Word O' the Week

Boodge [Booj] : A box or container on the back of a carriage used to carry swords.

Note: Some of the words have been hard to use in context. This word was selected to work well with our discussions this week- so use it often for extra credit.

9.12.08

Brit Lit: Make sure you finish your game manual- due in class this Monday. Please email me if you run into a problem with the assignment.

Soph Lit: Nice Holden book covers today. But I think that most of you proved that art might not be your strong point :-) Remember next week, try and remember to bring in a solo song that has lost its mate... Holden papers will be due Tuesday (so you get an extra day)

Have a great weekend Tantasqua!

9.11.08

******Please make sure that you have read Three Cups of Tea. Reminder- it is worth a full credit, and well worth the time it takes to read. ******

For the next ten weeks, every Friday is "Dollar Day." I will be collecting any money you would like to donate A Block. Our school goal is to reach $12,000, which is the cost of a new school in Afghanistan or Pakistan. So- a dollar a week, for ten weeks. Think we can do it? I will be also running a special contest in our Block A class to recognize 100% participation. Let's come together and do something important and needed :-)

Brit Lit: Video Game Manual due date has changed to this Monday to accommodate Summer Reading. Please make sure you show your parent/guardian the letter that I sent home tonight. Please encourage them to call me if they have any questions or concerns.

Soph Lit: Holden Paper is due this Monday. No HW- look over Summer Reading and be ready for tomorrow! Also- please bring your dream catcher words to class. If you lost them, or were not able to come up with any last Friday, I will be providing and alternative assignment.

9.10.09

Soph Lit: Make sure you see me if you did not have enough time today in the lab and were not able to finish typing your Holden paper. Here is the assignment, FYI:

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE: Write Like Holden

Directions: Write a narrative essay about an incident that happened to you this year in school, and do so from Holden's point of view.

To start, think about an incident that remains especially vivid in your mind; choosing such a memory will make the writing a bit easier.

Next, write the incident using Holden's style and his philosophy of life.

Please include the following:

Holden's Style
slang
sarcasm
judgmental
repetition
exaggeration
digressions
addressing the reader directly
expressions such as "It really did," "I swear," "It's true. It really is," "If you really want to know the truth," and "I'm not kidding" to emphasis a point
frequent use of the expression "...and all"
an ambivalent* tone of both sadness and humor

Holden's Philosophy
disliking phonies
confusion about girls and sex
feeling isolated
sad about Allie's death
loves his sister
at moments very depressed, lonesome, and almost suicidal

A length of 2-3 double-spaced typed pages (or 5-7 double-spaced handwritten pages) would be appropriate for this assignment.




*"Ambivalent" means "the co-existence of two conflicting
feelings about a person, object, or idea," and "tone" means
"the feeling or mood suggested within the word choice of a
specific passage of writing."

Brit Lit Assignment- Due Monday 9.15.08

Brit Lit:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
the Video Game


Assignment: You work for a small indie video game company, and have just purchased the publishing right for a new video game based on the story. Please design a manual that will explain how the game is played. You will be graded on the following rubrics:


1.) A cover that has the title and cover art. 10 points

2.) Weapons page. Detailing at least 5 weapons that you have researched from the 14th century. Please include a picture and detailed 3 sent description for each.
20 Points

3.) Intro page, which summarizes the story.
20 Points

4.) 10 Levels. For each, please title and give a 5-10 sentence description of the objective. 30 Points

5.) End boss picture or description, including the one weakness.
20 Points.

9.9.08

It was very nice to be nominated for teacher of the week. It humbled me to receive attention. Being new, I continue to be amazed at how nice and sincere everyone is at Tantasqua. You are all very lucky to attend such a great school. I am honored to have become a part of it! Thanks :-)

Brit Lit: I will have a rubrics for your "Design a video game manual for the Green Knight video game." We will go over the assignment in class. If we have time, we will finish Excalibur. Please review all of your notes up to this point. To review: Look at the Hero's Journey, Alliteration, Kennings, and the notes that I gave today on the Green Knight. I will try and schedule 1/2 a class to allow you time to research your game manual project.

Soph Lit: We have a vocab Quiz tomorrow. Bonus question: What is this from: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps upon this petty place....

Please finish your Holden 1st draft. I will look to have conferences with each of you in the lab while you work. I am sorry that we ran out of time on your timelines today. How ironic. I will give you some time to finish them on Thursday. and...what is that I smell? A pop quiz on your reading.....mmmmm...the smell of fresh copied quizzes.....Make sure that you read!

Go Red Sox...1st place is just around the corner....

Word O' the Week:

Antapology [ant-uh-pah-luh-jee]: A reply to an apology.

Please use this as often as you can this week for extra credit and exciting door prizes.

9.8.09

Brit Lit:
Block A- you have the night off. I will get everyone the same copy of the anthology for Tuesday. Review your notes on Gothic Lit that I gave today in class.

Block B- Now that we all have the same versions, this should be easy....Please read pgs 69-79. You may take notes in it helps you. Quiz Tuesday. Please also review the notes on Gothis Lit

We will be reading in the dark on Tuesday.

