2017-18 Weeks 23 and 24 — Jan 29-Feb 2 and Feb 5-9 (posted late)

Hello, all! I’m posting this update late, but I wanted to make sure that you had access to info about what we did in class for these two weeks. I’ll post this week’s update later this afternoon.

• Week 23 — Jan 29-Feb 2
  • English 11 and AP Lang
    • Monday–REHUGO Benchmark 1–individual conferences
    • Tuesday–introduce Logical Fallacies
    • Wednesday and Thursday–watch and discuss 2018 State of the Union address
    • Friday–watch and discuss Democratic rebuttal from Rep Joe Kennedy
• Week 24–Feb 5-9
  • English 11 and AP Lang
    • Monday–Mrs. Turner at a conference. Read Kennedy Inauguration speech
    • Tuesday–Read (again) and annotate Kennedy Inauguration speech
    • Wednesday–Read profile roles and reread JFK speech with role in mind
    • Thursday–table group and jigsaw group discussions on JFK speech
    • Friday–REHUGO work day

We’re working on argumentative writing right now in both English 11 and AP Lang, so these political speeches have given us a context in which to discuss this form of writing. We’ll continue to work on this type of writing, though our class work will diverge starting this week. 🙂

2017-18 Week 20 — January 8-12

Hello again, everyone! I hope that you all had a great weekend!

This week, all of the Juniors will be introduced to the semester-long REHUGO/20Time project, which is a student-directed research project. My AP students did it last year, and this year I decided to extend the project to the whole Junior class. There will be a few adjustments to the version that the Eng 11 folks do, but for the most part, you’ll all be exploring something that you’re interested in and something that you’re passionate about. I’d like for you to think about problems in your world–these can be problems specific for your demographic or for a group that you identify with or for a group that you’re interested in. You’ll do some research about the background or genesis of this problem, and you’ll also look into some possible solutions. My plan behind this is to open you up to the world around you and prepare you to be a more active and involved citizen when you graduate. I also want to give you the opportunity to be in charge of your learning and to practice some self-management as well.

This is a big project with 27 individual grades attached (12 Classwork Grades, 2 Project Grades, 10 Writing Grades, 3 Test Grades). There will be 3 benchmark deadline due dates (about a month apart), and the culminating assessment will come from a TEDtalk-like speech that you prepare and present to your classmates. The 20Time component will come from the fact that I’ll be giving you some work time each week to work on this project. You will likely also need to be working outside of class, but that outside work shouldn’t be too extensive as long as you take full advantage of the time that I give you. What my AP students from last year will tell you (go find them and ask if you don’t believe me) is that this project can be fun and interesting, but you definitely don’t want to procrastinate and get behind. I’ll be giving you specific information tomorrow, and I’ll post copies in Google Classroom as well. We’ll also get started on the first Project grade associated with this project–the REHUGO Google Site home for your research.

In the meantime, be thinking about what you’re interested in researching. I encourage you to talk to your families, too–I bet that they’ll have some good ideas as well!

Let’s take a look at the schedule for this week:

• English 11–Week of 1/8/18
  • Monday, 1/8
    • REHUGO intro and begin website
  • Tuesday, 1/9
    • Finish REHUGO website
    • March for Life Parent Meeting at 6:30 at Holy Spirit
  • Wednesday, 1/10
    • Introduction to Visual Rhetoric
  • Thursday, 1/11
    • Continue intro work on Visual Rhetoric
  • Friday, 1/12
    • Article of the Week #14 due (in Google Classroom)
    • REHUGO work day
      • You MUST bring something to work on for this class period. If you do not, I will give you something to work on (and it won’t be as enjoyable!).
• AP Lang–Week of 1/8/18
  • Monday, 1/8
    • REHUGO intro and begin website
  • Tuesday, 1/9
    • Finish REHUGO website
    • March for Life Parent Meeting at 6:30 at Holy Spirit
  • Wednesday, 1/10
    • Introduction to Visual Rhetoric
  • Thursday, 1/11
    • Continue intro work on Visual Rhetoric
  • Friday, 1/12
    • Rhetorical Device Weekly #4 due (in Google Classroom)
    • REHUGO work day
      • You MUST bring something to work on for this class period. If you do not, I will give you something to work on (and it won’t be as enjoyable!).

