English 12

Now that you have finished the novel, write an expository paragraph on how Holden has changed over the course of the novel (from Chapters 2-25 to the final chapter).

English 10

Please finish the review sheet on capitalization.

English 10

Make sure you have finished the novel.  The four questions I assigned on Wednesday are due on Tuesday.  If you still need to complete the response to "I Lost My Talk", here is the poem:

Now that you have read Chapters 11-15, respond to the poem below about your feelings regarding Saul and his introduction to Saint Jerome’s Indian School. Use any background knowledge you have from class discussion to add detail and depth to your response.  You may respond with a paragraph, a poem, or a hand-drawn image of your own creation.

“I Lost My Talk” by Rita Joe

I lost my talk.

The talk that you took away.

When I was a little girl

At Shubenacadie school.

You snatched it away:

I speak like you

I think like you

I create like you

The scrambled ballad, about my word.

Two ways I talk

Both ways I say,

Your way is more powerful.

So gently I offer my hand and ask,

Let me find my talk

So I can teach you about me.

English 12

Read Chapter 25 and do the questions for  Tuesday.  Use this weekend to rewrite the "Little Shirley Beans" academic paragraph.

The prompt for the response is as follows:

Based upon your understanding of Holden Caulfield and Catcher in the Rye,  why is this piece of fan fiction a particularly effective imagining of the song "Little Shirley Beans" that so captured Holden's attention?  Be sure to comment on the music and lyrics.

English 12

Read Chapter 24 and make sure the questions for the preceding chapters are complete as there will be a homework check.

English 10--all blocks

Students need to finish reading the book by Friday.  The questions I assigned yesterday will be due on Tuesday.  They are as follows:

Answer the following questions with good evidence and quotes.  

1. Explain what hockey means to young Saul in Chapters 20 – 34.
2. In Chapter 21, what does Saul mean that “the biggest crime [to take place at the residential school was]…making [the children] complicit?
3.  In Chapter 32, how would fighting have made Saul “give up his vision of the game”, and why was it so important for him not to give in to those pressuring him to fight?
4. How do the abuse, hockey, and drinking all fit together in Saul’s life?

 Here are your 10 vocabulary words for Week Two:

ossify (v):  turn into bone/boney tissue; harden

namby pamby (adj or n): lacking strength, energy or courage; a person lacking these traits

juxtapose  (v):  place two very different items close together for a contrasting effect

pragmatic (adj): dealing with issues/events in a sensible, realistic and practical way

condone   (v):  to approve something (usually with reluctance); to allow behaviour to

continue (usually the behaviour or actions are offensive)

wraith  (n):  ghost 

vain (adj): excessively proud; conceited

brevity (n): shortness of time/duration; the quality of expressing much in a few words

dapper  (adj): neat and trim in appearance (esp. for a man)

schadenfreude (n): satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune

English 10, Periods 5 and 6

Read to Chapter 33 of the class novel.  Your chapter presentations will happen on Wednesday.

English 10, Period 8

Read to Chapter 27 of the class novel.

English 12

For homework, read Chapters 16 and 17 of the class novel.

English 12

Read Chapters 12 and 13 of Catcher in the Rye.  Make sure your motif assignment is complete up to the end of Chapter 9.  Finally, your personal timelines are due next Monday, April 25th.  The final product should be detailed and legible.

English 10, Period 8

Please read to the beginning of Chapter 15 in Indian Horse.  Your response to the poem, "I Lost My Talk" is due next Thursday.  You can respond with a paragraph, a poem, or a hand-drawn image of your own creation.  You will be marked on the Producing Text rubric, so make sure your response is thoughtful and demonstrates effort.  Finally, you should also be collecting five vocabulary words and definitions; this list is also due on Thursday.  See the previous post if you are missing a copy of the poem.

English 10, Periods 5 and 6

Please read to the beginning of Chapter 20 in Indian Horse.  Your response to the poem, "I Lost My Talk" is due next Thursday.  You can respond with a paragraph, a poem, or a hand-drawn image.  You will be marked on the Producing Text rubric, so make sure your response is thoughtful and demonstrates effort.  Finally, you should also be collecting five vocabulary words and definitions; this list is also due on Thursday.

For those of you who may have been absent on Friday, here is the response assignment:

Now that you have read Chapters 11-15, respond to the poem below about your feelings regarding Saul and his introduction to Saint Jerome’s Indian School. Use any background knowledge you have from class discussion to add detail and depth to your response.  You may respond with a paragraph, a poem, or a hand-drawn image of your own creation.

