9/30/15

• POW: 
• This week, you will be tested on your ability to analyze a Shakespearean (English) sonnet. On Thursday, you will receive a poem and have time in class to analyze it and write an essay that explains how the structure of the poem develops the poetic idea. To prepare, look over your notes on the sonnet form. We reviewed the elements of the sonnet and ideas about organizing an analytical essay, so if you were absent you might want to seek a classmate's notes.
• You can practice with these English sonnets.

• Beowulf: 
• Themes assignment turned in.
• HW due Fri. 10/2/15: Complete Heroic Ideal assignment

• College Planning:
• Essays:
• Topic card filled out and turned in (see me)
• Continued discussion of sample essays
• Q&A on college admissions essays.
• Resources:
• ApplyTexas University Search (application requirements by school)
• 8 Tips for Crafting Your Best College Essay (BigFuture)
• Common Application Essay Topics (Apply Texas and Common App)
• CommonApp.org school search
• Sample Essay booklet (passed out in class)
• HW due Thurs. 10/8/15: Turn in a hard copy (no email or Google docs) first draft of college admissions essay by today. It can by typewritten or handwritten. Papers turned in after the class period on 10/7 will be read and given feedback, but will receive a grade of 0.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Tues. 10/13/15: Information night for UT and TAMU @ WISD Boardroom, 6 pm

9/28/15

• POW: 
• This week, you will be tested on your ability to analyze a Shakespearean (English) sonnet. On Friday you will receive a poem and have time in class to analyze it and write an essay that explains how the structure of the poem develops the poetic idea. To prepare, look over your notes on the sonnet form. We reviewed the elements of the sonnet and ideas about organizing an analytical essay, so if you were absent you might want to seek a classmate's notes.
• You can practice with these English sonnets.

• Beowulf: 
• Discussion / clarification for notes on section 4.
• HW due Tues. 9/29/15: Complete themes assignment

• College Planning:
• Essays:
• Here are some resources as you begin:
• ApplyTexas University Search (application requirements by school)
• 8 Tips for Crafting Your Best College Essay (BigFuture)
• Common Application Essay Topics (Apply Texas and Common App)
• CommonApp.org school search
• Sample Essay booklet (passed out in class)
• HW due Wed. 9/30/15: Bring in the full essay topic for the toughest college admissions essay you will need to write.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/30/15: Herff Jones meeting in gym during FAS
• Tues. 10/13/15: Information night for UT and TAMU @ WISD Boardroom, 6 pm

9/24/15

• POW 
• Sonnet 97 by William Shakespeare
• Assignment: Write a paragraph on the following topic: Explain how the structure of ideas in Shakespeare's Sonnet 97 helps to develop the poetic idea. Turn in with the annotated poem.

• Beowulf: 
• Annotation notes for section 4. Complete for homework.

• College Planning: We will soon be working on research and essays that will help the college application process. You should be coming to some ideas about:

1. the area you would like to study (it's OK if this is general, but if you can be specific, do so)
2. schools you plan to apply to

                Here are some tools to help your investigation:

• College Scorecard search (compare majors and costs among universities)
• Major and Career Search (browse majors and careers in various areas)
• ACT Profile
• College Admissions Checklist (get PDF version here)
• Quiz for areas of interest 

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Mon. & Tues. 9/28 & 9/29: Senior portraits
• Tues. 10/13: Information night for UT and TAMU @ WISD Boardroom, 6 pm

9/22/15

COLLEGE FAIR IS WEDNESDAY! GET BAR CODES HERE.

• POW
• Sonnet 97 by William Shakespeare
• Today, we looked at the structure of this sonnet (as presented with last week's poem). Specifically, the main idea presented in the first quatrain and how this idea is deepened in the following two quatrains. Continue analyzing for Thursday.

• Beowulf: 
• Discussion of annotation notes for Section 3 of Beowulf. 
• For Thurs. 9/24/15: Review section 4 of Beowulf, focusing on how Beowulf has changed throughout the epic. Continue adding to your notes.

• College Planning: We will soon be working on research and essays that will help the college application process. You should be coming to some ideas about:

1. the area you would like to study (it's OK if this is general, but if you can be specific, do so)
2. schools you plan to apply to

                Here are some tools to help your investigation:

• College Scorecard search (compare majors and costs among universities)
• Major and Career Search (browse majors and careers in various areas)
• ACT Profile
• College Admissions Checklist (get PDF version here)
• Quiz for areas of interest 

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/23/15 @ 9:00 am: College Fair (get your bar code)
• Thurs. 9/24/15: Senior GPA distribution
• Mon. & Tues. 9/28 & 9/29: Senior portraits

9/18/15

• POW: "Sonnet 73" by William Shakespeare 
• Notes on sonnet form, including progression of thought through the quatrains. Terms defined in the notebook: quatrain, couplet, rhyme scheme, elision, stressed syllable, unstressed syllable, iambic pentameter. Annotated poem was turned in for a grade.

• Beowulf
• Notes on the origin and journey of the Beowulf manuscript. If you were absent, you can take notes from this video I made for you.
• Annotation notes for Section 3 of Beowulf. Complete for homework.

• College Planning: We will soon be working on research and essays that will help the college application process. Over the next week or so, you should be coming to some ideas about:

1. the area you would like to study (it's OK if this is general, but if you can be specific, do so)
2. schools that you are interested in applying to

           Here are some tools to help your investigation:

• College Scorecard search (compare majors and costs among universities)
• Major and Career Search (browse majors and careers in various areas)
• ACT Profile 
• College Admissions Checklist
• Quiz for areas of interest 

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/23/15 @ 9:00 am: College Fair (get your bar code)
• Thurs. 9/24/15: Senior GPA distribution
• Mon. & Tues. 9/28 & 9/29: Senior portraits

9/16/15

• POW: "Sonnet 73" by William Shakespeare
• For Fri. 9/18/15: Complete the usual annotations (figurative language / effect, narrative / lyric, topic / poetic idea), but also research the form of the Shakespearean (English) sonnet. Also, you should be able to characterize the speaker of the poem and the intended audience.
• Here are the notes from today about making sure your poetic idea is not a summary.

• Beowulf
• Q&A on Section 2 Notes
• HW due Thurs. 9/17/15: Review Section 3 of Beowulf. Focus on how this part of the epic poem is setting up the final section. Look at how time elapses and the decisions Beowulf makes.

• College Planning: We will soon be working on research and essays that will help the college application process. Over the next week or so, you should be coming to some ideas about:

1. the area you would like to study (it's OK if this is general, but if you can be specific, do so)
2. schools that you are interested in applying to

           Here are some tools to help your investigation:

• College Scorecard search (compare majors and costs among universities)
• Major and Career Search (browse majors and careers in various areas)
• College Admissions Checklist
• Quiz for areas of interest 

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/23/15 @ 9:00 am: College Fair (get your bar code)
• Thurs. 9/24/15: Senior GPA distribution
• Mon. & Tues. 9/28 & 9/29: Senior portraits

9/14/15

• POW: "Sonnet 73" by William Shakespeare
• HW for Wed. 9/16/15- Research the format of the Shakespearean sonnet to learn the qualities of this poem format. Also, characterize the speaker of the poem and the intended audience.
• HW for Fri. 9/18/15- Complete full analysis of the poem, including topic and poetic idea.
• Beowulf: Section 2 analytical review for text annotation (Complete all sections for class on Wed.)

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/23/15 @ 9:00 am: College Fair (get your bar code)
• Thurs. 9/24/15: Senior GPA distribution
• Mon. & Tues. 9/28 & 9/29: Senior portraits

9/10/15

• POW: "Poetry" by Pablo Neruda. We wrote an analytical paragraph stating the poetic idea of the poem and explaining how elements of the poem support the poetic idea. This was turned in with the annotated poem.
• Beowulf
• TEST on characters
• Section 2 analytical review for text annotation (We will continue to work on this in class on Monday.)

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/23/15 @ 9:00 am: College Fair (get your bar code)
• Thurs. 9/24/15: Senior GPA distribution
• Mon. & Tues. 9/28 & 9/29: Senior portraits

9/8/15

• To attend the college fair on Sept. 23, you will need to create a bar code. Here are the instructions to do so.

• POEM OF THE WEEK: Due Thursday, 9/10/15
• "Poetry" by Pablo Neruda
• Make sure you look up and apply words and allusions to the context of the poem, analyze figurative language and its effect, work through the poem in chunks (not lines), and determine the topic (main subject of the poem) and poetic idea (what the poet is trying to express about the topic).

• BEOWULF:
• PowerPoint on the setting of Beowulf. If you were absent, please view the PPT.
• Anglo-Saxon video example 1
• Anglo-Saxon video example 2
• Handout notes for background on the Anglo-Saxon language. This material will be on the final Beowulf test when we finish reviewing all 4 sections of the epic poem. This is for your long-term memory.
• HW for Thurs. 9/10/15: 
• Review section 2 of Beowulf, making new observations and notes. Focus on the character of Grendel's mother and how we can compare / contrast Beowulf's battle with her and the one he has with Grendel.
• We will have a test on ALL of the characters of Beowulf in class this Friday, so work on long-term learning of their relationships and important actions.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/23/15 @ 9:00 am: College Fair
• Thurs. 9/24/15: Senior GPA distribution
• Mon. & Tues. 9/28 & 9/29: Senior portraits

9/4/15

• POW (Poem of the Week): Small group discussion of poem and refinement of poetic idea. Annotated poem pages were turned in.
• Beowulf
• Group discussion / presentation of notes for Section 1 #1-4 and A-G.If you were absent, make sure you get all of these notes in your Beowulf book.
• HW: Review Beowulf characters. Test next week!

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/23/15 @ 9:00 am: College Fair
• Thurs. 9/24/15: Senior GPA distribution

9/2/15

• Poem of the Week:  
• "Notes on the Art of Poetry" by Dylan Thomas
• Due Fri. 9/4/15: Read & analyze poem in this way:
•  Look up any words you don't know or are used in an unfamiliar way. Make note of the definition right on the page.
• Decide if the poem is lyric (about ideas / emotions) or narrative (like a story) and look for those elements.
• Note ideas about how literary devices (metaphor / simile / imagery, etc.) are used.
• Determine the topic (general subject) of the poem and label it at the bottom.
• Determine the poetic idea (what the poet is trying to say about the topic) and write it in one sentence at the bottom of the page.

• Discussion / Q&A: Harvard annotation expectations. This is how to learn material and keep it in your memory so that you have an accumulated education. Keep this resource and use it in your classes.

• Beowulf, section 1: Small group discussion and text annotation for these topics. Each group will present notes (A-G) on Friday.
 

 

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Wed. 9/23/15 @ 9:00 am: College Fair
• Thurs. 9/24/15: Senior GPA distribution