English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, today we continued the “The Scarlet Ibis”. We’ll complete the story next class, and we’ll discuss literary concepts associated with the text.
Be sure to bring your IDs with you on Thursday and Friday when we’ll head to the Bookstore to pick up the novella Of Mice and Men which you’ll begin over the break.
I look forward to seeing you next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we began “The Scarlet Ibis” yesterday and today. This is the last short story we’ll tackle for this quarter. We should have most of our literary concepts nailed down by the time we finish; of course, we’ll add more, but we’ve got the foundation.
Until next class, dig this brief clip from the BBC Worldwide:
We’ll talk Monday.
English 9
Freshmens, we completed our discussion of “Checkouts” by reviewing characterization, plot, and setting in the story. I assigned you After Reading Questions which you had the period to work on.
Quickly, in seventh period, Dustin astutely pointed out that the title of Rylant’s story has an ironic meaning: Checkouts, he suggested, could refer to checkout lines at the grocery store, where the Girl likes to spend her time, and it could refer to the Girl and Boy “checking out” each other. Good observation, Dustin.
We’ll begin our next story (our final text for the quarter) when we meet again.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we did a little housekeeping today. I asked you to collect your work and instructed you in how to organize it in your folders. Some you discovered that you were missing a lot of paperwork (which should explain some of your grades), and I hope it serves as a motivation to stay on top of your assignments. Remember, you’re responsible taking care of work when it’s assigned and for finding out what you missed when you’re absent.
We’ll complete our work over “Checkouts” next class.
See you then.
English 9 Class Notes
We read and listened to the audio of “Checkouts” by Cynthia Rylant yesterday and today. You answered During Reading questions while we did and we discussed your responses. I set you in pairs to complete the Vocabulary Study, and each pair had a chance to share at least one of their creations. You finished the hour with quiz over the new additions to your personal lexis.
I’ll have updated grades for you on Monday, kids, and you’ll tackle the After Reading questions for the story.
Have a good weekend, children.
English 9 Class Notes
Today and yesterday, freshmens, I handed out grades and discussed your progress so far. We talked about class expectations and the challenges you’ll continue to face as the year progresses. You also determined that what worked for you in middle school English isn’t going to work for you in my class, and that if you’re going to succeed in T-12, many of you will have to change your approach to the tasks I assign you. I believe you’re all capable of meeting the standards I’ve set; it may take some effort, but if I expected less of you, that’d mean I don’t respect your abilities to read, think, and write. So, in an unprecedented offer, I allowed you to do the following:
- Turn-in “The Most Dangerous Game” graphic organizer (that for some reason I failed to collect); and
- Redo either your “Rules of the Game” or “The Most Dangerous Game” question and answer assignment,; and
- Review your answers to “The Cask of Amontillado” and redo them if you feel it warranted; and
- Make up quizzes missed for excused absences (even if you’ve failed to so in the allotted make-up time).
I also revised the rubric slightly by decreasing the word count for each sentence required for a well-formed answer to an analytical, synthetic, and evaluative question over our readings:
- Four (4) points for a conscious answer with a credible and meaningful point sentence of at least 15 words, an illustration sentence of at least 20 words that supports the point sentence with focused and detailed evidence, and a thorough and insightful explanation sentence of at least 20 words that connects the illustration to or extends the point; the answer contains no serious or obvious conventions errors.
- Three (3) points for a passable answer with a requisite point sentence of at least 15 words, an illustration sentence of at least 20 words that supports the point sentence with general evidence, and a standard explanation sentence of at least 20 words that connects the illustration to or extends the point; the answer contains few serious or obvious conventions errors.
- Two (2) points for an answer with a questionable point sentence, an illustration sentence that supports the point sentence with incomplete evidence, and an explanation sentence that does little to connect the illustration to or extend the point, or is merely the point or illustration reworded; the answer contains serious, obvious conventions errors.
- One (1) point for a spare answer with less than the required number of sentences or words in sentences, or little evidence of thought or effort, with serious, obvious conventions errors.
You had the period to complete these tasks, during which I conferred with students individually over their work.
Remember, I’m not out to sink anybody. Rather, it’s my role to help you develop your critical reading, thinking, and writing skills, and so I made the offer I did to second and seventh periods. The opportunity, however, won’t come again. What we did yesterday and today was a one-time deal. I hope that you’ll begin to approach your work with new purpose from now on.
