Le Scribe de Period 5

Hi 5th hour! This is EmilyL scribing again.

We began class with Ms. Smith passing out some purple papers. They were American Lit. summer homework. (GROAN!) We have to read two books off the approved list and write 3 paragraphs about one of them. This is to prepare us for our American Literature Independent Study (ALIS) next year.

Smith then proceeded to tell us what she thought of each book on the ALIS list:

Book and Author	Smith’s Comments
Anthem by Ayn Rand	This book is an utopian novel, Smith personally didn’t like it, but some of us might.
East of Eden By John Steinbeck	Smith loves this book; it made her like John Steinbeck. It is a longer book about a family.
The Things They Carried By Tim O’Brien	This a Vietnam war story that Smith recommends to anyone interested in war or adventure.
Black Boy By Richard Wright	Smith says this is a classic about an African American book.
A Raisin the Sun By Lorraine Hansberry	Smith says this is a good book that was made into a play.
Yellow Raft on a Blue River By Michael Dorris	I missed this one and can’t remember any details, but the summary I looked on Google says it is growing up novel.
Bless Me Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya	This is a novel on spirits much like Isabel Allende books. All regular 10th graders read this.
House on Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros	I missed this one, but I found out that it is a growing up novel about a girl in a Chicago slum.
All is Quiet on the Western Front By Eric Marie Remarque	This is another war novel.
The Old Man and the Sea By Ernest Hemingway	The plot is summarized as follows The man fishes. He catches a fish. He dies. The end. Smith DOES NOT recommend this book. She hated it.
My Antonia By Willa Cather	Smith has never read this but it is on her to read list this summer.
The Awakening By Kate Chopin	This a feminism novel.
The Shining By Stephen King	I don’t remember what Smith said about this one either but it is Stephen King so be warned.
The Jungle By Upton Sinclair	Smith recommends this one for anyone who has history interest. However, since it is about meatpacking you must have a strong stomach.

Then Ms. Smith passed out MAP scores and we had a discussion how if you decreased, it doesn't not mean you became "stupider," it just means that you were already brilliant and it was hard for you to increase.

Smith also made an announcement about documentary interviews. (See below post)

Then we moved to our main event: a video! The video was on Manazar and what camp life was like. After the video, we discussed it. Important points from the discussion:

• There are many parallels to the Holocaust.
• The Japanese people did not fight back because it is not in their culture.
• The way children were affected. i.e. They played mess hall instead of house.
• The way the video opened our eyes to the differences from what is commonly heard and what happened.

Homework:

• Semester project
• You may want to start thinking about the summer reading assignment for ALIS.
• Sign up for a documentary interview. We are better than period 2, we need more interviews than them!
• Finals start Friday.

Countdown:

2 More English classes. :(
6 more School Days including finals

Have a Great Tuesday!