Improve your vocabulary!

Check out the new link! If it doesn't work, see below. It's a great vocabulary game!
http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Last homework assignment for 2007!

• Finish Beowulf
• Work on the Beowulf final (the college level essay). Come to class with the essay finished. You will have 50 minutes to work with me in the library on Thursday to make sure it receives an A. Feel free to email me with questions about your thesis or introduction or even a first draft.

Homework 12/11

--Read Beowulf to page 147
--Complete notecards and vocabulary lessons
--Beowulf final exam (2 page essay) due 12/20/07

Take this test, World Lit

Find out who you support in the 2008 election!
http://www.selectsmart.com/president/2008/comparethem.html

Homework

--Read Beowulf to page 115
--Complete the Beowulf comparison chart received in class today

Homework

--Read Beowulf to pg. 89, line 1250
--Lit paper (What is the significance of the Biblical allusions in Beowulf?)

Weekend Homework

Read Beowulf to page 57 (finish up the story of Grendel)
Start thinking about next week's lit paper... the importance of biblical allusions in Beowulf
Study vocabulary for Toss Around!

Homework November 27, 2007

--finish your note cards
--finish "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
--write a literature response paper on the short story

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Homework is simple and easy: send me an email telling me about your Thanksgiving plans or anything else (if you don't want to write about that). The email must be 2 paragraphs long and written in STANDARD ENGLISH. No text message language!

The Lit Response Paper (due 11/14)

Literature Response Paper

Remember the days of book reports? All you had to do was read a little book, write a little summary, and you got a good little grade. Those were some good times… and they’re over. Successful readers of literature interact with text. Rather than parroting back facts, effective readers spend time questioning a text and investigating their opinions about what they have read.

A vital part of understanding literature is reflection and discussion. Why read something and never share your opinion? In order to facilitate class discussions, trace your development as a reader, and develop your skills as a concise writer, this semester, you will write critical response papers every week.

You may use this paper to ask significant questions about the text, but you must attempt to answer those questions within your paper. It is imperative that you go beyond the words on the page, beyond that book report summary of elementary school. Plot summary, then is absolutely prohibited in this paper. Your focus is discovering meaning, not critiquing a text or re-hashing a plot. If you summarize, your grade will be an automatic D.

Suggestions for writing these papers:
Select a specific passage or theme from the reading to respond to
Answer a significant question that you are left with at the end of the reading
Make specific connections with the text and other relevant resources

The paper must follow these guidelines:
One page, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12
Have a single spaced header on the left side of the page that includes your name, the date, the class period.
Have a title (centered) that indicates the reading assignment to which you are responding
In a three paragraph format. Because this is a concise paper, you can not use a three point thesis, but you MUST have a thesis statement.
Your paper must have gone through spell/grammar check. You must check the Fleisch-Kinkaid grade level of your paper and note it on the back.
Your paper must be printed before you walk into class on the day it is due. You will not be allowed to print in my classroom on the day it is due.

Any paper that does not adhere to these guidelines will automatically receive a failing grade.

The idea is that these papers will give you a foundation to prepare for and contribute to class discussions. On some days, you may be asked to read your response papers or share the ideas generated by the papers. These papers will be challenging, they will require thought and reflection, so don’t even attempt to crank them out in ten minutes before they are due.

The papers will be returned to you every Tuesday (except for the first one). You will keep them in your English binder. Organize them with the most recent paper on top so that you can see your progression as a writer.

Each paper is worth 50 points… the same as a quiz, so don’t blow them off.

(Special thanks to Mrs. Mest for this assignment!)

NEW QUARTER

--Finish Antigone
--Write out the theme (turn it in to me early if you are going to the college fair on Friday)
--Study for your vocabulary quiz

Last Homework of the quarter

--Final Draft of your research paper (and binder) are due Nov 1. No late binders/papers will be accepted. If you do not submit this, you must re-do the research project next quarter.
--Antigone - read pages 217--227
--Note cards for Lesson 5
--Finish exercises from class if you did not finish

Homework

--Final Draft... final binder. 400 possible points can really impact your grade!

