Merry Christmas!

Have a great Christmas, everybody! If you still have not finished your essay, please e-mail it to me at phumphries@sd8.bc.ca

I am not interested in marking these research papers after January 5th, 2009. We have much to do to prepare you for the provincial exam to be written JANUARY 26th!!

1984 is gone except for your research papers, which I am looking forward with extreme interest and anticipation to reading over Christmas break.
We have started our poetry unit. Hopefully, you will enjoy writing haikus(the easiest) and sonnets (the most difficult) and learning about figurative devices and imagery and all the wonderful things that go along with the poetic experience.

One more week until Christmas break....yahoo!

Goodbye to 1984!

As we head into Christmas break, we will say au revoir to George Orwell and his nightmare dystopia. Hopefully, you will all be able to discern what kind of advertising is propoganda and what is TRUE...wait a minute, is there such a thing as true advertising? Is that an oxymoron? Watch out for hidden cameras in the shopping malls...

Research paper due December 19th!

After we have all finished our Orwell discussions, we will be doing a mini poetry unit. Think of some of your favorite poems, and bring them in for some enlightening discussion!

1984 continued

After last week's non-week, we are pressing on, rewardless, with our study of 1984. Hopefully, you are farther in your reading than you were last week. We will be discussing Part Two tomorrow, and you will be working on your presentations for the end of this week. You now have your topics for your research paper, and the instructions on how to write the paper. Please READ everything I have given you...
Happy December! Three weeks til Christmas!!

1984 continued

Read, read, read! We are into 1984 and I know there are those of you who still have not read Part One! It is difficult to study this book if you don't know what's going on in Winston's life. Get to it! Remember to use Spark Notes if you have difficulty following the plot.
Next week you should have decided what your group is going to discuss or present to the class in terms of the totalitarian ethos! Hopefully, you will come up with something creative! Research paper topics should be started, also. We will discuss thesis statements for these next week. Have a great weekend!

New term!

Hello, once again, my doves! A new term is on the way. We are studying 1984 right now. (Don't forget to italicize novel titles!) Please read the first six chapters by Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. I will be giving you interesting and fulfilling topics to explore and discuss. Hope you like 1984.

Short Stories unit almost over!

November 3rd already!

We have completed your study of some interesting and evocative short stories. Well, that's my opinion...otherwise, I would not have picked them! You should have 5 assignments completed by next week...just in time for the November 14th report card. If you are still working on the assignments, I will give you an IN PROGRESS to be completed as you find the time in your busy schedules.
The next thing is to complete a short story. Ideas are in your handouts, but don't think that I am the only one with the ideas! Please feel free to stretch your creative limbs and go somewhere that no one has gone before! Remember: Great writers steal; mediocre writers imitate.
Book review is also due: one page only!

October 20th

Today is the day of reckoning. You are requested to fill out your student progress report in class. This will make you aware of what you have completed, what you are missing, and what you plan to do next. This is an important part of self-assessment, and will keep you up-to-date on all of your assignments and readings.

Welcome to English 12!

Hi, everyone! I have finally joined the 21st century. This is one of the things I learned on our Professional Development Day. Hopefully, your creative writing, essays, reports, etc. can be posted on this blog and I can give you feedback more easily. I am excited!

I know a few of you have requested your homework to be posted online. This blog will be updated each week to make you aware of homework assignments and what we have been doing in class. Sound good?

• So far, you should have five creative writing pieces. Of these, you may select three that you want me to mark on the Minstry Scale rubric (0-6).
• You should also have completed your Of Mice and Men assignment and your Oedipus Rex/Antigone assignment.
• You should have completed Unit One of your Language Power workbooks.

As of October 9th, we are starting the Short Stories unit. By the end of the unit, you will also write a short story.

• Your first assignment is to read the three short stories ("A Dip in the Pool", "The Gift of the Magi", and "The Necklace") and explain how irony makes each story better.
• Each assignment is described on the PINK sheet. We will work on these in class so that you can learn how to write a short essay in an hour. This is good practice for the Provincial Exam in January.