More on our own Myths

Today we began class by giving feedback to the Hercules group.
We got the "official" scoring guide for the Create-a-Myth project and had time to work on writing and revising our myth (these will be posted on the website sometime this weekend).

Finally, we did a bit of open mic time.

Homework for Monday: Read both chapters on the Trojan War (inc. Fall of Troy) and keep working on your myth project.

The Theseus discussion was pushed to Monday or to a future review day.

Hercules!

Today we stared class with a little quiz over the heroes that we've read about so far.

Then the Hercules group presented and we greatly enjoyed the charades.

Mrs. G handed out a little study guide for Theseus and said we'd talk a little more about him tomorrow.

Finally, we discussed tomorrow's agenda: bring several paragraphs of your myth-in-progress and expect to work on it as well.

Writing our own myths

Today we began class by giving feedback to yesterday's group presentation on Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece.

Then we discussed an upcoming project where students will create their own myth. They can make up a hero or a god and then write a story (adventure, romance, comedy, etc.) about them. We spent classtime brainstorming and starting to draft.

Homework reading for tomorrow: Hercules & Theseus chapters.

The heroes begin...

Today we heard all of the presentation for Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece, and then we got to do a little bit of the Perseus presentation.

Tomorrow: Writing workshop & wrap-up on Perseus.

Thursday: Hercules & Theseus (Read ahead! These are loooong chapters!)

Cupid & Psyche

Today we started with the treat of some reading time.

Then we participated in Cupid & Psyche's presentation.

Tomorrow: Jason and Perseus.

Celebrations & Preparations

Students completed their lesson plans for their mythology teaching groups today and got them approved by Mrs. Gilbert.

We also celebrated Joey's and Larry's birthdays and had open-mic time.

Don't forget the homework reading this weekend of Psyche and Cupid!

Pictures day

Today we had school pictures during our class.

When we returned, we did some journaling and then had some committee time.

The study committee reminded everyone that we'd be having a quiz tomorrow; areas of particular focus are this week's reading plus the creation stories from last week.

The birthday committee shared plans to celebrate two birthdays on Friday. Everyone had to commit to $3 -- either to bring $3 worth of goods (there was a sign-up for cups, cookies, etc.) or to bring $3 for pizza (which is due tomorrow).

Myth Soap Operas

Today we did "myth soap operas" where we acted out the various love myths that we read the previous night. After a lot of laughter, we also briefly touched on some common themes we saw emerging.

Then we signed up for teaching groups - each group has a chapter to read for Thursday (and will be quizzed on it!). Eventually, that group will be responsible for teaching the chapter to the rest of the class.

Tomorrow is picture day and we'll be doing some journaling.

Discussions & Play-doh

Today we began class with a brief review of the weekend reading: students created play-doh symbols for the characters and stories from the reading and had to explain their symbol to the class.

Then we had group discussion time over the reading.

We also shared allusions to Greek mythology.

And finally, we have two piece of homework:

1) Read the chapters on "Eight brief tales of lovers" and "Atalanta"
2) Write for 10 minutes in your journal -- try to write your own "myth" with a lesson to be learned or a crazy story to explain how something came into being.

Tomorrow we'll be getting physical with the reading, and Wednesday will be picture day.

Friday Festivities

Today we did writing workshop, open mic time and committe time.

We also reviewed where to meet for fire drills and what counts as cleavage on the ladies' shirts.

See yesterday's entry for the weekend homework.

Discussions & Allusion

Today we did fishbowl discussions over the three chapters of Mythology that we have read so far.

Then we learned what "allusions" are. As homework, everyone should bring in a couple of allusions to Greek mythology either Friday or Monday. The allusions can be in books, songs, TV, film, news, etc. but they should be referencing Greek mythology.

The homework reading for Monday is 1.4 and 2.4 -- and, in addition to taking notes, everyone should write some more discussion questions about the reading.

Tomorrow we'll have journaling, open mic time, committee time, and some wrapping-up-class-details time.

Digging for Potatos

Today we learned about our journals and writer's workshop.

We began by doing a "potato" write where we wrote for 8 minutes about the potato given to us from Mrs. Gilbert. We then shared those writings with each other.

We then discussed how the potato was a metaphor for writing and how the journals would be used in this class. After this "warm-up," we proceded to have an additional 10 minutes for writing and some additional sharing time.

The homework for tomorrow is on yesterday's entry.

Timelines and Questioning

Today we compiled our homework into a large timeline for chapter 1.3 of Mythology. Students should have the entire timeline written down in their notes.

We also learned (briefly) about the difference between high and low level learning. Our homework for Thursday is to read 1.2 and to write 5 high-level discussion questions, at least 2 of which must be on 1.2 while the others may be over anything we have read so far.

Tomorrow we'll need our journals for a writing activity.

Of Quizzes & Olympians

Today in class we had a quiz over the weekend's reading. It was open-note, so students who brought their graphic organizer with them had an easier time of it (and the graphic organizer was due!).

We also finished reading the partner interviews.

Homework for tonight: Read ALL of 1.3 and make a bulleted list in big (2") print of the key events in your section (which you signed up for in class). You are encouraged to take notes on other key events as well, but they won't be graded -- but they will be allowed on quizzes!

Beginning Mythology

Today started by doing a few more partner interviews.

Then we got our Mythology books and did an "Instant Expert" activity to get into them.

Then we reviewed the reading schedule and study guide (both available online at www.cjgilbert.net).

Finally, we reviewed the homework for this weekend: to read 1.1 and create a graphic organizer on the Olympians (and the rubric for this assignment is also available online)

Getting to know you...More!

Today we read some of the partner introductions to get to know one another.

We also reviewed the syllabus and turned in our homework (syllabus signed and annotated, student survey).

We brainstormed rules for the classroom and created a final list of rules (Be respectful, Be responsible, Don't disrupt the learning if you're having a bad day, Help others be the best they can be) . We also decided to set up committees to organize special activities -- some for studying and some for celebrating (e.g. birthdays)

In a shocking development, we actually have no homework for tonight, but tomorrow we'll start mythology and will have homework for the weekend.

Day 2 - Getting to know you!

Today we began partner interviews in order to get to know each other-- everyone should write the final draft of their partner interview as homework and be prepared to read it aloud to class tomorrow. If you were absent today, you should write an introduction of yourself (rough and final drafts) to be read aloud to the class tomorrow.

Additionally, everyone should bring back the parent signature slip for their syllabus and be familiar with the contents of the syllabus.

Students who were absent yesterday received a folder of make-up work that should be returned tomorrow.

1/2 Day Welcome

Today we had approximately 18 minutes to kick off the start to a new class -- Advanced Sophomore English.

In that time, we completed a folder of work (absent students will need to pick it up and finish it) and were assigned our homework (to finish the student survey; read and annotate our syllabus; and have our parent(s) sign off on the syllabus).

All homework is due Thursday since over half the class was at the MSC, but be aware that tomorrow night we'll have some other homework as well.

Welcome to a New Year!

Welcome parents and students of Advanced Sophomore English!

I hope this year will be exciting, intellectually invigorating, and challenging for us all.

Each day we will record the class' activities here so that absent students (or curious parents) may read about what we did. Feel free to peruse past entries to get a better idea of what past classes have done.

Class blogs tend to be updated by 4:00 p.m. each day.

For more information, visit our class website at www.cjgilbert.net