Welcome Freshmen
English 9 survival guide
Intro
Hello everybody and welcome to your freshman year! I am Andrew Handley, a former student of Mrs. Allen's freshman class. In the beginning Mrs. Allen literally bombards you with work, and I'm sorry to say but the bombardment of papers never ends. Even with all the work the class is filled with many humorous, and serious moments. Also make sure not to procrastinate, and do all the work assigned. Most importantly keep all papers, and keep your binder organized. Why do you ask? One there are binder checks that are a huge portion of your grade. Also you can use your binder on the final in English.
A taste of what you may be doing throughout the year
One of the first units you will do is the short story unit. Some of the stories you will read are "The Monkey's Paw", "The Tell-Tale Heart","Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and "The Necklace". Many of the stories are from famous like Guy De Maupassant. Just a warning all of the short stories come with a lot of other work that has to do with the story. Than you have to do a Romeo and Juliet section that takes over a month. In this section you have to do logs about every scene. This section also has some moments that may take a while to understand, but you'll get it eventually. After that section you will read a book called Monster by Walter Dean Myers. In this section you will write a daily journal. The purpose for the journal is to express what you fell about the situation in the book. Than the poetry section is near the end of the year, and even Mrs. Allen doesn't favor this section. Even though this poetry section consists of one poem. But this one poem is about anything you want, and is in no specific order. Than before you turn in your poem Mrs. Allen makes you record it on a iPad. Unfortunately, that was only a taste of what you may be doing throughout the year.
Independent Reading
Well first I do understand that reading isn't the most exciting thing for some people. However, that doesn't mean that you can just look up your independent reading book on Spark Notes, and act like you read the book during your book talk. Because Mrs. Allen somehow can tell from someone who read the book, and someone who looked it up on Spark Notes. Another point is that each independent reading unit is about 80 points each, and is the deciding factor in your final English grade.
My favorite part of English 9
Reading Monster by Walter Dean Myers, and writing the journal for it was my favorite part of English 9. First off Monster really makes you think about the controversial issue of Juveniles being charged of a crime as a adult, and the journal helps form your own opinion on the issue. Then at the end of the section you have to write a essay on the verdict based on your own opinion.
My not so favorite thing about English 9
Truly the one thing I did not like about this year. Is when we read the Odyssey, and watched the Odyssey. Mainly, because of all the gods and goddesses in the Odyssey, and then we had to make trading cards of all of the gods and goddesses.
Free Advice
The only thing I would advise would be to stay organized, and not to procrastinate. Also I made a mistake in not reading my independent reading book, and just looking it up on the internet/Spark Notes. So, we had different assignments each week to check on are progress, and I received an A on most of those assignments. Then when the book talk came around I was confident that I would get at least a B on it. Then when I received the book talk rubric and saw my grade was a low c. So, from that moment on I always read my independent reading book, and I never got anything close to a c again.
Top 5 thing that Mrs. Allen love to assign
1. Vocab Worksheets
2. Articles of the week
3.Edmodo work
4. Gives what seems like two weeks worth of work, and only gives you one week on it.
5. Binder checks
Last but not least, A few insirational quotes
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
~Confucius
In the end, people are persuaded not by what we say, but by what they understand.
~John C. Maxwell
Excellence means when a man or woman asks of himself more than others do.
~Jose Ortega y Gasset
Words are but wind; and learning is nothing but words; ergo, learning is nothing but wind.
~Jonathan Swift
One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.
~Napoleon Bonaparte