Final Exam Week and Track A Closing

Final Exam Schedule:

Periods One/Six: Friday, December 16
Periods Two/Five: Monday, December 19
Periods Three/Four: Tuesday, December 20

Last Day for Track A: Wednesday, December 21

Honors Ten A English Students were asked to read two novels and/or plays off-track and complete dialectical journals for each selection

Contact me at e-mail address provided on hollywoodhighschool.net

Mr. Carmicle

Sixteen Week Report

Monday

Vantage Writing Lab: Nonfiction Common Assessment

Tuesday

Vantage Writing Lab: Short Story Common Assessment

Wednesday

Poetry Final Exam
Catcher in the Rye Vocabulary Final Exam

Thursday

Catcher in the Rye Essay Final Exam

Friday

Reflective Letter
Winter Work Assignment

FIFTEEN WEEK REPORT

1. Classroom Debate-Period Four (Life Imprisonment vs. Death Penalty) Monday December 5
2. Common Assessment-Poetry (Marlowe-Raleigh-Housman)
3. Common Assessment-Short Story
4. Common Assessment-Nonfiction
5. Common Assessment-Novel
6. Catcher in the Rye Objective Final Exam and Vocabulary Final Exam (Talking Points)
7. Vocabulary Workshop Units One-Six Review and Test
8. Poetry Final Exam Objective Test
9. Off-Track Assignments: Dialectical Journals for Two Novels

FOURTEEN WEEK REPORT

1. Classroom Debate-Life Imprisonment Vs. Death Penalty; Friday, December 2
2. Poetry Tests One and Two
3. Marlowe-Raleigh-Housman Poetry Essay Assignment
4. Common Assessments: Poetry, Nonfiction, Short Stories, Novel
5. Catcher in the Rye completion of book and final objective and essay examinations
6. Vocabulary Workshop Units Three-Six and One-Six Reviews; Units Seven and Eight
7. Grammar-Gerunds and Gerund Phrases
8. Off-Track Assignments: To Be Determined

Weeks In Preview November 7-December 2

Current and upcoming assignments for Honors English Ten students:

1. Catcher in the Rye talking points for incremental chapter assignments; chapters one-five, chapters six-ten, chapters seven-fourteen, and end of novel chapters; reading comprehension quizzes for each incremental unit; vocabulary from the novel taken on post-it notes
2. Unit Six and Seven Vocabulary Workshop Units; tests on each unit after practice activities
3. Capital Punishment debate proposals finalized; debate on Friday, December 2 with two AFF and two NEG participants; resolutions and defense evidence due Monday, November 28
4. Collage project scheduled for Lessing's "Through The Tunnel"; collages due November 14 and are assigned at fifty point scores with five bonus points for collages explained to classmates
5. Poetry Selections: "Youth and Love" Stevenson; excerpt from Macbeth Shakespeare; Forms of Poetry: Ballad, popular and literary; ballade; blank verse; couplet; limerick; octave; quatrain; quintet; rondeau; roundel; septet; sestet; sestina; sonnets
6. Grammar Unit-parts of speech; subject-verb agreement

Week In Preview October 31-November 4

Upcoming assignments for Honors English Ten students:

1. Catcher in the Rye issued Friday, October 28; read first five chapters and complete ten full-sentence talking points by Monday, October 31
2. Unit Four Vocabulary begins in class
3. Capital Punishment debate proposals finalized and debate participants and presentation dates set
4. Collage project scheduled for Lessing's "Through The Tunnel"
5. "No News From Auschwitz" handout completed in class
6. Parts of Speech end-of-unit in class exam continues Monday, October 31

Week In Preview October 24-28

SAS Honors English Ten Students:

1. Prepositions; Conjunctions and Interjections: Grammar-English Workshop and upcoming test on Unit Review-Parts of Speech (study all returned work and related pages in English Workshop text)
2. Reflective Letter-save ALL work for end of semester reflective letter
3. Fahrenheit 451 vocabulary definitions and upcoming test on words from novel
4. Debate-Capital Punishment vs. Life Imprisonment debate participants chosen; debate propositions finalized; debate schedule set
5. PHBAO letter invitation to parents second drafts are due and those marked with parent signature line should be signed and returned for letter grade; include date, place, time, discussion topics, and paper standards, title, and margin observance rules; if second draft is not completed it must be stapled on top of first draft
6. Unit One-Three Review and upcoming test on all vocabulary learned in first three units; study all review material
7. Accelerated Reader book choices and point awards discussion; deadlines set
8. Figurative Language rewrites and Cold-Bet-Tunnel in-class exams are due no later than Monday, October 24
9. Agenda Bin: Winter work includes three novels/plays and introduction to AP Short Form; One Hundred Words Often Misspelled Grammar Packet; Five Prompts including Persuasive, Narrative, and Expository writing domains; (more to come)

