Author: litalive

litalive

Assignments for 04/25/2022

Assignments due for the week of April 25th, 2022

Field of tulips

Debate

Great job on today’s debates!! We will go over the results and discuss ways to improve your methods in next week’s class. For our next debates, here are the teams and subjects. Begin working this week on researching your new topic. We will discuss our scheduling in our next class.

Debate on May 2

  • All Supreme Court justices should serve with term limits: Emily, Nick, Lily, Darrin, Ariel
  • All Supreme Court justices should serve for life: Lucy, Emma, Cianna, Samuel, Olivia

Debate on May 9

  • The right to vote should be extended to citizens 21 years and older: Josie, Sol, Colin, Devon, Natalie, Cyrus
  • The right to vote should be extended to citizens 18 years and older: Sara, Abigail, Macy, Benny, Kierstyn

Explorations in British Literature

We went over the assignments for the day. For next week, read the first five chapters of Animal Farm. We will work on the pages in your study guide that pertain to what you have read so far. We went over the pages that prepare for reading this animal allegory. Also, read George Orwell’s essay (“Shooting an Elephant”) in your notebook and be prepared to share your response in class. Complete the sheet you were given as a quiz on Sherlock’s “The Red-Headed League”. You may refer to the story as much as you need to. See last week’s assignment to access the story.

Watch this brief clip to illustrate the anthem for the animals in your reading.

No-Spin Economics

We took a quiz today on Penny Candy Chapters 7-9 and Crash Course Economics #7. We went over the handout you did for Crash Course #9. For next week, read Chapters 10-12 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Also, complete the worksheet for Crash Course Economics #10.

Crash Course #10

Watch this video to view how much a trillion really is.

Watch this visualization of our 30 trillion dollar national debt.

Quick Looks at Great Books

Complete your reading of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee by reading Chapters 15-31. Also, complete the corresponding questions in your study guide.  Bring to class any questions you have on your reading before we take the quiz. We will discuss the rest of the book as well as the “surprise” ending. Enjoy how everything is connected in the ending!

Previous Assignments for School Year 2021 – 2022:

litalive

Assignments for 04/18/2022

Assignments due for the week of April 18th, 2022

Field of tulips

Debate

It was great seeing everyone again today! We have three more formal debates we will be doing before the end of the year. Hopefully, the students will improve with each one that we do! We went over the JFK debate that we did before spring break and many basics of public speaking and persuasive techniques. Next week, we will be conducting two debates on two different topics. This is a more normal debate team size. All of the students should now be familiar with the Public Forum debate format. Don’t forget to make contact with your teams this week as you make your final preparations.

Explorations in British Literature

We will be working hard to get through a lot of material in the few weeks we have left! For next week, you have a number of short assignments. Here they are. Let me know if you have any questions at all.

1. Read Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s excerpts from Aurora Leigh, her poetic novel, on pages 138-141 and answer the four questions on the last page.

2. W.S. Gilbert was born in London in 1836 and was a social satirist. He collaborated with Sullivan to write satirical, comic operas like “The Pirates of Penzance”. Listen to this brief clip and watch the humor of how fast he talks. (sings) It’s the explanation of a modern Major General.

3. Study the form of a limerick, created by Edward Lear on page 151 and write your own limerick based on the proper format. Bring it to class with you next week. For more information on how to write a limerick, watch this short video.

4. Read the biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that your were given in class today and complete the study guide based on his biography. Bring this to class as well for a quiz grade.

5. Read one of Sherlock Holmes’s famous detective stories, “The Red-Headed League”. We will discuss it in our next class. (A quiz will follow.)

6. Secure a copy of Animal Farm by George Orwell by next Tuesday as we will begin our reading the following week.

No-Spin Economics

We reviewed Chapters 7-9 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? (Study the notes you were given.) We then watched Crash Course Economics #7 and filled out the corresponding worksheet. Next week, we will have a quiz on Chapters 7-9 in our books and on Crash Course #7. (Go over the handout we filled out.) Here is the video if you need to watch it again.

Also, watch Crash Course Economics video #9 and complete the study guide you were given.

Quick Looks at Great Books

Continue your reading in To Kill a Mockingbird with Chapters 12-14. Next week, we will have a quiz over the first 14 chapters. Be sure to complete your study guide questions for those chapters and bring any questions you may have about them to class with you. Watch the following scene from your reading with many important lessons from the book.

