First Semester Finals!

Well kids we've made it to finals week. The first half of your junior year is nearly over. You just have to get through a bunch of hard tests and hopefully pass all of your classes. The final for your English class is 50 multiple choice and two short (three paragraph) essays. To help you out I'll add some questions from our final to this blog post. Here are a few other study tips too.

• Review all your previous tests and quizzes especially those on The Crucible and Civil Disobedience.
• Finish the chart you started in class on Monday. The one with the list of things we read, a theme for each thing and a test question you created for each reading.
• Re-read stories and essays you don't remember well.
• Figure out the answers to the leaked test questions below.
• Bring your notes, your books, a pen and a pencil to the test.

Leaked Test Questions!!!!

1. He was always an ethical person.
a. miserly

b. thoughtful

c. moral

d. stubborn

2. Which of the following Biblical items is NOT alluded to in “The World on the Turtle’s Back?”
a. The immaculate conception
b. A sacred tree that may not be touched
c. Argumentative twin brothers
d. The transformation of water into wine

3. Thoreau says that the only obligation he has to assume is to:
a. Support the government b. obey all laws
c. do what he thinks is right d. accept the majority rule

4. Which description of Rodrick Usher best foreshadows his death?
a. "His air appalled me. . . ."
b. ". . . an eye large, liquid, and luminous. . . ."
c. "The silken hair, too, had been suffered to grow. . . ."
d. "His countenance was . . . cadaverously wan. . . ."

5. Which of the following sentences would make the most effective thesis for an essay?
a. Huckleberry Finn and his father faced conflicts few families deal with today.
b. This essay is going to be about Huckleberry Finn and the troubles he had with his dad.
c. Huckleberry Finn is an amazing book written by Mark Twain.
d. Pap Finn and his son Huck are a model parent child relationship.

Don't forget to vote in the poll about grades. Study hard and good luck!

PS Have you seen the 8th grade Final from Kansas in 1895?

The Home Strech

Thought you'd like this example of a steamboat.


So rather than a daily breakdown it seems better this week to sum up.

• We are currently up to Chapter 12 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but I expect we may make it to chapter 15 or 16 by Friday. More quizes are coming. Keep up with the reading.
  
• Second News Reports were due today. If you haven't turned yours in yet you should be working on that, not reading this blog entry.
  
• The progress reports I gave out in class today should give you a very accurate idea of what your grade is and how to keep it or improve it. Grades will still be affected by several assignments and the final exam before the end of the semester next week.
  
• I've started constructing your final exam. It will consist of 50 multiple choice questions and several short essays. Yes, it will take you at least and hour and probably more.
  
• I am available at lunch and most days after school if you need help. The exception to that is Fridays when I am not available at lunch or after school. Plan accordingly.
• Late work will be accepted until Tuesday 1/29.
  

Now I need to go read to my son.

Week 16 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

My apologies for the abbreviated nature of this week's post. I have a lot to do this afternoon.

Monday we took our first quiz on chapters 1-3. We worked on the vocabulary for chapters 4-7 and then read chapters 4, 5, and the beginning of 6. You were to read the rest of Chapter 6 on your own for homework.

Tuesday we worked on an organizer for your Second News Report. Kudos to all of you who had already started on your drafts. For those of you who had not started thank you for using your class time well as you worked your way through the questions on that organizer. (The organizer is available on weblockers if you lost yours or were absent.)

Wednesday you turned in your drafts of your Second News Report. We reviewed the geography of the Mississippi River and reviewed Pap's racist rant in chapter 6. Expect a question about that passage on your final. Then we read chapter 7 and took the quiz on chapters 4-7.

Thursday we will meet in our writing groups and possibly begin chapter 8.

Friday we will be working on an activity that will help you deepen your understanding of the characters in the book and also find evidence from the text to support your conclusions. The forecast also calls for the likely reading of chapter 8 or 9. Include a little light reading of Huck Finn in your weekend plans.

The Final draft of your Second News Report is due next Wednesday 1/23.

Week 15 Mark Twain, The Beginning...

Welcome back students,

Monday we began our study of Mark Twain with a look at the background information on pages 654-657. Take a look at those if you weren't with us in class. We also read the beginning of the excerpt from Twain's autobiography on page 659 about the mesmerizer.

Tuesday we completed the reading from the autobiography and in several periods we had time to take a look at the epigrams on page 678.

Wednesday I returned your tests from before break. (Not good people.) Then we read The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

Thursday we go to the textbook window to get you your very own (borrowed) copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We will also review dialects and preview the vocabulary for the first three chapters.

Friday we'll be reading those first three chapters and taking our first chapter quiz.

Don't forget that a draft of your Second News Report is due Wednesday 1/16. Keep collecting articles about your news issue.