In Context

Friday, March 18, 2011

English Agenda for March 21, 2011

~Strengthening the Net Through Student Engagement~

"A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper."
— Ursula K. Le Guin


I. Departmental Features

March 11th PD Follow-up & Handouts--
  • UDL (Universal Design for Learning) Guidelines
  • CCSS (Common Core State Standards) Definition of Text Complexity
II. The Nitty Gritty/Updates/Reminders
  • Flip Cameras & Flash Drives
  • CHS Notes from March 17th Meeting
  • Department Nominations for
  1. HoCoPoLitSo 2011 Awards (Due March 30)--All-County Writing Competition (Poetry, Personal Essay, Short Story, Playwriting); Promise & Achievement in Language Arts (2 Seniors)
  2. English Department Award (Due April 15)
  3. Emily Davis Award
  4. CHS 2011 Senior Awards (Due April 15)--Outstanding School Service; Outstanding Senior; Angelo Fortunato (Final year for this award)
  • Senior Writing Projects--Third Quarter
  • Grade Level Team Meetings--Please continue County Assessment data discussions

~English HSA Online Resources~

~English HSA Online Resources~

  • Maryland HSA Overview & History
  • Class of 2009--First Class Required to Pass Tests for Graduation
  • High School Testing Content & Data
  • High School Assessment Testing Calendar
  • Publicly Released Test Forms--2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
  • Answer Keys & Scoring Rubrics
  • Online HSA Courses
  • Testing Options/Accommodations
  • Contact Information

www.poets.org
~from The Tragedy of King Richard II (Act 3, Scene 3) (1623) by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MobRic2.html

Yet looks he like a king: behold, his eye,
As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth
Controlling majesty: alack, alack, for woe,
That any harm should stain so fair a show!


~from Moby-Dick (Chapter 96: The Try-Works) (1851) by Herman Melville (1819-1891)

http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Mel2Mob.html

There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he forever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.


~from Love's Phases (1899) by Paul Laurence Dunbar
(1872-1906)
http://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/dunbar/poetryindex/love%27s_phases.html

Love hath the wings of the eagle bold,

Cling to him strongly
What if the look of the world be cold,
And life go wrongly?
Rest on his pinions, for broad is their fold;
Love hath the wings of the eagle bold.


~from What the Eagle Says (1999) by Xi Chuan (born Liu Jun, 1963)

http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/crevel.html

Among men there are men who are not men, just like among eagles there are eagles that are not eagles: there are eagles that are forced to pace up and down the alleyways, and there are men who are forced to fly through the air.