Friday & Tuesday; May 26 & May 30

If you want to see a Frog and Toad series book, click here


Some of the packet on close reading has to do with that series of books. The packet that was covered in class can be seen by clicking below.

close reading packet, click here

The prompt for today is to write half a page about the following quote:
"But I don't give up; I forget why not."

We spent some time today doing choice reading. We only have seven classes left. Be reading on your own and use all of your time in class.

Wednesday & Thursday; May 24 & May 25

We watched a video and then did group learning on how to deal with text:
Summarize,
Explain theme,
Explain author's use of tools
Connect it to one's own life or connect to other works or movies.


The video we watched:

monday & tuesday; may 22 & 23

We spent a major part of the period taking the test over "A Raisin in the Sun." Grades have been put on synergy. Papers over "Raisin in the Sun" were turned in on the same day as taking the test.

We discussed the reading requirements and students were asked to choose the book they will be reading. The information given out is on the document that is posted here:

American Lit. Choice Book—50 points+ 50 points Student name __________ period ___
Requirements:

1. Read at least one book written by an American author listed on the back of this sheet.
2. You may need more than one book. Maybe a second book by the same author?
3. It cannot be a book that you have read previously, or been assigned to have read before.
4. Have at least one classmate as a partner who is reading the same book.
5. Pick a book that potentially answers one of these questions:
• How is this a book about the American Dream?
• How is this a book about what it means to be an American?
• How does this book fit into the traditions of American Literature?
• How does this book compare in terms of characters, conflicts, or ideas to another book from this year?
6. Complete reading of your book by______________________.
Choice Reading project ideas
It is expected that you will be able to pass a test on any book you read. These would just be general comprehension questions
The grades for choice reading will be based on the number of pages + effort put on your project. Sample ideas:
Letter to the author- Teacher needs to see this before it is sent.
Pitch the book to your classmates. 10-15 minute sales pitch to convince your peers to read the book.
Artwork- Include some writing to explain or explore the artwork.
Movie trailer- design and act out in class, or film. Maybe upload to youtube.
Poster- This should not be just a bunch of pictures. Arrange and explain the reason for the arrangement in a paragraph or two.
True color essay- Pick three colors and three shapes to explain the character. Write a paper explaining each choice.
Contrast the movie, if there is one, with the book in essay format.
Write a poem, or a series of poems, dealing with the focus of the book.
Due date reading and project juniors: Friday, June 9, or Monday, June 12
You a senior? Monday, June 5th, or Tuesday June 6th.
+450 pages = possible 45-50 +350 pages = possible 40-45
+250 pages = possible 35-40 +150 pages = possible 30-35


FICTION TITLES AUTHOR Pages
1. Flight Alexie (200)
2. The Lone Ranger/Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Alexie (235)
3. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Alvarez (336)
4. Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury (175)
5. Tortilla Curtain Boyle (355)
6. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water Dorris (375)
7. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Durrow (272)
8. All The Pretty Horses McCarthy (300)
9. A Lesson Before Dying*** Gaines (256)
10. Snow Falling on Cedars Guterson (460)
11. Their Eyes Were Watching God*** Hurston (200)
12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest*** Kesey (320)
13. The Secret Life of Bees*** Kidd (300)
14. Shoeless Joe*** Kinsella (265)
15. A River Runs Through It plus other stories Maclean (100 or 215)
16. Locas Murray (250)
17. 1984 Orwell (250)
18. Fight Club Palahnuik (210)
19. The Catcher in the Rye*** Salinger (250)
20. The Laughing Sutra Salzman (272)
21. The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck (464)
22. The Joy Luck Club*** Tan (410)
23. Pudd’nhead Wilson Twain (340)
24. Into the Beautiful North Urrea (340)
25. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater Vonnegut (220)
26. The Color Purple*** Walker (260)
27. Native Son Wright (544)

DRAMA TITLES AUTHOR’S LAST NAME
28. You Can’t Take It With You Hart and Kaufman ( 72)
29. Death of a Salesman Miller (135)
30. Clybourne Park Norris ( 88)