Previous Assignments for 2021:

litalive

Assignments for 04/11/2022

Assignments due for the week of April 11th, 2022

Happy spring break!

Debate

No assignment due when we return from spring break!  We will go over the JFK debate and meet in groups to begin preparing for our next group debate.  If you have extra time over the next two weeks, you can begin researching your topic for next time.  These are more normal size debate teams. 🙂

The U.S. should NOT cease to mint the U.S. penny.

  • Nicholas
  • Cianna
  • Kierstyn
  • Ariel
  • Devon

The U.S. SHOULD cease to mint the U.S. penny.

  • Emily
  • Olivia
  • Samuel
  • Cyrus
  • Abigail
  • Natalie

Self-driving cars ARE a positive development for the future.

  • Sara
  • Josie
  • Benny
  • Emma
  • Darrin

Self-driving cars are NOT a positive development for the future.

  • Lucy
  • Colin
  • Macy
  • Lily
  • Sol

Explorations in British Literature

We went over sections in your British literature notebook today.  We covered all that you had read so far—“The Lady of Shallot”, “School Daze”, Puns (Lewis Carroll), and Victorian novels of the era.  Don’t forget to bring your British literature notebook to class on April 11 so that we can begin with Edward Lear’s limericks.

No-Spin Economics

We did a game review of Crash Course videos #1-#6 and then took the test.  We began going over Chapter 7 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Bring your notes on Chapters 7-9 to class with you next week, and we will continue going over these chapters.

Quick Looks at Great Books

We went over the chapters you read for today and then watched some of the video of the Chapters 1-11.  Be sure to bring your To Kill a Mockingbird study guide and your Literary Terms notebook to our next class in two weeks.

Previous Assignments for 2021:

litalive

Assignments for 03/28/2022

Assignments due for the week of March 28th, 2022

Field of clovers from above

Debate

Great job on the one-on-one debates today!!  Lots of research and things to think about on each subject!  We have one more to finish next week before spring break.  Then we will have our JFK debate to practice the format and process of a public forum debate.  Please make arrangements to get with your group this week via Zoom, Google Doc, or just email or phone.  You will have a few minutes together to get organized before the debate next week.  You need to be “passionately persuasive” to make sure your team will win the approval of the judges. 🙂

Explorations in British Literature

GREAT review of the entire book of Oliver Twist today in the Jeopardy game.  I love your enthusiasm, and most of all, your correct answers for every question!  You never cease to amaze me!  We did a thorough review of characters, events, the life of Dickens, and literary terms.  Next week, we will take the final test on the book at the beginning of our period.

You can watch the following video to review all aspects of the novel.

We will go over the excerpt you read for today from Hard Times by Charles Dickens as well as the questions you answered.  We will do a review of the Victorian Age as a whole and the key writers who wrote during this time.  As we do a brief study of the works of Lewis Carroll, read the explanation and use of puns on page 148 in your notebooks. (“Pardon My Pun”)  Then read the “Jabberwocky” poem and answer the questions on pages 149 and 150. 

Watch the following version of “Jabberwocky”, courtesy of the Muppets, to further explain and visualize this poem taken from Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

No-Spin Economics

We went over the handout for Crash Course Economics #6 and reviewed some of the past principles we have studied.  Next week, we will have a test over Crash Course Economics videos #1-6.  We will do a game review of all the important facts before the test.  Also read Chapters 7-9 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?  You can always go to the bottom of this page to review the videos in  “Previous Assignments” or just study the handouts your were given for each lesson.

Quick Looks at Great Books

We did a powerpoint preview of our next book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Then we went over the study guide of historical background material as well as the life of the author.  We took our first quiz for this book, which was a review of the background for the book.  This novel takes place in the South in America during 1933-1935.  We brushed up on the history of the Great Depression and other practices of that time period.  We also worked on two terms in your Literary Terms notebook that are particularly prominent in To Kill a Mockingbird—Dialect and Local Color.  Then we went over Denotation and Connotation on pages 1-3.

Watch the following video to review Denotation and Connotation.

For next week, read Chapters 1-11 and be ready for a quiz.

