Periods 2, 3: SAT List 7

SAT Word List 7

1. euphony- pleasant sound (the opposite of cacophony)
2. deride (derision)- to ridicule; to make fun of
3. insipid- bland, boring, stupid
4. austere- severe; without frills
5. heresy- an opinion violently opposed to established beliefs
6. novel- new; unusual
7. philanthropy (philanthropist)- love of humankind (one who donates to charities)
8. tentative- not final
9. deference (defer)- a show of respect (to yield to the wishes of another)
10. expedite (expedient)- to make faster or easier

Weekly Agenda for 9/24

Week of 9/24:

Monday- Take notes on leads and complete leads practice activity.
Tuesday- Guest speaker from the Orlando Sentinel
Wednesday- TEST on “The Cask of Amontillado” so study vocab!
Thursday- TP-CASTT analysis of “Slam,” then review clauses and sentences (TEST on clauses/sentences tomorrow. Start drafting essay.
Friday- Honors- SAT List 6 TEST; TEST on clauses and sentences. Continue drafting Revenge Essay.

Homework- Clauses/Sentences practice sheets are due on Friday. Cask of Amontillado vocab no later than Wednesday (TEST on Wednesday). Sentence grammar practice work out of the Elements of Language book will be reviewed on THURSDAY.

Period 2, 3- SAT List 6

SAT List 6

1. incessant- unceasing; never-ending
2. laud- to praise
3. deter- to prevent; to stop; to keep from doing something
4. redundant- repetitive; extra; unnecessary
5. infamous (infamy)- famous in a bad way (disgrace)
6. provocative (provoke)- exciting; attracting attention (to excite)
7. depravity- moral corruption
8. gravity (grave)- seriousness (serious)
9. banal- common; dull; ordinary
10. extol- to praise

Video Demonstration for Blogger

Here is a demonstration video to help those of you still struggling with posting on blogger.




If this video is too small to view, you can download the video, but you will need Windows Media Player to watch the video clip. I will also show this in class next week.

Click here to download video. Be sure you click on BLOG DEMO VIDEO CLIP.

Weekly Agenda for 9/17--9/21

Monday: Take notes on mood and foreshadowing. Complete a sequence chart for "The Cask of Amontillado."
Homework: Blog post on Question 2 due 9/19 (Wednesday) by 4 pm. Periods 2, 3: SAT List 5 3-column notes

Tuesday: Court TV activity in class. You will find the foreshadowing of events in "CoA."

Wednesday: Court TV presentations. Notes on sentences and grammar practice book. Homework: Elements of Language book, Sentence Structures- Exercises 6 and 7 on pgs. 482-484; Sentence Types (Kinds)- Exercise 20 and Chapter Review A (only A) on pgs. 435-437. Due on Monday 9/24. Test on sentences and clauses next week.

Thursday: Media Center Orientation. Periods 2, 3: Test on SAT List 5 tomorrow; 3-column notes due. Study!

Friday: Begin pre-writing for Revenge Essay. Start Writing Portfolios. Periods 2, 3: Test on SAT List 5 words.

Change to Weekly Agenda posting

The Weekly Agenda has been added to both sides of the board in class (for those of you who sit on the right side of the classroom). I will also be posting it here and emailing it to you all on Mondays. It's been a little hectic, but I think with the agenda posted in all those locations, you should have no problem being sure what is due when.

Wow!

I just wanted to say that I'm very impressed with some of the posts people have been writing about the "Most Dangerous Game" and "Cask of Amontillado" question. Keep up the good work guys! I really like reading what you all think. It's very insightful. :-)

Remember that you can comment on someone's post if he or she says something that interests you. This will be a requirement eventually (read: sometime next week). But go ahead and click comment and let your classmates know what you think (politely and appropriately of course!)!

Periods 2, 3: SAT Word List 5

SAT Word List 5

1. elucid (elucidate)- clear; easy to understand (to make something clear; easy to understand)
2. aesthetic- having to do with art or beauty
3. prodigal- extravagant; over the top; wasteful
4. augment- to add to; to increase; to make bigger
5. assess- to estimate the value of; to measure
6. complacent- smug; self-satisfied; very pleased with oneself
7. eloquent- fluent and graceful in speech and mannerisms
8. guile- cunning; deceit or deceitfulness
9. trivial- unimportant; lacking value
10. squander- to waste

Just a reminder

Students who are still a little confused about navigating through blogger can come to a help session tomorrow (Wednesday) morning starting at 6:55 am or tomorrow afternoon starting at 2:25 pm. There will also be help sessions on Friday at the same times. If you're still a little unsure about signing in, you can come to one of these four sessions to get help. Also, there will be another computer lab day later this quarter, but not before your posts are due.

NOTE: If you are having issues with computer access or not being able to post, you need to let me know right away so we can work out an arrangement. You will NOT be penalized for not having computer access, but you DO need to complete the work somehow.

