Winter Break Assignment 12/20-1/4

Happy Winter Break everyone! With that being said, we do have to continue reading Catcher in the Rye in order to stay on track. You need to complete the reading and study guide up to chapter 12--you'll get a new one when we come back to school January 4th (it's a Tuesday). You need to read chapters 12-14 it's roughly 24 pages so it is totally doable. No whinning- some of you read Vogue magazine and that's longer.

Post a comment or email me if you have any questions and I hope Santa brings you at least one thing your little heart desires. 

Be safe, stay dry and have FUN!

Mrs. Ordway

PS Just incase you lost or have forgotten your Catcher study guide you can get another one here Catcher in the Rye Study Guide Chapters 9-12

Article of the Week #5 What Motivates You?

As we get ready to voraciously feed from the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger I thought about the protagonist Holden Caufield. He spends the entire novel trying to find himself, but he does so through other people. He looks at himself through the eyes of people be believes that are worthy (well, not always, but we'll get into that later).

So, in light of this profound revelation I began to wonder-who has influenced you the student, the person that stands before me each and every day with the exception of Wednesdays since we don't meet on---well you get the point.

In CQT format please tell me:
                           1. How has one person (your peer or elder) influenced you in a positive way?
                           2. What would you tell others about this person?
                           3. How has knowing this person changed your life in a real way?
                           4. Why has this person made an impact on your life?

You do have to know the person--as in talked to them face to face on more than one occasion (since you'll be using what they told you as your quotes for "Q" part of the paper).  I know I gave you four options above, but I wasn't sure if you might need an extra one in case you didn't like one; so there it is my gift to you an extra option.

The CQT form is due on Thursday, November 18th; please be prepared to share and discuss how different types of people have motivated us to do better in our own lives. I think like Holden, we (humanity) look to others to see how we are judged so that we can get to know ourselves a little better. Funny isn't it that we often have to look outside of ourselves in order to see who it is we really are.

Happy Writing!

Article of the Week #4: How Writing By Hand Makes Kids Smarter

Before I forced you to come to this blog what were you doing? It's a rhetorical question relax I don't really want a specific answer-or do I? With all of the new technology swirling around us I am amazed (even still) how quickly I can write out my thoughts on paper. How I can instantly (well, almost) create a short story that involves a sister, brother and a murder whereas when I chain myself to the keyboard my mind wanders and I begin to become seduced to all that is available at my fingertips: facebook, etsy(shopping), food network (I'm a girl who loves to cook),email or reading book reviews on amazon so I know what to check out at the library instead of doing what I had intended.

Read the article How Writing by Hand Makes Kids Smarter featured in The Week and tell me, does writing by hand make you smarter? What do you think about a student if they are asked to write in cursive on the board during D.O.L and can't do it? Make sure to read the directions this week as I've tweaked them just a little bit.

Directions: After reading the article please post a comment below. The comment should have ONE thing that surprised you and ONE thing you disagreed with. WAIT ! There's more- please post a question you had about the article or how it might relate to your life. You must answer at least one question posted by someone else in the comment section.

We will not be doing the traditional written response this week; we will use a CQT style response. I  know   strange that letter combination doesn't even make a word. It stands for Content--Quote--Tie-In and if you lost your copy in class or need a new one here it is CQT Graphic Organizer Handout. Don't worry all will be explained and this new tidbit of knowledge may just come in handy in more way than one.

Mrs. Ordway

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson PowerPoint and Cloze Notes

The king of granola, self-reflection and the original transcendentalist trendsetter...Ralph Waldo Emerson. If you were absent today or lost your notes (shame on you) I am here to help. Here is the Ralph Waldo Emerson PowerPoint and the Emerson Cloze Notes.  On a side note let's send a little appreciation to Dr. Karen Roggenkamp the original creator of the PowerPoint that we used in class today.  

Go forth and transcend young ones.

Article of the Week 3: The Internet is Spying on You

What do you know about your online activity. No, really think about it. What do you really know about the sites you visit even if they are harmless to anyone who looks up your browser history? Read the article The Internet is Spying on You from The Week and see what is really going on in the cyber world we are living  operating within.

How many of you love to surf the net to see what your friends are up to or to find good deals on the latest must have items? Read the article, let it sink in and begin putting your response together.
Directions: You are to write a one page(5 paragraphs) MLA formatted response. You must tell me what you agree with, disagree with and what confused  you in the article (something you still question) or something that may have surprised you. You must have at least one quote to back up your opinion, using the article as the support for you opinion. You may not say something is one way "because you said so" that line only works when your mother is trying to "ruin" your life because you can't go to the mall. Be prepared to discuss and turn in your paper on Thursday, November 4th. We will discuss how to start your introduction in class since many of you are having issues writing a solid thesis and allowing it to flow naturally into the bodies of your essay.


Enjoy and know that Mrsosenglish.blogspot.com is watching you.

Mrs. Ordway

Dr. Heidegger's Experiment student created video

Here is the highly anticipated "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" video promised in class. Unfortunately, it took forever to upload in class, but here right now you have the opportunity to peruse what another student has created. Enjoy and leave any feedback you have about the video or the story in the comment section.Dr. Heidegger's Experiment video would you search for the Fountain of Youth or decide to age gracefully?

Article of the Week (#2): "Tell-Tale Bacteria"

We are about to delve into a assumption that many of us, you, me and other students at our school are conditioned into believing: If it looks clean it probably is- meaning it looks like we left not one shred of evidence behind. Well, after reading the article Tell-Tale Bacteria by Stephen Ornes be prepared for an eye opening thought, can the bacteria on our hands be the key to catching crooks if they do something bad? Remember, you must show evidence of close reading-this means you are marking up the paper as you read or writing down your thoughts as you read.

