Abby and I began a new unit in her vocabulary book. I introduced the words. She studied them; then she made her mini study cards. We completed several of the application activities. Abby then showed me the options for her college essay. She had begun drafting it, and it is regarding one of the novels that we read this year. We discussed her essay, and I provided her with some grammatical and stylistic suggestions.

GT and I discussed the part of the novel that he had read for homework. We discussed the recurring themes throughout the novel along with character, conflict and plot. GT answered a brief essay quiz on this part of the novel complete with correctly cited textual evidence. GT did a good job. We then completed his vocabulary book. We finished the final review in the book. GT began taking the final test on the entire vocabulary book. He is doing well. He will need to finish the test next class. GT will continue reading the novel for homework.

We finished proofreading Abby's drafted essay. She wrote a four page well-developed literary criticism complete with proper MLA citations. She did an excellent job. I presented a very brief introduction to Public Speaking. I provided her with different speaking situations, and we discussed how she would answer/present herself in those situations. We then worked in her advanced vocabulary book. Abby is going to try to finish the senior level book by the end of this school year!

GT and I are trying to complete his vocabulary book. We worked on the activities in the last review section of the book. GT will take a final on all of the words in the book next week. We are reviewing and preparing for that. We also discussed the section of the book that GT had read for homework. We discussed recurring themes. GT will continue reading the novel for homework.

Abby and I continued with her literary essay. We are writing six paragraphs instead of the typical five paragraph essay. We revised and edited two of her body paragraphs. We also reviewed how to block a quote of more than four lines using correct MLA format. Abby and I are constantly working on improving her stylistic techniques such as improving diction and sophisticating writing. Abby will continue drafting her essay. It needs to be completed by Friday.

GT and I worked on his last regular lesson in his vocabulary book. it involved two sets of words. We studied them and viewed how they are used in context. We read informational text selections using the new vocabulary words. We also completed several of the application activities. We then discussed the section of the novel that GT had read for homework. We discussed the recurring themes within the novel. GT then answered in detail an essay question as an evaluation for that section of the novel complete with textual evidence properly cited. GT did a good job. He will read the next section of the novel for homework.

Abby created a new document in correct MLA format and began drafting her essay. Today we discussed the thesis statement. We revised it and began to draft the introduction. I provided mini lessons on eliminating linking verbs in order to sophisticate your writing and how to correctly format a block quote in MLA. We also discussed some stylistic techniques such as not ending a sentence with a preposition. Abby will continue drafting her essay for homework.

Abby and I began a new unit in her vocabulary book. I introduced the words. We studied them. Abby created her mini- study cards. We completed some of the application activities. We also discussed what English that she will study next year.

We started a new lesson in the vocabulary book. We studied the words. Abby created her mini-study cards. We completed some of the application activities. We then moved to the novel. We discussed the section which was the ending that Abby had read for homework. We talked plot, author's purpose and theme. Abby said that she liked the novel. We also discussed her essay topic. We discussed incorporating two outside articles to incorporate into her analysis. Abby will do some research for homework.

We studied the hidden narrative in Hemingway's style by analyzing the ongoing dialogue between Lt. Henry and Catherine. Olivia offered a strong analysis of the exchange as a "skit" wherein the two characters vocalize words of love they both know are not true but need to be true given the fragility of their lives in war. I then read two passages that highlight Hemingway's journalistic terse style, and again we searched for the 7/8 of the iceberg below the surface meaning of the sentences themselves. Last, we located portions of the text foreshadowing that the characters are undergoing some type of character development . In that regard, Olivia discussed how the first person narrative informs the reader that the story occurred in the past in that the reader is told the characters do not know early on what they will later learn. But ,of course, Hemingway does not yet explicitly tell the reader what it is the characters later learned .Olivia then offered speculation about themes the novel will develop and what the major characters may learn from their wartime experience. For homework, I assigned reading the next two chapters.