“I Lost My Talk” by Rita Joe

I lost my talk.

The talk that you took away.

When I was a little girl

At Shubenacadie school.

You snatched it away:

I speak like you

I think like you

I create like you

The scrambled ballad, about my word.

Two ways I talk

Both ways I say,

Your way is more powerful.

So gently I offer my hand and ask,

Let me find my talk

So I can teach you about me.

English 12

Read chapters 10 and 11 and do the chapter questions for 9-11.  Start collecting five new vocabulary words and definitions for next Thursday.  Finally, your Personal Timelines are due Monday, April 25th.

English 10, Period 8

Finish your "First Day" journals and start collecting five new vocabulary words and definitions for next Thursday.

Your vocabulary words for week one are as follows:

Block 8 
1.       sanguine (adj):  optimistic; positive, especially in trying circumstances
2.       ubiquitous (adj):  appearing everywhere at once
3.       harrowing (adj):  acutely distressing
4.       juggernaut (noun):  something which is extremely large, powerful, and unstoppable
5.       superfluous (adj):  unnecessary, especially through being more than enough
6.       foreboding (n):  a feeling that something bad will happen; a premonition of something bad
7.       plight  (n):  a dangerous, difficult, or otherwise unfortunate situation
8.       conflagration (n):  an extensive, destructive fire; a large, violent/dangerous situation
9.       (on) tenterhooks (n):  in a state of anxious suspense
10.   ersatz (adj):  an inferior substitute 

English 10, Periods 5 and 6

Read to the end of Chapter 14 of Indian Horse.  Next Thursday, five new vocabulary words and definitions are due, so start collecting them now.

Your vocabulary words for week one are as follows:

Block 5
1.       merit   (v): to deserve
2.       manifest  (v): to demonstrate; to make clear
3.       adroit (adj):  skillful; adept in thought or action
4.       uncanny (adj):  seemingly supernatural; eerily unsettling
5.       supercilious (adj):  behaving or looking as if one is superior to others
6.       sanguine (adj):  optimistic; positive, especially in trying circumstances
7.       ubiquitous (adj):  appearing everywhere at once
8.       harrowing (adj):  acutely distressing
9.       juggernaut  (noun):  something which is extremely large, powerful, and unstoppable
10.   superfluous (adj):  unnecessary, especially through being more than enough

Block 6

1    1.        sanguine (adj):  optimistic; positive, especially in trying circumstances
2.       ubiquitous (adj):  appearing everywhere at once
3.       harrowing  (adj):  acutely distressing
4.       juggernaut (noun):  something which is extremely large, powerful, and unstoppable
5.       superfluous (adj):  unnecessary, especially through being more than enough
6.       kaput (adj):  broken; no longer working or effective                     
7.       pique (n):  a sudden burst of anger
8.       fervent (adj): characterized by intense emotion
9.       capricious (adj):  given to sudden, random changes of mood or behaviour; unpredictable
10.     sardonic (adj): grimly mocking; cynical; derisive humour

English 10 Block 8

Please finish the discussion questions on Chapters 1-10 of Indian Horse.

English 10 Blocks 5 and 6

Please read Chapters 11 and 12.  If you have not finished the journal on your first day at school, please do so.

English 12

Please read Chapter 9 of The Catcher in the Rye.  Also, answer the following questions on the reading "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan: Section #1 do questions 1-3 and for Section #2, do questions 1, 2, 4 and 5.

English 12

Read Chapters 7 and 8 of the class novel and answer the questions on Chapters 5-8.
Your first ten vocabulary words for Test #4 are as follows:

1. ubiquitous (adj):  appearing everywhere
2. uncanny (adj):  unsettlingly odd or mysterious; seemingly supernatural
3. uncouth (adj): rough; uncultured; without manners
4. cogent (adj):  clever; logical
5. sham (noun):  falseness; pretense; something counterfeit
6. ardent (adj):  passionate
7. winnow (verb):  to separate into components; to shave down; to separate the "wheat from the chaff" (the good from the bad)
8. vagaries (noun):  random changes
9. ersatz (adj): an inferior substitute
10. demure (adj):  shy; reserved

English 10

Periods 5 and 6:
Answer the discussion questions (#2-5) on the first ten chapters of the class novel.  Be sure to use quotations in all answers except (#4).