Humanities I:
November 16-20: We will spend the week preparing a paper that must be typed
at home to be turned by Friday, 11-20. The paper should use characters to
prove the existence of a theme chosen by the student that is put forth by
Ibsen. The students will take a TAKS benchmark test from Wednesday through
Friday. The paper will be explained on Monday, and students will be given
class time on Tuesday to work on the paper. This will facilitate the absence
of many band students on Tuesday. Those absent on Tuesday will still be
required to turn in a typed paper on Friday, 11-20.
November 9-13: Stem quiz 6 will be given on Friday so that the class can
finish A Doll's House without interruption. The bulk of the week will be
spent viewing and discussing Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.
November 2-6: Both Humanities I classes will be missing over half their
students for the band contest on Monday and Tuesday. Those in attendance will
play games or work on other school projects. We will begin our study of
Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House on Wednesday. Stem quiz 6 will be one week from
this Thursday.
October 26-30: The students will need grammar books in class as we will cover
the unit on subject/verb agreement. They will be memorizing a speech from
Romeo and Juliet that is due by the end of the day on Wednesday, November 4.
The extended due date is because of the weekend band trip. Stem quiz 5 will
be given this Thursday; 25 new stems plus 75 old ones will be tested. We will
have a test over subject/verb agreement this Friday if all goes according to
plan. If we don't have the test this Friday, it will be moved ahead one week
so that the band students will not be at a disadvantage.
October 19-23: The students are working on a Romeo and Juliet presentation in
class that will be presented this Wednesday. We'll be working on Romeo and
Juliet all week as well as essay writing. The students will take a test on
Romeo and Juliet on Friday. Students should be studying stems on a continuing
basis. The next stem quiz will be on Thursday, October 29. It will cover 25
new stems from list # 5 and 75 stems from lists 1-4.
WEEK 6: Read through chapter two of The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Monday,
September 28. Be prepared to take a test over pronouns on Tuesday, September
29. Be prepared for stem quiz three on Thursday, October 1. We will be
finished with The Bridge of San Luis Rey by the beginning of week 7.
WEEK 5: You will present Our Town projects that illustrate one main theme of
the play. You will produce a logo, a product that is not a poster, and
discuss three pieces of evidence for the theme you choose. You will
participate in a Socratic seminar for which you will write four questions
based on Bloom's Taxonomy. You will complete the pronoun unit in the grammar
book over which you will be tested next Tuesday. We will begin reading The
Bridge of San Luis Rey.
WEEK 4: You will be working to fully interpret Thornton Wilder's Our Town in
class. You will be working in small group to present major themes of the play
with evidence. You will produce products that symbolize one theme your group
presents. You will engage in a Socratic seminar over the play on Friday
employing questions you develop following Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide. You
will also complete Stem Quiz 2 on Thursday.
Welcome to Humanities I. Please develop a habit of learning your 25 stems
for a bi-weekly quiz beginning Thursday, September 3. Use the skills I taught
to learn them, and remember that each successive quiz will bring back stems
from previous lists. Our major test days are Tuesdays and Fridays; your first
test will be over To Kill a Mockingbird. It is a 100-question objective test
to be given on Tuesday, September 1. Study the plot of the book and have a
clear understanding of the characters in order to do well on the test. This
will be your only completely objective test over literature that you will take
this year.
Our first unit of grammar covers rules of usage, and you'll take an
objective test of those skills on Friday, September 4. Bring your grammar
workbooks to class every day until we finish the usage unit. I'll warn you
before we begin the second unit so that you won't have to bring the book to
class when we won't be using it.
Our outside reading list includes the following: The Bridge of San Luis
Rey, by Thornton Wilder; Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse; and The Old Man and the
Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. You will also read one of your choice of the
following nonfiction works: Ava's Man, by Rick Bragg; Isaac's Storm, by Erik
Larson; In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick; or Flags of Our
Fathers, by James Bradley (do NOT buy the edition that is for young readers).
You will be responsible for purchasing or borrowing your choice of the
nonfiction books. The nonfiction project includes a major paper, and it will
be good if you have a book in which you can make notations as you read. Be
sure to call the bookstore you plan to visit to make sure they have the book
you want before driving there or order it from Amazon.com. You should also
read reviews available for all the books so that you may
choose the book that best suits your taste.
(WEEK 3): We'll be studying Thornton Wilder's Our Town in class. It's
important to try not to miss class during this important week. There will be
no tests or quizzes given during Our Town week. Major and minor grades will
follow next week, however, after we've finished the play in class.
