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Read Act I, scenes 1 & 2 for Tuesday/Wednesday.

Be prepared to discuss and write about Prejean’s techniques in the book Dead Man Walking for this Thursday and Friday in class.

We’ll begin reading Henry IV, Part I on Monday.  Read all the introductory materials by Thursday, 1/15, and record what you learned through the reading in your writers notebook.

I emailed a survey to the whole class, but I’m not sure my email list is accurate.  If you didn’t get an email from me, let me know ASAP.

Upcoming essay assignment: Proposal to solve a problem, due 12/5. The revision should be in the form of a letter addressed to a person who can help effect a solution, due 12/15.

Write an essay, proposing a solution to a clearly defined problem affecting a group or community to which you belong. Your task is to establish that the problem exists, to offer a solution that can reasonably be implemented, to lay out the particulars by which your proposal would be put into effect, and to consider objections and alternative solutions. If you’re not sure what to write about, here’s a link to some suggested topics.

Also, bring Dead Man Walking to class starting 12/1. Finish the book before (or over) Christmas vacation, so that we can discuss it when we return in January.

For Friday, annotate the “Shooting an Elephant” essay.

Using Orwell’s essay as a model, write a reflection in which the narration of a “tiny incident” (like paragraph 3) illustrates a larger social or political problem. The “tiny incident” can come from your own experience, your reading, or observations.  This is due in your writers notebook on 11/24; bring your notebook to class that day.

Your post on Youth Voices this week is a self-assessment. First update your inquiry questions in your Google Document. Next, read the Youth Voices curriculum. Edit your profile, make at least one comment on another post, and compose your self-assessment. Like every week you have until Friday to complete this post, so make it a thoughtful reflection and use specific examples to illustrate your points.

For Tuesday, 11/18 (or 11/19 for period 6), your group will complete a Google presentation about your book. Create a Google Doc as a place to collect your group’s resources and thinking. Share both of these with Mr. Sloan.

• Summarize the book by citing important passages. Choose enough passages to represent the book’s key ideas. You’ll read the passages out loud to the group, or you may record it as a podcast.
• Present information about the author and events from the era that influenced the ideas of the book. Choose appropriate historical and biographical information. Consider other works by the same author.
• Demonstrate that the author and/or the book’s message are still relevant today. Here’s an example blog post I put together about Orwell’s 1984.

Read Swift’s essay, “A Modest Proposal,” pp. 473-477, and then do all six questions.

Here’s a link to an assignment about responding to one of the Letters to the Next President. This will be a post to your blog done in class on 10/27, but it doesn’t count for your weekly post. This post is IN ADDITION TO the weekly post to Youth Voices about an inquiry topic you have.

For Friday, share your inquiry topics with Mr. Sloan.  Then make a post about one of your questions (with snippets) to Youth Voices.