Goodbye!

Today was our last day of class. I want to sincerely thank each and every one of you for making this semester a great one. There were plenty of bumps and bruises along the way, but overall, this was a fantastic start to the year and I look forward to watching each and every one of you grow into the adults you'll become. Please come back and visit me and Mr. Hannah and come see us whenever you have an issue. Our door is always open.

Good luck next semester! It has truly been a pleasure to be your teacher. I will miss you all!

Final Jeopardy

Today's class we played a game of Jeopardy to prepare you for the final tomorrow. It is now up to you to take the notes you took in class, as well as everything we talked about throughout the semester, and study and study hard. As I mentioned in class, here's the breakdown of the final:

--20 multiple choice questions
--1 open response (1 paragraph)
--1 essay (3 paragraphs AT LEAST)

Remember what I said in class about the open response. We have practiced writing paragraphs at a quicker pace. You can do this. Once you get to the open response on the final, look at the clock and time yourself for about 15-20 minutes. And remember the format--TS, CD, CM, CS. This should be so easy for all of you. You know how to do this!

This will leave you enough time to get to the essay and do a great job on it. Remember, at least 3 paragraphs! This will count for at least 30 points of your final so you need to make sure you knock this out of the park.

If you have any questions tonight while studying, please don't hesitate to email me or Mr. Hannah with any questions.

Study hard!

DEETS:
In-class:
--Jeopardy

HW:
--Study for the final exam tomorrow!

NOTE: Remember, go to your third period class BEFORE going to lunch. There will be a different schedule tomorrow so you don't want to accidentally go to lunch and then miss a half hour of time on your final. There will be no extra time allowed.

Final Stretch

Today's class was just a day to catch up on our final assessments for the semester. Today you took the post assessment of the reading exam you took at the beginning of the semester. Remember, this wasn't graded or factored into your report card, it's just to check your progress over the course of the semester.

After that, we briefly discussed the final chapters of Night. If there was any book we read cover to cover, I'm glad this one was it because it is such an incredibly emotional read and teaches you a lot about life and the ways of humanity.

As for the rest of the week, STUDY STUDY STUDY. Your exam is on Thursday and it is difficult. We'll be playing Jeopardy tomorrow to prepare, but the rest is up to you.

DEETS:
In-class:
--Research Paper Materials Turn In
--Reading Post Assessment
--Night

HW:
--Study for the final on Thursday

It's Over!

Today you turned in your Research Papers! YAY! It's over!

Now, we just have to finish up Night. Today we read Chapter 7 where Elie and his father survive another cattle car convoy. We see the desperation in the prisoners--ripping clothes off one another, killing each other for a piece of bread, and throwing each other out of the car for more space.

Here are all the Oprah clips. Please take a look at these if you get a chance this weekend. We see Elie's account of what happened, and hear what he has to say about it now:

For homework, please finish the book. You'll find out what happens to Elie's father, and how Elie is liberated.

Also for Tuesday, make sure you organize all your papers from the research paper process. Here's the list of what you need:

1. Evaluating Sources (3 pages)
2. Index Cards (9 of them)
3. MEAL Organizer
4. Thesis/Introductory Paragraph
5. Concluding Paragraph
6. Rough Draft
7. Peer Editing Papers

Thank you for all your hard work during this process. I truly appreciate it and I hope you have learned the skills needed in order to succeed in the upcoming years.

Have a great weekend!

DEETS:
In-class:
--Research Paper Turn In
--Night Chapter 7
--Oprah and Elie

HW:
--Finish Night
--Gather up your Research Paper materials

Marching On...

I hope today's class was enlightening for some of you. I know this "march" through the school was uncomfortable at points, and I know that you may have even felt stupid during some of it. But I seriously believe that exercises like these help us understand what Elie's world was like. We can watch as many videos, documentaries, pictures, and read as many books as we can about the Holocaust, but can we actually imagine what it was like? Can we truly understand what it was like to be starved, to be thirsty, to be exhausted beyond belief, to be so near desperation that you'll do anything to survive? I don't think I can...

I hope you all learned something, more than you would if I just circled all your contractions on your paragraph paper.

As for the research paper, PLEASE DO YOUR BEST. Remember, this is due TOMORROW. PRINTED. ON TIME. There will be no late papers accpeted NO MATTER WHAT. All the tools you need are on this blog.

