Tuesday, March 31
Mr. Potratz announced that the draft of the essay due Thursday would be the second draft, not the final draft. He will read and add corrections and comments which students will respond to in preparing their final drafts sometime after spring break.
Peer Editing
Students worked in pairs to read each other's first drafts, comment on them, and respond to the comments.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 27
Students worked on their thesis statements while Mr. Potratz checked and stamped Quotation & Commentary sheets.
We reviewed expectations for the essay, and we discussed our views on what Huck learns and/or watched part of the Mark Twain documentary.
HW due Monday:
Typed thesis statement and sentence outline.
Students worked on their thesis statements while Mr. Potratz checked and stamped Quotation & Commentary sheets.
We reviewed expectations for the essay, and we discussed our views on what Huck learns and/or watched part of the Mark Twain documentary.
HW due Monday:
Typed thesis statement and sentence outline.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 26
We discussed the ending of Huckleberry Finn, especially the revelations about Huck's father and about Jim's having been freed, and what these revelations say about Jim and Tom respectively.
Mr. Potratz announced, and students recorded, the following due dates:
Friday (3/27): Three additional Quote & Comment sheets
Monday (3/30): Thesis statement and sentence outline
Tuesday (4/1): First draft
Thursday (4/3): Final draft
The essay is to include a total of at least eight (8, VIII) chunks.
The prompt:
What does Huck learn, during the course of the novel, about human nature, human society, and about himself?
Wednesday, March 25
Mr. Potratz was absent. Students took the 3rd Huck Finn quiz, then watched more of the Mark Twain documentary. Or not.
We discussed the ending of Huckleberry Finn, especially the revelations about Huck's father and about Jim's having been freed, and what these revelations say about Jim and Tom respectively.
Mr. Potratz announced, and students recorded, the following due dates:
Friday (3/27): Three additional Quote & Comment sheets
Monday (3/30): Thesis statement and sentence outline
Tuesday (4/1): First draft
Thursday (4/3): Final draft
The essay is to include a total of at least eight (8, VIII) chunks.
The prompt:
What does Huck learn, during the course of the novel, about human nature, human society, and about himself?
Wednesday, March 25
Mr. Potratz was absent. Students took the 3rd Huck Finn quiz, then watched more of the Mark Twain documentary. Or not.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 24
We read an excerpt from Life on the Mississippi in which Mark Twain harshly attacks the influence on Southern U.S. culture of the writings of Sir Walter Scott, and briefly discussed how Twain's satire on the romantic medievalism of the antebellum South is represented in Huckleberry Finn, especially in the depiction of Tom Sawyer.
Quiz #3 tomorrow over all of Huckleberry Finn.
We read an excerpt from Life on the Mississippi in which Mark Twain harshly attacks the influence on Southern U.S. culture of the writings of Sir Walter Scott, and briefly discussed how Twain's satire on the romantic medievalism of the antebellum South is represented in Huckleberry Finn, especially in the depiction of Tom Sawyer.
Quiz #3 tomorrow over all of Huckleberry Finn.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Friday, March 20
Mr. Potratz stamped students' Question/Commentary worksheets
Then,
in periods 1 & 6 we wrote commentaries together, while
in periods 2 & 5 we continued the Character Spotlight.
HW due Monday:
Read Chapters 36-39 of Huckleberry Finn.
HW due next Friday, March 27:
Complete three more Question/Commentary sheets.
Mr. Potratz stamped students' Question/Commentary worksheets
Then,
in periods 1 & 6 we wrote commentaries together, while
in periods 2 & 5 we continued the Character Spotlight.
HW due Monday:
Read Chapters 36-39 of Huckleberry Finn.
HW due next Friday, March 27:
Complete three more Question/Commentary sheets.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Thursday, March 19
Class was divided into two halves:
(1) We reviewed Chapters 29 & 30 of Huckleberry Finn (today's assigned reading), and Mr. Potratz read Chapter 31 aloud.
