April 24-28

Welcome to Walden Week!  In addition to working on the Sustainable Foods essay, we'll enjoy excerpts from the highly influential and relevant book by Henry David Thoreau.

MONDAY: Journal warm-up.  Receive Walden excerpt that contains 5 vocabulary words for the week.  Go over sustainable foods articles, and then the prompt as a whole.  List the factors that could be considered and prioritized in the the essay, noting source material that could work for each.  View working outlines.  Listen to excerpts from Walden and enjoy an optional, extra credit coloring activity.

Due:  Finish reading and annotating the rest of the sustainable foods sources and outline a detailed response to the prompt.  Bring the sources with annotations and your outline for Monday

Homework: for Friday:

1. Finish reading Walden excerpt (if need be).
2. Type up rough draft of sustainable foods essay to Turnitin.com before class on Friday.

WEDNESDAY: Journal warm-up.  (CAST Science Text for part of the class.) Read sources and debate whether or not "green living" should be mandatory or voluntary.

Due: n/a

Homework: for Friday:

1. Finish reading Walden excerpt (if need be).
2. Type up rough draft of sustainable foods essay to Turnitin.com before class on Friday.

FRIDAY: Journal warm-up.  Quiz covering Walden vocabulary and content. Walden discussion.  View sample rough drafts with synthesis essay-writing sheet.  Last half of class: work on final drafts on laptops.

Due:
1. Finish reading Walden excerpt (if need be).
2. Type up rough draft of sustainable foods essay to Turnitin.com before class on Friday.

Homework: Revise rough draft of sustainable foods essay and submit final draft to Turnitin.com by Thursday night, May 4 at 11:00 p.m.  Using the Overview of Synthesis-Style Essays Sheet as a checklist, compare your essay to the steps and suggestions on the sheet. 

Finish any outstanding independent reading.

April 17-21

Welcome back! This week we'll officially finish Gatsby and begin our Nature/Environment unit, including a synthesis-style essay about sustainable foods and whether or not they should be part of U.S. policy.

TUESDAY: Journal warm-up.  Finish the Gatsby movie.  Discuss Gatsby questions as a whole class and question #6 in small groups.  Introduce the sustainable foods synthesis prompt and begin reading and annotating the sources. 

Due:
1. Read the questions and submit an original discussion board post in Turnitin.com for the Independent Reading.

2. Please read your independent reading book, keeping an eye out for how the messages, style, and characters compare and contrast with the first semester independent reading book(s).  Check last week's homework for a listing for each book and where you should be.

Homework: Finish reading and annotating Source B, C, and D from the sustainable foods synthesis prompt for Thursday.

THURSDAY: Journal warm-up.  Quiz.  View Source A, Menzel's photo essay from the sustainable foods synthesis packet as a class and view a sample rhetorical analysis essay about it.  Discuss all of the possible factors that should be considered and prioritized, and list the stakeholders involved.  Read a previous College Board passage that satirizes the typical environmental disagreement.

Due: Finish reading and annotating Source B, C, and D.

Homework: Finish reading and annotating the rest of the sustainable foods sources and outline a detailed response to the prompt.  Bring the sources with annotations and your outline for Monday.

April 10 - 14

It's official! We have less than two months of school left before the school year is over, and you'll be seniors.  I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing break and is ready for a productive and lively 8 weeks until finals.

This week, we'll wrap up Gatsby and begin reading the Dakota Pipeline synthesis essay prompt and kick off a mini-unit with older and more modern American reading about humans and their relationship to nature.  This is the first of the remaining three essays we'll work on this year - the other two are the independent reading synthesis essay and the college essay.

MONDAY: Journal warm-up. Review Space Exploration prompt and review class outline responses.  View actual samples turned in to the College Board and evaluate them.  Watch the first 30 minutes of the 2013 movie.

Due: Read Chapters 8 and 9 of The Great Gatsby (finish the book). Does the ending ring true for you? We'll discuss the book when you get back and it'll be on this week's quiz.

Read the synthesis essay sources and prompt, and outline an essay response for Monday.

Continue reading your independent reading book.  We will be working with the information from these books with a synthesis essay in early May (after April's essay).