NONFICTION TITLES AUTHOR’S LAST NAME
31. Into the Wild Krakauer (225)
32. Nickeled and Dimed Ehrenreich (225)
33. Fast Food Nation Schlosser (384)
34. Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders... Watson (448)
35. The Devil’s Highway Urrea (272)
36. On the Road Kerouac (307)

BIOGRAPHY/ MEMOIR TITLES AUTHOR’S LAST NAME
37. Farewell to Manzanar Houston (175)
38. A Girl Named Zippy Kimmel (275)
39. ‘Tis McCourt (600)
40. The Other Wes Moore Moore (250)
41. Wise Guys Pileggi (400)
42. Lost in Place*** Salzman (225)
43. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Skloot (381)
44. This Boy’s Life*** Wolff (300)

Friday and Monday; May 12 & May 15

We went to the computers and opened up a document to write our final paper over Raisin in the Sun.
The document should be on Google docs and it should be shared with Mr. O'Connor by sharing it with
spo@pdx.edu
We will work more on the paper next class, but you need to get the document shared with him today.

We also practiced the vocab from the drama by playing a game that earned extra credit for those involved.


No journal writing today.

Want to study about the characters for the test over the play? Click here for a Jeopardy Review.

Want to study with another set of questions over the book? Click here for plot review.

Wednesday & Thursday; May 10 & May 11

We finished the play by reading Act 3.

The prompt was to write about the kind of pizza you like. Use three of the following in your description:
simile
metaphor
personification
irony

May 8 & May 9; Monday &Tuesday

We checked the vocab and answers from 2.2 of Raisin in the Sun.

We read Raisin in the Sun 2.3. Tonight do the vocab and questions over this scene for next class.

We looked at two poems:


BY LANGSTON HUGHES
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Reprinted with the permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.




What does this poem have to do with our time and place in life now? What does it have to do with this class? The second poem is below:



A Tribute to My Mother
David L. Weatherford

http://www.davidlweatherford.com/tribute.html

\
Your gentle guidance has immeasurably influenced
all that I have done,
all that I do,
and all that I will ever do.

Your sweet spirit is indelibly imprinted on
all that I have been,
all that I am,
and all that I will ever be.

Thus, you are a part of all that
I accomplish and all that I become.
And so it is that when I help my neighbor,
your helping hand is there also.

When I ease the pain of a friend,
they owe a debt to you.
When I show a child a better way,
either by word or by example,
you are the teacher once removed.


Because everything I do reflects values learned from you,
any wrong that I  right,
any heart I may brighten,
any gift that I share,
or burden I may lighten,
is in its own small way a tribute to you.


Because you gave me life, and more importantly,
lessons in how to live, you are the wellspring from which flows
all good I may achieve in my time on earth.
For all that you are and for all that I am,

THANK YOU , MOM.

My sister Tonya wrote on the author's webpage and told about our mother and how this poem reminded us so much of her. The author David Weatherford responded to my sister:


Hi Tonya:

Thanks for signing my guestbook.  I was particularly touched by your note because my own mother, for whom I wrote the poem, also has dementia.   Ironically, I have since written another poem for her, and I have struggled with whether I should read it to her or not, as she has a limited attention span, and I have no idea how much of the message she would fully grasp.  I got your note right before I went home for Mother's Day weekend;  it made me decide to read the poem to her over that weekend, and I did.   I honestly don't know what it meant to her to hear it, as she cannot speak, and does not demonstrate a lot of emotion.
But at least now, i will never ask myself if I should have read it to her when I had the chance.
Thanks!

sincerely,
David L. Weatherford

May 4 & May 5; Thursday & Friday

We read Raisin in the Sun 2.1

We checked the packet work out of the previous lesson (1.2)

Prompt: What is the purpose of getting an education?
Is it a means to understanding and self-fulfillment?
Is it a means to getting a good job?
Is it something else?
Make sure you explain your thinking or use examples.

May 2 & May 3; Tuesday and Wednesday

We read Act 2, scene 1 (otherwise called 2.1

Friday and Monday; April 28 and May 1

Because of the assembly schedule shortening classes on Friday, and the state math tests taking place on Monday, we did not move further into the play. Some periods we watched some video over Act one scene one in the movie from 1961 starring Sidney Poitier. We discussed the differences between the character we met when reading the play and the characters we see in this version of the movie.

