Good Morning.

 

This will be my last post of the school year, so let me start by saying congratulations.  You have completed your Junior year of high school.  It has not been easy for a number of obvious reasons and, I am sure, for some personal reasons as well.  Nevertheless, you have persevered and grown as students and as people.  This is a great accomplishment, and for that, again, I congratulate you.

 

I also want to thank you.  It has been my great pleasure and honor to work with you.  You have opened yourselves up and made yourselves vulnerable.  You have worked through challenges even when you were frustrated or tired or bored or all of those things at the same time.  You have shared your voices and listened to the voices of others.  And you have done all of those things with courtesy, respect, and (usually) a smile on your face.  That is not always easy to do, and for that, again, I thank you.

 

I am excited to see where your journeys take you.  Please remember that you have a voice that nobody in the history of the world will ever be able to duplicate.  Understand the immeasurable value of that.  I will miss you, but I will feel a lot better knowing that the world reflects your beautiful, unique light.  SHINE IT!!!!

 

With gratitude,

 

Mr. Hall 

Good Morning.

 

I hope you are all making good progress on your essay.

 

Today, you should be working on your body paragraphs.  You can keep your body paragraphs clear and focused by creating a topic sentence early in the paragraph.  Use your topic sentence to make your focus clear to the reader AND to keep you from straying away from that focus as you compose the rest of the paragraph.  After your topic sentence, you should look to bring in evidence to support your idea.  Find a quotation from the book, put it in your body paragraph, and explain why it helps to prove your argument.  When you finish a body paragraph, transition to the next one,  Remember, all of your body paragraphs should be related, and that relationship should be made clear in your introduction.

 

Email me if you have any trouble.

 

Have a great day.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning.

 

I hope you had an opportunity to brainstorm some of your ideas for your Gatsby essay yesterday.  Today, you should be looking at those ideas and planning your essay.  You do not need to use all of the ideas.  In fact, you are better off choosing the best idea and including all of the ideas that relate to it.  Plan your essay so that all of your body paragraphs relate to each other.  Then, explain that relationship in your introductory paragraph.

 

Your introductory paragraph should clearly explain and develop your analysis.  This is where you get to communicate your original ideas.  Take your time and show the depth of your thoughts.  Your body paragraphs will provide support and proof with quotations, so make sure your introduction reflects your analysis.  Try to finish at least your introductory paragraph today.

 

If you need any direction, please feel free to email me.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning.

 

I hope you are all safe and healthy.

 

I have posted to the assignments page the instructions for your final essay.  It is due at the end of the day on Friday 6/5.  Please make sure you do not wait until the last minute because I will not accept any late submissions for this assignment.

 

I suggest that you complete this assignment in parts, beginning with brainstorming.  Take some time today to get your ideas down on paper.  This is the time to push your analysis beyond the obvious.  We all know that Gatsby becomes successful because he is rich, but what are some of the other reasons for his success?  Keep asking yourself questions to create more thoughtful, original insights.

 

I wish we could all be in class together working on these steps, but I will check in with you every morning through Friday with ideas and advice for each new step in the process.

 

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning.

 

I hope you are all coping and staying well during this incredibly emotional time.  Many different forms of protest are continuing and social media debates are exploding.  If you are being pulled into these debates, I will encourage you to listen.  All year, we have been working on our ability to understand what we read, not just superficially, but down to the causes, truly understanding why people feel the way that they do.  Now you have the opportunity to apply the skills you have been developing.  Instead of being quick to dismiss or condemn, try to understand.  It doesn't mean that you have to agree, but perspectives can bring wisdom to the opinions and beliefs that you formulate.  They should still be yours, but they should be allowed to evolve with your experience.  Listening, understanding, and thinking will empower your beliefs and ultimately your voice.

 

I have posted your assignment for chapter 9 of The Great Gatsby.  Please complete and submit it to turnitin.com by the end of the day tomorrow.  Also, tomorrow I will post the final assignment of the year.  Please be sure to check in so you can get to work on it.

 

Stay safe.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning.

 

I hope you are all coping and staying well during this incredibly emotional time.  Many different forms of protest are continuing and social media debates are exploding.  If you are being pulled into these debates, I will encourage you to listen.  All year, we have been working on our ability to understand what we read, not just superficially, but down to the causes, truly understanding why people feel the way that they do.  Now you have the opportunity to apply the skills you have been developing.  Instead of being quick to dismiss or condemn, try to understand.  It doesn't mean that you have to agree, but perspectives can bring wisdom to the opinions and beliefs that you formulate.  They should still be yours, but they should be allowed to evolve with your experience.  Listening, understanding, and thinking will empower your beliefs and ultimately your voice.

 

I have posted your assignment for chapter 9 of The Great Gatsby.  Please complete and submit it to turnitin.com by the end of the day tomorrow.  Also, tomorrow I will post the final assignment of the year.  Please be sure to check in so you can get to work on it.

