Happy Holidays!

I wish you all a happy, relaxing break with your friends and family. Thank you for all the holiday cards and goodies!

As promised, your only homework over Winter Break is to read your final independent book of the semester! Remember, it's free choice. Make sure you have completed it by the day we return, January 5. We'll be picking up our final core text(s) of the semester that day, and I'll be explaining your independent reading assignment. Until then...

The Week of 12/15-12/19

9HP'ers: You are finishing up your 1984 essays. You will spend Tuesday conferring with your peers and submit your revised, final, polished essays Wednesday or Thursday --- your choice. Regardless, be certain to upload your essay to www.turnitin.com prior to submitting your hard copy to me.

10HP'ers: You are presenting Tuesday through Thursday of this week.

12/12 English 9HP

Groups presented!

Homework:
Draft your 1984 essay. A complete draft of your essay is due Tuesday! You may submit the final, polished essay either Wednesday or Thursday. Remember, you must submit a hard copy (a print out) AND upload your essay to turnitin.com by Thursday.

12/12 English 10HP

You submitted your Things Fall Apart essays. Afterward, I explained your independent reading presentation, and we drew names to determine your presentation dates (presentations begin Tuesday and conclude Thursday). The assignment is below:

Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 describes a world where people are not allowed to read books. A small group of people who want to save books memorize them so that the books won’t be forgotten. For example, an old man who has memorized the novel The Call of the Wild helps a young boy memorize it by reciting the story to him. In this way, the book is saved for the future.

Prepare an engaging, audible, and coherent presentation in which you discuss why your independent reading book should be saved for future generations and what it is about the book that makes it important to save. Decide which three passages you marked should be memorized first. Include these passages in your presentation along with your reasons for choosing them. Be sure to discuss in detail why the book is important to you and why it would be important to future generations. I recommend creating a thesis to help you focus your presentation.

Sample Thesis: To avoid creating a Brave New World, young people must understand Huxley’s commentary on human relationships, taking his warnings about truth and societal control to heart.

An exemplary presentation will have the following qualities:
*Your presentation is engaging, audible, and coherent (10 points).
*Your ideas about why your book should be saved are insightful, detailed, and well developed (20 points).
*Your passages are excellent selections (they support your thesis) and your reasons for selecting them are thoughtful (20 points).

Homework:
Your independent book must be completed by Monday! Work on your presentation!

12/11 English 9HP

Today was your final day to plan and practice your book club presentations. You present tomorrow!

Homework:
Draft your 1984 essay! Remember, a complete draft of your essay is due on Tuesday, Dec. 16. (You will still have a choice to submit your final polished essay on either Wednesday or Thursday.)

12/11 English 10HP

Today your peers edited your essays.

Homework:
*Your final polished Things Fall Apart essay is due tomorrow. Bring a hard copy to class, and before class, upload your essay to www.turnitin.com.
*Bring your independent book with you to class tomorrow.

12/10 Turnitin.com

Using the ELMO and Ms. Pust's laptop computer, I demonstrated how to use turnitin.com. In addition to submitting hard copies (print outs) of your essays, I am now requiring you to upload them to the site. 10HP'ers spent the remainder of the period revising their essays. 9HP'ers spent it working on their book club presentations.

10HP Homework:
Revise your essay and bring a new draft to class tomorrow (Thursday).
Finish your independent book (due 12/15).

9HP Homework:
Draft your essay (due 12/15)

12/9 English 9HP

You worked in your book club groups, nailing down the details of your presentation.

Homework:
Draft your 1984 essay (due 12/15).

12/9 English 10HP

Today you conferred with two peers about your essay.

Homework:
Revise your essay, and bring a new draft to class with you this Thursday.
Read your independent book (due 12/15).

12/8 English 9HP

In addition to discussing the second half of your novel in your book club, you began planning your group presentation (for Friday).

Here are the Independent Reading Presentation guidelines:

Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 describes a world where people are not allowed to read books. A small group of people who want to save books memorize them so that the books won’t be forgotten. For example, an old man who has memorized the novel The Call of the Wild helps a young boy memorize it by reciting the story to him. In this way, the book is saved for the future.