Previous Assignments for 2021:

litalive

Assignments for 03/21/2022

Assignments due for the week of March 21st, 2022

Field of clovers from above

Debate

We will continue to finish our one-on-one debates next week. Be prepared to give your comments and suggestions as well as a winner for each debate. Begin to research the JFK assassination using the key words I gave you. (Donald Sutherland’s park bench scene, the “magic bullet”, grassy knoll, Oswald patsy, lone gunman, single bullet theory, and the JFK assassination in general.) In case you weren’t in class, here are the two teams that we are using. Try to connect this week and plan who will research what and who will prepare to speak. We will do this debate on March 28 before our spring break.

Group 1: Oswald did act alone.

  • Abigail
  • Samuel
  • Olivia
  • Kierstyn
  • Macy
  • Darrin
  • Sara
  • Nick
  • Emily
  • Benny

Group 2: Oswald did not act alone.

  • Josie
  • Devin
  • Lucy
  • Natalie
  • Lily
  • Colin
  • Sol
  • Ariel
  • Emma
  • Cianna
  • Cyrus

Watch this brief explanation of the events – John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Explorations in British Literature

As you completed Oliver Twist, all mysteries were explained and past events took on new meaning. (Notice the foreshadowing used in the portrait in Mr. Brownlow’s house.) Oliver’s true identity is finally revealed, and we see the connection between the young boy and the kind gentleman, Mr. Brownlow. The villains meet their just ends, and all is resolved! Dickens has a knack for tying up all ends and characters in his own way!

Next week, we will have a Jeopardy review game of the entire book of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Review the characters and plot as well as any reading you need to catch up on. We will finish some of the concluding scenes on the BBC version and prepare for the final test. In your British Literature notebook, complete pages 142-145, answering the questions that follow the excerpt from Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Notice the use of irony and the choice of names for each character. (As always, the names describe in some way the characteristics of the characters themselves.)

Watch these commentaries on the characters and themes of Oliver Twist. (Theme—the central idea of a work)

No-Spin Economics

We reviewed Crash Course Economics video #3 and went over #5 and the handout you were given two weeks ago. Next week, we will have a quiz on videos #3 and #5. Make sure you know the various kinds of unemployment and what the economic goal for our unemployment is. Also, view Crash Course video #6 and complete the handout you were given in class.

Here is Crash Course Economics video #6.

Quick Looks at Great Books

Great review of The Count of Monte Cristo in our games today. Hopefully, that helped your identification of characters and events on today’s test. In your new study guide for To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, read the background information on pages 18-26 to prepare for a quiz before we start our reading. It’s a little background of life in the 1930s in America’s South. Make sure to secure an unabridged copy of the book to begin reading next week.

Watch this brief summary of motifs in literature. We have gone over them in each of the books we have read, even though this term is not in your Literary Terms notebook.

Previous Assignments for 2021:

litalive

Assignments for 03/14/2022

Assignments due for the week of March 14th, 2022

Field of clovers from above

Debate

We will continue with our one-on-one debates next week. Great participation and questions today! I loved how you engaged in all the details of each debate! Make sure you are prepared with your facts and research for next week’s debates. (Relax if you are already finished!) We will also begin our study of the format of the public forum debate and a new topic for research.

Explorations in British Literature

Finish our novel, Oliver Twist, this week by completing chapters 41-53. Answer the corresponding questions in these chapters to make sure you understand what has happened or has been explained. Hopefully, all your questions will be answered, and all problems resolved! You will understand the identity of Monks and why he has such evil intentions for his younger brother. You will also find out who Oliver really is, see the fate of the Bumbles, and see why Rose is hesitant to marry Harry Maylie. I think you will find some surprises as you read—really exciting! We will watch some scenes from the BBC version as we complete our discussion. Dickens is truly a master at portraying his characters!!

No-Spin Economics

We finished our study of the currency in our monetary system and found the ingenious ways that counterfeiting is prevented. The new bills are much more colorful as well as containing watermarks and microprinting. Next week, we will have a quiz on the coins and currency that we have been studying. Don’t forget to study the notes on the sheets you were given in class: the Coins and Currency Handout, the One Dollar Bill, and the U.S. $100 Bill (both sides). Read Chapters 5 and 6 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Also, don’t forget to bring your completed worksheet on Crash Course Economics video #5 so that we can discuss it in class.

Watch the following video on how our currency is printed.

Quick Looks at Great Books

Nice job guessing various characters from your reading of The Count of Monte Cristo as we played a game of charades! Review the characters and story line as we prepare for our final test next week. We will do a complete review in our two games in our next class.