(2) We conducted the Character Spotlight, with students answering questions about the characters they volunteered to impersonate, for extra credit.
HW due Friday: Read Chapters 32-35. Bring to class at least three completed Quotations/Commentary worksheets.
Class was divided into two halves:
(1) We reviewed Chapters 29 & 30 of Huckleberry Finn (today's assigned reading), and Mr. Potratz read Chapter 31 aloud.
(2) We conducted the Character Spotlight, with students answering questions about the characters they volunteered to impersonate, for extra credit.
HW due Friday: Read Chapters 32-35. Bring to class at least three completed Quotations/Commentary worksheets.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 18
Class was divided in two halves:
(1) We reviewed Chapters 29 & 30 of Huckleberry Finn (today's assigned reading), and Mr. Potratz read Chapter 31 aloud.
(2) We conducted the Character Spotlight, with students answering questions about the characters they volunteered to impersonate, for extra credit.
HW due Friday:
Read Chapters 32-35.
Bring to class at least three completed Quotations/Commentary worksheets.
Class was divided in two halves:
(1) We reviewed Chapters 29 & 30 of Huckleberry Finn (today's assigned reading), and Mr. Potratz read Chapter 31 aloud.
(2) We conducted the Character Spotlight, with students answering questions about the characters they volunteered to impersonate, for extra credit.
HW due Friday:
Read Chapters 32-35.
Bring to class at least three completed Quotations/Commentary worksheets.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Tuesday, March 17
St. Patrick's Day
We reviewed the extra-credit "Tolo" assignment and drew lessons from it for how to and how not to conduct internet searches for information.
Students produced concrete details from Chapters 26-28 of Huck Finn.
Mr. Potratz announced, explained, and with students' help modelled the Character Spotlight which we will undertake on Thursday. Volunteers signed up to earn up to 15 points extra credit by impersonating Huck, Jim, the Duke, the Dauphin, and Mary Jane Wilks and answer questions about themselves.
Mr. Potratz announced that on Friday he will check and stamp Quotation/Commentary Sheets and that students need to have completed at least three of the seven sheets (not necessarily the first three) to receive full credit. All seven sheets are now available on the back table.
Students worked individually on their quotations and commentary.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Monday, March 16
We reviewed the extra-credit "Tolo" assignment and drew lessons from it for how to and how not to conduct internet searches for information.
Students produced concrete details from Chapters 26-28 of Huck Finn.
Mr. Potratz announced, explained, and with students' help modelled the Character Spotlight which we will undertake on Wednesday. Volunteers signed up to earn up to 15 points extra credit by impersonating Huck, Jim, the Duke, the Dauphin, and Mary Jane Wilks and answer questions about themselves.
Mr. Potratz announced that on Friday he will check and stamp Quotation/Commentary Sheets and that students need to have completed at least three of the seven sheets (not necessarily the first three) to receive full credit. All seven sheets are now available on the back table.
Students worked individually on their quotations and commentary.
We reviewed the extra-credit "Tolo" assignment and drew lessons from it for how to and how not to conduct internet searches for information.
Students produced concrete details from Chapters 26-28 of Huck Finn.
Mr. Potratz announced, explained, and with students' help modelled the Character Spotlight which we will undertake on Wednesday. Volunteers signed up to earn up to 15 points extra credit by impersonating Huck, Jim, the Duke, the Dauphin, and Mary Jane Wilks and answer questions about themselves.
Mr. Potratz announced that on Friday he will check and stamp Quotation/Commentary Sheets and that students need to have completed at least three of the seven sheets (not necessarily the first three) to receive full credit. All seven sheets are now available on the back table.
Students worked individually on their quotations and commentary.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday, March 13
Students took the second Huck Finn quiz and we graded it in class.
Afterwards, Mr. Potratz gave the entire class one extra point on the quiz for each mistake they could catch in his recitation of the original text (not the Duke's version) of Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy.
