Mrs. Kenyon's Blog

AP Language

10/31

Vocabulary quiz over unit 9.  Reading comprehension practice using Patrick Henry's "Speech to the Virginia Convention."

11/1

Revisit "The Meteorites."  Yes, I really am going to give the papers back with suggestions!

11/2

Socratic Seminar questions due on The Glass Castle.  You should have three questions and answers to all three questions.  PLEASE TYPE THIS!  We will also have mini-writing conferences today on "The Meteorites." 

11/3

Activity using your TGC annotations.  Make sure you bring your book with your annotations!

11/4

Socratic Seminar on The Glass Castle.

Honors American Literature

Important Upcoming Dates:  Test Friday over Into the Wild, and romantic and transcendentalist thought.  Remember, you should already have study guides/notes on romantic and transcendentalist philosophies.  Selections covered will include William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis," Ralph Waldo Emerson's excerpts from "Nature" and Self-Reliance," Henry David Thoreau's excerpts from Walden and "Civil Disobedience," Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," and, of course, Into The Wild.  The assessment on Edgar Allan Poe will be the "fright fest" project.

10/31

Today we will begin "The Minister's Black Veil," a story by Nathanial Hawthorne and appropriate for Halloween.  It isn't spooky per se, but Hawthorne certainly explores the dark side of human nature. 

11/1

"The Minister's Black Veil"

Into the Wild Quizzes back and discussed.

11/2

We will watch a biographical video on Edgar Allan Poe. I will also distribute our "Poe Fright Fest" project and group assignments.

11/3

Review Into The Wild, and transcendentalist and romantic thought.  Group work on "fright fest" if time allows.

11/4

Test - Into the Wild, and transcendentalist and romantic thought. 

Honors American Literature

Good news:  The higher of two quiz grades will be recorded for both quiz one and quiz two, so if you did not do well on the first quiz you can improve your grade by doing well on the second quiz.  If you made over 100% on the first quiz, you will only make 100% on the second (scores over 100% will not count twice). 

Exception to this rule:  You must be present for the quiz on Thursday to take advantage of the higher of two scores offer.  Make-up quizzes (quiz 1) will be reflected as your actual score.

AP Language

Important Upcoming Dates:  Tuesday, 10/25, EOCT benchmark testing; Thursday, 10/27, The Glass Castle Quiz 2.

Monday 10/24:

First thing, we will figure out alphabetical seating in preparation for benchmark testing tomorrow when you will need to seat yourselves alphabetically.  Then we will have our vocabulary quiz and discuss The Glass Castle after giving back your quizzes.

Tuesday 10/25:

EOCT Benchmark testing.  Please be seated ASAP.  You will need to mark your answers on both the booklet and submit them using the iRespond units.  Your paper test will not be looked at unless we are fairly certain that something has gone awry with the iRespond units; it is, however, an important backup.  Make sure to hit send after every question!

Wednesday 10/26:

We will take a look at the wordmasters quiz and work backwards to determine why the right answers are the right answers.

Thursday 10/27:

The Glass Castle Reading Quiz 2

Friday 10/28:

We will go over vocabulary words for unit 9 (have your cards ready).  I will also return your essays on "The Meteorites" with suggestions for improvement.

Honors American Literature

Important Upcoming Dates:  Tuesday, 10/25, benchmark testing on the EOCT (yes, this will be a grade);  Thursday, 10/27 Into the Wild Quiz #2

Monday 10/24

We will figure out alphabetical seating.  This is how you will sit for the benchmark test tomorrow.  It will make things go quicker and give you more time on the actual test.  We will then split into groups and find (hopefully you have done some of this already:) quotations from Into the Wild that are relevant to the transcendentalist themes we have been studying.  Before breaking into groups, I will return your reading quizzes and we will go over them.

Tuesday 10/25

Benchmark testing on the EOCT using iRespond.  Please get to class on time and sit in your seats alphabetically.  You need to make sure your name is on the booklet and you mark your answers on the booklet, as well as using the iRespond units.  Your paper test will not be looked at unless we are fairly confident there has been a mishap with the iRespond unit.  It is an important backup.  Make sure you hit send after every answer!

Wednesday 10/26

We will read "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathanial Hawthorne and begin talking about the Poe "fright fest" project coming up.

