Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Standard 04-30-2014

Read the poems carefully.

Read the passages thoroughly.

Always look at the title and the first and last lines.

ISTEP is Friday and Monday.

We found multiple examples of the Jews having false hope throughout the first few pages of our Night reading.  We also identified some Nuremburg Laws and defined some key words like transports, liquidated and fascists.  Today's conversation was lead by me.  Tomorrow's conversation will be lead by you.  You have to read to the end of chapter one tonight.  That's pages 14-22.  Be sure to text code.  Be sure to take notes.  Be sure to highlight things you don't understand or things you have questions on.  Be sure you are ready to discuss.

Think about how the Nazis dehumanized the Jews and why the Nazis dehumanized the Jews.

Is clinging to false hope a bad thing?

See you soon.  

Honors 04-30-2014

The correct answer is D.

ISTEP is Friday and Monday.

We talked about our Holocaust knowledge today and will do a bit more of that tomorrow.

Our main focus tomorrow is on the "What Is Indifference?" article by Elie Wiesel. I want you to have read it and text coded it and written down your understanding of indifference based on what Elie wrote.  I then want you to look at the nine quotes on the back of the article.  They all deal with indifference.  You do not need to type anything.  I only want you to write down a couple thoughts for each quote.  You could include your thoughts on the quote or your interpretation of the quote. Either way, come prepared with a heavily marked up sheet of paper and a discussion ready spirit.

Poems and pictures belief statements are in your future.

Bring your chrome book form tomorrow.

See you soon.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Standard 04-29-2014

ISTEP coming this Friday and next Monday!  Are you ready?  I'd be reviewing my notes.  I'd be taking some practice quizzes on line like this one here.  we'll keep working in class, but do what you can to improve outside of class as well.

Some surprising struggles on the Holocaust quiz today.  While plenty of people did well, several did not fare as well.  Review notes.  Listen in class. Get involved.  That's when the learning starts taking root.

We read a few more pages in Night today. Moishe is taken away and comes back with some horrible stories.  Why won't the people of Sighet believe him? Is it tied into one of the essential questions?  Is their faith in their safety reasonable or are they holding onto false hope?  

Lots of indifference in this section already as well.  Be on the lookout for more.

Dehumanization—or the act of making someone feel less than human—is also prevelant.  The Nazis did an amazing job of dehumanizing the Jews.  What did that get them?  What was the purpose of the dehumanization?

You need to read to page 14 in the book tonight.  Read down to the second break.   The last line you read should be "There was nobody outside." Highlight and mark up the text like we have been doing in class.  you've seen what I want you to do; now complete it on your own.  

We will look at the above questions and several others when we come together tomorrow.

See you soon.

Honors 4-29-2014

En-dash?  Em-dash?  Hope you have those down now. Obviously the difference is more in presentation than anything grammatical.  Just choose the one you are comfortable with and stick to it. And remember alt 0150 will get you – and alt 0151 will get you —.  Otherwise just use the hyphen (-).

Take your time compiling your list of ideas for the This I Believe assignment. As you go through the next several days, new ideas will be popping into your head.  Be sure to write them down so you don't forget.
Some time next week we will take a look at your compilation and start helping you weed out the week ones and strengthen and organize the keepers.  We want a lot of keepers!

Today we started a unit on the Holocaust that will have us eventually reading the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel. It's one of the most powerful books I've ever read.  But more on that to come later.  For the next few days we will be developing a base of information that you can use as a backdrop for our study.  If we go into our reading without understanding the events surrounding the Holocaust, we will miss its power and significance.  Hopefully, we all learn something.

ISTEP this Friday!

See you soon.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Standard 04-28-2014

You finally have the book.  Now tomorrow we will get into it and then I will start assigning pages for you to read at home.  I just didn't want you to start before we had a chance to get through and explain those first four pages.  They are a little dense with all the religious focus.  Be patient and the book will soon be one you will have a difficult time putting down.

In the meantime, remember those essential questions.

1) When is it okay to give up?  When is it okay to stop believing?
2) What is the difference between faith and false hope?
3) Did God abandon the Jews?
4) What does it mean to be human?
5) What is indifference?

We didn't have time for our quiz today, but you can count on it tomorrow. Be sure to review your notes.

See you soon.

Honors 04-28-2014

"I believe I can fly!  I believe I can touch the sky!"

 R. Kelley does it.

"I believe in the soul...the hanging curve ball, high fiber and good scotch.  I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.  I believe there ought to be a constituional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter...I believe in opening your presents on Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve..."

 Crash Davis does too!

What do you believe in?  You are going to get a chance to figure it out, write it down and share it in front of the class.  We'll talk more about it tomorrow but I'm excited about the possibilities.

