Persepolis - Day 3

Yesterday you worked with your group to complete a handout looking at the literal and figurative layers of meaning in the first four chapters of the book. We'll spend a little time reviewing them today.

Then, it is your turn. You'll complete this handout on your own, continuing to practice this close look at both text and imagery, in both a literal and figurative sense.

• Persepolis - Literal and Figurative Meaning - Individual Work

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Tonight you are reading and annotating pages 54-79.

Persepolis - Day 2

Today you will meet your new group for this book - click here to see the list.

Our topic for today is Literal and Figurative meaning. Click here for the handout we'll use for our work today - it includes an explanation of these terms and prompts for exploring them in the book.

Your homework for tonight is to read and annotate pages 33-53.

STAR Testing - Round 2

Happy Monday! Happy start of second quarter!

We are going to take the second round of the STAR reading test today. Please do your best on this reading comprehension test. Again, this is so we can understand how you read and learn. Do your best.

• Click here to go to the link for the test.
• For your username, use the same name you are logging into the Chromebooks and computers with.
• Your password is your student ID number - but ONLY the number - i.e. 121XXXX - if you are unable to gain access after TWO tries, please ask for help before trying a third time.
• You will be presented with two choices - select STAR Reading
• Sometimes, the system will request a “Monitor Password.” If this happens to you, the password is “admin”
• If you are presented with a list of teachers, please select “Rigler”
• Take the test! Do the best you can!

You may use the rest of the time to read and annotate the book, pages 10-32, for tomorrow.

Persepolis - Day 1

1st period:

• We shared your graphic novel pages
• You worked in groups to examine the introduction and the first section of the novel

3rd period:

• Open this document to guide your work for the day

Notice the new calendar is posted over there on the right and under the Persepolis tab

Have a great weekend!

Some Thoughts on Iran

To help us be ready to enter the world of Persepolis, we'll watch this episode of Parts Unknown, a CNN series hosted by Anthony Bourdain. Click here to watch the episode.

While we watched I asked you to keep track of answers to these questions in your notebook:

• What are TWO things you learn about the HISTORY between the United States and Iran?
• What are TWO things you learn about the CULTURE of Iran beyond the food?
• Over the course of the show, what are TWO things that SURPRISED you?
• What are TWO QUESTIONS that you have based on what you saw?

We briefly discussed our responses at the end of class.

Tonight will be your first reading in Persepolis - please read and annotate pages 1-9, including the introduction.

Also, I've posted the new unit calendar - it's up there on the right, and also linked below:

• Persepolis calendar - 1st period
• Persepolis calendar - 3rd period

Into to Graphic Novels - Day 2

Our look into graphic novels continues today as we practice using the terms and ideas I introduced yesterday. There are two handouts to guide your work today - I'll give them to you in class.

After a brief review of the terms, you'll work with a partner to create a page of your own graphic novel! Use these instructions for that.

No homework tonight!

First Essay Due - Intro to Graphic Novels

Woohoo!! You finished your first essay for Freshman English!!

Congratulations! I'm excited for you and I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about An Iliad and The Trojan Women.

And now - we're on to our next unit!

Writing Week - Final Writing Day!

In class today (Thursday and Friday) you have one last opportunity to work on your essay during the school day. You've got this - look back at all of the excellent work you've done up to this point and bring it all together in a fantastic final essay for this unit. Remember, it is due to turnitin.com by the start of class on Monday. Good luck! (and don't forget to bring Persepolis on Monday!)

Writing Week - Putting it all Together

Today we will do a few things to help you feel confident as you move ahead with the writing of your essay. You'll start by sharing your thesis, evidence, and / or outline with different people around the room. I'll explain how that will happen.

Then, we'll review the MLA guidelines for your essay.

Lastly, we'll talk about how to punctuate your quotations.

Then, the rest of today and all of tomorrow are set aside for work time - make the best of it!

Writing Week - Evidence and Outline

Here are the two documents for today's work:

• Quotation workshop
• Writing an outline

You will have time to work on the outline in class today, and it is due by the start of class tomorrow, submitted to turnitin.com. NOTE: You only need to complete one body paragraph in the outline tonight.

Writing Week - Using Quotations

Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

First - a reminder - you need to own a copy of Persepolis and have it in class next Monday.

