Friday, September 30

HONORS AMERICAN LIT

Homework check on response journals.

First Encounters vocabulary quiz.

Discussed Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation." 

Students continued drafting their compare/contrast essays on explorers.

DUE DATES

TUESDAY, October 4: Share essays with writing groups for peer revision conferences.

Thursday, September 29

HONORS AMERICAN LIT

Discussion of Pilgrims' historical context.  Read Build Background (81) and biographical sketch of William Bradford (90).

Assigned homework: reading the excerpt from Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation" with a response journal of at least three entries.

Reviewed how to organize a compare and contrast essay.

Students continued drafting an essay comparing how Columbus and the authors of"La Relacion" (73--76) The Travels of Marco Polo (77) seem to have felt about the natives of the countries they visited, supported by evidence from the text.

DUE DATES

FRIDAY, September 30: First Encounters vocabulary quiz.

TUESDAY, October 4: Share essays with writing groups for peer revision conferences.

HOMEWORK for FRIDAY, September 30

Read Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation" (82--87).  Write a response journal on three different passages from the text.
You can comment on

• Parts where you are confused or think others might be
• Parts where you are surprised by what you read
• Parts where you can make inferences about how the Pilgrims see one another, the world, or the Indians they come in contact with
• Any parts that are especially interesting, or that get you thinking and/or making connections.

Be sure to record the page number in parentheses next to any passages you quote.

Wednesday, September 28

HONORS AMERICAN LIT

Short class today due to club day.
Warm up: choice of reading or vocabulary study.  Quiz Friday!

Discussed how to organize a compare and contrast essay.
Students began drafting an essay comparing how Columbus and the authors of"La Relacion" (73--76) The Travels of Marco Polo (77) seem to have felt about the natives of the countries they visited, supported by evidence from the text.

DUE DATES

FRIDAY, September 30: First Encounters vocabulary quiz.

Tuesday, September 27

HONORS AMERICAN LIT

Homework check; gave feedback on Columbus paragraphs.
Warm up: choice of reading or vocabulary study.  Quiz Friday!

Read, marked with 3--4 Post-it Notes, and discussed possible inferences about how de Vaca perceived the Indians he met, from "La Relacion" (73--76).
Began reading the excerpt from The Travels of Marco Polo (77) marking with Post-it Notes 1--2 passages allowing inferences about how Marco Polo perceived the natives of the countries he visited.

HOMEWORK: Finish reading and marking the excerpt from The Travels of Marco Polo. Due tomorrow! We will be using these notes, and those on the Log of Christopher Columbus, to begin writing a compare and contrast essay in class.

DUE DATES

FRIDAY, September 30: First Encounters vocabulary quiz.

Monday, September 26

HONORS AMERICAN LIT

Silent reading.
COLLECTED weekly reading logs.

Discussed inferences we can  make from the log of Christopher Columbus (67--68) about Columbus's character and attitudes toward the inhabitants of the island where he landed in the New World.
Discussed how to use quotes as evidence in essay writing.

HOMEWORK: referring to the Post-its and thinking of our discussion of the Columbus text, write a paragraph, citing at least three quotes from the passage, supporting what we can infer about his attitude toward the native people he met. Due tomorrow!

Read introductory material to "La Relacion."
(We will be writing a Compare and Contrast essay relating "La Relacion," Columbus's log, and an excerpt from the Travels of Marco Polo.)

DUE DATES

TUESDAY September 27: HOMEWORK: referring to the Post-its and thinking of our discussion of the Columbus text, write a paragraph, citing at least three quotes from the passage, supporting what we can infer about his attitude toward the native people he met.

FRIDAY, September 30: First Encounters vocabulary quiz.

Friday, September 23

HONORS AMERICAN LIT

Wrap up for open responses on The Tempest.
Introduced First Encounters vocabulary on Quizlet.
Read an excerpt from the log of Christopher Columbus (67--68) and used Post-It notes as annotation markers for

• Confusing passages or unknown words
• Clues about Columbus's character and attitudes toward the inhabitants of the island where he landed in the New World.

Began discussing inferences and textual evidence; we will wrap this up on Monday.

DUE DATES

MONDAY September 26: Read historical background on the First Encounters unit in your textbooks: pages 66--68.


FRIDAY, September 30: First Encounters vocabulary quiz.