Finally, students received a handout (see Documents page) with a revised schedule for the rest of the Huck Finn unit. Most notably, the due date for the essay is Thursday, April 2, not Friday, April 3, and the readings for next week are slowed down in light of the WASL.
HW due Monday/Tuesday:
Read Chapters 26-28. Compile quotations and commentary. Use your mornings Mon-Thurs to do so.
Thursday, March 12
Mr. Potratz was absent. Students watched the first 45 minutes of a PBS documentary on Mark Twain's life and took notes on it.
Students took the second Huck Finn quiz and we graded it in class.
Afterwards, Mr. Potratz gave the entire class one extra point on the quiz for each mistake they could catch in his recitation of the original text (not the Duke's version) of Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy.
Finally, students received a handout (see Documents page) with a revised schedule for the rest of the Huck Finn unit. Most notably, the due date for the essay is Thursday, April 2, not Friday, April 3, and the readings for next week are slowed down in light of the WASL.
HW due Monday/Tuesday:
Read Chapters 26-28. Compile quotations and commentary. Use your mornings Mon-Thurs to do so.
Thursday, March 12
Mr. Potratz was absent. Students watched the first 45 minutes of a PBS documentary on Mark Twain's life and took notes on it.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Wednesday, March 11
Students supplied CD's from their reading, and then we read the idyll from the beginning of Chapter 19, the long prose poem about life on a raft. After that, we read together the introduction of the two scoundrels whom we come to know as the Duke and the King.
Reminder:
The quiz on Friday (covering Chapters 17-25) will require identification of passages from the novel.
Students supplied CD's from their reading, and then we read the idyll from the beginning of Chapter 19, the long prose poem about life on a raft. After that, we read together the introduction of the two scoundrels whom we come to know as the Duke and the King.
Reminder:
The quiz on Friday (covering Chapters 17-25) will require identification of passages from the novel.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Monday, March 9
Students supplied CDs from Chapters 18 & 19, and Mr. Potratz announced that due to today's shortened periods the schedule for the week would be pushed back one day, with the quiz on Friday rather than Thursday, Tuesday's assignment due Wednesday, etc. CD's Tuesday will be from Chapter 17 (XVII).
We began reading and discussing Chapter 17, and evaluating Huck's evaluation of the Grangerfords' house and culture.
Students supplied CDs from Chapters 18 & 19, and Mr. Potratz announced that due to today's shortened periods the schedule for the week would be pushed back one day, with the quiz on Friday rather than Thursday, Tuesday's assignment due Wednesday, etc. CD's Tuesday will be from Chapter 17 (XVII).
We began reading and discussing Chapter 17, and evaluating Huck's evaluation of the Grangerfords' house and culture.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Friday, March 6
The students received quotations/comments sheet #3, and were directed to the layout of essay handouts on the back table.
We examined Chapters 15 & 16 as a turning point in the novel on at least two levels.
(1)Huck & Jim's discovering that they have passed Cairo means that the original path of their journey has been diverted, and they are headed not to freedom for Jim but deeper into slave territory. This presented Twain with a dilemma, and he suspended work on the book for a considerable time.
(2) Huck's apology to Jim marks a transformation of their relationship which thrusts Huck into a dilemma of his own -- whether to do the right thing and turn Jim in, or to submit to the pull of friendship.
Extra Credit Opportunity:
Up to 10 pts. extra credit for answering the following questions about Tolo.
(1) What does the word mean?
(2) What language is it from?
(3) When and where was the first Tolo dance?
HW due Monday:
Read Chapters 17-19 and be working on quotations and commentary.
Class Monday will begin with CD's from the assigned chapters.
The students received quotations/comments sheet #3, and were directed to the layout of essay handouts on the back table.
We examined Chapters 15 & 16 as a turning point in the novel on at least two levels.
