English II 2025-2026

For Tuesday 10/21:
Read On Writing Well by William Zinsser >>> Bits and Pieces (pp.67-91)
Read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson — Little Worlds (pp. 53-62) — mark atmosphere; symbols
DUE: revised SAT II essay

learn all of the rules in EOS Part IV: Words and Expressions Commonly Misused +
sanguine, sardonic, insidious, euphemism, cogent, paradigm, august, vortex, quixotic, arable, hectare, potable, anthropogenic, salinization, reticent/reticence, rhetoric, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, consonance, simile, metaphor, homophone, hyperbole, anaphora, enjambment. caesura, antecedent, chiasmus, abstract (noun), utopia, renaissance, explicit, incessant, assimilate, precipitous, lucid, rudimentary, anachronism, fecund, temerity, furtive, ephemeral, itinerant, philistine, profligate, tenet, charisma, chimera, agnostic, static, panacea

For Wednesday 10/29:
Finish The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Golf  
by Ari Nevala

I started golfing at twelve years, using cheap clubs that I had bought from a retail store on sale. I was trying to hit balls at the range as much as I could, but no matter how many times I went, I was not seeing any progress. I would play golf occasionally, but never score very well, and I would always end up losing balls. After around a month with the clubs from the retail store, Callaway was having a deal. I bought the most game-improving irons. They helped a little bit, but not enough to bring my scores up a drastic amount. Right before summer came to an end, I bought a new driver and a three wood, but I did not have much time to hit at the range.  

I am fourteen now, and no longer on the mountain bike team, I still lift weights, and I dedicated most of my summer to golf. A week after summer started, my dad bought new irons so I now use his old ones. One day, I entered the pro shop at Jug Mountain Ranch and asked them about taking lessons. They helped me get started, and the next week I was on the range receiving lessons from a professional golfer named Dathan Ova. My goal was to break 100 by the end of the year, but even after my first lesson, I noticed so many improvements. By my fifth lesson, I hit all my clubs straighter and way further. I was progressing and going to the range, so one day I asked them if there were any cards that would grant me as many balls as I wanted before the end of the year. They said they had a “range card” which cost $500 but included $5,000 for balls at the range on it.  

After buying the range card, I went to the range every day to practice what I was learning in my lessons. The first time playing, my score dropped dramatically from the previous time. About halfway through summer, I was in Boise and bought a fitting for irons at the PGA Superstore. I ended up buying the TaylorMade P790’s even though they wouldn’t arrive for four weeks. One day, I came home from the range, and my clubs had arrived one week before the shipping date! I was so happy, that I went to the range that day and stayed until ten at night.  

Now, I am golfing with my new irons. For about a month and a half, I have been taking lessons. I go to the range daily, and will try to play high school golf this year. My friend, who is taking school online this year, is getting a simulator for his house. I am going to be there most of the winter after school. I have noticed so much improvement and progress in my golf career, and hope to keep progressing, so one day I could play in college and maybe even after. 

US History I Zoom code: 842 7571 1368 passcode: 927076
English I/II Zoom code: 828 5560 7845 passcode: 226526
US History II Zoom code: 828 3636 0462 passcode: 217607

Grammar, key terminology, and vocabulary items that we have discussed in class are on the AP Language & Composition Vocabulary Archive. While most of you will not take the AP Language exam until next year, it always helps to become familiar with these terms now (rather than cramming next year). The sooner you get started, the sooner (comparative degree) you will know all your terms.

LEARN THESE: Part IV Elements of Style: Words and Expressions Commonly Misused learn ALL WORDS/ERRORS.

Find Honors World Literature vocabulary HERE OR play to study on Quizlet!

Student Resources: English II

Check every piece for THESE SKILLS before turning anything in for an edit.
Check ALL CITATIONS (quotes) with these formatting rules before turning anything in for an edit.

Click HERE for directions for email editing

Summer reading list for High School students

Access English II class writing archives to see what our readings and assignments are for this year, and to read sample pieces written by previous English II students.

QUARTER GRADING:

Participation = 30% (purely subjective, based on my perceptions of your initiative, interest, self-motivation, & tenacity)

Assignments = Revisions (20%)
Edits (20%)

Vocab/Multiple Choice tests= 15%
Timed essay grades= 15%

SEMESTER GRADING

Participation = 30% (purely subjective, based on my perceptions of your initiative, interest, self-motivation, & tenacity)
Assignments = Revisions & edits (20%)
Vocab/Multiple Choice tests = 15%
Timed essay grades = 10%
Exam = 25%

“The great skill of a teacher is to get and keep the attention of his scholar... To attain this, he should make the child comprehend...the usefulness of what he teaches him and let him see, by what he has learned, that he can do something which gives him some power and real advantage over others who are ignorant of it.”

— John Locke (1632-1704), on Education

Unfinished Pieces: Q1
(updated 10/15/25)

Everett
Revisions = 26/36
Edits =5/6

1st Person Narrative: Injury
Opinion piece: No Banned Books

Green & Blue Poetry: Tanka, Ballad, Narrative
published piece OR 3 rejection letters

Winston
Revisions = 25/36
Edits = 4/6

new free verse poem
Opinion piece: Plastics in the Oceans

Blue Poetry: Ballad, Narrative
published piece OR 3 rejection letters

Ari
Revisions = 29/36
Edits = 3/6

Pictures w/words: free verse poem
Opinion piece: AI in Schools

Pink Poetry: Poem of Feeling; General to Specific; The Right Words
published piece OR 3 rejection letters

Georgia
Revisions = 35/36
Edits = 100%

1st Person Narrative: Mexico
Poem of Feeling: free verse poem
Opinion piece: What Teachers Teach

Pink Poetry: Poem of Feeling; General to Specific; The Right Words
published piece OR 3 rejection letters

Scout
Revisions = 30/36
Edits = 4/6

Opinion piece: School Start Times Ignore Student Needs

Pink Poetry: Pictures w/words; Poem of Feeling; General to Specific
published piece OR 3 rejection letters