Week at a glance Janurary 27-31, 2014

This week we are wrapping up our work over the Technical Essay.  Students will meet in the computer lab on Monday and Tuesday to make final revisions, to submit their essay online, and to create a visual presentation for their essay.  Presentations must be ready to go in class on Wednesday.  Students who are not prepared for their presentation must come in before/after school or during Advisory and earn late credit only.  We'll wrap up the week with an introduction to the 3rd Quarter Independent Reading Project.  We will then discuss the assignment and have some in-class reading time to get started.

• Mon: Technical Essay - revise the essay and submit a final draft online to turnitin.com.  Continue working on the presentation.
• Tues: Technical Essay - submit a final draft of the essay online to turnitin.com.  Finish work on the presentation.
• Wed: Technical Essay presentations
• Thurs: Technical Essay presentations
• Fri: 3rd Quarter Independent Reading Project - assignment, discussion, dates, and reading time.

Week at a glance January 20-24, 2014

This week we are working on multiple assignments.  We'll start with the beginning of our grammar unit.  Based on what we've seen in students' past writing, our first focus will be on fixing comma splices.  Each grammar unit week will start with a pre-test.  We will then do mini lessons throughout the week.  Students who earn an A on the pre-test do not have to take the test on Friday.  We will also continue to read and discuss Act One of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.  We'll wrap up the week with a review of the play so far, our grammar unit quiz, and a discussion of how we did and where we're headed with the Technical Essay.

• Mon: No school - MLK Day
• Tues: Grammar Unit - comma splice pre-test.  Death of a Salesman - continue reading and discussing Act One.
• Wed: Grammar Unit - fixing comma splices with conjunctions.  Death of a Salesman - continue reading and discussing Act One.
• Thurs: Death of a Salesman - wrap up and review Act One.   Begin working on the Act One, part two study guide.  Grammar Unit - comma splice review.
• Fri: Grammar Unit - comma splice quiz.  Death of a Salesman - Act One, part two study guide due by the end of the hour. Technical Essay - pass back rough drafts and preview next week.

Week at a glance Janurary 13-17, 2014

Attention must be paid..." This week we'll wrap a draft of the Technical Essay before moving on to our first official reading unit of the semester: Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.. It's a tale of a salesman desperately aiming for the American dream brought down by his own tragic flaws. As we read the play in class, we'll be focusing on the relationships between the characters and how Miller shows how events in the past inescapably shape our future.  Students will be reading, discussing, and analyzing the play in class.  They will not have work outside of class during this unit until we wrap up the play and move on to the essay.

• Mon: Technical Essay - printed rough draft due. Death of a Salesman: answer pre-reading questions for Tuesday.
• Tues: Death of a Salesman - discuss pre-reading questions, background, and assign parts
• Wed: Death of a Salesman - begin reading and discussing Act One, pages 1-23
• Thurs: Death of a Salesman - continue reading and discussing Act One, pages 1-23.
• Fri: Death of a Salesman - review the first part of Act One.  Act One, part one study guide due by the end of the hour.

Week at a glance January 6-10, 2014

This week we jump right back into the swing of things with two writing assignments to kick off the new semester.  Our first assignment will be a brief reflection and introduction letter from yourself to me.  The second assignment will be a Technical Essay in which students will select and describe a process to teach.  We'll cover both assignments throughout the week.

• Mon: NO SCHOOL! TOO COLD!
• Tues: Introductions and course overview.  Introduction letter due by the end of the hour Wednesday.
• Wed: Introduction letter due by the end of the hour.  Technical Essay - assignment introduction and brainstorm.
• Thurs: Meet in the computer lab to type up a rough draft for the Technical Essay
• Fri: Meet in the computer lab to type up a rough draft for the Technical Essay