Wed. Jan. 30, 2008

Hey Guys!

Juniors: You got your 15 Vocabulary words from FOTHOU. They’re not in your book, so if you missed class, get them from a classmate or me. Then, we finished FOTHOU and took more notes. HW: You received a questions handout from FOTHOU. Complete it. Due tomorrow. Study for your quiz!

 Sophomores: We continued to discuss your groups’ analysis of LOTF. You took copious notes. Also, you received a LOTF vocab. handout. I marked the dates of the quizzes on top. Your first quiz is this Tuesday, words 1-25. HW: Read Ch. 9

Ciao!

Mrs. B

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Good evening!

I hope this evening finds you well. I’m in the midst of doing laundry, making dinner and well, obviously typing my blog…what a glamorous life I lead!

Here’s what we did today:

Juniors: 1st period only took vocab. quiz #3. I graded these after school. Woosh! Some of these grades are PITIFUL! Especially since you have only been getting between 8-10 words a week. If you study for a few minutes every day, you will not only probably get a 100% on the quiz, but also know these words for the long term. After next week, you will have a cumulative vocabulary test. If these grades are indicative of what you know, you best start a-studying like now!   We read about six pages in FOHOU. Most of you are enjoying it. Fabulous! I’m so glad you like it.

NO HW.

Sophomores: I collected contest entries for GPC. These will be mailed. Remember, you should select something that you’ve written — but it should be creative and personal — not a literary essay you’ve written in my class. These contests you are entering are literary contests and to win these you definitely need originality — not a re-hashing of a book we read. Save those essays for me!  We got through Ch. 5 and 6 and started on Ch. 7 today. NO reading HW. Remember to read last night’s blog for contest info.

Email me with questions. My blackberry’s on the fritz, so I’m not working at returning emails at lightning speed, as usual, so it might take slightly longer (as in an hour, not a few minutes) to get back to you.

Have a good night!

Mrs. B

Monday, January 28, 2008

You guys were so sweet today when I told you about my brother and his appendix rupturing. I was so impressed with how kind you were. Thank you for your prayers and good words!  As you can imagine, this weekend was very stress-filled and I didn’t work on your essays. Give me a couple more days and they’ll be done.

Juniors: Every period except 1st (which will take tomorrow) took Vocab. Quiz #3. Then, we began reading Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” If you were absent, read the first five pages. It begins on page 308 in your book.   HW: None

Sophomores: I began by going over the writing contests. Here are some answers to the questions you asked: You only have to enter one contest but I highly encourage you to enter both — GPC and ABCC’s “The Pegasus.” The GPC one is due tomorrow, you must have the parent permission slip signed and filled out and stapled to your entry. You also must bring me a hard copy to grade. If you want to only enter the ABCC one, you must email them some info. and cc me on the email you send to the contest no later than the morning of 1/31. Then, on 1/31, you must bring me a hard copy of the entry or entries you emailed. Make sure to follow all directions on your contest entries — or I can’t give you full credit.   Then, I put 22 individual topics on the board from Ch. 5-8 from LOTF. In your assigned groups, you selected 2-3 different ones and had 15-20 minutes to take notes from your book. Then, we began a modified fishbowl were the group discussed the topic and then took the audience’s feedback after their discussion was through. HW: Just the literary contests. No reading. You should be up through Ch. 8.

Any questions, as always, email me.

Have a good night! I’m home to do laundry and to grade.

Ciao!

Mrs. Breaux

Friday, January 25, 2008

Sorry for the late post!

Here’s what we did on Friday….

Juniors: Thanks to Nick Gentilella, we were finally able to watch “The Simpsons” Treehouse of Terror (1990) and James Earl Jones’ rendering of “The Raven.” I had this playing in the background as you completed a modified version of “The Raven” handout. See American Lit. handouts for the handout.  Due at the end of the period OR if you were working steadily all period and had permission from me, you could take it home and finish it.  HW: Vocab. Quiz #3 — words from “The Raven” – in your textbook.

Sophomores: You took a pop quiz over Ch. 5-7. Make up ASAP with me if you missed it. Then, we discussed Ch. 5 — get notes from a classmate if you were absent.

For American Literature Students…

Here are some links to Poe’s short stories and some interesting websites I’ve found:

“Masque of the Red Death” http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/POE/masque.html

“The Raven”  — Interactive. Really awesome site! http://www.teachersfirst.com/share/raven/start-fl.html

Edgar Allen Poe museum in Baltimore, MD

http://www.poemuseum.org/

“The Fall of the House of Usher”

http://www.online-literature.com/poe/31/

Thursday, January 24, 2008

First post of the new semester!

As all of you know, this is due to my laptop woes — finally, I have it back and I’m so glad. So, now you can look for daily posts again.

Here’s what we did:

American Lit.: 1st period only: I collected your “Masque of the Red Death” Symbol analysis HW. All: I gave you notes on five characteristics of Gothic Literature. Then, we watched an episode of “The Simpsons” Treehouse of Horror and you had to find five gothic elements — one for each definition, and write them down on paper. You turned this in at the end of the period. If you missed this, you’ll need to watch 30 minutes of a horror movie or something similar and find one example of each element — write down what the character was doing and why it fits with that element. Complete sentences not necessary — these are notes.

HW: None; Weekly Vocab. Quiz on Monday, 1/28.

10th honors Lit.: Today, you received: LOTF grammar packet (not take home — to work on in class)  and contest entry forms for three different literary contests.  You will need to choose one contest to enter. You may enter: poetry, an essay, a short story, or a vignette. These contests have varying due dates. Your entry is worth .25% of a paper grade.  Today, we completed exercises 1-3 in the grammar packet. Lastly, you prepared for our chapter discussions by writing three annotations each for ch. 5 and ch. 6.

HW: Read Ch. 7; possible pop quiz tomorrow over ch. 5-7.