Friday, March 27, 2015

The Great Gatsby -- Chapter 2

Good Morning!

NOTE:  For Spring Break read your independent reading book and ENJOY your break!

*The Great Gatsby -- Chapter Two.  Complete handout and turn in before the end of the period.  We will resume with Chapter Three upon out return from Spring Break. 

Thursday, March 26, 2015

The Great Gatsby -- Chapter One

Good Morning!

*Note:  Be reading your independent reading book with an eye towards writing a book review at the end of the grading period.

*The Great Gatsby  --   We are finishing up Chapter One.  The questions on Chapter One are due today. Be sure that your answers are complete.

*Chapter Two --We will begin today and hopefully get through it tomorrow.

HOMEWORK:  Independent Reading

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The Great Gatsby -- Chapter One

Good Morning!

*Independent Reading -- While we are reading The Great Gatsby, I am going to ask you to do your independent reading mostly outside of class because I will want to get started with our reading of TGG as soon as the period begins.  Hence, I will not be monitoring whether or not you have your independent reading book each day.  A book review will be due at the end of the grading period, and I will remind you of that.

*The Great Gatsby  -- Chapter One.  

 HOMEWORK:  Independent Reading

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The Great Gatsby -- Chapter One

Good Morning!
*Independent Reading -- Please read quietly your independent reading book until we are ready to begin.

*Quiz on Research Topics -- I will collect your handout from last week and your notes before the quiz.

*The Great Gatsby -- Chapter 1.  Complete questions before we resume reading.  You can complete questions 1-6.

*Vocabulary -- there will be a test on the vocabulary at the end of our reading of TGG.  We will be reviewing the words right along, and you will be making it a point to study them.

HOMEWORK:  Independent Reading

Monday, March 23, 2015

The Great Gatsby -- Chapter One

Good Morning!
I hope that you had an enjoyable weekend!
 
*The Great Gatsby -- We are checking out the novel today.  Please have your ID with you.  We are going to the front desk in the library.
 
*Last week we did some background research to the era of the 1920's.  Please review the notes that you took for a quiz tomorrow.  I will then collect your notes.
 
*The Great Gatsby -- Chapter One.  We will begin today.  Questions and other responses will be assigned for each chapter.  Be sure to keep up with these assignments as we go along.
 
HOMEWORK:  Review your notes on background research topics for a quiz tomorrow. 
.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Research Topic

Good Morning!  

*Independent Reading -- Please read quietly until we are ready to begin.

*NOTE: Monday we will be checking out The Great Gatsby -- please have your ID with you.

1.  The Great Gatsby --   Yesterday you did a little research on a topic assigned to you.  I am going to call your number and each of you with that number will come up in front.  You will present your information to the class, emphasizing essential ideas.  The class will take notes on each topic.
     Al Capone
 

3Prohibition
 

4.  Bootlegging

5.  Jazz More Jazz 

     The Jazz Age

6.  Flapper Culture
 

7. Popular Culture  
    The Roaring Twenties


Homework:  Independent reading.  Have your ID on Monday to check out The Great Gatsby.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Research Topics

Good Morning!  

Please get your netbook when you arrive.

*Independent Reading -- Please read quietly until we are ready to begin.

*Article --  You have responded to questions on the article "The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes -- a dream"

*NOTE: Monday we will be checking out The Great Gatsby -- please have your ID with you.

1.  The Great Gatsby -- Today we will be doing a little bit of research on the period of The Great Gatsby What was the culture like during the period of The Great GatsbyI will assign you a topic (numbers 1-7).  Read your assigned article and find 10 interesting/important facts. Record these facts on the handout provided so you will have notes to refer to when you share the information with the class.  We will share these facts tomorrow so begin promptly and be prepared to share.
 

     Al Capone
 

3Prohibition
 

4.  Bootlegging

5.  Jazz More Jazz 

     The Jazz Age

6.  Flapper Culture
 

7. Popular Culture  
    The Roaring Twenties


Homework:  Independent reading



 





Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Article -- "The American Dream . . . ."

Good Morning!

*Independent Reading -- Please read your independent reading book until we are ready to begin.

*Article --  Read "The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes -- a dream" and respond to the questions (handout).  This article describes an economic situation that parallels the 1920's and is a good pre-reading article to The Great Gatsby.

*HOMEWORK:  Independent Reading

Friday, March 13, 2015

Transformational Thinking Essay

Good Morning!
Please get your netbook when you arrive.
 
*Be sure to have your CELL PHONES out of sight during this class.

NOTE: Be sure to have your independent reading with you on Monday.  There will be an assignment based on your independent reading.

*Transformational Thinking Essay --  Your essay is due today.  Be sure that it has a title  and that your name, course name, instructor's name, and date are in the  upper left corner.


HOMEWORK:  Independent Reading Book for Monday

Thursday, March 12, 2015

California Healthy Kids Survey

Good Morning!
Please get your netbook when you arrive. 

*NOTE:  Please have your cell phones completely out of sight until you leave this class at the end of the period. 

*NOTE: Today you will be taking the California Healthy Kids Survey.  Please go to my blog (Baltrushes.blogspot.com) and click on the following link to get started.  I will read a script before you begin so you know more about the goal of this survey.

http://tinyurl.com/PLHSkids



SCHOOL CODE:  RQ77YP


If you finish the survey before the end of the period, go ahead and work on your Transformational Thinking Essay.  