Homework

--Begin Antigone (read to page 217)
--Write ten discussion questions for the reading
--Study for Toss Around

REMINDER
Only two of you turned your rough drafts in on time. You must get those in to me as soon as possible. Monday, the highest possible grade is B, Tuesday - C, Wednesday - D. After that, you can only earn an F. The rough draft must be turned in by the 25th in order for me to be able to grade it so you can turn in the final draft.

IF YOU DO NOT COMPLETE THE RESEARCH PROJECT, YOU MUST DO AN ENTIRELY NEW RESEARCH PROJECT 2ND QUARTER OR YOU WILL FAIL WORLD LITERATURE FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER.

DON'T FORGET THE HOMEWORK

Rough draft due 10/19!!!!!!!
Lesson 4 note cards
State the theme of Oedipus Rex in a sentence

Homework for 10/10

--Rough draft due 10/19
--Write the introductory paragraph to your paper. This should be typed and double spaced.

Homework!

--Study your notecards for Toss Around!
--Bring Mask project materials for Wednesday's class (since we did not get to it today)
--Second Source and Note Check due Wednesday, October 10

Homework 10/2/07

--Preliminary outline due 10/4
--Bring mask-making supplies to class on 10/4
--Finish Oedipus Rex

Outline Format:

Thesis: ____
I.
A.
B.
II.
A.
B.
et cetera....

From today's Chicago Tribune

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Taliban militants hanged a teenager in southern Afghanistan because he had U.S. money in his pocket, and they stuffed five $1 bills in his mouth as a warning to others not to use dollars, police said Monday. Taliban militants elsewhere killed eight police. The 15-year-old boy was hanged from a tree on Sunday in Helmand, the most violent province in the country and the world's No. 1 poppy-growing region. "The Taliban warned villagers that they would face the same punishment if they were caught with dollars," said Wali Mohammad, the district police chief in Sangin.

Dollars are commonly used in Afghanistan alongside the afghani, the local currency, although the U.S. currency is more commonly seen in larger cities where international organizations are found. Militants often justify their attacks and executions as a response to U.S. meddling in Afghan affairs. In Sangin on Saturday, the Taliban shot and killed another man who had sought farm assistance and seeds from an international aid program, Mohammad said. The militants accused him of being a spy.
Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press

Homework for 9/28

--First of all, I need NOTES. Only ONE of you turned them in today.... this means that I need the notes on Monday... every day they are late, the grade drops by one letter. You have to have these to me ASAP because you have another due date...
--Oedipus Mask project - write out your mask plan as outlined on the sheet you received in class
--Read Oedipus Rex (to page 60... it's GOOD!) Read before you make your mask plan...
--Preliminary Outline due Thursday (because we have a Friday colloquium schedule this week).

Homework!

--Notes and sources due Friday, September 28
--Study vocabulary for your QUIZ!
--Short reading... Oedipus Rex to page 36 (I want EVERYONE'S notes!)

Homework for 9/21

--Your Works Cited page is due Friday. Make sure it is in your binder, which at this point MUST HAVE DIVIDERS!!!!
--Vocabulary Lesson 2 notecards are due Friday. Please be as AWESOME this time as you were last!!!

Homework that I forgot to post

--Study for your Kite Runner test
--Gather sources for your Works Cited Page
--Works Cited page due 9/21

Homework for Tuesday, September 11, 2007

--Write 10 discussion questions for The Kite Runner (use the HOTS sheet) from pages 150--end of the book
--Research Proposal/KWL are due Friday 9/14
--Study for your vocabulary quiz Friday 9/14

You guys did such a great job on Toss Around... I expect big things on the quiz!

Homework 9/5/07

--Turn in your research paper contract
--20 vocabulary words on flash cards!

World Lit

World Lit is in the house...