Tuesday - March 23, 2011

1st Per - Creative Writing:  Write a story/journal describing life from the perspective of the family pet.  2 -3 pages, typed.  Due Friday.

2nd Per - Honors:  Students worked on reading their books for the historical biography today in class. Tomorrow, we will begin a unit on feminist literature from the Renaissance period. 

3rd Per - We began looking at the background information from Edgar Allen Poe's short story "A Tell Tale Heart."  We read and discussed the information from pages 376 and 377.  The primary question we should be asking ourselves as we read is "Is the narrator insane or merely deluded?"

4th Per - 7th Grade:  We FINALLY finished the story by Gary Soto "7th Grade."   Assignment:  Answer questions 1 - 7, 9 on page 268.  On question #1, do a chart for only Victor and Teresa as your characters.

5th Per - 12th Grade:  We are beginning a short unit on Shakespearean sonnets.  Shakespeare was a genius who understood very well how to use the conventions of writing to do amazing things.  You can read about what makes a sonnet on page 268 in your text, and then we are working on pages 384 - 390.  We haven't actually started reading the actual sonnets yet, so don't worry about that till tomorrow. 

6th Per - 10th Grade:  We are beginning to read the play "The Merchant of Venice."  This is a really cool play, with a great plot and story line, but it can be challenging for high school students to understand.  Please read Act I Scene I for class tomorrow.  Assignment:  Create a "character/Plot map" for this play.  Divide your paper into two halves.  On the left hand side, write down every character you come across in chronological order.  Once you have a character down, you need not repeat his name later on, but you do wnat to give yourself room to write about who he/she is.  Basically, keep notes on the character and what he/she adds to the play.  On the right hand side of the paper, keep note of what is happening in the plot of the play.  Try and paraphrase or summarize the action so you can keep up in your head.  I won't be in class tomorrow, so you'll need to read on your own.