Friday January 30, 2015

Honors 9- Today we took vocab quiz #10. We then discussed and reviewed the highlights of chapters 12 and 13 in TKaM. Make sure you have read through chapter 14 by Monday.

English 10- Today we analyzed ethos, pathos and logos in commercial advertising.

Thursday January 29, 2015

Honors 9- Today groups graded their assessments. Make sure you study for vocab tomorrow! Also, be through chapter 13 in TKaM!

English 10- Today we finished annotating the article about the decriminalization of drugs. We then did a group activity to find claim,

Wednesday January 28, 2015

Honors 9- Today we are taking the assessments that our classmates created. NOTE: Be through chapter 13 in TKaM by tomorrow! Continue studying for vocab quiz on Friday!

English 10- Today we are watching the youtube video Portugal's Fix, found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S4M-oreia8

We then answered the following questions:

•After watching the video, create a definition of “decriminalization.” Does decriminalization mean legal?

•What were some of the claims for and against the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal.

•Connect this video to our country and community. Would this work here? Would you want it to even be considered here? Why or why not?

Tuesday January 27, 2015

Honors 9- Today we refined and finished our assessment questions for part one of TKaM. We will be taking the assessments tomorrow.


English 10- Today we continued to look at the article by Nelson about the claim of decriminalization of drugs and the impacts.

Monday January 26, 2015

Honors 9- Today we covered this weeks vocab questions. We then worked on creating our group assessments for part one of TKaM. Here are the vocab words if you need them:

•Morphodite/ Morphadite

•Libel

•Lineaments

•Ingenuous

•Contentious

•Asafetida

•Obliquely

•Vetted

•Venerable

•Acquiescence

English 10- Today we completed a quiz. If you were absent, see me as soon as possible. 

Friday January 23, 2015

Honors 9- Today we took a quiz on chapters 9 and 10. If you were absent, you have until Wednesday January 28 to make it up.

English 10- Today we finished annotating article #2 for same-sex marriage with questions. If you have not finished, please complete for homework over the weekend. I will collect it first thing Monday.

Thursday January 22, 2015

Honors 9- Today we discussed and analyzed chapter 10. We then did group work around characterization. If you have not completed the Chapter 7 reading practice, see me as soon as possible.


English 10- Today we continue to look at claim and how claims are supported. We started analyzing and annotating article #2, against same-sex marrige.

Wednesday January 21, 2015

Honors 9- Today we started A.P. practice reading covering chapter 7. If you did not complete this, please finish for homework. If you were absent, this needs to be finished by Friday at the latest. Also, read through chapter 9!

English 10- Today we are moving into the article against gay marriage. If you have not finished the annotations or questions for the pro-gay marriage article, you need to get that to me by Friday.

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Honors 9- Today I handed back papers and we completed a whole class discussion of Chapter 6 and 7. We will be completing an AP style multiple choice activity tomorrow. Please be through chapter 8 by tomorrow. NOTE: No vocabulary quiz this week.


English 10- Today we watched 2 videos and completed a reflection. We then finished annotating and answering questions for the article Why Gay Marriage Should be Legalized. If you did not complete these questions today in class, you will need to finish them for homework.  

Monday January 19, 2015

No School, MLK Day

Friday January 16, 2015

Honors 9- Today we took vocab quiz #9. If you were absent, please make this quiz up by Wednesday January 21, 2015. We then finished the study questions for TKaM chapters 3, 4 and 5 and turned them in. For Homework, please be finished through chapter 7 by Tuesday.

English 10- Today we started looking at the arguments surrounding gay marriage. We started reading and annotating the article Why Gay Marriage Should be Legalized.

Thursday January 15, 2015

Honors 9- Today we started the TKaM study guide for chapter 3,4 and 5. Here are the questions if you need them:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Chapter 3, 4 and 5 study guide

Directions: Answer in complete sentences on a separate piece of paper.