Below is a sample from Act one scene one.

Wednesday and Thursday; April 26 and 27

We checked the student work on Act 1 scene 1. On this day we read Act 1 scene 2.
Keep up on the reading. Use as many resources as you can. It is okay to use sparknotes, but only if you have done the reading.

See previous blog entry for links to English and Spanish texts.

Monday and Tuesday; April 24 & 25

If you want a copy of the Spanish version of "Raisin in the Sun," click here.

If you want an English version of the play,
">click here.

If you missed the character tea party, following are the descriptions of the characters in the play, click here.


On this day, we finished the first scene of the play.

Thursday and Monday: April 13 and April 17

Watch an intro to Loarraine Hansberry and "Raisin in the Sun."




We read the poem "A Dream Deferred" and some information on Langston Hughes.




We had a single sheet handed out to the class and it was about Langston Hughes. Get a copy.

First week of April

We have been spending our time on registering for the ACT and finishing our Smarter Balance tests. Your final Gatsby projects should be in to Mr. O'Connor by now. Next book will be "Raisin in the Sun".

Monday & Tuesday; March 20 & 21

Prompt: Discuss someone who has had a positive impact on you here at Tigard High School. Full page.


We watched the remainder of the film "Gatsby" directed by Baz Luhrmann.

We spent some time discussing the final writing assignment. See the information attached to the bottom of this post.

We reviewed for the test. Click here . For a second review, click here. if you would like to review more than we did in class. If you don't want to review more, reconsider. Your grade for the quarter is on the line on this.


If you would like a clean copy of the final writing assignment, click here.

IF you want to see the final writing assignment, I have it inset into this blog, but it is not as clean as the original.





Gatsby Final

Learning target(s)
-Students will be able to clearly address themes(class system, gender expectations, time period aesthetics & alternative fiction), recall relevant information and provide personal interpretations of events that are found in The Great Gatsby through various methods(written, artistic, verbal & creative).

Due date(s)
-Students will complete one of the following in addition to the in class final.Students must pick which written/creative final they would like to take by March 22/23rd to receive the rubric for the choice they make. This will be turned in during class by April 6/7th.


-Found Poetry exercise – Students note interesting, meaningful, or poetic quotes/passages in the text; in the process they create a poem that explores and illuminates these ideas. Students will be able to share in class, and provide explanation of meaning and relation to text. The created poem should be 30-40 lines in length with a page citation for each assembled word or phrase and include a 1-paragraph explanation of the poem’s core ideas. The found poetry can be a longer stand-alone poem that deals with a theme or concept from the entire novel, or a collection of smaller poems that work together to align with different parts of the novel.
(While appealing to the students’ own capacities to create, here, students grapple with enduring understandings, and reinforcing the importance of these ideas within their own reading)

-Looking through the Feminist Lens – Students will write two descriptive statements (one from a traditional masculine perspective, and the second from a feminist perspective) contrasting ideals of gender (e.g., women’s roles in society) with characters’ responses to their environment (e.g., Daisy’s or Jordan Baker’s relationships with men or their how they express their character). (Through this activity, students appreciate the unequal social expectations among men and women. Also, they explore how characters’ genders affect our reading of the text. The response should consist of one page for each statement)



-Graphic display or collage describing the 20’s.- Using characters/colors/concepts from the novel, the student will give a visual representation of the 20’s using pictures, quotes, music and concepts from the novel. This can be presented in the form of a poster board, powerpoint or prezi. The project should be class appropriate and be available to share to the entire class in a timed presentation. (The presentation should be on a poster board 16X20 or larger, 5-7 minute pwrpt or 5-7 minute prezi, and contain elements central to the novel. Ideas..Color imagery, class level and time period should be included. Students must be able to convey meaning and application of concepts and ideas found in the novel within their presentation)

-Future/alternate lives- provide a narrative for one/two of the principal characters from the novel ( e.g. Nick, Daisy, Tom or Jordan) and what happens to them after the events of the novel. There should be references to the core text and draw upon character types and trends. The narrative should be in the same format as the core text and in the same universe. Students can also write a speculative fiction(a genre of fiction that encompasses works in which the setting is other than the real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements.) work, based on an alternate universe in which elements are slightly different than the core text. (This should include many of the elements found in the novel ie. class, imagery & conflict and should use central characters and themes found in the novel, though with a perspective different than the original text. Length should be 2 pages.)
















