Topic choices for a three-page paper on Things Fall Apart
Topic choice and thesis due in class Wednesday 11/5
(and watch election coverage Tuesday evening)
Draft or outline due in class on Friday, 11/7.
Paper due in class and on turnitin.com by class time on Monday, 11/10.
Choose one of the following topics to develop into an essay based on your understanding of the novel Things Fall Apart. In your essay, refer to specific passages and examples from the novel to support your ideas.
•Is Okonkwo a tragic figure? Review what you know from our study of Greek tragedy and assess to what extent those ideas apply to Things Fall Apart in general and Okonkwo in particular.
•How does Achebe’s narrator both endorse and critique the values and practices of Ibo culture? Why does he present some elements of the culture as problematic or flawed and others as sources of strength for the Ibo people?
•How does Okonkwo determine right from wrong? Choose three examples of decisions Okonkwo makes and examine what belief systems, values, laws or traditions he uses to choose a course of action. Evaluate the wisdom or effectiveness of these decisions.
•What kind of leader is Okonkwo? Choose three strong actions which demonstrate his leadership. Identify the values, beliefs, and/or traditions on which he bases each action and evaluate its effectiveness.
•Of his daughter Ezinma, Okonkwo thinks, “She should have been a boy” (p. 64). Why is it necessary to the story that Okonkwo’s favored child be a girl?
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Eng IV Assignments October 28--November 7
Tuesday, October 28—Chapters 10-12
Wednesday, October 29—Chapters 13-15
Friday, October 31—Chapters 16-19
Monday, November 3—Chapters 20-22
Tuesday, November 4—Chapters 23-25
Wednesday, November 5—Outline and/or draft due for essay
Friday, November 7—Papers due, both hard copy and turnitin.com, approximately 3 pages typed.
Chapter presentation assignments—DO NOT SUMMARIZE PLOT
• Select the most important information about Ibo culture
• Look up unfamiliar terms, especially Ibo words
• Point out important themes & character qualities
• Select a key question from the study guide
• Answer questions from the class
Noah—chapters 1, 17, & 20
Stew—chapters 2, 18, and 19
Adam—chapters 3, 16, and 21
Steph—chapters 4, 15, & 22
Amrita—chapters 5, 14, & 23
Alfred—chapters 6, 13, & 24
Prateek—chapters 7, 12, & 25
Tyler—chapters 8, 11, & 24
Colin—chapters 9, 10, & 25
Wednesday, October 29—Chapters 13-15
Friday, October 31—Chapters 16-19
Monday, November 3—Chapters 20-22
Tuesday, November 4—Chapters 23-25
Wednesday, November 5—Outline and/or draft due for essay
Friday, November 7—Papers due, both hard copy and turnitin.com, approximately 3 pages typed.
Chapter presentation assignments—DO NOT SUMMARIZE PLOT
• Select the most important information about Ibo culture
• Look up unfamiliar terms, especially Ibo words
• Point out important themes & character qualities
• Select a key question from the study guide
• Answer questions from the class
Noah—chapters 1, 17, & 20
Stew—chapters 2, 18, and 19
Adam—chapters 3, 16, and 21
Steph—chapters 4, 15, & 22
Amrita—chapters 5, 14, & 23
Alfred—chapters 6, 13, & 24
Prateek—chapters 7, 12, & 25
Tyler—chapters 8, 11, & 24
Colin—chapters 9, 10, & 25
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
AP--Assignments October 20-31
October 20-24
Day 1--Read S&F, pp, 76-179
Days 2 & 3--Read a scholarly article from JStor regarding the novel; begin reading pp. 180-264.
Day 4--Vocab quiz, lessons 10-12
October 27-31
Day 1--Finish reading S&F, pp. 180-264; blog a comment on your scholarly article. Give the citation of the source of the article, quote a brief passage or summarize an idea you found helpful, interesting, or just plain puzzling, and write a brief comment in the form of a blog entry.
Day 2--Begin reading pp. 265-321
Day 3--Continue
Day 4--Finish pp. 265-321
Day 1--Read S&F, pp, 76-179
Days 2 & 3--Read a scholarly article from JStor regarding the novel; begin reading pp. 180-264.
Day 4--Vocab quiz, lessons 10-12
October 27-31
Day 1--Finish reading S&F, pp. 180-264; blog a comment on your scholarly article. Give the citation of the source of the article, quote a brief passage or summarize an idea you found helpful, interesting, or just plain puzzling, and write a brief comment in the form of a blog entry.
Day 2--Begin reading pp. 265-321
Day 3--Continue
Day 4--Finish pp. 265-321
Sunday, October 12, 2008
AP--Essay Grades (Revised)
At the end of your essay are seven scores, all ranked on a scale of 1 (missing), 2 (weak), 3 (present but could be improved), 4 (strong), and 5 (excellent). These subscores are hardly scientific but are designed to give you a sense of your relative strengths and weaknesses, in general or on any specific assignment. The seven categories are as follows:
T: Thesis—your opening paragraph should establish the focus of your essay and contain a statement, phrased as clearly and specifically as possible, of the main point you will prove in your essay. Clarity, specificity, and insight are the essential qualities of an excellent thesis. MS means “more specific,” as in, you should try to be.
