Welcome to the new year. Remember my major two requests:
1) Maintain a sense of optimism. We all benefit from the positive outlook that
is brought to difficult situations.
2) Have faith in one another, and give others reason to have faith in you. By
feeling safe, we free ourselves and others to learn and find both comfort
and success.
Here are the other basic standards for class. They're simple, but meaningful to me.
1) Be On Time
2) Be Prepared
3) Be Polite
4) Be Giving
5) Be Open Minded
Opening Activities
Please be aware that I am taking my time right now at the start of the year, moving slowly but
quite steadily toward understandings that will surface not only in the initial thought that you
are putting into the questions that I ask, but in the content of the course that will follow.
Week 2: September 14 - 18
We are covering five questions over the course of five days. They will be as meaningful for
you as the effort and thought that you put into them. All of these questions focus on you --
your character or nature, your surroundings as defined by the expectations others have of
you, your specific connection and commitment to certain ideas and values, the notion that
there is more to everyone -- more to you -- than others may perceive, and finally the effect
of specific fears on who we are and who we want to be.
Week 3: September 21 - 25
This week I have two primary objectives:
1) Complete our look into who we are by composing two separate paragraphs that
respond to the question about values and one of the four remaining topics. While
you could accomplish this at home pretty quickly, for now I would like to have the
opportunity to work with you as we write these out gradually.
2) Begin to read our first major work of literature this year: The Crucible.
Week 4: September 29 - October 2
Tuesday: Begin to clarify points of confusion through asking questions about characters,
events, and societal circumstances
Wednesday: Respond to questions about first half of Act I, The Crucible
Determine the larger issues that are tearing apart the town
HW: Finish reading Act I for Friday
Thursday: Vocabulary introduction
HW: Finish vocabulary homework for Monday
Friday: Focus on Act I completion
Quix
HW: Finish vocabulary sentence completion
Week 5: October 5 - October 9
Monday - Wednesday: Clarify the events of Act I in The Crucible by gaining stronger
understanding of who the characters are and what they are like.
We'll be reading in class for a better sense of the play as a work
of literature that's meant to be acted out on stage. However, we
will mostly try to establish an understanding of the strange
circumstances that Miller is trying to recreate.
HW: Everyone is to finish reading Act II for Friday!!
Thursday: Vocabulary Unit 1 - matching up definitions and usage
Friday: Discuss Act II and the events that drag the Proctors into the
deepening troubles of Salem.
Week 6: October 12 - October 16
Monday, Tuesday: Clarify the events and conflicts in Act II of The Crucible. We
will pay particular attention to John Proctor's perception of
events and the quandary he is in, as well as Reverend Hale's
troubled conscience due to his uncertainty regarding events.
HW: Compose ten additional sentences for unit 1 vocabulary
Wednesday: Vocabulary Review (sentences)
Thursday: Begin reading Act III
Friday: Partner work on sentence completion exercise
HW: Complete reading Act III