Thursday, November 1st:
Friday, November 2nd:
  • We started with the presentations of the Chapter 3 Forum Report for Gatsby.
  • Then we reviewed the Linoit postings that students created before leaving class yesterday as we readdressed the concept of the rhetorical question.
  • Afterwards, I showed them a quick video that discussed the use of rhetorical devices and their power in speech.
  • Then, students completed the worksheet, Speech in the Virginia Convention Analysis to practice
    • Paraphrasing/translating difficult lines into a one sentence summary of the thought
    • Identifying the use of specific devices used within Patrick Henry's speech.
Monday, November 5th:
  • Opened with a paraphrasing quiz: restatement of a short section of Patrick Henry's speech
    • Students gave themselves feedback based upon my explanation of a the elements that needed to be included within the paraphrase (check feedback; graded as a formative)
  • Afterwards, we watched a short video clip about the making of the Constitution
  • Then, we read one of the arguments from Ben Franklin, his Speech in the Convention
  • After reading, complete the worksheet for Franklin's speech.
    • Be able to identify some "things" (rhetorical devices that Franklin uses within his speech) and think about why Franklin's roll as a diplomat is evident within his speech.
Video clip about the "Road to the Constitution"
Video about the Constitution Debate
Unit Test Study Guide:
Tuesday, November 6th:
  • Students took a Type 2 Quiz, listing one example of text that was an appeal to the logos
    • Then, taking that appeal to logos, students had to restate the argument in their own words.
  • Afterwards, students were given time to either
Tomorrow--bring technology that is charged and ready to use for a discussion
Wednesday, November 7th:**
  • Students were given a copy of the test study guide, which will happen on Friday, November 10th.
  • To preface the last reading, we watched a Schoolhouse Rock Video: The Melting Pot
  • Afterwards, we read "from Letters from an American Farmer"
  • Then, students were asked to go to Moodle and be involved in one or more of the discussion thread topics that are contained on the Moodle site, posting at least 4 responses to the conversation topic of their choice--responding to some of Crevecoeur's ideas.
    • Argue whether America is still held to be an "asylum" for the poor.
    • What difference does it make that most of the immigrants in Crevecoeur's time were all coming from Europe--aside from those forced to come, from places like Africa? How does the commonality of the races coming to American bear at all in how Crevecoeur sees things?
    • Are all individuals of all nations "melted into a new race of men" as Crevecoeur predicted? In other words, do you find your American-ness to be something of value or special within the world?
    • Crevecoeur predicted that this melting pot "will one day cause great changes in the world." Has his prediction come to pass? Have those changes been mostly for good or ill?
    • Crevecoeur claims that "the rewards of ...industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labor" for the American. Do you find this to be true, that hard work and dedications equal rewards in America? Is there anything that might speak to the contrary of this that you see in the present condition of our society?
Thursday, November 8th:
  • Students were given the "Great Chain of Being" handout and asked to make some observations as I discussed some of the things that were noticeable
  • Afterwards, using the study guide provided, you had the opportunity to work through the review handout, utilize the PowerPoint resources on Moodle, or go back through the handouts provided for each story--studying for the unit test tomorrow.
  • Time to read and respond to the Gatsby Forum questions or to begin reading Chapter 5.
Friday, November 9th:
Unit Test: The Enlightenment and Revolutionary Writings
Monday, November 12th:
  • Use of "Flightsend" excerpt for Keystone Practice
    • Answer M.C. questions and review
    • Have students build an outline for how they would approach the prompt
  • Discuss function/purpose of pieces of text and how part can be broken into a purpose in relation to the whole
  • Any time left, read Chapter 5 for Gatsby.
Homework--read the assigned readings for your group, which came from the background sections--230 -237
Tuesday, November 13th:
  • 1st--finish Gatsby posts!
  • Student met in the computer lab to work together to create a Googledoc slide presentation to create and order background notes for their section of the background information on the chapter.
    • In the groups that were assigned, students created a slide show with the important information from the reading as well as at least
      • 3 slides per person (signed)
      • at least one additonal link per person: not wikipedia to give an added resource to study the time period from
All Gatsby posts are due tomorrow afternoon or no credit/ the Gatsby presentation for group 4 is now pushed to Friday.
Wednesday, November 14th:**
  • Students continued to create the background notes/slides for the information about this time period.
    • Finish the Google Presentation Slide
    • Share the links with me.
