January 27 - 31

Welcome back! We started the semester out strong with The Great Gatsby, and turned in the first assignment: one paragraph (four sentences) matching a song of your choice to a Gatsby character in Chapter One.

This week, the first quiz on Thursday/Friday will include reading questions. It is very important that you take the time to do the reading. If that means searching for "Gatsby" and "Chapter 3" on YouTube and listening to someone read the audio version, that's all right, though it's preferable to set aside some time and focus on the book and read it yourself. You're not just getting an understanding of the events of the book, but sentence structure, vocabulary, and building on the ability to focus for periods of time. You'll also then be able to form your own opinions about a famous and frequently-referenced book, rather than just following whatever Sparknotes tells you to think about the book. As a reward for those that do the reading, all of the activities and assignments (including quizzes) that the class does over this unit involve knowledge of the book that will oftentimes be outside of Sparknotes (which I also read). I have seen the Gatsby movies many times and there are differences between the movie versions and the book. Note: if you don't like your score on an activity or assignment this unit, the first question I will ask you if you come to me will be, "Did you read the book?"Please make the time to relax and read each night.


MONDAY/TUESDAY: Journal warm-up. Gatsby party compare/contrast activity. Argument notes. Begin reading Chapter 4 with activity.

Due: Finish reading Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby.

Homework: Finish reading Chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby for Thursday/Friday and be ready to discuss.



WEDNESDAY: Journal warm-up. Current event day - read and annotate two opposing viewpoints. Discuss and debate, vote. Outline the majority opinion in a synthesis/ACT-style outline response based on the discussion


Due: n/a

Homework: Same as Monday.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY: Journal warm-up. Vocab, grammar, and reading quiz. Argument notes, including outline format. Mini-lesson: introducing and citing quotations. (Click here for the page on Owl Purdue for all of the possible iterations.) Begin reading and acting out Chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby.

Due: Read The Great Gatsby up through the end of Chapter 4.

Homework: Finish reading Chapter 5 and fill out the Gatsby Character Nomination Form completely for next class.