Soph: Please define vocab words. Make sure you read Ch 6-9 in Catcher. Also, please continue to work on your rough draft of your Holden Paper. I have us signed up for the lab on Wed., so make sure you have all of your 1st draft writting finished. Our vocab quiz will be on Wed. of this week, to allow you Wed and Thursday night to look over your Summer Reading.

Reminder: Summer Reading- this Fri., Sept. 12th. Make sure you read!

9.5.08

This weather made it feel like the August we never had. You do not know how lucky you are to go to a school with central air. I can't believe that many of you complained that it was too cold!

For me, there was nothing worse than teaching in a 90 degree classroom in shirt and tie. Today, it felt so great to dress comfortably, and "chill" in room 3115.

Brit Lit: I am still working to see if I can show you clips of the 2008 version of Beowulf. If it does not work out, please consider watching it at home. You may still be able to find it on pay-per-view, and def. at your local video store.

Soph Lit:

I corrected your vocab quizzes. In general, lots of B's and A's. I will pass them back on Monday. Good to see that most of you studied the words. Make sure you take your Dream Catching words and do not look at them until next Friday. If you did not have any luck getting some dreams, I will have an alternative assignment for you- so fear not.

Both classes- You have the weekend off HW wise. Do something fun. The Summer winds are passing fast, and before you know it, we will smell fresh fires burning at night, and wearing heavy clothing. (Brit Lit: Note the well place alliteration.....)

Summer Reading assessment will take place Sept. 12th- so consider reading. If you read it early in the Summer, you may want to look it over to refresh your reading. I am going to the Boston College football game with my Dad and daughter. Hanna looks to bring the tropics to MA for the day, so it should be fun. I don't mind sitting in the rain- as long as it is not cold November rain.

9.04.08

Brit Lit:

Block A- please read the section on Medieval history. Some good stuff- Knights of the round table, etc...

Block B- You have the night off.

Friday- I try to plan for something fun and different on Friday. Tomorrow, we will be listening to some "phat beats" and laying down some rap all over some classic ballads in your Anthology. Pdiddy has nothing on this stuff :-)

Soph Lit: You have a vocab quiz on Friday. Please also continue to work on your Holden papers. I am sorry about the computer lab mess up today. I have us scheduled in the lab next Tuesday and Wed., which should be suffice to get all of your work done. We will then be looking at your papers, and injecting some Holdenisms. Imitating tone and style is one of the hardest things to do- this assignment will let you do this, and have some fun while you are at it.

On Friday, we will be writing from your sleepy "creative" side of your brain. Get ready to catch some dreams......

9.3.08

Brit Lit:

I asked you to read the next 2 seg. of Beowulf.  Apparently, there are 2 diff. versions of your textbook.  Please wait and I will clarify the assignment in class Thursday.  I apologize for the confusion....

I have graded your epic poems- some real, real, good stuff.  Most of you understand how to use a kenning, and demonstrated understanding of the Hero's Journey.   For those of you who are interested, please google: The power of Myth.  You can also search this on you tube if you want to see highlights from the PBS documentary that I talked about in class.  Blogger will not allow me to paste a direct link for some reason. 

I will have the papers that were passed in back on Thursday.  If you asked to finish it at home, please do not forget to pass it in.

Soph Lit.:  Continue tonight to look at your world as "Holden."  We will be in the computer lab Thursday, so please make sure you have enough of your first draft done to utilize this time.  HW:  Please read Ch 4-5.  Most of you read Ch 4 last night-  Please expect a quiz.

Also, please remember that your vocab def. are due Thursday.  I will be checking this in class.

Many of you have been using the word of the week in your writing assignments.  You are rewarded with extra credit when you do so.  If you used the word, and I missed it, please make sure that you bring this to my attention.  Remember- words and education, make us stronger.  A strong vocabulary is a strong compliment to your arsenal.  Knowledge = POWER.

9.2.08

Brit Lit: Please make sure that you read the Battle with Grendel. Per your request, the music score will return. Please also review your notes that I gave you on the Hero's Journey. In class on Wed., we will be making our own mini - epic poems (talk about a contradiction of terms.) Remember to try and use the word of the week as much as you can. Words can only make us stronger!

Soph Lit: Please make sure that you read 1-4 in Catcher. Please expect a quiz Wed. It will be 10 questions on Chapters 1-3. Reminder: Vocab def are due Thursday. Quiz on your words (matching) Fri.
And you may want to pay attention to the random facts on the side of this page- I find many of my bonus questions right here.

Word O' the week

This week, the word of the week is: Abnormous- mis-shapen. It is a word that sounds made up, and not a real word. Try and use it as often as you can this week in class.

Xbox Live

When I am not being a Dad, or correcting piles of papers, I love to escape and play video games.  If any of you would like to take on your new teacher, add: The Q to your friends list.  I don't get on as much as I would like, but if you see me on, I will try to play.

8.30.08

I hope everyone is enjoying the great weather.  Moving to a new school after 13 years was a hard move for me to make, but I couldn't be happier about teaching at Tantasqua.  