 

Stay safe.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning!!

 

I hope you all have finished the assignment for the last part of chapter 7.  You should submit it to turnitin.com by the end of the day today.

 

I posted your assignment for chapter 8 on the assignments page.  In chapter 7, you focused on one of the main characters of the book.  In chapter 8, you are going to focus on George Wilson, Myrtle's husband.  He is at the center of the conflict now, so we need to check in on his emotional state.

 

Please work on this assignment today and tomorrow.  I set the due date on turnitin.com for Sunday night.

 

Next week is the last week of school instruction.  We will finish Gatsby by Tuesday and have a final writing assignment due on Friday.  This writing assignment will serve as our class final.  There will be no other final exam.

 

As always, email me if you have any questions.

 

Have a great day.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning,

 

Today you should be working on the assignment for the last part of chapter 7.  When you finish the reading  (p.145-154), complete the writing assignment and submit it to the Gatsby Chapter 7 folder on turnitin.com.  Tomorrow we will tackle chapter 8!!

 

Have a great day.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning!!!

 

I hope you all had a nice weekend.

 

The end of the school year is coming up fast, so I want to make you aware of a couple of important dates.

 

Monday, June 1st:  Next Monday will be the last day that I will accept late work.  If you are missing any assignments, please make sure you get them finished and submitted to a late work folder on turnitin.com by the end of the day on Monday.

 

Friday, June 5th:  This is the last day of instruction for the year.  The following week is being reserved for collecting books, cleaning out lockers, etc.

 

This leaves us two weeks to finish up with Gatsby.  I think the timing is just about perfect.  I have posted the next assignment (Due Thursday) which focuses on the end of chapter 7.  Remember, the last section that we read was the argument at the hotel in New York City.  Daisy was emotional, Gatsby was shaken by Daisy's admission that she loved him, but she loved Tom, too.  Tom just suggested that Gatsby and Daisy drive home together because he thought they needed to talk about some things.  This scene is what happens on the way home from the city.  Hold on tight!!!

Happy Friday!!!

 

I hope you got a chance to read pages 134-144 of The Great Gatsby.  If not, please do so today.  When you finish, you should go to the Gatsby discussion board on turnitin.com to post your reactions and to read and comment on the posts of your classmates. By Sunday night, I expect to see multiple posts from all of you.

 

Remember that Monday is a holiday, so my next post with our next assignment will not be until Tuesday morning.  If you have any questions or need help with anything, email me or just post to the discussion board.

 

Enjoy the long weekend!!!

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning.

 

Thank you to Tiffany and Anthony both of whom posted multiple times about chapter 7 on the message board.  Also, thank you, Este.  I saw that you got a post up as well.  

 

For the next section of chapter 7 (maybe my favorite part of the book), I am going to give the rest of you a chance to make up this grade by posting (1)your reaction to the next 10 pages and (2)a response to one of your classmates' posts.  Anthony, Tiffany, and Este, you have all posted a reaction to chapter 7, but feel free to post again.  I would like to see all three of you reply in some more detail to another post.

 

Check the assignments page for some more details, and enjoy these next 10 pages.  They are spicy!!!

 

If you have questions, email me or just post them to the discussion board.  

 

Have a great day!!

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning,

 

I hope you all are doing well.

 

Today, you should be working on the reading that I assigned yesterday (pages 123-133) and your posts to the message board.  Remember that I want to see a MINIMUM of two thoughtful posts, one explaining your reaction to the reading and one responding to one of your classmates' posts.  Of course, you may post more than two responses, especially if you have questions to which you want me or your classmates to respond.  I look forward to reading your posts.

 

Have a great day.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning!!!

 

Today we begin reading chapter 7 (I love this chapter).  Now that Gatsby and Daisy have rekindled their relationship, the Tom-Daisy-Gatsby love triangle conflict really escalates. 

 

The first assignment, which I have posted to the assignments page, asks you to read 10 pages of chapter 7.  Then, it asks you to do something a little bit different.  Instead of submitting written work to a folder on turnitin.com, I want you to post your responses to the Gatsby discussion board on turnitin.com.  When you get to our class page, click the "Discussion" tab, and you will find a link to the Gatsby discussion board.  Please post AT LEAST TWICE, at least once with your reaction to the reading and at least once in response to one of your classmates' posts.  You should have these posts completed by the end of the day on Wednesday.  

 

Also, feel free to post questions as you read.  I will be checking the board and will respond to any questions you might have.  I hope you have some fun with this.

 

Have a great day.

 

Mr. Hall

Good Morning!!

 

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  

 

On Friday, I posted an assignment for chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby.  Please finish this assignment and submit it to turnitin.com today.  

 

Tomorrow, we will begin the final three chapters where the conflict builds to a climax.  Be sure to check in for the chapter 7 assignment.

 

Have a great day.

 

Mr. Hall