RYAN'S HOME FROM IRAQ!!!

2007 Summer Reading

AP English 11

Feel free to email with questions regarding the reading. There are some interesting links below to help you with McCourt's Teacher Man. Be sure to check them out!

I hope you're having a great summer!

See the file at the bottom of this web page for the summer reading assignment. 

Nice of you to drop by . . .

WELCOME TO MRS. GANNON'S WORLD!

Room 22, Central Building

Classroom Motto:
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

To contact me, use the email link above
or call: (330) 798-1002, ext. 5118
I'm available for student conferences after school. If you need help with any course work, contact me (preferably at least one day prior) to schedule a time.

Bell Schedule:

1st period: 7:30 - 8:17   

2nd period: 8:22 - 9:04

3rd period: 9:09 - 9:51

4th period: 9:56 - 10:38

5th period A: 10:38 - 11:08

5th period B: 11:08 - 11:38

5th period C: 11:38 - 12:08

6th period: 12:13 - 12:55

7th period: 1:00 - 1:42

8th period: 1:47 - 2:30

Looking for a good book? Here are some suggestions . . .

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

From Publishers Weekly
Surreal and hilariously funny, this alternate history, the debut novel of British author Fforde, will appeal to lovers of zany genre work (think Douglas Adams) and lovers of classic literature alike. The scene: Great Britain circa 1985, but a Great Britain where literature has a prominent place in everyday life. For pennies, corner Will-Speak machines will quote Shakespeare; Richard III is performed with audience participation … la Rocky Horror and children swap Henry Fielding bubble-gum cards. In this world where high lit matters, Special Operative Thursday Next (literary detective) seeks to retrieve the stolen manuscript of Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit. The evil Acheron Hades has plans for it: after kidnapping Next's mad-scientist uncle, Mycroft, and commandeering Mycroft's invention, the Prose Portal, which enables people to cross into a literary text, he sends a minion into Chuzzlewit to seize and kill a minor character, thus forever changing the novel. Worse is to come. When the manuscript of Jane Eyre, Next's favorite novel, disappears, and Jane herself is spirited out of the book, Next must pursue Hades inside Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece. The plethora of oddly named characters can be confusing, and the story's episodic nature means that the action moves forward in fits and starts. The cartoonish characters are either all good or all bad, but the villain's comeuppance is still satisfying. Witty and clever, this literate romp heralds a fun new series set in a wonderfully original world.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Description: Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history. What he discovers is solace in that most human quality, imagination. Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he's accompanied by the silent stranger who's been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They're there to dig up his father's empty coffin.

Listen to the NPR interview with the author: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4573304

Be sure to watch the video of John Safran Foer discussing his book. It's a "must see"! http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/foer_extremely.shtml

On this webpage you'll find schedules and other information related to English 10, AP English 11, Theatre (grades 9-12), and Creative Writing (grades 11 & 12). Scroll down to view each of the classes. I've also included some interesting and helpful links and files at the bottom. Be sure to check them out!

Student/Staff Book Club

Meeting Place:
Panera Bread & Borders
Strip Avenue
North Canton

Please plan to attend our next meeting: Wednesday, May 30th from 4:30 to 6:30. We will be discussing As You Like It by William Shakespeare, so you will need to obtain a copy and read it in preparation for the meeting. All are welcome. Hope to see you there!

THE PENNY WRITEWITH CLUB

A creative writing club has been formed. We will meet each Monday after school from 2:45 to 3:45 in my classroom. Bring your journal, a pen, a creative mind, and a willingness to share. All are welcome!

Did you know . . .

You can check your current grade in my class through the Springfield Portal Page? Just go to http://scs.summit.k12.oh.us/springfield/portal.html, click on "Online Gradebook Parent Access," and enter your user name and password. It's that simple!

Although I realize most of this is common sense, I feel a need to list my expectations:

• Don’t ask for hall passes. I don’t give them.
• Bring all materials to class.
• Throw trash away before and after class (not during).
• Don’t sharpen your pencils while I’m instructing.
• Don’t “beautify” yourself during class. (Makeup, mirrors, combs, brushes, etc. used during class will be mine until the end of the semester.)
• No drinks or food will be allowed in the classroom.
• Don’t write on the desks unless you’d like to stay after school and clean all of them.
• No talking out of turn. And although participation in class is required, please don’t monopolize discussions.
• In this room, you must respect yourself, your classmates, and your teacher.
• If you are late to class three times without valid passes, you will receive an after-school detention. If you are excessively late one time without a valid pass, you will be issued an after-school detention or you will be referred to the office for further action.
• Missed work is your responsibility. Ask classmates to fill you in and refer to the weekly syllabus on my website. Schedule make-up quizzes and tests with me, or you’ll receive a “zero.” Missed quizzes and tests must be made up outside of class time.
• No sleeping in class. This includes putting your head on your desk.

 

GO SPARTANS!

REMEMBER: Grades aren't given--they're earned.
Work hard!!!

 

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COURSE INFORMATION

ENGLISH 10

Required Materials: Please bring a spiral notebook, notebook paper, a pocket folder, blue or black pens, and pencils to class with you each day. Your textbooks will be assigned on the first day of class.

Click on file below for daily lesson plans.

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ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH 11
LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION

"A novel is not an allegory," I said as the period was about to come to an end. "It is the sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your breath with the characters and become involved in their destiny, you won't be able to empathize, and empathy is at the heart of the novel. This is how you read a novel: you inhale the experience. So start breathing."

Azar Nafisi from Reading Lolita in Tehran

(For the 2007 summer reading assignment, click on file below.)

Required Materials: Please bring a spiral notebook, notebook paper, a pocket folder, blue or black pens, red pens, and pencils to class with you each day. Your textbooks will be assigned on the first day of class.

Please print out and keep a copy of each of the following files (links below): Portfolio Project; Rhetorical & Literary Terms Project; DIDLS, SOAPSTone; Style Analysis: Tone & Attitude; Annotation: How to Mark a Book; Socratic Seminars, and Passive Voice.

Click on file below for daily lesson plans.

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CREATIVE WRITING

 

Required Materials: Please bring a spiral notebook (your journal), notebook paper, a pocket folder, blue or black pens, red pens, and pencils to class with you each day.

Click on file below for daily lesson plans.