Friday, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday

As a class we watched "Welcome to the Future" by Brad Paisley. We "deconstructed" the video viewable here (unless you are at the school). Here's what the record company (Sony) says about the video: In a bid to promote his single "Welcome to the Future", Brad Paisley has premiered a music video for the track. This video captures kids sharing what they want to be in the future. Fire fighter, architect, doctor, designer and singer are some of the occupations these kids are dreaming of.
"Welcome to the Future" is taken from Brad Paisley's June release "American Saturday Night". This song was written by Paisley based on his observations from Times Square on election night, November 4, 2008. The track was performed in "Country at the White House" event held by First Lady Michelle Obama to encourage arts education. The gig will be televised on August 15 on GAC.
"To have a song about the times we're living in and the effect of an election and how its changed life and politics as we know it and to get to play it to this man [Barack Obama] is surreal beyond belief," Paisley said. "Over the next few days, it will be wild to think about this."
Watch Brad Paisley "Welcome To The Future"  New HQ HD CDQ Official Music Html Video.

As a class, we looked at CONTEXT, IRONY, SYMBOLISM, TONE, CONNOTATION, DENOTATION, THEME, SYMBOLISM, ALLUSION, & SHIFTS in all of the above. It was a review of all the things we had studied in first and second quarter. It was also a set up for what we are going to study in third quarter.


We also watched Brad Paisley speak to President Obama at the White House here.


Next time, we will be comparing and contrasting Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X.


Have a great Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday, and we'll see you back for a short week!

Honors English Grammar Jeopardy 13 Jauary 2010

Today, we looked at the UBSCT test (discussed the reading section and how the questions are formulated.) We also had a review game of "Grammar Jeopardy." A good review game might include this.

Next, we discussed Participial Phrases. Please see this handout. (Yours was purple.)

You will have a quiz next time (worth 15 points) on participial phrases.


Remember to choose a book by Wednesday, 20 January 2010.

New Term, New You...

Term 3, "Regular" English 10:
Today was the first day of Term 3 for most of you. You should have received back most of your papers. We collected them as a class. You have a grade printout. You probably wrote about your grades and your experience (in A2). You stapled all of your work together and put it together for your portfolio for Parent/Teacher Conference.

Important Dates to Follow in Term 3:
First Day off, week 2
Next Monday 1/18 Martin Luther King, Jr Day (Human Rights Day, national holiday)
Week 3 is a normal week
Week 4, you have 3 days of testing
   2/2 Tuesday: BSCT Writing
   2/3 Wednesday: BSCT Math
   2/4Thursday: BSCT Reading
   2/5 Friday: NO SCHOOL for students (Teacher Development Day)
Week 5 is a normal week
Week 6 you have 2/15 off for President's Day (a national holiday)
It is also PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE on WEDNESDAY of this week, 2/17, and we will have portfolios--which we started today in class--and we will meet in the main gym.
Week 7 is a normal week
Week 8 you have 3/5 Friday: NO SCHOOL for students (Teacher Development Day)
Week 9 is a normal week
Week 10 is a normal week, but it is the END OF THE TERM.

New Semester! Honors English 10

Today starts the new semester. You should have received back a printout of your grades and all of your work back. You should also have a good idea of what your grade for second quarter is. Grades will come to you on Friday and are handed out in the commons area.

We discussed the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (UBSCT--called biscuit). We went over the writing portion of the exam, specifically the essay portion of the exam. We'll be working on the writing section of the exam for the next couple of weeks. The test will be given February 2, 3, and 4th.

HOMEWORK: Please choose a new book from the AP literature list. Due next Tuesday.

Last Day Before Christmas

We figured out the thesaurus Christmas carols (listed below).
Honors English turned in their double thought exercises and did their early book reports. 100 points!
B4 took the lyrics to a familiar Christmas carol and mixed up the words with a thesaurus. You will be using a thesaurus on the Basic Skills Competency Test. Be familiar will how they work and what they do. They are not the same as a dictionary. ;o)

Have a fantastic winter break! Happy Christmas to you!

Honors Reminder Double Thought Exercise

Double length thought exercise due tomorrow.
Four concrete details held together with one thesis statement. LAST thought exercise on this book.
Extra credit book reports due tomorrow.

English 10 -- Catch-up Day

We catch-up book reports, and then we played this thesaurus game:

Thesaurus Christmas Carols

1. Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief. (Answer: O Come all ye faithful)

2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

3. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness.

4. An emotion excited by the acquisition of expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere.

5. Embellish the interior passageways.

6. Exalted heavenly beings to whom harkened.

7. Twelve o’clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

8. The Christmas preceding all others.

9. Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

10. Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders.

11. Omnipotent Supreme Being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

12. Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere.

13. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals.

14. Expectation of arrival of populated area by mythical, masculine perennial gift-giver.

15. Natal Celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

16. In awe of the nocturnal time span characterized by religiosity.

17. Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature’s dormancy.

18. The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of far eastern heads of state.

19. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.

20. In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children’s slumber furniture.


1.  Where would you go to hear Silver Bells?

2.  Who was it that danced with the silk hat on his head?

3.  Where would you find Reindeer Paws?

4.  What did the cattle do to wake the poor baby?

5.  When did I see those three ships?

6.  What size were those Kings of the Orient?

7.  What is it that helps to make the season bright.?

8.  Who wants a pair of hop-a-long boots, and a pistol that shoots?

9.  Who still wants a hula a hoop?

10. Who kept time to the drum?

11. Who and what color was the animal that gave the hay to pillow his head ?

12. Where do the hopes and fears of all the years meet?

13. What would keep me warm all the way home?

14. What does Susie want?

15. Why does the child want his two front teeth?

16. What was the other reindeer's name?

17. What was the horse in Jingle bells named?

18. Where does one go a wassailing?

19. What color is Christmas without you?

20. What is the parson in the meadows name?

Rubric for Poetry Recitations
Understand poem and convey meaning
Speak clearly, enunciate, speak loudly
Speak at normal speed
Recite correctly
Have interesting inflection
Good posture
No rocking, (not sing-songy), no distracting items.

Then, we had a sentence building activity using DEPENDENT CLAUSES

Honors English -- Gerund Phrases, Poem Recitations, Action Verbs

Today, we studied GERUND PHRASES and wrote gerund phrases. (See post BELOW).

Then, students presented their poems for extra credit.

Then, they got a blue sheet of action verbs they were assigned to get synonyms for.

English 10 -- Gerund Phrases

Today we studied GERUND PHRASES.  We wrote a sentence about a Coca-Cola Santa picture from 1951, and then we switched around the verb to be the subject. The students came up with some clever sentences (and it was hard work!)

We also listened to some EARLY book reports. Here are the directions. They were EXCELLENT! Good job to all!