Week 1: Jan. 22 and 23 [assuming we can go on Thursday!]

Note: See note above weekly plans.

Let’s hope that we can get through on the smaller roads out of town so we can get into school on Thursday. If we do not, March 6 is the make up day if I’m looking at the calendar right. That makes a long time before a break of any kind.

This two days will be spent mostly getting an overview of the course and of senior project. We will get lots of information that will make more sense as thing progress. Please go to the web page [fosterenglish.com] and the calendar [linked on the web page] this week and see what kinds of things are there.

Week 1: Jan. 26 and 30

Note: This page gives you an idea of what is going on in English IV. It is not, however, everything there is, nor is it written in stone. Our plans may change depending on many factors. There is no substitute for a student’s being in class. See the on-line calendar for dates.

This week will also be spent mostly on Senior Project overview, making sure students know what will be coming down the road. Once we get all the preliminary information out, there will be much less discussion about that. We will talk about writing, argumentative writing, which is the kind of writing seniors concentrate on. That is what the research paper will be as well as their literary essays. We will also do some personal writing this semester, but our concentration is on argumentative writing. I have a power point we will go through this week that discusses the expectations.

If you look at the calendar, you see the due dates for the various things, some of which we have already talked about and others of which we have not yet discussed, but they are coming. The “prelims” or preliminary research grades will add up to 100 which will be one test grade for this marking period. Students must turn in whatever is due that day or they will not receive those points. They cannot be made up. Those grades are actually only there at all to keep students on task and on time. It would make no sense to take them late. Further, those grades do NOT count without their 4 signatures turned in. Again, the 4 signatures are vital to the process. Without them, any work is useless since there can be no credit without those permissions. Students have had a week to get the signatures; they should be in on time.

Honors will likely not begin their first novel, but standard will begin theirs.

Week 3: Feb. 2-6

Note: This page gives you an idea of what is going on in English IV. It is not, however, everything there is, nor is it written in stone. Our plans may change depending on many factors. There is no substitute for a student’s being in class. See the on-line calendar for dates.

We’ve gotten a good beginning on the research paper. As the calendar shows, this next two and a half weeks will be really full. After that, though, things will calm down. There is just no way around this as I have explained in class. Keep up the energy for two and a half weeks, and we’ll be home free. I do not mean to imply that we will not work after that, but things will settle down into a reasonable work load for a good solid class.

This week will be spent mostly on the research paper, but much of that will actually be taking place at home. We will be checking on things in class and making sure everyone knows exactly HOW things are to be done. We will likely be able to begin our first novel in honors. Standard did begin theirs last week.

Standard, fourth period, will continue with Lord of the Flies. All students in honors and standard should be writing, reading, or both each night. If they are not, they are definitely getting behind.

Week 3: Feb. 9 - 13

Note: This page gives you an idea of what is going on in English IV. It is not, however, everything there is, nor is it written in stone. Our plans may change depending on many factors. There is no substitute for a student’s being in class. See the on-line calendar for dates.

This week we will finish up the hardest part of the research paper. Work should be on-going on the research at night. In class, we will work on some writing instruction, their novels [a bit of reading each night], and perhaps just a bit about Anglo-Saxon literature from the text book. That, for now, is our last priority. It will come.

Standard, fourth period, will continue with Lord of the Flies. All students in honors and standard should be writing, reading, or both each night. If they are not, they are definitely getting behind.

Week 5: Feb. 16-20

Note: This page gives you an idea of what is going on in English IV. It is not, however, everything there is, nor is it written in stone. Our plans may change depending on many factors. There is no substitute for a student’s being in class. See the on-line calendar for dates.

During the early part of the week, work should be on-going on the research at night. In class, we will work on some writing instruction, their novels [a bit of reading each night], Anglo-Saxon literature from the text book. Both classes have begun Beowulf. Honors has only just begun, and standard is nearing test time.

All students in honors and standard should be writing, reading, or both each night. If they are not, they are definitely getting behind.

Week 5: Feb. 23 - 27

Note: This page gives you an idea of what is going on in English IV. It is not, however, everything there is, nor is it written in stone. Our plans may change depending on many factors. There is no substitute for a student’s being in class. See the on-line calendar for dates.

This week we finish up Beowulf on Monday and then will work with writing and begin the Medieval Period. Our first text in that area will be Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. We’ll have some fun with that. Honors will finish reading Wuthering Heights this week and we’ll wind that up early next week. The test and paper are coming up quickly. Standard will continue with Lord of the Flies.

Week 7: Mar. 2 – 5 [Friday is a workday.]

Note: This page gives you an idea of what is going on in English IV. It is not, however, everything there is, nor is it written in stone. Our plans may change depending on many factors. There is no substitute for a student’s being in class. See the on-line calendar for dates.

Honors:  We finished up Beowulf and tested on it last week and did some introductory activities dealing with The Canterbury Tales. We Will finish up Wuthering Heights this week and test on it and the paper will come in. See the calendar. We may be able to begin the actual reading of The Canterbury Tales, but we may not. We’ll just have to see how things go. I plan to do some mini-writing/usage lessons from the Friday papers. Students should be finishing up their research papers for next week. Some students have more to do on that than others.

Standard: We finished up Beowulf and tested on it last week. We worked with Lord of the Flies and will finish that up this week. We’ll also begin The Canterbury Tales. See the calendar.