STARRY, STAARY Night

Ninth graders reviewed for STAAR.  Please drop by tomorrow if you have any questions. 

 

Juniors participated in a Socratic seminar on In Cold Blood.  Please read and annotate through page 325 for Thursday.  I will pick up your book for an annotation grade.

 

Seniors participated in a Socratic seminar on Half of a Yellow Sun.  Please read and annotate through page 303 for Wednesday.  I will pick up your book for an annotation grade.

 

Have a wonderful, restful weekend full of reading and discovery.

Thursday!

Ninth graders continued to review for the STAAR test.  I feel a great performance coming on!

 

Juniors participated in hexagonal writing today.  Please have five written discussion questions for tomorrow; please also read and annotate through page 262 of In Cold Blood.  Third period - many thanks for permitting the video camera into our classroom and for being the brilliant, gracious, and fascinating people that you are.  You all make my job a pleasure.

 

Enjoy the day!

Hump day before STAAR

Ninth graders continued to review for STAAR - just a few more days!

 

Seniors (the few, the proud) engaged in a delightful graded discussion and read Macbeth.  Please note the following:  if you skipped today; AND if you are currently failing English, you may be better off finishing your English credit in the computer lab. 

 

For Friday, please bring to class five written discussion questions on Half of a Yellow Sun and be ready for a graded discussion.

Toooosday

Ninth graders focused on revising and editing for STAAR.  If you did not finish your essay on the importance of taking a break, it is due tomorrow at the beginning of class.

 

Juniors took a quote test.  Please read and annotate through page 262 of In Cold Blood for Friday.  Also please bring five written discussion questions to class on Friday.  We will have a Socratic seminar.

 

Have a BEAUTIFUL day!

Back from the Break

Ninth graders will take the STAAR test in one week.  Today we began writing our last essay.  Tomorrow we will review revising and editing.

Seniors took a quote test on Half of a Yellow Sun.  Please read and annotate through page 297 for Friday.  Read - consistently - constantly -  lots.

Break out Springtime!

Ninth graders review answers for revising and editing (1st and 6th) wrote essays (6th and 9th) and completed a revising and editing packet (8th).  Ninth graders also had homework due today - a STAAR essay on technology.

 

Juniors discussed ICB and wrote in response to a quote therefrom.  Please read and annotate through page 217 of In Cold Blood.  You will have a quote TEST on Tuesday, March 25th on pages 1-217.

 

Seniors had yet another discussion about reading strategies.  Also, we wondered where Alicia Macedo was.  Please read and annotate through page 216 of Half of a Yellow Sun.  You will have a quote TEST on pages 1-216 on Monday, March 24th.

 

Have a good break - get smarter and read every day!

Thursday

Ninth graders did the following:

 

First and sixth periods completed a revising and editing packet and began to review answers.  Please remember that you have a STAAR essay due tomorrow.  Some of you have different topics, but most of you are explaining the impact of ONE piece of technology.

 

Juniors wrote a paragraph with FOUR of the following words: ardent, wan, wanton, devoid, and reticent.

 

We then read and discussed certain pages of In Cold Blood.  At the end of class, you began writing a rhetorical analysis of one of that book's pages.

 

Please read and annotate through page 155 for tomorrow.  You will have a quote quiz.

Wednesday!

Today ninth graders finished a reading packet that we will review tomorrow.  Ninth graders also turned in homework - a STAAR essay on the importance of goals.

 

Please remember your homework for Friday - a STAAR essay on how ONE piece of technology affects our society.

 

Seniors wrote a paragraph with vocabulary and ended their paragraphs with rhyming couplets.  We read them in class.

 

Seniors also wrote an AP essay on the extent to which someone in exile (in this case, Richard in Half of a Yellow Sun) feels alienation and enrichment.

 

Please read, re-read, and annotate through page 147 of Half of a Yellow Sun for FRIDAY!

 

Have a beautiful day!

Today

Ninth graders started a small test - an exercise that we will review for STAAR.  Please remember that your STAAR essay on goals is due tomorrow, and your essay on technology is due Friday.

Third period (juniors) discussed ICB, wrote a page responsive writing, viewed photos of the Clutters and Dick and Perry, and read Othello.  We also saw an awesome "Highwayman" presentation by Guadalupe, Vanessa, and Marissa.

I was gone seventh period, but I will return tomorrow!

Please read and annotate through page 155 of ICB for Friday.

Senior vocabulary list - It's right here, Alicia!

Infidel (159, 185) -  a person who has no religious belief; unbeliever —adj: 2. rejecting a specific religion, esp Christianity or Islam

Solemn (182) -  characterized or marked by seriousness or sincerity: a solemn vow: 2. characterized by pomp, ceremony, or formality

Polarize  (178) - cause division of opinion: to make the differences between groups or ideas ever more clear-cut and extreme, hardening the opposition between them, or become ever more clear-cut and extreme in this way

Duplicity (175)  -

1. deceitfulness: the fact of being deceptive, dishonest, or misleading
2. condition of being double: the state of being double or in a pair

Console (174) - to comfort or express sympathy

Petty (174) - having secondary rank or importance : minor , subordinate 2 : having little or no importance or significance 3 : marked by or reflective ...

