Pre-AP Links for “Shooting an Elephant” and Things Fall Apart Webquest

http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/ - “Shooting an Elephant”

Here is the webquest document: Things Fall Apart Webquest.

Let me know if you have any trouble.  Both questions and webquest are due tomorrow.

Back to School Night

Back to School Night is tonight from 5:30-8.  I hope to see everyone there.

English II– We are in the middle of our African Short Story unit.  We are completing our Vocabulary 3 list today and also, finishing our “Scribbling the Cat” questions. We start a new story today called “Looking for a Rain God” and we have to answer 2 out of 4 questions about the story.

Pre-AP English II- We have just finished the last of our African Short stories and are moving onto our pre-reading activities for Things Fall Apart.  We will discuss “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell and analyze it in class looking at metaphor, irony, and tone.  Next, we will read a poem by Yeats called “The Second Coming” as well as complete a webquest for the novel.  We will begin reading this weekend.

English III- We are enthralled in The Crucible.  Be working on your study guides.  Today, we will be talking about McCarthyism and compare and contrast what was going on in the 1950s to what was going on in Salem.

 

Important dates:

SRI testing Septmebter 25 and 26th

PLAN exam – October 9th

PSAT – October 17th

2012-2013 School Year

Welcome back, everyone!  I hope you had a nice, relaxing summer. More importantly, I hope you have done your summer reading.  Here are the summer reading assignments for the 2012-2013 school year:

Required reading for all juniors –

• Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy

Required reading for all sophomores –

• A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Now there has been some controversy over the novel we chose for the Junior summer reading. Here is the English Department’s rationale statement for our summer reading selection:

The novel The Lords of Discipline was selected by the BTW English Department as the summer reading for 2012 for the primary reason that the author, Pat Conroy, is scheduled to open the Tulsa Town Hall’s 78th Season September 21st, and students who read the novel will be able to attend this session.  The novel was specifically selected because of its bold conflict of tradition vs. progress set in the South in the turbulent wake of the Vietnam War. This novel addresses the harsh realities of both hazing and racism in the 1960s. However, some readers may find the frank portrayal of these events in the novel objectionable.

In light of expressed concerns, the BTW English department would like to offer the alternative summer reading assignment of A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines for on level junior students. If students elect to read A Lesson Before Dying, summer reading examinations will take place September 21^st.  If students elect to read The Lords of Discipline, summer reading examinations will take place August 24^th. The Lords of Discipline is required reading for AP juniors since this work will be connected to other works of literature in class.

I am looking forward to the new school year and meeting all my new students! It should be a wonderful year.  Please let me know if you have any questions about the summer reading.

Parent/ Teacher conferences

Hello Parents!  Just a reminder about Parent/ Teacher conferences tonight and Monday.  They are from 4:30-8 pm.  I will be a little late this evening since I have to attend my own daughter’s conference as well. I should be there around 5ish.  I will be there the whole time on Monday.  If you can’t make the conferences, feel free to email me about your student’s progress. My email is waughta@tulsaschools.org.  See you tonight or Monday.

Ending of The Metamorphosis and Othello

Pre-AP-  We finish The Metamorphosis this week and are testing on Monday.  Don’t forget to work  on those study guides.  I will be going over existentialism to help you with your study guide

English II-  We finish Othello.  I am so proud of you all for getting through Shakespeare.  He can be tough sometimes.  We will finish the movie today and continue to work on the study guide which is due on Monday, the same day as the test.

For both classes,  we start our Unsolved Mysteries Research paper. This will be a three week chunk of time where I will take you through the process of research, note cards, works cited, parenthetical citation,  the evils of plagiarism, and synthesizing your opinion with your research.

Othello text for English II

Here is the online version of the play: text:http://shakespeare.mit.edu/othello/full.html

Thanks to all for buying copies of the text for extra credit since we were short on books .  We still need about 30 books, but our wonderful librarian is working her magic!   So hopefully we will have enough books for next week

Pre-AP students are working on finishing up Persepolis and their lengthy study guides.

It has been a long time….

Sorry for my lack of posting.  It has been crazy around here second semester.  So here are the updates:

English  II:  We have been working hard on our Music vs. Poetry papers which are due on Friday!  It is a difficult paper, but my students are doing such a great job.  I cannot wait to see the final result. We will be doing a little grammar review this next week since our Benchmark results showed me that we needed a little help in the grammar and usage area. We also have a Vocab test next Monday over lists 12-14.

Pre-AP : We just finished our Holocaust poetry and non-fiction unit and are doing a little grammar bootcamp this week. Yesterday we focused on misplaced and dangling modifiers.  You should see my room — I have modifiers dangling from my ceiling!  We will begin some Iran research for our next unit which is one of my favorites. Next week, we begin Persepolis! We also have a Vocab test on Monday over lists 12-14.