Prepare an engaging, audible, and coherent presentation in which you discuss why your independent reading book should be saved for future generations and what it is about the book that makes it important to save. Decide which three passages you marked should be memorized first. Include these passages in your presentation along with your reasons for choosing them. Be sure to discuss in detail why the book is important to you and why it would be important to future generations. I recommend creating a thesis to help you focus your presentation.

Sample Thesis: To avoid creating a Brave New World, young people must understand Huxley’s commentary on human relationships, taking his warnings about truth and societal control to heart.

An exemplary presentation will have the following qualities:
*Your presentation is engaging, audible, and coherent (10 points).
*Your ideas about why your book should be saved are insightful, detailed, and well developed (20 points).
*Your passages are excellent selections (they support your thesis) and your reasons for selecting them are thoughtful (20 points).

Homework:
A complete draft your 1984 essay is due Monday, December 15. Note the new deadline.

12/8 English 10HP

Today was another day of drafting.

Homework:
A complete draft of your essay is due tomorrow!
Finish your independent book by Monday, December 15.

12/5 English 9HP

Using the ELMO, I evaluated a few of your thesis statements and showed you a sample essay before I set you free to read my comments and revise your thesis. Many of you began pre-writing.

Homework:
Finish your independent book by Monday!
Begin the rough draft of your 1984 essay (due Friday, Dec. 12).

12/5 English 10HP

We discussed another sample essay. After, you began pre-writing and drafting.

Homework:
The rough draft of your Things Fall Apart Essay is due on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Read your independent book (due Monday, Dec. 15).

12/4 English 9HP

Using the ELMO, we evaluated a few thesis statements. Afterward, you met in peer groups to evaluate and revise your thesis statements. Each of you submitted one revised thesis to me at the end of the period.

Homework:
Read your independent book.

12/4 English 10HP

Using the ELMO, I evaluated a few of your thesis statements and showed you a sample essay before I set you free to read my comments and revise your thesis. Many of you began pre-writing.

Homework:
The rough draft of your Things Fall Apart Essay is due on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Read your independent book.

12/3 English 9HP

You met in topic-alike groups. I explained your homework: to create three potential "high interest" thesis statements on your topic. Tomorrow, you'll be evaluating these statements and submitting one revised thesis to me at the end of the period.

Homework:
Create your three thesis statements (due tomorrow!).
Finish your independent reading book for Monday.

12/3 English 10HP

You met in peer groups to evaluate and revise your thesis statements. You submitted one thesis statement for me to approve.

Homework: Read your independent book (due 12/15).

12/2 English 9HP

We had our first Socratic Seminar --- on 1984. I introduced your essay topics.

(Due 12/2)
Homework: Brainstorm or free write on one of the essay topics, and tomorrow, come prepared to share your ideas with your peers.

12/2 English 10HP

We completed The Three Simple Steps of Literary Analysis for Things Fall Apart. I introduced the essay topics and you met in topic-alike groups to discuss ideas.

(Due 12/3)
Homework: Write three potential "high interest" thesis statements on your topic.

12/1 English 9HP

After a brief overview of the remainder of the semester, we discussed several questions about Winston's successful "re-education." Yes, Winston conforms. Orwell says, "He had won victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." Finally, we debated one statement related to conformity in agree/disagree format: "I have conformed to the general ideas, styles, and tastes of my peer group to be accepted."


Homework:
(Due 12/2)
Prepare for tomorrow's Socratic Seminar on the following question:

How might issues raised in Orwell's 1984 be considered prophetic warnings to our society today?
Issues (including pages numbers) Warning/Application to Today's Society
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

(Due 12/8)
Finish the second half of your independent book.

12/1 English 10HP

I gave you an overview of the remainder of the semester, including your upcoming essay, your upcoming presentations, your final independent book, and our final class book. To prepare for the essay, we spent the majority of the period debating several statements in agree/disagree format.


Homework:
(Due 12/2)
Take Things Fall Apart through The Three Simple Steps of Literary Analysis. Provide one quote to support Okonkwo's mental change and one quote to support the theme(s).
(Due 12/15)
Finish your independent book.