Also, please make sure to add the Junior Parent (and Junior Students!) Meeting to your schedules! We will meet at 6:30 on Jan 25 in the DBC.

Have a great week!

2017-18 Week 19 — January 3-5

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year! The time away was good for my family–it was quiet and sweet and we got to enjoy just hanging out with each other. 🙂

And now it’s time to jump back into things and start up a new year! Exciting! Do you realize that you’re only 1 semester away from your Senior year?! That’s exciting (and maybe a little nervous-making)! We’ll be spending some time talking about things that you’ll need to do this semester to set yourself up well for next year, and Mrs. Barranco will be talking to you, too. On that note, there is a Junior Class and Junior Parent meeting on Thursday, January 25, in the DBC. Please make plans to be there with your parents. Mrs. Barranco will have lots of important information that will help you make the most of 2nd semester and will help to get you set up for a successful–and hopefully less stressful!!–Senior year.

Let’s take a look at this week. We’ll be doing some thinking and planning for 2018 this week in both English 11 and AP Lang, so for once our calendars are the same:

• English 11 and AP Lang — Week of 1/3/18
  • Wednesday, 1/3
    • One Little Word — Brainstorming and Freewriting
  • Thursday, 1/4
    • One Little Word — Writing and Illustration
  • Friday, 1/5
    • One Little Word — Illustration
    • Introduce REHUGO/20Time project

So that’s it for this week! English 11, there’s no Article of the Week this week. We’ll get back to it next week. AP Lang, don’t forget that you’ve got Rhetorical Device Weekly 4 due on January 12. It would be a good idea for you to go ahead and get that finished up this week so that you create some breathing room for yourself!

Let’s have a great week!

2017-18 Week 17 — December 11-15

We’re almost there! I know that you’re all ready for a break–hopefully you had fun playing in the snow over the weekend. Now we’ve got to put our heads down and power through this last week and Finals week.

Because Finals start on Friday, we’ll have our last school mass of the year on Thursday. Please make sure to wear your mass uniforms on Thursday.

English 11 folks–I put an announcement up in Google Classroom with a link to all of the Harlem Renaissance poems (and the one short story) that we have read or will be reading this week. Each of those poems is linked to that announcement, so you can access them all. On one part of your Final, you will need to refer to some of these poems, so I would make sure to review those poems as you prepare for the exam.

Let’s take a look at the week ahead:

• English 11
  • Monday, Dec 11
    • Finish presenting our Harlem Renaissance canvas projects
  • Tuesday, Dec 12
    • table discussions of some of Langston Hughes’ poetry
  • Wednesday, Dec 13
    • whole group work with the four poems we read on Tuesday
  • Thursday, Dec 14
    • review for exams
    • mass day–Mass Uniforms, please
  • Friday, Dec 15
    • Final exams for 2nd and 3rd periods
• AP Lang
  • Monday, Dec 11
    • Finish the discussion of “Mea Culpa. Kinda Sorta.”
  • Tuesday, Dec 12
    • Read and discuss Ronald Reagan’s letter to his son
  • Wednesday, Dec 13
    • narrative writing exercise
  • Thursday, Dec 14
    • review for exams
    • mass day–Mass Uniforms, please
  • Friday, Dec 15
    • Final exams for 2nd and 3rd periods

Let me remind you once again about our exam schedule:

• Friday, December 15
  • 7:50 prayer, pledge, attendance
  • 8-10 — 2nd period exam
  • 10-10:25 — Break
  • 10:30-12 –3rd period exam
  • Early dismissal
• Monday, December 18
  • 7:50 prayer, pledge, attendance
  • 8-10 — 1st period exam
  • 10-10:25 — Break
  • 10:30-12 –5th period exam
  • Early dismissal
• Tuesday, December 19
  • 7:50 prayer, pledge, attendance
  • 8-10 — 6th period exam
  • 10-10:25 — Break
  • 10:30-12 –7th period exam
  • Early dismissal
• Wednesday, December 20
  • 7:50 prayer, pledge, attendance
  • 8-10 — 4th period exam
  • Christmas Break!!

