Syllabus | Third Quarter's Assignments Revised: Mar. 12, 2009
[First Quarter's Assignments] [Second Quarter's Assignments]
Week of January 19 to 23 (Beginning of Second Semester and Third Quarter)
Mon	No School: MLK, Jr. Day
Tues	Begin college writing unit. Journal #6 (untimed: write about your favorite childhood place. Go for descriptions of details). No hmwk.
Wed	[PUC Basketball Tournament] Continue college writing unit. Read "Writing and Thinking: The Writing Process." Discuss. Discuss and work on exercises #1-4 together. (Each student needs to write his/her own paper.) No hmwk.
Thur	[PUC Basketball Tournament] Continue college writing unit. Read: "The Basic, No-Frills Essay: How to Get An 'A' on an Academic Essay." No hmwk.
Week of January 26 to 30
Mon	Continue college writing unit. Analyze Journal #6. Create a guiding statement for your writing: "_(childhood place)_ was _(emotion)_." Look for details that are likely to convince a reader of the validity of your guiding statement. Mark where you could add more details. This is VERY rough writing. You're dredging around to see what will convince a reader who doesn't know anything about your childhood place. Do more writing, as necessary. Pass out semester grades. Pass back papers. Answer questions. Help basketball people get caught up. No new hmwk so that basketball people can do last week's work.
Tues	Continue college writing unit. Clear out last semester's work from English notebooks. Keep all writing handouts and Journal #6. Open-notes quiz on "The Basic, No-Frills Essay: How to Get An 'A' on an Academic Essay." Continue collecting your thoughts on your favorite childhood place. Hmwk: Continue working on your notes about your favorite childhood placy that will convince a reader of the truth of your guiding statement.
Wed	Continue college writing unit. Work on notes. Hmwk: Complete analysis of sample essay.
Thur	Check off notes. Example essay assignment sheet. Share sample essay: "A Boy's View of Playland." Discuss structural elements (thesis statement and topic sentences) and types of examples (multiple and extended). Analyze sample essay by underlining, color coding, etc. to demonstrate your understanding of the structural elements and examples. Make sure you have a guiding statement for your information: "_(childhood place)_ was _(emotion)_." No hmwk.
Week of February 2 to 6
Mon	Continue college writing unit. You've done lots of work on the "Thinking" part of the writing process. Now, move to the "Organizing" step. How are you going to organize for maximum effectiveness? Begin organizing notes into manageable chunks. How will you arrange the info so that it is convincing? Cluster sheets (sample cluster sheet), outlines, journaling, drawing and other methods of organizing. Hmwk: Continue working on organizing step. Be prepared to share in class tomorrow.
Tues	Continue college writing unit. Continue working on organizing your essay. Analyze your organization. What is your thesis statement? How does each part contribute to this thesis statement? What will the topic sentence be for each paragraph? Now is the time to make judgments about the information you have. Hmwk: Complete cluster sheet (to be checked off at the beginning of class tomorrow).
Wed	Due: Complete cluster sheet. Talk with each student about his/her cluster sheet. Sentence outlines. Sample sentence outline for "Playland" essay. Begin detailed sentence outline for your essay. Be sure you have a thesis statement by now. Also, you should be able to devise your topic sentences. Hmwk: Complete and word process your sentence outline. It should have as much details as the sample sentence outline. Due tomorrow.
Thur	Due: Complete and word-processed sentence outline. Peer review and conference with teacher about sentence outlines. No hmwk.
Week of February 9 to 13
Mon	No School: Staff Development Day
Tues	Continue college writing unit. Begin drafting a rough-rough draft from sentence outline. (Have all materials in class!) Hmwk: Continue drafting. Complete rough-rough draft tonight. Print out rough-rough draft (double spaced). Have hard copy ready to bring to class.
Wed	Due: rough-rough draft. Continue college writing unit. Read Anne Lamott's "The Crummy First Draft." Do self evaluation of draft. Hmwk: Complete self evaluation of draft and revise draft based on self evaluation done in class today. Bring printout of NEW draft to class tomorrow.
Thur	Continue college writing unit. Do peer evaluation on revised rough draft. On Tuesday, you should have with you in class: the rough-rough draft on which you did your self evaluation and the revised rough draft on which your friend did a peer evaluation. No hmwk.
Week of February 16 to 20
Mon	No School: Presidents' Day
Tues	Check off rough-rough drafts and revised rough drafts. Review the writing process so far. Answer questions. Discuss editing and proofreading. Sign up for individual conferences with the teacher. Hwmk: Proofread and edit your draft. Use editing tricks we discussed in class. Print out TWO hard copies of the latest draft to bring to your conference.