Directions: You are to write a one page(5 paragraphs) MLA formatted response. You must tell me what you agree with, disagree with and what confused you in the article (something you still question). You must have at least one quote to back up your opinion, using the article as the support for you opinion. You may not say something is one way "because you said so" that line only works when your mother is trying to "ruin" your life because you can't go to the mall. Be prepared to discuss and turn in your paper on Thursday, October 28th.

Happy Reading and remember a finger print isn't the only thing that can catch you.


Mrs. Ordway :)

Article of the Week

To help build better readers and deeper thinkers, starting Monday, October 18th I will start assigning an article of the week. The article will be posted here on the blog; this weeks article is: French Burqa Ban Clears Last Legal Obstacle read the article and follow the directions at the top of the first page. You will have the article read and the assignment done by Thursday of each week. Since Thursday is our block day we can easily fit this into the schedule along with our book club meetings. As a class, student and individual thinker you will be able to see yourself changing the way you view literature as you learn to apply what is going on in the real world to what it is you're reading; even if what you're reading is 100 years old. Imagine that!
Here's to a first great article of the week, and I look forward to all of your opinions which will be as diverse as our class.

English 11 The Romantics: Dark & Light

As we continue on our path of enlightenment our first sight seeing stop is The Romantics. Not to be confused with the idea of flowers and candy, but rather the idea of being able to depend on our own intuition and ability to connect with something greater than ourselves via nature. As we read (or watch) different aspects of the Romantic genre of literature you will need the following handouts/charts. One is a multi-purpose chart( Dark Romantic or Gothic Elements in Literature) that can be used with various types of literature that follow the Romantic elements the other is for the film The Corpse Bride (Romanticism and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride )by Tim Burton who,  knowingly or not employs many of the Romantic qualities and characteristics in this film and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

9TL

We are starting our "Most Dangerous Game" map project this week; the project is worth 40 points so make sure you follow all of the guidelines discussed and reviewed in class. I will post a link to the guideline page later on today.

Also, keep reading for your book club since we are meeting on Thursday, October 7th. Remember, you must have ALREADY read the assigned pages; you will NOT be reading in class.

Lastly, if you loved the short story "Most Dangerous Game" here is the link to watch the Hollywood version from the 1930's Most Dangerous Game--the movie . Enjoy!

The Romantics are coming....

This week marks not only the start of book club love, but the beginning of  understanding The Romantics; a group of various writers, painters, poets and musicians and how their contributions have helped shape American society. This is the powerpoint that we are using in class this week. Use it for reference in case your notes are lacking or you forgot to write something down.  The Romantics Powerpoint

Book Club Love Eng. 11 & 9TL

Hello fellow readers! This week will mark the start of our book club lit. circles. Remember, you must have your books by Tuesday, September 28th. Our first book club meeting will take place on Thursday, September 30th. It is not fair to your group if you have not gotten your book, you will all work together in discussing books and study for the final test. The more you contribute the better you will do.

Besides, who doesn't love a good book?


Here's to the written word,

Mrs. Ordway :)

9TL Vocabulary Homework Week One

Well, we're almost done with our first full week of school; how do you like high school so far? In case you didn't have a chance to write down our vocabulary this week the words are:  Flash-Forward, Resolution, Flashback, Climax, Sequence, Exposition, Atmosphere, Foreshadowing, Plot, Setting and Conflict. Your homework for vocabulary was:

Monday: Define each vocabulary word and identify its part of speech (is it a verb, adjective, noun, etc.)

Tuesday: Write a sentence for each vocabulary word using context clues. An example would be: Mrs. Ordway said that a novels climax is the most exciting part of the whole story. This sentence gives the reader an idea of what the underlined word actually means if they are unsure.

Thursday: Create a plot diagram or find make one here at Read Write Think using their Online Plot Diagram if you create one online please don't forget to PRINT IT out.

Friday: All vocabulary work is due, staple and make sure that each page has the correct MLA format in the top LEFT hand corner of your paper. You will also have a quiz on these words, you will match words to definitions as well as put the words in sentences using context clues to help you.

On a side note, we will talk about quoting someone or something next week and I thought you should know what a proper quotation looked like.  Whenever you quote something that already has quote marks you will have double quotes on the outside and single quotation marks inside, it will look like this: " 'Ugh! It's like moist black velvet' "(7, Connell). Notice that after the quote you have to tell me where and whom wrote what you are quoting and this information is always in paraenthesis ( ) and then the period goes after the paraenthesis. In this case this quote can be found on page 7 of our Holt text book and the story was written by Richard Connell.

Happy Wednesday!

English 9TL

Here is our class syllabus. You will be given ONE syllabus in class; if you need another you must print out another one here. Remember, if you do not return your class syllabus you will not receive your bathroom passes. English 9 & 9TL Class Syllabus

English 9 & 9TL

Here is our Novel Term Dictionary that we will be using in class this year. You will be given ONE in class. If you lose or misplace yours it is up to you to download and print it out and complete what we have done in class to catch up.

English 11 Class Syllabus

English 11 students here is our class policies and expectations handout. You can look over and print it out in case you lost yours. Remember, no signed syllabus = NO bathroom passes.  English 11 Syllabus

Welcome Back to School

Welcome back everyone! This year promises to be full of great learning adventures. I will update this blog once to twice weekly with class assignments or information that I feel that you need to know in order to keep you up to date. I'm new to the world of blogging so please be patient if something does not go up as fast as I am hoping.  Here's to a brand new year.

Mrs. Ordway