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Oct 17, 2008, 6:10:50 PM10/17/08
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Mr. Tonk's Virtual Classroom

Class is what happens when you've written other lesson plans

Creating a Header in Microsoft Word

17 October 2008 02:41 PM
Obviously, this may not be the same version of Microsoft Word that you have on your computer, but the essentials are the same. Please see the video below to learn how to insert a proper header into your research paper. Thanks. Don’t forget to insert a space after your last name!

Updates

15 October 2008 08:45 PM
Podcasts and lesson plans have been updated for the last week or so.

Status?

28 September 2008 04:05 PM Filed in: Resources
How’s it going? I’m referring, of course, to your research outlines....

Click here to see a Senior English version of the research outline presentation.

Click here to see an AP English version of the research outline presentation, plus a discussion of Frankenstein.

Admittedly, the Senior English presentation is probably the better one.

Tags: seniorexitproject

AP English: Independent Novel Essay

17 September 2008 05:29 PM Filed in: Announcements |Resources
Click here to view the requirements for the independent novel essay.

Tags: apenglish

Senior English: Wife of Bath Essay

17 September 2008 05:29 PM Filed in: Announcements |Resources
Click here to view essay requirements.

Tags: seniorenglish

New Link to AP Wiki Page

16 September 2008 09:23 PM Filed in: Announcements |Resources
Click here to visit the wiki page.

Tags: apenglish

Parent-Teacher Conference Letter

08 September 2008 12:42 PM Filed in: Announcements

Senior English: Beowulf essay news

24 August 2008 04:43 PM Filed in: Announcements
The Senior English Beowulf essay assignment was posted on Turnitin.com last night. Enjoy.

Tags: Beowulf, seniorenglish

SEP Manual posted in the file cabinet

21 August 2008 03:55 PM Filed in: Resources
Get it here, along with the rubric for the SEP research paper.

Tags: seniorexitproject

Note card example, with annotations

13 August 2008 02:21 PM Filed in: Resources

Annotated Bibliography

12 August 2008 05:21 PM Filed in: Resources
I have fixed the download for the annotated bibliography.  Click below to download it.

annotated_bibliography.zip
FIXED AGAIN - 8/13, 2:17 PM.

1. Unzip the file.
2. Open the enclosed document, annotated_bib_rtf, in Word (or other word processing application).
3. READ THE DIRECTIONS.
4. Replace the appropriate text with your research sources.

Your personal interview should be cited as follows, with the name being the person you interviewed:

McCain, John. Personal interview. 8 August 2008.

If you have no mentor yet, please cite as follows:

Mentor, My. Personal interview. Date TBA.

Tags: seniorexitproject

Research Paper PowerPoint

30 July 2008 08:34 PM Filed in: Resources
Click below to download the research paper PowerPoint presentation in either QuickTime or PowerPoint format (if you don’t have PowerPoint, try the QuickTime link).

PowerPoint

QuickTime

Tags: seniorexitproject

Why?

30 July 2008 04:06 PM Filed in: Announcements
photo.php
Alexandria Salinas, age 14

This post has been rolling around in my head for a couple of days now, and only really became verbalized today.

Today it was the day it became anger.

On Saturday night, Alexandria Salinas, a beautiful and talented young lady by the measure of those who knew her, was senselessly murdered by a family member last weekend. She was 14 and a newly enrolled freshman at Empire High School - a student in our extended Vail family.

As a teacher, I am saddened. As a parent, I am devastated.

I’ve lost three students during my time as a teacher, and I remember every one of them. It’s extraordinarily difficult to know that a blossoming young adult will never graduate from high school, will never make a lifelong commitment to someone, will never have children of her own - will never even have the chance to experience another moment in her life.

I hugged my children extra tightly on Sunday evening, the day that I learned of the tragedy. Rubbing the hair on the top of my older boy’s head and kissing the plump little cheek of my toddler, I could only imagine the wailing grief that must fill the home of Alexandria today. I would be lost - utterly lost - if I one of my children were to be taken from me in such a horrific way. The pain must be doubly bad in the case of Alexandria’s parents, since it was her half brother who took her life - shot her in the head at close range while she talked on the phone with a boy. How do you reconcile the love you have for your children with the knowledge that one of them brutally murdered the other? These parents are mourning the loss of not only one, but two children.

There were other children in the home at the time, younger than Alexandria. Scarred by the sound of the gunshot that took their sister’s life.

