One more time for today

Scholars,

Below is a copy of the 1984 vocabulary sheet from part three, which is due tomorrow, printed in blue for your ease of reference.

1984 Vocabulary - Part Three

WORD	DEFINITION	POS
Wheedle (226)
Copious (227)
Desultorily (231)
Perturbed (232)
Sanctimonious (233)
Sententious(ly) (233)
Appease (234)
Recuperate (241)
Seditious (242)
Prevaricate (245)
Vehement (253)
Eradicate (253)
Extort (254)
Exult (255)
Evade (261)
Insurrection (261)
Blot (265)
Digress (266)
Malleable 269)
Disseminate (270)
Protrude (271)
Emaciation (271)
Torpid (275)
Capitulate (275)
Reverie (279)
Retch (288)
Oblique (291)
Irresolute (292)
Implicate (297)

This lovely sheet is due on TAKS day!

"It's the night before the TAKS test, and all through the school, all strive for excellence, not playing it cool."

Scholars, it's the night before the TAKS test; therefore please sleep and do your best tomorrow.  Please do not leave the testing room until you are sure that you have performed marvelously on each part of the test.

Please be in your advocacy room by 7:40.

Tomorrow in class, your vocabulary sheet is due at the end of class (17 minutes in duration).  Sixth and seventh periods will have extra time to work on their multiple choice on Goldstein's Book.  If you have extra time, you may engage in one of the following engrossing activities:  (i) reading and annotating 1984; (ii) reading and annotating "Shooting an Elephant"; or (iii) completing your vocabulary sheet, which is due at the end of class.

Have a great night!  Please continue testing and miss class if you need that time to perform marvelously on your TAKS test.

TGIF - Ooops (Friday just for me:))

Scholars, today you showed patience and persistence as we trudged through our TAKS review.  Please peruse your Golden Book for TAKS insights and questions.  I will be in my room at lunch (no club meetings) ready to asnwer any and all questions that you may have. 

Tomorrow you will write a persuasive essay on a variety of scintillating topics.  You will not have much time, so relax and enjoy the challenge.  If you find yourself becoming stressed, simply imagine the audience in their underwear ... although I believe that techinque is more apt for public speaking:).

Monday we will practice TAKS, specifically the OER.  We may also peruse a few more compositions.

Tuesday - TAKS - speed dating classes - vocabulary sheet for 1984 part 3 is due.

Wednesday - Part 3 of 1984 is due; finish that amazing book, and don't spoil the ending for your peers.

Thursday - read and annotate "Shooting an Elephant" before you come to class.

Friday - Journal day!

Have a great weekend!

Last Hump Day in February

Scholars,

Today we watched a 60 Minutes segment about the Facebook Revolution in Tunisia.  Please ponder this real-life phenomenon in relation to 1984.  If you were in eighth grade, and your teacher asked you to draw a Venn diagram of the Tunisian Protests and Winston's rebellion in 1984, how interlocking would your circles be?

We also took a multiple choice quiz? practice exercise? on Goldstein's book.  Afternoon classes were a bit rushed.  However, if you are nice, extremely nice, to me, I might, just might, give you a little more time to work on this next Tuesday when our classes are 17 minutes long.

Tomorrow we will enter the magical world of TAKS review.  Friday you will write a persuasive essay and receive your graded books back.

Please peruse your vocabulary lists nightly.  Learn, don't memorize, your words.

We will close with a quote from Albert Einstein, of which I became aware through Bybee:

"Everybody is a genius.  But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid." 

Tuesday!

Scholars,

Today you finished and submitted your journals, and you discussed Goldstein's Book.

You also submitted your copy of 1984.

You also received a copy of "Shooting an Elephant" and ... drum roll ... a TAKS workbook.

Tomorrow we will continue to analyze Goldstein's book, in various ways, and we may start our TAKS review.

Thursday?  TAKS review

Friday - persuasive essay

Monday - TAKS review

Tuesday - TAKS and short classes

Wednesday - have read and annotated ALL of 1984

Thursday - have read and annotated "Shooting an Elephant"

Bye for now!

Monday, but hardly mundane

Scholars, today you all took a quote test.

Tomorrow, you will discuss Goldstein's book.  Please read annotate it thoroughly before you come to class.

