Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Day 71!

In case you haven't checked in the past couple days, I would like you to know that we have been watching book project presentations!

Today we will finish up with any remaining presentations.

If you have not done so already, please turn in your project via the form on Monday's post.

Your next book genre will be.....wait for it....CHOICE! (Yay for me being so nice!)

You may pick any book you would like to read; I would suggest selecting one from the presentations you just saw, but if you have another book in mind, please feel free. This book, however, should be school appropriate!

Your next book selections should be with you by Tuesday, December 2nd. That's next Tuesday! Start thinking about what you want to read now!

If we have time after the remaining book presentations, we will work on this week's new vocabulary!

The words for this week are:

Benevolent
Misanthrope
Insipid
Emulate
Besmirch
Kerfuffle

We will break down into groups again and take turns teaching our words to the class. This time, as you present, each group must have a visual presentation that includes: 

  • definition of the word IN STUDENT FRIENDLY LANGUAGE. I do NOT want to see the definitions verbatim from Google. 
  • part of speech
  • image to help remember the word
  • example sentence
  • associated word to help remember 
The words will be posted on the Quizlet in the next day or so.  If you have not done so already and would like to have access to the list, please click on that link and ask to join the class! 

Have a nice long weekend! See you Monday!

Monday, November 25, 2013

Day 69!

Happy Monday!

Today we will be watching Book Project Presentations! Presentation order will be randomly selected from a bucket, so please be prepared to present!

If your project is on the internet, please submit your project using the form below.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Day 67!

Happy Thursday!

Today we will begin talking about our next author, the famed Edgar Allan Poe! You will have about 15-20 minutes to work with a partner to find as much information about Poe as possible. You may use whatever resources you so choose to complete the work.

After you've exhausted the research, (just kidding, you won't exhaust it; there's tons of information out there about Poe), we will compile our information as a class similar to how we did with Walt Whitman. Remember, there will be an authors quiz in this unit, so it is important for you to keep all of your author information sheets!

If we have any time after that, we will use it for work on your book projects.

You will also have tomorrow to work on your book projects!

If you are great and have already finished your projects, you may bring something else to work on.

See you in class!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Day 66!

Wednesday! Early out! Exclamation points!!!!

Today, as promised, will be a work day for your Reading Workshop Book Projects. If you have not finished your book yet, today should be used for speed reading! The options for the book project are posted on the Reading Workshop Blog on the "Useful Documents" page.

If you are working hard, there is a possibility that you can earn more work time on Friday!

See you in class!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Day 65!

Good Tuesday to you all!

Today we will begin with our new vocabulary sets! For today, you will break down into small groups. Each group will be responsible for teaching one word to the class. In order to teach the class your group should:


  1. Have the definition, part of speech, and an example ready
  2. Come up with an easy/ fun way for the class to remember the word: this could be a visual (poster, picture, etc), mnemonic device, acting it out
As each group presents, the rest of the class should be taking notes.

If you would like to access the words on Quizlet, click the link here Gulley English III Vocabulary . You will have to ask to join the class the first time you click the link. Once I have accepted your request, you will be able to access all the words that I add.

The words for the week are:

1. tenacious
2. indolent
3. harrowing
4. umbrage
5. gauche
6. that vs who


We will use whatever time is remaining to work on book projects!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Day 64!

Happy Monday! It arrived very quickly!

Today we will finish up reading "The Minister's Black Veil" and discuss how it is considered a Gothic story.

Remember, your book projects are due next Monday...that's a week from today! So, I will give you as much time this week as possible to get those ready to present.

With that, if we have any time after finishing the story, you will be expected to read your books or work on your projects!

Tomorrow we will start with our new vocabulary work!

See you in class!

Friday, November 15, 2013

Day 63!

Happy Friday! It got here just in time for the weekend! :)

Today we will continue on with "The Minister's Black Veil", and it's just going to keep getting better!

We will read as much of that as we can today, and we will finish the rest on Monday!

Also a reminder: your Reading Workshop questions were due on Wednesday. Today is the last day to turn them in for 75% credit! Get it done!

Keep working on reading at home, the deadline for the book projects is creeping closer by the minute!

See you in class!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Day 62!

Happy Thursday!

Today we will spend some time finishing up the Nathaniel Hawthorne reading that you did yesterday.

Then, we will talk about what a parable is.

After that we will begin reading "The Minister's Black Veil"! It's going to be awesome!

Remember that your Reading Workshop Questions were due yesterday! If you haven't turned it in yet, get that done ASAP!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Day 61!

Good Wednesday to you all!

Today we will start with a brief journaling/ discussion activity about horror movies and haunted houses. We will finish our discussion about what makes things scary and why people find them to be appealing.

