"Pods" in class

So... today was an interesting experiment using both cell phones and "pods". What did you think? You can be honest about what you liked and didn't like. Your comments will help me to further refine how we use technology in class. If you can be as specific as you can (even something like the keyboard) it would help me tremendously! Make sure to sign your name so I can give you credit for responding....

English 10 Blog about Writing

While many people think that grammar is boring or difficult to manage, the truth is:

The grammatical choices we make—including
pronoun use, active or passive verb constructions,
and sentence patterns—represent relations
between writers and the world they live in. Word
choice and sentence structure are an expression
of the way we attend to the words of others, the
way we position ourselves in relation to others.

What do you think of this statement? What has been your experience with grammar in the past? What would you like to learn about grammar? Make sure that your blog entry is at least 10 senteces in length

Blog about Infidel

In an increasingly multinational and multicultural world questions of assimilation and biculturalism have gained considerable attention. Women, in particular, are often the products of biculturalism as many, for various reasons, leave their roots and homelands to live elsewhere. The reasons are multiple, from the person living and working in another country, to the situation of the refugee, the person married abroad, the immigrant, or even those faced with a bicultural situation within their own country where interracial or interreligious marriages may cause tension.

In a short blog entry, disuss how the novel Infidel addresses these issues and how the author views a female's sense of self.

Huck Finn Blog #2

Mark Twain was considered a social satirist.  Do a little research and find out what that means.  When you do figure it out, write a blog entry on what you think that Twain was satirizing in this novel.  You should be able to bring out at least three to four things...  I'll be counting!

Good luck!

Mrs. L

Huckleberry Finn Blog #1

Huck Finn is a novel that has been banned from many schools across the country.  In this blog entry, pretend you are writing a letter to the editor of the New York Times in which you support banning this book, or oppose banning the book.  Make sure you include at least three valid educational points for teaching this novel.  

If you need some support for your point of view, check some of the literary analysis of the novel.  You can find tons of stuff online (please don't go to Sparknotes, though, that would just annoy me!  = )

Looking forward to reading your point of view.....

Mrs. L

Chapter 2 - Lord of the Flies - Blog #2

On the island, Ralph and Piggy believe that the boys need to be deliberate about their actions. Why do you think that is so? Do you agree? What mistakes have they made so far?

If you could pick one of the characters introduced so far, who are you most like, and why?

Mrs. L

Chapter One - Lord of the Flies - Blog #1

What's more important in a leader...honesty or the ability to make things happen (no matter what). Think of leaders who are representative of your type of leader.

Mrs. L

A Couple of Comments

As we move into the 2nd quarter, I think it's important that we re-visit the purpose of some of our work in class and what we need to take responsibility for.

Each assignment I give is typically returned within a week.  If, however, you have been late in submitting an assignment, or have taken an exam late, you are responsible for following up with me after school or before school to make sure that you receive your papers back.  Once I return an exam, any subsequent exams will stay on my desk until you retrieve them.

Moving forward, I have decided that I will need to move many of your seats.  I usually try to avoid that, but, unfortunately, some students prefer to socialize in class rather than work as a community.  As a result, you will see a new seating assignment when you come in tomorrow.  I am hoping that you will all adapt well to the new set up and we can all work much more effectively going forward.

Mrs. L.

Friday and Lord of the Flies

Hey Everyone -

Glad to hear that most of you enjoyed our little activity on Thursday. As many of you guessed, it was a precursor to our work with Lord of The Flies. I purposely didn't participate to see how you formed groups, who took leadership roles, how you dealt with adversity and, ultimately, how well you "survived".

We'll talk more about it on Monday....

Mrs. L

P.S. I had a great birthday...thanks!

Thinking about how Experiences change our lives...

As we read through the short stories, we will be faced with moments that define the characters. Much like Amir in Kite Runner, Elizabeth in Marigolds is defined by her act of destroying the marigolds. Which quote from the story most related to your life? Why?

From Simone...Period 2

Amir witnessed Hassan's rape and said nothing about it. Has this affected Amir? If so, in what ways?

Greg from Period 4's Post

For those of us reading The Kite Runner (or for those who read it last year), compare any of the characters in the novel to people presently in the news, in music, in the movies or in history. Which character do you think tends to reappear throughout?

Getting through the tough stuff

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd put up a post regarding dealing with your first tests and, perhaps, a grade you're not happy with. From my perspective, a first test is a way for both of us to see how the other person works. You see how I ask questions and I get to see how much you've absorbed from class! Some discussion today was about how certain qeustions were weighted and how much information should be in short answers. Each teacher may ask for different things in a short answer. I like for your answers to answer the questions "how" and "why". If your response can do that, then you should be right on the mark.

So far, most of what we've done has been vocab quizzes and this first test. For the second half of the quarter we'll spend more time writing short pieces and editing them. So, my question for you is this...

What is most challenging so far about class and how can I help you deal with those challenges??
I'll also be posting your classmates posts, so you don't have to respond to this one, but you can if you want!!

See you in class.

Mrs. L

Rachel's Post for 10H Period 4

If Charlotte Bronte's life was different, would she have even been a writer? If the perfect Victorian women is one who spends her time at home, making life comfortable for her husband, she wouldn't have had the time or motivation to write a book, right? Or, if she still chose to be a writer, would her stories be completely different? She might have just written poetry or short, light stories for those magazines women read back then. Just something to think about, since we know about Bronte's background, and why she wrote such dark, fairy-tale stories.

New Post from Rebecca in 11H

English class this year has been great so far, but we all know it's going to be different from the English classes we had last year. We are going to have to learn how to handle more homework. I thought it would be a good idea to have a blog where everyone can write about what techniques they used in order to handle English class last year. This may help give each other new ideas for making homework less of an ordeal.

New Blog Question from Alexa in 10H

If Jane Eyre was never loved or wanted as a child, how do you think thiswill affect her relationships with others as she becomes an adult? How wouldthis "unwanted-ness" be dealt with by someone living in our time?

Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa

For all of my 10H'ers out there, I would like to extend my apologies. If you didn't submit your summary today because you thought it was due on Friday, you were "kinda" right. I went back to the website and saw that I marked the handout that it was due Friday. So, if you forgot to hand your piece in today, hand it in tomorrow - no problem.

The rest of the homework for the week should be self-explanatory. The link to do tonight's homework is on the links page and it's called "launch pad".

The blog on "meaning" (my last post) is getting quite interesting!!

See you tomorrow for some grammar! = )

To Read or not to read....

Someone in class brought up the question: do authors intend for us to read so much into their stories? In other words, do they want us to be thinking of themes and symbolism, or are they just writing their stories for fun?

What do you think?

Mrs. L

I think the Blog might be my favorite thing!!

So what do geeky English teachers do on the weekend? Hmm...check the blog?!?

I have really enjoyed reading all of your comments and I think it will help me a great deal with designing some of our classes. I am having a little bit of a hard time with everyone's name, so I hope you will all give me a little help next week...

Enjoy the weekend!

How many more days do we have until summer??!! ; )

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for such a great first week of school. Although it's been a hot one, I think this first week of school has been pretty good! We're also starting school with some of my favorite books and short stories, so I am really loving it! I hope you'll use the blog to really talk about things that we're doing in class and help each other really challenge ourselves with regard to our thinking.

In class today, I had a few students really make me re-think some details from the novels...so thanks!

Make sure you stay dry this weekend...I hear Hurricane Hannah will be dumping some serious rain on us....

Mrs. Lindell