Blues Ain't No Mockinbird

Thursday 29 September 2016 for Periods 5 & 6 and Friday 30 September 2016 for Periods 1, 2, & 7

After a devotional reading of a text from Proverbs and prayer, students took a quiz over Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockinbird."

Students then spent fifteen minutes in practice time on the Membean vocabulary site.

The class then discussed Bambara's story briefly in light of the current Black Lives Matter social movement and in literary terms.

Homework: Read Leslie Marmon Silko's "The Man to Send Rain Clouds."

"The Scarlet Ibis" and "Blues Ain't No Mockinbird"

Devotional Text:  Proverbs 28:13

“No one who conceals transgressions will prosper,

but one who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

Prayer

Students log-on to Membean vocabulary site and practice for fifteen minutes.

Quiz:  “The Scarlet Ibis”  (Students may use the text on their electronic device as they take the quiz.)

After the quiz , students discuss the story.

Homework: Read Toni Cade Bambara’s “Blues Ain’t NoMockinbird”

Reader Response Journal Entries

Students spent 5 miniutes on the Membean vocabulary program at the beginning of the period.


They had the remainder of the period to work on completing two more reader-response journal entries.  (They should be up to six entries by the end of the period.)


Students who finished early could either start reading the story for homework or put in another five or minutes in Membean to make it to their minimum of ten minutes for the day/forty minutes per week.


Homework:  Read James Hurst's "The Scarlet Ibis."

Setting up Membean

 Monday 26 September 2016 for Periods 1, 2, 5, & 6 and Tuesday 27 September 2016 for Period 7

At the beginning of class, Mr. Stone went over the priorities for the period.

Students who had not finished their plot poster projects in class last week were given the opportunity to submit it at the beginning of class.

Students used a department Chrome book to set up a membean account:

membean.com/enroll

Mr. Stone provided the necessary token code to each period in class.

Students completed an initial assessment to determine their level and began practicing words.

Students will need to complete a minimum of 40 minutes of practice time on Membean a week.  Twenty minutes will be provided in class each week.

Homework: Complete two more journal entries.  Students should have completed a total of four entries in their journal.

Plot Poster Projects

Periods 5 & 6 on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 and Periods 1, 2, & 7 on Thursday, September 22, 2016.

Students worked in pairs on their plot poster projects which show the interaction of the two major conflicts in Saki's "The Interlopers":  human v. human and humans v. nature.

Mr. Stone distributed a large piece of construction paper, two white sheets of manipulative text, and two pieces of yarn to each pair.

Each pair of students designated one person for the labeler role and one for the cutter role.  The cutter  cut out each of the manipulative texts and the labeler labeled each piece to indicate the order of the events in the story and to indicate to which conflict the event corresponded.

Mr. Stone drew a diagram on the board to show the students how the two plot lines interacted.  Students arranged a purple piece of yarn to represent the human v. human plot line and a green piece of ear to represent the humans v. nature plot line.

Due to the demands of the poster project, the quiz over "One Ordinary Day with Peanuts" was postponed until the next class period.

Homework:  Review "One Ordinary Day with Peanuts."  A quiz over this story will be given at the beginning of the next class period.  Students will spend the remainder of that period working on their poster projects.  Students should be able to finish the project during this second class period devoted to the project; however, if students do not complete their poster project during that class period, they will be able to turn it in at the beginning of the first class period next week.

Making an Accordion-Book Reader-Response Journal

Periods 2, 5, & 6 on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 and Periods 1 & 7 on Wednesday, September 21, 2016


Students read and signed a classmate's ending to Saki's "The Interlopers."


Students then constructed an accordion book out of construction paper and tape to use for a reader-response journal.


Students were given multiple options to respond to each of the stories they have read so far:


"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
"The Five Orange Pips" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"The Rain Came" by Grace Ogot
"Our Dead, Your Dead" by Kamila Shamsie
"The Interlopers" by Saki


Reader-Response Options
-write a mini review (your opinion about whether others would enjoy reading the story and why)


-sketch a scene or character from the story


-write an alternate scene/ending to the story


-make a list of your favorite quotes from the story and explain why they are meaningful to you


- make a list of new words to you and their meanings (minimum of 4 different words)


-create a collage of a scene or character from the story




While students worked on their journal entries (at least one entry needed to be completed by the end of class), Mr. Stone distributed materials for the Interloper plot poster project.


Homework:  Read Shirley Jackson's "One Ordinary Day with Peanuts." Be prepared for a quiz over the story.