After that, we will start talking about our first author, Nathaniel Hawthorne. We will do some quick background reading and discussion on him. If we get time, we will start reading his short story "The Minister's Black Veil".

REMEMBER: Your Reading Workshop Question is due today!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

DAY 60!!!

Holy buckets! I can't believe we have made it this far! We are now 1/3 of the way through school....way to go you guys!

I'd like to thank all of you for your helpful comments on my report card yesterday, I saw several comments more than once and I will do my best to improve upon as many of those comments as possible.

That being said, let's start with Commonly Confused Words. A few of you mentioned in your report cards that you don't like the way we do them in class. A couple of you said that you want to go back to just copy and pasting from the blog...good try. Others of you voiced that you would like them delivered in a different way and that you feel that people aren't retaining them. I agree with that. SO, today for our Commonly Confused Words time, I want to do some brainstorming.  Please think on the following questions for me:

1. What kinds of words do you want to learn? (Continue with commonly confused to help writing, ACT/SAT common vocabulary, other vocabulary) No, "I don't want to learn any words" is not an option.

2. How do you learn vocabulary best?

3. What suggestions do you have to make our word sessions more interactive?


We spend just a few minutes discussing these questions, and then we will move forward with our lives in English! Today we get to start Gothic Literature!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( I am a big fan of this unit).

We will talk about what it means to be "Gothic", some background information, and then you'll be out of here!

Don't forget that  your Reading Workshop Question is due tomorrow!!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Day 59!!

Happy Monday!

Today we will start with a little grading session--for me. This will be your opportunity to "grade" me as a teacher. On the form below, please provide honest feedback so that I can work to make myself the best teacher I can be!

Once you have finished filling out the form, you may spend the rest of the period reading OR if you have already completed your book, you may begin work on your Reading Workshop project, which is due November 25! Check out the project options again by clicking HERE!

There is a new question posted on the Reading Workshop Blog; all answers are due on Wednesday, even if you have already finished your book! Check out the question by clicking HERE!

Friday, November 8, 2013

Day 58!

If you have not already done so, please submit your project using the form below. If you don't fill it out, you don't turn in your project! We will finish the presentations we didn't today. If we have time, we will spend the rest of class reading! There will be a new question posted on Monday!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Day 57! Presentation day!!

Yay! It's presentation day! That rhymes!

First of all, please be sure to submit your presentation by filling out the form below; IF YOU DO NOT USE THE FORM TO SUBMIT YOUR ASSIGNMENT, I WILL CONSIDER IT MISSING: 

We will present these using a similar system to the day we presented our songs. You will be given a number and a letter. You will sit with your letter group. Whatever your number is, that is the order in which you will present. For example, if you are 3B, you will sit with the "B" group, and you will present third. It's going to be great fun!

I am really looking forward to seeing what you've come up with!

Tomorrow will be a reading day, so please be sure to bring your books!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Day 56!

Wednesday! Today is your FINAL work day on your projects!

Today you should focus on putting the finishing touches on your project. Don't forget to start thinking about what you will say during your presentation. Be sure to also check your grammar and spelling in all of your paragraphs--this is still a formal writing!

ALSO: REMEMBER THAT YOU MUST HAVE A WORKS CITED PAGED LINKED TO YOUR PRESENTATION!

See the MLA Works Cited Guide (<--that's a link to it) if you cannot remember how to format it.

Some key things when formatting your Works Cited Page:

  • MUST be titled "Works Cited" at the top of the page, centered. 
  • Sources should be in alphabetical order by author's last name (if there is no author, go by the article title).
  • If the citation is longer than one line, make sure you indent the second and subsequent lines of the citation. 

If you finish early, please submit your assignment using the form below. This will ensure that your project is turned in correctly and will not get lost!

Once you have submitted your project, you may spend any extra time that you have free reading. Remember that your projects are due on November 25th, so if you're not close to being done with your book, you should kick it into high gear!!

Day 55!

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and that you're ready to get back to work.

Today is another work day on your project. You should be focusing on finishing up your paragraphs and beginning to put links on your presentations.

If, for whatever reason, you should finish your project early, you are to be reading your free reading books! We have spent some time away from our books, so I decided to push the projects back. They will be due the 25th of November, and the presentations will begin that day. Check out your project options on the Useful Documents Page of the Reading Workshop Blog. Just click HERE!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Day 54!

Happy Friday!

Another project work day!

Your focus today should be on finishing up your background research and beginning to pick the quotes you want to use from "Self-Reliance", "Civil Disobedience", and The Power of One. If you are using the graphic organizer, you should have all of your "I" boxes filled up by the end of class today!

Keep up the good work!