Weeks of October 8 + October 15

Students in English 10 will spend much of the next two weeks working on a multi-faceted project on "perspective," which is a major theme in To Kill a Mockingbird. Students will examine the theme through song lyrics, a poem, and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Each student will be required to write a personal reflection about a poem we discuss in class; an analysis of a song, poem or story that is told from a particular perspective; and two first-person essays written from different characters' perspectives in To Kill a Mockingbird.

This project will be worth a total of 90 points
20 points = "Assignments" + 70 points = "Writing"

Each project will be graded on the student's ability to demonstrate his or her understanding of "perspective" as well as his or her ability to write a formal letter from two different characters' perspectives. The letter will be graded on its ability to do three things:

• Accurately explain issues that are in some way important to Tom Robinson's upcoming trial
• Clearly state the character's opinion about what will happen as a result of the trial
• Explain WHY the character feels this way

DUE Dates:
Blocks 1 + 5 - Wednesday October 17
Blocks 2 + 6 - Thursday October 18


HONORS English 10 -
Monday - Review/Quiz - Clauses + Pronoun Usage (40 points)

Wednesday - Work on TKAM Final Project
Thursday - TKAM Jeopardy Review for Unit Test

Monday October 22 -
Final Project Due (50 points)
TKAM Unit Test (50 points)
***Scores will be combined for TKAM Unit Test Grade

Tuesday October 23 - TKAM Project Presentations

Week of September 24, 2012

This week in English 10, we will wrap up our unit on Conjunctions with an application-based Quiz. We will also continue reading and analyzing To Kill a Mockingbird as we examine the theme of courage. Students will be required to write a short essay about an example of courage from their personal lives. We will also continue our weekly quest to build students' vocabulary (quiz dates listed below).

ENGLISH 10
Conjunctions Quiz - 30 points
Blocks 1,2,5, + 6
Monday September 24

To Kill a Mockingbird Chapters 8+9 Quiz - 20 points
Blocks 1 + 5 - Tuesday September 25
Blocks 2 + 6 - Wednesday September 26

Vocabulary Quiz #2 - 20 points
Blocks 2 + 6 - Thursday September 27
Blocks 1 + 5 - Friday September 28

"Courage" Essay - 20 points - Due @ beginning of 1st class meeting next week

HONORS English 10
"Courage" Essay - 20 points
Due: Wednesday September 26

Vocabulary Quiz #2 - 15 points
Friday September 28

Required Reading: Honors Eng 10 students should be through Chapter 17 by the beginning of class next Monday.

Week of September 17, 2012

English 10 students will continue investigating conjunctions this week, with a focus on subordinating conjunctions, subordinate clauses, and comma usage. In terms of reading, we will delve further into Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird as we start to examine and write about some intriguing pieces of dialogue as well as some major themes. Assignment Due Dates and Quiz Dates are listed below.

TKAM Bible Quote - (20 point Writing Assignment on Moodle)
Blocks 1+5 - Due Tuesday by 11:59 p.m.
Blocks 2+6 - Due Wednesday by 11:59 p.m.
(All students will have class time plus a Seminar period to work on this assignment)

Complex Sentence Paragraph - (20 point assignment)
Blocks 1+5 - Due Thursday @ the beginning of class)
Blocks 2+6 - Due Friday @ the beginning of class)

Conjunctions Quiz - NEXT Monday, September 24
Blocks 1,2,5, + 6

HONORS English 10 (3rd Block)
Common Errors Quiz - (38 points) Monday, September 17

TKAM - Chapter 1 Quiz (20 points)
Tuesday, September 18

TKAM Bible Quote - (20 point Writing Assignment on Moodle)
Due Friday by 11:59 p.m.

TKAM Chapter 8+9 Quiz 
IN CLASS on Friday

Week of September 10, 2012

This week in English 10, we will be reading the first five chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird. We will also begin to examine conjunctions with a focus on comma usage within compound and complex sentences.  Students will also receive the Vocabulary Words for their first Vocabulary Quiz. See below for Assignment Due Dates and QUIZ Dates.

To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 1 Quiz (20 points)
Blocks 1,2,5, + 6 - Tuesday September 11

Vocabulary Quiz #1
Blocks 1,2,5, + 6 - Friday September 14

FANBOYS Paragraph Assignment
Due Date: Friday September 14
Blocks 1,2,5, + 6

HONORS English 10
Students will choose specific topics/themes from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and participate in Group Discussions/Presentations on Monday and Wednesday. We will also be examining many of the "common errors" in the English language (there/their/they're, to/too, then/than etc.), and students will demonstrate their ability to avoid these common errors when they take a quiz NEXT MONDAY, September 17. As for this week, see below: 

Vocabulary Quiz #1 (20 points)
Thursday, September 13

Proofreading Assignment - In Class (20 points)
Thursday September 13

Welcome to English 10! Buckle Up!!!

My goal is to make English 10 FUN! Obviously, the ultimate goal of education is to acquire knowledge and skills that you will take with you on your journey toward success. However, I firmly believe that your overall high school experience must involve building meaningful relationships with friends and teachers. I consider high school a rite of passage into adulthood. As young adults, you should realize that the next three years could be the most important years of your life in terms of discovering who you are, who you want to become, and how you want to be remembered. We will discuss and write about these things whenever it fits within the context of what we are reading in English 10. I will try my best to make English 10 enjoyable and entertaining... but to do that... I need YOUR help. My #1 expectation of each of my students is that you try your hardest to be successful. By putting forth your best effort at all times, you will build self-confidence and self-respect. Whatever educational experiences you had in the past, are just that, in the past! You cannot change the past, but you DO control how you act each day. Together, let's try to make every day- a day to remember!

In terms of what to expect, we will begin the 2012-2013 by reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. It was written in 1963 and has been taught in public schools ever since. It is a fabulous story about the loss of innocence, courage, and injustice. We will read and write about this story throughout the first quarter. We will also engage in classroom discussions and try to make connections between the novel and our own lives. In my past experiences, the classes in which students are most willing to share their perspectives and opinions about the story are the classes that develop the deepest understanding of the story. I LOVE IT when everyone participates because that's when REAL learning takes place!

I will try to update this BLOG weekly and will post ASSIGNMENTS w/ DUE DATES as well as QUIZ DATES for each block. PLEASE sign in and become a "follower" of this BLOG. You can access this BLOG by doing a GOOGLE search for "Mr. Courcy's Blog" or go to the CAPS Homepage>Staff Directory>Steve Courcy> then click on the link titled Mr. Courcy's Blog.

Lastly, if you ever need extra help with an assignment or simply need to talk to me for any reason whatsoever, my door is ALWAYS open, and I will try my best to help you in any way I can!

Over the next several weeks, I want students to fully understand The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and also the communist "witch hunt" in America during Red Scare and Second Red scare in the 1950s when Sen. Joseph McCarthy and Edward R. Murrow squared off. It is purposeful because of the universal themes and concepts it teaches: fear, loyalty, pride, greed, paranoia, justice etc. Kids can relate to these because the concepts still exist in today's world. They will try to understand why young teenage girls cried "witch" ... and why Senator McCarthy cried "communists" ('witches'). Murrow and Crucible protagonist, John Proctor, are also compared, analyzed and examined. Many students who enjoy reading fantasy novels really seem to like this play. Arthur Miller wrote the play in 1953... we will research why he wrote The Crucible and why he used a 260-year old tragedy to compare it to???