Daily Annoucements
I post here daily about what we accomplished in class each day, including handouts and links available to students on my CANVAS site.
Wednesday, 4/11
Day 3 of Quarter 4 Our agenda today included review of vocabulary terms 1-5 from List 1 in Things Fall Apart, explanations and work on annotations in Chapters 1-3, and discussion groups who were putting together their understandings from various excerpts in the book about the cultural setting of the novel. Apart from voting on our champion IRT books from the March Madness experience, we did not have time to read IRT books in class today. :'-( Homework: Finish peer reviews by 11:59 PM on Turnitin.com. Continue to read and annotate in Part I of Things Fall Apart, Chapters 4-6.
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Tuesday, 4/10
2nd day of 4th quarter Today, we continued as normal with 10 minutes of reading at the beginning of class, followed by our next to last round of "March Madness" with IRT books. Tomorrow, I'll be able to post the winners for each class -- fun! Following reading time, each group chose 2 people (preferably those who have not presented about an IRT book in the last month) to present their summary and interpretation of the essay "How to Write About Africa." Those listening wrote annotated the essay with left-side notes (summary) and right-side notes (interpretation) for each section. These notes create a reference point for how NOT to write about Africa (left-side) and how to AUTHENTICALLY write about Africa (right-side) that we can now use to evaluate Things Fall Apart, which was intended to be an authentic text that pushes back against the stereotypes of previous literature about Africa (i.e., Heart of Darkness, Out of Africa, etc.). For the final 30 minutes, each group read an excerpt from Part I of Things Fall Apart. Their goal was to identify a cultural norm, tradition, expectation, or characteristic of the Igbo tribe that is the setting of this book. They worked together to figure out the aspect of culture in their excerpt, what it signified was important to the Igbo people, how the author may have felt about this aspect of the Igbo culture, and what questions they had about other, related issues of culture. Tomorrow, we will break out into new groups to share what they learned from today's excerpts and to form an overall understanding of the Igbo society, its religion, government, family structure, entertainment/arts, etc. Homework: Finish classwork for today if necessary (completely answer all 4 questions about your group's excerpt). Read Chapters 1-3 in Things Fall Apart and continue working on peer reviews for the Rhetorical Analysis essay (due Wed. PM). Monday, 4/9
First day of 4th quarter! We started class with IRT time and continued voting on our (now) April Madness books. Then, I assigned groups (new groups today for some, new table arrangements) to read a section from the satirical essay "How to Write About Africa" as an introduction to important concepts for our new literary text Things Fall Apart. After reading and discussion the paragraphs as a group, each table had to create 2 illustrations, one for the summary of the satirical point of view, and one for the interpretation of the author's actual perspective. They also had to write an explanation of their illustrations to tape to the back of the illustrations to use when presenting their paragraphs to the class (tomorrow). Homework: Finish classwork as needed. Define all vocabulary words for List 1 (only). We will discuss synonyms and antonyms in class. Begin working on peer reviews for the Caesar rhetorical analysis essay -- each student will be assigned 2 and must complete the reviews by Wednesday night. Wed., 3/28
Day 43, Semester 2 Today, we relocated to the media center to finalize drafts for the rhetorical analysis essay. Students had a checklist of steps to complete before submitting the draft to Turnitin.com at the end of class:
I required all students not doing makeup work for me in class today to submit to Turnitin, even if essay was not finished. They can continue working through the checklist and RESUBMIT to Turnitin before 11:59 pm Thursday night if they wish. However, the submission today is a Homework check and a way to ensure no one "forgets" or has submission problems that prevent them from participating in Peer Review upon return from Spring Break. Homework: Finish finalizing checklist and resubmit to Turnitin.com as needed. Monday-Tuesday, 3/26-27
Days 41-42, Semester 2 These two days are set aside at Panther Creek for midterm exams. In English II, we give students a skills-based test that requires them to practice the skills we have been working on this semester: inferencing, paraphrasing, determining topic and theme, identifying textual evidence that supports inferences and themes, and determining meaning of words/phrases from context. According to the school-wide schedule, midterms are given on the following days: 1st/3rd: Monday, 3/26 2nd/4th: Tuesday 3,27 In my classes, on the non-midterm day, students are taking a vocabulary quiz and then learning about introductions/conclusions and beginning to draft those two paragraphs for the rhetorical analysis essay. Homework: Full draft of rhetorical analysis essay is due during class on Wednesday. We will have limited time in class to work on the essay, but students should have at least the introduction typed into the Google Doc and a plan for the conclusion. Thursday and Friday, 3/22-23
