Wednesday September 24th- A Day

A1- Adv. HAVPA- We filled out a Dance Viewing Guide to Michael Jackson's "Thriller", which is all kinds of AWESOME!!!! We then began going over the terms for Theatre. The big test is next Friday.

A3- Sports Writing- We continued to work on the Coach Howell story. We have written a lead and the first body paragraph.

A4- HAVPA- Same as A1, but the big test for them is split in two, Wednesday and Friday.

Tuesday September 23- B Day

B1- AP Senior English- We discussed "Paul's Case", its author, and Pittsburgh. This class REALLY needs to participate more. HW: "Hills Like White Elephants", paragraph explaining the story, and binders will be taken up on Thursday.

B3- AP Senior English- "Paul's Case" and "The Lesson" were discussed. Same homework.

Monday September 22- A Day

I am falling behind, so here are a couple of quick updates.

A1-Adv. HAVPA- We finished watching the Dance Sense video, answered all the questions, and completed a worksheet about identifying dance terms in everyday life. For instance, a marching band shows rythym and a traffic cop makes shapes with his arms. Or a snake moves at a low level while a giraffe moves at a high level.

A3- Sports Writing-Soccer test and then we began writing our feature article on Coach Howell.

A4- HAVPA- These students left for a Josten's meeting but also finished the dance terms in everyday life worksheet.

Thursday September 18th- A Day

Today was a CATS testing day. It would have been cooler if it was LASER CATS testing day. In fact, it would have been super cool. Anyway, there was no first or second block, just A3 and A4. So here is how it happened:

A3- Sports Writing- We did our discussion/article review over the UL v. Kansas State football game. I guess we can't talk about UK football every day. However, I guess a UL win just makes UK's demolishing of them look even better. We also reviewed for the soccer quiz next week.

A4- HAVPA- We finished watching the Dance Sense video and answered all of the questions. After that we went to the hallway and tried to demonstrate a few of the dance terms. It was quite comical. A lot of the kids were worn out from the practice ACT they took earlier in the day.

Perhaps next year I can convince the administration to call the test LASER CATS instead of just CATS. Until then....

Wednesday September 17th- B Day

We took care of a lot of portfolio business in class today and I am pretty confident in this group to do as well as the AP classes last year. I must admit, I am curious to read Stuart's Batman paper.

B1- AP Senior English- I passed out portfolios and discussed the requirements and due dates. We really didn't get a lot of time to talk about "The Lesson". They also took a quick quiz over literary terms.

B3- AP Senior English- A little more time was spent on "The Lesson". The reactions to the story were pretty varied. Elliot did NOT like it and had an interesting theory on "indigestion".

HW for both classes is "Once Upon a Time" with a story card.

Monday September 15th B Day

Can you believe that I cannot find a picture of Andy Samberg from the "Space Olympics" video. In case you didn't see it, go to hulu.com. It was pretty funny and has been the running joke in numerous text messages between my friends this evening.

B1- AP Senior- We had a short class today because of CATS testing info. We had a nice discussion of "How Far She Went" and I did admit that while I didn't cry when I read it, it did become quite dusty in the room I was reading and maybe that made it look like I teared up. But I didn't. Anyway, I guess the other highlight was the AWESOME iSafe videos.

B3- AP Senior- Another good discussion. I also got rid of some of the writing portfolios.

HW for both classes: Read Ch. 4 on Theme, "The Lesson" with story card and vocab when needed.

Friday Sept. 12- A Day

A busy, yet fun day. On the plus side, I got to listen to a lot of good music. On the downside, I listened to the Backstreet Boys too many times and now I have their song stuck in my head!

A1- Adv. HAVPA- The students shared the songs they brought in and did a good job of connecting those songs to the music terms they learned. We filled out a music listening guide to "I Want it That Way" by BSB. Did you know that song is 10 years old?!?!? Next week.....DANCE!

A3- Sports Writing- Busy day. We did an article review over the careers of Vince Young and Matt Leinart. We picked fantasy football teams as the Thundercats look to overtake the Georgia Crew. The students had a quiz over Ch. 1-3 of the Sports Writing book and Caitlin introduced our next sport, soccer. Next week is more soccer and we begin on the feature story.

