American Literature and Composition
Links to Course Texts:
Thank You for Arguing
The Crucible
The Crucible Audio
The Great Gatsby (with audio)
Virtual Assignments
Week of May 11-15
Welcome to our last week of virtual learning! Please use this week to complete your unfinished tasks in USA Test Prep and to finish the "My Life's Soundtrack" project if you haven't already done so. This unprecedented situation has truly shown how flexible, adaptable, and positive you all can be in the face of adversity, and I am incredibly proud of each and every one of you.
We will have one last Zoom meeting on Thursday at 2:00 to clear up any last minute questions or concerns regarding final grades, plans and placement for next year, etc. ACCESS scores are in and I will share them with you as soon as they are made available to me.
To my seniors...it was so great to see some of you last week, and I can't wait until we have the opportunity to celebrate your accomplishments in person.
Week of April 27th-May 1st
This week, we will work on a creative project, "My Life's Soundtrack." We will meet via Zoom on Tuesday at 2:00 to discuss the project in more detail.
Click here to see my example
In lieu of Warm-Ups, please read this article and complete the comprehension and analysis worksheet.
Week of April 20th-24th
- Please complete the survey sent via Remind to let me know how you plan to present your persuasive speech
- Click here to read the article, "Fake animal news abounds on social media as coronavirus upends life" and complete the quiz questions at the end
- Respond to the following writing prompt (3-5 complete sentences):
Week of April 13th-17th
In lieu of Warm-Ups, please continue keeping a daily journal (3-5 sentences per day, minimum) of your thoughts, feelings, activities, and experiences. You can write about anything--childhood memories, favorite movies or TV shows, your friends and family, the things you're looking forward to doing when the quarantine is over, etc. This should be turned in on Friday, April 17th.
This week, you will continue working on your persuasive speech. Options for presenting the speech are as follows:
- Make a video & send to me directly OR upload to YouTube
- Use PowToon or Storyboard That! to make an animated video
- Use Screencast-o-Matic to make a slideshow with voice-over
- Present it to the class live via Zoom on Friday
Many of you still owe me a Media Monday; please send me yours if you haven't already.
Week of March 30th-April 3rd
In lieu of Warm-Ups, please continue keeping a daily journal (3-5 sentences per day, minimum) of your thoughts, feelings, activities, and experiences. You can write about anything--childhood memories, favorite movies or TV shows, your friends and family, the things you're looking forward to doing when the quarantine is over, etc. This should be turned in on Friday, April 3rd (by email, text, carrier pigeon...)
This week you will be working on Embedded Assessment #2: your persuasive speech! We will have a class meeting via Zoom on Monday, March 30th at 10:00 to talk about this assignment.
Please remember you should be completing tasks in USA TestPrep daily.
You have been assigned 3 videos via Discovery Streaming to help you plan your speech.
- Go to cobb.mackinvia.com
- Login using your Office 365 login ([email protected]; password is the same one you use to login to the computers at school)
- Search for Discovery Education Streaming and click "Open Now"
- View and take notes over the three assigned videos.
Week of March 16-20
In addition to the assignments linked below, I expect you to complete at least one task in USA Test Prep each day. If you haven't completed your Media Monday, please submit it this week as well. Click here for instructions.
- EOC Prep Bellringers (these are your Warm-Ups)
- President Obama's Speech to America's Schoolchildren:
- Assignment in CommonLit
- Video of Speech
- Rhetorical Analysis: SOAPSTONE
- Ethos, Pathos, and Logos:
Your Warm-Ups for this week will be in the form of a daily journal (3-5 sentences minimum per day). Write about what you're doing, how you're feeling, your thoughts on what's happening in the world, etc.
Daily Assignments:
- Monday-Tuesday: Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention:"
- Wednesday-Friday: Choose TWO of the following task sets to complete. To complete the tasks digitally, join our class in ESL Library:
- Go to: esllibrary.com/students
- Select: "Make a new account (I am new!)"
- Enter the class code: 085283 and secret word good
- Follow the prompts to set up an account.
- If you prefer to complete the tasks on paper, the PDFs are linked below.
Digital Learning Resources:
Springboard Textbook
Cobb Digital Library
CommonLit
Login with Clever:
Username is firstname.lastname
Password is the same password you use to login to the computers at school.
