September 22-October 6

Week Focus: EOCT Review
Extended Text: Bronx Masquerade (9th), Black Jacobins (10th)

Monday: Take notes on the sections of the EOCT.   Take practice EOCT (pg. 76-118)


Tuesday: Analyze Mock EOC

Wednesday: Students will take a mock writing test to prepare them for the junior writing assessment necessary for graduation.

Thursday: Finish Mock EOCT

Friday: Complete Test Analysis using the Answer Key and Mock EOCT questions.
  1. Write down your name as the grader (ie: Graded By Edom)
  2. Mark each wrong answer
  3. Write down correct letter choice
  4. Write down the skill next to each question
  5. Complete the test analysis organizer
  6. Write a one-page strength/weakness essay on your test score.  Be specific.  Add info about what skills you missed and got right in order to help me get a better picture on how you are doing in this class.
Monday:
1. Show Test Analysis Organizer/Strength & Weakness Essay for a grade.
2. Identify the weaknesses from your Test Analysis Organizer you will focus on for today’s activities online.
3. Visit www.usatestprep.com and complete the steps below:
4. Click on “Login” then on the left side “Create an Account”
5. Login using info: “District ID=southcobb  Username: stu1564
6. Create your account: Your username/password=lunch #
7. Join your class period (1st,3rd, 4th block)
8. Click on Milestone or SLO at top of page then “9th Lit/Comp, Amer. Lit, or 10th lit”
9. Click on “Practice” then select the following domain: “reading, writing, speaking, language.”
10. Complete 1 of the activities under the following categories: “Question, Vocabulary, Puzzles, “Performance Task” before playing study games for your identified weaknesses.

Tuesday: Students read about Shelby vs. Holder to debate the merits of the SCOTUS decision and its implication on voting rights.

Wednesday: Students learned about the Trail of Tears and completed a 5W's activity before learning about persuasive techniques.  HW: Analyze two commercials for the techniques in the organizer.

Thursday:  Students continued analyzing political ads for persuasive techniques and choose one issue stated in one of the ads to create their own ad endorsing one of the two candidates using a storyboard template.

Friday: The Warmup was on revising run-ons and fragments.  We took a quiz on 11 persuasive techniques (see Wednesday notes).  (ONLY 1ST BLOCK, HW: Complete 8-14 by analyzing the ads and completing the questions in complete sentences.)
HW for 3rd/4th period: 35 vocab words/ finish watching Consuming Kids Documentary and compete a paragraph on the effects of deregulating child marketing.

Monday: 
1. Visit usatestprep.com and practice 5 skills from your weakness list.
2. Research a candidate you will endorse for Senate and Governor of Georgia by visiting the website below and clicking on each candidates campaign website link.
http://georgia.state-election.info
a. Professional background (jobs)
b. Key issues (things important to them like jobs, taxes)
c. Educational accomplishments (degrees, universities)
d. Place of Birth/Personal Info
3. Create a thesis statement explaining why you chose your candidate for Georgia Senate, or Governor (Hint: TPR)


***Extra Credit***
See Burt's Big Thank You Letter
Guidelines to follow for letter writing:
Each letter should be heartfelt, handwritten, original, and free of any political statements. The purpose of the letter is to express thanks to the military personnel currently deployed outside the United States. We reserve the right to eliminate those messages that are political in nature and do not reflect a positive message in the spirit of Thanksgiving.
All letters must be on 8.5” x 11” paper or smaller.
Do not use glue, tape, staples, cardboard, glitter or otherwise attach anything to the paper.
NO construction paper.
Decorate using crayons, markers, pens or pencils.
Use both sides if you like, but use one page per letter only.
Do not send greeting cards or photographs.
Feel free to include your mailing and email address.
Individual letters should not be sealed in envelopes.
Do not send anything except letters.

