Mrs. Huff’s English Classes

I don’t know if students are still using this site, but just in case, here are the three video interpretations of Sonnet 29 that we watched. Below the videos, you will find a few links that might help you with your sonnet project.

If you search for your sonnet on YouTube, you are likely to find a performance or recitation of it. I saw several other videos of Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130.

You might also find these websites useful:

• Sonnet Central
• Sonnets (BVU)
• Shakespeare’s Sonnets (with explanatory notes!)
• How to Explicate a Sonnet
• How to to Read a Sonnet (PDF)

• BBC – Robert Burns

  In honor of the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth, some of Scotland’s biggest names have recorded 254 (and counting) of Robert Burns’ works.

  Tags: burns, robert, bbc, podcast, scotland, scots

  • – By Dana Huff

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Mrs. Huff’s English Classes group favorite links are here.

Your notebook should reflect your learning and connections, but if you are ever stuck, here are some suggestions for the left-hand side:

• Listen to a podcast related to our class and write your reflection about it. Suggested podcasts include In Our Time (British Lit.—check the archives for older episodes) or Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing (Grammar, Comp., and Lit.). Check out iTunes U in your iTunes and see what it has to offer. I might point you toward specifially good podcasts that deal more directly with what we’re learning.
• Search out a YouTube video or blog that deals with our subject matter. Include the URL in your reflection of the material.
• Discuss and review a website related to our studies (include the URL).
• Take a picture of a grammar error you see out in public and explain why it’s incorrect (Grammar Comp., and Lit.).
• Clip or print an article or cartoon that relates to our class, paste it into your notebook, and comment upon it.
• Reflect on what you like about what we’re currently doing in class and how you think you might use it in the future.
• Connect what we’re doing in class to something you’re doing in another class.
• Read a poem, book, or story connected to what we’re learning and write a review or reflection on it.
• Create mnemonic devices for literary term definitions.
• Connect what we’re doing in this English class to something you’ve done in a previous English class.
• Discuss a character in a work of literature we’re studying.
• Create a KWL chart about something we’re learning.
• Discuss the questions, confusion, or issues with what we’re learning (in a nice way, mind—more flies with honey and all that).

Got other left-hand side ideas? Leave them in the comments for your peers.

Students in Grammar, Composition, and Literature (which I often abbreviate GCL), please visit this link, read the letter I’ve written there, and follow the directions at the end.

If any students in British Literature and Comp. or Hero have not had me as a teacher before and would like to read the letter, feel free to do so. You do not have to respond unless you wish to.

All students, I have created a Facebook page for my classes. It might be a good way for us to communicate using a medium most of you already use and enjoy. You can join it if you look in the lefthand sidebar.

• TwitVid – @alyankovic I like the ones that say “SLOW CHILDREN PLAYING”. RT @alyankovic Public Service

  Fun video of Weird Al Yankovic changing street sign with improper grammar.

  Tags: twitvid, alyankovic, grammar

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Mrs. Huff’s English Classes group favorite links are here.

I just wanted to tell any subscribers or readers of this blog that I’m not sure what it’s future will look like or if it will continue. My school has decided to use Edline, and as it is a standard “one-stop shop” for all the students’ classes with most or perhaps even all of the capabilities of this blog, I have decided it is better to use that space for class updates, links, news, handouts, notes, and almost all of the purposes which this blog has previously served. I am undecided about this blog’s future until I can see what Edline will do, but I felt it fair to warn anyone who is currently keeping up with Mrs. Huff’s English classes. My other blogs will not be affected at all, and I have no plans to discontinue any of them.

• 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills | Developer’s Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

  Links to Web sites and resources on writing and grammar.

  Tags: writing, education, english, composition, grammar

  • Links to Web sites and resources on writing and grammar. – By Dana Huff

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Mrs. Huff’s English Classes group favorite links are here.

• Welcome | Wordnik

  Word reference site.

  Tags: vocabulary, reference, wordnik, words, dictionary

• The Book Seer

  The Book Seer recommends books to you based on the last book (or any book) you read.

  Tags: reading, books, tools, web2.0

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Mrs. Huff’s English Classes group favorite links are here.

• Schoolhouse 2 | The homework manager for Mac.

  Manage your studies, including keeping track of tasks, homework, notes, and grades. For Macs.

  Tags: mac, osx, apple, organization, education, productivity, software, freeware

• App Shopper: SAT® Vocab Challenge (Games)

  If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone and are looking for app to help you practice your SAT vocabulary words, you might want to check out SAT Vocab Challenge.

  Tags: vocab, sat, app, ipod, iphone

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Mrs. Huff’s English Classes group favorite links are here.

• Advice for Students: How to Read Like a Scholar – Stepcase Lifehack

  This article might help you with summer reading, but How to Read Literature Like a Professor and How to Read Novels Like a Professor are even better.

  Tags: reading, literature

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Mrs. Huff’s English Classes group favorite links are here.