Hurricane!

Hurricane Sandy at 2 AM EST

I hope you are all safely indoors right now!

Juniors, please complete your Act I vocabulary by Thursday (see the last post if you cannot find it).

Seniors, I have only received about twenty college essays thus far.  Please make sure that you finish the essay soon!

Juniors HW# 1:  Write sentences for words 1-10 on the vocabulary worksheet provided in class.  If you lost it, or prefer to type it, the document is here.

Seniors:  Your resume was due today.  Your college essay is due next Monday.  Most of you seem to be in a good place with it, but if you are having trouble, make an appointment to look it over with me, or with another teacher during your lunch period.

I look forward to meeting your parents this week!

Seniors Classwork... for your college essay

Choose one of the six essay options we discussed yesterday.  These essay topics all come from the Common Application.

• 1) Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

• 2) Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

• 3) Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

• 4) Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

• 5) A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

• 6) Topic of your choice

 

If you want to see examples of good college essays for each of the options, you may wish to read about.com's college information.  The people who are writing these essays are obviously not going to have the same life experience as you, but you can take note of the tone and the content of the essays.

Please write the introduction to your college essay now in Google Docs.  Title your essay Last Name, First Name College Essay.  Then, share it with me at etanzer111@gmail.com.

If you are planning to turn this into a cover letter, please choose options 1 or 5.

Seniors-Preparing ourselves for the future?!

Today:  Choose either the first or second option.  You may choose to do both for your own knowledge.

1) Go on www.bigfuture.collegeboard.org.  a)  Write down your answers to the questions that the website asks (such as "I prefer a large campus" or "I am not interested in fraternities.")  You may have to play with your responses a bit so that you have options, but then, b) write down at least five schools that seem to fit your criteria.  c)  Then, find out about how to apply.  Many schools will be on the Common Application (commonapp.org), but you will definitely find this information on the school website.  You will want to write down when the application is due, how much it costs to apply, what kind of grades and SAT scores the school is looking for, and what the essay question is.

2)  Go on a job search website, such as http://www.aviationemployment.com/.  If you aren't interested in going into the aviation field, you may use monster.com or the New York Times Job Search website, http://jobmarket.nytimes.com/pages/jobs/.  a)  write down the kinds of jobs that you are looking for.  Remember to "cast a wide net" and to vary your search terms.  b)  what are the requirements of the jobs that you are looking for?  (such as years of experience, resume and cover letter, a portfolio, a certain certification, etc).  c)  Choose one job that you think that you are suited for.  Write a "letter of intent" to that employer, explaining what job you are applying for and what skills you have that are applicable to the job you want.

Juniors: Vocabulary Test!

Juniors, you have a six-week vocabulary test on Thursday, October 18.  This will include the following roots:

a-, an-, anti-, arch-, aster-, au-

Prepare yourself!!

Classwork

Classwork for Juniors-- answer these questions on a separate piece of paper.

Starting to think about our futures...

1.  Go onto collegeboard.org.  When are the SATS being offered during the 2012-2013 school year?
2.  How much does it cost to take the SAT?
3.  How do you qualify for a fee waiver?  
4.  What resources does collegeboard.org offer for students who want to prepare for the SATs?  How much do they cost?
5.  Look up SAT prep courses in your neighborhood.  What are your options?  How much do these courses cost?  See if you can find any free or low cost ones.
6.  Go onto bigfuture.collegeboard.org.  What are some suggestions that they made?  What have you/can you learn from this website?  
Click around and see what you can learn from this website!


Classwork for Seniors-- check out the corrections I made on your resumes

How to get an A on your resume...

1) Be specific about your duties at your jobs-- "prepared sandwiches to customer satisfaction and per health regulations"
2) Be sure to include your dates of employment/attendance
3) Make your resume visually appealing, but also simple to scan and read. This might include making your name stand out at the top, underlining the topics, bolding the names of your job title, etc AND making sure that everything lines up neatly.
4) Include two references-- This means providing the full name of your employer (or guidance counselor, or favorite shop teacher), their job title at the location where you worked, and a telephone number (and maybe also their email) where they can be reached. T

This will be your first grade for the second marking period.

As the marking period ends...

As the marking period ends, you will all be taking your final assessments.

Pds 4 & 7, you are presenting your Public Service announcements.  Expect a test when you are finished.

Pd 6, you took an exam on "The Ransom of Red Chief" on Tuesday and you will be writing an essay on the literary elements in the story on Thursday and Friday.

Pd 9, you took an exam on "The Ransom of Red Chief" last Thursday and you are finishing your essay today.  

Juniors, you will also be taking a vocabulary test on all six weeks of the root vocabulary words on Thursday, October 18th.

Seniors, you will have to clean up your resumes based upon the comments I have made by Wednesday, October 17th.  

Please take some time to reflect on what you have done this marking period as well as the grades you have earned.  As you know, I calculate the grades using a preset formula (Tests/Essays/Projects= 50%, Classwork/Behavior= 30%, and Homework= 20%).  You should be able to calculate your own grade fairly closely if you choose to.  If you have any questions, you may make an appointment with me during fifth period in room 339B.

Quiz Alert! (and HW #6 for Seniors)

Juniors Period 4 & 7 Vocabulary quiz and classwork quiz will be on THURSDAY this week.  Study both the anti- and the -arch words for the quiz.  Periods 4 & 7, be prepared to write about the process of creating your PSA.
Juniors Period 9:  Vocabulary quiz and classwork quiz will be on THURSDAY this week.  Study both the anti- and the -arch words for the quiz.  Be prepared to answer questions about "The Ransom of Red Chief" AND about the vocabulary.  Because this assessment covers so much, it will be counted as a test.  Be sure to study!
Seniors Period 6: Depending on when we finish the story, you will either have your "Ransom of Red Chief" test on Thursday or Monday.  Make sure to study both the story and the vocabulary.

Seniors HW #6:  Read the end of the story (line 313-356).  Then, answer the last three questions on the worksheet we have been working on in class.