Week of September 26-30

Hi everyone,

Here are the assignments for the week. If you haven't already, I highly recommend that you join Remind. It’s a messaging system that allows me to send you texts without having your phone number. I’ll send you reminders about important assignments, and you can text me with any questions you have.

To sign up, text your Class Code to the phone number 81010.

Class Codes:

First Period: @msatwil
Second Period: @d23gh
Fifth Period: @khhb8k7
Sixth Period: @k29bb
Seventh Period: @k3ckgk

If you have trouble with 81010, try texting your Class Code to (718) 514-2864.If you don’t want to use texts, you can download the free Remind app. If you have the app already, enter your class code to join this class.

Monday

Periods 1, 5 and 7:

Classwork: Discuss rubric for Satirical "How To" Guides and how to improve grades on the next piece. Review requirements and rubric for "Speaking Out" piece.

-Writer's Workshop: Self Evaluations. Using the writer's conference guidelines, read and revise your "Speaking Out" rough draft.

-Prompt for "Speaking Out" piece: Write a creative piece “Speaking Out” about a topic that you feel passionate about. You can write a story like “Cora, Unashamed,” a speech like “Ain’t I a Woman,” a poem like “I, Too,” or any other format you’d like. Your piece can be fiction or nonfiction, as long as the theme of “Speaking Out” is present.

HW: Revise your "Speaking Out" piece, incorporating ideas from today's workshop. Type and print or email to msatwill@gmail.com. Due Thursday.

Periods 2 and 6:

Classwork: Writer's Workshop: Self Evaluations. Using the writer's conference guidelines, read and revise your latest Common App essay draft.

HW: Revise your Common App essay, incorporating ideas from today's workshop. Type and print or email to msatwill@gmail.com. Due Thursday.

Tuesday

Periods 1, 5 and 7:

Classwork: MOSL Testing, Day 1. 

HW: Independent Reading, at least 10 pages and one Reading Log.

Periods 2 and 6:

Classwork: MOSL Testing, Day 1. 

HW: Independent Reading, at least 10 pages and one Reading Log.

Wednesday

Periods 1, 5 and 7:

Classwork: MOSL Testing, Day 2. 

HW: Independent Reading, at least 10 pages and one Reading Log. Your second draft of your "Speaking Out" piece is due tomorrow, typed and printed or emailed to msatwill@gmail.com

Periods 2 and 6:

Classwork: MOSL Testing, Day 2. 

HW: Independent Reading, at least 10 pages and one Reading Log. Your second draft of your Common App Essay is due tomorrow, typed and printed or emailed to msatwill@gmail.com

Thursday

Periods 1, 5 and 7:

Second drafts of Speaking Out pieces due today, printed or emailed to msatwill@gmail.com

Classwork: "Speaking Out" Writer's Workshop: Peer revisions.

HW: Revise your "Speaking Out" piece based on the feedback you received today.

Periods 2 and 6:

Next drafts of your Common App essays are due today, printed or emailed to msatwill@gmail.com

Classwork: Writer's Workshop: Introductions. Using the Introduction Guidelines for college essays, revise your own and peers' introductions.

HW: Revise your Common App Essay introduction based on your feedback in today's Writer's Workshop.

Friday

Periods 1, 5 and 7:

Reading logs due at the end of Independent Reading!

Classwork: Writer's Workshop: Editing. Using the Editing Guidelines, review your piece and mark any necessary edits.

HW: Complete your final draft of your "Speaking Out" pieces. Type and print out or email to msatwill@gmail.com by Wednesday, October 5th.

Periods 2 and 6:

Reading logs due at the end of Independent Reading!

Classwork: Writer's Workshop: Editing. Using the Editing Guidelines, review your piece and mark any necessary edits.

HW: Complete your final draft of your Common App essays. Type and print out or email to msatwill@gmail.com by Wednesday, October 5th.

Week of September 19-23

Hi everyone,

This week is our first week of Independent Reading! Don't forget, you need to read fifty pages and write five reading logs per week, even if you miss class. They will be collected at the end of Independent Reading on Friday, so make sure you are caught up.