P: Paragraph organization—each paragraph should quickly establish a central focus, a statement of idea, not fact, and the paragraph as a whole should stick closely to this central focus. Also, the number, length, and organization of your paragraphs should advance your thesis logically and effectively.
E: Evidence—in each of your body paragraphs, use specific details, facts, and brief quotations from the text to support the central interpretive focus of the paragraph. This reader looks not so much for the number of pieces of evidence as for their appropriateness to your thesis and your ability to integrate them smoothly into your paragraphs.
C: Commentary—Throughout the essay, from the opening paragraph to the concluding one, your ability to write meaningful interpretative statements is crucial. Not too vague, not overstated, not missing the point of the evidence you cite—thoughtful, specific commentary is a must in an analytical essay. Roughly two-to-one commentary to evidence is a highly desirable ratio. Commentary develops your insight into the literature you are analyzing.
D: Diction—Using words accurately and precisely adds to the overall impression of your writing. Avoiding vague abstract language, using specific terms instead, helps greatly. A rich and varied vocabulary, using clear everyday language, avoiding cliche and jargon, enhances the readability of your work.
S: Syntax—Managing clear, uncluttered sentence structure leaves a strong impression in the reader’s mind. Sentences that don’t meander off into the swamps and leave their main ideas in the muck are vital to your success. No fragments either.
M: Mechanics—Agreement, consistent verb use, punctuation, spelling, and the usage of Standard Written English may not make a strong paper, but they can certainly break one.
A paper with 5’s in all categories earns an “A,” a score of 95%. Deduct one point for each score below 5. All 3’s earns a B-, mixed 3’s and 4’s a B, all 4’s a B+, mixed 4’s and 5’s an A-, and all or almost all 5’s an A.
T: Thesis—your opening paragraph should establish the focus of your essay and contain a statement, phrased as clearly and specifically as possible, of the main point you will prove in your essay. Clarity, specificity, and insight are the essential qualities of an excellent thesis. MS means “more specific,” as in, you should try to be.
P: Paragraph organization—each paragraph should quickly establish a central focus, a statement of idea, not fact, and the paragraph as a whole should stick closely to this central focus. Also, the number, length, and organization of your paragraphs should advance your thesis logically and effectively.
E: Evidence—in each of your body paragraphs, use specific details, facts, and brief quotations from the text to support the central interpretive focus of the paragraph. This reader looks not so much for the number of pieces of evidence as for their appropriateness to your thesis and your ability to integrate them smoothly into your paragraphs.
C: Commentary—Throughout the essay, from the opening paragraph to the concluding one, your ability to write meaningful interpretative statements is crucial. Not too vague, not overstated, not missing the point of the evidence you cite—thoughtful, specific commentary is a must in an analytical essay. Roughly two-to-one commentary to evidence is a highly desirable ratio. Commentary develops your insight into the literature you are analyzing.
D: Diction—Using words accurately and precisely adds to the overall impression of your writing. Avoiding vague abstract language, using specific terms instead, helps greatly. A rich and varied vocabulary, using clear everyday language, avoiding cliche and jargon, enhances the readability of your work.
S: Syntax—Managing clear, uncluttered sentence structure leaves a strong impression in the reader’s mind. Sentences that don’t meander off into the swamps and leave their main ideas in the muck are vital to your success. No fragments either.
M: Mechanics—Agreement, consistent verb use, punctuation, spelling, and the usage of Standard Written English may not make a strong paper, but they can certainly break one.
A paper with 5’s in all categories earns an “A,” a score of 95%. Deduct one point for each score below 5. All 3’s earns a B-, mixed 3’s and 4’s a B, all 4’s a B+, mixed 4’s and 5’s an A-, and all or almost all 5’s an A.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
English IV assignments October 8-24
Wednesday, October 8--"Quest" on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Thursday, October 9--No class
Friday, October 10--No school--Fall break
Monday, October 13--No school--Fall break
Tuesday, October 14--"The Post Office," p. 411 in World Literature anthology
Wednesday, October 15--"Forty-five a Month" p. 495
Thursday, October 16--No class
Friday, October 17--"Interpreter of Maladies" (handout)--end of first marking period; bring vocab books to class
Monday, October 20--"A Sunrise on the Veld," p. 308.
Tuesday, October 21--"Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants," p. 316.
Wednesday, October 22--Things Fall Apart (paperback), chapters 1-3
Friday, October 24--TFA, chapters 4 & 5, read historical handout, vocab quiz 10-12.
Thursday, October 9--No class
Friday, October 10--No school--Fall break
Monday, October 13--No school--Fall break
Tuesday, October 14--"The Post Office," p. 411 in World Literature anthology
Wednesday, October 15--"Forty-five a Month" p. 495
Thursday, October 16--No class
Friday, October 17--"Interpreter of Maladies" (handout)--end of first marking period; bring vocab books to class
Monday, October 20--"A Sunrise on the Veld," p. 308.
Tuesday, October 21--"Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants," p. 316.
