WELCOME TO 10TH GRADE
Welcome to 10th grade English Language Arts. This year, we will be reading a series of novels, short stories, essays, poems and articles. In each unit we will work on vocabulary, grammar, reading strategies and writing techniques. You will take quizzes and tests as well as write papers and/or complete projects for each unit.
What we will do – The following is a list of the units in which we will be covering this year.
Novels/Graphic Novels
-Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
-Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
-Maus by Art Spiegelman
Short Stories/Essays/Plays
-Antigone by Sophocles
-Short Story Unit – Packet of Short stories including
“Lather and Nothing Else” and “The Sniper”
-This I Believe – A compilation of essays that include
“Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude”
Projects/Research/Writing assignments
-Personal Project
-Evidence Based Claims
-Persuasive Essay
-Poetry
Grades
This year, your grades will be determined by the following:
-Summative Assessments – 70%
-Practice and Homework -- 30%
What we will do – The following is a list of the units in which we will be covering this year.
Novels/Graphic Novels
-Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
-Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
-Maus by Art Spiegelman
Short Stories/Essays/Plays
-Antigone by Sophocles
-Short Story Unit – Packet of Short stories including
“Lather and Nothing Else” and “The Sniper”
-This I Believe – A compilation of essays that include
“Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude”
Projects/Research/Writing assignments
-Personal Project
-Evidence Based Claims
-Persuasive Essay
-Poetry
Grades
This year, your grades will be determined by the following:
-Summative Assessments – 70%
-Practice and Homework -- 30%
How to Succeed in Class?
Be Prepared.
Be ready to start class when the bell rings. Have all materials including your reading book, your binder, a writing utensil, and your homework.
Be Respectful.
Do not speak over the teacher or your classmates. Raise your hand before speaking or moving around the classroom. Ask before using anything that is not yours. Respect this space. Keep it clean and organized, so we can use it another day. No phones or earbuds in class unless given permission.
Knowledge is too powerful to steal. Do not show disrespect to another’s work when you take it and say it is your own. Cheating, copying, and plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in disciplinary action and a zero for the assignment.
Be Positive.
Leave negative attitudes outside this room.
Be Responsible.
Turn in your homework on time. Check for missing work regularly, and make it up in a timely manner. All work from days missed must be made up to receive any credit for the day. SHOW THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE!!!
Be Prepared.
Be ready to start class when the bell rings. Have all materials including your reading book, your binder, a writing utensil, and your homework.
Be Respectful.
Do not speak over the teacher or your classmates. Raise your hand before speaking or moving around the classroom. Ask before using anything that is not yours. Respect this space. Keep it clean and organized, so we can use it another day. No phones or earbuds in class unless given permission.
Knowledge is too powerful to steal. Do not show disrespect to another’s work when you take it and say it is your own. Cheating, copying, and plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in disciplinary action and a zero for the assignment.
Be Positive.
Leave negative attitudes outside this room.
Be Responsible.
Turn in your homework on time. Check for missing work regularly, and make it up in a timely manner. All work from days missed must be made up to receive any credit for the day. SHOW THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE!!!
Advice from Charlie Day
1. Work hard. "Don't wait for your break, make your break. Go make it happen for yourself."
2. Follow passions. "I moved to the city. I bussed tables. I lived in a basement apartment next to a garbage shoot that was filled with cockroaches. And I could not have made a better decision." 3. Failure: "You cannot let a fear of failure, or a fear of comparison, or a fear of judgement stop you from doing what's going to make you great. You cannot succeed without this risk of failure, you cannot have a voice without the risk of criticism and you cannot love without the risk of loss. You must go out and take these risk. … Do what’s uncomfortable, and scary, and hard, but pays off in the long run. Be willing to fail. Let yourself fail. Fail in the way and the place where you would want to fail. Fail, pick yourself up and fail again. Because without this struggle, what is your success anyway?" |
This speech is also a preview of our rhetoric unit when we will discuss thesis, pathos, ethos, logos, and audience.
1. What is the point (thesis) Charlie Day is making in the speech? 2. What is his pathos (emotion) in the speech? 3. What is his ethos (credibility)? 4. What is the logos (logic) of the speech? 5. Who is his audience? How does he relate to the audience? |
Things aren't always as they appear to me
In The Karate Kid, Daniel paints the fences, sands the floors, and waxes and unwaxes, but he doesn't know this is training for his future.
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You won't need to know what happens to Lenny in Of Mice and Men to survive life, but the lessons in the book may help you along the away. Just as those lessons will help so will lesson from the classroom: respect, responsiblility, trying to do your best, and doing a job well done. These are habits that will carry through after high school in work and your personal life.
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