I wish I were filled with prayer - with sadness and nothing but good wishes for Alexandria’s family - to mourn and recover from the death of their daughter and to reconcile this with the knowledge that their son is the one responsible.

But I am filled with anger instead.

Click here to read EHS Principal Matt Donaldson’s letter home to parents regarding the incident.

Read the post below to see how to report things you see anonymously. Please - join with me in pledging to prevent another tragedy. Alexandria could have been an astronaut, or President, or a mechanic; a mother of children who had children who had still more children - but now she has no chance to choose which future would be hers. Don’t take a risk - the students who didn’t report this gun when he brought it to school on Friday are wracked with horrible guilt, and this incident will haunt them for years.

Thanks for reading. I hope you were paying attention.

**UPDATE**

I saw this posted on KOLD.com and thought I would share it:

In a statement released to KOLD News 13, Pruitt's father and stepmother say the boy had just recently come to stay with the family.  They also say he brought with him a gun he took from his mother's house in colorado.
The parents call it a shocking event for the whole community.
The full statement, as we received it:
Our family is devastated by the senseless, tragic death of our daughter & sister    Alexandria Salinas. "Alex" just started school, at Empire High School in Vail.  She was in honors classes and she had just sung the national anthem in front of the whole student body. She was the kind of fourteen year old that everyone wanted to have, and kids wanted to be like. Alex attended her first high school dance and had shared her first real kiss with her boyfriend of many months the night before her untimely death.
We had gone to a movie to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and were shocked to receive the call that Alex had been shot. We frantically left the movies and sped home, to find that Alex had passed away.  Andrew had just recently come to stay with our family. We opened our home and hearts to Andrew. We now know that Andrew brought with him a gun he took from his mother's house in Colorado. We are angry and in such pain. This was a tragic and shocking event for the whole community; it is intensely magnified for our family. Alex had a heart of gold, and went out of her way to help all. She will be deeply missed.

Tags: teenagers, weapons, incidents, community, family, currentevents

Letter from Superintendent Calvin Baker

30 July 2008 02:35 PM
Parents,

Just a reminder that the Vail School District has a Safe Schools Hotline.  Anyone can leave an anonymous message at 879-1111.

Please talk to your children about their responsibility to report any activity that could threaten the safety of other students.  While we would prefer students talk directly to us or to you about concerns, the Hotline is available to anyone who for any reason does want to be identified.

The same applies to you.  Should you hear students talking abut something school officials should be aware of, we would prefer to be called directly.  However, if you wish for your report to be anonymous, the Hotline is available.

Student safety is everyone's responsibility.   Please help us in our efforts to make our schools and our community safe.

Calvin Baker
Superintendent

Ah, the Brits

30 June 2008 10:00 AM Filed in: Just for Fun
LONDON - A British high school student received credit for writing nothing but a two-word obscenity on an exam paper because the phrase expressed meaning and was spelled correctly.
Read the rest of this article here.

Tags: grammar, english

SEP Paper Due Dates

25 June 2008 05:22 PM Filed in: Announcements
If anyone is interested, the due dates for the Senior Exit Project research paper have been posted on the Assignment Calendars for both Senior English and AP English Literature & Composition.

Tags: seniorexitproject, resources

And the award for strangest Hamlet reference goes to...

10 June 2008 03:17 PM Filed in: Announcements |Humor
The universe is filled with references to Shakespeare’s work, and to Hamlet in particular. I thought I had seen the bottom of the barrel when I viewed the trailer for Hamlet 2, but that was before I saw the trailer for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead. For those of you that don’t know, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are minor characters in Hamlet whose characters are the focus of the 1966 Tom Stoppard absurdist work, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Apparently, somebody thought it would be a great idea to rework the concept as a zombie piece. Filed under “more evidence of the collapse of Western civilization.”

Update: viewed the RC&GaU trailer, and it’s not what it looks like. Still looks bad.

Tags: apenglish, shakespeare, film, zombies

Tribute by summer school student

03 June 2008 09:52 AM Filed in: Just for Fun
Submitted today by a summer school student.


powered by ODEO


Can't think of a career for SEP?

02 June 2008 01:12 PM Filed in: Resources
I saw this article on CNN.com today and thought of you. The article is titled “Nine cool jobs that pay well.”