See you next time, kids.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, today you completed our study of “The Cask of Amontillado” with a brief quiz, and then we immediately launched into a new story, “Checkouts”, by Cynthia Rylant. You completed Before Reading notes (at least, most of you did), and we discussed characterization with the little time we had left. You’ll develop your understanding more as we proceed with the story.
See you next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, yesterday in second and today in seventh I quizzed you over vocabulary associated with “The Cask of Amontillado”, and we reviewed various concepts you’ve learned since the beginning of the school year―character and characterization, plot structure, irony, setting, and bit of mood―as they apply to the story. Finally, I set you to answering After Reading questions for the piece which you worked on the remainder of the period. Some were allowed to take books from the class-set home to complete the work.
For the last few years, I’ve posted a creative interpretation of another interpretation of “The Cask Amontillado” set to the music of the Alan Parsons Project, a 1970s prog rock band that created highly stylized concept albums, kind of like Pink Floyd. And here’s that interpretation: A video fan-production created for but independent of the Project’s song (which appeared on their album Tales of Mystery and Imagination). Dig the lyrics (right click and open them in a new window or tab) so you can follow along as you watch the video.
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you on Monday, kids
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, you worked on your Chain of Events chart for and completed the vocabulary activity associated with our recent short story. I became frustrated with some students’ attempt at the vocabulary: Although the instructions are quite clear, several students claimed not to understand them. I challenged this by polling students, asking who had things such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter pages, who could post updates from their phones, who had downloaded music, who could program a TiVo, et cetera. Most students raised their hand to at least two or more of these, and I argued if these technological were possible for students to learn, than directions for completing the vocabulary task was eminently doable.
I believe the trouble was that the instructions weren’t necessarily intuitive, like many of the technologies students encounter on a daily basis; rather, they were plain old text in a plain old textbook, not individually tailored according to taste and preference, like media is today. The instructions required students to move beyond their own expectations of what engaging text is today and patiently concentrate. We’ll continue to work on this as the year progresses.
See you next time, kids.
English 9 Class Notes
We completed to Poe story today, freshmens, and you had time to work on your Chain of Events graphic organizer. We’ll get to some after-reading work next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we met in the liberry today for MAP testing. Some took longer than others, but those who finished early were able to check out new independent reading books. You finished the period reading your self-selected texts; we’ll continue reading “The Cask of Amontillado” Monday.
Have a fine weekend.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we began reading the very challenging “The Cask of Amontillado” yesterday and today. The story engendered more than just a discussion of revenge and justice. We discussed, for example, the Latin root carn, which means “flesh” and carnivals are times when attendants indulge their fleshly or material desires as in the case of convivial drunk, Fortunato. I connected such indulgence to modern day fairs, where people often indulge in the most grotesque but still delicious foods, my favorite being things deep-fried. I’m still waiting for deep-fried bacon to make an appearance at our own county fair.
Since the story is one of death during fun and celebration, the subject of violent incidents at Disney parks also came up. (Who stands up on a roller coaster?) And we touched on heraldry and Freemasonry as they figure in the story as important ironies.
Remember that we’ll meet in the liberry next class.
See you then.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmen, thank you for your patience with my absence Thursday and Friday, and I apologize for these late notes. Thursday, I left instructions for second period to answer the After Reading Questions for “The Most Dangerous Game” and begin “The Cask of Amontillado” and read their liberry books. Friday, seventh period was to complete the text and audio for Connell story and also answer the questions and read the same as their peers the day before.
Since I wasn’t able to present the 1932 film adaptation of the story to second period, I’ve embedded the entire film below. Now all students can have a look. It’s quite different in many aspects, but the spirit’s the same I think:
See you in a couple of days, kids.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, yesterday second period completed “The Most Dangerous Game” and we summarized the action of the story and broke it into its constituent plots points. Seventh period played catch-up today, though, and only began the story. I’ll do my best to get the afternoon class on par with the morning class next time, when we should finish the text.
