Playing School…
We had a busy week last week and an even busier week coming up. Make sure you are keeping up with the pace of the class; ask questions when you are confused and or come in before or after school to play catch up. If you are absent it is your responsibility to catch back up- I will not come and seek you out to collect your work but I will keep the zero in the grade book until the missed work is turned in. Make sure you are using someone in your class/period to keep you informed of the missed work. The website is a great resource but it is not a replacement for a living breathing body in your class. I know it is tough some time to find the time, in your incredibly busy schedules, to finish your work to the best of your ability, but if you are giving 100% the majority of the time you have some room to put aside work when the need arises. However, if you are giving less than 100% that means you have no room for error. Work hard, make good choices and play school the best you can. We are already five weeks into the school year; you can be proud of your progress, if you have worked hard . You still have time to turn it around if you have hardly worked. This year has started out great and each week it gets better, because I really do have the best and brightest kids at Los Al- Yeah me 
Onward.. Three things you need to do: Stay positive, work hard, be nice to people!!
Seniors-Great job on the Seniors Only Section. The Senior Reporters have done a fabulous job with reporting the events of the day, and getting the articles turned in for “press” in a timely manner. I really appreciate your tenacious work attitudes, the bright eyes, and ready to go attitude, despite the early morning period. I am glad that parking hasn’t hindered you from getting to class on time, and the early period hasn’t hindered your ability to stay awake. You are all doing a great job in class!! Your post secondarys have been graded and handed back; check the online gradebook and keep pushing yourself to maintain a solid passing grade. This week you will work in groups to prepare a teaching tool to use for an oral presentation. You will be teaching the class the fundamentals of the literary movement assigned to you. Make good use of your time in class, and at home, and get ready to inform your peers of your findings. Keep in mind-Group work is not the time to slack off, I expect each and every one of you to participate equally in the completion of the assignment. I do not give group grades, I give individual grades- if you are pulling your weight you will receive a decent grade. The logistics of the assignment is linked in the course information section of our blog. Keep in mind the following due dates: Visuals due Wednesday; Sept. 30, oral presentations start Thursday; Oct 1, Unit Final the following Tuesday; Oct. 5.
Juniors- The Duly Noted news has been great, beyond my expectations-I am very proud of the Ghostwriters thus far. Our daily warms ups have generated some interesting conversation, keep thinking out side the box; it will help develop in depth analysis skills. Word choice for describing authors use of diction, detail, imagery, syntax and tone is critical to setting up an analytical paper. Your first true writing assignment, Ellison paragraph, had glimmers of understanding in terms of grasping Ellison’s purpose for mocking academia in the Charlie Parker piece. However, we will spend more time in setting up the topic sentence that allows you to explore diction, and syntax when analyzing author’s purpose. Your first in class essay helped you to see the importance of reading critically, pacing a cold draft, and staying focused on purpose rather than plot or literary devices. Friday was a shortened class period, we checked out The Scarlett Letter in period 4 and will check it out on Monday in period 3. Homework was posted on the calendar, as a test of who is really using the resources we have for this class (period 3 students just kicked themselves reading that last line) Next week we will have our first vocabulary test- it a modified short list due to late notice (you’re welcome). We will also begin our study of Hawthorne and the classic Scarlett Letter. Continue to check the class calendar for reading deadlines. I can’t emphasize the importance of reading in slow motion and taking in all the diction, details, description, and syntax that Hawthorne used to craft his masterpiece. Don’t give up on the language rather embrace the inversions and structure and ask what purpose it serves. Once you have read, utilize the very helpful resources- specifically myrocketbooks.com. Your efforts will pay off if you don’t cheat yourself. I am looking forward to insightful discussion on our class core reading.
