Thursday, October 29, 2009

10/29 for HONORS

Attendance
Prayer
Reflection on Interview Papers
Submit Drafts
Research Paper Assigned
Chapter 14 Test
In Class Reading of "The Masque of the Red Death"
Halloween Treat

Homework:

Research Proposal due Monday
Proposals come in varying degrees of detail. For your proposal, I simply want you indicate what topic you plan on exploring in your research paper. You may wish to tell me what information you expect to uncover during your research. You may include opposing arguments to your viewpoint. The proposal should be no less than one paragraph and no more than one page.

Bring your MLA handbook to class on Monday.
ISBN: 978-1-60329-024-1

Chapter 15 Diagnostic Preview
#1-20 on pages 490-491 in Elements of Language

Vocab Quiz Next Class

Read "The Necklace" on page 190 of Adventures in Reading

10/29 and 10/30

Attendance
Prayer
Chapter 14 Test
New Vocab
In class reading of "The Masque of the Red Death"
Writing scary stories
Halloween Treat for Y'all

Homework:

Chapter 15 Diagnostic Preview
#1-20 on page 490-491 in Elements of Language
Vocab Quiz next class
Read "The Necklace" in Adventures in Reading. page 190
Period 3: Finish Parts A and B on the Chapter 14 test.

ESSAY FORMAT

Typed12 point font
Times or Times New Roman
Double spaced, but do not "double-double" after a paragraph
1 inch margins on all sides the document
Last name and page number in the upper right hand corner of each page
Please use black inkthree (3) to five (5) pages
You must have a title for your report, and it should be centered. Do not underline it or put it in italics or quotation marks.
Do not waste a lot of paper space with your title.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

10/27 and 10/28

Agenda:

Attendance
Prayer
Vocab Review
-collect worksheets
Vocab Quiz
New Vocab
Grammar Review
Grammar Quiz
Reading List Check
In Class Reading

Homework:

Chapter 14 Test Next class

HONORS:

Interview Paper Final Draft due October 29.

Friday, October 23, 2009

10/23 and 10/26

Attendance
"The Fall of the House of Usher"
new vocab
-vocab worksheets
Grammar Review
-study guides
HONORS PEER WORKSHOP
A peer workshop is the reason for the importance of a due date for a rough draft. Those of you who failed to produce a rough draft missed out on this valuable opportunity to discuss the essay with a classmate.
Prayer

Homework:

- Vocab Quiz Next Class
- The vocab worksheets will be collected for a grade
Because of a clerical error, I distributed the wrong worksheets to the HONORS class.
Please make the effort to get the correct worksheets before Tuesday.

- Chapter 14 Quiz Next Class
- Chapter 14 Test Class After Next
- Update your reading lists; they will be graded next class. Grading will take place as follows: One student will be chosen "at random." If that student has a complete reading list, everyone gets credit. If that student does not have complete reading list, NOBODY gets credit. You had been asked to exchange contact information with two (2) of your classmates. A good strategy would be to get in touch with those two (2) friends and make sure they have a complete reading list.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

10/21 and 10/22

Attendance
Prayer
Vocab Quiz #9
New Vocab

1. ambiguous
2. baffle
3. convoluted
4. dilemma
5. enigma

"The Black Cat"
*Please update your reading list to reflect "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat"

Answers to Homework...excercises 4,5,6,7,8
Ex. 5
Participial Phrase Word modified
1. Hoping to be the first to reach the South Pole Robert Scott
2. Leading Scott, a British explore, by sixty miles expedition
commanded by Roald
3. Learning about Amundsen Scott
4. Plagued by bad weather and bad luck Scott
5. Reaching the pole on January 17 British
6. Weakened by scurvy, frostbite, and exhaustion explorers
7. overcome by exhaustion and injuries member
8. leaving the camp at night member
9. sent to find out what had happened mission
10.acclaimed for its heroism expedition
Ex. 6
Gerund Participle
1 subject 3 scout
2 indirect object 4 sister
5 subject 7 ballerina
6 predicate nominative 10 he
8 object of preposition
9 direct object
Ex. 8
to perform-adverb
to travel-direct object
to leave-adverb
to drive-direct object
to forgive-subject
to excel-adverb
to go-adverb
to learn, to live-adjective/predicate nominative
to eat-adverb
to improve, to practice-adjective/predicate nominative
Ex. 9
Infinitive phrases/clauses
to read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings/predicate nominative
to write a report on Maya Angelou’s descriptions of her childhood/direct object
To grow up in Stamps, Arkansas, in the 1930’s/to know great hardships/subject/predicate nominative
to show the everyday lives of African Americans during the Great Depression/direct object
To accomplish this purpose/subject
to capture vivid details in her writing/adjective
us see her grandmother’s store through the eyes of a fascinated child/direct object
to experience life beyond her hometown/adverb
her to achieve success as a writer, a dancer, and an actress/direct object
to dramatize her African American heritage/subject