Let’s have a great week!

2017-18 Week 14 — November 20-21

It was a tough loss on Friday night, Knights, but we couldn’t be more proud of you all and how hard you worked all season. I was super proud of all of the supporters, too–Band, Cheer, Color Guard, Fans–you guys were awesome as well!

We’ve got a short week this week, and I know there will probably be some absences. I thought that we’d make use of our time, though, to do some ACT English/Grammar Review work to help some of you prepare for the Dec 9 ACT exam. It seems like there will be lots of y’all taking that one. That’s what we’ll do in English 11. In AP Lang, we’ll be reading Neil Gaiman’s “Credo” and then working to write our own, using his as a mentor text. This will be a good transition into some of the work that we’ll be doing the last few weeks of the semester as we prepare to transition into discussing Argument Writing. Never fear–we’re not leaving Rhetorical Analysis completely. I know you’re relieved. 😉

Also, I want all of you to start thinking about something that you see as a problem for our community. All of my classes will be working on some problem-based research for 2nd semester, and this research will be self-directed. This is the REHUGO project that you may have heard my students talking about last year. I’m expanding it to all 11th graders because I think it’s a valuable project. Think about what kinds of things you’ve been interested in or curious about. I’ll have much more information for you in January, but I want you to start thinking. (And NO–you can’t research “non-uniform jacket policies” or “shaving policies”…I want you to think bigger than that. 🙂 )

I’ll see you all tomorrow! Enjoy the last few hours of the weekend!

ps–Eng 11: no Article of the Week this week!

2017-18 Week 13 — November 13-17

I hope you all had a great long weekend! Many congrats to our Girls and Boys Cross Country teams who both finished 2nd in State and to Amaris Tyynismaa, who finished 1st in State individually. Congrats, y’all! I think I saw some other medals in the photos, too, so I’ll get updated about who won what at school tomorrow. Another big congrats to the Varsity Football team who won against Sipsey Valley and are advancing to the next round of the playoffs. Congrats, too, to cheerleaders, band, and color guard. Everyone did a great job on Friday night!

I know that last week was a very challenging week for our community. We’re moving forward, but please remember that if you need to talk to someone, there are always people available. Come and see me or Mrs. Barranco and we’ll try to help you work through what you need to work through.

We’ve got about one more week until mid-quarter, so make sure that you’re getting caught up and staying caught up! I know that some of you have turned work into the Late Assignments posts in Google Classroom. I’ll be updating those this week. I decided to take this long weekend as an actual long weekend and I did not grade a single thing. It was a weekend off that I sorely needed! I’ll get back to it tomorrow, though! 🙂

Let’s take a look at this week:

• English 11 — Week of 11/13
  • Monday, Nov 13
    • Finish watching The Great Gatsby
    • Begin American Dream activity
  • Tuesday, Nov 14
    • American Dream quick write
  • Wednesday, Nov 15
    • The Great Gatsby essay test
  • Thursday, Nov 16
    • Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance
  • Friday, Nov 17
    • mass day
    • poetry write-around activity
    • Playoff game at home at 7pm. All tickets $8 each.
• AP Lang — Week of 11/13
  • Monday, Nov 13
    • finish M/C practice exercise
  • Tues, Nov 14
    • in-class essay
  • Wed, Nov 15
    • Introduction to Narrative Form
    • Read “Salvation” by Langston Hughes
  • Thurs, Nov 16
    • small group Narration stories
  • Fri, Nov 17
    • mass day
    • peer-to-peer feedback on Tuesday’s essays
    • Playoff game at home at 7pm. All tickets $8 each

That’s it for this week! We’ve only got one more week until mid-quarter, and we’ve got only about 20 or 21 days before exams begin. This is the time to tighten up and buckle down. Christmas will be here before you know it!