Reminder about sign in directions:

Your email user name is your first initial, last name, and class period all together.
EX: John Doe in period 4 would have "jdoe4" as a user name. You were given your password in class.

Your blog will have the same username (so using the John Doe example... his blog would be jdoe4.blogspot.net) *There are a few students who have variations on this since some user names were taken.* You sign into your blog at www.blogger.com NOT gaggle.net. You need to use your WHOLE email address (EX: jdoe4@gaggle.net would be John Doe's username for blogger) and the password you were given.

Please change your passwords.

GAGGLE is not the same as GOOGLE. These are different things. Gaggle.net is EMAIL; Google accounts are for blogger.com (your blog account).

Period 2 and 3: SAT Word List 4

SAT Word List 4

1. acute (acuity)- sharp; intelligent (sharpness; intelligence)

2. reticent- restrained; holding back information

3. anarchy- lack of government; chaos

4. virulent- in a harmful way (like a virus)

5. scrutinize- to examine closely

6. discord- disagreement; unrest

7. repudiate- to reject; to deny

8. diligent- hardworking

9. superficial- on the surface; shallow

10. contempt- intense dislike

Remember that your test for these words will be on Friday, September 14, 2007. Your 3-column notes will be due at that time.

Tomorrow we post!

We will post on the class blogs for the first time tomorrow in the computer lab. There are two posts you will be responsible for:

1) You need to respond to the question posed on your class blog. This response should have at least 6 sentences (if not more). Write a nice, meaty paragraph to respond. At the end of class, find at least one post you could relate to and write a comment for that poster telling them why you related to what he or she said.

2) You will write your first Friday Journal post on your personal blog. You will need to write about A) something you learned in class this week, B) something you didn't quite understand, or C) some other school work you found interesting (all of these should be written in an academic way). This post will be graded heavily on content, so that means you should not be posting something like, "I learned some stuff this week. That was cool." Or something like, "I didn't learn anything this week." I don't know is NEVER an answer. You MUST find something in your learning to reflect on and write a school-appropriate response. If you would like an example, you can visit Mrs. Capelle's "school" blog. I will write example Friday Journals about the classes I am taking for my master's program at UCF on that website.

Homework for tonight!

Some classes have finished this assignment, however, everyone did not get this finished in class so I'm posting it here to wrap up "The Most Dangerous Game."

Find and list at least 3 scenes from the story that show the author building suspense into the story. Remember that if the story was a movie, these are the scenes that would have you on the edge of your seat wondering what's going to happen.

Keep in mind the test for "The Most Dangerous Game" is tomorrow. You will need to know your vocabulary words for the story, the terms protagonist/antagonist and static characters/dynamic characters, and what happens in the story's plot (including the suspense scenes). We will spend about 10 minutes reviewing before we take the test, which is 20 questions (40 points).

REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW FOR THE TEST!!!

WEEK IN REVIEW for August 27-August 31

Monday: We took the SRI test in the media center. If you were absent, you will need to go to the media center and complete the SRI test.

Tuesday: We completed an Anticipation Guide for "The Most Dangerous Game" and we received the vocabulary words for that story. Honors (periods 2 and 3) took the test for SAT list 1 words and received SAT word list 2. We began reading "The Most Dangerous Game."

Wednesday: 9th grade meetings in the auditorium.

Thursday: We finished reading "The Most Dangerous Game" and discussed characterization. You learned the four clues authors often leave about characters (what the character looks like, says, does, and what other characters say about him/her). We also discussed the terms protagonist, antagonist, static characters and dynamic characters.

Friday: Honors took the test for SAT list 2 and received SAT word list 3. From here on out you will have the whole week to study the words. We reviewed the answers to the homework. We also finished the characterization charts and began sharing answers.

Student Email and Blogs are ready!

All students now have a safe, Gaggle.net email account set up for them. I have also set up student blogs using blogger. Parents: Keep an eye out for the online use policy that will be sent home this week. Students: You must sign the acceptable use policy for your Gaggle.net email accounts before receiving your user name and password.

Note about Gaggle.net emails and the blogs: None of the emails are private on Gaggle.net. Students cannot view each other's email accounts, however, I am the administrator for all the student accounts and I can view any mail in the inboxes, sent mail, or deleted mail folders. This is to ensure the safety of our students and to guard against cyberbullying. Gaggle.net scans all email for inappropriate words. All blogs are set up by me as well, so that I can sign in and delete the blogs if they are used inappropriately. Students who do not abide by the acceptable use policies will not be allowed to participate in our writing journey with blogs.

There are advertisements on the email site currently, but none are inappropriate for students. There is an ad-free version, however, it costs about $200 a year for a subscription. Needless to say... I went with the free version.

Parents: If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me! I'm always glad to help. :-)