A4- HAVPA- More songs and more fun. The song they chose for the listening guide was "Can't Believe It" by T-Pain featuring Lil Wayne. Ms. Gaines showed us a website where people sign the lyrics to songs such as "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer and "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilaria. Pretty cool.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend and Go Cats!!

Thursday, September 11, B Day

In case you didn't hear, fellow PLD teacher Mr. Timoney had his baby his last week. To be more specific, his wife had the baby. Although I don't have a picture, I imagine the little guy looks a lot like the drawing to the left. Anyway, on to the roundup!

B1 and B3- AP Senior English- They both did the same thing today. A brief discussion of the reading, (Writing about Literature) followed by an in class essay over "The Child by Tiger" or "The Destructors". I have only looked at a few of the essays, but I am expecting them to be a lot better. HW: Read Ch.3 "Characterization" and Mary Hood's "How Far She Went". I have strong feelings about this story, so I cannot wait to discuss it!!

AAAHHHH!!!! My fear has come to life! September 8-10

When I started this, my biggest fear is that I would forget one day and that day would become another and so on and so on. I am not the most organized person in the world, so it was probably a little foolish to think this would NEVER happen. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. I am going to try and put Monday-Wednesday, September 8-10, in this post.

Monday Sept.8, A Day:

A1- Adv. HAVPA- They took their test over Art and Architecture. I thought we would have time to start the music unit, but I was wrong. Although the test was difficult in place, especially the beginning architecture terms, the art stuff was fun as the students busted on the colored pencils and markers.

A3- Sports Writing- They took their football quiz and worked on recognizing different ways to gather information.

A4- HAVPA- Also took the test. Also took the whole block. Also enjoyed using the colored pencils and markers.

Tuesday Sept. 9, B Day:

B1- AP Senior English- This is the class that I thought needed to step up to the plate. And, to no one's surprise, they did. A great discussion of "Interpreter of Maladies" that even included some extra pics that Parvathy sent me and I put in the PowerPoint. In class essay on Thursday!!

B3- AP Senior English- This class was having good discussion before and that did not change. Lots of participation. They also have an in class essay on Thursday!!

Wednesday Sept. 10 A Day:

A1- Adv. HAVPA- We began the day by looking at PLD's CATS scores in the online Lexington Herald-Leader. Do you know the only area that PLD was over 100? That's right, Arts and Humanities. I explained to them why we do what we do. Short answer: It works! We began taking notes on the music terms and even played a couple of selections from my iPod. Can you believe only one person had ever heard "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince?!?!? I am getting so old. They are supposed to bring in music examples on Friday.

A3- Sports Writing- After reading about UK football for the 100th time so far this school year (probably an exaggeration) we worked on identifying errors using the PLD Style Sheet and reviewed for the Ch. 1-3 quiz which will be on Friday.

A4- HAVPA- We also discussed the CATS scores and I hoped that served as motivation for some students in A1 and A4. A few more of them had heard "Summertime", so I don't feel quite so old as I did earlier. We finished the music notes and they are supposed to bring in music examples on Friday as well.

I hope I don't have to do any of these giant posts again. Too much time. I need to add a Post-It note to my computer reminding me to take five minutes at the end of the day or something.

Anyway, I should be back this afternoon with a post for today.

Wednesday September 3rd- B Day

B1- AP Senior English- We first broke into small groups to discuss the Harold Bloom handout. While some students provided some insight, I had hoped for more participation from the class. The annotated bib is due on Friday before midnight.

B3- AP Senior English- This class had a lot more to say about the Bloom handout. Perhaps there is just more energy in the afternoon. Annotated bib is also due Friday.

All Summer Work will be returned on Friday and we will discuss writing AP Essays.

Tuesday September 2nd- A Day

Go Cats!!! What a great way to spend a Labor Day Weekend!

A1- Adv. HAVPA- We finished up the work with the Visual Art Viewing Guide and moved on to the Architecture terms. On Thursday we will take a short tour of our school and fill out an Architectural Viewing Guide. The test over Art and Architecture terms will be on September 8th.

A3- Sports Writing- After a discussion of the UK v. UL game and watching a video clip of Pryor's touchdown we brainstormed some questions for PLD's new football coach. We will take his answers and use them to develop our first major writing piece.

A4- HAVPA- The same as A1. Hopefully our tour of PLD will go off without a hitch. There seems to be a lot of random students roaming the halls during fourth block.