In-Class Today: 3/13 & 3/16

English 10-4 B/D Days, Block 2
English 10-3 A/C Days, Block 4

The following activities took place in class today:

1) Writing Journal Prompt 3: A Blooming Pear Tree—Read the following passage from Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God: “Oh, to be a pear tree – any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her? . . . Looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made.” Hurston compares the girl to a blooming pear tree, impatient and bursting with life. What metaphor from nature do you think best describes you? Write a short paragraph likening yourself to whatever animal, plant, landscape, or weather that most reminds you of yourself.

2) Students continued the process of organizing their binders and in-class work folders using a checklist of materials for Unit 4.

3) Dead Word Eulogies assigned: each pair of students is assigned one of twenty words or phrases which (due to their elementary nature) are no longer to be used in students writing. Drafts are due next class. For Example:

Today we remember our old standby, the adjective “tired.” Tired lived an exceptional life representing those who were: exhausted, as by exertion; fatigued or sleepy or weary or bored. I remember one morning when I came into school without stopping to purchase my coffee and all morning I complained about how tired I was. It was, however, “tired’s” time to go. He had been overused and abused by people who refused to think of a more descriptive term for their ailments or an excuse for not being energetic. “Tired” is survived by: exhausted, sleepy, sleep deprived, lethargic, run down and worn out.

Homework due next class:

1) Read Chapter 5 of Night and complete a journal entry consisting of a flow chart of six events in Chapters 3 thru 5, starting with the arrival at Birkenau and ending with the evacuation of Buna.

2) Dead Word Eulogy draft.

Remember, it is YOUR responsibility to see the teacher PRIOR to Advisement and arrange for a pass when you need assistance with any home/classwork.

Read Up and Write On!