September 8-12

Week Focus: Satire, Parody, Irony
Extended Text: Bronx Masquerade (9th), Black Jacobins (10th)
Short Text: A Modest Proposal

Monday (9th Grade): LAB DAY (2nd fl. FTA)

1. Read the Bronx Masquerade for Diondra Jordan
2. Visit this website and copy and complete the conflict organizer  in notebook for Diondra.  What is her conflict in the book.  Provide evidence of the conflict by writing the page number you line from text under the "conflict column."
3. Read Miss Jordan's poem called If and complete discussion questions below in notebook.
Discussion Questions:
A. What part of speech is the title If?
B. What is the central conflict of this poem?
C. Find one example from the text that supports what you stated was the central conflict.
D. What is the tone of this poem. (Hint: how does the author feel about the subject If?)
E. What does the line from the poem "would you laugh at me then" reveal about the audience?
4. Create your own If poem. Choose one thing about your self that you do not like or were teased about in school to be the subject of this poem. Turn the negative thing you were teased about into something that could be positive following the same structure as Miss Jordan's poem.
Ex: 
1st/2nd Line: "If... (use images/symbols that reveal your issue you are self conscious about in a positive manner)"
Last Line: "...would you still laugh at me then?"
5. Work on satire letter by researching specific examples, facts, stats of the problem around your issue you want to bring attention to.   Add this evidence a.k.a. Green to your rough draft.

Monday (10th Grade):
1. Read up to page 26 of The Black Jacobins 

2. Complete discussion questions below:
Preface:
a. What is an epic (define)?
b. Look up 3 examples of great epics and list them.
c. What revolutionary struggle/achievement is the focus of this book
d. Who is the hero in this epic?
e. Research the hero in this epic.  Find out 3 things he accomplished in his life.
Prologue:
f. what countries did the slave trade get their slaves from in Africa?

3. Create a T-chart to document what effects the slave trade had on Africans
(left side=evidence/right side=how this affected them negatively)

4. Finish Rough Draft of Satire (see example below)
Example:

            Dear high school tech experts,

(Focus=Noise created from cell phones)
Your constant attention to staying in touch is a testimony of your great social skills.  With every KIK, and Facebook Message you expand your ever growing vocabulary which you use so eloquently in your essays in class.  I cannot speak enough about the creative notification alerts that fill the classrooms with pleasant melodies of Rich Homie Quan and Drake.  The lyrics from these contemporary artists can help students learn grammar and how to articulate and speak properly which is a bonus because all senior have a written exit exam. Your extensive music knowledge is also something to be admired and creates a much needed break for those nerds that insist on taking notes, completing classwork or studying for quizzes and tests in school.

(Focus=Energy used texting/chatting)
I must also mention the fact that you teen experts are finding a way to burn calories while in class.  One study found 90 minutes of using your thumbs to text can burn all of the delicious food you had at lunch, but may have felt guilty.  We all know the lengths to which high schoolers will go to watch what they eat, so engaging in social exercise using your cell phone every day several times a day shows your willingness to keep America fit and healthy one thumb at a time.

(Focus=Conclusion)
So next time someone insists you put your cell phones away while in class, remind them of the service and sacrifice you are making to your classroom and to society each time your reply to a text, search the web, or reply to a KIK in class.  The world needs more text specialists especially in an ever shrinking economy where technical skills like technology expert can give you a head start and an edge over other applicants.

                                                                                                                    Sincerely,
                                                                                                          Mr. Leu (Your Proud Teacher)

Tuesday: revise satire letter and IF poem  

Wednesday
Agenda
1. Revise Satire letter 
2. Type final draft of If poem and satire letter. Save to your lunch number
3. Analyze five satire illustrations by answering the questions below for each picture
A. What is the problem in the illustration?
B. What objects and symbols does the artist used to exaggerate the truth behind the problem?
C. What colors does the artist paint with and what tone do they reveal?
D. Was this illustration effective why or why not?

Thursday: review rubric for performance-based assessment and choose one of three choices illustration recorded letter or parity and begin working on it in class