Week In Preview October 17-21

SAS Honors English Ten Students:

1. Prepositions; Conjunctions and Interjections: Grammar-English Workshop and upcoming test on Unit Review-Parts of Speech (study all returned work and related pages in English Workshop text)
2. Periodic Assessment Grade Ten Instructional Component Persuasion-practice Monday and Tuesday and assessment administered Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week
3. Writing Prompt-Fahrenheit 451 vocabulary spelling and definition test-complete both handouts of vocabulary activities
4. Debate-Capital Punishment vs. Life Imprisonment debate participants chosen; debate propositions finalized; debate schedule set
5. Monday-rewrite the first draft of PHBAO letter invitation to parents; include date, place, time, discussion topics, and paper standards, title, and margin observance rules; second draft must be stapled on top of first draft and cannot be signed by parents until teacher approves rewrite
6. Unit One-Three Review and upcoming test on all vocabulary learned in first three units
7. Accelerated Reader book choices and point awards discussion; deadlines set
9. Agenda Bin: Winter work includes three novels/plays and introduction to AP Short Form; One Hundred Words Often Misspelled Grammar Packet; Five Prompts including Persuasive, Narrative, and Expository writing domains; (more to come)









 

Week in Preview October 10-14

SAS Honors English Ten Students:

1. Adverbs Modifying Adjectives and Other Adverbs; Prepositions; Conjunctions and Interjections: Grammar-English Workshop
2. Persuasive Essays from CAHSEE Language Arts Guide-connect to upcoming Periodic Assessment (Persuasive Essay)
3. Writing Prompt-Fahrenheit 451 Essay Final Exam in-class timed writing; upcoming final exams--fifty multiple-choice question test and vocabulary spelling and definition test
4. Debate-Capital Punishment vs. Life Imprisonment debate participants chosen; debate propositions finalized; debate schedule set
5. Monday-collect the PHBAO first draft letter invitation to parents; include date, place, time, discussion topics, and paper standards, title, and margin observance rules
6. "Through The Tunnel" Doris Lessing graphic organizers and handouts (grammar and vocabulary)
7. Exit Short Story genre and introduce Nonfiction genre
7. Unit Three Vocabulary Test-Monday; Unit Four vocabulary study begins Tuesday
8. Accelerated Reader book choices and point awards discussion; deadlines set
9. PSAT Test on Wednesday
10. Agenda Bin: Winter work includes three novels/plays and introduction to AP Short Form; One Hundred Words Often Misspelled Grammar Packet; Five Prompts including Persuasive, Narrative, and Expository writing domains; (more to come)

Week in Preview October 3-7

Here are upcoming assignments for Grade Ten Honors English:

1. Verb phrases grammar-English Workshop and "Should High School Start at 9:00 A.M.?" persuasive essays due Monday
2. Fahrenheit 451 class discussion continues including vocabulary listed with page numbers denoted
3. Unit Three Vocabulary pages 35-41 due Thursday
4. Vocabulary-Pronunciation Key page 6 taught in class
5. Debate Propositions capital punishment vs. life in prison connected to short story Checkhov's "The Bet"
6. Doris Lessing's "Through the Tunnel" graphic organizers and story completed in class
7. Reminder: Library on Tuesday for Accelerated Reader and Vantage Lab on Thursday for Letter to the Editor

Documents Returned:
F451 "Burning Bright" Quiz
F451 Creative Writing Assignment


Knowledge is Power

Weeks in Preview September 19-30

SAS Grade Ten Honors students should be working on the following assignments both in and out of class:

1. "Should Schools Sell Junk Food?" Persuasive Essay using six-point rubric
2. "Why Johnny Can't Pass His Fitness Test" Persuasive Essay using six-point rubric
3. "The Bet" Anton Checkhov handout/vocabulary and debatiing skills for classroom mini-debate
4. "The Cold Equations" Tom Godwin handout/vocabulary and Changing The Ending assignment on gomyaccess.com
5. Letter to the Editor connected to capital punishment debate topic on gomyaccess.com
6. Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury's novel Part II The Sieve and the Sand and F451 Imitative Writing assignment
7. Talking points for F451 Part Three Burning Bright
8. Unit Two Vocabulary and upcoming test on parts of speech, stress marks, spellings, synonyms and antonyms, definitions
9. Coming up: Doris Lessing's "Through The Tunnel"

Week In Preview

Honors Ten English, here are the assignments we are working on this week.

