Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.
- Chinese proverb

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Return to Tucson High's Website
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Assignments are not accepted through email

Materials

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Required Materials
  • Laptop 
  • Composition Notebook (two containing at least 80 pages)
  • Pencils with erasers (don’t forget to buy extra lead if you choose to use a mechanical pencil)
  • Sticky notes (different sizes)
  • Highlighters in pink, yellow, green. (Post-it now makes highlighters with flags in the cap)
  • Two-pocket folder (graded papers and handouts will go in ISN or two-pocket folder)
  • Book for reading
The first three materials are required every day.
Suggested Materials
  • 3-ring binder
  • Dividers or folders to organize the notebook
    ​Many students have difficulty with organization and keeping track of their assignments. I recommend a color-coded system with each subject assigned a specific color for better organization.
  • Assignment sheet or planner
  • Standard size, loose leaf notebook paper
  • USB drive
  • Index cards
  • Good collegiate-level dictionary
  • Black ink pens (for final drafts if you can’t type them)
  • Facial tissue
  • Pencil sharpener

Vocabulary and Spelling

                                                    Tis a strange mystery, the power of words! 
                                                    Life  is in them, and death. A word can send 
                                                    The  crimson  colour hurrying to the cheek. 
                                                    Hurrying with  many meanings; or can turn 
                                                    The current  cold and deadly to the heart. 
                                                    Anger and fear  are in them; grief and joy 
                                                    Are  on their  sound; yet slight, impalpable:-- 
                                                    A  word is but  a breath of passing air.
                                                       --  Letitia  Elizabeth Landon 
Vocabulary Assignments
     For most words you have your choice between Frayer and Circle Map. Literary terms are the exception. All literary terms must be completed using the Circle Map. Literary terms generally will not have synonyms and antonyms. You will need to include examples, uses, and descriptions of the literary term. 
  • ​Instruction Sheet and Requirements - You copied this down already and should have it in your notebook. A copy can be found in Canvas
  • Define in Context Template
  • Circle Map Example
Vocabulary Resources
Practice assigned vocabulary on Edhelper.
Literary Terms

Practice Words and Increase Your Vocabulary

Improving your vocabulary will improve your reading and writing. If you want more vocabulary and language practice or information, any of the links below will help you.
                                                             Just for Fun - From Mapping.com
Heteronyms, homographs, and homophones: words that are spelled alike but have different pronunciations or meanings 
  • We must polish the Polish furniture.
  • He could lead if he would get the lead out.
  • The farm was used to produce produce.
  • The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
  • After dessert, the soldier decided to desert his post in the desert.
  • No time like the present to present the present.
  • A bass and a trout were painted on the head of the bass drum.
  • When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
  • I did not object to the object.
  • The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
  • The bandage was wound around the wound.
  • There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
  • They were too close to the door to close it.
  • The buck does funny things when the does are present.
  • They sent a sewer down to stitch the tear in the sewer line.
  • To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
  • The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
  • After a number of injections my jaw got number.
  • Upon seeing the tear in my clothes I shed a tear.
  • I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
  • How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
  • I live next to the stadium where bands play live. (thanks M. Durham)
  • A minute is a minute part of a day. (Thanks M. Durham)
  • The clothes were too close to the closet door to close it. (Thanks M. McKay)
The homographs of "-ough" would confuse anybody:  A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.

Resources and Guides

Literature guides are to help you in understanding the text. They should never be a replacement for reading the text or your own analysis.
How to read more efficiently
Reading tips: how to keep track of quotes
​Making Annotations

How to Stay on Top of Homework: 9 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
How to Behave In Class: 18 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
How to Do Well in English

Students have a difficult time adjusting to high school because they did not develop the critical thinking, study skills, and perseverance in middle school necessary to succeed in high school and later life. Just showing up in high school is not enough; you have to do the work and earn the grade to earn the credit. If you don’t earn the credit you will repeat the class.
 
  1. Do the entire assignment when it is assigned. Despite what you have been told, “partial credit is not better than no credit.” 50% is still a failing grade.
  2. Read the instructions and follow them before asking for help.
  3. Review your completed and graded assignments as well as previous readings to prepare for tests.
  4. Be prepared for class by bringing all your required materials.
  5. Complete readings and assignments before class so you can participate in discussions and activities.
  6. Write down all of your assignments and check them off once they are completed.
  7. Review your notes when you get home so you remember the day’s lecture.
  8. Write down vocabulary and review your lists on a weekly basis.
  9. Complete all of your assignments in a timely manner. If you need more time, ask. Make sure you ask before the assignment is due.
  10. Keep your notes, assignment record and other materials for class organized in a notebook.
  11. Do not cram for tests. If you follow #7 - #10 you will only need to review to be prepared for any test.
  12. Check the Website or back of the classroom for the assignment if you are absent and ask a classmate for any notes.
  13. If you have questions when studying write them down and ask for clarification the next day.
  14. Attend tutoring if you don't understand or need to make up work.

How to Fail
"A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it." - proverb

  1. Always arrive late. Never slip into your desk quietly. Instead, make a "big production" of entering the room by interrupting the class in session, dropping your books on the floor, etc. Better yet, don't have your books with you.
  2. Never bring a pencil to class. Always borrow someone's and forget to give it back.
  3. Never bring notebook paper. Let other people spend their money on paper and you just keep borrowing from them.
  4. Use the paper you borrowed to write a note. After you finish, make a big deal out of passing - or better yet, "throwing" it across the room to someone else disturbing as many people as possible.
  5. Never, ever, do your homework. The teacher will admire your consistency.
  6. Lose your textbook the first few weeks of school so you will have an excuse for not reading your assignments.
  7. During class, doodle on your notebook, desk, book, body, or clothing with a pen.
  8. Draw as much attention to yourself as possible. Make funny remarks. Be loud. Start arguments.
  9. Groan a lot.
  10. Say, "This is BORING!" loudly every five minutes or so, especially if it is really quiet in the room.
  11. Ask, "Why do we have to do this stuff?" as often as possible.
  12. After the teacher says, "turn to page 36," say, "What page?"
  13. When your group or partner is depending on you, show up unprepared. Better yet, don't show up at all.
  14. Turn in all of your assignments incomplete or late. Better yet, never turn them in at all.
  15. If you absolutely can't talk in class, fall asleep instead of working on your next assignment.
  16. When you get your test back with an "F," shout, "This isn't fair! The teacher hates me!"
  17. If the teacher says, "No," throw a fit.
  18. Tease the student that sits in front of you by banging the back of his or her chair or making strange noises.
  19. Tease the student that sits behind you by taking his or her assignment, notebook, or pencil. Remember to keep an innocent look on your face.
  20. Never show concern about your grade until the last day of the grading period. Then see if the teacher has extra credit you can do to make up for all 42 missing assignments.
  21. Stay up as late as possible so you will be sleepy in class.
  22. Always chew gum loudly and leave candy wrappers laying in the room for someone else to pick up. Bubble gum works best as you can blow a big bubble and have it pop all over your face. Make sure to stick your gum on the furniture or throw it on the floor when you are finished with it.
  23. If you have to read something in class, make it a magazine or a comic book.
  24. If you decide to do some homework for fifth period math, be sure you do it during fourth period English.
  25. If you have a report to do, always copy it word-for-word from the World Book Encyclopedia.
  26. If you decide to do homework, make sure you copy it from someone else.
  27. Don't take notes. If you followed items #4 and #5, this should not be a problem.
"Remember that no one has the right to interfere with the learning of another."
Following these rules will ensure that you fail and must repeat the class for a second time.
Adapted from Biology Junction
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