The Lost Week. Sept.28-Oct.2, 2009

So, I was out most of this week. Not only was I sick and out of school Monday and most of Tuesday, but I also missed Friday, so I only saw you on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Needless to say, I did not get a chance to update this website during this time. Here is a brief outline of what we covered. If you were absent, please complete the assignments you missed and see me if you have any questions.

Monday 9/28: Today you worked in small groups with the substitute to complete a persuasive paragraph that answers the question, Who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? Small groups worked together to complete a graphic organizer and find evidence from the text to support your answer, and then you wrote a full paragraph and turned it in. Please click here to download the assignment.

Tuesday 9/29: Click here to see the prompts for this year's District Writing Assessment. Today we completed the prewriting phase...we went over some different prewriting and planning strategies and you guys got to work addressing the prompt of your choice. The next two class periods will be spent completing different phases of this assessment, and you will finish it in class on Friday.

Thursday 10/1: We spent block day finishing up your prewriting and completing your rough draft of your DWA essay. When everyone was finished, you watched a quick video, a fifteen minute comedic synopsis of Romeo and Juliet performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. If you'd like to see it, see me and you can borrow the DVD. It's really funny!

Friday 10/2: You spent most of the period completing the final draft of your district writing assessment and turned it in. When everyone was finished, you answered some questions in your notebook that deals with our new unit on conflict, which we will start next week. See the questions below, and if you were absent, please respond to these questions in your notebook and show them to me when you are done (no later than Wednesday.)

1. How do you think conflict shapes surface/deep culture and civilization? Please be specific.
2. Explain what you know so far about Afghanistan and its current conflicts.
3. Explain what you know so far about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
4. In what ways might your life be different if you were growing up in any of these areas, or if conflict was occurring on United States soil? What would change? What would remain the same? 5. What are two questions you have so far about modern conflict?