Friday, August 30

Yeah, I was pretty much dead-on yesterday, wasn't I?

English 12A: Today we took a quiz regarding the introduction techniques we studied. Polish your own introduction and be ready to move on to the body on Tuesday. Read twice for 20 minutes this weekend.

English Honors 9A: Today we focused on reviewing the essential ingredients of the introduction and the hook techniques we studied yesterday. We also then put these things into practice by writing an introductory paragraph for an essay that responds to the prompts (choose one): Why did Mary murder her husband? Is Mary a sympathetic character? Or, Was Mary justified in her actions? Complete your paragraph for Tuesday, and read twice for 20 minutes this weekend.

Thursday, August 29

First, the important stuff: Tonight's final will be 35-10, Utes, and it won't be close. Sorry, Cougar fans.

English 12A: Today we concluded our overview of introduction techniques to try. You wrote two more today, bringing your total of potential introductions to three.

English Honors 9A: Today we studied the four ingredients of the introduction: hook, bridge, summary, and thesis. We also studied seven specific hook techniques (anecdote, analogy, background, news, announcement, facts and statistics, and quote).

We then copied and annotated an example paragraph, which you can find below if you didn't finish in class. Straight underline the hook, squiggly underline the bridge, box in the summary, and star the thesis.

Prompt: Is the main character in the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter”
the protagonist or antagonist?

Famous American journalist and feminist leader, Gloria Steinem, said,
“Men should think twice before making widowhood women's only path to power.”
This is the predicament Mary Maloney faces in Roald Dahl’s short story “Lamb to the Slaughter.”
In it, Mary murders her husband after it appears he is going to divorce her, and yet it’s unclear
to the reader whether Mary is villain or victim, protagonist or antagonist. But after careful
analysis of the story and the issue involved, the careful reader must conclude that,
while she is a sympathetic character, she is also the villain, for murder is always wrong,
she had alternative responses available, and the victims of her crime extend beyond just
her adulterous husband. 

Wednesday, August 28

English 12A: Today we began studying various introduction techniques. We covered three thus far (Anecdote, Quote, and Analogy). We chose an essay prompt from the college application assignment and wrote an introduction using one of the techniques we covered. Your homework is to complete this introduction and to read for 20 minutes.

English Honors 9A: Today we had an excellent discussion regarding "Lamb to the Slaughter." We will continue our study of literary devices, question formation, and close reading tomorrow as we begin a study of academic writing, using the story as our reference text.

Tuesday, August 27

English 12A: Today we began our first major writing assignment, a college application essay. We listened to a brief segment of This American Life about some common application essay pitfalls, chose a couple of potential prompts and made notes on two of them, studied some good advice in regards to writing, and looked at a great example. Homework is: read for 20 minutes; review the prompts; add to your notes on two of them.

English Honors 9A: Today we began a study of close reading, annotation, and short stories. We read "Lamb to the Slaughter," annotated it for four literary devices and three questions, and will discuss it tomorrow. Homework is: read for 20 minutes, review the story, complete your annotations.

Thursday, August 22

English 12A: Today we had an excellent discussion about the film More. It was my intent you use the discussion, and the example I showed you after, to help you revise and improve your essay tonight. Do so, and submit it (or resubmit it) to Canvas by midnight tonight.

English 9A Honors: Today we took the RI; you were to write down your Lexile score and five book suggestions for that Lexile. Bring this list with you to class tomorrow when we go to the library to hear about some books from Mrs. Bates. By Monday, you all should have an outside reading book that you bring to class every day.

Wednesday, August 21

English 12A: Today we wrote an essay that analyzed the film More by addressing this prompt: What is the filmmaker saying about dreams and ambition. You can find the complete assignment on Canvas. It is due tonight at midnight.

English 9A Honors: Today we created a flip book for notes on basic literary devices that we will use throughout the trimester.

Tuesday, August 20

English 12A: Today we began an exercise in literary analysis. We discussed some important literary terms as well as how to frame our thinking about texts in question form. We then viewed a short film titled More. Watch the film again and complete your notes before class tomorrow. You can find the film here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCeeTfsm8bk

English 9A: Today we discussed some basic literary devices. First we took a pretest and then made some flip books for us to track these.

Monday, August 19

9A: I hope you had a great first day. Today we did a bunch of first day stuff. Your homework tonight is to get your disclosure signed and to comment on today's blog post. Click comment and write your first name and last initial and the period you have English. By next Monday, you should have an outside reading book.

12A: I hope you had a great first day. Today we did a bunch of first day stuff. Your homework tonight is to get your disclosure signed and to comment on today's blog post. Click comment and write your first name and last initial and the period you have English. By next Monday, you should have an outside reading book.