We returned the ECA and the verbals quiz today.  ECA, not so bad.  Verbals, more of a mixed bag.  ECA is out of my hands but for the verbals quiz you have a chance to regain some points.  See me Wednesday at lunch or make corrections on your assessment.  Then come see me Thursday morning or Monday morning for a retake opportunity.  It won't be the same test, but the same information will be covered.  This is all you will hear from me on this so take care of business.

Tomorrow we will also start our conversation on the Holocaust.  What do you know?  We'll find out tomorrow.

See you soon.


Thursday, April 24, 2014

Standard 04-24-2014

We'll watch a bit more of the documentary The People Next Door tomorrow and then we will pass out the book Night by Elie Wiesel.  You should be reviewing your notes from our Holocaust discussions and from the film.  There will be an assessment in the near future.

Get ready for an amazing book.

See you soon.

Honors 4-24-2014

The Pearl assessment is tomorrow.  Here is a link to my document we looked at today.    No it doesn't nail down the specific questions, but it's a good guide for where to focus your attention.  If it isn't mentioned here, it won't be on the test.  (The symbols aren't listed but they are mentioned.)

Prepare well.

An application for Notre Dame.

See you soon.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Standard 04-23-2014

ECA all day today, and, evidently, part of tomorrow for some classes and individuals as well.  I'm sure you were just being thorough and didn't want to rush any decisions.  Smart thinking.  If you have any questions on any of the ECA questions, feel free to ask me tomorrow.

I'll return the poetry quiz tomorrow.  We had a lot of high scores, especially in period three.  Nice work.  We'll go over the responses and see what we can do t oget everyone feeling pretty knowledgeable about the poetry material.  Remember it will be on ISTEP in a couple weeks.  Couple weeks?!? Heck, it is next Friday.  Yikes!  So much to do, so little time.

We will pick up our holocaust unit tomorrow and there is a good chance that I'll pass out the books too. You have a decent background.  Time to start reading. Study those Holocaust notes.  I can definitely see some sort of assessment coming your way in the near future.

See you soon.



Honors 04-23-2014

ECA all day today, and, evidently, part of tomorrow for some classes as well.  I'm sure you were just being thorough and didn't want to rush any decisions.  Smart thinking.  If you have any questions on it feel free to ask me tomorrow.

I'll return the verbals quizzes tomorrow and review those.  Some classes and individuals did much better than other classes and individuals.  It's obviously seeping in but not as quickly as it needs to for all of us.  Hopefully, a little review will make it clearer before ISTEP in two weeks.  We have other things we want to review as well.  It wouldn't be a bad idea to be rereading your notes from the past 8-9 months, especially the Tool Time material.  Just want you to be fresh.

We moved back The Pearl assessment to Friday.  Three straight days of tests are too many for me, and I'm not even taking them.  We will discuss possible short answer questions and responses.  Yes you will be needing evidence from the text, but the responses will be relatively short.  That means your evidence better be darn good.

I'll have a little surprise for you tomorrow and then I can't wait to share our next bigger activity with you. Hint: it has a small connection to Notre Dame.

See you soon.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Standard 04-22-2014

ECA tomorrow.  Not much you can do to prepare for it other than maybe review your Tool Time notes. Mostly you'll be reading passages and identifying themes and supporting evidence.  It does count as a grade so you want to do your best.  Just relax, think about all you've done this year and you should do fine.

Today we took the poetry quiz.  Did you prepare properly?  Were you able to identify the the different types of poems?  Did you read the poems completely?  That will help tremendously.  ISTEP is in less than two weeks.  You need to read th epoems completely there as well.  Also  remember that this material could easily show up on the ISTEP test.  Don't forget it.

We discussed a difficult prompt today and then successfully related it to the Holocaust.  It allowed you to see why death might have been very enticing for some people going through what they were going through. The images we saw drove home how malnourished and mistreated they were.  Survival became a choice that some were not strong enough to make.

We will pick up where we left off today once we complete the ECA tomorrow.

See you soon.


Honors 4-22-2014

ECA tomorrow.  Not much you can do to prepare for it other than maybe review your Tool Time notes. Mostly you'll be reading passages and identifying themes and supporting evidence.  It does count as a grade so you want to do your best.  Just relax, think about all you've done this year and you should do fine.

We took the verbals quiz today.  There were some who struggled.  Others have it down.  If you are a struggler, you need to be asking me questions, revisiting the notes and taking those sample quizzes on line. Help yourself.  ISTEP is likely to ask a question or two about these, so don't forget them in the next two weeks.

The Pearl assessment is scheduled for Thursday.  I'd be reviewing notes and the six chapters worth of questions.  You can use what you have, but it will be beneficial to be organized and prepared.  We are looking at short answer questions.  Be preparing with that in mind.  I like the idea of  asking a bit of vocabulary too.  Be sure you have that organized.