Please email me if you have any questions or concerns.

DO WORK!

DEETS:
In-class:
--March
--Chapter 6 Review
--Research Paper Q&A

HW:
--Research Paper due TOMORROW.

Works Cited Page

After today's class we went over Chapter 5 of Night. We went over the main points that I covered in yesterday's post so I won't post it again here. In regards to these paragraphs, I know today's question was a hard one. But you should be able to at least look at your previous mistakes and not continue making the same ones. This is unacceptable. You can do better. If you're consistently getting the same grade that means you need to change what you're doing and try something different. OR come see me afterschool so we can work on it.

But in regards to the Works Cited page, here are the main points you need to know:

1. The Works Cited page is the LAST page of your research paper. Do not start the Works Cited page right after your concluding paragraph. The Works Cited page is its OWN page.

2. The Works Cited page is NOT double-spaced.

3. You must list your sources in ALPHABETICAL order starting with the author's LAST name.

4. The order goes:

Last name, First name. "Article Name." Where It's From.

5. Every line after the first line of one source must be INDENTED. It will look something like this:

Hafner, Katie. “‘Defriending’ Facebook: When Social Networking Starts to Get in the Way of
           Real Life, Some Teens Are Deciding to Log Off.” New York Times Upfront.

If you have any questions with formatting, please come see me or Mr. Hannah afterschool so we can answer them. You will lose serious points if your formatting is incorrect now that we've shown you the proper way of doing so.

DEETS:

In-class:

--Paragraph Quiz

--Chapter 5 Review

--Works Cited page

HW:

--Read pgs. 85-97 in Night

--Research Papers due Friday!

Into the Night...

As we wrapped up today's class, I see that a lot of you still have a lot of work to do in order to get these research papers done. I hope this peer editing process helped many of you, and I hope you use it to your advantage. Look at all the comments your peers wrote on your worksheet as well as on your paper. This isn't the time to point fingers and discredit their advice because you think you're right and they're wrong. This is the time to look at your own work as critically as they did and do the work that's necessary in order for you to get a decent grade on this paper. Remember, this research paper is going to be worth two test grades, and could be the determining factor of whether or not you pass this class.

But in order to do well on this paper, you need to turn something in. Again, make sure that you are not late, that your paper is not in your locker, and that you are not absent. Under NO circumstances will I or Mr. Hannah be accepting late papers. We just can't do it. In order for us to have enough time to grade all of these before final exams, we need to have all papers in by Friday at the time you have class.

Tomorrow, we'll briefly go over how to make a cover page and the Works Cited.

As for tonight's reading, here are some markers that should help you along the way:

--Elie has lost complete and utter faith in God. He writes, "My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man." He no longer feels like the little boy he once was. He no longer puts breathing and living in the same level as God.

--Elie's father feels like his death is coming. He no longer feels like he can make it. He offers Elie a spoon and a knife as his gift to him. Elie looks at the spoon and knife as his inheritance. Make sure you know what this word means and how it can relate to you.

--Elie writes, "Christmas and New Year's we did not work. We were treated to a slightly less transparent soup." Why do you think that is? If all the Germans want to do is kill all the Jews, then why treat them better on holidays? I doubt they actually respect their religious traditions. So why do it?

--Elie seriously injurs his foot. He has to go to the doctor's to get it fixed. The doctor does actually fix his foot, but Elie has to remain in the hospital wing for two weeks to let it heal. But news starts to spread that the Allied Forces were drawing nearer. The camp was to be evacuated. There was talk that they would just take all the prisoners in the hospital ward and carry them right to the ovens. Elie had a choice to make. He could either go with his father and the other prisoners and evacuate the camp OR his doctor would allow Elie's father to be taken in as a patient and they could stay. Elie and his father decide to evacuate. After the war, Elie learned that the prisoners who stayed in the hospital ward were freed two days later by the Russians.

--Elie and his father get up early in the morning and are forced to march along with the other prisoners out of the camp.

If you didn't understand each of these checkpoints, please go back and read them again to make sure you understand each point. One of these will be the paragraph quiz tomorrow!

DEETS:
In-class:
--Peer Review Process

HW:
--Read pgs. 66-84 in Night
--Research Paper due Friday!