Tri 3

Welcome to all of my third trimester students. It's spring and there are only four more months left...three for all my seniors! Let's make this semester exciting and beneficial! Best wishes.

Extra Credit

Count yourselves lucky if you are reading this...I have NEVER given an extra credit assignment. Freshmen, if you would like to do a research project and oral presentation on one aspect of the Russian Revolution, I will use this extra credit assignment as follows:

1. It can replace ANY quiz grade
2. It can add 5 points to ANY test grade
3. It will eradicate 2 homework grades
4. It will eradicate 3 vocab grades

RULES:
You may chose a topic from the list below...only one person per topic
You may use Wikis, Powerpoint or a poster as a visual aide. YOU MUST have a visual aid
You must present your information in class on Tuesday, March 2nd

GRADING:
Presentation will be grade on:
1. quality of content
2. quality of public speaking (use note cards...don't read off of paper or the computer).
3. quality and relevance of your visual

Topics:

1). Czar Nicholas II
2). Joseph Stalin
3). Vladimir Lenin
4) Leon Trotsky
5). George Orwell
6). The Great Purge
7). Stalin’s 5 Year plans
8). Stalin/ Hitler Pact 1939
9). October Revolution
10). February Revolution
11). Stalin’s Secret Police & Pravda and propaganda
12). Relations between USSR, USA & England during WWII

Technology

Call me old-fashioned, but I am a little slow to incorporate new technology into my life. Cell phones became readily available as my college years were coming to a close. You would think that as a 22 year old, having a cell phone would have been a necessity. I saw it as a burden; I didn't feel the need for anyone to be able to get a hold of me at any time. I also admit, I was afraid of the possible brain tumors, goiters, or anything else that could result from the phone waves....I know, a bit crazy! Eventually, I succumbed to the necessity of having a cell phone; however, I still maintain the lowest amount of hours available on a cell phone plan, and I do not use any fancy phone with internet connection.

So when I received a Kindle for Christmas, I was a bit skeptical. I planned on shipping it back to Amazon and using the money to buy tiles for my kitchen backsplash. Why? Well, I love books. I like to keep the ones I have read, especially the ones that I really love. I like the feeling on the book in my hand; I love the way the pages curl as I hold them back; I love the smell of books, especially old hardcovers. I was afraid that if I kept the kindle, I would lose my books. And then I looked around my 800 square foot condo; it was cluttered, and the main culprit was my books and magazines. So I decided to try it out. I absolutely love it. It is easy to use and I don't even have to go to the store to by new books. An inadvertent side effect of all of this is that my Amazon card is getting far too much use.

Technology....I am always hesitant at first; I suppose like most humans I am a creature of habit. But, I have to say, some of the books I have purchased on the Kindle are not ones I would have normally picked out at a bookstore. It expands my horizons and declutters my home!

Freshman Honors B

Freshman Honors B is designed as an advanced study of poetry, epic, and the novel. Students are expected to analyze, acquire vocabulary, write and edit at an advanced level

Senior Honors

Senior Honors is a course covering British Literature from the pre-Anglo Saxon through Contemporary British Literature.

Junior English A

Junior English A covers American Literature from the Early Colonial Period to the Civil War. Students will read for understanding and analysis, enlargement oif vocabulary, and writing for analysis.

Freshman English B

Freshman English B explores poetry, epics and the novel. Students will focus on reading for understanding and analysis, improvement of vocabulary and grammar, and analytical writing.

Welcome

Welcome to "All Things English," a blog connecting my English classes to great literature...and if you forgot what your homework was, that will be here as well!


A little bit about me:
My name is Ms. Desilets, Amy to my friends. I have been teaching high school English for the past 10 years at Uxbridge High School. I love my job because I get to talk about literature and teach students how to become effective writers.