HOMEWORK:

Read Pages 483-484 in Elements of Language
Excercise 10 and Chapter 14 Chapter Review (1-40) in Elements of Language

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Chapter 14 Exercises 1,2,3 Answers

Ex. 1
Adjective Phrase -Word Modified
1. for Caesar’s military -successes reason
2. of ancient Rome -roads
of the empire- corners
3. of hard stone -blocks
for most major routes -foundation
4. in military roads -interest
of the vital importance -understanding
of communication- importance
5. among the empire’s provinces -communication
of the Roman rulers -power
6. for roads -need
7. of the road system -surfaces
8. of the highways -use
9. from the old empire -roads
10.of roads -miles

Ex. 2
toward the summit
across the road
During Ramadan, from sunrise, to sunset
down the river, on a raft
past many beautiful meadows and streams
beneath the waves
across the international date line
after dinner
out of control, into the powdery snow
beside the river
Ex. 3
Adverb Phrase Word Modified
1. On Friday -were alarmed
by the plaintive sounds -were alarmed
from the abandoned house -came
2. inside the whole house -searched
from the dusty attic -searched
to the cold, damp basement -searched
3. in the basement -found
4. for food -were crying
5. by them -had been made
6. in the corner -found
in it -placed
7. with their temporary home -happy
8. to our house -took
9. with some soft, old towels -lined
in the warm kitchen -set
10.from our house -come
At all hours of the night and day -come

Monday, October 19, 2009

10/19 and 10/20

Attendance
Vocab
-Worksheets
Pop Quiz on Fratek's Pyramid
Prayer
Bud's Notes on Edgar Allan Poe

Homework:

In Elements of Language, read pages 472-482.

In Elements of Language, complete exercises 4,5,6,7, and 8.

Prepare for a vocab quiz on lesson #9

HONORS:

Rough draft of your Interview Paper is due on Friday October 23.

Your paper should be 2 to 4 pages in length.

Standard MLA format as we have written all our compositions.

Refer to the example paper posted a few blog posts back.

Bud's Notes


Thursday, October 15, 2009

Interview Paper

For the Honors class, you have been asked to compose an interview paper. Your experience should consist of the following steps:

Decide on a career you may one day want to pursue.

Arrange an interview time with somebody who works in that profession.
You may conduct an interview in person or on the phone, or you may choose to conduct your interview through email. Email will make it very easy for you to use exact quotes in the essay, but interviewing somebody one-on-one will allow you to elaborate on questions and make note the interviewee's tone and body language.
Should you choose to use a recording device for your interview, be sure to clear that with your interviewee first. Some people do not like being recorded, and you must not record somebody without their permission. Either way, be prepared to take accurate notes. After the interview, take time to look over your notes, expand on areas where you used shorthand, and clarify anything that is written sloppily.

Prepare a list of questions that will help you obtain information that may help in writing an essay that could persuade a reader to pursue the career in question.

Conduct the interview.
Keep in mind "etiquette." I suggest you do not ask, "How much money do you make?" in your interview. Instead, be more tactful. Ask, "What can a beginner expect to earn in this career?" You could ask, "What is the earning potential for this career?"



Draft a persuasive essay that explains important information about the career and explains why somebody would want to work in that career field.

Use direct quotes from the interview to support your thesis.