Found Poetry Rubric


Message ___/25
Main idea of poem is clear and easily identified
Main idea is unique

Words & Phrases ___/25
Vivid; show careful selection (min. use of articles)
Support main idea of poem
Chosen from different pages in the chapter
Flow ___/25
Layout and punctuation enhance understanding of poem
Lines and stanzas organized effectively to create a main idea/message
Analysis ___/25
Thorough explanation of words & phrases chosen
Thorough explanation of core idea

Presentation ___/10 extra

Min. 60 words
Min. 30 lines
Typed
TOTAL ___/100



















Grading Rubric for Writing Assignment



A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 50-69 F 0-49
Focus: Purpose
Purpose is clear
Shows awareness of purpose
Shows limited awareness of purpose
No awareness
Main idea
Clearly presents a main idea and supports it throughout the paper.
There is a main idea supported throughout most of the paper.
Vague sense of a main idea, weakly supported throughout the paper.
No main idea
Organization: Overall
Well-planned and well-thought out. Includes title, introduction, statement of main idea, transitions and conclusion.
Good overall organization, includes the main organizational tools.
There is a sense of organization, although some of the organizational tools are used weakly or missing
No sense of organization
Organization: Paragraphs
All paragraphs have clear ideas, are supported with examples and have smooth transitions.
Most paragraphs have clear ideas, are supported with some examples and have transitions.
Some paragraphs have clear ideas, support from examples may be missing and transitions are weak.
Paragraphs lack clear ideas
Content
Exceptionally well-presented and argued; ideas are detailed, well-developed, supported with specific evidence & facts, as well as examples and specific details.
Well-presented and argued; ideas are detailed, developed and supported with evidence and details, mostly specific.
Content is sound and solid; ideas are present but not particularly developed or supported; some evidence, but usually of a generalized nature.
Content is not sound
Style: Sentence structure
Sentences are clear and varied in pattern, from simple to complex, with excellent use of punctuation.
Sentences are clear but may lack variation; a few may be awkward and there may be a few punctuation errors.
Sentences are generally clear but may have awkward structure or unclear content; there may be patterns of punctuation errors.
Sentences aren’t clear
Style: Details and Examples
Large amounts of specific examples and detailed descriptions.
Some use of specific examples and detailed descriptions. May have extended examples that go on for too long.
Little use of specific examples and details; mostly generalized examples and little description.
No use of examples
Grammar & Mechanics
Excellent grammar, spelling, syntax and punctuation.
A few errors in grammar, spelling, syntax and punctuation, but not many.
Shows a pattern of errors in spelling, grammar, syntax and/or punctuation. Could also be a sign of lack of proof-reading.
Continuous errors

Visual Collage Rubric

CATEGORY
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 50-69 F 0-49
Overall Impression
The collage fully reflects the key elements of the novel and is well presented and includes a deeper understanding of multiple elements of the novel.
The collage communicates some aspects of the novel and addresses a few elements of deeper understanding.
The collage presents words and images that relate to the novel, but fail to provide multiple levels of engagement with the novel.
The collage does not adequately reflect the novel or key elements.
Specific Words and Images
All words and images are related to the topic and make it easier to understand the novel’s perspective and elements.
All words and images are related to the topic and most make it easier to understand the novel’s key elements.
All words and images relate to the topic, but lack depth of knowledge of the novel.
Words and images do not relate to the topic or novel.
Design
Graphics are trimmed or cropped to an appropriate size and interesting shape and are arranged well, some in front and some behind. Care has been taken to balance the pictures across the collage.
Graphics are trimmed or cropped to an appropriate size and interesting shape and are arranged with some items in front and others behind. The collage however does not appear to address multiple aspects of the novel.
Graphics have been trimmed or cropped to an appropriate size and shape, but the arrangement of items is not very effective and it appears there was not a lot of planning of the item placement or inclusion.
Graphics are untrimmed or not cropped OR of inappropriate size and/or shape. It appears little attention was given to designing the collage.

