Johnny: Guilty or Not Guilty?

Students in English 10 are reading The Outsiders and have embarked on writing their first essay of the year: should Johnny be found guilty or not guilty of the murder of the Social Bob? Students are actively involved in the writing process and have brainstormed using graphic organizers, outlining their ideas, supporting their positions, and writing their rough drafts.

Some students have also begun memorizing poems for the Poetry Out Loud competition. To see details about the national poetic celebration, visit www.poetryoutloud.org

There are only 2 weeks left in the first marking period! Keep up the good work.

Greetings and Readings

We are off to a great start in room 212 at J.M. We spent the first week getting to know each other and the class expectations. Students wrote letters to themselves and even wrote biopoems describing who they were. I'm so excited to have such wonderful students this year! I feel a great sense of enthusiasm, natural ability, and great potential. Thanks to everyone who shared a little bit of who they were with me so far.

We jumped right into the genre of short stories and read 3 from around the world. They included "Before the Law" by Franz Kafka (Czech Republic), "The Princess and All the Kingdom" by Par Lagerkvist (Sweden), and "The Censors" by Luisa Valenzuela (Argentina). We explored the concepts of theme, plot, and characterization.

Already we are diving into our first novel called The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and we are eager to see what Ponyboy gets into next...

Until the next chapter, keep up the good work!

Welcome to English 10

Welcome to room 212 students and families! I hope that you had an enjoyable summer and are ready for the upcoming school year. We have a lot of exciting things planned for this year, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you. If you work hard, get involved, and stay focused, you will find success! Best of luck. Ms. Schlaffer