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New Year

This year I am the Humanities Coordinator for Pembroke Public Schools. I will leave this site up and available for students and colleagues who may want to use its resources.

Senior Horizon

May marks the end of high school for our seniors, who should be sailing off into the horizon in just a few weeks. Hopefully, they are keeping up with final assignments and preparing for one last round of exams to successfully embark on their next journey.  With that in mind, keep up-to-date.

All classes are involved in the following activities:

Poetry students are compiling a thematic anthology which includes an autobiography, illustrated poems, and a thorough explanation of poetic devices employed in each original work.

Sophomores in E period are proceeding through Animal Farm with a rhetorical analysis of Old Major's speech before moving on to Chapter 3. Sophomores in D period will begin this activity later in the week.

Junior American Literature students are presenting research conducted on key events and people of the Vietnam War as we have just begun reading Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.  They are also writing vignettes, capturing their own fictionally enhanced memories.

Setting Sail into the Final Term

Term 4 is underway with some new developments. All students in grades 9-12 are now required to make a 3-5 minute oral presentation with visual aids (slide show, poster, glogster, etc.) which will be evaluated using PSHS's speaking and listening rubric. For students in grades 9-11, the score on this presentation, which will be made sometime during fourth term, will be calculated as 20% of each student's final exam grade. For seniors, this presentation will be part of the Term 4 grade.

The following units of study are underway at present:

American Literature students are working on a close reading passage analysis, choosing a narrative passage from Huck Finn and delving deeply into it, word by word. During vacation, students will be reading three literary criticisms on Huck Finn and preparing for a Socratic Dialogue to discuss their findings, agreements or disagreements with each critical essay.  They will then write their own analysis, incorporating criticism to support their theses.

World Literature students are finishing up with Oliver Twist. They will be choosing a passage from one of the final chapters to complete a close reading analysis on. 

Poetry students are reading October Morning: A Song for Mathew Sheppard. In addition to the various poetic forms presented, students are noting one poet's ability to write a story in verse through numerous voices, weaving a troubling, resonating literary piece. They will locate a news story and tell one aspect of the story through the voice of one element of the story, choosing one of the forms of poetry used in October Morning.

Term 3 Closes

Grades have closed for Term 3. Let's move ahead full steam and end the year on an upswing.  Classes are engaged in the following instructional units:

American Literature students are continuing their adventurous journey with Huck Finn, analyzing theme development in a short paper this weekend.  Next week's focus will be on satire.

World Literature students are experiencing Victorian England through the eyes of Dickens' Oliver Twist.  They have been analyzing text structure and character development.

Poetry students have written odes to various elements of PSHS and will be posting them throughout the building. Next week they will work on poem sketching.

Marching On Through Term III

We have passed the midway point of Term III, and are currently engaged in the following activities:

American Literature students have finished reading The Great Gatsby and have been pondering the parallels between Gatsby's ideal dream of prosperity and life with Daisy with students' personal definitions of the quintessential American Dream.  Students will be conducting discussions on Monday, researching further topics related to Gatsby, and arriving at a topic of their own choice regarding attainment of the American Dream.

World Literature students will conclude their drama study of Shakespeare's Macbeth, as we proceed into Act V. We will begin the week with a look at "Lady Macbeth Now and Then." By the week's end, we should have Macbeth finished and be holding class discussions to arrive at topics for literary analysis essays.

Poetry students will be writing an essay, analyzing a poem of their choice. We will go on a poem quest Monday to locate a special poem, looking at a model on Tuesday, and moving forward. The essay's first draft will be due by the end of this week.

February's Fabulous Finish

We return from our most recent respite where we left off:

American Literature students have written feature articles, which are due today, Monday, February 24th. We will continue to read and respond to Fitzgerald's Gatsby.

World Literature students will continue in Macbeth, beginning with a reflection on one character's decision making influences. What role do the supernatural powers have over the main characters?

Poetry students have completed their ballads, while a few still need to present them.  We will be delving into the pantoum this week, using the six room image template to begin.