American Literature- History and Creative Juice

These past few weeks have been very busy for the English 11 course, American Literature. We have covered the Colonial Period, and are just finishing up the Age of Reason. This past time period can prove to be boring at times because it is filled with nonfiction (real documents and essays). Basically we covered the entire period and finished up with some Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. We read about The Declaration of Independence and aphorisms.

While studying aphorisms, I introduced the idea of the "Shortest Short Story".  Ernest Hemingway was said to have written the shortest story ever: Baby shoes: never worn. For sale. This gave way to a creative moment in class. I had students write as many short stories they could! These are a few of the top ones:

• Telling without knowledge but being believed
• They say they won't, but they will
• Betrayal is the maker of this evil
• Slowed my pace, missed my chance
• First moment of insane courage; last moment of insanity 
• I loved him. He loved her

We also watched a parody of The Declaration of Independence! Below is the video- see if you see the allusions to the past. Doing my best to make the "boring" fun! 

Pep Talk

There is this time in the school year, between Winter Break and Spring Break, where teachers and students arrive at school when it is dark, and often leave when it is dark. It is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when there is no light to speak of. We need a pep talk to get through this time in the year. Keep it up, do not get lazy and know that it is always the darkest before the sunrise.

This video has been a viral message to keep your head up and be awesome. With midterms around the corner (February 5th- NEXT TUESDAY!) I feel like we all need a little boost.

New Year, New Subjects, New Clubs

Welcome to the new year in B08! After only having two days with all my new classes I must say it will be an entertaining semester. I will be teacher English 11 and Speech again! I will also be adding English 12 to the schedule third period. Another new attraction would be Tiger Dance Company. The dance company will be starting in full swing next month but all the pre-work takes place this month. Please see the pages for each course or club for more information!

Happy New Year.