The other day I mentioned to second period a connection with Connell’s short story: a terrible Arnold Schwarzenegger adaptation of Stephen King’s short story, The Running Man. I’ve not actually read the story—my brother-in-law turned me off of Stephen King a long time ago (so much that I’ve never actually been tempted to read a King text)—but I grew up in the 80s and have seen many of the California governor’s action movies.
That’s it. See you next time.
English Class Notes
Second period freshmens completed “The Most Dangerous Game” and continued to work on their Chain of Events graphic organizer; seventh period began the story and we had some discussion of Rainsford’s assertion about animals and “hunters and the hunted”. I hope we can finish next class and be roughly caught up with second period. We’ll see.
English 9 Class Notes
Second period freshmens began our new story “The Most Dangerous Game”, and got quite far, but the freshmens in seventh period spent time with me going over the incidents of Wednesday afternoon: Many students didn’t complete their work, few even really tried; rather, most tried to submit barely passable work and then decided to play in classroom, with its artifacts, and with each other. The mystery of the 3D apple puzzle was solved (almost), but there are still many details about the day that I need to uncover, which I’ll do by next class. Students had the opportunity to re-do their work, which took much of the hour. Seventh period will begin the story next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Second period freshmens practiced answering some final questions over “Rules of the Game” using the rubric I introduced as a guide. Here it is:
- Four (4) points for a conscious answer with a credible and meaningful point sentence of at least 20 words, an illustration sentence of at least 30 words that supports the point sentence with focused and detailed evidence, and a thorough and insightful explanation sentence of at least 30 words that connects the illustration to or extends the point; the answer contains no serious or obvious conventions errors.
- Three (3) points for a passable answer with a requisite point sentence of at least 20 words, an illustration sentence of at least 30 words that supports the point sentence with general evidence, and a standard explanation sentence of at least 30 words that connects the illustration to or extends the point; the answer contains few serious or obvious conventions errors.
- Two (2) points for an answer with a questionable point sentence, an illustration sentence that supports the point sentence with incomplete evidence, and an explanation sentence that does little to connect the illustration to or extend the point, or is merely the point or illustration reworded; the answer contains serious, obvious conventions errors.
- One (1) point for a spare answer with less than the required number of sentences or words in sentences, or little evidence of thought or effort, with serious, obvious conventions errors.
Work took some time, after which I administered a multiple-choice quiz over the story. We began to to discuss plot as a way of entering the new story we’ll begin next class, and students finished the period reading silently.
I inferred from the sub’s notes, the work that was left in the basket, and the condition of the room when I returned for Open House that seventh period was not able to successfully follow the instructions I left. I’ll attend this Friday.
NOTE. I was stunned to see that the three-dimensional apple puzzle that was on the northeast bookshelf had been taken apart and hastily stuffed behind some (poorly) reorganized books. It seemed silly that students would think I wouldn’t notice this and the other obvious disturbances to the room. I’m not sure which period was responsible, but I will find out and mete out consequences.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we completed our discussion of “Rules of the Game” today by reviewing the Guided Reading questions and completing the graphic organizers in which you described the conflicts Waverly experiences during the story and compared and contrasted the personality traits of Waverly and her mother. I quizzed second period over the story, but we ran up against the clock in seventh and so you’ll complete the quiz Wednesday.
Next class you’ll have an opportunity to wrap-up the story with some final questions and we’ll begin the succeeding selection in the textbook. Be sure to bring your independent reading book with you when we meet again; actually, bring it every time we meet.
See you soon.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, Thursday and Friday I gave you the opportunity to finish your guided reading questions over the Tan piece and we went to the liberry for orientation and book checkout. We’ll pick-up with the graphic organizers I gave you (second period, not seventh, yet), next class.
Until Monday, here’s a brief clip from the Associated Press, “San Francisco’s Chinatown Funeral Bands”, that may offer some insight into the setting and culture of our recent short story:
Seventh period students who borrowed books, don’t forget I need them by second hour Monday.
Have a nice couple of days off.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we talked about culture and identity today: Many of you shared that you enjoy varied ethnic heritage from nations such as Bosnia, Croatia, Iraq, Germany, Ireland, and Spain, among others. The melding of cultures is addressed in your reading of “Rules of the Game”, which you read and answered several questions over to check your understanding. We’ll discuss your answer to these questions next class, and we’ll also head to the liberry for orientation and book checkout.
See you next time.