See you soon.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Standard 04-21-2014

Are you ready for the poetry quiz tomorrow?  Lots to remember so be sure you are reviewing tonight.  One thing you will have to do is recognize the different types of poems and identify them correctly.

We continue to build on our Holocaust knowledge.  Last class we dived into propaganda and today we saw how a youth in Nazi Germany could be so easily convinced to follow Hitler.  The propaganda tied to the Hitler youth, the uniforms, the toys and the other accoutrements was difficult to ignore.  We began looking at some photographs from the time period today as well.  We have a few more we'll examine after the poetry assessment and then I hope to pass the book out to you by Thursday.

What's your family history in regard to this topic?  Ask Mom and Dad and guardian, or Grandma and Grandpa and see what they havce to say.

See you soon.

Honors 4-21-2014

How did you do with the verbals review today?  Could you easily come up with sentences that contained gerunds? participles? infinitives?  gerund phrases? participial phrases? How about during the game?  Could you identify what your opponents were asking you?  Did you differentiate between a gerund and a gerund phrase?  a participle and a participial phrase?  What about the split infinitive?  Did you accidentally let one slip by? Well. it all culminates in a verbal quiz tomorrow.  Know those verbals!

Wednesday will be our ECA day.  23 questions (3 short answer and 20 multiple choice) and three passages to read.

Thursday we will have our assessment over The Pearl.  We will spend some time reviewing tomorrow after the verbal quiz.  Come ready to discuss.

If you are absent for any reason over the next three days, especially for the science field trip, you need to be sure you find time outside of class to make up the assessments.

New stuff coming at the end of the week.

See you soon.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Standard 4-16-2014

Ballads and narratives today.  They are story poems.  Many of you seemed familiar with several of Dr. Seuss's narratives.  They make some good examples.  Of course in class we looked at "Casey at the Bat". It's a classic narrative slice of Americana.  Be sure to keep yourself familiar with both of these poem types as well as the other ones we examined this week.

We found out a little more about the Holocaust today.  We took a look at the swastika and the Jewish star.  I was surprised that many of you were unfamiliar with the swastika.  It's an important part of history and you need to know what it stands for.

I asked you a moral dilemma question today.  It was tough to answer and it should be.  No one should be able to rush to a conclusion on that situation.  Seriously, what would you do?

We ran out of time so we will get to the propaganda discussion tomorrow.  There's a lot I want you to know.

See you soon.

Honors 4-16-2014

Infinitives!  Gerunds!  Participles!  They are all verbals and you now have a pretty good idea what they are all about.  The next step?  Let's see what you know.

Okay.  Okay.  Tomorrow we will do a little review, but then after that, you can be sure that a verbal quiz is approaching.

Or a gerund-participle-infinitive quiz.

Or a GIP quiz.

Or a PIG quiz.

Or an Oink-Oink quiz.

Whatever you want to call it, I would be reviewing the material we discussed this week so you can do well on the assessment.

When it rains, it pours. Speaking of assessments, the one over The Pearl is also looming.  Yesterday, I shared some ideas about the material I believe important enough to ask you about.  Be sure to check it out. You read pretty far today.  Will Kino and his family avoid the trackers?  Will they ever be able to live the life Kino envisioned?  Will they all survive? What ever happens, the end is in sight.  24 hours from now you should all be finished.  But then we don't have school for the three days after that.  We'll need to do a bit of review for the book too but then you should be prepared to respond to the prompts I'll offer.

See you soon.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Standard 04-15-2014

Quick what has 14 lines, 10 syllables per line, is written in iambic pentameter with an ababcdcdefefgg rhyme scheme and an ironic twist at the end?

If you said an elegy, you would be wrong!

However, if you said a sonnet you would be spot on!  Be sure to review your notes so that you can distinguish between the haiku, limerick, ode, elegy, free verse and sonnet.  Here is a link to the slide show you saw part of today.  

We made some headway with our understanding of the holocaust today.

We know that holocaust means death by fire.
We know that Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933.
We know that World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945.
We know that the Holocaust took place over a wide swath of Europe.
We know that the accepted number of killed in 6,000,000 Jews and 12,000,000 overall.

Tomorrow we will take a look at propaganda and see how Hitler used it to his advantage.  Next week, we will begin reading Night.

See you soon.

Honors 04-15-2014

Yesterday gerunds.

Today participles.

Can you identify the difference between them?  That should be a goal on your part. Remember that the gerund is an -ing verb being used as a noun.  The participle is an -ing verb or a past tense verb being used as an adjective.  For a little additional practice, here is a quiz you could try.  Here also is a link to the slides you've seen in class.  

Tomorrow infinitives.

