The first hour of class, I called, wrote, and waited for Alexa -- also texted the school -- she came on very late -- I am crediting half an hour. It is her mom's birthday. She said that she would come back for the 12:00 to 12:30 class time but I couldn't get her. During the time we did have class, Alexa did quite well with finding errors in sample writing to correct the grammar, punctuation, and capitalization -- all needed for her upcoming college writing.

Alexa missed her first hour online class today. She did make it to the second hour. To prepare her for composition writing in college, Alexa has a documented essay due on Pride and Prejudice that will address courtship and marriage in the setting and time frame of the narrative as compared to today in U.S. Alexa learned the eight strategies for writing introductory paragraphs in academics. We practiced a few of these and I gave her examples. We then set up on the screen, a Word document in MLA format, and wrote all of this out as prewrite. Alexa will be submitting a rough draft by the end of March and may revise until it is an A. She needs two shorter essays, her literature 'project,' and presentation board of literary devices -- all complete and excellent by the end of the school year. This is our agreement and the requirements will be met.

We read and discussed Pride and Prejudice on share-screen through my Kindle. Alexa practiced both full quotes and woven quotes. I gave her examples and then asked questions that led her to create her own renditions of these quotes. This helps prepare her for the essay on Pride and Prejudice -- rough draft due immediately after Spring Break.

Gave Katya ten paintings, all on the subject of the subway. Katya to look at all ten, choose which in the art contest deserve to come in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Next, Katya is to write an essay tell me what the strengths of the 2nd place winner are, and what the strengths of the 1st place winner are.

Went over Vlad's first three core paragraphs in which Vlad analyzed Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson. Today, we research what two art critics have written, starting each of these paragraphs citing a quote from each critics, using block quoting and the three-part Sandwich I taught Vlad. If there is time, we will use the same initial three paragraphs format for Vlad to analyze Joseph Wright's painting Bird in a Bell Jar. Note: the critic-paragraphs to start with "According to ....." to cite the source and the source's credentials.

Alexa was absent for the first scheduled hour.

Alexa had class during the talent show as she did not want to attend (12:30 to 2:30). After reading more of Pride and Prejudice, we decided to watch the movie, stopping to discuss and compare to the book. Alexa is about halfway through with the novel, so we stopped mid-point movie. We will finish the film with discussion after the book is done and Alexa has started her writing assignment.

Alexa was absent the first hour of today

Gave Vlad my handout on two strategies for comparing and contrasting. We spent a hour analyzing Rembrandt's painting The Anatomy Lesson, looking at the faces in the painting, the amount of attention each student is giving to the anatomy lesson, the figure of the corpse, the professor's appearance, and the over-all tone of the painting, looking at the symbolism of darkness (ignorance) versus the symbolism of light in the painting (observation, learning, and knowledge). We discussed block quoting and how to introduce each block quote using the phrase "According to...."

Alexa is about halfway through reading Pride and Prejudice. She has a couple of sources to consult for her documented essay on this book.
Alexa and I created a schedule of assignments with due dates that I have printed out for her. Rough draft Pride and Prejudice essay – March 31
Final submission April 3
Short essay rough draft April 21 (TBA)
Final submission April 24
Short essay rough draft May 12 (TBA)
Final submission May 15
Alexa will submit one or two rough drafts until arriving at an essay worthy of an A if she continues the revisions to that point. She will have one major documented essay on Pride and Prejudice, then two shorter ones on other shorter novels we will read.
SENIOR PROJECT May 22: this is a creative presentation board with ten items -- literature or poetry, both British and American -- major writers and one of their major works with commentary and quote. Alexa will illustrate each item digitally.
Literary terms May 8 -- some of the more advanced literary terms that Alexa should know for college are listed for her to find definitions, explain, and give examples.