I know not all of my students are religious, so forgive me for discussing religion this week if that offends you. Or skip ahead past my personal thoughts and reflections and move on to the work for the week.
This past week and a half I have been struggling with the aftermath of the theft of my wallet and iPhone by one of my students. I wrote about it last week, angry and hurt by what had happened. This past week I may have seemed very Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde in my first period. In the same hour I would go from peaceful to scathing. I was struggling with waves of emotion that would take me out of a place of acceptance to a place of irritation and hate. I would be okay and then all of a sudden I’d remember that one of the innocent looking faces in front of me had violated my trust and respect. I found myself withdrawing my love and then resenting my students even more for the fact that I was doing this. I didn’t want to share myself with them, and sharing myself is what I do best!
All week I have been praying for the ability to forgive whoever did this. I have been praying for the ability to forgive myself for being careless with my valuables and praying for the courage to continue to love and trust despite what has happened. I know my internal conflict has seeped into my ability to teach this week and I hope you can understand. I am a flawed human being wearing my humanity like a badge this week.
Love,
Ms. Paul
Academic Content for the Week: For all, progress reports will be mailed this week. Only 18 days into the quarter and it does seem like it flew by. More work throughout the next weeks will help to balance out your grade.
SOPHOMORES:
Monday — You read Chs. 6 & 7 of Things Fall Apart over the weekend and we started the Character Poster Activity today to put faces to all the names.
Tuesday — Finish Character Posters and review for the first test on TFA.
Wednesday — Quiz, Chapters 1-7 Things Fall Apart; Character Posters Due
Thursday — Start Part 2, Chapter 8; Get some more handouts (yay). Finish reading Chapters 8 & 9 tonight.
Friday — Review Chapters 8- 9
Weekend — Saturday is the Sophomore Snow Trip! Also, read Chapter 10.
JUNIORS
Monday — Review the two short stories from last week, “The Rules of the Game” and “Daughter of Invention” Discuss the two mothers and their attitudes toward assimilation.
Tuesday — Non-fiction short unit on assimilation begins. Read “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Talk” (aka “Quiet Girl” in the Reader) by Maxine Hong Kingston. Answer Q’s #4 & 11 on page 1291
Wednesday — Review “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Talk” and write on the following topic: Discuss how the narrator struggles to accept her traditional Chinese traits through the incident with the quiet girl. Use at least one quote to support your ideas. Due Thursday.
Thursday — Read “Straw Into Gold” by Sandra Cisneros; Answer margin questions in the Workbook; Homework: read “Only Daughter” in the reader
Friday — Review “Only Daughter” and compare to “Straw Into Gold”
Weekend — No homework








