The Martian Chronicles test/quiz #1 will be combined with #2 and moved to next week.  Not exactly sure when, thanks polar vortex!

*for hours 2 and 3, you need to be through Ch. 6 The Third Expedition, not just Ch. 5 The Taxpayer as I originally stated

Chapter 5: The Taxpayer

Why do you think Bradbury makes the taxpayer (Pritchard) seem so wildly insistent about going to Mars?  What aspects of our culture and human nature, both positive and negative, is Bradbury likely trying to illustrate with this interaction?

Chapter 6: The Third Expedition

What do the towns and other things that the Martians have built, or projected, imply about the Earthlings' reasons for traveling to Mars?

What is some of the irony in how Bradbury implies Martians would feel about Earthlings traveling to Mars?

Why does this chapter end the way it does?  Why do the Martians continue the Earth-like facade after the deed is done?

Hope you've had a good spring weekend!  I spent my Sunday in bed wearing something that looks like a cross between a sleeping bag, a comforter, and a hoodie.  Long story short, I won't be in class on Monday at least.  For now, we will push Wordwright to Tuesday.  I will try to post additional TMC chapter questions.  For Honors classes, the case study for this week's vocab essay is Case #8: De-Extinction. I know the case focuses on species, but think bigger than that too, in conjunction with TMC and the TED talk I posted last week.

Plan on Wordwright 3 for Monday, 1/28.  It might get shifted to Tuesday, but planning on Monday.

There are some MC guiding questions in previous posts and on GClass. 

We'll try to get to it in class, but this 5 minute TED Talk about not using Mars as a "backup" planet offers some interesting perspective on the concept.

Questions for the first two chapters are on GClass

MC study questions:

August 1999: The Summer Night

What is starting to happen to more and more Martians and why does it alarm them?
What is this occurrence a likely foreshadowing of?

August 1999: The Earth Men
The men claim to be the second expedition but they don't know what happened to the first one.  What happened?

Why are the men so upset by the greeting they receive on Mars?  Indirectly, what does Bradbury seem to be criticizing about humans?

By having the Martians not care/not believe the Earthlings' stories, what "hard truth" does Bradbury propose even if there are other life forms besides on Earth?

There are two entries on Google Classroom that will help you navigate the first two chapters of The Martian Chronicles as well as prepare for how we will address perspective in looking at it.

Wordwright #3 will be taken next week, most likely Monday or Tuesday.  I will decide and confirm this week.  Below you will find the word list for Wordwright 3.  Don't spend too much time trying to memorize a bunch of words you don't know. 

lapse, metabolic, disfigured, entourage, egregious, pristine, subtext, fathom (v), slather, eccentricity, accessory, ingest, scrutiny, indispensability, plastique, cul-de-sace, nostalgic, ambience, incite, repel, adhere, recur, aplomb, nubile, immaculate, genteel, proboscis, kaffeeklatsche, differentiate, flippant, colloquial, satiric, angst, alliterative, juxtaposition, hyperbolic, tone, forthright, pedantic, metaphor, diction, dysfunctional, epithet, flout, understatement, irony, syntactic parallelism, oratorical, rhetorical, refrain (n), homogeneous, taciturn, diction, duplicitous

Begin "The Martian Chronicles" in class.  All classes.  We will be reading in class exclusively, unless you acquire your own copy.

VocabEssay Test 1 for Semester 2 is this week, be ready!  Argumentation focus, so see the earlier links we have discussed that were posted last week.

attrition
circumvent
cohesive
grievous
inundate
oblivious
reticent
robust
sanction
aghast

Case Studies for Argumentative Essay prompts. 

We will use these as the case studies for vocabulary essays for the rest of the year.  ELA2 classes will do them in order.  ELA2 Honors classes will be assigned the case study on the Monday of the week of the vocabulary test.

Argument in an academic nutshell. This link will take you to UNC's writing center, which is also the foundation for our 5 Step Model.  Although there are almost limitless ways and aspects of argument to discuss and "argue" about, this one is definitely useful and approachable for us.

Monday and Tuesday 1/7-1/8

Semester 2 Introduction materials for argumentation:  All materials are on G-Class.  Today we watched this breakdown of how and why we argue and how we determine value of an argument and revisited the answers to yesterday's questions.  The "Intellectual Humility" excerpt on G-Class is also a good resource from Tuesday.

Questions from Monday:
1. What is the difference between argument and analysis?
2. What is the most important aspect of a good argument?
3. How do you define losing vs. winning?
4. Do you have to win an argument to be successful?
5. What does it all mean?

Tuesday's reflection/revision questions: You don't have to change your answers, but what additional considerations (or changes) might you make to your answers? Which of the three argumentative models do you think your answers reflect? Probably most importantly, do you think the "war metaphor" model is reflected in your thoughts about argument? Do you agree with the point the speaker makes toward the end when he says the person who has "lost" has actually made more gains because they have learned more?

Teachers came back to work today, so if you have emailed me since break started I apologize for the delay in response.  Grades were entered before break.  Any and all grade related items were taken into careful consideration.