"Why Johnny Can't Pass His Fitness Test" essays are scored and will be returned to you. Use the six point persuasive rubric provided to determine your scores in five content areas.
Chekhov's "The Bet" short story leads to letter to the editor and classroom debate competition. Use the graphic organizers and the debating primer handouts for enhanced understanding of how life imprisonment vs. death penalty discussion will help you improve your oral and written performance.
"Should Schools Sell Junk Food" essay with school nurse vs. high school teacher article results in persuasive essay due Tuesday, September 20. Follow directions on the prompt, including prewriting (Venn Diagram) and grammar/spell check before printing.
Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations" changing the ending creative writing assignment begun in Vantage Lab today (Monday) will conclude with timed writing next Tuesday. Thursday of next week will also be reserved for the letter to the editor piece.
Bradbury's novel is being discussed on Tuesday (13) so bring your "talking points" and make certain you have read Part I-The Hearth and the Salamander. This book is a masterpiece (well, let's just say I really enjoy teaching it) and deserves your full attention.

See you in class and remember, you are Honors so let's keep up the pace.

Weekly Review September 6-9

Here are assignments 10th Grade Honors English students should be working on this week:

1. Complete "The Cold Equations" handout-due Friday
2. Read Part I of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; make talking points notes for class discussion
3. Finish Part of Speech-Adjective grammar homework and submit by Thursday
4. Prepare in class for "Changing the Ending" assignment-"The Cold Equations"

Course Description-Draft

The Grade Ten School for Advanced Studies (SAS) curriculum, denotes, by its very designation, that students will encounter rigorous demands of the rhetorical approach to reading and writing, with instruction paced more rapidly than normal tenth-grade coursework requires. Grade Ten Honors (SAS) readies students for an eleventh-grade advanced placement high school class as they learn to think, read, write, listen, and speak academically, successfully arguing a well-constructed thesis, skills necessary for entering post-secondary educational institutions. Students enrolled in SAS Grade Ten Honors experience a curriculum that spans genres such as short stories, poetry, novels and plays, as well as contemporary literature selections and nonfiction that necessitate the student's ability to elict the author's purose, the author's persona, the author's claim and evidence, and offer a precise response to the author's argument. Successful student compositions are measured by rubrics, and it is strongly suggested, at the outset of this course, that learners familiarize themselves with this tool so they can produce thoughtful, precise, and insightful works of prose in response to the series of writing prompts that will be assigned.

As stated in the course text, Elements of Literature, Fourth Course (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Publishers), student goals include, but are not limited to,

*learning about themselves, their assumptions and beliefs, through reading, discussing and writing about literature and their own experience
*learning about others, including those in their classrooms and communities, but also people of other cultures, other places, and other times
*learning about how texts operate, and how they shape our thinking and manipulate our emotions
*learning about how context shapes meaning
*learning that there are many ways of dealing with experience, both literary and otherwise
*learning the pleasures, aesthetic, intellectual, emotional, and social--of reading and writing, in the hope that these pleasures will capture them as readers and writers for the rest of their lives

Parents are encouraged to take an active role in students' educations and assist them by ascertaining that all outside reading and homework assignments, note-taking actitivies, test preparation requirements, and individual or group project work is completed on time and submitted in advance of the due date set by the instructor. Periodic grade reports will be issued to students who should apprise parents of how they are progressing in this course. It is this periodic assessment that can identify the emotional and intellectual maturity of the student and signal in advance any instructional intervention strategies necessary to avert poor academic performance and prevent subpar grades that will eventually affect the students' overall grade point average.

I wish you a successful year of rigorous student as you undertake the challenges of the tenth grade Honors curriculum. If you or your parents wish to contact me, I can be reached on school voice mail, which I check frequently during the semester, at 323-461-3891, Extension 419. Homework and other necessary communication between the instructor and students is recorded, usually daily, and available at this same extension.

Grade Ten SAS Honors students will begin school on Monday, August 29, 2005 with a student orientation of coursework and discussion about expectations for success.

Welcome to Mr. Carmicle's 10th Grade SAS Honors English Web Log!