The following is an example of an interview paper:


In today’s competitive job market, many young people often find themselves flailing in desperation. Even with a college degree from esteemed universities such as Harvard, Brown, and West Virginia University, many young Americans will end up flipping burgers for several years before they find a career that will allow them to combine their intelligence, creativity, and ambition in a positive work environment that provides competitive pay and decent benefits. One job market that many educated Americans have overlooked in the past is professional Zombie. Of course, many people avoid this job because of the immense personal sacrifice involved. As an interview with veteran Zombie Dewey Bloodstone shows, however, this field, in which demand for serious professionals has risen considerably, has been a constant source of pride and satisfaction in the worldwide workforce for thousands of years.
The primary reason so many young people overlook this career option is that the sole employer in the field, Supernatural Rites of Cannibalism Inc., has been engaged in an intense legal battle for the right to obtain and store human souls. This lawsuit, brought against the company by the Anti-Undead Coalition of America, has been costing the SRC millions of dollars a year, and the SRC has had to make severe budget cuts. The majority of these cuts, according to Dewey Bloodstone, the current CEO of the company, have been “Gangrenous infections that have spread uniformly across the advertising department.” Bloodstone went on to state that the company has been “Disabled to the point of having to withdraw its corporate sponsorship of popular figures in the music industry like Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osborne, and Brittany Spears.” Obviously, without these powerhouse recruiters in their corner, and with little money to purchase billboards or television time slots, the company’s numbers have been decimated.
The number of personal changes the job requires usually turns off the few humans that do apply for employment. The most drastic of these personal changes is that the applicant must undergo a life extraction. Bloodstone said “Technology in the life extraction process has come a long way since A.D. 950” when his life was removed through the use of six gallons of crude oil, two yards of goat intestine, one 304 pound stone, and a very large precipice. According to the veteran, the current process is “Relatively painless, with only minimal emotional damage.”
Some of the other drawbacks of the industry are simply side effects of the life extraction. Though different from death, a life extraction forces some lifestyle changes. For instance, the Zombie is force to remain underground during daylight hours, or he/she will suffer very painful and irreversible boiling skin, which, in many cases, ends a Zombie’s career. Another huge change is that of diet. After the life is taken, the new Zombie can only exist on a highly regimented diet that is exclusively composed of brains. Many prospective Zombies feel like they would not like the lack of choice, but Bloodstone claims that “Depending on the education of the individual, brains come in a variety of flavors that puts Baskin-Robbins to shame.” So, perhaps the brain diet is not as restrictive as it seems.
In fact, education is not the only source of variety in the Zombie diet. Bloodstone explained, “Different countries tend to have distinct flavors, as well.” Of course, most people, when thinking of becoming a Zombie, figure that the opportunities for travel are minimal. Bloodstone explained that this is one of the biggest “Misconceptions about the entire industry.” Apparently, though autumn is the only big season for Zombies in America, some places, like Jamaica and particular European and African countries, employ SRC’s Zombie on an exchange basis throughout the rest of the year. Thus, as Bloodstone stated, “The chances for travel and variation are great, indeed”. This fact explains SRC’s current motto, “Eating the world, one brain at a time.”
Opportunities for advancement are yet another enticing aspect of the Zombie profession. Bloodstone mentioned, “In our depleted state, the company is ready and willing to fill a number of middle-management positions within the Fright Farm [the company’s headquarters located in Death Valley, CA].” Furthermore, Bloodstone mentioned the fact that the world’s population is growing by leaps and bounds, and the need for smaller regional headquarters is growing. The experienced Zombie confided, “If a young Zombie were to scrape and claw long enough, he might just be head of a new base in such exotic locales as Bangkok or the French Riviera.” Obviously, young people with administrative abilities and people skills could easily fulfill their dreams.
“When it comes right down to it, we all want to make a dollar and a cent in this business. We facilitate that, and this company also manages to keep our employees,” said Bloodstone about the financial potential for a new Zombie. Within the SRC, the average income is $75,000 a year, and the company also offers a very healthy benefits package. Bloodstone said, “Nearly every district office is located within spitting distance of some of the prettiest scenery around, and our buildings are equipped with all modern luxuries.” After their office hours, many Zombies relax in the state of the art multimedia entertainment rooms that give the SRC employees access to music, television, movies, and internet. Furthermore, the SRC offers overtime pay for up to two hours of self-improvement activities. Thus, the Zombies that take advantage of the company’s million-dollar fitness center get paid for bulking up while others can earn when they learn foreign languages from fellow Zombies. “We are a competitive company, and we want to prove that by having the best undead employees around,” said Bloodstone in reference to the incredible incentive programs designed to improve current employees and recruit diligent, young Zombies. Bloodstone offered this mission statement to any interested youths: “As we move through the 21st century, in a nation wrought with conflict and instability, Supernatural Rites of Cannibalism vows to continue to be the best employer for the best employees; a thousand years running.” Clearly, SRC stands alone as a company dedicated to excellence in its field and its employees.
Professional Zombie is a high paying and satisfying career that is currently a hot opportunity for interested youths. As the interview with long time Zombie Dewey Bloodstone proves, the field is demanding and difficult, but opportunities for hard working individuals are limitless. The intense competition of the job market is sometimes enough to make a person lose his or her mind, and working at Happy Burger may not provide the professional opportunities sought by today’s workforce. Being a Zombie, however, offers the alternative to break on through to the other side and gain a career.