Knead (173) -

1. work dough until smooth: to fold, press, and stretch a soft substance such as dough or clay, working it into a smooth uniform mass
2. massage muscles: to rub, squeeze, or press a part of the body with the hands, e.g. in order to relax the muscles
3. shape something with hands: to make or shape something out of a soft substance by kneading it

 

Manic (173) -

1. relating to mania: relating to or affected by mania
2. hectic: extremely or excessively busy
3. overexcited: in a state of unusually high excitement, especially

   Inconsequential - (172) - 

1. unimportant: of little or no importance
2. triviality: something without importance or significance

Jihad ( 172) - a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty; also: a personal struggle in devotion to Islam especially involving spiritual ...

Coup (171) -

1. seizure of political power: the sudden violent overthrow of a government and seizure of political power, especially by the military
2. successful action: a success that is unexpected and achieved with exceptional skill
3. feat of bravery: among some Native American peoples, a feat of bravery during battle, especially touching an enemy warrior without harming him

Ingratiate (169) - seek to please somebody: to try to win somebody's favor by pleasing him or her, especially in order to gain an advantage

Impassioned - (168) -

1. expressing strong feelings: expressing or revealing strong feelings

Tumultuous (160, 166) -  full of tumult or riotousness; marked by disturbance and uproar: a tumultuous celebration. 2. raising a great clatter and commotion; disorderly or noisy ...

 

 

Wary (165) -

1. cautious: cautious and alert for problems
2. showing suspicion: showing watchfulness

Lavish (165) -

1. abundant: given or produced in abundance or to excess
2. generous: giving or spending generously or to excess
3. be extravagant with something: to give or spend something generously or to excess

Jostle (164) -  to bump, push, shove, brush against, or elbow roughly or rudely. 2. to drive or force by, or as if by, pushing or ...

Imbibe (163) -

1.drink something: to drink something, especially alcohol

1. take in something mentally: to take in and assimilate something such as an idea or experience
2. absorb something: to absorb moisture, gas, light, or heat

Sulky (154) - angrily silent: in a bad mood and refusing to communicate because of resentment for a real or imagined grievance

Unpalatable (151) -

1. hard to accept: not pleasant, agreeable, or acceptable
2. not tasting good: having an unpleasant taste

Today is Monday

Ninth graders focused on STAAR today.  You all completed an "SSS" exercise and began to review the DLA.  You the following homework assignments this week.  Due Wednesday: write an expository essay about what characteristics one needs to achieve one's goal.  Due Friday: write an expository essay abut one piece of technology and how that piece affects society.

 

Seniors turned in their vocabulary stories today.  They also listened to Lupita N'yongo's speech on beauty and wrote in response to the speech.  We also read Macbeth and write a summary of what you read.  Finally, you wrote a piece synthesizing the TED talk "The Danger of a Single Story" with a page from Half of a Yellow Sun.  Read and annotate through page 147 for Friday. 

 

I will post the vocabulary list later today.

 

The link to the TED talk is below:  http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

 

The link to Lupita's short speech is below:

 

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video+-+Lupita+on+Beauty&FORM=VIRE3#view=detail&mid=2076B5CB1952C31563902076B5CB1952C3156390

It's been too long!

Apologies for my inattention to the blog this week.  Here is a rundown of today and the future!

 

Ninth graders learned and reviewed the SSS rule.  Sixth, eighth, and ninth periods also wrote on society's perception of beauty.  Ninth graders had a homework assignment today, but, because of the Black History program, I will accept your essay on goals through next Wednesday.

 

Juniors (seventh period) wrote on our society's perception of beauty, read ICB, and read Othello.  For Tuesday, please read and annotate through page 110 of ICB and write a vocabulary story on the following words:

 

Girth – (n.) - the distance around an animal’s or human’s midsection

Wan – (adj.) – pale, weak appearance often attributed to poor health or weariness

Ardently (adv.) – passionately

Affront (n. & v.) – to treat offensively in a defiant way

Reticent – (adj.) – hesitant, especially to speak

Devoid – (adj.) - totally lacking in a certain quality

Ludicrous - (adj.) – absurd

Solace - (n.) – comfort

Ineffable – (adj.) – indescribable; cannot be expressed in words 

Protégée – (n.) – a female (that’s where the extra “e” originates) under the patronage or protection of another 

Elocution – (n.) – the art of speaking clearly and distinctly, often in public to an audience 

Ethereality- (n.) – characterized by lightness, airiness, exquisite refinement 

Lilliputian – (adj.) – extremely small 

Diminutive – (adj.) extremely small, sometimes used to describe a nickname or a word to describe a smaller version of something 

Dote – (v.) – to pay excessive attention to 

Austere (adj.) – severely simple or plain; strict in manner or demeanor 

Fastidious – (adj.) - characterized by excessive care or delicacy 

Serpentine - (adj.) – like a snake in form (winding and twisting) or stereotypical characteristics (sneaky and sly) 

Itinerant - (adj. & n.) – one who travels without a fixed location to live or work 

Opulent – (adj.) – luxurious, lavish 

Wanton – (adj.) – describes reckless or careless behavior, committed without regard to laws, rules, or social mores 

Evocative - (adj.) – an experience that tends to call forth emotions, memories, sensations 

Placid – (adj.) – calm

Nostalgia – (n.) – a yearning or wistful longing for the past; a fond remembrance of past events or conditions

Seniors, met with the folks from the U of H writing center today.  For Monday, please read and annotate through page 104 of Half of a Yellow Sun.  You also have a vocabulary story due on Monday. 

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