April 27, 2026

 Hello! Here's what we're up to today:

• Checking in
• Revisiting calendar
• Small change to R and J
• Recapping assignments
• Finishing 1.1
• PM: Student presentation
• Film versions
• Which did you prefer?
• Freewrite
• Read ahead?

April 24, 2026

 Hello! Let's get back to it:

• Checking in
• How'd the last couple of days go?
• New Schedule
• Recapping background on Shakespeare
• A video!
• Five Acts and the Plot Triangle
• Iambic pentameter
• Try it out!
• Intro to the play
• Much Ado:
• Play on words in the title
• Role of gender and actors
• Importance of Beatrice
• Keep remembering: this is a silly, silly play
• Romeo and Juliet
• While there are beautiful testaments to love, don't interpret this as a love story
• Remember the guiding question
• Bonus English stuff: The sonnet!
• Reviewing everyone's character charts
• Reading aloud 1.1
• Everyone will need to read at least once during this play (I'll keep track on my checkmark thing). I'll give a heads up when there are really short lines for those who don't like it.
• Walk!
• Act it out!
• Film version?

April 23, 2026

 Hello! Sorry I couldn't be there today:

• Eng 9
• All presentations are pushed back a day - so the first one will start on Monday
• You may work on any of these three tasks:
• Read Act 1 Scene 1 of Much Ado About Nothing on your own
• Complete your drawn character chart from yesterday
• Make a plan for Assignment 8 - The Comic Book Villain in five panels
• Eng 8
• All presentations are pushed back a day - so the first one will start on Monday
• You may work on any of these four tasks:
• Put the finishing touches on to your essays, and hand them in. Remember to include:
• Good copy
• Works Cited
• Rough Copy with evidence of three peers having edited it
• Original plan
• Read Act 1 Scene 1 of Much Ado About Nothing on your own
• Complete your drawn character chart from yesterday
• Make a plan for Assignment 8 - The Comic Book Villain in five panels

April 22, 2026

 Hello! Sorry I couldn't be there today. Here's what you're up to:

• Eng 9
• Complete your visual character chart for Much Ado About Nothing. Don't worry if you don't know the characters yet - this is helpful to have a visual cue as we go back and forth between the characters. Feel free to make it silly or simplistic.
• Read Act 1 Scene 1 - try to read the Shakespearean one if you can, but you may read the modern version at your leisure. We'll do the Shakespearean in class.
• Eng 8
• You may use this time to complete your essay
• Complete your visual character chart for Romeo and Juliet. Don't worry if you don't know the characters yet - this is helpful to have a visual cue as we go back and forth between the characters. Feel free to make it silly or simplistic.
• Read the Prologue and Act 1 Scene 1 - try to read the Shakespearean one if you can, but you may read the modern version at your leisure. We'll do the Shakespearean in class.

April 21, 2026

 Hello! Here's what we're up to:

• Checking in
• Heads up that there's a decent chance I won't be here tomorrow
• Eng 8:
• Peer review!
• Hand in everything tomorrow
• Update on assignments
• Handing out Romeo and Juliet and character sheet
• The essay!
• Recapping the all the criteria - all four pieces must be together
• Hand it in!
• Do not email me - submit it to Teams or hand it in
• Hand in your novels!
• How did that go?
• Final report card interviews
• Checking the schedule - note that we've peaked in terms of difficulty
• There's still work to do, though, and this is often the window where some students start to fall behind or pull ahead
• Intro to new assignments! Yay!
• Intro to Shakespeare
• Why vs why not Shakespeare
• How are you feeling about reading it?
• Brief history of English and the printing press
• A not-great documentary
• The beginning of Shakespeare in Love
• Five Acts and the Plot Triangle
• Shakespeare-isms
• Thee/thou
• Est
• Dost
• Iambic Pentameter - practice it
• Intro to the play
• Distributing the books
• Context
• Timeline
• Play on words of the title
• Remember: at its heart, this is a silly play
• Character chart
• How we'll study it
• More creative freewrites to start the class
• Reading aloud in class - everyone is expected to read at least once
• Watching the film
• Let's start reading!

April 17, 2026

 Hello! Here's what we're up to:

• Checking in
• Eng 8: 
• Missing videos
• Time to get ahead on the essay - new deadline is Wednesday. Have a rough draft complete by Tuesday
• Essay:
• How to make a cover page
• Works Cited list
• Time to peer review:
• I need physical evidence of three peers editing your work
• What counts as evidence?
• Check for:
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Mr. McLean's Writing Tips
• Quote integration and citation
• Meanwhile, I will be doing report card interviews
• By Tuesday, this should be complete. We'll start Shakespeare then

April 16, 2026

 Hello! Here's what we're up to today:

• Checking in
• Missing work list
• For any Eng 9 missing their A2 - if you submit a written document outlining your opinion of the book you read, I'll give an EMG until you schedule an interview. Otherwise your entire mark will drop.
• Complete your report card comment today please!
• Essay
• How to write a conclusion
• Mr. McLean's Writing Tips
• Integrating and citing quotes
• Transition words
• Tomorrow, we'll do peer editing, how to write a Works Cited list (and a title page for Eng 9)
• Today, I'll start pulling people out for their report card comments, if it's done