Mango Street Reading Homework

You need to read Vignettes 40 - 44!!

Unfortunately, due to copyright laws, I can't put the actual pages on the blog, but I can put copies of the charts you need to fill out and bring, COMPLETED, with you to class when next we meet.

Mango Street Pre-Write

Mango Street Directions (for Vignettes 1- 20)

Mango Street Directions (for Vignettes 21-44)

Mango Street Chart (For Vignettes 1 - 10)

Mango Street Chart (For Vignettes 11 - 20)

Mango Street Chart (For Vignettes 21 - 33)

Mango Street Chart (For Vignettes 34 -44)

For Those of You Missing Work

You need to take care of missing work on your own!! It is your job, if you miss a day, or don't finish an assignment, to pick up a copy in class and finish on your own. For those of you who waited to long to find missing work, here are links that will let you print off what you need to do:

Grammar Assessment

Personal English History

Class Syllabus

SSR Syllabus

SSR & Syllabus Quiz

Print off what you need and turn it in As Soon As Possible!!

Parents: If you haven't set up your account yet, use the following link to go to the school's website and open an account (FREE account) to view your student's progress on-line.

https://tusdstats.tusd.k12.az.us/

Click on the section on the right called "Create/view account" and follow the directions.

Hello Poetry Lovers!!

Today in class, I read you a Gwendolyn Brooks quote from the cover of House on Mango Street. We briefly talked about who Gwendolyn Brooks was and why it was significant that she spoke so highly of the book that you are about to start reading. For extra credit, I have included a video of still images that play to a recording of Brooks reading her poem. Watch the video, and then write a 5 sentence paragraph about what the poem is about and what you think it means.

Transcript of Poem:

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thing gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

Hello Bloggers!!

Some of you missed yesterday when we set up our blogs and reviewed the weekly blogging assignment, so I thought (being the thoughtful guy I am) that I would post links to the necissary instructions here on the ol' class blog so you can get caught up. No, no, there is no need to thank me, I'm just a humble public educator.

This link will take you to the assignment overview:

Blog Assignment

Start by going to http://www.blogger.com and clicking on "create account". Choose the format and style you want, and then access the PDF files below to help guide you through selecting the settings & creating a profile that will keep you and everyone in the class safe on-line. You are required to follow all of the setting & profile rules, WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

This link will run you through the settings I want you to input:

Setting Your Settings

This link will tell you what you are allowed to include in your profile:

Creating Your Profile

This link will show you operate your dashboard and publish a post:

Welcome to Your Dashboard & Publishing

This link will highlight the features of your blog & how to navigate that bad boy:

Using Your Blog

This is a link to my personal blog, if you want to see (and judge) my work: http://mrmahersworld.blogspot.com/

Good luck, and good blogging, feel free to email me if you have any questions or problems.

SSR Suggestions!!

Hello Readers!!

We start our SSR program this week, which means you need to have a book with you in class, every day, starting Wednesday, August 26th (today). Since some of you are having a hard time hunting down books, I am going to list my all time top five favorite books that you're guaranteed to love. They are, in no particular order:

1.) Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. This book is hard to explain without overselling it. The main character is the only surviving member of a fictional family of circus freaks who traveled across the country in the late 70s and early 80s. It hops between our main character's life as the most 'normal' and therefore 'useless' member of her family, and the present where she is stalking her neighbor, a pretty girl who may or may not have a tail. Cults, amputees, a turtle-boy and more eyebrow raising tragedy than you can imagine crowds this book cover to cover.

2.) the Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Yeah, I know, its a movie now, and, no I haven't seen it, and I never will. I also know that it looks and sounds a bit "girly" and maybe it is, but this is one of the most interesting and cool books I've ever read. The time travel takes a few pages to completely understand, but once you get going the book doesn't fail to make you laugh and cry. Yes, I actually cried while reading it. If you don't, you're dead inside.

3.) Watership Down by Richard Adams. If you wanted to learn as much as possible and only ever read one book in your life, this is it. This story covers every conceivable topic: love, religion, intolerance, the evils of capitalism, the value of having true friends, courage, faith, violence and so much more, but it does it all with bunnies. Yes, these bunnies will teach you more about life than any other land-based rodent I've ever read about (sorry, Mickey).

4.) Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore. Easily the funniest book I've ever read, if you have an open mind when it comes to blasphemy. This book tells the story of the life of Jesus from the point of view of his goof-ball, womanizing, drunk of a best friend, the unspoken of 14th apostle, Biff. Biff treats Jesus the way anyone who really knows

us too well would, by constantly undercutting his achievements and mercilessly teasing his best friend for every miracle, big and small.

5.) All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland. This book is great because in the end, it isn't the book you thought it was in the beginning. The story starts with a broken and distant family gathering in Florida for the firs time in years to support the family straight-shooter as she is becoming the first woman NASA has ever sent to Mars. As each member of the central family's story unfolds, we learn that sometimes the most damaged people are the ones who appear to be the most perfect, while the most broken of us are actually far more innocent than we ever give them credit for.

Well, those are my suggestions, if you need more help, please ask, I love talking books! Good luck and don't forget: BRING READING BOOKS ON WEDNESDAY!!!

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Blogging!!

Blogging (a combination of "web logging") has become a serious and important part of our modern culture. So much so, that on-line blogs such as this are more and more considered legitimate forms of publication. According to one website, according to a blog search engine in December of 2007, there was an estimated 112 million blogs to be found on-line. With that in mind, I give you YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

• At least once a week, you will need to write and publish a 100+ word post that relates to your chosen blog theme.
• For a specific list of "Do's and Don'ts" see the handout provided by Mr. Maher.

In the interest of fairness (and because I think this assignment is pretty cool) I will keep a personal blog too, using this one mostly just for official class news. With that in mind, I suggest you add it to the list of "Blogs I Follow" and check back regularly.

Good luck, and get typing!