Thursday & Friday; March 16 & 17

We have time to review:
Gatsby Jeopardy Story Review 2, click here

Need more review? Great Gatsby Story Review, click here

In what way are you positive element in this class, or in the school? Full page.

Tuesday & Wednesday; March 14 & 15

Prompt: Write a message to yourself that you will read on the last day of the school year. One page. Fold the page over when you are done.

We finished the novel "The Great Gatsby." Some of you may return your books. You might need quotes from the book, but we will have some available.

Friday & Monday; March 10 & 13

Read chapter 8, Quiz over chapter 7, and special review over characters in the novel with "Guess who I am."

The prompt is Mr. O'Connor's favorite quote, "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." Write a half page explaining what you think this quote means.

Wednesday & Thursday: March 8 & 9

Chapter 7

This was a big chapter, the largest of the Great Gatsby. We shortened the writing prompt to a half-page: "Is it easier to change the past, or easier to change the future?"
We took a quiz over chapter six.

Monday & Tuesday; March 6 & March 7

Prompt: What is the best and what is the worst decision you have ever made? Full page.

Quiz over chapter five.

Read chapter 6.

Thursday & Friday; March 2 & March 3

Prompt: If you were to write an autobiography, write the first paragraph and the last paragraph. Full page.


Quiz over chapter four.

Read chapter five.

Tuesday & Wednesday; February 28 and March 1

Quiz over chapter three.

Read chapter four in class.

Prompt: Write two truths and a lie. Do not tell me which one is the lie. Full page.

Friday and Monday; February 24 and Feb 27

Prompt: Would you rather be old money or new money? half page.

We didn't read a chapter in class.

We did an activity called "Old Money, New money, No Money."
See teacher for details.

Wednesday & Thursday ; February 22 & 23

Prompt for your composition books: Full page: Which do you prefer: Testerday or tomorrow? Explain your answer to fill up a whole page.

Quiz over chapter two. You can bypass the quiz by interacting with the chapter on a full page. DO NOT use terms and words from Sparknotes. I will know. A good way to go is to use first person and describe how you felt about the events.

Gatsby Chapter 3 in class. Prepare for the quiz next class.

Friday & Tuesdsay, February 17 & 21.

Prompt for your composition books: Full page: List the first ten things you did this morning. Explain the processes to fill up a whole page.

Quiz over chapter one. You can bypass the quiz by interacting with the chapter on a full page. DO NOT use terms and words from Sparknotes. I will know. A good way to go is to use first person and describe how you felt about the events.

Gatsby Chapter 2 in class. Prepare for the quiz next class.

Wednesday, Thursday February 15, February 16

Chapter 1 Great Gatsby. We also watched a prezi on the previous class. See teacher for details.

We started writing in our journals The prompt was List in order of importance: Money Fame Honesty Respect Faith . Fill up a page by explaining why your choices.

Monday, Tuesday: February 13/ 14th

We did a character tea party over Great Gatsby. Fill in your character chart using ideas from this:


1. I am Nick Carraway, a quiet Midwesterner adrift in the corruption of eastern seaboard wealth. I am the narrator of the book, a cousin of Daisy Buchanan, and a former member of Tom Buchanan’s social club at Yale. I met Gatsby when I moved in next to him, and I became his only real friend after a series of strange events. I have a romantic interest in golf pro Jordan Baker, but I am repelled by her dishonesty and her lack of consideration for others. I eventually decide to settle in Minnesota, where the moral structure is stronger.

2. I am Jay Gatsby. I’m thirty years old, and I rose from an impoverished childhood in North Dakota to become fabulously wealthy. I don’t admit to my childhood. As a poor, young military officer, I met Daisy Buchanan before leaving to fight in WWI. Daisy said that she would wait for me, but she didn’t. She did not know about my poverty, and I pursued wealth in order to win her back. After gaining my fortune, I changed my name from James Gatz, and everything I do is with an eye to win Daisy back. Others do not really know how I got my money, and some think it was due to criminal activity. Regardless, they attend my parties anyway. I am not usually seen at my lavish parties until Nick arrives in town.

