gerunds. They then finished the introduction to the Contemporary Period and then worked on vocabulary for that period. We then took notes over Sylvia Plath and read two of her poems, "Mirror" and "Mushrooms." We finished class with some questions over the two poems.
25 April 2011--Hello Monday! We started today by finishing the short story, "Soldier's Home" by Ernest Hemingway, which we started on Friday. We then read a poem by Robert Frost called "Birches" and we discussed modernism and blank verse. The students then watched "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner and took a viewing quiz over the story. We finished with a journal entry.
22 April 2011--Happy Friday! Today the students finished "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall." They then did vocabulary illustrations for the Modern Period vocabulary. We then took notes over Ernest Hemingway and began reading his short story, "Soldier's Home." We finished class with a journal entry.
21 April 2011--The students finished the Realism unit with the test on Tuesday. They watched "Huck Finn" yesterday and today we started the Modern Period, after a brief review of compound sentences. We looked at the introduction to the Modern Period and the students worked on vocabulary. We then discussed stream-of-consciousness, a literary technique developed during the modern period and began reading an example of this technique, "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall."
18 April 2011--On Friday the students were given the review for the Realism unit test. Today we started with an exercise on summarizing written information. The students were then given time to finish working on the test review. We reviewed briefly in class and they finished with a journal entry.
14 April 2011--We started today with another pattern--the subject/linking verb/predicate nominative pattern. The students then reviewed four different comic devices and compared them to "The Celebrated Jumping Frog" which we also took a quiz over. The students then finished the notes over Kate Chopin and we read her short story, "The Story of an Hour" and discussed irony. They then took notes over Willa Cather and began to read her short story, "A Wagner Matinee." We finished class with a review of the vocabulary for realism by drawing illustrations to match the words.
13 April 2011--Today was a club day and clubs met during the first part of class. The students then looked at a new sentence pattern--the subject/linking verb/predicate adjective pattern. We then finished the story we started yesterday, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and began taking notes over our next writer, Kate Chopin.
12 April 2011--We began today with a short review of the sentence patterns we have covered so far and then we looked at a new type--the subject/verb/direct object/object compliment pattern. The students then reviewed the vocabulary we did yesterday before finishing the story we started, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." We then discussed three different types of point of view and the students got into groups and used a different point of view from the story and wrote a letter. We then took notes over Mark Twain and began reading his short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." We finished class with a quiz over "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."
11 April 2011--I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. We began today with the introduction to Realism, the next unit we will be studying. The students then looked at vocabulary for the unit and took notes over Ambrose Bierce before beginning to read his short story, " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." We finished class with a journal entry.
1 April 2011--Happy Friday! Today was the last day to type final drafts of the speeches and most everyone finished. We also did another journal entry.
31 March 2011--We began today with another review of sentence patterns. We reviewed the subject/verb/indirect object/direct object pattern. The students then returned to the computer lab to work on the final drafts of their speeches. These are due tomorrow.
30 March 2011--We started today with another review of sentence patterns. This time we reviewed subject/verb/direct object and the students had a small contest to see who could get all of the exercise right first. After grammar, we returned to the computer lab and the students continued working on their final drafts, which are due on Friday.
29 March 2011--Today the students reviewed the simplest form of sentence patterns--the subject/verb pattern. The students then went to the computer lab and while some students finished up their rough drafts, others who had already finished conferenced with me and began working on their final drafts.
28 March 2011--We started a new set of journals today, since it is the beginning of the last nine weeks of the school year. The students were given back their outlines for both the informative and persuasive speeches, which they did last week. This week they will be choosing which outline they want to take through the writing process. Rough drafts of their speeches are due tomorrow.
25 March 2011--Today the students worked on journals because they were due today. They also finished watching, "A Raisin in the Sun," which they started yesterday when I was out with Beta students.
22 March 2011--Today the students finished their mid-term reviews. They also worked on their notebooks and they were given the opportunity to work on their journals again. We also finished watching "Homecoming" which they began watching last Friday.
21 March 2011--Welcome back to another week! Today the students worked on some end of the nine weeks work. They wrote in their journals, worked on organizing their notebooks and began working on the Mid-Term Review. The Mid-Term for this class will be on Wednesday.