Wed - Fri	Writing conferences. Bring TWO hard copies of the latest draft to your conference. (Students not scheduled for a conference must meetin Mrs. Buller's room on Wed. & Thurs.) Hmwk: Revise essay incorporating revisions suggested at conference. This draft will be checked off on Monday.
Week of February 23 to 27
Mon	Due: draft incorporating revisions suggested at conference. Continue with college writing unit. Discuss final format and final edits. Complete your final draft. [Use "A Boy's View of Playland" as a model for final format.] Hmwk: Print out final draft. Assemble ALL drafts in a folder. Arrange them from most recent (on top) to oldest. Put the cluster sheet in the very back. Due tomorrow at the BEGINNING of class. (Do NOT come to class asking to print out your essay. This must be done well before class. Essays that arrive late to class lose 5%. Essays that arrive after class is over will lose 10%/day.)
Tues	Due: Final draft (and all previous drafts) of Example Essay in a folder. (Essays that are late to class will lose 5%. Essays that arrive after class is over will lose 10%/day.) We have spent a lot of class time thinking about how to customize the writing process to your own needs. Write a detailed "Writing Self Assessment" identifying what works for you at every stage of the writing process: What are the ideal circumstances for you at each stage of the proces? What works? What doesn't work? What practical methods are you going to be able to take to college? If you had to write a quality paper in a short period of time (day or two) what would you have to do to be efficient and effective? Begin The Merchant of Venice. Read "The Merchant of Venice" in Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb. Hmwk: Submit essay to Turnitin.com before midnight tonight. (10 pts).
Wed	The Merchant of Venice. Begin viewing In Search of Shakespeare. Hmwk: Finish "Writing Self Assessment" started yesterday. Finish reading "The Merchant of Venice" in Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb. Read information about Tales from Shakespeare. [Enrichment: Story Synopsis in Masterpiece Theatre website]
Thur	[Choral Festival] Continue viewing In Search of Shakespeare. No hmwk.
Week of March 2 to 6
Mon	The Merchant of Venice. Continue viewing In Search of Shakespeare. Hmwk: Read "Shylock and History" and "On Religion" section (scroll down) in "Essay: On Race and Religion" from Masterpiece Theatre website.
Tues	Discuss In Search of Shakespeare. What connections can you see between Shakespeare's own life and the play? Begin viewing The Merchant of Venice (BBC production). Distribute Study and Discussion Questions. Hmwk: Read over Study and Discussion Questions. Look for a few questions that interest you. What answers do you want to find when we are viewing the play?
Wed	Continue viewing The Merchant of Venice (BBC production). Hmwk: Write out answers to Study and Discussion Questions #1-3. (File in your English notebook as Journal #7.)
Thur	Continue viewing The Merchant of Venice. No hmwk.
Week of March 9 to 13
Mon	Continue viewing The Merchant of Venice. Hmwk: Write out answers to Study and Discussion Questions # 4-6. (File in your English notebook as Journal #8.)
Tues	Finish viewing M of V. Check off Journal #8. Work on answers to Study and Discussion Questions. Hmwk: Write out answers to #7-9. (File in your English notebook as Journal #9.)
Wed	Intro M of V relationship chart: Figure out a way to demonstrate visually and concretely the relationships between significant characters in the play. Differentiate between kinds/quality of relationships. Allow for multiple relationships/character. ("Significant" = the play would be different if the character where not there.) No hmwk.
Thur	[Band Festival @ SAA] Work on Study and Discussion Questions #10-13. (File in your English notebook at Journal #10.) Continue working on M of V relationship chart. No hmwk.
Week of March 16 to 20 (End of Third Quarter)
Mon	M of V relationship chart Hmwk: Continue on M of V relationship chart.
Tues	Discuss censorship of M of V. ("Censorship, Anti-Semitism, and The Merchant of Venice," Robert J. Wilson, English Journal, 1997.) Continue working on M of V relationship chart. Hmwk: Complete M of V relationship chart. Due tomorrow at the beginning of class.
Wed	Due: M of V relationship chart. Review for test. Essay question: Pick one side of #3 Study and Discussion Questions. (Don't attempt both sides of the question for the test essay. You can have a 3x5 card on your desk during the test session while you write the essay. OK on card: outline only, NO complete essay on card!) Hmwk: Finish preparation for The Merchant of Venice test.
Thur	Test: The Merchant of Venice. (Matching: characters; ID & significance: quotes from turning points in the play or on significant issues presented by the play; prepared essay) You can have a 3x5 card on your desk during the test session while you write the essay. OK on card: outline only, NO complete essay on card!) No hmwk.
March 23 to 27: Spring Break