A demain,

Ms. Seward

Valentine's Friday

Scholars, today we did the following:

Submitted two copies of your vocabulary story;

Took a vocabulary check;

Wrote in your journals.

Monday, you will have a quote test on Parts One and Two of 1984.

Tuesday, you need to have read and annotated Goldstein's book. 

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Charrington!!!!

Scholars, today we discussed Part Two of 1984.  Thank you for your eloquence, insights, and elocution.  Speaking of those vocabulary words, please submit your half story tonight to turnitin.com.  Out of an abundance of caution, I have copied and pasted at the bottom of this entry the list (the Second In Cold Blood List) from which you should take the words AND the assignment description.

Bring TWO hard copies of your half story to class tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will also have a vocabulary check on pages 2 and 3 of the Second In Cold Blood List.

We will also (drum roll) write in our journals tomorrow, with Laura, Jackie, Keia, Senit, and Lorena leading the way.

BTW, there will be NO review session tomorrow afternoon.  Beginning in March, I will try to hold a session each Friday.

Second Vocabulary List for In Cold Blood (Pages 249 – end) and Mockingbird Handout and AP-style Multiple Choice Questions (Passages 2-9)

WORD	POS	DEFINITION
Mélange (251)
Laden (254)
Allusion “brothers in the breed of Cain”	Source?	Meaning?
Idyllic (263)
Habitués (264)
Pugnacious (267)
Apparition (270)
Laggard(ly) (271)
Sartorial(ly) (272)
Languid (280)
Writhe (282)
Tarried (284)
Vicissitudes (285)
Chagrined (286)
Dirge (287)
Staid (288)
Contrition (290)
Pensive (292)
Sally (293)
Lithe (296)
Innocuous (301)
Suavely (302)
Venerable (304)
Debonair (305)
Impassively (307)
Hiatus (311)
Callow (314)
Unctuous (314)
Rococo (316)
Anathema (317)
Pinioned (318)
Complacency (318)
Rebuffed (319)
Sustenance (320)
Malodorous (321)
Travesty (322)
Progeny (323)
Phlegmatic (323)
Absconded (323)
Curtly (325)
Collusion (326)
Scathing (328)
Pervades (330)
Obliterated (334)
Clemency (337)
Commodious (338)
Spartan (341) treat “Spartan” as a vocabulary word and an allusion
Mockingbird
Banal (148)
Taciturn (149)
Allusion “The leftover funeral meats could truly have furnished the wedding feast” (151).	Ask me!  From my favorite play!
Sanctimony
Inter-textual connection - “Capote saw possibilities for a story about the nature of evil” (153).	Remind you of anything?
Tantalizing (159)
Loquacious (161)
Verisimilitude (163)
Synergy (163)
Uncanny (163)
Clandestine (164)
Lethargy (164)
Perfunctory (169)
Winsome (170)
Doppelganger (170)
Ponderous (170)
Garrulous (172)
Piece de resistance (172)
Gleaned (173)
AP-style M/C questions
Passage 2
Swaggering
Poignant
Maudlin
Passage 4
Cunning
Mercurial
Sanguine
Passage 6
Palliatives
Disingenuous
Snide
Passage 7
Jaded
Truism
Passage 8
Jargon
Verbatim
Passage 9
Disinterested
Prised
Ministrations
Mendacious

Fabulous, Interactive, Creative, Vocabulary-Learning Writing Assignment

It’s simple, really – please note the following:

If your surname begins with A-L, please write the first half of a story using 20 words from the first two pages of the second In Cold Blood Vocabulary sheet.  End your half of the story with a cliffhanger or at least a scintilla of suspense or at least a myriad of choices as to how to finish the story.  Underline all vocabulary words, and make this work absolutely spellbinding or profoundly artistic in some manner.

If your surname begins with M-Z, please write the first half of a story using 20 words from the last two pages of the second In Cold Blood Vocabulary sheet.  End your half of the story with a cliffhanger or at least a scintilla of suspense or at least a myriad of choices as to how to finish the story.  Underline all vocabulary words, and make this work absolutely spellbinding or profoundly artistic in some manner.

Submit your story to turnitin.com on Thursday, February 17, 2011, and bring TWO hard copies to class on Friday, February 18, 2011.

Make sure that your half-story represents your best work.  Prepare to be fascinated.

Have a great night!