16 March 2011--We began today with a journal entry since we didn't get to it on Monday. The students then played a review game for the test over the Romantic Period, which is tomorrow. The students then went to the library and worked on outlines for an informative speech, or their on-demand.
15 March 2011--Today was the ACT test, so all juniors were taking the test this morning. I am very proud of our students, I think they did well!
14 March 2011--The ACT is tomorrow for all juniors in the state of Kentucky, so we had an ACT review today. The students went to the lab and looked at some practice questions from the English and Reading tests and we discussed some strategies for taking the ACT. We also looked up the ACT requirements for several universities and technical colleges in the area so that the students would know what score they need to get tomorrow.
10 March 2011--We started today with a journal entry because we were going to end up one short by the end of the nine weeks. The students also did an exercise on prepositional phrases to see if they were paying attention for the last two days. We then worked on an ACT prep for making inferences in a passage. The students then went to the library and finished typing the final drafts of their last On-Demand prompt.
9 March 2011--Today started with another review of prepositions, but this time we reviewed prepositional phrases. The students then finished their packet over Determining Main Idea. We spent the last part of class in the library as the students typed up their final drafts of the On-Demand prompt.
8 March 2011--We began today with a review of prepositions. The students then finished the story we started yesterday, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" and we discussed allegory. We then read a short poem by Edgar Allan Poe entitled, "To Helen" and discussed allusion and how this poem alludes to Helen of Troy. We finished up class with some quick exercises on how to find the main idea of a passage.
7 March 2011--Welcome to another week. Today the students started with another journal entry. They then took a quiz over the story that we finished on Friday, "The Minister's Black Veil." After that we started another story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment." At the end of class, we went to the computer lab and the students continued working on the On-Demand Prompt.
4 March 2011--Finally Friday! Today we started with a journal entry. We then finished the story we started yesterday, "The Minister's Black Veil" and discussed theme. After that the students went to the computer lab. Some worked on 2nd drafts of the last On-Demand prompt and others worked on their 1st rough draft.
3 March 2011--We started today with a review of the grammar we have covered for the week--active and passive verbs and linking verbs. The students then began reading a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne called, "The Minister's Black Veil." We got about halfway through that took the last part of class to do another vocabulary review with illustrations.
2 March 2011--Today was a club day, so we only had 1st block for 45 minutes. In that 45 minutes, the students learned the difference between active and passive verbs and how to change one to the other. They also took a quiz over the story that we finished yesterday, "The Fall of the House of Usher." We finished that 45 minutes by taking notes over the next writer we will be discussing, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
1 March 2011--Today the students began class by finishing the story we started on Thursday, "The Fall of the House of Usher." The students then reviewed linking verbs and discussed atmosphere and gothic. We finished class with the students finishing their work on the On-Demand that we started on Friday.
28 February 2011--Hello Monday! Today the students started their next set of journal entries. Mrs. Rose, a guidance counselor here, came in and for the rest of class, the students filled out information for the ACT, which will be on March 15th.
25 February 2011--Happy Friday! The students started with a journal entry. The journals were due today for a 45 point grade. After the journals, we worked on On-Demand again. The students were given a prompt about getting free money from the government when they graduated and their writing task was to write a letter or an editorial persuading readers to approve or disapprove this plan.
24 February 2011--We started today with a review of helping verbs. The students then finished reading "Walden" which we started on Tuesday. After that the students began reading another Edgar Allan Poe story, "The Fall of the House of Usher." We finished class with some illustrations of a few of the vocabulary words for the Romantic period.
23 February 2011--Class was a little different today because we had Sgt. Vincent from the National Guard visiting to give the students their ASVAB scores from this fall. He also talked to them about financial aid for college and other things that they can do to prepare themselves for the future. We had just enough time at the end of class to work on reviewing simple verb tenses--present, past, and future.
22 February 2011--Today started with a review of irregular verbs. The students then took a quiz over the story we finished yesterday, "The Pit and the Pendulum." The students were then introduced to Thoreau and began reading some essays from his work, "Walden."
