Ms. Neville's Class Resources

Mr. Bogigian and I are hoping to take as many English IV students as possible to the Great Lakes Theater Festival’s student matinee of Othello on October 20th. It is during the school day, so attendees will be responsible for making up any missed work.

In order to secure tickets, anyone wishing to attend MUST turn in a signed permission slip (distributed in class) and a check for $11 (made out to Independence High School) to me or Mr. Bogigian NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th.

This is a great opportunity to see a (slightly modernized) production of a Shakespeare play at a very affordable price and in good company. Those who choose not to attend will be given an Othello-related assignment to complete instead.

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Due to our morning assembly, we had shortened classes today.

English IV: LMC for NoveList demo and AR book selection. Vocab quiz tomorrow.

Pre-AP English: LMC for NoveList demo and AR book selection. Vocab quiz tomorrow; please bring your copy of Alas, Babylon (if you have a school-issued copy) to return.

Journalism/Mass Communication: Don’t forget to read your lead writing tips for tomorrow.

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English IV — Homework points were awarded for your Beowulf study guide part 1, so if you were absent be sure to show it to me as soon as you return so you can still receive credit. Tonight’s reading assignment: p. 34-39; no study guide (instead you will participate in a few activities during class tomorrow to demonstrate your knowledge of the reading assignment).

Pre-AP English — We worked on using significant passages to establish themes of the novel Alas, Babylon. Tomorrow will (sadly) be our last day to discuss the novel before Friday’s test, so if you have questions or concerns please be sure to speak up in class tomorrow.

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Seniors: We covered a few more vocab words and continued our investigation into background information relevant to Beowulf. Homework due tomorrow: read pages 17-33 and complete this study guide.

Pre-AP: Your class meeting cut into our class today, so all we had time for was your vocabulary quiz. No formal homework for tonight.

Journalism/Mass Comm: News Writing Workshop 1 packet due tomorrow (the parts I assigned in class).

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Seniors: Today in class we did several things: (1) Went over the meanings, uses, etc. of our first three vocabulary words (click here for a list of all of this week’s words), (2) discussed and took notes on the EPIC, and (3) learned some basic background information about the Anglo-Saxon people. Your assignments for the evening are to look up and record definitions for the rest of your vocabulary list, and read pages 5-8 & 12-15 in your textbook. Remember, you have online access to your textbook in case you left it at school.

Pre-AP Sophomores: We began our week-long review of Alas, Babylon by taking on the identities of characters and introducing ourselves. No homework for the evening, but remember that there is a vocabulary quiz tomorrow. You will need to bring your copy of Alas, Babylon to class with you for post-quiz activities.

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I’m back from a fabulous month in the UK. I was mainly in London, but took a few short trips to other places of literary interest. Here’s a small taste of the experience (much, much more coming…):

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Former students may recognize places and images significant to Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, C.S. Lewis, Christopher Marlowe, and Beowulf. Future students, you’ll catch the references soon enough. And yes, there are also references to some current popular literature.

My trip to England was invigorating and educational — I’m looking forward to sharing all that I learned when the new academic year starts next week.

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Pre-AP students, this week has been a bit scattered with people in and out due to field trips and the “Seat Belt Scramble”. If you missed parts of Dead Poets Society, please go here to fill in the blanks.

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The spring issue of The Spectator is complete. We’re trying to be “green” by not printing as many copies as usual, so you can also read it by clicking this link: Spring 2010 2. Enjoy!

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The following sites are good sources of poems to choose from for your weekend assignment (and the portfolio project that will be due in several weeks):

Poets.org has a huge catalog of poems. You can search based on subject, poet, form, occasion, region, and many other factors. They even have a section called “Poetry Teens Like” (I suppose it’s up to you to decide if you like it; I’m not sure though if it was chosen by teens who like the poems or adults who claim to know what poems teens will like… but it’s worth a shot).

All of Shakespeare’s sonnets are listed by number/first lines on this MIT-based website.

Poetry 180 is a very cool contemporary poetry collection assembled by former Poet Laureate Billy Collins.  This link is to the list of poems, but you can also go to the main site to read about the project.

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1st, 2nd, and 4th period: Here is the study guide for the first eight chapters of Brave New World: BRAVE NEW WORLD STUDYGUIDE PART ONE

… and here is the study guide for chapters 9-18: Brave New World Study Guide part two

If reading a novel on a screen doesn’t drive you nuts, you can read the text of the novel here: http://www.huxley.net/bnw/index.html

p.s. Happy 446th birthday, William Shakespeare!

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