Wednesday, October 22--Things Fall Apart (paperback), chapters 1-3
Friday, October 24--TFA, chapters 4 & 5, read historical handout, vocab quiz 10-12.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Ivan Denisovich blog 10.2.09
For your blog entry this weekend, write a short piece entitled “One Day in the Life of (insert your character’s name here).” Your character—your fictional character—may be anyone you choose, very likely a PCDS high school student, but certainly someone whose "day" contains events and routines with which you are personally acquainted (rather than, say, a day in the life of an Imperial Trooper or Wizard in Training). The “one day” you choose should be, as it is for Solzhenitsyn, a representative day, one in which nothing terribly out of the ordinary happens but in which the small events of the day reveal the larger pattern of the weeks, months, and years of your character's life. So: no life or death decisions, no momentous workings of fate, no life-changing events. Just a day, like many others, one which contains within it the tensions, struggles, and rewards, the everyday triumphs and failures, faced by your determined, plucky protagonist.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Ivan Denisovich reading guide
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Key Terms for Reading
Look for examples as you read: underline them and share them in class
(Acknowledgment: Most of these words appear in Katherine Shonk’s introduction to the novel.)
Key Terms for Reading
Look for examples as you read: underline them and share them in class
- Living conditions: Cold, Hunger, Fear, Exhaustion
- Coping strategies: Resourcefulness, Plotting, Scavenging
- Psychological survival: Dignity, Stoicism, Resilience, Pride, Toughness
- Narrative strategies: Suspense, Humor
- Style: Slang & Colloquialisms
(Acknowledgment: Most of these words appear in Katherine Shonk’s introduction to the novel.)
Monday, September 15, 2008
AP--Weekly blogs
To resolve any lingering confusions or ambiguities about your blogging responsibilities, I have gathered statements from three different documents:
1. (from Oral presentations assignment): All members of the class will post to their blogs once a week, usually a response to one of the stories read during the week. Topics are open, but one good suggestion is to begin with an idea that came up in class and extend it, offering your own thoughts and taking the discussion of the topic a little further. Thus, your individual responsibility will be to read all stories, serve once as an analyst, once as essayist, two or three times as commenter, and post to your own blog weekly (except in the week for which you are an essayist).
2. (from Short story project #2 assignment): As you read new stories in your search for the perfect contemporary short story, I encourage you to post short responses to
them as part of your weekly blogs commenting on our assigned short stories.
3. (from the course syllabus):
The primary forum for written work is your blog. You are required to post weekly blog entries relating to the literature studied in the classroom. Your blogs will receive a grade, accounting for 30% of each quarter’s grade. Blog entries should be approximately 500 words in length (please indicate word count in parentheses at the end of each entry). I will not, however, grade by length alone; rather, quantity will be one of four criteria, along with regularity of entries, style, and originality of content.
Occasionally I will ask you to respond to particular prompts or questions on my blog, but often there is no set topic for your weekly entries. Rather, I ask you to find an element of the assigned reading that interests you and discuss it thoughtfully. This comment may take many forms, a few of which are suggested here:
• Discuss a character’s actions, words, personality, moral values, or humanity.
• Comment on the writer’s style, use of language, tone, irony, or imagery.
• Consider a topic or idea raised in class discussion, trying to go beyond what has already been stated.
• Raise and discuss a question about the text under consideration.
• Discuss the importance or meaning of a key passage or scene from the reading.
• For longer works, show how a scene or passage develops a theme or pattern identified in class.
•Make a comparison between a scene, character, or idea from the literature and something from another source or from your own experience
• Use an idea from my blog or from that of one of your classmates as a point of departure for your response.
• Locate relevant research material on the web, post a link to the site on your blog, and discuss your choice.
1. (from Oral presentations assignment): All members of the class will post to their blogs once a week, usually a response to one of the stories read during the week. Topics are open, but one good suggestion is to begin with an idea that came up in class and extend it, offering your own thoughts and taking the discussion of the topic a little further. Thus, your individual responsibility will be to read all stories, serve once as an analyst, once as essayist, two or three times as commenter, and post to your own blog weekly (except in the week for which you are an essayist).
2. (from Short story project #2 assignment): As you read new stories in your search for the perfect contemporary short story, I encourage you to post short responses to
them as part of your weekly blogs commenting on our assigned short stories.
3. (from the course syllabus):
The primary forum for written work is your blog. You are required to post weekly blog entries relating to the literature studied in the classroom. Your blogs will receive a grade, accounting for 30% of each quarter’s grade. Blog entries should be approximately 500 words in length (please indicate word count in parentheses at the end of each entry). I will not, however, grade by length alone; rather, quantity will be one of four criteria, along with regularity of entries, style, and originality of content.
Occasionally I will ask you to respond to particular prompts or questions on my blog, but often there is no set topic for your weekly entries. Rather, I ask you to find an element of the assigned reading that interests you and discuss it thoughtfully. This comment may take many forms, a few of which are suggested here:
• Discuss a character’s actions, words, personality, moral values, or humanity.
• Comment on the writer’s style, use of language, tone, irony, or imagery.
• Consider a topic or idea raised in class discussion, trying to go beyond what has already been stated.
• Raise and discuss a question about the text under consideration.