Happy Sunday, y’all!

2017-18 Week 12 — November 6-9

Hello, everyone. We had some great moments last week and then we ended the week with tragic news. As a school, we’ll be celebrating a mass for Anya on Monday morning as a school (no mass uniforms–just wear your regular uniform) and there will be resources available for you if you need help processing your feelings about this tragic experience.

Amidst tragedy, though, we have to keep living. I want to congratulate the Cross Country teams, who both performed exceptionally well at the Sectionals meet last Thursday. The Girls finished 1st and the Boys finished 2nd. They’ll be running in the State meet next weekend. Congrats, too, on a great football game on Friday night. We look forward to our first State Playoff game this coming Friday night. If you’re coming to the game (and I hope you are), please remember a couple of things. First, all season passes and reserved seats are out of play now–all game attendees will need to pay the $8 entrance fee and there will be no reserved seats. Students, to make sure that you have your space in the stands, make sure to come early. (Let’s not have a repeat issue from the ACA game where you had to move. 🙂 ) Make plans to show up early and enjoy some pre-game fun. I’m planning to stake out my seat at about 5:30–you know I love my 50-yard line spot. 🙂 You’re probably fine to show up between 6 and 6:20, but the stands (and parking lots) will be FULL on Friday night, so don’t show up at or after 7 and assume you’ll have space.

The other thing is that the entrance gate will be different this week because of construction. There’s a new bridge and a new entrance from the park parking lot. I imagine that there will be signs to help direct you where to go. Let’s all show up to cheer on our Knights in their first playoff game of the season!

Let’s take a look at this week:

• English 11 — Week of Nov 6
  • Monday, Nov 6
    • 8am mass for Anya Bennett
    • The American Dream and quickwrite/reading techniques
  • Tues, Nov 7
    • finish non-fiction articles and quickwrite/reflections
    • Begin watching The Great Gatsby
  • Wed, Nov 8
    • Continue watching The Great Gatsby
  • Thurs, Nov 9
    • Finish watching The Great Gatsby
    • Finish answering the discussion/review questions in preparation for Monday’s essay test on The Great Gatsby
  • Fri, Nov 10
    • There’s NO Article of the Week this week! I have already posted the one for next week, though, and it’s a little longer than most of them because it’s got two short issues (one pro article and one con article) on one issue. I wanted to give you something with both viewpoints because I thought it would make an interesting discussion. Check Google Classroom for the articles. I’ll have a few paper copies printed, as well, for those of you who prefer to do these on paper.
    • No school today! Rest up and I’ll see you at the game!
  • Monday, Nov 13
    • Final Essay TEST on The Great Gatsby
• AP Lang — Week of Nov 6
  • Mon, Nov 6
    • Mass for Anya Bennett (no mass day uniforms required)
    • Work in small groups on Cause/Effect essays
    • Write a precis and a reflection on the essay you worked with
  • Tues, Nov 7
    • AP M/C practice activity
  • Wed, Nov 8
    • Read Stephen Ericsson’s “The Ways We Lie” and discuss classification/definition mode of writing
  • Thurs, Nov 9
    • small group classification/definition essays as mentor texts
    • precis and reflection on either the classification essay or the definition essay that you worked with
  • Fri, Nov 10
    • No school today! Rest up and I’ll see you at the game!

We’re a couple of weeks into 2nd Quarter, so please make sure that you’re keeping up with your assignments. As I’ve been grading this weekend, I’ve noticed that there are some assignments that are not getting turned in. Please be conscious of your deadlines and make sure that you’re meeting them. Once grades have been entered for an assignment, you must put late work into the Late Assignment post in Google Classroom if you want to have it checked. (I will not be going back through assignment posts that I’ve already graded; it is your responsibility to put your work in the right place once you have missed the deadline.) I’ll be working this week to get more things graded and updated, so keep your eye on PowerSchool.

Have a great week and God bless!

