Updated May 8, 2025
Welcome to the 2024-25 English web page!
My job is to help students learn. If you need anything from me during the year, you can email or call me via the contact information listed below.
I will update this page weekly with what we are working on that week and where we are headed in the week(s) ahead. Here are the classes I am teaching Semester 2:
English 10: This course will offer a focus on composition and literature, with that focus slanting towards the written word. Both Technical Writing and Creative Writing units will be included in this class. Students will study various literary genres to improve reading rate and comprehension level, and develop skills to determine an author’s intent and theme and recognize the techniques used by an author to deliver his or her message. Of Mice and Men is typically studied as a group, with students also given the opportunity to read an additional novel in small groups. This week, students chose a novel to study. They chose from: Speak, The Catcher in the Rye, Feed, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and The Great Gatsby. They will be finishing the reading of their novel next week.
English 11/12 (British Literature): British Literature is a two semester course. In the first semester, our focus is on short stories and poetry covering the years of 449-1832. Some of the main authors/works studied include but are not limited to: Beowulf, Geoffrey Chaucer, Sir Thomas Malory, Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and John Keats. The second semester will focus primarily on theCharles Dickens novel Great Expectations, and the Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Other authors studied this semester may include: E.M. Forster, Katherine Mansfield, and George Orwell. This week, students completed a short unit on more contemporary British Literature and began their final for the class. This will continue next week.
English 8: Students in English 8 will be exploring the world of Language Arts through the continued and advanced study of vocabulary, grammar, non-fiction literture, fictional literature, and poetry. Specific novels studied will include Call of the Wild and The Outsiders. Additionally, students will be reviewing the MLA research paper format and will produce an argumentative research paper in the MLA style. This week, the students began a non-fiction short story unit. This will continue next week.
English 9: This course will continue to build on the students’ knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, non-fiction literature, fictional literature, and poetry. A special focus on this class will be academic writing and analyzing current issues through literature. Novels studied include To Kill a Mockingbird and Animal Farm. This week, students continued the George Orwell novel Animal Farm.
English 7: Students in English 7 will be exploring the world of Language Arts through the study of vocabulary, grammar, non-fiction literture, fictional literature, and poetry. Specific novels studied will include The Diary of Anne Frank and The Giver. Additionally, students will be introduced to producing a research paper in the MLA format. This week, students began gathering research for their research papers. This will continue next week when they finish their research, write their outline, and begin their rough drafts.
Every Class, Every Day:
Additionally, each day our class period begins with a "bellringer" activity. The students will complete an activity with the primary purpose of relating to informational text.
Please check your child's progress in my class through PowerSchool (Parent Portal Link) or Schoology. I update my grades in Schoology as assignments are turned in. All grades in Schoology are current to the second. I sync my Schoology grades with PowerSchool weekly (usually every Thursday) if not more frequently. This is a great way to see how your child is performing in my classes as well as check if they have any missing work.
If, at any time, you have questions or need assistance, please contact me at the phone number or email below. Email is the preferred method to use during school hours, so as not to interrupt class:
644-3737 x2155
[email protected]