• Discuss the importance or meaning of a key passage or scene from the reading.
• For longer works, show how a scene or passage develops a theme or pattern identified in class.
•Make a comparison between a scene, character, or idea from the literature and something from another source or from your own experience
• Use an idea from my blog or from that of one of your classmates as a point of departure for your response.
• Locate relevant research material on the web, post a link to the site on your blog, and discuss your choice.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Eng IV Assignments: September 12 - Oct 3
Friday, September 12—Antigone blogs due; bring vocab books to class; in-class writing activity
Week 4
Monday, September 15—Read A Doll’s House, Act I, pp. 140-165
Tuesday, September 16—A Doll’s House, Act II, pp. 165-184
Wednesday, September 17—A Doll’s House, Act III, pp. 184-202
Friday, September 19—Vocabulary quiz, lessons 4 – 6
Week 5
Monday, September 22—“A Country Doctor,” pp. 242 - 247 + Dollhouse blogs
Tuesday, September 23—“The Heavenly Christmas Tree,” pp. 121-125
Wednesday, September 24—“How Much Land Does a Man Need,” pp. 126 – 138
Friday, September 26—Begin reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; start Wednesday night, average, 20 pages per night Thursday night and all weekend, finish reading by Monday night September 29
Week 6
Monday, September 29—Continue reading One Day
Tuesday, September 30—Finish reading One Day, possible quiz
Wednesday, October 1—Continue discussion of One Day
Friday, October 3—One Day blogs due; vocab quiz lessons 7 - 9
Week 4
Monday, September 15—Read A Doll’s House, Act I, pp. 140-165
Tuesday, September 16—A Doll’s House, Act II, pp. 165-184
Wednesday, September 17—A Doll’s House, Act III, pp. 184-202
Friday, September 19—Vocabulary quiz, lessons 4 – 6
Week 5
Monday, September 22—“A Country Doctor,” pp. 242 - 247 + Dollhouse blogs
Tuesday, September 23—“The Heavenly Christmas Tree,” pp. 121-125
Wednesday, September 24—“How Much Land Does a Man Need,” pp. 126 – 138
Friday, September 26—Begin reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; start Wednesday night, average, 20 pages per night Thursday night and all weekend, finish reading by Monday night September 29
Week 6
Monday, September 29—Continue reading One Day
Tuesday, September 30—Finish reading One Day, possible quiz
Wednesday, October 1—Continue discussion of One Day
Friday, October 3—One Day blogs due; vocab quiz lessons 7 - 9
Sunday, September 7, 2008
AP--A Rose for Emily
First 3 paragraphs:
--Narrator speaks on behalf of townspeople
--Fact of Miss Emily's death established in first 5 words, not returned to until section V of story.
--Several elements of mystery surrounding Emily's life & house
--diction establishes Emily as a kind of historical relic, object of curiosity, symbol of fallen 19th century grandeur
--Faulkner's use of loose sentences--at least 4 examples in 1st 3 graphs--allows direct statement of main idea in simple clause with ample embellishment in attached phrases and clauses--characteristic of his style--see example in ¶ 55, describing Emily's funeral
--use of formal diction (esp. adj-n): respectful affection, fallen monument, scrolled balconies, lightsome style, coquettish decay, cedar-bemused cemetery, hereditary obligation, etc.
--ends ¶ 3 with balanced sentence to emphasize traditional understanding of gender roles in Emily and Col's generation (now largely gone)
Discussion questions:
--Narrator speaks on behalf of townspeople
--Fact of Miss Emily's death established in first 5 words, not returned to until section V of story.
--Several elements of mystery surrounding Emily's life & house
--diction establishes Emily as a kind of historical relic, object of curiosity, symbol of fallen 19th century grandeur
--Faulkner's use of loose sentences--at least 4 examples in 1st 3 graphs--allows direct statement of main idea in simple clause with ample embellishment in attached phrases and clauses--characteristic of his style--see example in ¶ 55, describing Emily's funeral
--use of formal diction (esp. adj-n): respectful affection, fallen monument, scrolled balconies, lightsome style, coquettish decay, cedar-bemused cemetery, hereditary obligation, etc.
--ends ¶ 3 with balanced sentence to emphasize traditional understanding of gender roles in Emily and Col's generation (now largely gone)
Discussion questions:
- What is the effect of telling the story out of chronological order? Does it make the ending more or less powerful?
- In what ways have the times changed during Miss Emily's life? Why has she been unable to change with the times? Did she try?
- Miss Emily's father never appears directly but is mentioned several times. What influence does he have in the outcome of Miss Emily's life?
- (from textbook): what is the author's attitude toward Emily? Is she simply a crazy murderess? Why is the story called "A Rose"?
ENG IV--Antigone Blog
Here are a few thoughts for an Antigone blog. You need not choose one of these, but I ask you to write a few hundred thoughtful words on some aspect of the play’s meaning.
1. Demonstrating the power of the individual to resist unjust authority or immoral force is perhaps Antigone’s great achievement. What parallels do you see in other events you know about, perhaps through your knowledge of history?
2. Creon’s position is that the safety and security of the state come first, ahead of the rights of the individual. How does his position relate to current debates in the war against terrorism?