Tags: seniorexitproject

The Road

29 May 2008 11:49 AM Filed in: Announcements
Interesting article posted by the New York Times regarding the Viggo Mortensen film version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (virtually certain to be included on next year’s reading list, by the way). Click here to read the article.

Tags: Books

AP Summer Work (Class of 2009)

19 May 2008 02:47 PM Filed in: Announcements
Updated 5/19

You will find the summer work listed in the AP English Lit submenu on the left. To download the summer assignments, please visit the File Cabinet page or click on the links below. There are three handouts you need:

1. Summer Assignment
2. Contract (due by the end of the 07-08 school year).
3. Scavenger Hunt (due by June 1)

Please note that the Online Commentary portion of the summer assignment needs to be completed in the Discussion section of Turnitin.com. Log in to the class at Turnitin, then click on "Discussion." You should see the appropriate assignment listed. Click on it, then post your observations. Thank you!

I have been asked about the requirements for the literary terms definitions. You may write the "dictionary" definition if you understand exactly what it means; however, if you have some trouble with the dictionary definition, you should put it in your own words. In other words, I don't really care which definition you use, as long as it is a definition that helps you to remember the meaning and usage of the term. Hope that helps.

Tags: apenglish

Arisenet for 08-09

17 May 2008 07:53 AM Filed in: Announcements
From administration:

AriseNet is up and running so students can choose their AB teacher and Enrichment Cluster for next year.
We have some fliers around campus with log-on instructions and would like you to also talk to your kids about how to log on.

www.signmeup.arisenet.net
user name - should be their last name / first initial

password - should be their metric #

Students may have changed their username and password and if they have they should use that one.

Lesson plans announcement

11 May 2008 03:51 PM Filed in: Announcements
Class of 2008: I have reset the lesson plans for the next school year. Sorry - had to do it for part of my AP summer work for next year. You're almost to graduation!

AP students in the class of 2008 can still view lesson plans for May here.

The Pruning of MrTonk.com

10 May 2008 07:33 PM Filed in: Announcements
Both students who visit this site may notice that some blog posts have gone missing. As we are approaching the end of the school year, I am eager to remove most of the material pertaining to the 2007-08 school year in order to start with a "clean house" in July. I will leave the material that remains online until May 30 or so in order to allow next year's students to see the kinds of materials I post on the site. After this date, it will be removed.

Or whenever I feel like it. Happy

I need boxes

08 May 2008 02:00 PM Filed in: Announcements
I will be changing classrooms for next year, and I could sure use some boxes. I would like to have the room moved by the end of the academic school year, so if you could bring any boxes you can in by next week, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Tags: classroom

Great examples of allusions

02 May 2008 04:50 PM Filed in: Just for Fun
Click here to read a great example of what allusions look like. A tongue-in-cheek article on The Onion.....

Tags: english

Recognitions

29 April 2008 10:50 PM Filed in: Announcements

A+ designation for Cienega

19 April 2008 07:56 AM Filed in: Announcements
Cienega High School has been named an A+ school by the Arizona Educational Foundation. We are greatly honored by this designation. Read more about what this means for Cienega here.

Tags: community, currentevents

What is wrong here???

08 April 2008 11:05 AM
Teens videotape beating as revenge for online posts
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 2 hours, 16 minutes ago
For 30 minutes, six girls ganged up on a classmate, slamming her head into a wall and taking turns pummeling her and videotaping it all to post on the Internet. And when they were arrested and were being booked into juvenile detention, they joked about not being able to go to the beach, a Florida sheriff said Tuesday on TODAY...
To read more, click here. Feel free to leave a comment below on this page.

Tags: currentevents

Announcement regarding site updates - new format

19 February 2008 04:51 PM Filed in: Announcements
I have found lesson planning software that publishes to the Web. What this means for you is that MrTonk.com will be updated far more often than it was before. As I plan my lessons, they will appear on the web - this way, I don't have to type everything out twice and YOU don't have to wait for me to update it. This space will now be relegated to uploading announcements, podcasts, and resources. Check back often, but if you want to know what we did on a given day or what we are doing on another day, just hover your mouse over your class on the left side of this page and select "Lesson Plans." Senior English - be sure you are selecting either 4th period or 0 hour. Thanks!

Tags: policy

© 2005 Noah Tonk Contact Me




Noah Tonk
English Teacher
Cienega High School

"It's a pond.  My God.  IT'S JUST A POND!!! WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE??!!!???!??" 
--Thoreau, in a sudden moment of realization



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