Thursday Oct 31

A glorious class today - we read to page 32 in the text and got up to 14 in the questions for the Part ! of the Unit due to come in on Nov 7th

I did get a chance to conference with a few people about their CA's and their missing assignments for this course.

And I got a few assignments in along the way as well.

Wed Oct 30

I'm doing this late, sorry. It's been quite a few days.

We read to page 19 and got up to 7 done of the questions.

I'm still working on the dates for the CA with the other teacher.

Cool.

Tuesday Oct 29

Students will watch this video and answer the posted questions below.


 

1) In an informal piece of writing of about 100 words, tell me what you think about when you see people rummaging through your garbage.

2) What do you notice about the differences between the daughter and her mother?

3)In an informal paragraph of about 100 words, tell me what do you think about the line that the mom says at the lunch "I'm fine. You're the one who needs help."

If you are done these three questions and have emailed them to the teacher, please use any time left to:
Complete and email any Horror Unit assignments.
Complete and email any other unit assignments.

I will remind students that my midterm marks are due on November 6th. Get it done, get it in.

Any paper versions of assignments, please hold on to and put them in my hand tomorrow.

Monday Oct 28

We started reading the book Glass Castle in class.

We got to page 10 and had questions 1, 2 and 3 assigned.

I followed up with students on the Horror Unit assignments. Some owed all four assignments. The due dates are on the right-hand side of this blog and on the walls of the portable. You need to get this stuff completed.

Thursday and Friday Oct 25

Both of these days we used as "nagging" days to get the stuff for the Horror Unit in to the teacher.

It had mixed results.

I did publish the Webquest for the novel unit that we will begin on Monday - it's on the post fro Wednesday.

Wed Oct 23

A counterpoint to the Horror Unit

Today was interesting. I did give everyone a chance to get their UHA4 assignments proofread and complete. Some did did come to get help, but there was others were away.

We did take the time to help people get the other sections of the Horror Unit in as well. Still a lot missing.

I did also chat with people about the CA topic as well.

Finally, I posted the Webquest for the next unit, a novel unit on Glass Castle. We're going to start that next week.

Here is the webquest:

Webquest for Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

1.  Go to the Wikipedia page for Jeanette Walls and read. In an informal paragraph length piece of writing, what are three really cool things you found out about the author?

2.  On a side note, what do you know about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Of what you know of the author’s life growing up from reading her wiki page, how amazing is it that she is a published and now wealthy author?

3.  In a paragraph length formal piece of writing, speculate why we would have chosen this novel to read this semester. Ideas might include the author, the plot or even the subject matter of the novel.

4.  What does the term “memoir” mean and how might it be used in this novel? Why is this not considered an “autobiography”?

5.  If you were to write a memoir, what are five things that you would write about yourself in it?

Tuesday Oct 22

Today we started by chatting about the Parent-Teacher night this Thursday and about the mark Update that should come shortly, too.


We then chatted about what students should be handing in today - the write up of the three Horror stories we read as a class - Tell-Tale Heart, I am the Doorway and The Lottery. I did post the stories on the right-hand side of the blog, too.

I also posted the powerpoint deck for students to pick a Theory of Horror that they connect with and do a write up for as UHA2 - see the unit outline for more details.

We also watched me work on an example of the UHA4 ... the write up for the horror film that students are to hand in on Friday as well.

I did offer to start the next unit a little early, but we kept busy on the items above.

Monday Oct 21

Today we read this story by Stephen King.

All good.

Here are the questions

1.     So … what did the main character, Arthur, do for a living? What was his big moment?

2.     There are some references used in this story. Using whatever device you can, find out and then write out the definitions for these words:

River Styx, Monolith, scrofulous

3.     How does Richard end up being killed, anyway?

4.     Why does Arthur write that money for the space program should be spent elsewhere?

5.     The ending is kind of unclear – why is that sort of ending so disappointing to readers, do you think?

I also had to nag a few people about the choices of film for UHA4 and CA topics today. Again.

I did also start a copy of what was expected for UhA4 in front of everyone today, too. I'm using the film Plan 9 from Outer Space as my subject.

Friday Oct 18

We started off today reminding everyone of the CA due date ... which was yesterday ... and of the need to email the teacher about that topic and also about the title of the film to be studied by the end of this unit.

CA topic
Film title

I had some very brief emails that were perfectly acceptable emails for this assignment.

After those reminders, we went on to talk about the Psychology of Fear / UHA2 assignment that was due as well. You have to pick a theory about Horror that suits you and do a short assignment about it.

Lastly, we took a peek at the large piece of writing that is due Oct 25th - UHA4. The outline as the assignment is on the Unit Outline. We went through that today, making sure that everyone knew what was expected. Rubric to follow

Thursday Oct 17

Today we are going to take the next step in the Horror Unit, by working on this story.

Questions 1-4 are the ones assigned for The Lottery.

Reminder that an email should be send to the teacher regarding your CA topic and your choice of film for the UHA4 assignment