2017-18 Week 11 — October 30-November 3

Happy Week 11, y’all! What an exciting game on Friday night! Thanks to all who came, who supported, and who played (both on and off the field). The Knights are the #1 in the Region since 1952! Wow!

We’ve got some work to do this week. I know that Halloween is Tuesday, so let’s make sure that we don’t get distracted while we’re working. Hopefully you won’t be on a sugar crash on Wednesday! 😉

Speaking of Wednesday, don’t forget that we have All Saints Day mass on Wednesday, and you’ll need to be in your mass day uniform. Those of you in SGA will be going to mass at the cemetery on Thursday, so mass day uniform for you again. And, as always, we’ll have our regular mass on Friday, so mass day uniform once again. 🙂

Oh! On Tuesday, you have the opportunity to support the annual St. Vincent de Paul canned food drive. Any student who brings 3 cans or $5 (and we’ll just go buy your cans) may wear an athletic team shirt with uniform bottoms.

Let’s take a look at this week:

• English 11 — Week of Oct 30-Nov 3
  • Mon, Oct 30
    • work on major scenes for The Great Gatsby
  • Tues, Oct 31
    • continue Tuesday’s work
    • Canned Food drive–bring 3 cans or $5 and wear any athletic team shirt + uniform bottoms
  • Wed, Nov 1
    • All Saints Day mass — mass uniforms
    • whole group discussion of Gatsby major scenes
  • Thurs, Nov 2
    • American Dream non-fiction pieces
  • Fri, Nov 3
    • American Dream response writing
    • mass day
• AP Lang — Week of Oct 30-Nov 3
  • Mon, Oct 30
    • in-class essay
  • Tues, Oct 31
    • Canned Food drive–bring 3 cans or $5 and wear any athletic team shirt + uniform bottoms
    • “Why We Crave Horror Movies”
    • cause/effect readings and precis
  • Wed, Nov 1
    • All Saints Day mass — mass uniforms
    • Read student exemplars for AP essay
  • Thurs, Nov 2
    • peer reviews
  • Fri, Nov 3
    • mass day
    • M/C practice

Let’s have a great week!

2017-18 Week 9 — October 16-20

It’s Homecoming Week, y’all! Yay!

I want to congratulate the football team and all of their supporters (cheer, band, color guard) on a great win on Friday night. I didn’t get the make the trip down, but it sounded like (on the radio) a crazy game. I’m proud of y’all for keeping your cool and getting the job done. Great job!

I’m also super proud of our Racing Knights! Both boys and girls took 1st place at the AUM War Hawk Invitational this weekend. Great job, Knights!

Our theme for Homecoming this week is High School Musical.

• Monday = Sharpay and Ryan (Twin Day)
• Tuesday = Stick to the Status Quo (Dress like a clique–jocks, nerds, etc.)
• Wednesday = Field Day (Wear your unaltered Field Day shirt and show your class spirit)
• Thursday = Country Club Day (Wear your preppy best!)
• Friday = Spirit Day (Change into spirit wear after mass)

Don’t forget that doors and Homecoming wagons need to be completed by Wednesday morning so that they can be judged during Field Day. (Well, doors, anyway–not sure when they’re judging the wagons.)

We’ve also got the parade and Bonfire on Thursday night at 6:30. This will be our last event on the green before construction begins, so let’s make it one to remember!

There’s lots of excitement this week, and we may all be dressed in crazy ways, but we’ve still got lots of work to do. Friday is the end of the quarter, so if you’re missing any work, this is the time to get it done. I need all late work submitted by Thursday. Some of you have submitted late stuff to Google Classroom already–I’ll get that graded this week. You’ll need to see me in tutorials after school to find out about anything that you have missed. Let’s take a look at the calendar for this week:

• English 11 — Week of Oct 16-20
  • Monday, Oct 16 — Twin Day
    • 1st period–reading quiz on “A Jury of Her Peers”
    • Read “The Yellow Wallpaper”
    • Answer discussion questions
  • Tuesday, Oct 17 — Status Quo Day
    • Read “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper'”
    • Discuss the ‘Rest cure’ and the ‘West cure’
  • Wednesday, Oct 18 — Field Day
    • Field Day! Show your class spirit!
  • Thursday, Oct 19 — Country Club Day
    • Small group about the four texts we’ve been reading (“Story of an Hour”, “Declaration of Sentiments”, “A Jury of Her Peers”, and “Yellow Wallpaper”) and the connections between them
  • Friday, Oct 20 — Spirit Day
    • Finish with whole class discussion of the four texts mentioned above. Prepare for an essay test on Monday, Oct 23
• AP English Lang & Comp — Week of Oct 16-20
  • Monday, Oct 16 — Twin Day
    • 3rd period:
      • work on reading and annotating either “Shooting Dad”, “How It Feels to be Colored Me”, “Once More to the Lake”, or “The Four Horsemen”
      • discuss in small groups
      • write a rhetorical precis for the essay you read. Turn in on Google Classroom
    • 7th period:
      • Read and annotate Firoozeh Dumas’ “The ‘F’ Word”
      • Discuss
      • Work on completing essay study sheets
  • Tuesday, Oct 17 — Status Quo Day
    • Read and annotate “This isn’t the Last Dance”
    • Using Bragg text as a mentor text, students will write their own version of a “What a Place” essay.
  • Wednesday, Oct 18 — Field Day
    • WHOOOHOOOO!
  • Thursday, Oct 19 — Country Club Day
    • Anonymous peer to peer feedback on “What a Place” essays
  • Friday, Oct 20 — Spirit Day
    • Revision of “What a Place essays

Let’s have a great week and get ready to end the week with a great win against Bullock County!

2017-18 Week 8 — October 9-13

I hope y’all had a great weekend! We’ve got a big week this week with the Groundbreaking, the National Day of Testing, and the Eucharistic Procession for the Anniversary of Our Lady’s Visitation to Fatima. The Groundbreaking will occur during school on Tuesday, so we’ll be running a special schedule and will have mass with the Archbishop before the Groundbreaking. On Friday, Oct 13, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Visitation of Our Lady to the children at Fatima. We have a special Eucharistic Procession planned for this celebration–more information to come on that.

All Juniors will take the PSAT on Wednesday. (Freshmen and Sophomores will take a Pre-ACT.) This is a LIVE test, which means that it will be reported. PSAT is the test that is used to determine National Merit Scholars, so this is an important test. Please make sure that you get some good rest this week leading up to National Day of Testing and that you eat a good breakfast on Wednesday.

Let’s get to this week:

• English 11 — Week of October 9-13
  • Monday, Oct 9
    • You should continue to read The Great Gatsby outside of class. You should finish that this week.
    • In-class essay on Ch 1-5 of The Great Gatsby
  • Tuesday, Oct 10
    • Read and discuss “A Jury of Her Peers”
  • Wednesday, Oct 11
    • National Day of Testing–PSAT for all Juniors
    • Do NOT bring anything to school today except pencils and calculators. We have special plans for the afternoon and you will not be going to class. 🙂
  • Thursday, Oct 12
    • Finish discussing “A Jury of Her Peers”
  • Friday, Oct 13
    • Article of the Week due
    • Read and discuss “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• AP Lang — Week of October 9-13
  • Monday, Oct 9
    • Read and discuss “The ‘F’ Word” by Firoozeh Dumas
    • Descriptive assignment
  • Tuesday, Oct 10
    • Work on Descriptive assignment
  • Wednesday, Oct 11
    • National Day of Testing–PSAT for all Juniors
    • Do NOT bring anything to school today except pencils and calculators. We have special plans for the afternoon and you will not be going to class. 🙂
  • Thursday, Oct 12
    • Read and discuss Rick Bragg’s “This isn’t the last dance”
    • Write a descriptive piece
  • Friday, Oct 13
    • Share descriptive pieces with class and provide peer feedback

So that’s this week! We’ve got a lot going on this week, and then we’ll have Homecoming next week. Fun times! Let’s have a great week!