In your Literary Terms notebook, complete the following pages: Denotation and Connotation ( pages 1-3), Hyperbole (pages 4-5), Idiom (pages 6-7), Imagery (pages 8-9), Dialect (pages 57-59), and Local Color (pages 72-73).

Watch the following video to better understand idioms.

Previous Assignments for 2021:

litalive

Assignments for 03/07/2022

Assignments due for the week of March 7th, 2022

Field of clovers from above

Debate

Next week, we have two Senate ads to finish and then we will begin our one-on-one debates. Remember that you each have 4 minutes to present your arguments, 4 minutes of Crossfire between the two of you, and 4 minutes for the audience to ask questions. As you vote for a winner in these debates, you will also submit your suggestions that you would like to see in future class debates. You are presenting your opinion on your topic next week as well as research you have included.

Explorations in British Literature

Continue your reading of Oliver Twist with Chapters 28-40. You will learn more of the mysterious Monks, learn the fate of Oliver, see the married life of the Bumbles, meet several new characters, and learn more of Fagin and his cohorts. The plot thickens and the mysteries increase! Answer the corresponding questions in your study guide and be prepared if you have any questions before our quiz.

Watch this scene of the theft of Mr. Brownlow from your reading.

No-Spin Economics

We took a short quiz on Crash Course Economics #4 and then spent the rest of the class examining all of our minted U.S. coins and one side of the dollar bill. We saw the changes in the coins and why certain people were chosen to represent a particular coin. Next week, we will examine all of your paper money and what has been done to prevent counterfeiting!

DON’T FORGET TO BRING A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO CLASS WITH YOU NEXT WEEK.

Also, watch Crash Course Economics #5 and answer he questions on the handout you were given in class.

Quick Looks at Great Books

We will be completing The Count of Monte Cristo this week by reading the following assignments. Complete your study guide questions 94-105. We’ll play a game next week.

  • Abridged version: Chapters 64-71
  • Unabridged version: Chapters 104-117

Since we read about two very important duels in this novel, watch this video explaining their purpose and history.

Previous Assignments for 2021:

litalive

Assignments for 02/28/2022

Assignments due for the week of February 28th, 2022

Valentine's Day heart candy

Debate

Next week, we will be presenting the ads for the Senate candidate. I will give you 15-20 minutes to practice together before you present them to us. We will discuss, and hopefully recognize, the logical fallacies illustrated. Please don’t forget to contact anyone in your group today who was absent. Then we will begin our one-on-one debates. Remember what you have chosen for a topic and begin to do research for your debate.

Explorations in British Literature

Continue your reading of Oliver Twist by completing Chapters 15-27 and answer the corresponding study guide questions. We will continue going through the book and watching the BBC version of it. It’s great to put an image to the description if you have not already done so.

Watch this brief scene where Oliver meets Jack Dawkins:

No-Spin Economics

We took our quiz today on Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Chapters 3 and 4 and then went over the handout for Crash Course Economics #4. Next week, we will have a quiz on video #4 and then use the rest of class to study our “coins” and the dollar bill.

DON’T FORGET TO BRING A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO CLASS WITH YOU NEXT WEEK.

Here is Crash Course Economics #4 if you need it again.

Watch this video to review the principle of supply and demand:

Quick Looks at Great Books

Continue your reading with the following assignments and complete your study guide questions 83-93.

  • Abridged version: Chapters 54-63
  • Unabridged version: Chapters 82-103

Watch the following video that show how Carnival (and Mardi Gras) are celebrated in Venice today. This is presently the key location in Europe.

Previous Assignments for 2021:

litalive

Assignments for 02/21/2022

Assignments due for the week of February 21st, 2022

Valentine's Day heart candy

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Debate

Please you use this week to make up any work that you are missing. You have an assignment due in two weeks. You are to do a promotional ad to promote the candidacy of Sylvia Snidely for the Senate. You were given a group that you will be cooperating with. Look over and have some ideas about the setting and lines. The presentation should be about 3-4 minutes. (1 minute per person in the sketch) Each person should participate equally. You will be given a specific logical fallacy that you must use. You may use other fallacies if you choose as long as you use the one assigned to you. Look over the questions on the back of the assignment sheet. You will be given time in class next week to work with your team to prepare your presentation. We will cover some other areas and select topics for our one-on-one debates coming up.

