Welcome to English 10 Honors!

1.  Read Chapters 12-14.  
2.  Study for Vocabulary Quiz #1 (remember that spelling counts)
3.  Read and annotate A Famished Road
4.  Organize your binder/notebook (make sure your papers are organized, you have recorded any "do now's" and/or class notes necessary, you have all of the handouts I have given you)
Today's PowerPoint

Read Chapters 8-11 in Things Fall Apart.
Today's PowerPoint.

Your homework tonight is to:
1. Read Chapters 5-7 in Things Fall Apart.
2. Complete the elements of culture chart for both the American culture and the Ibo culture.  In the column labeled "Ibo culture", only write down what you have learned from TFA. This means that many of the categories, which have not been dealt with yet, will be left blank.  Realize that you will be adding information to this chart as we work through TFA.
3.  Look up the etymology of your name and write it down.

Today's PowerPoint.
You all impressed me with your maturity and participation in today's Socratic Seminar.  Thank you!
Today's homework is as follows:
1.  Write a creative paragraph using all ten vocabulary words.
2. Go back through the last four chapters and find examples of your assigned motif.  If you forget what your motif is, look at the PowerPoint that is attached above.

Our Things Fall Apart vocabulary study begins today.  Each week you will have ten vocabulary words to study.  I have already defined the words for you, although you are welcome to look up alternative definitions.  Please be familiar with the different forms of each word.  For example the word "contempt" is defined as a noun on your TFA Vocabulary List 1, but you should also be familiar with the adjectival form of the word: contemptible.  In addition to a weekly vocabulary quiz you will also have to write a creative paragraph using all ten words.  This paragraph is due on Tuesday.  If you need help using these words in sentences, I would recommend you look on the website: www.yourdictionary.com.  This website, not only defines words, but it also gives you sample sentences.  Knowing this, you are NOT allowed to use the sentences posted on www.yourdictionary.com in your paragraph, because that would be PLAGIARISM. Use the website and sample sentences as a resource; then come up with your own original paragraph.

Vocabulary List 1
Vocabulary List 2 

Good morning Sophomores! Your weekend homework is as follows:
1.  Read Chinua Achebe's essay titled, "An Image of Africa".  Take notes on the chart passed out in class.  Let me clarify how to use the chart.  In the first column take notes on C. Achebe's points.  In the second column take notes on Joseph Conrad's depiction of Africa.  In the third column write down your opinions on what you have read. Keep in mind that you may write more in one column than another.  Take your time as you read this essay.  I know that it is long and dense and like I said on Friday, it is one of the harder texts you will read this semester.
2.  Read the first four chapters in Things Fall Apart.  I copied this for you, so you have the first four chapters in the form of a packet.
3.  Reader Response paper - 
Directions:  Write a Reader Response Paper picking one passage from one of the six texts we have read this week. Make sure to connect this passage to another one of the six texts we have read together. Please make sure to follow the guidelines specified on your RRP guidelines sheet.

Click here if you need help formating your papers so that they comply with MLA guidelines.

I know that this is a lot of homework.  It is more than you will normally get in a weekend.  Do not leave all of the readings to the last minute.  Space them out: read one today and one tomorrow.

I look forward to reading your papers.  Please email me if you have any questions.
Have a nice weekend! 
 ~Ms. LeeKeenan
 
 Friday's PowerPoint

For Period 2 ONLY: Because of our fire drills (notice the plural :)), you have to write a response to the Open Response Question (ORQ) on the attached PowerPoint.  Please remember to answer the question (your thesis), use evidence, interpret the evidence, and connect the evidence to your thesis (your analysis).

For both Period 2 & Period 4: Read and annotate "The Sacred Rac" by Patricia Hughes.  Remember to also bring all of your materials, completed reflection sheet, and signed syllabus to class on Friday.

Enjoy the holiday!

It was a pleasure meeting everyone today!  I am excited to start our work this semester.  At times you may find the work to be challenging and at times down right painful, but if you survive the course, you will leave feeling accomplished and prepared for whatever challenges you are bound to face in the future. 

Please make sure your syllabus is read and signed for Friday, September 10, 2010.
Your other homework tonight can be found on the attached PowerPoint.
Mortimer Adler's essay "How to Mark a Book" needs to be read AND annotated.

Welcome to English 10 Honors!  I am ecstatic to be joining you on this journey through your second year of high school.  A wise professor once told me that “School is Practice for Life” and ever since, this has become my motto.  Not only will the literature studied in this course expose you to realms of the literary world that you have not yet discovered, but the routines that you practice in this class and the discussions that you participate in will undoubtedly give you practice in living that will transfer to other areas of your life. 

The literature that we read will be examined through a discussion of following questions:

What is power and who has it? Does who has it matter? 

What does power have to do with fairness and justice? 

What are the factors that create an imbalance of power within a culture?    

How can power, its use or the pursuit thereof, become corrupt?