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April 6-10, 2015: Fourth Term Begins!

For this final term, you will learn....
  • ...more word cells...lots more!
  • ...how to torture a confession out of a poem.
  • ...Poetry Out Loud: More poems o' the day! (Your turn!)
  • ...connotation vs. denotation of words.
  • ...advanced strategies for close reading literary and informational text.
  • ...writing in various genres for a multitude of purposes: memoirs, letters, analysis, argumentation, exposition.
  • ...Voice/Word Choice.
  • ...what the SAGE has in store: April 20-24.
  • ...more cartoon analysis.
  • ...the Argument Clinic: Lagoon Day or No Lagoon Day? (It's up to you!)

April 6-10, 2015

Monday, April 6: A Day
Tuesday, April 7: B Day

  • Welcome to the beginning of the end!
  • Hall Passes, Handouts, and Return to Routines
  • Spoon River Anthology Packet
  • Finish Voices of Spoon River Review
  • Complete the Purkapile Epitaphs
  • Writintg Notebook: Plan and Write a set of paired epitaphs for two characters out of literature, movies, or TV (facing pages).
  • Tear off the last page of the packet and keep it with your assigned poem....
  • 4th Term Reading Schedule & Novels
  • Read to page 31 by next time.
  • Poetry Out Loud Assignments: You will be assigned a poem that you will read aloud at some point during this term. By the time that happens, you will become an expert on every nuance of the poem -- no simile will escape you, and no descriptive image will go undissected. Also, you will practice reading the poem aloud mutliple times, so you master the pronunciation of all the words and the rhythm of all the lines. When you read it, you will command the attention of everyone in the room, and we will be completely blown away by your presence and performance. For a minute, we will forget we are in a classroom doing an assignment, and we will be swept away to the world of your poem. Start by torturing the confession from your poem using the handout. This does not have to be done until next week, but bring the poem and the handout next time!
  • Word Cells List #1 Assignment
    (Turn in finished assignment and take quiz next time!)
  • Homework: Study Word Cells Set #1 + Finish List #1 Assignment.


Wednesday, April 8: A Day
Thursday, April 9: B Day

  • Quiz on Word Cells Set #1 + Turn in Word Cells List #1 Assignment.
  • F451 Reading Check (to page 31): Three kinds of questions you should be ready to answer about the novel. [Discussion]
  • Writing Notebook: (Refer to pp. 28-31 in F451.) Do you agree with some of the assertions Clarisse makes about education? Do you think your experience in school has anything in common with hers? If so, give examples. If not, explain the difference between your school and Clarisse's. Use quotations from Clarisse to either illustrate or contradict your opinions. Fill the page!
  • "What They Learn in School" [Analyze for Tone and Purpose]
  • Study Questions
  • Poem o' the Day: "Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins
  • Handout: How to Torture a Confession Out of a Poem
  • Here's a model! (Do this with your poem by next Thursday.)
  • If we have time, we'll practice: We didn't! (But it's still a good poem!)
  • "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost (MPT, p. 315)
  • Writintg Notebook (MPT, p. 314): Think of a time you made a significant choice in your life. Now imagine you had made a different choice. How would your life be different? (Identify the choice and write three sentences in response.)
    • Answer questions 1 - 5 on page 318.
    • Tone: Copy line 16, but insert an adjective that describes your interpretation of the tone of the poem:
      "I shall be telling this with a __________ sigh...."
    • Here's a cartoon that illustrates two possible readings.
    • Explain your choice: What did you see in the text of the poem that indicates that tone?
  • Word Cells List #2 Assignment (Quiz on April 14/15)
  • F451: Read to page 53 by next time.



Friday, April 10: A Day


April 13-17, 2015

Monday, April 13: B Day


Tuesday, April 14: A Day
Wednesday, April 15: B Day


Thursday, April 16: A Day [Writing Lab]
Friday, April 17: B Day


April 20-24, 2015

Poem o' the Week: "A Student's Prayer"

Monday, April 20: A Day -- SAGE
F451: Read to page 145 by next time.
Tuesday, April 21: B Day -- SAGE
Wednesday, April 22: A Day -- SAGE
F451: Finish the novel by next time.
Thursday, April 23: B Day -- SAGE


