A Miraculous First Week Back

This first week back to school has been downright euphoric, with friends reuniting after two months apart, new and returning students getting to know each other, groups collaborating in class, and teachers taking it all in with high hopes for the year to come.

It's been a terrific week in English 11. We've been sharing our summer reading experiences, with a special focus on the book that all students read, Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles.

It was named one of the best books of 2013 by sources such as Booklist and Kirkus Reviews, and with good reason -- it is a powerful, gripping read,  a coming-of-age story meets an end-of-the-world story. We've been discussing the book in class and have also been drawing examples from it as we review literary elements and terms such as theme, conflict, and symbolism.

What's So Great About Gatsby?

Source

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

This quarter, the juniors have been reading The Great Gatsby. A few juniors weighed in on what makes this novel a classic:

I would definitely consider The Great Gatsby to be a piece of classic literature because its concepts and story transcend time. The specifics of the setting are very important because of the time of "New Money" and the rising culture of the 1920's; however, I believe that if the story were set in the current time period, most of the values and concepts throughout the novel would still ring true in our world today. Even though some of the characteristics of the era do help to define the feeling of different situations and the overall setting throughout the story, people in our age can still identify with the struggles within the novel.
-- Mara G. 

In modern times, we always hear stories about power struggles and affairs between celebrities, and we can see just how much money is valued in our society. The Great Gatsby allows us to peek into different eras and witness all these struggles in similar settings. It gives us a deeper understanding of one another as human beings. Through comparing the book's setting with modern times, we can see that humans are prone to follow similar patterns, no matter the current age. We are able to relate to one another and, for some of us, be able to learn from the mistakes in the past. We are able to have a glimpse into what is considered a mysterious world and have a better understanding of it because we are able to make many comparisons between the different times.
-- Hulali A. 

Happy Holidays!

Enjoy your break, juniors!

Voice Poems

Empathy truly is a gift, and voice poems make this clear. After watching the stage performance of The Little Mermaid, the juniors were challenged to compose voice poems, sharing the point of view of a character and seeking to understand this perspective. 

Here are a few peeks at the poems the students shared on the class message board: 

Ariel

I am waiting, dreaming, and longing for a life beyond the sea

And this is my one and only plea.

I'm tired of swimming around with these fins

I want knees, legs, feet and shins.

I want to run and walk and live like them

I'd trade my crown, a ring and even a gem.

I want to walk on the sand and feel the sun on my skin

And this is when my life will begin.

I will meet a Prince, handsome, and strong

And finally find the place where I belong. 

Flotsam/Jetsam

Wriggling and writhing,

Just a part of Her body.

Once a young seahorse,

Now bound to this "Mommy."

One simple mistake;

That's all that it took

To take me from swimming

To being Her crook.

"Go here!" and "Grab this!"

Screams loud in my ear.

I'm a poor, lost soul

Wanting out of here!

-- K.K. 

King Triton
I am seen as the mighty King,
the ruler of all the reef,
the leader.
But they do not see
the person under the title
the husband who lost his wife,
the father of daughters without a mother.
I try to do what's best
to be a good father,
to teach with words I do not know,
to find what has been lost;
The instinct of a father,
lost long ago,
replaced by the instinct of a ruler.

T.L. 

Ariel 

How hard it is to be at loss of words

not by choice, but by force.

How hard it is to be unable to tell 

the man you love, that you think he's swell. 

I must get him to kiss me, and not by force.

I have to let true love take its course.

I need to do this in three days time, 

that's the only way to make him mine.

If I fail, it's more than just hard luck...

it's my corpse in Ursula's muck. 

Prince Eric's Poem:

(When he first hears Ariel’s voice)

One day while I was out at sea,

I heard an angel's voice calling to me.

It seemed to come from the sea below,

Anything more divine could never be known.

This voice was more beautiful than anything I had ever heard,

It embodies the sea itself and seemed to be as alive and free as a bird.

The sea itself seems to respond to her song,

It seems to sway to her notes and dance along.

Her voice seems to surround me and it takes my breath away,

No other girl has ever made me feel this way.

Could she be the girl? Could she possibly be the one for me?

Her voice alone is enough to set my heart off beat.

Her voice is gone as soon as it came.

Oh how I wish her voice didn’t go away.

I must find the owner of this voice, this voice of the sea,

And make her my bride for the rest of eternity.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am grateful for those moments

when words fail

when I am humbled

by the realization

that I don’t have all the answers.

I am grateful for every chance to say,

With honesty,

“I don’t know,”

Because it welcomes

An opportunity to learn.

I am grateful for the hands and mouths and minds

That transform the tasks of word-work

into the wonders of word-play,

for days that end not in periods

or exclamation marks,

but with question marks,

or hopefully, with ellipses.

Most of all, 

I am grateful for a God 

who guides me toward

A greater understanding

of the extraordinary story 

at the heart

of every one of us.

Moving Poems Project : "Heaven Is What I Cannot Reach"

Moving Poems Project: "Heaven Has Different Signs To Me"