Plot and Saki's "The Interlopers"

Periods 1, 2, 5, & 6 on Monday, September 19, 2016 and Period 7 on Tuesday, September 20, 2016


Quiz:  Saki's "The Interlopers"


Students took notes on plot and began discussing the plot of Saki's "The Interlopers" with Mr. Stone.


During the next class, students will construct two plot lines representing two of the central conflicts of "The Interlopers."


Mr. Stone reviewed the use and punctuation of tags in writing dialogue in short stories.


Homework:  Students will write an ending/resolution to Saki's "The Interlopers" since the fate of Ulrich and Georg is only implied by Saki.  Students need to write at least one page, single-spaced, handwritten, OR a half page, double-spaced, typed.


Students will share their endings in with one or two classmates at the beginning of the next class.

More Analysis of Shamsie's "Our Dead, Your Dead"

Periods 1, 2, 5, 6, & 7 on Thursday, September 15, 2016


Students took notes on the function of setting, the conflicts, and the characters in Kamila Shamsie's "Our Dead, Your Dead."


Students worked in small groups to determine character traits of Ayla and then shared them with the class.




Homework:  Read Saki's "The Interlopers" in preparation for a quiz at the beginning of the next class period.

Continued Analysis of 9/11 Story: "Our Dead, Your Dead"

Periods 5 & 7 on Tuesday 13 September 2016 and Periods 1, 2 & 6 on Wednesday September 2016

Signature sheets from the students syllabi were due at the beginning of class.  (Students who have not yet been able to get a parents signature should submit their completed signature sheet to Mr. Stone as soon as possible.)

Mr. Stone continued to read through Kamila Shamsie's "Our Dead, Your Dead" with students while providing historical explanations and analysis of the short story's literary development.

Students continued to take notes on characters in the story.

No Homework was assigned.

Setting Notes & Beginning of Discussion of Shamsie's "Our Dead, Your Dead"

Monday 12 September 2016 for Periods 5, 6, & 7 and Tuesday 13 September 2016 for Periods 1 & 2


Mr. Stone distributed a yellow overview sheet of the short story and directed students to place it at the front of their short story notes in the English section of their three-ring binders.


Mr. Stone also distributed a hardcopy of the course syllabus and told students to take it home and read it and to get their parent(s)/guardian(s) signature(s).


Students took notes on the elements and functions of setting.  They took additional notes on the setting and characters in Kamila Shamsie's "Our Dead, Your Dead."


Homework:  Read the course syllabus and get the required signatures. 


(If a parent is unavailable to sign on the evening of the homework, students should get the signature as soon as possible and turn it in to Mr. Stone.)

9/11: Kamila Shamsie's "Our Dead, Your Dead"

Over the weekend (9/9-9/11), students should read Kamila Shamsie's "Our Dead, Your Dead," one of seven stories commissioned by the Guardian newspaper on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.  The story provides an international perspective on living with terrorism and the events of 9/11. 

During the last class period before the weekend, Mr. Stone shared his memories of 9/11, related the experience to the San Bernardino shootings of 2015, and discussed the classroom safety plans with the students.

Mr. Stone encouraged students to discuss family emergency/safety plans with their parents/guardians over the weekend.

Two-column Note Taking

Study skills are a part of Loma Linda Academy's Expected School-wide Learning Results (ESLRs).

 Students practiced a form of the Cornell Method of Note Taking. Each page is divided into two columns. The lefthand column equals one-third of the width of the page and the righthand column equals two-thirds of the width of the page. Initial notes are taken in the right column. Later, students use the lefthand column to analyze or annotate the notes previously taken.



Mr. Stone lectured on five basic parts of a story and began to go into more depth on character, including the following terms:

character
plot
setting
point of view
theme
protagonist
antagonist
static character
dynamic character
round character
flat character

Short Stories: The First Few Class Periods

On the first day of school students listened to a dramatic recording of Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game."  Their first homework assignment was to review this story for a quiz.


At the beginning of the second class period of English I, students took a quiz over "The Most Dangerous Game," and then turned their attention to preparing for the summer reading test.

After the summer reading test, Mr. Stone introduced students to the two-column note taking method.  Students took notes on note taking and on basic parts of a story and character terms.

There was no homework over the Labor Day weekend. 

During the first week of September, students read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Five Orange Pips" and Grace Ogot's "The Rain Came."  They took a quiz over each of these stories.

More on Character: Doyle's "The Five Orange Pips"

Devotional Text:  6:6-8/Proverbs 7:1-3


Students began reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "The Five Orange Pips."