We are in the home stretch of The Pearl now.  We have all started he final chapter and will be finished with the text before you go home Thursday. I want you thinking about how the book has developed the ideas of  illusion versus reality, the old versus the new and the separation of the classes and how you would support them.  I want you thinking about the main characters, Kino and Juana, and asking yourself who is the stronger one.  I want you thinking about the symbolism of the pearl, the music, the ants, the animal descriptions, and the boat. I want you thinking of the essential questions and how the text supports them. There is a series of short writings coming on some of these topics.  Will you be ready?

See you soon.





Monday, April 14, 2014

Standard 04-14-2014

eLearning due tomorrow.  Be sure you have everything submitted.

-The vocabulary test taken and a perfect score achieved

-The chat questions shared with me

-The on-line chat completed

-The paper that discusses how the theme of the story fits both the story and a poem/song that you have identified

Be sure it is all in my possession and/or completed by tomorrow at the end of class.

We looked at different types of poems today.  I'm sorry that the bulb blew out on the projector but we made due with what we had.  You should be able to identify the main components of and the key differences between the haiku, the limerick, the ode, the elegy and the free verse.  Test yourself now.  what do you know about each one?

Would you report family members or close friends to the authorities if they broke the law?  That's a question that many Germans had to answer during the time of the Holocaust.  What was your response?  We were reminded of the short story "Old Glory" that we read at the beginning of the year.  Donald, the grandson, had to decide whether or not to turn in his grandfather.  He chose to do so and had to live with the consequences.

That was a perfect segue to the book Night by Elie Wiesel that we are going to read this quarter.  It's a true story about a young Elie and his struggle during the Holocaust.  We did a quick assessment on your knowledge and will use that to guide our upcoming discussion.

Remember to find out what event happened yesterday that shows the relevance of our reading material.

See you soon.

Honors 4-14-14

eLearning due tomorrow.  Be sure you have everything submitted.

-The vocabulary test taken and a perfect score achieved

-The chat questions shared with me

-The on-line chat completed

-The paper that discusses how the theme of the story fits both the story and a poem/song that you have identified

Be sure it is all in my possession and/or completed by tomorrow at the end of class.

We looked at gerunds today in class.  A few of you were aware of them already and were able to define them as -ing verbs used as nouns.  We saw how the gerunds can be used as subjects, noun complements and objects of a preposition.  They also can be parts of gerund phrases.  The key thing to remember is that a gerund is a word that ends in -ing and that is used as a noun.

We plan on completing our reading of The Pearl this week.  You'll be in smaller groups to complete the reading after today.  We'll come back for a group discussion and review.  Later in the week, or for the beginning of next week, I'll be having you respond to some short answer questions over the text and what we have been discussing.

Participles tomorrow!

See you soon.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Honors and Standard 4-02-2014

Great job with the chats last night.  I'm looking forward to a bevy of them tonight--10 actually.  I'll be flipping between them.  If you need anything, just email me.

Honors students should be working on those PIs.  Final due date is 4-14-14.

Tomorrow we will tear in to The Pearl in the honors class and hit more Walter Dean Myers in the standard class.

See you soon.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Standard 4-1-2014

We analyzed a chat in class today and found some good things and some things that could be improved upon.  When it comes to your chat make sure you keep the good and improve upon the rest.  Several chats on tap tonight.  Be sure you show up on time. Remember I need to see your questions before you have your chat.

You have a one night opportunity in your hands right now.  You know how you did on the Big Three quiz.  If you want to improve, log on to Canvas and call up your quiz.  Look at all the ones that are marked incorrect.  Ignore the ones that are incorrect solely because you misspelled the answer.  Call a friend or look up the spelling if you aren't sure.  Now focus on the ones you actually got wrong.  Rewrite the sentences and explain why it is parallel structure, or which irony it is and why, or which figurative language it is and why.  Do it for enough of them AND do it well and you could see some extra points coming your way.

More fiction tomorrow.

See you soon.

Honors 4-1-2014

Funny April Fool's joke period one. I was laughing all the way to the font office.

We took a close look at the first eLearning chat today and saw some strengths and weaknesses.  Overall it was a successful one.  Nice work.

Stay on schedule for your chats.  I posted a link to everyone's schedule on yesterday's blog.  Check it out if you have any doubts to your day or time.  Remember I need to see your chat questions before you have your chat.

We made some good progress in The Pearl today--10 pages with notes.  I like the way periods one and six are always throwing out ideas on what they see.  That makes for an active environment of learners.  Sure it might slow us down a bit, but it's great seeing all the insight and ideas shared.  Keep it up.  Join the fun period two.  Don't be bashful.  We'll take a day off tomorrow but be back in full force Thursday and Friday.

Tomorrow's focus will be the PI.  We will edit the scene for the last time and the poem for the first (and only) time.  Come prepared: scene and poem.  Then don't fall in love with anything you write at this stage.  It will make it very difficult to improve if you do.  Get that poem as far away as possible from the plot and elements of your scene.  Keep the theme, but otherwise, go in a completely different direction.  A 180.

See you soon.