Homework:  Make sure journal is ready to turn in next class.

Read another 25-50 pages of your independent reading book, keeping an eye out for how the messages, style, and characters compare and contrast with the first semester independent reading book(s).

NOTE: The goal is to finish your independent reading by May 4.  Here is where you should be (approximately):
A. Tech - at least 400 pages into Steve Jobs 
B. Race Relations - 250-300 pages into Malcolm X
C. War - finished with The Things They Carried by the end of this week
D. Environment - about 250 pages into Silent Spring
E. Horror - about 400 pages into The Shining
F. American Woman - just beginning The Awakening
G. Strength - about 100, 125 pages into Fight Club
H. Politics - about 900-1,000 pages into Atlas Shrugged
I. American Man - Just starting We the Animals

WEDNESDAY: Journal warm-up. Pippin school play preview. Watch another 30 minutes of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby.

Due:  Continue independent reading.

Homework: Study for quiz.

Journals ready to turn in on Friday.

Complete the Final Gatsby Questions with original answers for Friday.

FRIDAY: Journal warm-up. Quiz. Watch the movie version of The Great Gatsby.

Due: Complete the Final Gatsby Questions with original answers for Friday.

Turn in journals for a journal check.

Homework: 1. Read the questions and submit an original discussion board post in Turnitin.com for the Independent Reading. 

2. Take this, one of the last opportunities, to work on the independent reading book:
please read another 30-80+ pages, keeping an eye out for how the messages, style, and characters compare and contrast with the first semester independent reading book(s).

NOTE: The goal is to finish your independent reading by May 4.  Here is where you should be (approximately):
A. Tech - at least 600 pages into Steve Jobs 
B. Race Relations - 400 pages into Malcolm X
C. War - finish The Things They Carried
D. Environment - about 350 pages into Silent Spring
E. Horror - about 600 pages into The Shining
F. American Woman - finish The Awakening
G. Strength - 180-200 pages into Fight Club
H. Politics - about 1,000-1,100 pages into Atlas Shrugged
I. American Man - finishing up We the Animals

March 27-31

Welcome to the last week before Spring Break!  We'll focus on reading and discussing The Great Gatsby, rewriting conclusions, and take the last vocabulary and grammar quiz of March.

TUESDAY: Journal warm-up.  Focus on conclusions: view PPT, read and evaluate actual samples, and rewrite a conclusion with a partner.  Review Gatsby Chapter 4 and 5: act out a scene where Daisy sees Gatsby for the first time in years.  Talk about Chapter 6.  Gatsby character songs.

Due: Read Chapters 5 and 6.

Homework: Please read Chapter 7 for Thursday. Think about which character you'd like to read for some of the dramatic scenes for Thursday.

THURSDAY: Journal warm-up.  Quiz covering vocabulary, grammar, and Gatsby through the end of Chapter 7.  Evidence and example reference worksheet - hand out and brainstorm as a class.  Read and act out part of Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby.

Due: Read Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby.

Homework: Read Chapters 8 and 9 of The Great Gatsby (finish the book). Does the ending ring true for you? We'll discuss the book when you get back and it'll be on that week's quiz.

Read the synthesis essay sources and prompt, and outline a response for Monday.

Continue reading your independent reading book.  We will be working with the information from these books with a synthesis essay in early May (after April's essay).

Have a spectacular Spring Break!
I look forward to seeing everyone in April.

March 20-24

Welcome! I'm looking forward to meeting three times this week, including a Wednesday current event day that will incorporate rhetorical analysis, argument, and some new "synthesis" skills that we'll begin learning about on Monday. We will also continue to about the mysterious, elegant, and (at this point in the novel) elusive Jay Gatsby.

MONDAY: Journal warm-up.  Notes: intro to synthesis-style papers/essays, read and discuss samples. Activity with Chapter 3 description of Gatsby party.  Review Gatsby Character Song assignments and vote.

Due: Read Gatsby, Chapters 2 and 3.

Homework:For Wednesday,  read and annotate articles about solutions for whether or not we should pay college athletes. Think about the complexities surrounding the situation and the issues that emerge after reading the evidence, examples, and perspectives in the articles, (for example the legal, financial, and moral issues, and issues about fairness to the players and to the other students at the university).

