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!