Gender-Fair Language

Go to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)'s "Guidelines for Gender-Fair Language" website to complete the form. Follow your teacher's directions, too.

Intro to Poetry

1. Complete the activity More Root Words.
2. Complete this worksheet about major poetic devices. 
3. Complete the poetry analysis worksheet to learn how poets use some of these devices. 
4. Alliteration Tongue Twisters:  Write an original alliteration tongue twister that incorporates at least seven alliterations with the same initial sound and (at least somewhat) makes sense.

Remember, alliteration is when two or more words share the same initial sound

• Ex. “Down and Dirty”

When you string a bunch of alliteration together, you get a tongue twister.

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

5.  Write a limerick, a five line poem that follows the rhyme scheme A A B B A, in which the “A” lines are eight or nine syllables and the “B” lines are six syllables.  See three different examples below:  

There once was a gray poodle named Spark.       (A= "ark," 9 syllables long)
 Quite talkative, he so liked to bark.                     (A= "ark," 9 syllables long)
 Sometimes running he found                             (B= "ound," 6 syllables long)
 His feet all off the ground                                 (B= "ound," 6 syllables long)
 Especially on "walks" in the park.                      (A= "ark," 9 syllables long)

There once was a girl who loved rhyme;   (8 syllables)
 She felt her writing was sublime.             (8 syllables)
 Indeed quite a poet,                                 (6 syllables)
 Though some didn't know it,                    (6 syllables)
 She'd be rich if each paid a dime.              (8 syllables)

There was a mean clown in the circus.
 For fun he would push us and jerk us.
 He would hit us with pies
 That left cream in our eyes.
 His act never once failed to irk us.

Win the White House Game

Win the White House!

https://www.icivics.org/games/win-white-house

Middle Ages Videos

Justinian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y2pAGcW51Y

Charlemagne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9AMpIU-JYw

Feudalism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCPp7XWZfHo

Great Schism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaXcpq_w7fc

Crusades: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyRU5afyITE

Inquisition & Reconquista: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2ZE9P6LsuY

Hundred Years War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGMevEpNGY

War of the Roses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjO55pKuBo4

Realistic Short Stories

Week 12

1. I would like you to read and react to ONE of the following autobiographical short stories: "Hair" by Malcolm X OR "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros.  Your reactions should be about a paragraph long each and should briefly summarize the story as well as discuss what you notice about Malcolm X’s or Cisneros’s writing style that you liked and that could help you in your own writing. These stories are acting as mentor texts, examples of autobiographical (or semi-autobiographical) realistic memoirs about the authors' own lives that can help you think about your own story and voice.

4. Next, I want you to think of some ideas for your own autobiographical short story.  Think about your own experiences.  "Write what you know" is a famous piece of advice.  Start out by writing a piece called “I remember.”  This piece is a brainstorm, free flow of thoughts that can work as a prewriting strategy.  If you handwrite, this should be 30 lines at least.  If you type, this should be 15 lines at least (12 point font).  If you get stuck, just write “I remember” and restart.  You may write about just one memory the whole time or a bunch of different memories.

3. Third, think of at least FIVE ideas of stories that have happened to you or someone that you know well that you can retell in a short story (creative license is fine here to fill in some details). 
So that you have some other options, write down THREE more ideas in which you can be a little more creative. That is, you don't have to write about an actual instance in your life, but base it on what you know.  Nathan Englander explains that sometimes, “'Write what you know’ isn’t about events… It’s about emotions. Have you known love? jealousy? longing? loss? Did you want that [video game system] so bad you might have killed for it? If so, it doesn't matter whether your story takes place in Long Island or on Mars – if you’re writing what you know, readers will feel it.”

4. Choose your top story idea from above. Draft a well-developed story that focuses on plot, characterization, setting, and theme. Use imagery to bring your story to life!



5. View and comment on each other's storybirds!

• Jonny's "Max, the Photo-Taking Polar Bear"
• Drew's "The Legend of T Bone"

Common Interview Questions

Answer 5 of these. Put your name next to your answer (you may answer one that someone else has too since the answer should be individual to you...)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tknTd9U1pvcfL4qMIBDEEpFWz5JXjXb9XJz0VmiBH24/edit

Know Your Rights Review Games

If you finish 6.1 and 6.2, giving you an overview of the Legislative Branch, play the the following game to review the Bill of Rights. Then, you may play the Do I Have a Right? to expand your knowledge of rights beyond the first 10 amendments of the Constitution.