Watch the following video to review the basic logical fallacies:

Explorations in British Literature

We took our two quizzes on Romanticism and matching the works and authors of this period. Then we began our discussion of the author and background of our next book. We took a quiz on the first seven pages of your study guides and went through the Victorian Age, along with the Industrial Revolution. The writing of the time reflected what was going on in history as well.

For next week, begin Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens by reading Chapters 1-14 and answering the few questions in your study guides for those chapters.

Watch these two brief videos to understand more about the material portrayed in Oliver Twist.

First video:

The Victorians | Life in a Victorian Workhouse (1)

Second video:

No-Spin Economics

We took our first test on the video on The Law, Chapters 1 and 2 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?, and Crash Course Economics video #1. We then played a game which illustrated the benefits of free trade as we learned in Crash Course #2. Then we covered the handouts for Chapters 3 and 4 in your book. Next week, we will have a quiz on Chapters 3 and 4 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Please study your handout sheets and reread the chapters if necessary to get the whole picture. We now can answer the question of why there is no longer penny candy! 🙂 Also, please make sure you know the accurate definition of inflation and the result of this practice.

For next week, watch the following video (Crash Course Economics #4) and answer the questions on the worksheet you were given in class.

Watch this video to reinforce the term TANSTAAFL.

Quick Looks at Great Books

Continue your reading in The Count of Monte Cristo with the following chapters and answer your study guide questions 77-82. Note the new characters introduced in each new set of chapters. What a vast array of personalities!!

  • Abridged version: Chapters 42-53
  • Unabridged version: Chapters 63-81

Previous Assignments for 2021:

litalive

Assignments for 02/14/2022

Assignments due for the week of February 14th, 2022

Valentine's Day heart candy

Debate

We collected the deductive reasoning sheet you did for homework and then went over the questions on Susan B. Anthony’s speech. We then checked listening skills by answering the questions on page 18 in your notebook after you listened to the speech on the death penalty. We then went over the logical fallacies on page 24 and explained each one. You were also given sheets of logical fallacies where you were given examples of these and other fallacies.

For next week, create a bumper sticker illustrating one of the logical fallacies. You may use color or drawings when possible, or create it on your computer. Please identify the logical fallacy that you are illustrating. (Use an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper to turn in.)

Also, continue any research for your mini “Candy” debates next week. You will have 15 minutes to meet with your teams and make final adjustments and additions. Then each team will make a 4 minute persuasive presentation, followed by a Crossfire to the speaker or his/her teammates. Please come prepared to share your research and ideas with the team.

Explorations in British Literature

We reviewed all of the Romantic poets and writers in preparation for our two quizzes next week. One will be a matching quiz with the writers and their works. We added Lord Byron to the group with his famous verses, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, which told of his travels in Europe and Asia. We discussed Percy Shelley’s “Ozymandias” and reviewed the differences between Romanticism and Neoclassicism. Jane Austen and Mary Shelley were the two novelists we covered in this period.

We will finish “The Lady of Shalott” next week with exactly what happened to the lady who dared to look directly toward Camelot. Tennyson wrote during the Victorian Age which is what we will be starting as we begin our study of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. In addition to the two short quizzes on Romanticism, read pages 1-7 in the study guide you were given and be prepared for a quiz on the life of Dickens and the background and reasons for the writing of Oliver Twist. We will actually begin the book itself next week as we cover other aspects of the Victorian Age in British literature.

Watch this brief video telling why we should read the novels of Charles Dickens. 🙂

No-Spin Economics

We went over your past homework–Chapters 1 and 2 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and Crash Course Economics #2 on Specialization and Trade. Please keep these worksheets to study for future quizzes and tests. Next week, we will have our first test on The Law, Chapters 1 and 2 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy, and Crash Course #1. Review your notes to prepare.

Also for next week, read Chapters 3 and 4 in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and watch the Crash Course Economics video #3. Please complete the worksheets you were given for each of these.

Here is this week’s video, Crash Course Economics #3.

Quick Looks at Great Books

Continue your reading in The Count of Monte Cristo with the following chapters and answer your study guide questions 52-76. The plot continues to thicken!

  • Abridged version: Chapters 28-41
  • Unabridged version: Chapters 36-62

Previous Assignments for 2021: