Thursday, December 20, 2012

Winter Break! Homework and Looking to 2nd Semester

I hope you all have a wonderful, amazing, fantastic, restful, eventful break!

As you guys go off and enjoy yourselves, I'm excitedly working on your next units!  When we come back, our unit will focus on persuasive writing while we read a memoir of the Iranian Revolution called Persepolis.  Afterwards we're planning on doing a sampling of poetry from around the world, and ending the year with a short story unit.

Remember, the other half of your Parallel Reading is due next semester.  An awesome goal would be to have your book on the day we come back.  You have to get a book from the other half of the list. 

Don't forget your vocabulary!  When we come back, we'll be starting with Unit 7.  As always, miniquizzes and major quizzes will alternate every Monday.  You can go ahead and do your Unit 7 workbook.

I'll be moving all of the current resources to 1st Semester Resources tab--so that the information will still be there for you to look at.  Remember, the Final Exam for the course will be cumulative.

Again, have a fantastic break and see you in January!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Week 18 of 18--Final Exams

Hello All!

This is it!  On Friday I gave out the final grades for each student.  The formula to determine their final grade in the class is A x 0.85 + B x 0.15 = C where A is their current grade, B is their exam grade, and C is their final grade in the class.

I'd like these grade sheets signed and returned today, or tomorrow.

Due to some technical difficulty, I couldn't get the PPT review games onto the blog until now. 

For the rest of the week, we're reviewing for the final, and then taking the final.  Click here for the Final Exam Schedual for the week.

I hope you have a great week!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Week 17 (out of 18)

We are in the home stretch!  Today is the final vocabulary quiz of the semester, then all that's left is the presentation and final Midterm Exam!

Make sure you are studying EVERY NIGHT for 10-15 minutes!  You want to do awesome on this final and I know that you can!

The final will comprise of:
  • Vocabulary from units 2-4 (6 questions)
  • Gilgamesh and archetypes (12 questions)
  • William Shakespeare (6 questions)
  • Julius Caesar (36 questions)
  • 2 cold readings that might have something to do with Julius Caesar or Shakespeare (10 questions)
It's 70 questions total.  You have 90 minutes to take it.  You can do it!

You should be studying your Gilgamesh notes, your archetype notes, your vocabulary (remember, games are linked on the Current Resources page), your Julius Caesar packet.  You can also use the study videos and the student presentations I've linked on the Current Resources page. 

Finally, on Thursday, I plan on having a review session in Leap Tutoring.  Please see me about the tutoring ticket to attend.  You can even just show up and fill it out in the Media Center at 3:45 on Thursday.

The Final Exam Schedule is linked below.  Click the Read More:

Monday, December 3, 2012

Week 16 (out of 18)

Head's up for this week:

You'll be given your exemption papers Monday in homeroom. 

You need to finish and be prepared to present your Julius Caesar Menu presentations by Friday.

We'll be in the Writing Lab on Wednesday (7th period Friday instead) to work on these presentations.

Only 53% of all students have turned in their Parallel Reading Assignment that was due last week.  Wednesday, December 5th, is the final day that submissions will be accepted.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Parallel Reading Results

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As of the writing of this post, Pinnacle is up to date with students who have not turned in their Parallel Reading Assignment.  Those Zs are accurate.  If a student has a blank grade, it has been turned in, and I am grading furiously.

Reward Results:
PeriodPercent turned in by FridayNumber turned in Late
1st65%1
2nd50%0
5th39%0
6th37%0
7th45%1
TOTAL48%2

Due to having the highest percentage of papers turned in on Friday, 1st period will receive a reward.  Since 2nd period had the 2nd highest percentage of papers turned in, they'll also receive a (smaller) reward.  Rewards will be given to students who are present on Monday.
At this time 68 of 142 students have turned in their Parallel Reading.  I hope to have these 68 papers graded by Sunday.  Please, the 74 of you who have not yet turned in your papers, please turn them in as soon as possible!

[edit: To see why you received the grade you earned, you can log in to www.turnitin.com and then look at the "GradeMark" tab.  You should be able to see what comments I put on your paper, and how I marked you on the rubric. The rubric is very detailed, and based off of your original instructions.]