HOMEWORK:  1. Transformational Thinking Essay  2. Bring your independent reading book

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Transformational Thinking Essay

Good Morning!
Please get your netbooks when you arrive.

NOTE:  Please have your cell phones completely out of sight until you leave this class at the end of the period.  

*Independent Reading Book:  Please have your independent reading book on your desk so I can check it today.

*NOTE:  California Healthy Kids Survey tomorrow (mandatory)
*Transformational Thinking Essay is due Friday -- Please carefully proofread your writing for errors.   Be sure to have all parts complete according to the outline that I gave you.  If you perchance have completed your essay, and it has been closely proofread, please read quietly your independent reading book or work on an assignment for another class.  In any event, please maintain a quiet working environment for all students.

HOMEWORK:  Transformational Thinking Essay

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Transformational Thinking Essay

Good Morning 
Please get YOUR ASSIGNED netbook when you arrive.

NOTE:  You have selected your independent reading book for the second grading period, and you have it with you each day.  Since we are working on an essay, I am not going to ask you to begin class with reading, but that does not mean I do not want you to have your book!

*Transformational Thinking Essay -- I am pushing the due date for this essay up to Friday.  There's a few reasons involved -- the assembly for juniors today (per 4) and the Healthy Survey that you will be taking online on Thursday.  Today, please work quietly in composing your essay.  Be sure to include relevant quotations from the reading.
HOMEWORK:  Transformational Thinking Essay

Monday, March 9, 2015

Transformational Thinking Essay

Good Morning!
I hope that you had an enjoyable weekend!
Please get your netbook when you arrive.
  
* Independent reading -- Today is the first day of the second grading period.  You have made your independent reading selection and you have it with you today.
Sample Book Review

*Transformational Thinking Essay -- today you are working diligently toward completing this essay.  A fully completed draft is due on Wednesday.  As you write about each thinker, be sure to include appropriate, relevant quotations to support the ideas that you explain.  Also, be sure that your discussion of each thinker focuses on a main idea.

HOMEWORK:  Transformational Thinking Essay

Friday, March 6, 2015

Transformational Thinking Essay

Good Morning!
Please get your netbook when you arrive.
  
* Independent reading -- Please make your selection for the next 6 weeks that begins on Monday, March 9th.  Select from the recommended list. 

*Transformational Thinking Essay -- yesterday I gave you the writing prompt for this expository essay assignment (which means that you are writing an essay that explains).  For homework, I asked you to get started on composing the introduction to this essay perhaps using your quickwrite for a start.  Today in class you will work on composing your essay.  PLEASE create a NEW DOCUMENT and name it Period __ Transformational Thinking Essay.  Share it with me (abaltrushes@gmail.com).  Refer to your English Journal for what you have written about Emerson and Thoreau.

HOMEWORK:  Independent reading selection and Transformational Thinking Essay.  A completed draft is due on Wednesday, March 11th.
 

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Quiz on "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Good Morning!
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"
"Justice too long delayed is justice denied."
"There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair."
"The time is always ripe to do right."
"Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."

* Independent reading -- Please make your selection for the next 6 weeks that begins on Monday, March 9th.  Select from the recommended list. Independent Reading
  
*Quiz on "Letter from Birmingham Jail"  -- take a little bit of time to review your notes before the quiz.

*Writing Assignment -- Before I pass out the writing assignment, I would like you to do a quickwrite on the four thinkers that we have studiedWrite about the ideas (s) that connect these four transformational thinkers.  What are your thoughts about what we have been reading? What has been the general theme to the texts?


HOMEWORK:  Thoughtfully compose the introduction to the Transformational Thinking Essay.  If you can work in Google docs at home, create a NEW document and name it Period __ Transformational Thinking Essay.  Otherwise, compose the introduction on paper.  We will work on the essay in class tomorrow.

HOMEWORK:  Introduction to Transformational Thinking Essay

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

"Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Good Morning!
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"
"Justice too long delayed is justice denied."
"There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair."
"The time is always ripe to do right."

*"Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- you should have annotation for each numbered part of the text.  If you are missing a part, just ask. Quiz tomorrow on this text.  Study your notes.  Essay assignment comes next.

Homework:  Review "Letter from Birmingham Jail" for quiz
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Born January 15, 1929
Assassinated April 4, 1968


The ultimate weakness of violence
is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate....
Returning violence for violence multiples violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

"Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Good Morning!
*NOTE:  Start making a selection of your next independent reading book for the second grading period.  Select one from the recommended booklist.  Thank you for posting your book reviews which were due no later than midnight last night.

*"Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- you should have annotation for each numbered part of the text.  If you are missing a part, just ask. Quiz tomorrow on this text.  Study your notes.  Essay assignment next :)

HOMEWORK:  Independent reading selection 

Monday, March 2, 2015

"Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Good Morning!
I hope that you had a very enjoyable weekend!

*NOTE:  Book reviews are due no later than midnight tonight.

*"Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- we will continue reading this text together.  Be attentive to points that are stressed for your annotation.  You will be assigned to write an essay on Emerson, Thoreau, Gandhi, and King after we finish "Letter from Birmingham Jail" so be sure to take good notes.

HOMEWORK:  Start looking for your next independent reading book for the second grading period.