Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Death of John Updike

American author, and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, John Updike has died. My seniors should remember him as the author of A&P, one of the short stories we read during the first nine weeks of school. 

Here is a link to his obituary [if you read his obituary, you might get some bonus points on the next reading quiz!] . 

Mr. Cullen

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Terrible Towel Challenge

Update: The window of opportunity for this bonus has closed. Thank you to all of the students that sent pictures in! I will leave the pictures up as a way to celebrate our Super Bowl Championship. Way to go Stillers!

Mr. Cullen

In anticipation of the Stillers Super Bowl victory, I am going to offer students a chance to earn up to 3 bonus points for finders pictures of Terrible Towels in random places around the country or world. Pittsburgh and Tampa don't count. I will give bonus points based on how crazy/awesome the location of the Terrible Towel is. You can email me the picture and I will upload it to this post.


For example, here is the Terrible Towel at the International Space Station.



and here is a picture from www.postgazette.com:





Good Luck!




Update: submitted pics as of 1/28:





















Sophmores: Anthem

Sophmores,

As promised, here is the information pertaining to our reading of Ayn Rand's Anthem. On this post you will find study guides and the vocabulary handout. If you have any questions about the book, please feel free to post a comment (I am sure that another student may have the same question!).

Chapter 1 Study Guide (Due 1/28). Please write out the answers to these questions in your journal.

Vocabulary List You will have a test on the first 12 words Friday (1/30) after your 4-Sight test.

Left your book at school? Here is a full-text version of Anthem (not easy to read, but you can still do your homework!) 

Oedipus Schedule

Since the snow is falling and delays are being called, I wanted to give all of you the schedule ahead of time pertaining to our reading of Oedipus the King. The dates listed are the dates that the reading is due, not the date that it was assigned. Expect a quiz everyday.

[The due dates have been adjusted for the snow day on 1/28]
Due Date Line Numbers*
1/27 1-244
1/29 245-571
1/30 572-996^
2/3 997-1350
2/4 1351- end

*I could not find the exact version that we use in class. This version is a different translation, but is very close to our textbook. The above line numbers are for the textbook version. The version online is a little bit longer-- just pay attention to when the chorus ends (that is where I have broken up our readings)
^ Due to the snow delays this week, I shortened the reading for period 3. If you are in period 3, you only need to read up to line 768. This will allow us to discuss things that we have been unable to discuss thus far. Expect a quiz!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Due Date Change

Seniors,

Due to our readng of Oedipus Rex, I have decided to push your reading cirlce novels back 1 week. Now, 1/2 of your book is due for February 5th. If you would like to take your reading circle quiz early, you may do so by coming to my homeroom (159) during activity period. \

Mr. Cullen

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Oedipus Rex

Seniors, 

We have a very busy week a head of us in Literary Studies. First and foremost, we are starting to read Oedipus the King. Even though we will read daily in class, you will have homework each night-- and expect a quiz the following day. For these quizzes, you should be familiar with our class notes on Sophocles and Oedipus the King, in addition to the reading completed for homework.

Here is a link to a full text version of Oedipus the King (with line numbers). 

If your group has yet to present your Greek God project, you will do so sometime in the near future (most likely not this week). 

Please also remember that 1/2 of your reading circle book is due on Thursday the 29th. 

Go Stillers!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Greek God Presentations

Here is a link to the assignment sheet for your Greek God Project. Your PowerPoint is due to me 1/22. Please upload it to Google Documents and Collaborate it with my email: cullenc@hempfieldarea.k12.pa.us

Feel free to post a comment if you have any questions!

Greek Gods Assignment Sheet

Monday, January 12, 2009

The Terrible ShamTowel


I thought that some of you might enjoy a picture that I made. Have a great Stillers week!

~ Mr. Cullen

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Research Papers- Graded and in Skyward

Parents and students-

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Holiday break. I am posting to let you know that all research papers have been graded with the scores put into Skyward (so that you can view them through the parent portal). 

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me. Students will get their entire research folder in class on Monday, January 5th. This will include my scoring rubric with comments about the paper. 

Overall, I was impressed by the quality of both the research and the writing. For the most part, students did a great job this year and they should be proud of the work that they put into their papers.