We took stem quiz one on Thursday, September 3, and the grades are on
gradespeed. A student who made less than a 96 needs to come to my room at
7:45 am on Tuesday, September 8 to take the quiz again. If he/she has to miss
a practice of some kind, the practice should be missed. The stem quiz study
is a cumulative grading process, so a good start is essential. Retests will
not be offered on any other stem quiz.
I sent home letters to parents about the PSAT to be offered on October 14
at school. Freshmen are allowed to take it, and GT kids should plan to do so.
Send a check made out to FHS in the amount of $15 to be delivered to the
counselor's office by September 30. A notation should be made on the check
indicating "PSAT for (write students name)". Call Ms. Mulder in the
counselor's office if you have questions.
SENIOR ENGLISH:
November 16-20: The students will prepare a presentation or paper (student's
choice) that illustrates the theme of Cannery Row and shows how the theme is
communicated through characterization, mood, and setting.
November 9-13: The students will be reading Steinbeck's A Cannery Row in
class. They will take two quizzes over the book.
November 2-6: I made an error in scheduling library time last August, so the
research paper project has been put off until the end of January. The
students will still do the same topics they've already chosen at that time.
We're now reading Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck. We'll have a quiz over the
first 16 chapters this coming Monday, November 9.
October 26-30: We'll take a daily grade on work covering the Donne writings
on Tuesday of this week. Your research topics are due this Tuesday. Your
tentative outlines are due this Friday. You will need your grammar workbook
in class beginning this Tuesday. You will be in the library conducting
research all next week. You'll need to find five usable sources (an
encyclopedia cannot be used as a source) for your 4 to 6 page paper. The
finished paper is due to me by the end of your class period on Friday,
November 20. No late papers will be accepted, and additional time is not
granted for absences or any other reason. The paper is due whether or not you
are in school that day. We'll be having a grammar test this coming Friday.
October 19-23. Students are working on presentations of sonnets in class.
They will take a test over the sonnets on Friday, October 23. Students must
turn in a statement of their research topics on Tuesday, October 27. They are
to choose a topic of their interest that presents something from a culture
different from their own. The topic needs to be narrow enough to cover in a
paper of 4 to 6 pages. The paper will be due on Friday, November 20. No late
papers will be accepted, and the due date is not extended due to absences of
any kind. The paper must be turned in on time whether the student is in
school that day or not.
WEEK 6: You will take a major test over The Canterbury Tales on Tuesday,
September 29. Bring grammar books to class so that we may cover the pronoun
unit during the week. Be thinking of a topic you might like to research for
your research paper. You will take a test over the grammar unit on Friday,
October 2.
WEEK 5: You will take a major test over Night on Tuesday, September 22. You
will read The Canterbury Tales in class all week.
WEEK 4: You will be quizzed over chapters 1-4 of Night on Wednesday. You
must finish the book by Monday, September 21. You will complete a major test
over the book on Tuesday, September 22. Bring lit. books to class all week as
we will begin the poetry of the Middle Ages.
Welcome to Senior English! You're almost there! We're beginning the year
by working through the Glossary of Usage in the grammar workbook, and you
should bring to workbook to class every day until further notice. You should
also plan to keep the workbook to take to college with you. You will take an
objective test over the usage unit on Tuesday, September 1.
You will be developing and typing formal resumes and college application
letters during the second week of class. The essay prompts for all Texas
public colleges and universities are published in a brochure available at the
counselors' office or by visiting www.ApplyTexas.org.
We'll begin our study of British literature in the second week of class.
You will need to bring you literature book to class every day. I will be
teaching a note taking system developed at Cornell University with our study
of the history of British literature.
Your outside reading will include the following works: Night, by Elie
Weisel; Flags of Our Fathers, by James Bradley; Ava's Man, by Rick Bragg; and
Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck.
Your research paper project will be turned in no later than Friday,
November 20, and you will research some aspect of a culture different from
your own that is subject to my approval. You will have one week in our
library for research, one week in the classroom for organizing notes and
writing the first draft, and one week in the computer room for typing and
rewriting the final draft. All papers must be typed in our computer room and
saved on our computer system. No papers may be brought from home on those
little things that save documents from one computer to be loaded onto another.
Can you tell that I'm not that computer savvy? There you go.
WEEK 3: Your college application essays and resumes are due typed when you
return on Tuesday, September 8th. You will have a major test on Beowulf on
Friday, September 11. You will have a quiz over the notes you took in class
about the Anglo-Saxon Period on Wednesday, September 9. You will be allowed
to use your notes if you remember to bring them to class.
Tuesday, September 9: We'll be watching a film called Beyond Hate in
class after taking the Anglo-Saxon quiz. This is preparation for the reading
of the
book Night. I'll hand out the book in class as well.