21 February 2011--Welcome back to another wonderful week at BCHS! Today we started with a journal entry. These journals are due on Friday, but many turned their journals in today. We then finished reading "The Pit and the Pendulum" and we finished watching, "The Black Cat." We finished class with continuing to work on the On-Demand prompt that the students outline on Friday. They were given their outlines back and given class time to write a rough draft.
18 February 2011--Today began with a journal. The students then worked on an On-Demand prompt and finished class by watching, "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe.
17 February 2011--We began today with a short quiz over subject/verb agreement. The students then took a quiz over the poem we read yesterday, "Thanatopsis." We finished class by taking notes over Edgar Allan Poe and began reading his short story, "The Pit and the Pendulum."
16 February 2011--We started today with another review of subject/verb agreement. The students then took notes over William Cullen Bryant and read his poem, "Thanatopsis." We then discussed symbol and we ended class with the students getting into groups and drawing examples of symbols.
15 February 2011--Today the students reviewed subject verb agreement. They then took a quiz over the story that we read yesterday, "The Devil and Tom Walker." After that we went to the computer lab where some worked on make-up work and some worked on finishing up their ILP.
14 February 2011--Happy Valentine's Day! Let's try this week all over again! Today the students did a journal entry, and then finished the vocabulary for the Romantic Period. We then took notes over Washington Irving and read his short story, "The Devil and Tom Walker." We finished class by discussing plot and how it applied to the story.
4 February 2011--Happy Friday! We made it a whole week! Today the students took the test over the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. They also wrote a journal entry and those that did not pass the test were given the opportunity to correct their mistakes for half credit.
3 February 2011--The counselors came in today to talk to the students about signing up for classes for next year. The students were given papers to fill out and for parents to sign and bring back tomorrow. After that they finished their test reviews and we went back to the computer lab and worked on the ILP some more.
2 February 2011--Today we reviewed verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections, and prepositions. The students then took a short review quiz over all the parts of speech that we have covered. The students then worked on vocabulary for the Revolutionary period and worked on the review for the unit test which is on Friday.
1 February 2011--I was out yesterday at an ACT workshop so the students watched a video. Today we finished up the Revolutionary Period by reading and discussing a poem by Phillis Wheatley called, "To His Excellency, General Washington" and we discussed personification. After that the students began working on a review for the test which will be on Friday. For the last thirty minutes, we went to the computer lab and worked on ILP.
28 January 2011--Well, I was wrong about making it a whole week. Today in class we started with a journal entry. The students then took notes over Thomas Jefferson and we read part of "The Declaration of Independence" and discussed parallelism. The students then took an open note quiz. We finished with the students working on an On-Demand prompt.
25 January 2011--Today we reviewed using commas in a series before moving on to review the introduction to the Revolutionary Period that the students did yesterday. We then took notes over Benjamin Franklin and looked at and discussed some aphorisms from his "Poor Richard's Almanack." The students then picked one of the aphorisms and drew illustrations of that wise saying. We ended class by taking a quiz over the poem we read yesterday, "Huswifery."
24 January 2011--I think we may make it a whole week this week! We began today with another journal entry. The students then took a quiz over the two Anne Bradstreet poems we read on Wednesday. After that we read a poem by Edward Taylor called "Huswifery" and discussed figurative language. The students then began working on the introduction to the Revolutionary Period.
19 January 2011--Class began today with a review of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. The students then read two poems by Anne Bradstreet, "Upon the Burning of Our House" and "To My Dear and Loving Husband." We also discussed lyric poetry and Puritan Plain Style.
18 January 2011--Today we started with another journal entry since it's the first day of this week. The students then finished the introductions to the Colonial Period and we reviewed them in class. The students then did the vocabulary for the Colonial Period and they took notes over our first poet of the unit, Anne Bradstreet.
14 January 2011--Since we were on an hour delay this morning, this class only met for 30 minutes. During that 30 minutes the students wrote a journal entry and continued working on their introduction to the Colonial period.
10 January 2011--Welcome to English 11! Today was the first day for the students and we began class by going over the syllabus for the course. The students then took a pretest of some simple ACT English and Reading questions to see how much they know. We then dove right into the first unit of this class which is the Colonial Period of American literature. The students began working on an introduction to this time period.