Mrs. Charlton's Site

English 421:

• The students attended the band concert in the gym for the first hour, then we headed to the computer lab for the last class time dedicated to working on the intro to Shakespeare research presentations.
• Intro to Shakespeare Research Presentations are due on Monday. 

English 531:

• Students had some silent reading time.
• We continued looking at poetry, completing response questions for poem “The Computer”. 
• Students listened to a John Mayer song, “Waiting for the World to Change”, and responded to questions:

1. What is the message of the song?
2. Do you agree or disagree with the message?  Explain.
3. What is John Mayer saying about the media?
4. How does the song make you feel?

• We will continue our discussion of poetry on Monday.

Writing 421:

• Goods News articles were due today.
• Reading response logs will be accepted until Tuesday of next week.
• Story Sharing Assignments are due on Monday — to be presented.
• Today students worked on writing positives messages to one another — these will be distributed next week.
• Any students who were absent can check the Writing 421 page for details on the activity — you should all have messages for your classmates to hand out on Monday.

English 531:

• Students had some silent reading time.
• We began an introduction to poetry — went over poetry definitions and examples, and looked at a poem about media literacy.

English 421:

• Today we did an introduction to drama by listening to an excerpt from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  We talked about scripts as a written form and about the language used in the play.
• Homework: Find 4 examples of words or phrases for each of the themes in the excerpt (romantic love, friendship and competitiveness).

Writing 421:

• Students had lab time to work on their projects.  The Good News article is due tomorrow, and the Story Sharing Presentation is due on Monday.
• Reminder: Reading response logs are due tomorrow.

English 421:

• Students had some time today to work on their intro to Shakespeare research presentations.  Make sure to make arrangements with your research team to complete work outside of class time also.

English 531:

• Students had silent reading time.
• We read an article from Passages entitled, “The Wired Teen” to continue our discussion on media literacy.  Students responded to questions #1 a, b, and c and the media paragraph response on p 178.

Writing 421:

• We discussed the two upcoming assingments — the Good News article (due Friday) and the Story sharing assignment (due Monday). 
• We will be going to the library tomorrow to dedicate some time on completing these assignments.
• Reminder: Reading response logs due on Friday — the last submission before the holidays.

English 531:

• Students had time for silent reading.
• Students wrote a journal entry as a novel response or on a topic of their choice (suggested topic was the upcoming holidays).
• We looked at a media literacy slideshow — will continue tomorrow.

English 421:

• Students had some time in the library to work on their intro to Shakespeare/ Julius Caesar research assignments.  We will continue working on these tomorrow.

Writing 421:

• A few more students presented their show and tell items.
• Students worked a sheet to practice using transitional phrases.
• We discussee the upcoming Good News Article assignment.  Students will have time to work on their drafts tomorrow.  Good copies are due on Friday.

English 421:

• LOTF final projects were due today. 
• Some students shared their final projects.
• Students returned their LOTF novels and received their new Julius Caesar textbooks. 
• Students were introduced to their Intro to Shakespeare project and placed onto research teams.  We will head to the library tomorrow to commence research.

English 531:

• Students had some silent reading time or time to work on their movie critique assignment — which was due this past Friday.
• We discussed the poem “A Letter to the Media”, and watched a few commercials.  We talked about the lack of representation of “real” people on commercials and in popular television shows.

Writing 421:

• Today students had show and tell demonstrations.  Most students had a chance to demonstrate a skill to the class.  Those who did not get to present can do so tomorrow.
• Good News article assignment is due on Wednesday.
• Reading response logs are due on Friday.
• Reminder: Be looking for a good/inspirational holiday or feel-good story to present next week.

English 531:

• Today we watched Episode 11 of One Tree Hill.  Students listened to a song by U2 which was the title of this episode, and responded to questions.  Today’s viewing was about being critical about the messages being sent to us through media — what values is the show expressing?

English 421:

• Students had some time to work on their final projects for Lord of the Flies.
• We finished watching the film version of the novel.
• Final novel projects are due on Monday.

Writing 421:

• Reading response logs are due today.
• Today students improved their directions from yesterday’s activity.
• We looked at newspaper articles today, focusing on the format of them, the critical information they include, and the choice of voice and word choice in some of the articles.
• Students were assigned their Good News Article Assignment — see Writing 421 page for details.  These articles are due Wed, Dec 16.
• Show and tell demonstrates will be presented on Mon, Dec 14.