Monday:

Periods 1, 5 and 7:

Author's Toolbox: Setting
Definition: The time period and location where a story takes place.
Example: "Melton was one of those sad American places with sidewalks, but no paved streets; electric lights, but no sewage; a station, but no trains stopped."

Read Part I of "Cora, Unashamed," and take Double Entry Notes on how the setting affects your understanding of the story.

Homework: Write 1/2 p: How would "Cora" be different if it were set in 2016 Brooklyn?

Periods 2 and 6:

Author's Toolbox: Voice: Connecting Past and Present

Definition: Taking the reader on a journey by connecting the past and the present.

Example: In Malcolm X, the author connects past and present by using phrases such as “My image of Africa, at that time” (p. 7) and “I know now” (p. 14) to indicate that these early views of the world would change as he grew older.

Read p. 35-40 of Malcolm X and take Double Entry Notes on how Malcolm begins to change.

Homework: Write 1/2 p: How does Malcolm's character develop over the course of Chapter 2?

Tuesday:

Periods 1, 5 and 7:

Author's Toolbox: Characterization
Definition: Describing someone's looks, actions, speech, thoughts, or what other people say about them to reveal their character.
Example: "Cora was like a tree--once rooted, she stood, in spite of storms and strife, in the earth."

Read Part II of "Cora, Unashamed" and take Double Entry Notes on the Characterization of Cora.

HW: Write 1/2 p: How does Langston Hughes use Characterization to describe Jessie?

Don't forget: Satirical "How To" Guides are due tomorrow, either printed out or emailed to msatwill@gmail.com.

Periods 2 and 6:

Read p. 42-46 of Malcolm X and take Double Entry Notes on Central Ideas of systemic oppression and racial identity.

HW: Write 1/2 p: How do the Central Ideas of systemic oppression and racial identity interact and build off of one another in p. 42-46?

Wednesday:

Periods 1, 5 and 7:

Satirical "How To" Guides are due, either printed out or emailed to msatwill@gmail.com

Read Part III of "Cora, Unashamed" and take Double Entry Notes on the theme of speaking out.

HW: Write 1/2 p: Sometimes, no matter what the consequences, people have to speak their minds. Write about a time when someone spoke out when they were not supposed to. Describe the situation. What happened? Who was involved? What was the outcome?

Periods 2 and 6:

Author's Toolbox Entry:

Author’s Voice: Style

Definition: Deliberately choosing words to create a sense of a specific time/place.

Example: In Malcolm X, the author says, “I met chicks who were fine as May wine, and cats who were hip to all happenings” to take the reader back to 1940s Harlem.
Read p. 59-62 in Malcolm X. Take Double Entry Notes on Style.

HW: Write 1/2 p: Analyze how both style and content (plot) contribute to the power or beauty of the text in Chapter 4.

Thursday:

Periods 1, 5 and 7: Read "Ain't I a Woman?" by Sojourner Truth. Take Double Entry Notes on text to text connections with "Cora, Unashamed."

Homework: Write 1/2 page comparing and contrasting "Cora, Unashamed" and "Ain't I a Woman?"

Periods 2 and 6:

Read a model college essay, "Just Keep Folding" and discuss in groups what makes the essay successful.

HW: Revise your rough draft Common Application Essay, incorporating elements from today's discussion and the tips at the end of the model essay to make your essay successful.

Friday:

Reading Logs Due at the end of Independent Reading! Make sure you have read 50 pages and written 5 responses this week.

Periods 1, 5 and 7: Read "I, Too" by Langston Hughes. Take Double Entry Notes on text to text connections with "Cora, Unashamed" and "Ain't I a Woman?"

HW: Write a rough draft of your "speaking out" piece on a topic of your choice that you feel passionate about. You can write a story like "Cora," a speech like Sojouner, or a poem like "I, Too."

