Annotated Bibliography

Today's bellwork is here. Today we continued on our work on our annotated bibliographies. The assignment's five notecards should have been turned into me before the end of the class. If you did not finish today in class, please have them ready for me on Monday. It is very important that you do not get behind on this unit.

Annotated Bibliography

Today we spent most of the class period working on proper MLA-style entries on a works cited page. The work does not need to be made up, but please spend some time on this website getting familiar with the proper citations for MLA style papers. After this practice, we began our work on our annotated bibliography assignment. Five notecards (each representing five different sources) are due to me by the end of class tomorrow. We will spend the entire class period tomorrow working on this assignment.

Rip Notes and Databases

Today in class we continued our work on our RIP notes and turned them in at the end of class. If you were not here or did not finish, that's fine, but please get them to me as soon as possible. There is a lot to do for this research unit and I want to avoid having people get behind. We focused on accessing databases today as well, so that we could find periodical sources for our RIP notes. Tomorrow we'll moved on to our work on annotated bibliographies.

RIP notes

Today we started class by writing a short entry for a student publication entitled, What I've Learned So Far. The entries are for points, so make sure you get a copy of the entry sheet from the shelf at the front of the room, complete it and turn it in. We spent most of the class talking through RIP notes and then working on them in the library. A completed RIP notes sheet over your assigned American author is due tomorrow at the end of class. Extra copies are here.

Creative Writing and Research

Today's bellwork is here. We went over our persuasive letters and our Huck Finn tests. Then 2nd block did a creative writing activity that cannot be made up. 3rd block worked through a model of RIP notes in class. This also cannot be made up. Tomorrow we'll being working on our research projects.

Huck Finn Test

On Friday we took our unit test over The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In addition, we turned in our persuasive letters, the River vs. Shore organizer, the Active Reading handouts and any other work for the quarter.

Huck Finn Review Day

Today's bellwork is here. We worked on a review of comma splices and a review of Greek vocabulary roots for tomorrow's test. Tomorrow's test will also cover The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Due tomorrow are our persuasive letters, outlines from our persuasive letters, the River vs. Shore graphic organizer, the Active Reading handouts and five bellworks from this week (#35-39). Remember grades go in Monday morning at 8am, so any missing work should be turned in tomorrow.

Persuasive Letters

Today's bellwork is here. We spent the majority of our time in class today in the lab typing our persuasive letters. Remember, you are to write a letter to the school board persuading them that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should OR should not be required reading in Springfield Public Schools. The scoring guide is here. Also be sure to check this website for proper business letter format (block format).

Huck Finn and Persuasive Outlines

Today's bellwork is here. We took a quiz over chapters #28-31 and discussed the reading. Then we watched a bit more of the documentary Born to Trouble. Finally, we began to work on an outline for our persuasive letters which will be due tomorrow, before we begin typing the papers. Please come to class tomorrow prepared to begin writing a persuasive letter that argues either for or against The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as required reading in Springfield Public Schools.

Huck Finn and "Born to Trouble"

Today's bellwork is here. We took a quiz over chapters 24-27 and discussed them. We watched another segment from the film, Born to Trouble. Finally, we took some time reading. Chapter 28-31 will be due tomorrow. Also be thinking about your persuasive letters on whether or not The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be required reading.

Huck Finn and "Born to Trouble"

Today's bellwork is here. We then took the quiz over chapters 20-23 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We watched the first segment of a documentary on the book's controversy, Born to Trouble, and wrote a little about it in reaction, choosing one question to reply to from these prompts. Read through chapter 27 this weekend and be ready for a quiz over chapters 24-27. Have a good weekend!

Huck Finn and Symbolism

Today's bellwork is here. We took the chapter 16-19 quiz for The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn. We developed a timeline as a class for our notes and we also discussed some of the symbolism of the South and the Mississippi River. Finally we spent some time reading in anticipation of tomorrow's quiz over chapters 20-23.

Huck Finn and Conflicts

Today's bellwork is here. We talked a little about Mark Twain's use of satire in chapter 14 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Then we filled out a graphic organizer over some of the main conflicts in the novel. That graphic organizer can be picked up on the shelf at the front of the room. We'll hand it in at the end of the unit.

Huck Finn and Vocabulary Roots

Today's bellwork is here. Today 2nd block took the quiz over chapters 11-15 and 3rd block took the quiz over chapters 6-10. We talked about Jim and Huck as characters and took a few notes as well. If you were absent, you might get those notes from a classmate. We did another vocabulary roots activity in small groups. This work cannot be made up. 3rd block will quiz over chapters 11-15 and 2nd block will quiz over chapters 16-20 on Thursday.

Huck Finn and Translating Jim

Thursday, October 7th:

We had a sub and went to the A+ labs for presentations from the counselors.

Friday, October 8th:

We had a sub for this day as well. The bellwork is here. Then we worked on some grammar with a handout over comma splices and run-on sentences. Finally, we completed a character map over one of the main characters from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A copy of the character map is available on the shelf at the front of the room.

Monday, October 11th:

Today's bellwork is here. 2nd block took a quiz over chapters 5-10 of Huck Finn and should be ready for a quiz over chapters 11-15 tomorrow. 3rd block will take a quiz over chapters 5-10 tomorrow. We also worked in groups on a translation of Jim's escape story on pages 51-53. This cannot be made up as it was group work.

Huck Finn and Vocabulary Roots

Today's bellwork is here. We took a quiz over chapters one through five of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and went over it. Then we did a vocabulary activity that cannot really be made up. Make sure you become familiar with this unit's vocabulary before the test in a couple of weeks. We went over this extra credit opportunity. Finally we began reading chapters six through ten for a quiz on Friday.

Huck Finn and the "N-Word"

Today's bellwork is here. We analyzed some arguments for and against the use of the "n-word" in literature and public life and considered the context of its usage in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We then checked out books and began reading the novel. We will take a quiz over the first five chapters of the novel tomorrow.

Mark Twain

Today's bellwork is here. We discussed the bellwork afterward to preview some of the major themes from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In 2nd block, we finished watching The Village and turned in our notes that compared the film to The Crucible via t-chart. In 3rd block we did a creative writing exercise that does not need to be made up. Finally, we watched a short film on Mark Twain and took some notes that cannot be made up. Make sure you know a little bit about Mark Twain's background though, as it will feature a little bit on the unit test.

The Crucible Test

In class on Thursday, we did the following bellwork. We then took the unit test over The Crucible. We also turned in our comparison papers and any other work associated with The Crucible. Finally, we finished The Village in 3rd block and we'll finish it up in 2nd block on Monday.