  • After presentations were considered complete. We came back to view them and have the presenters discuss their findings---one group at a time.
  • Afterwards, students either read Gatsby or were involved in the forum discussion.
Thursday, November 15th:
  • Presentations from the Googleslides were seen from each group.
  • Students recieved the background notes sheet for the chapter and we watched a video segment on the Romaticism/Transcendentalist period.
    • As students watched the film, they were asked to post either comments or questions to Socrative that could be used for class discussion.
  • We began reading "The Devil and Tom Walker"
    • As we read, the job of students was to post at least one question either today or tomorrow during our reading to the forum discussion post section--for which they will receive a score.
  • We continued to read "The Devil and Tom Walker"
  • After finishing our reading, students were asked to finish posting there questions concerning the story, for which they will be assessd based upon level of difficulty/depth and the phrasing/wording
    • Connections to student's life
    • Connections to Romanticism
    • Connections to other texts/works that we've read
    • Distinguishing factors from other periods/works
    • Clarifications of the piece itself
    • Questions of analysis of components and literary devices
    • Questions or prompts concerning the ideologies/ideals/ideas inherit within or exposed by the text
  • Once students finished posting their own questions, they were asked to respond to at least 3 different posts to provide their understanding/reactions to the questions by tomorrow.
Friday, November 16th:
Monday, November 19th:
  • Review of Freytag's Pyramid structure and provide with plot chart handouts provided.
  • Begin Reading "The Devil and Tom Walker"
  • Complete the plot chart diagram for "The Devil and Tom Walker"--due tomorrow.
  • After you finish reading, post a question concerning the story to the Moodle discussion Forum post ("The Devil and Tom Walker"), for which they will be assessd based upon level of difficulty/depth and the phrasing/wording
      • Make one question post
      • Post responses to 2 question posts of your peers.
    • TYPES OF QUESTIONS YOU CAN POST TO THE DISCUSSION FORUM
    • Connections to student's life
    • Connections to Romanticism
    • Connections to other texts/works that we've read
    • Distinguishing factors from other periods/works
    • Clarifications of the piece itself
    • Questions of analysis of components and literary devices
    • Questions or prompts concerning the ideologies/ideals/ideas inherit within or exposed by the text
    • Once students finished posting their own questions, they were asked to respond to at least 2 different posts to provide their understanding/reactions to the questions by tomorrow.
.
Tuesday, November 20th:
*
Wednesday, November 21st:
  • Finish Raven from Tuesday--reading and Simpsons interpretation
Tuesday, November 27th:
  • We began reading Poe's "The Black Cat"
    • I discussed the other works of Poe that might be of interest.
  • Short essay assigned for Friday afternoon:
    • Select a work from the Romantics that we have just read: "The Raven," "The Black Cat," "The Devil and Tom Walker," or "The Minister's Black Veil."
    • With the selected work, find and read two articles/essays using the libraries resources--Gale Literature Resource Center--that are critical essays of the piece.
      • FCA 1: For each essay, write a short 5 to 8 sentence summary of the essay that reveals at least 3 main ideas about the text (not part of the plot of the story the essay is about) mentioned in each essay. The summary must be objective and not mention any of your opinions. Also, the main ideas should be paraphrased in your own words. / 10 pts. (highlight the 3 main ideas)
      • FCA 2: After the summary paragraph of each essay, write a reflection concerning the content of the essay by evaluating and stating an opinion about at least 2 of the main ideas that are present within the essay. In other words, make 2 judgment calls about conclusions the author of the essay came to and wrote about within their analysis/critical review of the literary work. This portion should include your opinion about the ideas in the essay: / 10 pts. (underline the opinion language)
A total of 4 paragraphs should be written:
  • Summary for Essay # 1
  • Evaluation of Ideas in Essay # 2
  • Summary for Essay # 2
  • Evaluation of Ideas in Essay # 2
Purdue Online Help: Annotated Bibliographies
Wednesday, November 28th:
A lecture on Hawthorne and his times/works
Thursday, November 29th:
  • Meet in Computer Lab.
  • Complete reading "The Minister's Black Veil"
  • Work on the research that is required.
Friday, November 30th:
  • Meet in Computer Lab
  • Finish the research/annotations that are required and due by the end of the day.
  • Gatsby Forum Reports (chapter 5) were due today, but will be presented next week.