English Eight: March 2018

Friday, March 23, 2018

Reading and Notes: After we return from the awards assembly, we'll read and discuss "On the Rainy River." I'll ask you to focus your reading and notes around answering the following question: what argument does this chapter make about courage?

We'll finish viewing and discussing Walter Cronkite's presentation of "Courage Under Fire," as we didn't get to it yesterday in class.
Then you'll work with a partner to complete a Vocabulary Review Exercise for Lessons 1-2. You'll need your vocabulary notes and maybe a dictionary.
Depending on time, we may begin reading and discussing "On the Rainy River."

We'll finish our notes on the historical and socio-political context of the Vietnam war.
Then I'll introduce Lesson Two Vocabulary because it's new words Wednesday!
Finally, we'll continue viewing and discussing the Walter Cronkite special, "Courage Under Fire."

The countdown continues... great work being here and getting it done today!

First, you'll take the Lesson One Vocabulary Test. I'll do some one-on-one grade and missing work check ins at this time, as a number of you have missing assignments that are dragging your grade down.
Notes: Then I'll share some historical, socio-political, and cultural context of the Vietnam war to inform our reading, discussion, and writing about O'Brien's The Things They Carried this quarter.

Reading and Notes: We'll finish reading and discussing "Spin" from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.
Then you'll complete a reading quiz over Ch. 1-3. You'll also turn in your completed character chart after taking time to record the quotation that you feel captures the theme of this section.
Finally, we'll begin viewing and discussing some Walter Cronkite news footage of the Vietnam War and making connections to the characters and events in the text.

Reading and Notes: We'll continue reading and discussing the first three chapters of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.
Then you'll have WORK TIME for the following:

Lesson One Vocabulary Review Exercise (Due Today)
"The Things I Carry" Write a one-page typed, MLA formatted response in which you detail the things that you carry with you each day. Explore the symbolism of the concrete objects (car keys, a picture of someone in your wallet, a heavy backpack with lots of folded up old papers in the bottom, etc.) you carry and be sure to also write about the abstractions (memory, worry, hope, etc.) you carry. (Due Today)

Reading and Notes: We'll continue reading, discussing, and taking notes on section one (Ch. 1-3) of The Things They Carried.
Then I'll introduce how we'll do vocabulary review exercises this quarter.
Finally, you'll have WORK TIME for the following:

Vocabulary Review Exercise: Lesson One (Due Tomorrow)
"The Things I Carry" Write a one-page typed, MLA formatted response in which you detail the things that you carry with you each day. Explore the symbolism of the concrete objects (car keys, a picture of someone in your wallet, a heavy backpack with lots of folded up old papers in the bottom, etc.) you carry and be sure to also write about the abstractions (memory, worry, hope, etc.) you carry. (Due Tomorrow)

Happy New Words Wednesday!

Notes: I'll introduce your Lesson One Vocabulary words, and we'll focus on how to take well-organized vocabulary notes for your studying this quarter.
Reading and Notes: We'll continue reading and discussing Ch. 1 "The Things They Carried," Ch. 2 "Love," and Ch. 3 "Spin" while filling out a note sheet that tracks both the concrete and abstract things the characters in the book carry with them while in Vietnam.

I'll introduce our new seating chart.
You'll turn in your course syllabus.
Then we'll go check out copies of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.
Reading and Notes: We'll begin reading and discussing Ch. 1 "The Things They Carried" while filling out a note sheet that tracks both the concrete and abstract things the characters in the book carry with them while in Vietnam.

Welcome to English Eight! Here are our plans for today:

We'll go over the syllabus and classroom expectations and norms.
We'll set up our notebooks and folders for this quarter.
Then you'll take some notes on a key concept for our work together this quarter: concrete vs. abstract nouns as they contribute to metaphor.
Finally, you'll write a personal response to begin preparing for our course reading and discussion.