English 3: Exciting news!

Hi class,

I wanted to share some exciting news with you: our donorschoose.com proposal is now live! If you visit the link below you will see the proposal, called, "SAT, ASAP!" I really hope that we can spread the word about this, so if you can, copy the link and send it to everyone you possibly can! You'll notice that the books are meant for a one-time use; that means you'll be able to keep them! For a little bit of extra credit, come in tomorrow and ask me if you can congratulate the class as the bell rings. I'll let you break the news, and you'll get some extra credit on top of that :)

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=335059&sharebar=true

See you tomorrow,

Ms. Gonzalez

English 3, 2nd Period:

Hi everyone,

Here is the link to the short story, Harrison Bergeron. What did you think about it?

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

See you tomorrow,

Ms. Gonzalez

English 3: REMINDER: Bring back your copies of "Animal Farm!"

Hi everyone,

This is a reminder to bring back your copy of Animal Farm. Other classes are waiting for your copies to come in, and anyway, I cannot give you a copy of our next class book until you turn in your last one. If we start reading and you still don't have the new book, you'll still be responsible for the material!!! Do NOT let this happen to you!

Thanks,

Ms. Gonzalez

English 1: "Night" Preface Questions

Hello Period 7,

Below are the questions that you must answer tonight as you read the preface to Night. Let me know if you need any help!

1. Why is it our responsibility to read Night?

2. Why didn't people want to read Wiesel's memoir, or about the Holocaust in general?

3. Why do you think Wiesel took a vow of silence for 10 years?

4. Why can't we avoid learning about the Holocaust, despite it being a depressing subject matter?

See you tomorrow,

Ms. Gonzalez

English 1: Interactive Map of Aushwitz

Hi Class,

This is the link to the Interactive Map of Auschwitz from the BBC website. Explore it at your leisure.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/genocide/launch_ani_auschwitz_map.shtml

Also, here is the link to the WW2 People's War homepage, also from the BBC. It contains archived stories from people who were affected by WWII in many different ways, including by the Holocaust. It is an incredible site, filled with real, first hand accounts of people who lived through a world war. I recommend you check it out, even before I give you a related assignment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/

See you all tomorrow,

Ms. Gonzalez

English 3: Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

Well, it's Sunday night and the depression of another work week has been setting in since 5 pm. There's only one thing pulling me through, and that's knowing that I'll see you, my wonderful sophomores, again tomorrow. Oh, how I've missed you all.

No, the real reason I'm posting is to give you your homework. Below I'll list our vocabulary words for this week. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed that so few of you did well on the packet. The three pre-quiz requirements are so easy to do; there's no excuse for not getting those points. I'm expecting more from you all this week!!

The other homework you'll have is to print out the story from the following link. If you print double-sidedly, you'll only be short 3 pages. It's a short story called "Harrison Bergeron" by a certain Kurt Vonnegut. You'll like the story. Have it printed for class Tuesday, October 27th.

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

Vocabulary

amicable
benevolent
condescending
prosaic
reclusive
spurious
wary
sagacity
exasperation
haughty

One last thing: please don't forget to tell your parents about back to school! They're this week; Thursday night and Friday afternoon. I'd love to see everyone's parents. I may even have candy...

See you all tomorrow,

Ms. Gonzalez

English 3: Vocabulary and More

Hi class,
I tried getting this up earlier, but I had too many other things to do (like grade your final projects). I'll write the vocabulary words below but I want to remind you that you MUST print out the Orwell article for tomorrow or the next day! We'll be looking at two pages in depth, but if you have questions or problems with it, you should read it all! Additionally, at the end of our next unit we're going to be looking at the article below, and it might serve you well to read it now, rather than later. Surprise, we're reading another Orwell book. It's called '1984' and it's a fantastic dystopian novel.
Anyway, click here to read the NYTimes article that we'll be looking at soon. Vocabulary words below.

archaic
slovenly
frivolous
hackneyed
sordid
superfluous
adulation
clairvoyant
divergent
demagogue

See you all tomorrow,
Ms. Gonzalez

English 3: George Orwell's Politics and the English Language

Below you will find the link to George Orwell's essay, Politics and the English Language. It was published in April of 1946 and has become on of his most important essays. In it he criticizes modern English writing and points out the negative effects it has on readers and the future of written modern English.

Don't forget to read my essay

You are responsible for printing out the entire essay (it prints out to 9 pages) and bringing it to class with you starting on Wednesday, October 21st. Please let me know if you need to find an alternate place to print it out.

http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit

Ms. Gonzalez

Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone. This is Ms. Gonzalez. You know, your favorite teacher at MCSM? Well, I've decided to start using this blog again, this time for my English 1 and 3 classes. I don't know how I am going to separate the posts for each class, but for now I will just write English 1 or English 3 in the title.

The purpose of this blog is to keep in touch with you about the homework and goings on in our classes. One thing I'd like to do is periodically offer extra credit on this blog because I am always forgetting to tell you about it in class. Sorry 'bout that. What if we start now? If you can tell me the name and author of the poem that this blog is a reference to, you'll get some extra credit. Write it down on a piece of paper with your name and put it in the colorful vocabulary box that's in our class.

Anyway, I hope you'll find this blog useful. Feel free to comment whenever you have something to add about the posts.

Ms. Gonzalez