Daily reminders will be sent via Remind: Text @gellerAM to 81010 to join.
Click here for sample persuasive PowerPoint
Week 10: October 10-14
Monday: Play Unit Review Quizlet here
Tuesday: Unit Review; begin speech presentations
Wednesday: Continue speech presentations; special guest
Thursday: Unit Test
Friday: I will be at the GATESOL conference; complete oratory chart
Week 9: October 3-7
Monday-Tuesday: Today we will meet in room 907 to type and upload our persuasive speeches and create a PowerPoint or Prezi to accompany the presentation.
Wednesday: Today we will learn about the poet Phyllis Wheatley, and take some time to practice our speeches.
Thursday: Today we will examine an epistolary text and continue practicing our speeches.
Friday: Speech day!
Week 8:
Monday: Today we reviewed rhetorical strategies and learned about the different kinds of leads to use in our persuasive speeches.
Tuesday: Today we completed the pre-writing and wrote introductions to our persuasive speeches.
Wednesday: Today we learned about concessions, counterclaims, and rebuttals, and wrote the body paragraphs of our persuasive speeches.
Thursday: Today we learned how to write effective conclusions, and finished the rough drafts of our persuasive speeches.
Friday: Today we workshopped and peer-revised our persuasive speeches.
Happy Fall Break!
Week 7:
Monday: Today we played several games to review for the unit test over The Crucible.
Tuesday: Today we took the Crucible unit test.
Wednesday: Today, we learned some background information about the Revolutionary period and compared and contrasted Puritan and Rationalist beliefs.
Thursday: Today we read excerpts from Ben Franklin's Autobiography and Poor RIchard's Almanack, and created our own aphorisms.
Friday: Today we signed up for our persuasive speech topics and listened to Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech.
Week 6:
Monday: Labor Day (no school)
Tuesday: Today we completed vocabulary activities for Act IV and began reading Act IV of The Crucible.
Wednesday: Today we finished reading The Crucible and analyzed a few clips from the film version.
Thursday: Today Ms. Geller was away at an ESOL teacher training, and we finished our Act IV study guides as well as a guided reading over "The Real John Proctor."
Friday: Today we finished our analysis of the film version of The Crucible in preparation for next Tuesday's unit test.
Week 5: August 28-September 2
This week, we read and analyzed Act III of The Crucible and completed a variety of character and quotation analysis activities, thematic vocabulary maps, readers' theater, and guided discussion.
Week 4: August 22-26
Salem Witch Trials Interactive: Click Here!
Monday: Today we took the Course Common Assessment diagnostic test.
Tuesday-Wednesday:
On these days, we will meet in the 907 lab to complete the following:
-Setup class blog
-Type and post Origin Myth narrative
-TodaysMeet thematic discussion
-McCarthyism online scavenger hunt
Thursday: Today we will read and act out scenes from Act II of The Crucible. For homework, you will read and analyze the "deleted scene" from Act II.
Friday: Today we will play a review game and take a quiz over Act II of The Crucible.
Week 3: August 15-19
Monday: Today we took background notes over The Crucible, viewed several video clips about the Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials, and completed an Act I Vocabulary "bumper sticker."
Tuesday: Today we met the characters, assigned roles, and began reading Act I of The Crucible.
Wednesday: Today we finished reading Act I, completed the discussion guide, and viewed clips from the 1997 film adaptation of The Crucible.
Thursday: Today we played Kahoot! and completed the Act I review.
Friday: Today we took a quiz over Act I and completed an Act II vocabulary activity.
Week 2: August 8-12
Monday: Today we completed the Origin Myth reading group project, and brainstormed ideas for our own origin myths.
Tuesday: Today we will write the rough draft of our own origin myths.
Wednesday: Today we will complete a peer revision of our origin myths, and take notes over Puritanism.
Thursday: Today we will meet in the computer lab to setup or revise our online writing portfolios and post the final drafts of our origin myths.
Friday: Today we will meet in the lab to continue working on our blogs and to complete a WebQuest over the Salem Witch Trials.
Week 1: August 1-5
Monday: Today we will do a few icebreaker activities to get to know each other, complete a Multiple Intelligences Inventory, and go over the class expectations.
Tuesday: Today we will view a "quick and dirty" overview of the American literary time periods, discuss your questions and concerns, play "Two Truths and a Lie," and take our writing pre-assessment.
Wednesday: Today we will take the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory, pick up our textbooks from the Media Center, and begin a group mini-project on the American literary time periods.
Thursday: Today we will complete our group mini-project and go over the course syllabus.
Friday: Today we will present our group mini-projects and play a game of Kahoot to review the course expectations.
Class materials needed by Monday, August 8th:
- Three-ring binder
- College-ruled looseleaf notebook paper
- Pencils and pens with blue or black ink
- A flash drive
- Art supplies (markers or colored pencils, scissors, glue stick, etc.)
The Georgia Milestones EOC Test will be administered on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, December 7, 8, and 9.
Week 14: November 9-13
Monday: Today we will work on our Gatsby assessment "party" plan and continue the Comparison/Contrast essay.
Tuesday: Today we will peer revise the essay and continue our party plans.
Wednesday: Today we will meet in 907 to type the final draft of the essay, post it to the blog, and conduct research for our "party" assessment.
Thursday: Today we will use information from yesterday's research to craft "artifacts" for our Gatsby assessment.
Friday: Today we will practice for the EOC using informational texts related to the Gatsby films, and continue with our party plans.
Week 13: November 2-6
Monday: Today we worked in centers to complete Character Analysis charts based on The Great Gatsby.
Tuesday: Today we wrapped up the Gatsby film and began writing our comparison/contrast essays. We also played a game of Kahoot! to review for Friday's test.
Wednesday: Today we read and analyzed a critical article about a version of Gatsby that was re-written for ESL classes, and listened to an NPR interview with Baz Luhrmann, director of the 2013 film version of Gatsby.
Thursday: Today we began planning for our Roaring Twenties celebration and peer-revised our comparison/contrast essays.
Friday: Today we took a test over Gatsby and continued planning for our Roaring Twenties celebration.
Week 11: GATZMAX PACKET
GATZMAX RESEARCH
Week 10: October 12-16
Monday: Today, we will present our Roaring Twenties presentations and take notes over F. Scott Fitzgerald, characters and setting in The Great Gatsby. We will visit the Media Center after lunch to check out our copies of The Great Gatsby, complete an Anticipation Guide, and complete a vocabulary activity for Chapter 1.
Tuesday: Today we will read Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby and compare and contrast clips from two different film adaptations of the novel from 1974 and 2013. We will complete the Chapter 1 discussion guide and Chapter 2 vocabulary.
Wednesday: Today we will take a mini-quiz over Gatsby Chapter 1, vocabulary, and background info. We will also read Chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby and complete a discussion guide.
Thursday: Today we will take notes over themes and symbols in the novel, complete Chapter 3 vocabulary, and begin reading Chapter 3.
Friday: Today we will finish Chapter 3, complete vocabulary for Chapter 4, and preview our upcoming "GatzMax" PBL.
Week 9: October 5-9
Monday: Today we will complete the Constructed and Extended Response portions of the Common Assessment. We will also read and annotate the texts for tomorrow's Socratic Seminar.
Tuesday: Today we will have a Socratic Seminar on the topic of "Big Government." We will also introduce our new unit, "The American Dream."
Wednesday: Today we will use the Netbook mobile lab to research the Roaring Twenties and create Prezis on topics related to the time period.
WEDNESDAY POWERPOINT
Thursday: Today we will begin reading The Great Gatsby and complete a vocabulary activity for Chapter 1.
Friday: Today we will take a quiz over the Gatsby background info, Chapter 1 and vocabulary, and complete Chapter 2 vocabulary.
Week 8: September 28-October 2
Monday: Today we will examine a variety of perspectives on John Brown in order to analyze how and why the portrayal of this historical figure has changed over time.
Tuesday: Today, we will learn about the "Anti-Transcendentalists:" Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville. We will work in Literature Circles to examine some of Poe's most famous works.
Wednesday: Today, we will meet in the computer lab (907) to update our blogs and conduct additional research on the Anti-Transcendentalists.
Thursday: Today we will play a unit review game, wrap up our Lit Circles activity, and begin the "My America" poem.
Friday: Today we will take our Unit 2 Assessment and finish the "My America" poem.
Week 7: September 14-18
Monday: Today we finished our analysis of "Civil Disobedience" and completed a constructed-response writing prompt based on the reading.
Tuesday: Today we read the article, "Death of an Innocent," about Chris McCandless, a young man who was inspired by Thoreau to escape society by journeying alone into the wilds of Alaska. We compared and contrasted these two Transcendentalists' motivations and values.
Wednesday: Today, we learned background information about our nation's most famous practitioner of civil disobedience, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and began our analysis of King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Thursday: Today, we completed our analysis and annotation of "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Friday: Today, Ms. Geller was out sick. The class met in Mrs. Campbell's room, where we read and completed a discussion guide over the article, "John Brown: America's First Terrorist?"
Week 6: September 8-11
Monday: Labor Day! No school.
Tuesday: Today we will begin our introduction to Unit 2: American Individualism and complete a group activity examining the poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Wednesday: Today we will meet in the English department computer lab, 907, to continue building our online writing portfolios.
Thursday: Today we will introduce the SOAPStone method of rhetorical analysis, and apply it to a variety of texts related to our unit theme of American Individualism.
Friday: Today we will continue our study of American Individualism and rhetorical analysis by completing a close reading of Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience."
Week 5: August 31-September 4
Monday: Today we will finish our Crucible film analysis and work on the Sociogram project.
Tuesday: Today we will finish our Sociograms.
Wednesday: Today we will present our Sociogram projects and review for Thursday's test.
Thursday: Today we will take a test over the standards addressed through our study of The Crucible.
Friday: Today we will complete a rhetorical analysis based on the summer reading, Thank You for Arguing (Chapter 1: "Open Your Eyes: The Invisible Argument").
Week 4: August 24-28
Monday: Today we will present our Act II Group Skits, take an open-note quiz over Act II, and complete vocabulary activities for Act III.
Tuesday: Today we will complete guided reading over Act III and introduce the Sociogram project.
Wednesday: Today we will finish reading the play and continue working on the Sociogram project.
Thursday: Today we will play a game to review for tomorrow's assessment, and continue the Sociogram project.
Friday: Today we will take the unit assessment and present our Sociograms.
Week 3: August 17-21
Monday: Today we finished guided reading over Act I of The Crucible and completed a vocabulary puzzle to review.
Tuesday: Today we took a quiz over Act I and completed vocabulary for Act II.
Wednesday: Today we began our Act II Group Skits.
Thursday: Today, many people were absent. We continued our Act II assignments and began analysis of the 1996 film adaptation of The Crucible.
Friday: Today we read and analyzed the "deleted scene" that follows Act II.
Week 2: August 10-14
Monday: Today we will present our Literary Time Periods group projects and take guided notes over Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible.
Tuesday: Today we will complete contextual vocabulary for Act I of The Crucible and have a discussion based on an Anticipation Guide.
Wednesday: Today we will meet in Mr. Langley's computer lab, Room 804B (upstairs T&I), to set up our class blogs and complete a WebQuest over McCarthyism and The Crucible.
Thursday: Today we will take our first Common Assessment for the course, and assign reading roles for The Crucible.
Friday: Today we will finish reading Act I of The Crucible and complete a guided reading activity, You will turn in Warm-Ups and Summarizers for Weeks 1-2 today.
Week 1: August 3-7
Monday: Today we will do a few icebreaker activities to get to know each other, complete a Multiple Intelligences Inventory, and go over the class expectations.
Tuesday: Today we got a "quick and dirty" overview of the American literary time periods, went over your questions and concerns, played "Two Truths and a Lie," and took our writing pre-assessment.
Wednesday: Today we will take the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory, pick up our textbooks from the Media Center, and begin a group mini-project on the American literary time periods.
Thursday: Today we will complete our group mini-project and go over the course syllabus.
Friday: Today we will present our group mini-projects and play a game of Kahoot to review the course expectations.
Class materials needed by Monday, August 10th:
- Three-ring binder
- College-ruled looseleaf notebook paper
- Pencils and pens with blue or black ink
- A flash drive
- Art supplies (markers or colored pencils, scissors, glue stick, etc.)
Final Exam Friday, December 19th
NOTE: YOUR EOC/MILESTONE TEST WILL BE DECEMBER 4, 5, and 8
Finals Week
Click here to play "Final" Jeopardy!