3. I am Daisy Buchanan. Nick Carraway is my cousin. I fell in love with Gatsby right before he left to serve in WWI. I believed that he was wealthy, and promised that I would wait for him to return. I got tired of waiting, though, and married Tom Buchanan, who is “old money” from East Egg, an area with homes occupied by generationally rich families. I am beautiful, charming, fickle, shallow, and easily bored. People tell me my character is partially based on Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda, because we both love money, ease, and material luxury.

4. I am Tom Buchanan. I was once a member of Nick Carraway’s social club at Yale. I am arrogant, athletic, and hypocritical. Although I am married to Daisy, I am having an affair with Myrtle, the sexy, uneducated wife of Tom Wilson, who is my mechanic. I tend to become a little outraged at the thought of my wife looking at other men.

5. I am Jordan Baker. I’m Daisy’s friend and Nick’s love interest. I am a competitive golfer, and cheated to win my first tournament. I am known to be cynical, boyish, outgoing, and self-centered. I have no problem bending the truth.

6. I am Myrtle Wilson. My husband is George, who owns a garage in the Valley of the Ashes where he sometimes works on Gatsby’s cars. Although I am married, Tom Buchanan is my lover. I am fiercely determined to improve my life, and I want it to include Tom, not George. I often visit my sister to create a way to meet up with Tom.

7. I am George Wilson. I am married to Myrtle, and I own a garage in the Valley of the Ashes. Sometimes I work on Gatsby’s cars. I am devoted to Myrtle, but she doesn’t seem to notice it, perhaps because I am not going to move up the social ladder. I’m not sure, but I suspect that she might be having an affair.

8. I am Klipspringer. Some think I am a shallow freeloader who seems almost to live at Gatsby’s mansion and takes advantage of his money. At the end of the novel, I disappear. I do not even attend the going away celebration, although I do call Nick about a pair of tennis shoes that I left at Gatsby’s mansion. People think that there are some parallels between me and a young James Gatz.

9. I am Meyer Wolfsheim, Gatsby’s friend. I have connections to organized crime, and helped Gatsby make his fortune bootlegging illegal liquor. I am an inhabitant of New York’s seedy underworld and a dead ringer for real-life Arnold Rothstein, who fixed the 1919 World Series. That I am still acquainted with Gatsby suggests to some that Gatsby is still involved in illegal business.

10. I am the Owl-Eyed Man, the eccentric, bespectacled drunk who Nick meets at the first party he attends at Gatsby’s mansion. Nick finds me looking through Gatsby’s library, astonished that the books are real. Some see me as being similar to the billboard for Dr. T.J. Eckleburg with the “all-seeing” eyes, as we symbolize an uninvolved, spectator god.

11. I am Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), an American novelist and short story writer whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. I was widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and considered a member of the “Lost Generation” of the 1920s. I wrote four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender is the Night (a fifth, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously). I also wrote numerous short stories, many of which treat themes of youth and promise, and age and despair. My wife is Zelda, a beautiful Alabama socialite who, when were engaged, broke off the engagement when it did not appear that I could support her to her style. She resumed the engagement when my first book, This Side of Paradise, made me wealthy.



The writing prompt for today:
What celebrity do you wish lived next to you? Why? You are required to write a full page.

Week of February 6 through February 10, 2017

Censorship debate in class

Essay on a chosen theme is returned to students

Study in class and at home for test on Wednesday, Thursday. See previous post for useful study aids.

Monday, January 30, and Tuesday, January 31

Want to do a Jeopardy Review for Huck Finn on characters? Click here. Remember that downloading the ppt will allow it to work correctly on your computer.

If you want even more practice on the Huck Finn story review, Click here.

Sparknotes gives a nine minute video to review the story:


Thugnotes can be a good source, but make sure it is okay with parents.

Mr. O'Connor's list of banned books can be found here


Are you missing the debate rubric handed out in class on Monday and Tuesday? Click here

Sources that were given in class in form of a handout may be found also here
Source one:

source two


source three


source four

source five

source six


Mark Twain's mother? What effect did she have on his writing? Click here