Periods 2 and 6:

Writer's Workshop: Peer Review. Working in small groups, share your essay with your group members. They will give compliments and suggestions based on how well your essay follows the Johns Hopkins tips.

HW: Revise your Common Application Essay once more, incorporating the suggestions you received from your Peer Review.

Week of September 13-16

Hi everyone,

Here are the assignments for this week. Tuesday and Wednesday are the last two days where all classes have the same assignments. Starting on Thursday, please check to make sure you are completing the assignments for the correct class.

Reading Logs will begin next week! Make sure you come to class on time and prepared with your notebook, binder, Reading Log, IR Book and a pen/pencil to get your stamp!

As always, email me at msatwill@gmail.com with any questions.

Monday: No school

Tuesday: Classwork: We will look through books from the Independent Reading Library, and "interview" them to find out what books we want to read. Once we find a book we like, add it to our Book Wish List.

Homework: Write 1/2 page: How does reading make you feel?

Wednesday:

Classwork: We will take the diagnostic reading assessment. This test measures your reading level, and it does NOT count for your grade, so don't worry. It is just to help you and your teachers find out what you need to work on this year.

Homework: Bring in a book for independent reading, OR circle your top three choices on your Book Wish List to check out from the class library!

Thursday:

9th and 10th grades (Periods 1, 5 and 7)

Classwork:

-Begin Independent Reading. Students will check out books from the class library if they don't have books from home or another library.
-Read "How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)" by Junot Diaz.
-Double Entry Notes: Your reactions to the text.

Homework: Write a 1/2 page "How To" guide on a topic of your choice, pretending you are as much an "expert" as Junot Diaz is.

12th grade: (Periods 2 and 6)

Classwork:

-Begin Independent Reading. Students will check out books from the class library if they don't have books from home or another library.
-Sign out copies of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
-Read and discuss pages 1-4 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Homework: Write 1/2 page: How does the author make his points clear, convincing, and engaging in the beginning of the text?

Friday:

9th and 10th grades (Periods 1, 5 and 7)

Classwork:
-Continue Independent Reading. Next week, we start reading logs, so be on time to get your stamps!
-Author's Toolbox: Satire.
Def: Using humor, exaggeration or sarcasm to make a point.
Ex: In "How to Date..." the narrator claims to be an expert at dating girls of different backgrounds, but his stereotyping reveals how little he knows about actual relationships.
-Writer's Workshop: Satirical "How To" guides. Students will share their homework with their table groups, and then discuss how to improve them.

Homework: Type and email to Ms. Atwill (msatwill@gmail.com) your final draft of your Satirical "How To" guide, or print it out and bring to class. Due WEDNESDAY, 9/21.

12th grade: (Periods 2 and 6)

Classwork:
-Continue Independent Reading. Next week, we start reading logs, so be on time to get your stamps!
-Read and discuss the rest of Chapter 1 from The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Pages 4-23).

Homework: Choose one of the following prompts from the Common Application and free write 1/2 page based on the prompt. (Link to handout is here)

-Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
-Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
-Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
-Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there and why is it meaningful to you?
-Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Welcome to English Class!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to English with Ms. Atwill! I am so excited for the year ahead. This website will be a resource for you throughout the year. I will always post the homework assignments on the website, along with class notes or anything else that may be useful.

If you have any questions, please send me an email at msatwill@gmail.com and I will get back to you right away.

Here is the homework for the week:

Thursday:

Classwork: Complete survey and review syllabus. (English 9 is here, and English 10 and 12 are here.)

Homework:
Create a gmail address (if you don't have one already) and send an email to msatwill@gmail.com with the following information:

-Your full name
-Your class period

This email is due on Tuesday, September 13th at 11:00 PM.

Also, if you haven't already, make sure you get a three ring binder (or three sections of a larger binder), a notebook, and plenty of pens or pencils.

Friday:

Classwork: Read "You Can Grow Your Intelligence" article

Homework: Write 1/2 page in your notebook: How does this article apply to your life?

Let me know if you have any questions!

-Ms. Atwill