Time in class this week will be spent finishing the character analysis and preparing for the final exam.
Wednesday is the absolute last and final day to turn in any and all missing work.
Week 17: December 8-12
Monday: Today you completed the final section of the EOC/Milestone Test. Whew!
Tuesday: Today we began the documentary, Freedom Riders, and took notes for the Constructed Response question. Read Ch. 13 of The Help for homework.
Wednesday: Today we finished Freedom Riders, discussed Chapter 13, and received the study guide for the final exam.
Thursday: Today we will begin an analysis of the film version of The Help.
Friday: Today we will finish the film version of The Help and complete the character analysis.
Week 16: December 1-5 (EOC Week!)
Monday through Wednesday of this week, we will continue to use various USA Test Prep resources to prepare for the Georgia Milestones EOC Assessment that you will take on Thursday, Friday, and Monday. Students should read through Chapter 15 of The Help by the end of the week.
Visit www.usatestprep.com using the login information your received in class to continue preparing for the test!
Week 15: November 17-21(EOC PREP WEEK)
This week we will focus on Language standards while continuing to read and create reader response journals for The Help.
Week 14: November 10-14
Monday: Today we will assess prior knowledge of the Civil Rights movement and take notes over a segment of the PBS documentary, Eyes on the Prize.
Tuesday: Today we will complete the Civil RIghts anticipation guide and WebQuest, and receive additional background information about The Help.
Wednesday: Today we will be introduced to the three main characters of The Help by reading chapters 1-3 and completing character maps and reader response journals.
Thursday: Today we will read chapters 4-6 of The Help and continue with reader response journals and character maps.
Friday: We will read through Ch. 9 of The Help and continue with reader response journals and character maps.
Week 13: November 3-7
Monday: Today, we took notes over formulating constructed and extended responses to literature, and began the Constructed and Extended Response segments of our common assessment.
Tuesday: No school, Election Day! I hope those of you who are 18 got out and rocked the vote!
Wednesday: I am out at LBQ/DBQ training today; with the substitute, you are reading, annotating, and completing a discussion guide over the article, "John Brown: America's First Terrorist?"
Thursday: Today we will complete the Constructed and Extended response portions of the common assessment.
Friday: Today, we will wrap up Unit 2 with a "My America" poetry reading and preview Unit 3.
Week 12: October 27-31
Monday: Today we took Part 1 of our third common assessment, including a performance task.
Tuesday: Today we will learn about the Anti-Transcendentalists and examine the poetry of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Wednesday: Today we will begin a Literature Circles activity with short fiction by Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe.
Thursday: Today we will finish and present our Anti-Transcendentalist literature circles and complete a second draft of the "My America" poem.
Friday: Happy Halloween!
Today we will finish and publish our "My America" poems and do a creative activity with the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.
Week 11: October 20-24
Monday: Today we will continue with our analysis of Walt Whitman's poetry.
Tuesday: Today we will complete our study of the poetry of Walt Whitman and create original poetry inspired by Whitman's themes and style.
Wednesday: Today we will examine the poetry of Emily Dickinson.
Thursday: Today we will begin a creative comparison activity using information about the life and work of Whitman and Dickinson.
Friday: Today we will complete and present our Whitman and Dickinson analysis.
Week 10: October 13-17
Monday: Today we viewed the 20/20 episode about Chris McCandless and finished the guided reading questions over "Death of an Innocent." We took notes over the background info for Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Tuesday: Today we will be joined by Ms. Folio's class and complete a comparison/contrast activity.
Wednesday: Today we will read and annotate Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Thursday: Today we will finish our discussion of Thoreau's contemporary influences and learn some background information about Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, as well as some additional literary terms. We will analyze the poetry of Emily Dickinson in the context of our unit theme of Individualism.
We will also analyze the poetry of Walt Whitman and discuss the criteria for your "My America" poem.
Friday: Today we will compare and contrast the poetry of Whitman and Dickinson, and take a quiz over the background notes on these two poets and their work.
ESL American literature and composition
Week 9: October 6-10
Monday: Today begins our new unit, with the theme of American Individualism. We will focus on the Romantic and Transcendentalist literary movements, and our main literary focus will be poetry. Today we will complete a unit activator, take some background notes, and complete poetry circles with the poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Tuesday: Today we will finish and present our Emerson poetry circles, and gather some additional background information on Emerson, Thoreau, and Transcendentalism.
