Thursday, September 17, 2015

Post date: Sep 17, 2015 7:48:35 PM

I have to admit that I'm dragging a bit today. I just seemed off my game - struggling to find words, losing a few documents, and other small mishaps. I know tomorrow will be better.

In Literature 9 we worked on similes, metaphors, and personification. What was really mind blowing is that we were doing the same thing in American Literature. We watched a short video, filled in a few notes, searched our story (Most Dangerous Game), and then completed a worksheet. We will begin working on our Irony Workshop tomorrow.

In English 10 I watched young people panic as today was the first day of formal speeches. It's always so hard to see people struggle and get so nervous. I know that if they don't go to the front and at least say something, they never will. The Fear of Speeches will take over and there will be no conquering it. I feel so heartless at times. We also began our grammar unit. We started with The Sentence. Everyone is supposed to divide the sentences into a subject and predicate.

In American Literature we started by reviewing the narrative poem "Upon the Burning of this House" by Anne Bradstreet. We discussed the events she shared, and then whether we thought she reflected true Puritan beliefs. We came to the conclusion, she may have been a Puritan, but her poems didn't necessarily reflect that. Then we went over Jonathon Edwards and his life-changing event. We discussed his legacy, his contributions, and then we analyzed his most famous sermon "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God." I had so much fun "performing" this for my students. I tried to channel my inner Edwards and deliver a "fire and brimstone" sermon. While I read it aloud to the students, they were to highlight the similes and metaphors. They were also to highlight one key sentence that really caught their eye. It wasn't surprising that most of those highlighted sentences contained some form of figurative language.

Tomorrow is Friday, and it's also an early out. I can't believe how quickly the school year is going.