The Great Gatsby
M: The students will complete the chapter 1 vocabulary and read pgs. 1 – 8 to establish characterization.
T: The students will read pgs. 9 – 17 and answer questions over the novel’s setting.
W: The students will read pgs. 18 – 21 and discuss the importance and symbolism of the green light.
Th: The students will identify and discuss the evocation of the Jazz Age in chapter 1.
M: The students will read The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, afterwards identifying examples of humor and regional dialect. Notes and discussion. Announce Humor In American Literature test for Friday, March 31
T; The students will complete a reading comprehension and regional dialect exercise on Jumping Frog. Due at end of class period.
W: The students will complete a review for the Humor in American Literature test.
Th: The students will complete the ACT-based vocabulary exercise, QUACK! Lesson 5
F: The students will complete the Humor in American Literature Test.
The Crucible
M: School Holiday
T: The students will make predictions about: (a) Will Proctor convince Mary to overcome her fears and testify against Abigail? and (b) If he does convince her, how will the judges receive the testimony? Read pages 1187 – 1194 and discuss (1) what is Giles’s motivation for interrupting the court and (2) what is Parris’s motivation for discrediting Mary Warren?
W: The students will complete a quiz over the Act II vocabulary words.
Th: The students will complete a quiz over Act II.
F: The students will 1194 – 1203 and will evaluate the argument concerning (a) that Parris claims that “all innocent and Christian people are happy for the courts” and (b) the ways Danforth’s arguments are based on faulty premises.
The Crucible
M: Literary analysis (TEK 4) of Biblical allusions (TEK 7) in the play and Act II Vocabulary Builder (TEK 1) assignments, Wednesday. The students will read pages 1161 – 1165 and discuss (a) the details that suggest tension in the Proctors’ relationship and (b) the meaning of Elizabeth’s allusion to the parting of the Red Sea as it relates to Abigail’s new standing in the community.
T: The students will read pages 1165 – 1169 and discuss the conflict developing between the Proctors and their community.
W: Literary analysis and Vocabulary Builder assignments due. The students will read pages 1169 – 1175 and discuss (a) the internal conflict that the stage directions suggest that Rev. Hale experiences, and (b) the meaning of Hale’s allusion to the Devil in relation to the accusations against Rebecca Nurse.
Th & F: The students will read pages 1175 – 1181 and discuss (a) how Proctor’s allusion to Pontius Pilate is an insult to Hale, and predict (a) how the poppet will affect Elizabeth’s future, (b) what will be the fate of those accused, and (c) how the charge of lechery will impact Proctor and his family.
The Crucible
M: The students will complete the Act 1 vocabulary for a quiz Thursday. Introduce and discuss literary analysis (TEK 4). Discuss making inferences and drawing conclusions while reading pages 1124 – 1134.
T: The students will read pages 1134 – 1140. Discussion of how the plot is propelled forward by the arrival of Goody Putnam and the conflict with the villagers that Parris is trying to avoid.
W: The students will read pages 1140 – 1149. Discuss (a) how combination of stage direction and dialogue reveals Mrs. Putnam’s eagerness to seen signs of witchcraft and (b) how Parris intensifies his conflict with Proctor.
Th: Act I vocabulary quiz( TEK 1). The students will read pages 1149 – 1151. Discuss (a) students’ impression of Rev. Hale based on the dramatic exposition, stage directions, and dialogue, and (b) the details in the dramatic exposition that explain Giles’ Corey’s remarks about his wife, Martha.
F: The students will read pages 1152 – 1157 and discuss how Tituba’s confirmation of Parris’s and Hale’s suspicions adds to the play’s rising action.
M: The Epistle – Letters from an American Farmer; background and format.
T: Letters from an American Farmer, pg. 196 – 199. – notes and discussion of (1) metaphor of immigrants as plants, (2) America as a melting pot, and (3) America as a land of opportunity.
W & Th: The Personal Letter – Letter to her Daughter from the New White House; notes and discussion. The student will write a personal letter to a friend describing their room. Pgs. 192 – 195.
F: Aphorisms – Poor Richard’s Almanack. Author’s purpose and structure; notes and discussion. Pgs. 186 – 189.
M – Th: To extend a summer reading assignment, the students will view the play, Our Town, in preparation for writing a comparison paper over 20th-century Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire and 21st-century White Oak, Texas.
F: The students will be in the computer lab preparing a draft of their summer reading comparison paper.
M: The students will define and discuss slave narrative; read Frederick Douglas’ My Bondage and My Freedom. Complete context exercise.
T & W: The History of American English: Native American & British Influences. Notes and discussion. The students will select a U. S. state name and research its etymology. Due at end of class Wednesday. Mr. Hale will distribute ACT information and STAAR test results.
Th: Make folders and return graded papers.
F: The students will view the SAT-based vocabulary video, QUACK! and complete the Lesson 2 exercise.
M: School Holiday
T: The students will review for a major test over Native American literature.
W: To conclude the Native American literature unit, the students will sketch a totem pole that is representative of the following areas of their lives: goal, family, school, and hobby. Test Grade
Th: The students will complete the “A Meeting of Cultures” test over Native American literature.
F: The students will complete the SAT-based vocabulary lesson two.
M: School Holiday
T – Th: The students will present their rhetorical analyses of editorial cartoons to the class. Test Grade.
W: Postcard from Summer Reading project due at the beginning of class. Test Grade.
F: The students will complete SAT -Based Vocabulary Lesson Four.