Thursday 10/27

Into the Wild Quiz #2 -- bring your quotations from the book.  I will also take these up.  We will finish "The Minister's Black Veil" and talk about the "fright fest" project.

Friday 10/28 -- we will begin work on the fright fest project.

 

AP Language

I got my dates mixed up (have a calendar that starts with Saturday - ugh - instead of Sunday, throwing me off).  Anyway, for the sake of clarity, I will give the next reading quiz on Thursday, but the date is actually the 27th.  Students should read through page 195.  Sorry about any confusion I may have caused!

Honors American Literature

The pacing and quizzes for Into The Wild are as follows:

Chapters 1 through 6     Quiz Wednesday, October 19 (you already knew this!)

Chapters 7 through 12    Quiz Thursday, October 27th

Chapters 13-end             Test Wednesday, November 2nd

Quizzes will be short answer and will test for close reading.  The test will be an objective test.  Students will also write a paper on the book.

AP Language

Reading Pace and Quiz Dates on The Glass Castle:

 Due 10/18:    1-93    Due 10/26*: 94-195    Due 11/1:  196-end

*We have our EOCT benchmark on the 25th, so quiz day for TGC has been shifted one day to the 26th.

Important Upcoming Dates:  First quiz on The Glass Castle on Tuesday (through page 93), timed essay on "The Meteorites" on Thursday, Wordmaster's Challenge on Friday, Vocab #8 cards due Friday.

After doing our initial reading of "The Meteorites" by Brian Doyle on Friday, on Monday we will re-read this essay and annotate it in preparation for the paper on Thursday.  Time allowing, we will begin to discuss it.  We will continue discussing "The Meteorites" on Tuesday after taking the quiz on The Glass Castle.  On Wednesday students will have a "catch up" day in which they work on vocabulary notecards, Wordmaster's vocabulary, prep for "Meteorites" essay, or reading The Glass Castle.  This is NOT a forum for doing calculus homework.  The expectation is that you will work on outstanding assignments for this class.  On Thursday students will write their rhetorical analysis of "The Meteorites" in a timed setting.  On Friday we will go over vocabulary #8 and students will sit for their Wordmaster's Challenge.  Last year our juniors won the national championship; let's do it again!

Honors American Literature

Week of October 17th-21st

Important Upcoming Dates:  Reading quiz on Into the Wild chapters 1 through 6 on Wednesday.  Please bring blank note-cards on Wednesday; Wordmaster's Challenge on Friday.

We will continue our study of transcendentalism this week.  Remember that as you read Into the Wild (ITW) to continue filling in the chart with aspects of Chris McCandless's life that reflect romantic and/or transcendental thought.  You will need this.  On Monday we will continue studying Emerson's Self-Reliance and move on to excerpts from Thoreau's Walden.  On Tuesday we will finish reading excerpts from Walden.  On Wednesday you will have your first quiz on ITW covering chapters 1-6 (inclusive of chapter 6).  After this, you will be given time to put your vocabulary 5 words on notecards.  BRING NOTECARDS PLEASE.  I'm going broke trying to supplement people who can't seem to remember.  No, little slips of paper are not sufficient - the requirement is for note-cards.  On Thursday we will practice with iRespond again doing vocabulary exercises on unit 5.  You will obviously need your note-cards.  On Friday we will take the Wordmaster's Challenge.  Keep in mind, you have a big act to follow.  The juniors from last year won the national championship!

AP Language

Important Upcoming Dates:  PSAT on Wednesday, 10/12.  Don't forget to bring a pencil and your calculator!  Do you have your copy of The Glass Castle yet?  We will start it on Thursday.  Vocab cards for unit 7 will be due on Friday, 10/14. 

On Monday students turned in their vocabulary cards for unit 6 and took the unit 6 quiz after we reviewed the words.  Students were also given a released prompt from a 1996 AP Language exam (Gary Soto) and asked to extensively annotate the passage after reading the prompt.

On Tuesday we will discuss the Soto prompt, as well as the multiple choice practice using "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" that students did last Friday.

On Wednesday we will look at "The Meteorites" by Brian Doyle.  As you know, his stories are full of wonderful language.

On Thursday we will finish discussing "The Meteorites."  If time allows, I will also give you some time to read The Glass Castle.

On Friday we will go over vocabulary words for week 7.  I will also show you where your graded papers are kept and give you some time to look at your papers before asking you to return them to the file.  We will also talk about revision opportunities and writing conferences.