English 421:

• Today we started watching the 1963 version of Lord of the Flies.  We will finish this up tomorrow.
• We will continue listening to an excerpt from Anne Frank’s diary tomorrow.
• Final project for Lord of the Flies is due on Mon, Dec 14.

English 531:

• Today students had time for independent reading and time to work on their movie critique assignment.  Movie critique is due tomorrow.
• We read a poem, “A Letter to the Media”, and students responded to questions.  We began viewing a few commercials that target teenagers and will continue with the viewing and discussion tomorrow.

Writing 421:

• Today students tried to follow confusing directions on how to make an origami fortune teller — we discussed what has to be involved in giving clear and precise directions. 
• Students participated in a map activity where they walked a route in the school and then had to give clear directions.  Other students followed the directions on a map to see if they could arrive at the right destination.
• Show and tell activity will be on Monday — see Writing 421 page for details.
• Reading response logs are due tomorrow.

English 531:

• Students had some time for independent reading.
• Students worked on their movie critique assignment for the remainder of class.

English 421:

• Students had some time to work on their final project for Lord of the Flies. 
• We discussed questions from last night’s homework regarding the essay “Going home to Auschwitz”.
• We then looked at an excerpt from “the diary of Anne Frank”.
• Final projects for Lord of the Flies are due on Mon, Dec 14.

Writing 421:

• Students had some time to work on their precis assignment in response to the newspaper article we looked at yesterday regarding the Montreal Massacre.  Written precis paragraph, along with the chart of text main points and information written in your own words is due tomorrow.
• Mr. Whitrow stopped by to respond to some of our persuasive letters.  He will return again to address the remaining concerns.
• Students were introduced to the Show and Tell activity for Monday — choose a talent that you can demonstrate/show to the class.  The emphasis should be on clearly demonstrating and explaining the process.  Evaluation will be based on both oral presentation skills and explaining a process clearly and precisely.  Presentations should be 2 minutes in length.
• Reading response logs are due on Friday.

English 421:

• Today we read an essay from the Sightlines text, “Going home to Auschwitz” from p. 291.  We discussed some of the WWII contextual information, then students read the article and responded to questions.
• Complete the following questions for homework:

– What is the March of the Living?

– How was the author’s mother affected by the Holocaust?

– How did the author’s father manage to survive the war?

– What obligation does the author feel she is fulfilling by making the trip?

– Discuss the meaning and significance of the following lines:

        “And these things are my horrifying heritage; they define me.”

         “I will tell anyone who will listen.  I will force those who will not listen to learn the dreadful truth.”

         “I am going.  And, if nothing else, I simply am.  I exist.  I breathe.”

• Lord of the Flies final project is due Mon, Dec 14.

English 531:

• We had a book swap today in the library — make sure to have an independent novel for silent reading beginning tomorrow.
• Today was an introduction to our media literacy unit.  Students were introduced to the topic, then completed a poll on their use of different mediums/technology.  We will continue this discussion tomorrow.
• Movie critique assignment is due on Friday.

Writing 421:

• Comparative essays are overdue.  Make sure to submit these by tomorrow.
• Students listened to a holiday story.
• We did a handshake activity where each student received a handshake, wrote a description or directions about it, then had another student try to reciprocate it.  This was used as an introduction to expository writing.
• Students took notes on expository writing.
• We continued working on the precis activity from yesterday.  For tonight, fill out the chart with the main ideas of each paragraph, then put them in your own words.  We will work on writing the actual precis paragraph tomorrow.
• Reading response logs are due on Friday.

English 531:

• Students had a chance to share any good news from the weekend.
• We re-read the story from Friday’s listening activity, Nickled and Dimed, so the students could finish responding to the questions.
• We looked at sentence fragments, and students worked on activities in their Language Skills workbook p.14-15.
• Tomorrow: make sure to bring books to return to the library.  Students will begin reading an independent novel.

English 421:

• Today we discussed some of the themes and symbols from Lord of the Flies, and wrapped up discussion on the novel.
• We played the novel review game online.
• Students were introduced to the final project for the novel.  These are due on Monday, December 14.

Writing 421:

• Comparative essays were due today.
• Students had some time to read out of today’s newspaper as a way to introduce expository writing.
• We began some activities on summarizing articles, and extracting main points from text.
• Students began a precis activity for one of the articles from the newspaper.  We will continue this tomorrow.
• Reminder: Begin looking for a feel good or holiday story for your oral presentation based on something you have read.  These will be due next week.
• Reading response logs are due on Friday.