1.       Why did Scout beat up Walter Cunningham? What did Jem do about this? Why?

2.       What do we know about Burris Ewell? What is his family’s legacy?

3.       Empathy is a topic that arises in this chapter. Define empathy and find two specific lines from the text that discuss or explain empathy.

4.       What do Jem and Scout find in the knot-hole in the tree? How do they react?

5.       Hypothesize who and perhaps why someone is leaving things in the tree for.

6.       Who is Maudie Atkinson? How would you characterize her?

7.       Discuss Calpurnia and Scouts relationship from chapter 1 to chapter 5. What is it like? Has it changed or developed?

8.       Jem accuses Scout of being a ”girl.” Why is this an insult? Compare society of 1930’s Alabama to Rangeview High School. Would this still be an insult today? Explain.

9.       What happens when Jem, Scout and Dill plan to stick a note through the shutter to Boo Radley? Be Specific.

10.   Atticus uses the “oldest lawyers’ trick on record” to get Jem to admit something he was doing.  What was Jem doing? What was Atticus’ trick? Have your parent’s ever used this trick on you? Explain.

11.   Explain why Scout becomes annoyed with Dill.

12.   Explain what Ms. Maudie means when she says, “…if Atticus Finch drank until he was drunk he wouldn’t be as hard as some men at their best.”

13.   What plan do Jem and Dill devise to contact Boo Radley?

14.   What order does Atticus give regarding the children and Boo?

15.   Identify and analyze three topics that are emerging thus far in the book. Do not use empathy as one!

English 10- Today we finished the questions about the article Suicide by Choice? Not so Fast. We then took notes on rhetorical devises like ethos, pathos and logos. If you were absent see me right away to get caught up on the notes.

Wednesday January 14, 2015

Honors 9- Today we discussed chapter three, analyzed emerging topics and themes, and started reading chapter 4. Finish chapter 4 by tomorrow. If you missed the quiz from yesterday over chapters 1 and 2, please set up a time to complete it before Friday.


English 10- Today we finished reading and annotating the article Suicide by Choice, Not So Fast. Here are the questions that accompany this article:

1. Would the author have been a good candidate for assisted suicide? Why?

2. What do doctors think of the author?

3. How could a “loved one’s look of exhaustion” or “nobody wants you at the party” persuade one to pick assisted suicide?

4. Is the author for or against assisted suicide?  Identify the author’s claim. 

5. What are the author’s best examples of evidence supporting their claim?

Tuesday January 13, 2015

Honors 9- Today we took a pop quiz covering chapters 1 and 2 from To Kill a Mockingbird. If you were absent, please see me right away to set up a time to schedule a make up. All make ups need to be done by Friday so I can hand them back.

English 10- Today we watched videos and started the article Suicide by Choice? Not So Fast, which both look at the negatives of assisted suicide. We will continue reading and annotating the article tomorrow.

Monday January 12, 2015

Honors 9- Today I introduced the vocab words for this week. They come from chapters 2-4 in TKaM. Here are the words if you need them:

Kudzu

Benevolence

Tacit

Scuppernongs

Disapprobation

Auspicious

Iniquities

Expounding

Dispensation

Vexation

English 10- We continued to look at assisted suicide and the pro/cons surrounding it. Here are the questions for the article if you need them:

 1. What does the author want to do?  What is her problem?

2. What are some potential problems with assisting in someone’s death? 

3. What does the author think the difference is between “killing someone” and assisted suicide?

4. How did the mother react to being given the option of “suicide?”

5. What is the author’s claim?

6. What are the author’s best examples of supporting evidence?

7. What could the author do to make a stronger claim?

NOTE: Please include textual evidence for questions 5 and 6! Make sure you answer in complete sentences! 