Wednesday: Today we will begin to read and discuss Thoreau's Civil Disobedience.
Thursday: Today we will prepare a constructed response to Thoreau's Civil Disobedience and compare/contrast it with the Outside magazine article, "Death of an Innocent."
Friday: Today we will complete our comparison/contrast and take a quick quiz over the introductory notes.
Week 8: September 29-October 3
Monday:
- Continue Body Bio
- Review for Gatsby Test
Tuesday (substitute)
- Finish Body Bio
- Gatsby Test
Wednesday
- Body Bio Presentation
- "Gatsby too Great?" Article Analysis
- Constructed Response Practice
Thursday
- Literary Periods Review
- Unit I Reflection
- "What Literary Period Are You?" Quiz
Friday
- Unit 2 Preview
- Language Lesson
LISTEN TO GREAT GATSBY AUDIOBOOK HERE!!!
Week 7: September 22-26
Monday:
EQ: What is a "Body Biography"? How can I demonstrate my comprehension of a complex text?
How do I proofread my persuasive essay quickly and efficiently?
- Revision Checklist
- Gatsby "Body Biography" Introduction
Tuesday:
EQ: How can I demonstrate my comprehension of a complex text? What are the characteristics of effective persuasive writing?
- More persuasive writing practice
- Gatsby Body Bio
Wednesday:
GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL WRITING TEST
3rd Period will report to class and complete Gatsby film activity after the test.
Thursday:
EQ: How can I demonstrate my comprehension of a complex text?
- Gatsby Jeopardy
- Body Bio
Friday:
EQ: How can I demonstrate my comprehension of a complex text?
- Gatsby Test
- Body Bio due
September 15-19: FALL BREAK
Week 6: September 8-12
Monday:
EQ: How can figurative language enhance a work of fiction?
What is the best way to approach a persuasive writing task?
- Read and discuss Ch. 4
- Ch. 5 Vocabulary Activity
- Persuasion: Issue, Task, Audience
- Homework: Read Ch. 5
Tuesday:
EQ: How does character development advance the plot of The Great Gatsby?
What are the best strategies for writing a persuasive introduction?
- Ch. 5 Open-Book Quiz
- Ch. 6 Vocabulary Activity
- Persuasion: Writing Effective Introductions
- Homework: Read Ch. 6
Wednesday:
EQ: What are the characteristics of an effective persuasive essay?
Special Guest Facilitator: Ms. Lydigsen
- Issue, Task, Audience practice
- Organizing your persuasive essay
- Using Effective Transitions
- Gatsby Ch. 7 Vocabulary Activity
- Homework: Read Ch. 7
Thursday:
EQ: How do I shape an effective counterargument?
How does Fitzgerald use symbolism to reinforce themes in The Great Gatsby?
- Crafting the Counterclaim
- Gatsby symbolism activity
- Ch. 6-7 Open-Book Quiz
- Ch. 8 Vocabulary Activity
- Review for Common Assessment
- HW: Read Ch. 8
Friday:
EQ: What are the characteristics of an effective persuasive essay?
What was the central message of The Great Gatsby?
- Common Assessment #2
- Writing effective conclusions
- Gatsby Ch. 9 Vocabulary Activity
- Finish Gatsby
- Introduce Body Biography
- HW over the break: Choose character for body bio
Week 5: September 2-5
Monday: LABOR DAY
Tuesday:
EQ: How does The Great Gatsby reflect the socio-cultural context of the 1920s?
- Gatsby Ch. 1 Open-Book Quiz
- Character Chart
- Ch. 2 Vocabulary Activity
- Read Ch. 2
Wednesday:
EQ: What is point of view, and how does it affect a work of fiction?
- Gatsby Ch. 2 Open-Book Quiz
- Mini-lesson on point of view (first person, third person limited, third person omniscient)
- Ch. 3 Vocabulary Activity
- Read Ch. 3
Thursday:
EQ: What is characterization, and how is it used to advance the plot in a work of fiction?
- Gatsby Ch. 3 Open-Book Quiz
- Mini-lesson on direct and indirect characterization
- Chapter 3 secondary characters group activity
- Ch. 4 Vocabulary Activity
- Read Ch. 4
Friday:
EQ: How can figurative language enhance a work of fiction?
