December 8, 2014 (Monday)

Post date: Dec 8, 2014 7:10:21 PM

There never seems to be enough hours in a weekend. Between getting ready for Christmas, Christmas parties for my husband's work, and other family responsibilities, the weekend just flew by.

In English 10 we tried to get through as many speeches as possible. I'm hoping to be completely finished with speeches by Wednesday so that our unit test is on Thursday. We again struggled with technology, so that seems to slow down the process.

In American Government I just feel like a lecture too much, but I struggle with alternative instructional strategies. We finished up our discussion of the third branch and the other sections of the Constitution. We're right on track to finishing Chapter 3 before Christmas.

Literature 9 was a little disturbing for me. We're talking about whether someone is responsible for their own murder. In the short story "Cask of the Amontillado", the murder victim kind of leads himself down to where he is eventually murdered. I asked whether his obsession (which was used to lure him into the creepy catacombs) was partly to blame for the murder. Several students said "yes". I have to admit I was appalled. How can the victim be responsible for his murder simply because he/she is in a particular area? We got to talking about self-defense, but that wasn't the situation here. We then finished discussing the plot elements (along with irony, imagery, and foreshadowing) withe this famous Poe story. The students will enjoy the story "The Interlopers" as it too has a great twist at the end.

Happy Monday everyone!