AGENDA 9/2

Syllabus Quiz
Grammar Practice: Pronoun Case #1

HW: Zeitoun evidence hunt: Review the book and find one quotation for each motif - 1) Responsibility ; 2) Optimism/Resilience ; 3) Outrage . Then copy down the page number for each quotation and elide the quotation to make it easy to find. You may copy down the entire quotation if you wish. Remember to bring Zeitoun on Tuesday along with your homework. We'll be working in groups.

Example: RESPONSIBILITY - from page 14 "Somewhere along the line...supplies to buy and store."

AGENDA 9/1

Six-Word Memoir Gallery Walk, Voting, and Presentation of Winners

Introduce vocabulary from Zeitoun

Evidence Hunt in Zeitoun - find quotations in groups pertaining to the motifs of responsibility and optimism/resilience

HW: Please bring Zeitoun tomorrow! Syllabus quiz tomorrow.

AGENDA 8/31

Nametags
Introduce vocabulary from Zeitoun
Please bring Zeitoun tomorrow!

HW: Sign and return syllabus last page before 9/7
Six-Word Memoir due tomorrow
Syllabus Quiz on Friday!

AGENDA 8/30

WELCOME BACK!!!

Happy First Day of School!

Quickwrite
Welcome & Introduction PowerPoint
Pass out Parent Letter and optional Parent Homework Assignment
Review Syllabus and Study Questions
Introduce Six-Word Memoir Assignment and Pust's Six-Word Memoir Sample

HW: Sign and return last page of course syllabus by Wednesday, 9/7
Six-Word Memoir Assignment due Thursday, 9/1
Quiz over syllabus on Friday, 9/2 (10 questions drawn from the 20 study questions)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Sharing "This I Believe" Essays - turn in final draft, rough draft, gold peer/adult revision sheet, and proof of submission after you read aloud

My "This I Believe" submission - 3 years in the making! "From Streetlamp to Streetlamp"
Letter of Recommendation request form--please read, complete, and return the purple sheet to me as soon as possible, or email this electronic version of the form to jpust@smmusd.org, as soon as you can!

Upload all necessary assignments to http://turnitin.com: Gatsby final draft, commonplace book entry, two God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater humor devices entries, All the Pretty Horses discussion notes and All the Pretty Horses rhetorical analysis writeup

Bookmark to guide your reading of Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

HW: Read and be prepared to discuss Zeitoun by Dave Eggers on the first day of school! Use the bookmark to help focus your reading. Also, read a free choice book this summer (perhaps the next installment of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy? :-) and if you are entering AP Literature in the fall, check out the Samohi English Department's webpage for your reading selections from the Bible and Voltaire's Candide.

AGENDA 6/15

Discussion - All the Pretty Horses, pages 283-302

Review for tomorrow - how to submit "This I Believe" essays

HW: "This I Believe" essay final draft, rough draft, gold revision sheet and proof of submission to NPR. If you like, forward your proof of submission to jpust@smmusd.org, and then write "emailed" on the front of your final draft. Bring snacks!!!!

AGENDA 6/13

All the Pretty Horses seminar - 257-283
"This I Believe": Peer and Trusted Adult Revision Sheet (due Monday for period 2; Tuesday for periods 3 and 5) and conferences

HW: Read the end of the book--last discussion is on Wednesday! Finish your "This I Believe" essay. Proof of submission to NPR, gold revision sheet, and final copy of essay due on the day of the final exam. Bring snacks to share!

As you finish reading the book, consider:

• What is the significance of the rainy wedding scene?
• How does John Grady reemerge in Texas and what is significant about his arrival?
• Why does John Grady go to see the judge at his home? What new wisdom does he find from a man of the law at the end of the book? (Remember how the lawyer at the beginning wasn't helpful?)
• What does he learn at Reverend Blevins' home?
• What parallels do you see between the beginning and end of this novel? Why do these parallels matter?
• Think about the ending. The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings. “The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from their readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events -- a marriage or a last minute rescue from death -- but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death.” In what ways does this book offer Weldon's notion of "a happy ending"? What spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation does John Grady experience?