Days 39-40, Semester 2 The main goal of class time for these two days has been to write three body paragraphs in an analysis essay on the use of ethos, logos, and pathos in the speeches by Brutus and Mark Antony in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. First, on Thursday we discussed the key words from the prompt: "complex power struggle." We defined power and identified many different kinds of power, and then we identified types of power that Brutus and Mark Antony had and types of power that they lacked at the beginning of their speeches. We also discussed the requirement in the prompt that a successful essay will "identify a clear goal for each rhetorical appeal." These goals should be related to gaining power that the speaker lacks or undermining power that the other speaker possesses. For the rest of the class on Thursday, students worked to identify examples of ethos from the speech and to write the draft of the paragraph analyzing the speaker's use of ethos. For homework, students needed to finish the ethos paragraph (and share the Google Document with me) and select examples of both logos and pathos to prepare for writing those two paragraphs in class on Friday. Friday's class was primarily work time for writing the logos and pathos paragraphs and getting feedback on the ethos paragraph as needed. Homework (after Friday's class): Finish writing the logos and pathos paragraphs as needed. 4th Period needs to study for the vocabulary quiz on Monday. 1st and 3rd period will take the Midterm Skills Test on Monday and take the vocabulary quiz on Tuesday. 4th period will take the Midterm on Tuesday. Wednesday, March 21
Day 38, Semester 2 After 10 minutes of reading and our daily Book Madness, we began to work through our understanding of Brutus' soliloquy that students read for homework last night. While they discussed at their tables their understanding of the meaning, claim, and key words in each stanza of Brutus' speech, I checked their homework for completion. Then we focused as a group on identifying an action that Brutus is doing in each stanza (-ing words) and why he is doing those actions. Once we understood how and why Brutus convinced himself to kill Caesar, we looked at the rest of the vocabulary words on our list that will appear in the two funeral speeches. Students then previewed both funeral speeches (Brutus and Mark Antony) and chose one to annotate for homework tonight. This annotation will become the planning/outline they will need to begin writing the rhetorical analysis paper. Homework: Read either Brutus' or Mark Antony's funeral speech, and follow the instructions at the top for the now-familiar annotation process. Use the No Fear Shakespeare link to find a translation of the text to check your understanding. Tuesday, 3/20
Day 37, Semester 2 After 10 minutes of independent reading and today's March Madness contest of books, we delved into the excerpt from Julius Caesar Act I, Scene 2 that students read and paraphrased last night for homework. Following the instructions on the handout, we underlined the claim in each chunk, circled key words, and annotated what the character was saying and why for each chunk. Then, they worked together in groups to find examples of ethos, logos, and pathos in this passage to add to a graphic organizer along with a paraphrase of the examples and an explanation of the significance (what the character was doing and how he used ethos, logos, or pathos to do so). We then reviewed the next two vocabulary words that appear in the next excerpt they will read tonight for homework, from Act II, Scene 1. Homework: Read excerpt from Act II, Scene 1 and follow the instructions at the top of the handout. Review vocabulary words; the quiz will be early next week.
Monday, 3/19
Day 36, Semester 2 During our independent reading time today, I also had students share the classroom laptops to upload their ACES portfolio. After reading, I collected their rubrics for this writing assignment (major assessment grade). Next, we started our mini-unit on selected excerpts from Shakespeare's tragedy, Julius Caesar. We are focusing on the efforts of three characters -- Cassius, Brutus, and Mark Antony -- to persuade others of the rightness of their cause. We watched a short summary video of the play itself (see below) and reviewed the first six vocabulary words on our list that are included in the first excerpt we will read. Then, we began to read and annotate the excerpt, following instructions on the handout to divide the passage into six "chunks." I asked them to write a paraphrase/summary of each chunk on a separate piece of paper. We had little time to work on this in class today, so they will continue tonight for homework, along with looking up the remaining definitions for our vocabulary list. Homework: Define words 7-15 on vocabulary list. Write a paraphrase/summary (1 short paragraph) for each of the remaining 5 "chunks" on the Act I, Scene 2 excerpt (Cassius and Brutus). Friday, 3/16
Day 35, Semester 2 Test day. Students worked on their unit test during most of class today; some students who finished quickly had lots of good independent reading time! Homework: Finish making revisions to 3rd ACES paragraph in the portfolio. Then, use the Writing Conventions Checklist to find and fix issues in all revised paragraphs in the portfolio ahead of the submission for a major assessment grade. We will upload portfolios to Turnitin.com during class on Monday. Lastly, look up definitions for the first five words on Julius Caesar vocabulary list (everyone). |