3. Haemon tactfully attempts to point out to his father the error of his (father’s) actions. Can you think of a comparable situation in which the child turned out to have greater wisdom than the parent?
4. Re-read Antigone’s final speeches (ll. 963-968 & 978-1021)—do the feelings she expresses there give us any insight into why she may have taken her life in the tomb?
5. The Chorus suggests at the end of the play that too often in human life wisdom and humility come too late to do any good, that pride leads to suffering and pain. Do you agree with this view of human life? Why or why not?
1. Demonstrating the power of the individual to resist unjust authority or immoral force is perhaps Antigone’s great achievement. What parallels do you see in other events you know about, perhaps through your knowledge of history?
2. Creon’s position is that the safety and security of the state come first, ahead of the rights of the individual. How does his position relate to current debates in the war against terrorism?
3. Haemon tactfully attempts to point out to his father the error of his (father’s) actions. Can you think of a comparable situation in which the child turned out to have greater wisdom than the parent?
4. Re-read Antigone’s final speeches (ll. 963-968 & 978-1021)—do the feelings she expresses there give us any insight into why she may have taken her life in the tomb?
5. The Chorus suggests at the end of the play that too often in human life wisdom and humility come too late to do any good, that pride leads to suffering and pain. Do you agree with this view of human life? Why or why not?
Saturday, September 6, 2008
AP--short story project #2
In addition to the short essay on the story you have been assigned, your final assignment for our study of short fiction is to research and write a paper on a story you choose based on your own interest. Listed below are the requirements and guidelines for this assignment:
• Your story must have been published for the first time while you’ve been in high school, that is 2005 to the present.
• Your story must have actually been “published”; no self-published internet pieces by amateur writers, please.
• Since I am asking you to research the author and write an analysis of the story, I strongly suggest that you read several stories, from a variety of sources, then choose the one you enjoyed the most. As you read new stories, I encourage you to post short responses to them as part of your weekly blogs commenting on our assigned short stories.
• Published short stories are not as abundant as they were 50 or 75 years ago. Nevertheless, you may find excellent material in a variety of places: New Yorker magazine publishes short stories regularly, and Mr.Thommen has set over 100 issues out in the reference section of the library. Also, Mr. Thommen has begun a subscription to a periodical called One Story, each issue of which contains, you guessed it, a single short story. The Best American Short Stories series publishes a new edition every year (guest editor for the 2007 edition was Stephen King), and I have ordered copies of the two most recent collections. Finally, literary journals in libraries often contain new stories, and both single-author and anthology collections of stories may be found in bookstores as well. For example, Jhumpa Lahiri, author of The Namesake on my summer reading list, has a new story collection called Unaccustomed Earth.
• The written portion of the assignment is a paper of approximately 5-6 pages (1500 to 2000 words) in which you cover three key points: your reasons for choosing the story, some biographical background on the writer, and an analysis of the story using the methods and vocabulary we have discussed and practiced in class.
• Drafts of your papers are due in class Monday, October 6 (Tuesday for section 3). Final papers are due, both hard copy and turnitin.com, on Wednesday, October 8.
• Your story must have been published for the first time while you’ve been in high school, that is 2005 to the present.
• Your story must have actually been “published”; no self-published internet pieces by amateur writers, please.
• Since I am asking you to research the author and write an analysis of the story, I strongly suggest that you read several stories, from a variety of sources, then choose the one you enjoyed the most. As you read new stories, I encourage you to post short responses to them as part of your weekly blogs commenting on our assigned short stories.
• Published short stories are not as abundant as they were 50 or 75 years ago. Nevertheless, you may find excellent material in a variety of places: New Yorker magazine publishes short stories regularly, and Mr.Thommen has set over 100 issues out in the reference section of the library. Also, Mr. Thommen has begun a subscription to a periodical called One Story, each issue of which contains, you guessed it, a single short story. The Best American Short Stories series publishes a new edition every year (guest editor for the 2007 edition was Stephen King), and I have ordered copies of the two most recent collections. Finally, literary journals in libraries often contain new stories, and both single-author and anthology collections of stories may be found in bookstores as well. For example, Jhumpa Lahiri, author of The Namesake on my summer reading list, has a new story collection called Unaccustomed Earth.
• The written portion of the assignment is a paper of approximately 5-6 pages (1500 to 2000 words) in which you cover three key points: your reasons for choosing the story, some biographical background on the writer, and an analysis of the story using the methods and vocabulary we have discussed and practiced in class.
• Drafts of your papers are due in class Monday, October 6 (Tuesday for section 3). Final papers are due, both hard copy and turnitin.com, on Wednesday, October 8.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
NOTICE to ALL my students
I'm having to type random, barely legible series of letters in order to leave comments on your blog. It's already annoying and I think we've found (thanks, Sophie) a way to avoid it.
So, as quickly as possible, tonight if you can, please log on to your blogger account and do the following:
1. Click "Settings."
2. Click the "comments" tab
3. Scroll down to "word verification" and click "off."
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and "save settings."
Also, go to the "e-mail" tab and turn off "blog send." I already have direct feeds set up for your blogs.
Thank you.