10/15 and 10/16

Reflection
Attendance
Materials Check
Vocab Quiz #8
New Vocab #9

1. abnormal adjective Not normal.
2. conventional adjective Customary; conforming to most standards.

3. idiosyncrasy noun An unusual habit or mannerism of one particular person.
4. orthodox adjective a. Adhering to commonly accepted tradition. b. Adhering to an established religious faith. c. Sound; true; authoritative.

5. precedent noun An action that can be used as an example for subsequent similar cases.

Chapter 14 notes on Prepostional Phrases, Adjective Phrases, and Adverb Phrases

Homework:

Read pages 467 to 471 in Elements of Language

Exercises 1,2, and 3 in Chapter 14 of Elements of Language

Prepare for a Pop Quiz on Fratek's pyramid and all related terms

HONORS

Interview Paper Rough Draft Due October 23

Friday, October 9, 2009

10/9 and 10/13

Agenda:
Chapter 13 Test
New Vocab
Read "The Tell-Tale Heart"

Homework

HONORS:
Observation paper due next class

Everybody:

copy all the "rules" from chapter 14 in Elements of Language. Start on page 466 and copy the rules as labeled 14a through 14l. The rules are in red in your book.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

HONORS CONFERENCES

I still have 21 Observation Paper rough drafts on my desk. That means 21 members of the HONORS class have yet to seem for a one-on-one conference to discuss their essay. This conference is very helpful for your writing, and you should not expect to be able to complete a great observation paper without a conference.

We have a shortened X period tomorrow, and I will be available after school.

10/7 and 10/8 Notes on Fratek's Pyramid

Agenda:

Attendance
Prayer-in our prayer today, we focused on seeing trials and difficulty as a chance to prove ourselves rather than using difficulties as an excuse for poor behavior.

materials check

Vocab Quiz

New Vocab

Reading List: In order to keep track of what we've read for English, I am requiring you to use a reading list. At this point, you should have the following on your reading list:
The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling
Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
"The Most Dangerous Game" Richard Connell
"The Lady or the Tiger?" Frank R. Stockton
"The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allan Poe

Fratek's Pyramid

The Fratek's Pyramid is a scalene triangle used as a visual representation of the important parts of a story.

Part 1, the long incline of the scalene triangle symbolizes the Exposition, or Rising Action. The exposition of a story is the part that gets us interested. It tells us about the characters, setting, and conflict.

Characters are not always human, but of course, we generally think of characters as humans. They are the subjects of the story, and it's our relationship with the characters that makes us care about the outcome of the story.

Characters can be thought of as protagonists or antagonists. Protagonists are main characters. A protagonist is the character whose story we follow, it's the protagonists quest that we care about. A protagonist is not always a "good" guy. For instance, in "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor does something evil, but he is the protagonist of the story.

Antagonists are any characters who clash with the protagonist or get in the way of the protagonist's efforts to complete his or her quest.

Other characters may not be protagonists or antagonists; they are simply supporting characters.

Characters can be seen as round or flat. A round character has clearly developed personality. Positive or negative, we know a lot about the character, and he or she seems to come alive from the page. Examples would include Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver, Zaroff, Rainsford, and Montresor.

A flat character is not a clearly developed personality. They are based on stereotypes or generalities. Ivan would be an example of a flat character, as would Israel Hands.

Otherwise, characters can be thought of as dynamic or static. A dynamic character experiences a change in his or her core personality. Jim Hawkins, for instance, starts Treasure Island as a young, innocent, immature boy, but by the end of the novel, he has become a grown man. He has been attacked, killed a man, stole a ship, and found a buried treasure. Long John Silver, on the other, behaves in different ways, but he remains the same basic person. At first, he is nice and earns the admiration of Jim Hawkins, but then he becomes evil and threatens Jim. Later, Long John Silver seems respectful and cooperative with Dr. Livesey. His behavior changes, but at the root of his personality, Long John Silver is still the same; he's an opportunist. He will do whatever it takes to take care of his own hide.

So, Jim is a Dynamic, Round, Protagonist, but Long John Silver is a Static, Round, Antagonist.

