Thursday, December 5

U. S. History students did chapter 17 vocabulary and took notes entitled "U. S. Imperialism". Both of these assignments can be found on the class wiki. Please do not forget to read Their Eyes Were Watching God chapters 8- 10 this weekend and respond to the blog post. Your notebook test is scheduled for next Thursday. Psychology students took notes entitled "The Nervous System." These notes can be found on the class wiki. U. S. Government students, did a bellringer, a political cartoon, and a vocabulary activity. Bellringers and Vocabulary activity 10 were both turned in for a grade. Your unit 3 test will be next Tuesday. Your notebook test is scheduled for next Thursday.

Wednesday, December 4th

U. S. History classes will need to read Their Eyes Were Watching God chapters 8-10 and respond to the appropriate blog post over the weekend. We also received our project to go along with the novel today. You can get a copy of it on the absentee bulletin board. The project will be due during exam week. If you would like to get ahead in class, tomorrow we will be doing Chapter 17 vocabulary from your textbook. These terms are already online on the wiki. Psychology classes took Module 8 test today. This was an open book test using pages 154-155 of your textbook. Module 7 vocabulary was assigned at the end of class. These terms are online on the wiki. Government students, please be reminded that you must complete 20 hours of online work in the ACCESS distance learning program. You are quickly approaching your deadline, and this is a graduation requirement. If you missed class today, you missed a bellringer, plus we did guided reading 8-4 and took notes on the executive office of the president. These notes are in a word document located on the class wiki, under Unit 3 Notes. The worksheet is on the absentee bulletin board. We did not turn it in.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, chs 4 & 5

In Chapter 4 of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie meets Joe Starks, who is unlike any black man she has ever met. Describe her impressions of him. How is he different than Logan? Janie and Joe get to Eatonville, Florida in Chapter 5 where they are disappointed to see the state that the town is in. When Joe buys land and starts to build houses and a store in the town, the townspeople are initially excited. They name him mayor, which also gives Janie a certain status. There is a celebration surrounding the installation of a streetlight. As the town grows, however, and Joe attains a certain status, it starts to stir very different feelings in some of the townspeople, particularly when he builds his own house. “Take for instance that new house of his. It had two stories with porches, with banisters, and such things. The rest of the town looked like servants’ quarters surrounding the ‘big house.’” The citizens start to feel inferior, and Joe likes it. He desires to be set apart from others and wants Janie to feel the same, but she doesn’t. We talked in class about how Nanny had put Janie in a “box” because of her own feelings and understanding of what black women needed. Explain to me how Joe is doing something similar. Give examples. Also read the following statement from the last page of chapter five. Analyze what is meant by it. “The town had a basketful of feelings good and bad about Joe’s positions and possessions, but none had the temerity to challenge him. They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down.” In order to receive full credit for this entry you must answer all the questions and respond to at least one other commenter's post. Your response should be well thought out and articulate. Please remember that you are writing for an audience. Slang is unacceptable.

Tuesday, November 19

Any Government student who missed today's test will need to make it up after school on Thursday.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, chapter 1

In chapter 1 of Their Eyes Were Watching God, we are introduced to Janie, who is our main protagonist. Chapter 1 is one of only two chapters in the book that take place in the present. The other chapters are all Janie telling the story of her life to her best friend Phoeby. The book is Janie's story written from an auto-biographical perspective. We are introduced to the insights she has picked up over her lifetime about who she is and what she considers important in life. The opening line of the book reads: “Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.” Analyze this statement. What do you think Hurston meant by this? The men and the women of the town have very different reactions to Janie's return to Eatonville, Florida, where the story is set. Describe their reactions. You must respond to to both questions in order to recieve full credit for this post. Each online discussion will be worth forty points. The online portion of discussion constitutes half of your participation grade. You will have until Friday to respond to this topic.

Monday, November 18

U. S. History classes copied a chart on Roosevelt's Progressive Legislation. This chart can be found on the class wiki page. Students completed and turned in Vocabulary activity 18. This assignmnet is on the absentee bulletin board. You have until Friday to submit it. Students also did a geography in history acivity. You must ASK me for this assignment. It is not on the absentee bulletin board. Your test on chapter 18 will be this Friday. This test is almost all vocabulary. There is a study guide online on the class wiki. If you did not bring your copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God to class today for the book check, you need to bring it in immediately. You currently have a test grade zero. The first blog post on the book will go up tomorrow. You are required to participate in this blog. This constitutes half of your participation grade for our work with the novel. You must post original answers as well as respond to your peers. Government students have a test tomorrow on Unit 2. There is a study guide online on the class wiki. The Create a State project is due this Friday. If you have not performed your part of the group project I have informed your team NOT to put your name on the project. You will receive three zeroes for this major grade. Psychology students completed and turned in a graphic organizer in which they labelled the parts of the brain. You must ask me for this assignment. You have until Friday to submit it. Your test on Module 8 is scheduled for this Friday.

U. S. History Reminder!!

All students MUST have the book "Their Eyes Were Watching God" in class on this Monday, November 18. This is a TEST grade! You also must join this blog. A lot of our book discussion will take place through online literature circles using the blog.