For Friday, please study Vocab #18 and read Chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby.

WEDNESDAY: Journal warm-up.  Current event day with a March Madness theme: should college athletes be paid?  Discuss how each writer crafted their arguments in the homework articles (mini-rhetorical analyses of each - and SOAPS).  View short video debate.  Think/Pair/Share Discussion.  Group outlines for a synthesis-style response; share and evaluate, vote.

Due: Read and annotate articles about solutions for whether or not we should pay college athletes. 

Homework: Read Chapter 4 for Friday. Study for Friday's quiz.

FRIDAY: Journal warm-up. Quiz covering vocab, grammar, Gatsby reading through Chapter 4. Continue Think/Pair/Share Discussion and create outlines for sample synthesis response. 

Due: Read The Great Gatsby, Chapter 4.

Homework: Please read the rest of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby.

March 13-17

This week, we'll begin The Great Gatsby!  It's a wonderful book to read and enjoy in the (early?) spring.  I'm looking forward to reading it with you.  We'll do some work on conclusions for essays as well.

TUESDAY: Journal warm-up.  Introduction to the world of The Great Gatsby. Pick up the book from the library.  Begin reading and acting out Chapter 1.  Describe Gatsby Song Assignment. 

Due: n/a

Homework: For Thursday:
Finish reading Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby.
Complete the Gatsby Song Assignment and be ready to share with the class on Friday.
Study for quiz.

THURSDAY: Journal warm-up.  Vocab mad libs. Quiz covering vocab, grammar, and Gatsby reading.  Go over Supreme Court Write-ups and how to cite sources. Rewrite a conclusion to the gender essay.  Share song assignments and vote for a song to represent each character.  Begin reading and acting out Chapter Two of Gatsby.  After reading, view 3 different interpretations of the introduction of Myrtle and discuss which is the most true to the text and/or best.

Due:
Finish reading Chapter One of The Great Gatsby.
Complete the Gatsby Song Assignment and be ready to share with the class on Friday.

Homework:  Read The Great Gatsby, through the end of Chapter 3.  Note the description of Gatsby, his mansion, and his party. 

Redo the gender essay and/or the Supreme Court Write-up if you're not happy with your score - both optional assignments are on Turnitin.com under the class period.  I will average the scores.

March 6 - 10

This week, we'll practice reading and interpreting legal documents and language, as well as getting familiar with landmark Supreme Court cases that affect many areas of American life (and make great evidence/examples for argument and synthesis essays).  Additionally, this unit satisfies the 11th-12th grade standards for Informational Reading specify that students should be able to delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).

Students will work in groups, but still have their own individual writing assignments.  (Please see the Supreme Court Project document for details.) 

MONDAY: Journal warm-up.  Overview of Supreme Court Project.  Divide into groups, choose cases.  Work with your group on laptops to research and discuss your case, and your individual written assignment in class. 

Due: 30 pages of independent reading.  (We will be writing about the independent reading books soon.)

Homework: Finish typing up the rough draft of your individual portion of the written Supreme Court case project.

WEDNESDAY: Journal warm-up.  Brief Supreme Court group meeting, share drafts and discuss.  Return in-class essays and go over results.  College and Career Center presentation about the ACT and SAT.  

Due: Rough draft of individual Supreme Court case assignment. 

Homework:  Revise and edit the draft of your individual portion of the written Supreme Court case project.  Bring a hard copy of the final draft, either neatly written or typed, to class on Friday.

FRIDAY: Journal warm-up.  Supreme Court Case group presentations.  Turn in hard copy of individual written Supreme Court assignment.  Take notes on other presentations.  Take open-note quiz about the cases afterwards.  Receive a copy of Vocabulary List #17 for next week's quiz. 

Due: Hard copy (paper copy) of the final draft, either neatly written or typed, to class on Friday.

Homework: Read 30 more pages of your independent reading book.  (That brings you up to 180 pages since the beginning of the semester.  For longer books such as Steve Jobs, The Shining, and especially Atlas Shrugged, you'll want to double the page count so that you're ready to write about these books.)