Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Tuesday, February 9

Today, you had an important assignment due: the "poetry packet" in which you reflected on the three poems you chose as potential recitation pieces. Those of you who didn't have it ready to turn in need to do so as soon as possible.

After you turned in your assignments, we looked at a particular passage from chapter 6 of To Kill A Mockingbird -- even though we have not technically read to this point yet, no advance knowledge was needed to understand the events that transpired in the two pages we examined.

Individually, you read the passage (the first two pages of chapter 6), and we then asked you to fill out a pre-writing sheet, on which you proposed a theory that would unify the events described in the passage and provided at least two pieces of textual evidence to support your thinking. When you finished, you showed us your work, and you used the information to write a content sandwich paragraph (or two) that proved your theory. We then gave you some feedback on that paragraph and asked you to revise it. Almost all of you finished these steps by the end of the period.

For a copy of the writing and reading exercise, follow the link below:

"Close Reading" of Chapter 6

The only homework due (aside from your philosophy homework, which is due next Thursday) is to complete a lot of reading in To Kill A Mockingbird. To keep on pace, you should have completed chapter 8 by Monday, February 15; the next "official" due date is Monday, February 22, at which time you should have completed the first 12 chapters of the book.