This week in English

This week high school English classes hit the ground running, not only with blogs, but also with various units in literature.

The freshmen and sophomores are both working on short stories.  By exploring different short stories, students are building their knowledge of various literary terms and vocabulary words.  The freshmen will be refreshing themselves on the basics that they learned in middle school and begin to dig deeper into their texts, while the sophomores will expand the repertoire that they built as freshmen and continue learning how to explore and relate to their reading.

The juniors have begun discussing early American literature, starting with Native American origin myths.  This week they will be reading several different stories that originated in Native American oral tradition, which will start them on their journey to discover how literature can give us insight to how America came to be what it is today.

The seniors are also reading a work originating in oral tradition, only this work dates back to the earliest reaches of the English language.  Beowulf is the first known work to be written in the English language.  Students will be following Beowulf on his quest to defeat enemies and gain fame so that he may achieve immortality in the stories of generations to come.

The year has only just begun, and there are many new things in store for the entire high school!

Creating Your Blog

The video below is a recording of me talking you through setting up a blog-- the bare basics.  I probably move fast at times, so be sure to pause, rewind, and play as needed.  Any questions you have outside of this video, feel free to ask me!

Welcome!

As much as we enjoy summer, each new school year brings the excitement of a fresh start and the promise of new experiences.  This fall, all my English classes are beginning a new journey into the world of blogging.

Student blogging is a unique opportunity to take interactions that would previously have been mainly between the student and teacher, and sometimes other classmates, and open them up to the rest of the world.  Blogs give students a voice beyond the classroom.

Students will have the opportunity to use this blog to reflect on their work in the classroom, as well as share their interests with other students and the rest of the world.  With the opportunity to post about whatever interests them, we should see student posts on an infinite number of topics such as: Science, sports, fashion, video games, history, current events.

by Kristina B

Once the blogs are created, you will find links to all of them on the right.  In addition, you can check back to this blog for updates on English, Speech, and Play Production.  I hope that with this new endeavor, students will find a way to creatively express themselves, as well as find more meaning in their work through a wider audience.

As we begin a new journey and a new school year, I wish students the best of luck!