LCC
So, as quickly as possible, tonight if you can, please log on to your blogger account and do the following:
1. Click "Settings."
2. Click the "comments" tab
3. Scroll down to "word verification" and click "off."
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and "save settings."
Also, go to the "e-mail" tab and turn off "blog send." I already have direct feeds set up for your blogs.
Thank you.
LCC
Eng IV--Antigone
1. Here is the link to my slideshow presentation on the elements of tragedy.
2. Here is a link to some other web sites dealing with Antigone or Greek tragedy.
3. What are the issues at stake in Antigone's argument with Creon? Who is right? How do we know?
4. What is important about the characters of Ismene, Teiresias, Haemon, and Choragos? How does each contribute to our understanding of the play's central questions?
2. Here is a link to some other web sites dealing with Antigone or Greek tragedy.
3. What are the issues at stake in Antigone's argument with Creon? Who is right? How do we know?
4. What is important about the characters of Ismene, Teiresias, Haemon, and Choragos? How does each contribute to our understanding of the play's central questions?
AP--oral presentations
Each assigned story carries with it a total of four separate responsibilities Listed below are details about each of these duties.
1. Style analyst—Class begins with the analyst pointing out characteristics of the writer’s style, based on a close reading of the story’s first two paragraphs (more if the story begins with dialogue; fewer if the first paragraph is an especially long one). The style analyst points out significant examples of diction, syntax, figurative language, organization, tone, and tension, paying special attention to issues significant to the story as a whole. A brief discussion ensues during which other members of the class can add to the insights of the analyst.
2. Essayist—The essayist writes a brief essay (600-800 words) on the story, focusing on one aspect of the story’s technique, or meaning. The essayist may discuss an aspect of characterization, identify an interpretive problem in the story and offer a suggested answer to the problem, comment on setting or point of view, or interpret a crucial moment in the story. Essays are posted to the writer’s blog and read to the class. In the time remaining, the essayist leads a discussion of the story. (N.B.—one excellent way to begin a group discussion is to ask a question to which you don’t have a complete answer yourself, something important about the story you’re still trying to figure out. If you’re not sure whether the main character made the right decision, ask the class. If there’s a scene whose meaning is ambiguous or whose significance is unclear, ask the class.) IMPORTANT: The essayist brings a hard copy of the essay to class for me to write notes on.
3. Commenter—Within 24 hours after class, three members of the class will post written comments on the essayist’s piece. I will be one of these three commenters, often in the form of notes on the hard copy provided me. The other two commenters will write thoughtful, constructive comments on the blog, specifically offering their suggestions for making the essay more specific, more persuasive, or more clearly written. The essayist will then submit a revised version of the essay, both hard copy and turnitin.com, two class sessions after the presentation.
4. Reader—All members of the class not included in the above roles are readers. The reader’s job is to read the story carefully before coming to class, annotating the margins of the textbook with comments about the story. Readers contribute to the day’s discussion by responding to the analyst or essayist or both during class.
All members of the class will post to their blogs once a week, usually a response to one of the stories read during the week. Topics are open, but one good suggestion is to begin with an idea that came up in class and extend it, offering your own thoughts and taking the discussion of the topic a little further. See the course syllabus, section III, for other suggestions. Thus, your individual responsibility will be to read all stories, serve once as an analyst, once as essayist, two or three times as commenter, and post to your own blog weekly (except in the week for which you are an essayist).
1. Style analyst—Class begins with the analyst pointing out characteristics of the writer’s style, based on a close reading of the story’s first two paragraphs (more if the story begins with dialogue; fewer if the first paragraph is an especially long one). The style analyst points out significant examples of diction, syntax, figurative language, organization, tone, and tension, paying special attention to issues significant to the story as a whole. A brief discussion ensues during which other members of the class can add to the insights of the analyst.
2. Essayist—The essayist writes a brief essay (600-800 words) on the story, focusing on one aspect of the story’s technique, or meaning. The essayist may discuss an aspect of characterization, identify an interpretive problem in the story and offer a suggested answer to the problem, comment on setting or point of view, or interpret a crucial moment in the story. Essays are posted to the writer’s blog and read to the class. In the time remaining, the essayist leads a discussion of the story. (N.B.—one excellent way to begin a group discussion is to ask a question to which you don’t have a complete answer yourself, something important about the story you’re still trying to figure out. If you’re not sure whether the main character made the right decision, ask the class. If there’s a scene whose meaning is ambiguous or whose significance is unclear, ask the class.) IMPORTANT: The essayist brings a hard copy of the essay to class for me to write notes on.
3. Commenter—Within 24 hours after class, three members of the class will post written comments on the essayist’s piece. I will be one of these three commenters, often in the form of notes on the hard copy provided me. The other two commenters will write thoughtful, constructive comments on the blog, specifically offering their suggestions for making the essay more specific, more persuasive, or more clearly written. The essayist will then submit a revised version of the essay, both hard copy and turnitin.com, two class sessions after the presentation.
4. Reader—All members of the class not included in the above roles are readers. The reader’s job is to read the story carefully before coming to class, annotating the margins of the textbook with comments about the story. Readers contribute to the day’s discussion by responding to the analyst or essayist or both during class.
