During Quarter 4, I will be hosting online after-school review sessions from 3:30-4:00 via Google Meet. English 9 review will be held on Tuesdays and English 8 review will be held on Thursdays. Please see Schoology or contact me for the Meet information.

Here's today's recap:

English 8

Today, we continued our lesson on parody and compared it to another form of humor: satire. Satire is the harsher of the two; while parody mocks something simply for comedy purposes, satire mocks things to make a point about them and belittle them.

English 9 and 9 Honors

In our continuing discussion of the historical context for our novel To Kill A Mockingbird, we discussed what the Jim Crow laws were. These laws, set in place after the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War, severely limited and sometimes outright eliminated the rights of Black Americans. In addition, this was an extremely racist time when many hate crimes were committed. This cultural racism, as well as the impact of the poverty caused by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, will create the setting for To Kill A Mockingbird. Tomorrow, we will take a look at some photos from the time period to better understand the context of the novel.

Sorry for missing Friday's update! Here's a recap of Friday and today!

English 8

On Friday, we started our cluster of lessons on humor by talking about sarcasm, which is saying one thing but meaning the opposite and ensuring that it's clear that you are not to be taken literally. Today, we began our conversation about parody, which is a comical imitation of a work of art, music, etc.

English 9 and 9 Honors

On Friday, the guidance counselors met with you to discuss scheduling for next year. You can find all of this in their Google Classroom. After that, you had time to work on your immoral law assignment, which was due on Sunday. Turn it in if you haven't done so! Today, we talked about the first part of our historical context for To Kill A Mockingbird, which was a recap of The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, and some new information about Hoovervilles.

I'm going to leave this picture here because it snowed today and that makes me sad.

Here's today's update:

English 8

The ELA state exams were today. I hope everyone did their best!

English 9 and 9H

Today, we discussed the differences between law and morality. Begin thinking about your assignment to analyze an unjust law. Good luck!

Here's today's recap:

English 8

Today, we reviewed theme and talked about how theme is different than topic or main idea. Don't forget that tomorrow is the ELA exam, so bring in your school-issued Chromebook (CHARGED!) and an independent reading book.

English 9 and 9 Honors

Today, we talked about the differences between law, morality, and ethics, which are all part of the discussion of justice we're having this quarter. We also played with the trolley problem as an ethics thought exercise, and we discussed how ethics issues don't often have easy answers.

Sorry for the late update! Here's today's recap:

English 8

Today, we reviewed main idea (also called central idea), supporting details, and topic. Make sure you hang onto these notes!

English 9 and 9H

We began our conversation about justice today by reading through a section of The Republic in which Socrates takes apart the idea of justice being a combination of always being honest and paying your debts.