Here is a link to our work for today:

• Quotation workshop

Here is a link to your homework for tomorrow - remember, it needs to be submitted to turnitin.com before class starts in order to receive credit.

• Thesis + Evidence homework

Thesis Workshop

For our work today you will use this document:

• Crafting a Thesis Statement

Your homework for the weekend is to complete this thesis revision work and submit it to turnitin.com by the start of class on Monday. Note that you will need another person to look at and respond to your thesis.

• Thesis revision - partner work

Also, there are a few other things you can do to continue your work on this essay:

• Re-read sections of the book and play
• Make sure you understand what happened, who the characters are, etc.
• Look for places in the text that are relevant to your topic
• Gather quotations
• From your re-reading
• Review your previous work and collect quotations you've already explored
• Journal entries
• Annotations
• Group work
• Submitted work

Unit 1 Assignment - Writing Week Begins!

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed our version of a fall break!

Although the leaves haven't really turned and the weather is still relatively warm, I hope the time off gave you a chance to do some things you wanted to do.

Now it is time for us to get back to the work we started last week and to begin the process of writing this essay!

The goal for today is to find ways to
How best to do that? Let's start by remembering what the assignment is:

• Literary Analysis Paper - An Iliad and The Trojan Women

Literary analysis? What is that? It is the process of closely reading a text and making an assertion about its meaning. In order to get there we need to understand the story and be able to summarize it. We also need to understand the roles of the different characters and the factors that influence their thoughts and actions. We also need to understand the ways in which the author uses language to convey all of this.

We have been doing exactly this for the last month. All of the work we have been doing is preparation for this essay. You need to review your work to make sure you understand all of the steps. This means not worrying about the grade but instead reading the comment, looking at the rubric, and making sure you understand the focus of each assignment. We will do a lot of this together in class.

Action: Open turnitin.com and Infinite Campus. Be sure you have submitted all of your work. If you are missing an assignment, be sure you know what it is (scroll back through the blog posts - it's all there) then complete and submit it. Once you submit your essay to complete the unit, I do not accept late work.

This week and next week we will work through the writing process together. Each day there will be a step I assign. You will receive a completion grade for each step. This is my way of making sure everyone understands the process and is prepared to write an excellent essay!

Step 1: Essay Brainstorming Activity

We will start this together in class today. Whatever you do not complete is due by the start of class tomorrow, submitted to turnitin.com.

I'll also mention you will need our next book, Persepolis, for class on Monday, October 23rd.

The Trojan Women - Day 4

Here are links to the found poems you created yesterday - great job!

• 1st period found poems
• 3rd period found poems

Here is a link to our work for the first part of class today. You are working on it independently. You will submit your completed work to turnitin.com

• Perspectives on Helen

We'll then turn to a discussion about Helen, and then about some of the themes in the play overall, including:

• The horrors of war
• Dread / Fear
• Hope
• Revenge

Lastly, I'll share with you your assignment to complete this unit.  Your homework for the long weekend is to review the assignment and begin your preparations for it.

• Literary Analysis Paper on An Iliad and The Trojan Women

The Trojan Women - Day 3

Found poems!

Working in groups today you will create a "found poem" to help tell your character's story.

• In your group, create a shared Google Doc
• Each person in your group chooses 5 lines / phrases from your character and types them into the doc
• Now it is time to create a poem - but you are only going to use words from the play!
• Re-arrange them into any order - break apart phrases
• Create repetitions if you'd like, create rhymes if you want, explore!
• Here is my sample poem about the Chorus
• The goal is to tell your character's story accurately, but in an original and unique way
• We'll present these when we are done

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Tonight - finish the play! Read and annotate

The Trojan Women - Day 2

Today we'll continue our work on The Trojan Women. We'll use this handout to guide our work:

• The Trojan Women - Examining the characters

Tonight your homework is to read and annotate pp. 28-41 (up to Andromache being taken away).

The Trojan Women

Happy Monday! Happy October!

We'll spend the first part of class talking about the final chapter of the book, "Another Kind of Beauty."

Then, we'll start to read The Trojan Women. We'll start it in class today.

For tonight, you'll read from the start through page 22 when Cassandra appears. Just read and annotate - we'll do a lot more with it tomorrow!