Ms. Conn's Online English Resources
Ms. Conn's Online English Resources


Information Technology High School
New York City Department of Education
Ms. Conn's Contact Email: hconn28@yahoo.com

I am a full-time English teacher at ITHS.
My Fall 2009 Program
I coach ITHS Cross Country and Track Check out the new and improved ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GRADING POLICY.


Calendar

Classwork and Homework: Fall 2009-Winter 2010

  • AP English Assignments
  • Senior Assignments
  • Junior Assignments

    Fall 2009 Course Syllabi (Course Descriptions and Grading Policies)

  • AP Senior Syllabus
  • Senior Syllabus
  • Junior Syllabus

    Welcome to a new school year!

    Students' success lies within

    September 2009—What must students do to help them be successful in the future?

    Students should do their absolute best in high school in order to have the best chance for success in college and beyond. Good habits formed now will pay off in the future.

    Some school beyond high school is absolutely necessary. To ensure you get accepted to the college of your choice, you need good grades, a good record (attendance, etc.), and you need a variety of experiences (academic and extra-curricular). High school is the time for students to start finding out what they're made of.

    The best present you can give yourself for your future is a commitment to success.

    Each day you should look to do the following:

    Improve your academics and high school success:

  • Have a postive attitude; believe in yourself!
  • Focus on each task, giving it your best effort. Cut out distractions.
  • Stop procrastinating! Sure, you'd rather do a lot of things than homework, but do your work first and play second.
  • Don't think the world ends if you get one bad grade. Learn from it and resolve to improve. We can learn from our failures.
  • Get involved in some extra-curricular activity. Teens who are in clubs, sports, music, art, etc. will be more engaged in school in general and have a better feeling about themselves as students.

    Improve your health and well being:

  • Eat right. Good nutrition is good for your body and your brain. If you don't know what good nutrition is, educate yourself.
  • Get enough sleep (about eight hours EACH night). Sleep deficits cause stress, weight gain, and memory loss.
  • Get active. Exercise vigorously at least four times a week. If you spend too much time at that computer, your body will show the results.

    Improve your attitude and emotional well being:

  • Seek help when stress overwhelms you. Talk to a teacher, your counselor, or your parents.
  • Surround yourself with positive, upbeat friends who like you for who you are and believe in you. A person who wants you to be something you're not is not a friend. Neither is a person who wants you to do something you know is wrong.
  • Smile, even if you don't feel like it. Dwelling on the negative is counter productive. Positive thinking breeds positive thinking.

    Be well and do well! And pass the message on. Support each other. Never harrass someone for being smart. Learn their secrets.

    Research and Successful Writing:

  • Writing a College Paper--guidelines provided by Dartmouth College
  • College Writing: A University of Chicago Writing Resource Center
  • MLA Formatting and Style Guide, sponsored by Purdue University
  • Writing the College Paper (tips from College Board)
  • How To Write an A+ Paper
  • NYC School Libraries Online
  • Literature Online
  • Dictionary/Thesaurus
  • The New York Times [Login: msconn06 Password: power]

    COLLEGE!!:

  • College Application Calendar
  • Common Application for College Admission
  • College Application FAQ
  • The College Search (resources by College Board)
  • Making Senior Year in High School Count
  • Sample College Application Essays

    AP ENGLISH LITERATURE:

  • AP English Teacher's Website from Nova High School (my alma mater)
  • Web English Teacher Resources for AP English Literature

    SCHOLARSHIPS!:

  • Magic Johnson Scholarship (deadline: first Friday in February)
  • List of a wide variety of college scholarships
  • Hispanic College Fund, which offers a great deal of scholarships.
  • HERE'S A NEW SCHOLARSHIP JUST FOR NYC STUDENTS AND BIG PRIZE $$ (Deadline: Feb. 15): Random House Creative Writing Contest for NYC Seniors!

    LANGUAGE AND LITERACY:

  • Today's Quote of the Day. Use this site to think deeply about your own life. It's also a great site to help prepare for the Critical Lens Essay (an essay on the ELA Regents).
  • Today's Word of the Day. Be sure to use this site for ROOTS.
  • Misspelled Word of the Week
  • Literary Elements and Techniques (courtesy of Mr. Nellen)
  • Poem a Day
  • Today in Literature
  • On This Day
  • Cyber Library
  • HTML
  • Mr. Nellen's CyberEnglish page

    Test Prep: ENGLISH REGENTS and THE SAT

  • English Regents Exam Strategies for Teachers and Students
  • English Regents Exam Prep Center
    *Challenging questions on reading passages will often ask main idea, specific details, author's purpose, author's tone, mood, setting, major events of the plot, inference, narrator's point of view, character traits, use of vocabulary, the cause and effect of events in the reading, and comparison/contrast to other literature.
  • SAT VOCABULARY--a very useful site with countless vocabulary words and ready-made flashcards! *Thank you to Albert Leung for finding this great resource.
  • SAT critical reading questions
  • SAT Tip of the Day
  • Etymology: Origins and History of Words
  • SAT Vocabulary Words
  • Vocabulary and Hip-Hop

    Reading Skills:

    Seven Habits of Proficient Readers:
    1. Making Connections
    A. Text-to-Self
    B. Text-to-Text
    C. Text-to-World
    2. Visualizing (creating mental images)
    3. Questioning
    4. Determining Importance
    5. Summarizing and Synthesizing
    6. Making Inferences
    7. Monitoring for Meaning


    Extra-Curricular Activities


  • Check out ITHS Cross Country and Track for schedules of practices and meets, interesting updates and fun facts!
  • Also, for all New York high school sports information, go to PSAL.

    Archives:

  • Spring 2009 Semester: Seniors and Juniors
  • Fall 2008 Semester: Seniors and Juniors
  • Spring 2008 Semester: Seniors and Juniors
  • Fall 2007 Semester: Seniors and Juniors
  • Spring 2007 Semester: Seniors and Freshmen
  • Fall 2006 Semester: Seniors
  • 2005-06 School Year: Freshmen and Sophomores

    Contact Information

    hconn28@yahoo.com
    © H. Conn 2009-2010

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