- Ch. 4 Open-Book Quiz
- Figurative Language group activity
- Ch. 5 Vocabulary Activity
- Read Ch. 5
Week 4: August 25-29
Monday
EQ: What is "socio-cultural context," and how can it help us understand a work of literature?
- Biography presentations
- Computer lab: Roaring 20's Scavenger Hunt (mini-research)
Tuesday
EQ: How did Fitzgerald's life and times affect his work?
- Roaring 20's presentations
- "Field Trip" to media center for Gatsby books
- Read Ch. 1 and complete discussion guide
- HW: Post response to blog
Wednesday:
EQ: How can graphic organizers help us to understand a novel?
- Gatsby character chart
- Ch. 2 vocabulary activity
- Read Ch. 2
Thursday:
DROP EVERYTHING AND WRITE! Mock writing assessment.
Open House tonight. Special info session for ESOL families at 6:00 in media center.
Friday:
EQ: How can I demonstrate my comprehension of a novel?
- Gatsby Ch. 1-2 and background info quiz
- Ch. 3 vocabulary activity
- Read Ch. 3
Week 3: August 18-22
Monday
EQ: How is the concept of the "American Dream" expressed through poetry?
- Warm-Up: A song lyric that means a lot to me...
- Elements of Poetry notes
- Poetry annotation and analysis: Richard Blanco's "America"
Tuesday:
EQ: How is the concept of the "American Dream" expressed through poetry?
- Warm-Up: Annotation practice
- American Dream poetry activity
Wednesday:
EQ: How is the concept of the "American Dream" expressed through poetry?
- Continue American Dream poetry activity
Thursday:
EQ: What themes will be addressed in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby?
- "Class and the American Dream" article analysis
- Gatsby anticipation guide
Friday:
EQ: What themes will be addressed in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby?
- Lit Terms and Vocabulary Quiz
- Gatsby Ch. 1 Vocabulary Activity
- Fitzgerald Bio Timeline
Week 2: August 11-15
Monday
EQ: What are my strengths and weaknesses as an English student?
- Warm-Up: Testing Protocol
- Common Assessment #1
EQ: What are the characteristics and elements of an editorial?
- Warm-Up: Brainstorm List
- Finish peer interviews
- Write rough draft of interview editorial
- Peer-revise interview editorial
EQ: What is the "American Dream," and how is it expressed through literature?
- Warm-Up: What does the phrase, "American Dream," mean to you?
- "This I Believe" jigsaw
- Gallery Walk
EQ: How is the concept of the "American Dream" expressed through poetry?
- Warm-Up: What is poetry?
- Poetry comparison/contrast activity
- TOTD: "I believe" statements
EQ: How can we use technology to publish our writing?
- Type interview articles
- Post to blog
Welcome!
Week 1: August 4-8
EQ: What do I need to know in order to be successful in Ms. Geller's class?
- Warm-Up: Introductory Note
- Procedures Overview
- "People Bingo"
- TOTD: "How Many Ways Are We Smart?"
Tuesday:
EQ: What does learning look like in Ms. Geller's class?
- Warm-Up: Free-association list--"American Literature"
- Syllabus Overview and Mini-Quiz
- "A Window on my World"
- Pair/Share: Phone Friends
- TOTD: Parking Lot--Question, comment, concern
Wednesday:
EQ: What are the characteristics of a successful interview?
- Warm-Up: What do you already know about PERSUASIVE/ARGUMENTATIVE writing?
- Overview of persuasive interview project
- Mini-lesson on interview skills
- Develop interview questions
- Conduct interviews
- TOTD: Plus/Minus/Interesting
- HW: Rough Draft
Thursday:
EQ: What is the difference between revision and editing? Why are both important?
- Warm-Up: Revision/editing exercise
- Revision and editing practice
- Establish norms for peer revision
- Peer revise interview articles
- TOTD: Rough sketch of campaign poster with slogan for interviewee
Friday:
MEET IN WORLD LANGUAGES COMPUTER LAB
EQ: What is the final step of the writing process? What different media can we use to publish our work?
- Overview of lab conduct and procedures
- Setup student blogs
- Type final copy of interview article; publish to blog and print