Important Required Meeting Next Week!

Next week, honors students should plan to attend a meeting with English 2B teachers either Monday, February 29, after school in Mr. Kramer's room starting at 3:30 OR Tuesday morning, March 1, in Ms. Thieben's room starting at 7:15. We will share important information to help you write your problem / solution paper, so it is vital that you attend.

30 Notecards due Monday 2/29

This week, you should continue taking notes from the seven sources you have collected. Each note will appear on a note card (this is different from a bibliography card), and you should have thirty additional notes by Monday, February 29. See the video below for a reminder of what information needs to be included on each note card.

Preparing Note Cards -- due Monday 2/22

For Monday, February 22, please watch the video below on preparing note cards (these are different from bibliography cards) for your research project. By Monday you will need to have created at least one note card for each of the sources you have collected so far. The note cards can be included on the same slideshow as your bibliography cards, or you may choose to use physical note cards instead.

As you begin note-taking, remember that it is your goal to not only establish what the problem is, but also to propose a feasible solution, one that could realistically be implemented.

Assignment for the Week of 2/15

Instead of journaling this week, you will focus on locating resources for your problem / solution research project. Please read through the project requirements HERE. In a paper due on March 11, you will need to do each of the following:

• define the problem
• describe how the problem manifests itself in society
• discuss the extent of the problem in society
• explain what is currently being done to solve the problem and its successes and downfalls 
• discuss what you have researched as a possible solution to either the problem or the downfalls of the current solution and what you think would improve the current solution

For the paper you write, you will need to find AT LEAST SEVEN relevant and reliable resources related to the topic you choose. AT LEAST FOUR of these sources will eventually need to be cited in your paper. To ensure that you can cite sources correctly in your paper and in a bibliography, you will need to create a bibliography card for each source using MLA format. Refer to the video below for directions on how to do this.

A copy of the slide show used in the video can be found HERE.

Good starting points for research are the online databases EBSCO, Gale, and SIRS that you are already familiar with. If you need help using any of these, please ask your teacher. You can also use the SUPERSearch box below to search all of the AEA databases at once, or try Google Scholar to find academic articles related to your topic.

SEVEN complete bibliography cards are due by class time on Thursday. Please ask your teacher how he or she would like you to turn them in.

Keyword Title Author

Journal #6

Do some initial reading on a possible topic for your Problem / Solution Project (see the guiding questions below)--do some online research on one topic of your choice. The SIRS database would be a good place to start, and you could also do a Google search. After you read at least two articles, write at least one paragraph (consisting of at least eight sentences) summing up what you learned about specific problems in contemporary society related to this topic and what ideas have occurred to you about specific ways to solve or improve these problems.


To access SIRS, go to the “Instruction” tab on the Boone Community Schools website, then select “Library and Media.” Here are the username and password you will need:  

0729boonh       haea11

Guiding questions for the Problem / Solution Project

1. What societal problems or issues come up in the works we have read in English 2A and 2B?
2. How do these problems or issues affect contemporary society?
3. What aspects of them are of particular interest to you?
4. How might one aspect of a problem or issue be solved or improved at the local, state, national, or global level?

Journal #5

Write two paragraphs (eight sentences each) in response to your reading of To Kill a Mockingbird. See the journal entry topic ideas in the Journal Expectations post. As a reminder, your posts should illustrate the qualities that make you an honors student:  your ability and willingness to think analytically, to read carefully (to infer, question, predict, and connect), and to thoroughly explain your thoughts in writing.

Journal #4

Choose two more topics from the list of societal problems / issues you created in journal #2. Write a paragraph about each of the two topics answering the same questions from the Journal Expectations post. Each paragraph should be at least eight sentences long.

• How do these problems or issues affect contemporary society?
• What aspects of them are of particular interest to you?
• How might one aspect of a problem or issue be solved or improved at the local, state, national, or global level?

As you write, consider which of the three topics you've discussed so far has the richest opportunities for research and connections to our readings.

Journal #3

For this week's To Kill a Mockingbird journal, please read the article "How Code-Switching Explains the World."  In your post, write two paragraphs (eight sentences each) explaining your responses to the article. Do you code-switch in your daily life? If so, how? Do you think code-switching reinforces inequalities, or is it just a part of life that's no big deal? How do you think code-switching might be evident in To Kill a Mockingbird? Be sure to reference the novel and use textual evidence to support your answers.