(1)Huck & Jim's discovering that they have passed Cairo means that the original path of their journey has been diverted, and they are headed not to freedom for Jim but deeper into slave territory. This presented Twain with a dilemma, and he suspended work on the book for a considerable time.
(2) Huck's apology to Jim marks a transformation of their relationship which thrusts Huck into a dilemma of his own -- whether to do the right thing and turn Jim in, or to submit to the pull of friendship.
Extra Credit Opportunity:
Up to 10 pts. extra credit for answering the following questions about Tolo.
(1) What does the word mean?
(2) What language is it from?
(3) When and where was the first Tolo dance?
HW due Monday:
Read Chapters 17-19 and be working on quotations and commentary.
Class Monday will begin with CD's from the assigned chapters.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, March 5
Students took the first Huck Finn quiz (over Chapters 1-16), and we graded it together. We then discussed Chapters 14 & 15 (King Solomon & Huck fools Jim).
HW due Friday:
No specific assignment, but you should either be looking back and producing quotations and commentary or reading ahead.
Students took the first Huck Finn quiz (over Chapters 1-16), and we graded it together. We then discussed Chapters 14 & 15 (King Solomon & Huck fools Jim).
HW due Friday:
No specific assignment, but you should either be looking back and producing quotations and commentary or reading ahead.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, March 4
Students recorded concrete details from Chapter XIII, Honest Loot From the Walter Scott, and we discussed the end of Chapter XII as well, comparing Huck's rationalizations of stealing watermelons with the scoundrels' rationalization of murder, and contrasting those rationalizations with Huck's attempt to save the murderers in Chapter XIII.
Next, students received handouts for the first step of the Huck Finn essay, including a sheet outlining the assignment and two notesheets for quotations and commentary from the first two stages of Huck's journey (Chapters 1-7 and Chapters 8-16). There were questions about the assignment, after which students began work on their quotations and commentary.
Quiz tomorrow over Chapters 1-16.
Students will be required to identify the context of selected quotations from the novel.
Students recorded concrete details from Chapter XIII, Honest Loot From the Walter Scott, and we discussed the end of Chapter XII as well, comparing Huck's rationalizations of stealing watermelons with the scoundrels' rationalization of murder, and contrasting those rationalizations with Huck's attempt to save the murderers in Chapter XIII.
Next, students received handouts for the first step of the Huck Finn essay, including a sheet outlining the assignment and two notesheets for quotations and commentary from the first two stages of Huck's journey (Chapters 1-7 and Chapters 8-16). There were questions about the assignment, after which students began work on their quotations and commentary.
Quiz tomorrow over Chapters 1-16.
Students will be required to identify the context of selected quotations from the novel.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Tuesday, March 3
Students wrote CD's from Chapters 11 & 12 of Huckleberry Finn.
Afterwards we reviewed and discussed those chapters as well as the preceding two, commenting on the alternation of moods in the text, on the development of Huck and Jim's relationship, and on moral questions Huck encounters.
HW due Wednesday:
Read Chapters 13-16 in Huck Finn.
Students wrote CD's from Chapters 11 & 12 of Huckleberry Finn.
Afterwards we reviewed and discussed those chapters as well as the preceding two, commenting on the alternation of moods in the text, on the development of Huck and Jim's relationship, and on moral questions Huck encounters.
HW due Wednesday:
Read Chapters 13-16 in Huck Finn.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Monday, March 2
Students wrote at least 50 words of concrete details from Chapters 6&7 to demonstrate that they had done the reading.
We briefly reviewed those chapters, focusing on Pap's self-pitying resentment of anyone more successful than himself.
We read Chapter 8.
HW due Tuesday:
Chapters 8-12 (9-12 for anyone in class today).
Students wrote at least 50 words of concrete details from Chapters 6&7 to demonstrate that they had done the reading.
We briefly reviewed those chapters, focusing on Pap's self-pitying resentment of anyone more successful than himself.
We read Chapter 8.
HW due Tuesday:
Chapters 8-12 (9-12 for anyone in class today).
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