Ivan is a Static, Flat, Antagonist, but Rainsford is a Dynamic, Round, Protagonist.

Setting is where and when a story takes place. Novels and short stories can explore many settings, but you can usually locate one general location for a short story. Setting could be as general as "earth" or as specific as "room 16 in Crespi Carmelite High School." Sometimes setting is very important to a story, and it can have a real effect on a character. In some other stories, setting is simply a background. Setting can refer to century, year, month, day or hour. Think of how each might have an impact on the action of a story.

Conflict is what drives a story forward and keeps your interest. In most stories, the protagonist has a problem that needs to be solved, and it's that quest to solve the problem that keeps your interest. Think how boring it would be to read a story about somebody who sits on a couch and eats Cheetohs. The story might get better when they run out of Cheetohs and need to visit the store.

Conflicts can be classified as man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. technology, man vs. society, or man vs. supernatural. Some classes reduce this classification system to only three, while other scholars choose to use an expanded, more specific list. For our purposes, think of how the confilicts in the stories we read fit into one of those six.

The high point of the Fratek's Pyramid is the Climax. That is the point of most interest in a story. That is the point where the central conflict comes to head and is either solved or proven insoluble.

The last part of the Fratek's Pyramid is the Denouement, Falling Action, or Resolution. Either of those three names can be used to discuss the point in the story where the loose ends are tied up. In a fairy tale, that's when the narrator says, "They all lived happily ever after." Some of our stories have very abrupt denouements. These stories leave your imagine to wander in concluding how things ended up for the characters.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Admonishment to Period 2

As the last class period on an even day, Period 2 would have had the opportunity to read the blogs and speak to four other class periods. Thus, the students of period 2 should have known to come to class prepared.

Aside from the opportunity to figure out what we were going to do in class, students in period 2 should follow the instruction of the syllabus and bring their textbooks to class each day.

Be that as it may, nearly half of the students in period 2 failed to bring an Adventures in Reading book to class today. I offered those students the opportunity to get their books from their lockers, and still, some students were unable to produce a textbook.

That, combined with excessive talking and irresponsible behavior during class forced us to be short on time in period 2. Every class has an excuse for a lack of productivity. The first class of the day is still tired, the second class of the day is hungry, the third class of the day is excited from lunch, and the fourth class of the day is excited for the end of the day. None of those excuses are acceptable. Period 2 has been developing a trend of laziness and misbehavior that must be corrected as a group and individually.

Please understand that class is your job. You must come prepared to work. That means have your materials, but it also means that you must come with a mindset ready for work.

Monday, October 5, 2009

10/5 and 10/6

Agenda:

Attendance
Prayer
Our prayer today focused on patience and listening. I think that we often get so caught up in performing and producing a finished product that we fail to listen to instructions, advice, or even our inner self telling us how things might be done differently. Furthermore, when we get to busy, we often forget to listen for God's guidance which can come as a subtle whisper amidst the din of our lives.
pencil check

New Vocab
Return Materials
Homework Review
In Class Reading

Homework:

Chapter 13 chapter Review on page 463 of Elements of Language
#1-50

Re-Read The Cask of Amontillado in Adventures in Reading page 95.

Vocab Quiz #7 next class

Honors: Your observation paper has been interrupted by a few scheduling problems, so I have backed the due date up to Tuesday, October 13. Please take the initiative to stop by Room 16 after school or during an X-period to benefit from a one-on-one conference with me regarding your essay. I'm usually in my room until 3:30, and the meeting should take about ten minutes.

Period 1:
TV NOTES#3 are due Wednesday.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

10/1 and10/2

Prayer
Attendance
Standardized Test Paperwork (Filling out the first few pages of the upcoming EXPLORE test to alleviate the work on the actual testing day)
Vocab Quiz #6
New Vocab
Grammar Homework Review

Homework:

TV Notes #3 Please refer to older posts to see what kinds of television shows are acceptable for this assignment.

10/1 Fire Drill

Because we had a fire drill, period 1 was unable to complete copying down the vocabulary words. Here they are:


1. Cosmopolitan adjective Sophisticated in an international way.
2. Geopolitics noun The study of the relationship between geography and politics
3. Impolitic adjective Unwise; not exhibiting good judgment.

4. Megalopolis noun A unified urban region comprising several large cities and their surrounding areas.
5. Metropolitan adjective Pertaining to a major city. noun A high-ranking bishop.

Period 1, please bring your homework by after school!