MOSAIC: voices from Polson High School

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Be honest. Be kind. Be temperate.

3rd Period Blog - Wednesday, January 30

For the entire class today, we watched the movie Moby Dick. 

3rd Period Blog - Tuesday, January 29

In class today we started off the period discussing Moby Dick. After discussing the concepts of the story we took a test over The Quarterdeck and Moby Dick. Following the test we began watching the movie Moby Dick to get a better concept of the story.

3rd Period Blog - Monday, January 28

At the beginning of 3rd period English today we discussed The Quarterdeck and some of Moby Dick. After a brief discussion, we were given time to read Moby Dick, pages 321-327, and finish the Words to Own worksheet for The Quarterdeck and Moby Dick. Tomorrow we will take a test over both readings at the start of class.

3rd Period Blog - Friday, January 25

When we first got to class today, we took a test of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story The Minister’s Black Veil. After taking the test and discussing his story, we were given the remainder of the period to read The Quarterdeck, pages 313-320, and work on the Words to Own worksheet. Anything not finished in class was assigned as homework. Monday we will take a test over The Quarterdeck.

3rd Period Blog - Thursday, January 24

At the beginning of the period today, we took a test over The Fall of the House of Usher regarding concepts and vocabulary of the story. After taking the test we were assigned to read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil, pages 299-307. We were given time in class to begin reading this and work on the Words to Own worksheet. When we get to class tomorrow there will be a test over the reading and vocabulary of this story. 

3rd Period Blog - Wednesday, January 23

During 3rd Period today, we discussed Edgar Allen Poe and his writings. After discussing Poe, we were given time to begin reading The Fall of the House of Usher. If you weren’t able to finish the story in class, we were supposed to finish it as homework tonight, as well as do the Words to Own worksheet for vocabulary. There will be a test of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher tomorrow at the beginning of the period.

3rd Period Blog - Tuesday, January 22

In English class we spent the entire period doing a 40 minute timed writing answering one of the essay topics regarding Henry David Thoreau and his story Walden.  We typed the essay up on Mosaic and printed using the printer-friendly format. The essay was due at the end of the period and if you were absent today, the essay is due by 4:00 PM Wednesday.

3rd Period Blog - Monday, January 21

Today during 3rd Period English, we reviewed the ABCD’s of timed writing. After reviewing the ABCD’s, we worked on our sentence outlines for our Thoreau essay, which are due tomorrow. The remainder of the period was spent preparing for the timed writing we are going to do tomorrow in class.

3rd Period Blog - Thursday, January 17

Today our English class first talked about our schedule for Friday. We then discussed the significance to Thoreau’s feelings through the importance of the bean fields. Mr. Umphrey used this topic to show us how a proper sentence outline should be done, as well as how to answer the seminar questions properly. We again talked about the ABCD’s of timed writings, and ended the class with reading sample essays written by students. After reading these essays, we graded them by the state grading rubric.

3rd Period Blog - Wednesday, January 16

During English class on Wednesday, Mr. Umphrey handed out a sheet about the ABCD’s of timed writings. We discussed the different aspects of the ABCD’s and how to write a good timed essay. A stands for attack the prompt; B stands for brainstorm possible answers; C stands for choose the order of response; and D stands for detect errors before submitting draft. We began to prepare to write a 40 minute timed writing about Walden.

3rd Period Blog - Tuesday, January 15

In English today, we had our graded paragraphs that we wrote on Monday handed back to the class. We were also given a handout of topics from Walden for us to write an essay about. We discussed the handout, and then took an in-class quiz about Henry Thoreau’s Walden. This quiz took up the remainder of the period.

3rd Period Blog - Monday, January 14

In 3rd period English today, we had a brief discussion on Thoreau’s Walden. We brought up several key points of Thoreau’s writing and then used the remainder of the period to write a paragraph answering one question from the review at the end of the essay (#1-5, page 246). This paragraph was to have a topic sentence, followed by several details supporting our topic sentence, and was due at the end of the period.

3rd Period Blog - Friday, January 11

Today in class, after reading Henry Thoreau’s Walden, we talked about the story. As a class we discussed and answered questions 1-6 at the end of the essay on page 246. When discussing these questions topics brought up included the fighting ants resemblance to the Mexican War, the significance of the bean field, and what Thoreau meant by simplifying our lives. We were only able to get through several questions before the end of the period.

3rd Period Blog - Thursday, January 10, 2008

Today in class we discussed parts of Thoreau’s Walden. One discussion brought up during class was what Thoreau was referring to when he told of the battle between the red and black ants. Some students felt that Thoreau was referring to the war taking place at that time period and how each side fights for their needs. We also discussed what Thoreau meant when saying, “Simplify, simplify, simplify.” The thoughts towards this comment were that Thoreau felt that life was too busy and complicated and that people needed to live the most basic life by getting rid of the unnecessary things. We ended class by listening to a reading of the end of Thoreau’s story, The Conclusion.