Friday, April 24: A Day


April 27 - May 1, 2015

Monday, April 27: B Day


Tuesday, April 28: A Day
Wednesday, April 29: B Day


Thursday, April 30: A Day
Friday, May 1: B Day


May 4 - 8, 2015

Monday, May 4: A Day [May the Fourth Be With You!]
Tuesday, May 5: B Day


Wednesday, May 6: A Day
Thursday, May 7: B Day


Friday, May 8: A Day


May 11-15, 2015

Monday, May 11: B Day


Tuesday, May 12: A Day
Wednesday, May 13: B Day


Thursday, May 14: A Day
Friday, May 15: B Day

  • GIANT WORD CELLS TEST
  • Poetry Out Loud
  • "Keeping Things Whole" by Mark Strand
  • "God Says Yes to Me" by Kaylin Haught
  • "The Poetry of Bad Weather" by Debra Greger
  • Poem o' the Day: "The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver
  • Grammar Punk Review: Semicolon Rule 3
  • Poem o' the Day: "The Way to Start a Day" by Byrd Baylor
  • While out in the desert with Leo (Chapter 17), Stargirl seems to find special insight and inner peace by "erasing herself" through meditation. Consider an activity you are especially familiar with in which you find peace and insight into Life and the world. Write a non-literal poem describing the way to do that activity. Instead of just listing the steps involved, describe the process from the inside. Create metaphors to explain the thoughts and emotions that the activity conjures in you. This fill-in-the-blank outline is only for those who aren't creative enough to come up with all the lines on their own. Don't use it if you don't absolutely need to. You may create a decorated final draft that is suitable for classroom display. Here's an example. Here's another. Be creative!
  • Stargirl: Continue the Order of Operations to ... [Chapter 18] ?


May 18-22, 2015

Monday, May 18: A Day
Tuesday, May 19: B Day

  • Poetry Out Loud
  • Neil's Solo: Think of the state of mind one must be in to perform a task this well. Imagine the thousands of hours of thought and practice that went into it. Then consider how he has to put all that aside for the eight minutes in which it all coalesces. He can't stop to think about each of the basic mechanics that make up his craft; he has to "get in the zone" where it all comes together without thinking. Your "The Way to _________" poem should focus on this zone, this state of mind, not on the literal how-to instructions of the activity you describe.
  • Speaking of music...
  • Life Soundtrack: Final Draft (with Intro & Conclusion) due on Wiki by May 25th @ 6:00 P.M.
  • (Return First Drafts; models)
  • Grammar Punk Review: Colons + Final Paragraph Assignment
  • Stargirl: Continue the Order of Operations to .... ?
  • And what about those final projects?
  • Cards, Rocks, Serenades
  • Homework: Log in to the class wiki from home. Visit your page. Get it ready for your Life Soundtrack.
    You do remember how, right?

Wednesday, May 20: A Day
Thursday, May 21: B Day


Friday, May 22: A Day

  • Poetry Out Loud: "The Psalm of Life"
  • Test on Bradbury Book #2 / Style Analysis
  • Synthesis Essay Assignment: Due ______________ (Utah Compose)
  • Stargirl: Continue the Order of Operations to .... ?



May 25-29, 2015

Monday, May 25: Memorial Day

  • [No School]
  • Life Soundtrack Final Draft due on Wiki by 6:00 P.M.


Tuesday, May 26: B Day

  • Synthesis Essays due Friday on Utah Compose!


Wednesday, May 27: A Day
Thursday, May 28: B Day [Falcon Finale]

  • 4
  • Life Soundtrack Final Draft (with Intro & Conclusion) was due yesterday. Many of you did not include an introduction or a conclusion. You have until tomorrow to do so. Let me know when you would like it rescored.
    • Introduction—Explanation of yourself (one paragraph): This is basically a brief autobiography, and it will serve as your introduction. Introductions are important because they give the reader a frame of reference. Who are you? Where have you been and where are you going in life? What do you think this Life Soundtrack says about you?
    • Conclusion—Final remarks and reflection on the soundtrack as a whole (one paragraph): This is your conclusion. Thank your reader for listening and offer any final reflections upon this project as a whole: What does it tell people about you? Is it truthful? What do you want listeners of your Life Soundtrack to think about? What did you learn about yourself while putting this together?
  • Stargirl: Finish the Order of Operations.
  • Writing Notebook: Earlier in the year (Jan 22nd or so), you wrote a letter to yourself. Go read that letter to see how things have changed. Now write back to the person you were then. What would you like to tell that younger version of youself? (Fill the page!)


Friday, May 29: A Day [Kardiac Kid: Last Chance Extra Credit]

  • 3
  • Serenades, Anyone?
  • Writing Notebook: Finish the Stargirl Order of Operations
  • WN - The Final Entry: Write a letter to yourself in ten years. Keep the journal until then and read it. Then write me a letter or an e-mail (or whatever the latest communication technology is by then) to tell me if things turned out as you planned.
  • Copy this on the last page:
    Thompson's Words of Wisdom as You Head to High School
    Life is Short: Don't be a George Gray!
    Be Nice: We're all in this together, and nobody gets out alive!
  • When all of the above is finished, show the notebooks to me for a score.
  • Then take 'em home.
  • Hide 'em somewhere safe.
  • You'll be glad you did.


June 1-5, 2015

Monday, June 1: B Day (49)
Tuesday, June 2: A Day [Talent Assembly*]



Wednesday, June 3: B Day (Sub: JT Graduates!)

  • Locker Clean Out, etc.



Thursday, June 4: A/B Day

  • 1
  • Yearbook Day
  • School's Out for Summer!



Friday, June 5

  • What are you still doing here?
    Go enjoy your summer!

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A: Yes.
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