One of the things that you will hear me talk about, is a student TV show that I did at Shepherd Hill.  If you are curious (and real bored), you can check out all 183 episodes at: www.youtube.com/user/seancusick

I would love to hear what you guys think, as well as if you think that I should bring a TV show to Tantasqua.

Enjoy the weekend, and I will see you Tuesday. :-)

8/28/08

Brit Lit:

I hope that the sound effects and mood music added to our reading of Beowulf. Block A is starting to feel like my soundcheck class- with me trying new things to see if they will work. I will try and be much more polished in the next few weeks. I just looked over your drawings and creature descriptions. Not bad.... But nothing near to the real Grendel that we will meet next week! Play in the sunshine....

Soph Lit:

It surprised me that you all like Holden in chapter 1. Kudos to Michelle for being brave enough to tell the teacher that she did not like the character in her teachers fav book. :-)

Next Friday, you will have your 1st vocab quiz on the ten words that I gave you. If you have time and want to get ahead, please define each of them. Other than that.... think about the diff. levels of mental illness. We will begin to examine Holden and talk about some of bad choices that he is starting to make.

General Note:

I would like to thank all of you for making my 1st few days at Tantasqua memorable. It is true what everyone told me: there are great kids at Tantasqua. Thank you for the warm and kind welcome!

August 27, 2008

Brit Lit:

For tonight please read the intro history on pgs 1-10 in most of your anthologies. Please expect a real short quiz on your reading.

Your "skits" today, made my day. I know that it is early in the year, but it was nice to see some of you having fun while you were learning. Both classes proved that the oral tradition of storytelling still does not preserve a story....

Thursday we will begin Beowulf, and start class by taking some intro notes, and examining what it means to be a hero. Get ready for some bloody good monster reading.... and some sound effects to set the mood as we plunge into fear.

We will also be trying to create our own original monsters, and talk about what triggers our fear of the unknown, and how fear played a large part in early British Literature. Grendel is coming....... and he is hungry.... and mad........

Sophmore Lit.:

Tonight you will meet Holden. What are your first impressions? Remember to ask those around you for their experiences. Were they allowed to read it?

We will begin talking about vocab this year, and you will be given your first set of words. Remember, new words give us great power.....

Cover your book- you know who you are....

4 days where we can pretend that it is still Summer, and be grateful that we will get out almost a week before those who go back to school next Tuesday. Enjoy the great weather- but don't forget your Summer reading. If you have not read yet, there is still plenty of time- it is an easy read- so find a good tree and read!

First Day

It was nice meeting all of you today. Just a reminder to cover your books. Block C: please finish you "what if...." questions, as we will be talking about them Wed.

Blocks A & B Please think about:

What makes a hero?

Block C:

Should books ever be banned? Please share with those around you that you are reading Catcher, and report back to class their reactions. :-)

I am real excited about this year, and working with you. Get ready to do some fun things......

Quote of the week:

"There can be no rtrue learning without some element of fun." Emerson

Welcome!

Welcome to my English Class blog!

I am super excited about my new position, and can't wait for the year to begin. As a new teacher at Tantasqua, I thought that it might be a good idea to introduce myself. So here is a bit about me, and what to expect this year in my class:

I am a graduate of Boston College, and have been teaching for 13 years. Most of those years was right next door at Shepherd Hill Regional High School in Dudley. As a teacher in a nearby district, I have always heard great things about your school and communities. At Shepherd Hill, I always tried hard to make my classroom a place where students look forward to attending. I hope to continue this at Tantasqua.

When I was in high school, I was bored most of the time, very rarely challenged, and had many teachers who in my estimation at the time, disliked teenagers.

The year I graduated high school, I saw the film Dead Poets Society in the theaters. I began to wonder what it would be like to go into education from the background of a student who hated school. I saw the character that Robin Williams played, and thought to myself: How would have HS been different if I had a teacher like him?

So I changed and broadened my English major to include education classes. During my Jr. year in college, I had the opportunity to teach in Ireland for the year. I am sure I will end up telling stories from time to time in class :-) Remind me to tell my Irish Ghost story on Halloween....

At SH, I wore many different hats. I co-directed plays with your own Ms. St. Jean for 5 years. (Did I mention how excited I am to be working with her again?) We did some great stuff together. I was thinking of twisting her arm and doing it again here, but who knows.... In addition to English, I have a passion for technology. I love tinkering with computers and seeing how stuff works. This interest led me to creating a video studio at Shepherd Hill, and producing a student run TV show, called Shepherd Hill AM- or SHAM for short. If you are curious, you can watch old episodes at: http://www.youtube.com/user/seancusick

Most recently, I taught a creative writing class, where my students wrote and published their own origional novels. You can read about it here: http://www.southbridgeeveningnews.com/pdf/WEB.2008.05.30.pdf

So what can you expect from me as your teacher- lots! I have extremely high expectations for both myself and you in my classroom. I will be using this blog to communicate with you outside of class. This includes class notes, weekly discussion questions, a new vocab word of the week to be used in class and daily assignments for those of you who might miss class or need clarification. I look forward to doing great things together this year! See you in a few.....