All members of the class will post to their blogs once a week, usually a response to one of the stories read during the week. Topics are open, but one good suggestion is to begin with an idea that came up in class and extend it, offering your own thoughts and taking the discussion of the topic a little further. See the course syllabus, section III, for other suggestions. Thus, your individual responsibility will be to read all stories, serve once as an analyst, once as essayist, two or three times as commenter, and post to your own blog weekly (except in the week for which you are an essayist).
AP--Pride & Prejudice essay
Write an essay of approximately 600-750 words (2-3 typed, double-spaced pages), in which you discuss in as much detail as space permits the significance of the following passage to the work as a whole. In your discussion you may focus on an appropriate combination of the following elements:
• How does the passage characterize its participants and Austen’s methods of characterization?
• What is the relationship of this scene to the “action” of the novel? Does it contribute to either the complication of the action or to its resolution?
• How does it embody or advance themes important to the novel?
• In what sense is the scene “comic”?
• How does it most significantly illustrate Jane Austen’s style?
Essays are due Friday, September 5, both hard copy and electronically to turnitin.com. Here is a link to the formatting requirements. Here is a link to the syllabus, section 5 of which details turnitin.com procedures.
Passage:
“Tell me once for all, are you engaged to him?”
Though Elizabeth would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady Catherine, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a moment’s deliberation, “I am not.”
Lady Catherine seemed pleased.
“And will you promise me, never to enter into such an engagement?”
“I will make no promise of the kind.”
“Miss Bennet, I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman. But do not deceiveyourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away, till you have given me the assurance I require.”
“And I certainly never shall give it. I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable. Your ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry your daughter; but would my giving you the wished-for promise, make their marriage at all more probable?” . . . .
Her ladyship was highly incensed.
“You have no regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?”
“Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments.”
“You are resolved then to have him?”
“I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”
• How does the passage characterize its participants and Austen’s methods of characterization?
• What is the relationship of this scene to the “action” of the novel? Does it contribute to either the complication of the action or to its resolution?
• How does it embody or advance themes important to the novel?
• In what sense is the scene “comic”?
• How does it most significantly illustrate Jane Austen’s style?
Essays are due Friday, September 5, both hard copy and electronically to turnitin.com. Here is a link to the formatting requirements. Here is a link to the syllabus, section 5 of which details turnitin.com procedures.
Passage:
“Tell me once for all, are you engaged to him?”
Though Elizabeth would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady Catherine, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a moment’s deliberation, “I am not.”
Lady Catherine seemed pleased.
“And will you promise me, never to enter into such an engagement?”
“I will make no promise of the kind.”
“Miss Bennet, I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman. But do not deceiveyourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away, till you have given me the assurance I require.”
“And I certainly never shall give it. I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable. Your ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry your daughter; but would my giving you the wished-for promise, make their marriage at all more probable?” . . . .
Her ladyship was highly incensed.
“You have no regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?”
“Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments.”
“You are resolved then to have him?”
“I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”
Friday, August 29, 2008
AP--For Tuesday September 2
Find a brief passage in Pride and Prejudice, not from the opening chapter, which illustrates a significant principle of Jane Austen's style and which contains a theme or idea important to the novel. Annotate your passage in your copy of the novel and come to class prepared to share your discussion of the passage, both its relationship to Austen's style and its significance to some principle of form in the novel as a whole.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Revising a blog
FROM BLOG TO ESSAY IN FIVE EASY STEPS
1. Look at the blog entry you’ve chosen for the idea that you can develop into an essay of several paragraphs. It may or may not be the topic most addressed in the blog, but it should be one which forms a considerable part of your blog discussion and which you think you can develop further in essay form.
2. Rewrite the current opening statement or write a new, brief opening paragraph. Keep your opening concise, identify the focus of the essay, and, at the end of the paragraph, make a clear, specifically worded statement of thesis, the interpretive idea whose validity you wish to prove in the essay.
3. Look at the middle paragraphs of your blog entry. Are they too long? Too short? If they don’t already begin with sentences that state ideas rather than facts, add clear topic sentences that relate to your thesis. Check within each of those middle paragraphs for a balance between specific textual evidence, preferably both examples and brief quotations, and your own commentary designed to identify the significance of your evidence and fully develop the depth of each paragraph. Finally, make sure each of these middle paragraphs helps support the validity of your thesis.
4. Check your final paragraph. Make sure it does not simply repeat what you have already stated. Draw a conclusion from the evidence you’ve presented. Save your most important idea, the one everything else in your essay leads up to, for last.
5. Last but certainly not least, read all your sentences out loud for clarity and clutter. Have you expressed your biggest ideas in simple words? Have you taken out who, which, and that whenever possible? Are you varying the length of your sentences, alternating complex and compound sentences with simple ones? Does the punctuation of your sentences help make them clearer and more meaningful? Have you caught the spelling mistakes spellcheck won’t catch?
1. Look at the blog entry you’ve chosen for the idea that you can develop into an essay of several paragraphs. It may or may not be the topic most addressed in the blog, but it should be one which forms a considerable part of your blog discussion and which you think you can develop further in essay form.