Friday January 9, 2015

Honors 9- Today we took vocab quiz #8. See me to take this quiz if you missed it. I handed out books and assigned students to finish the rest of chapter one for homework. Here are next weeks vocab words if you want to get a head start on definitions:

•Vexation

•Dispensation

•Expounding

•Iniquities

•Disapprobation

•Auspicious

•Scuppernongs

•Tacit

•Benevolence

•Kudzu

English 10- We continued our work with our look at claim and evidence in relation to assisted suicide. Please have annotations and questions completed by Monday. Here are the questions if you need them:

 1. What does the author want to do?  What is her problem?

2. What are some potential problems with assisting in someone’s death? 

3. What does the author think the difference is between “killing someone” and assisted suicide?

4. How did the mother react to being given the option of “suicide?”

5. What is the author’s claim?

6. What are the author’s best examples of supporting evidence?

7. What could the author do to make a stronger claim?

NOTE: Please include textual evidence for questions 5 and 6! Make sure you answer in complete sentences! 

Thursday January 8, 2015

Honors 9- Today we finished the group pre-reading questions and discussions that we have been working on the past couple of days. NOTE: Vocab quiz tomorrow!! Here are the words and definitions if you need them to study:

•Piety- respect or devotion to a higher power or religion

•Brethren- members of a group

•Dictum- A statement or ruling from an official source

•Chattels-a movable possession other than real estate

•Taciturn- reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little

•Tyrannical- cruel, unjust power or control

•Vapid- uninteresting, boring, lifeless--also tasteless

•Predilection- a tendency towards or preference for something

•Domiciled- residing in a specific place; a permanent residence

•Entailment- something required or necessary  

English 10- Today we read the article Assisted Suicide: Jack Kevorkian was just a sideshow. We annotated the article identifying types of evidence and tried to uncover the author's claim. We will be comparing this article to another based on the same topic, but highlighting an opposing claim. 

Wednesday January 7, 2015

Honors 9- Today we did a group activity discussing the pre-reading questions assigned yesterday. We looked  at the social and political context of TKaM as well.


English 10- We looked at and reviewed the "Identifying 5 Types of Evidence" worksheet as a class. If you have not turned this in yet, please do as it is a grade in the grade book.

Tuesday January 6, 2015

Honors 9- Today we took the pre-reading survey for TKaM. We also worked on the free write questions for the text as well. Please have these questions completed by tomorrow. Here are the questions if you did not get them written down:

1. The setting of TKaM is extraordinarily important to understanding the events contained within. Describe your neighborhood or a neighborhood you once lived in. Explain what it looks like, where it is located, and what the people in it are like. What are their attitudes and fears? What do you think about growing up there? Again, be descriptive and imaginative.

2. Define and explain innocence in your own words. Describe someone you know who is innocent.

3. What does it mean to be a grown-up? How do you know when you are an adult? Why would someone refer to growing up as a “journey”?

4.  Define and explain justice in your own words. What is the most unjust occurrence you’ve ever heard about?

5. Based on the title of the novel, make predictions about what the novel will be about? (Don’t say it is about killing birds)

English 10- Today we took notes on claim and types of evidence. If you did not get the notes, please get them from a classmate or see me as soon as possible. I also handed out the "Identifying 5 Types of Evidence" worksheet. We will continue to work on this in class.

Monday January 5, 2015

Honors 9- Today we discussed the available To Kill a Mockingbird texts. Students then worked on the vocab words for this week. Vocab for the next few weeks will be taken directly from TKaM. Here are the words for this week:

•Piety

•Brethren

•Dictum

•Chattels

•Taciturn

•Tyrannical

•Vapid

•Predilection

•Domiciled

•Entailment 

English 10- Today we reviewed class expectations and prepared for quarter 3. Please note that there is now a participation portion for all students grades. Here is the information: 

For this semester, I will be giving a participation grade that will amount to 25% of your grade. It will be based on the following factors:

-Willingness to participate

-Focus during individual work

-Focus and participation during group work

-Turning work in on time

-Being disruptive, socializing etc.

-Notebooks

-Issues with cellphones, tech etc.

I will be constantly and consistently monitoring and making notes on these things and evaluating your participation. Everyone has bad days, but if you are a constant nuisance in any of these areas, it will dramatically impact your grade.

 Please bring your notebooks tomorrow so I can check them off.