2. Rewrite the current opening statement or write a new, brief opening paragraph. Keep your opening concise, identify the focus of the essay, and, at the end of the paragraph, make a clear, specifically worded statement of thesis, the interpretive idea whose validity you wish to prove in the essay.
3. Look at the middle paragraphs of your blog entry. Are they too long? Too short? If they don’t already begin with sentences that state ideas rather than facts, add clear topic sentences that relate to your thesis. Check within each of those middle paragraphs for a balance between specific textual evidence, preferably both examples and brief quotations, and your own commentary designed to identify the significance of your evidence and fully develop the depth of each paragraph. Finally, make sure each of these middle paragraphs helps support the validity of your thesis.
4. Check your final paragraph. Make sure it does not simply repeat what you have already stated. Draw a conclusion from the evidence you’ve presented. Save your most important idea, the one everything else in your essay leads up to, for last.
5. Last but certainly not least, read all your sentences out loud for clarity and clutter. Have you expressed your biggest ideas in simple words? Have you taken out who, which, and that whenever possible? Are you varying the length of your sentences, alternating complex and compound sentences with simple ones? Does the punctuation of your sentences help make them clearer and more meaningful? Have you caught the spelling mistakes spellcheck won’t catch?
Friday, August 22, 2008
English IV Assignments weeks 1-3
English IV—World Literature
Mr. Coon, Mr. Campbell, Ms. Decker
Schedule of Assignments
August—Sep, 2008
Note: Assignments are DUE on the day indicated.
Week 1: August 25—29
Day 1. First day—welcome, syllabus, blog intro, assignments
Day 2. Set up account with Google Reader (see “how to start a blog,”); write the letter indicated in the instructions after you establish your blog; vocabulary intro (bring books)—
Day 3. Print blog entry, bring to class for discussions and workshop (blog to essay in five easy steps); begin peer review
Day 4. Continue peer review; begin revision and re-writing of draft 2
Week 2: September 2—5—No classes Monday (Labor Day)
Day 1. Essays due, both hard copy and turnitin.com; introduction to tragedy
Day 2. Read Antigone, pp. 14 to 32 (to line 593 “enter Ismene”)
Day 3. Antigone, pp. 32-44, to line 1034; vocab quiz 1, lessons 1-3 (quiz for section 1 only)
Day 4. (Campbell/Decker only)—vocab quiz 1, lessons 1-3 + Antigone activity (TBA)
Week 3: September 8—12
1. Antigone, finish reading to page 57
2. Read “Torn Lace,” pp. 73--77
3. Read “War,” pp. 79-82
4. Writing activity TBA; bring vocab books to preview lessons 4, 5, & 6
Mr. Coon, Mr. Campbell, Ms. Decker
Schedule of Assignments
August—Sep, 2008
Note: Assignments are DUE on the day indicated.
Week 1: August 25—29
Day 1. First day—welcome, syllabus, blog intro, assignments
Day 2. Set up account with Google Reader (see “how to start a blog,”); write the letter indicated in the instructions after you establish your blog; vocabulary intro (bring books)—
Day 3. Print blog entry, bring to class for discussions and workshop (blog to essay in five easy steps); begin peer review
Day 4. Continue peer review; begin revision and re-writing of draft 2
Week 2: September 2—5—No classes Monday (Labor Day)
Day 1. Essays due, both hard copy and turnitin.com; introduction to tragedy
Day 2. Read Antigone, pp. 14 to 32 (to line 593 “enter Ismene”)
Day 3. Antigone, pp. 32-44, to line 1034; vocab quiz 1, lessons 1-3 (quiz for section 1 only)
Day 4. (Campbell/Decker only)—vocab quiz 1, lessons 1-3 + Antigone activity (TBA)
Week 3: September 8—12
1. Antigone, finish reading to page 57
2. Read “Torn Lace,” pp. 73--77
3. Read “War,” pp. 79-82
4. Writing activity TBA; bring vocab books to preview lessons 4, 5, & 6
AP--August-October assignments
English IV—Advanced Placement World Literature
Mr. Coon
Schedule of Assignments
August—October, 2008
Note: All assignments are DUE for the class day listed.
Week 1: August 25—29
Day 1: First day—welcome, syllabus, blog intro, assignments
Day 2: Set up account with Google Reader (see “how to start a blog,” on mrcoonsenglish.blogspot.com; write the letter indicated in the instructions after you establish your blog; vocabulary intro (bring books); Introduction to close reading
Day 3: Bring Pride & Prejudice; continue introduction to close reading
Day 4: Quiz 1—Multiple choice (15 minutes); close reading exercise
Week 2: September 2—5—No classes Monday (Labor Day)
Day 1: Discussion of passages
Day 2: Discussion of Pride and Prejudice; introduce short story presentations & roles
Day 3: Essay due on Pride and Prejudice; vocab quiz 1 (lessons 1-3)
Week 3: September 8—12
1: "A Rose For Emily" (28) (passage and essay-LCC; no commenters)
2: "Everyday Use" (p.443)
3: "Teenage Wasteland" (35)
4: "Interpreter of Maladies" (p. 579); Multiple choice quiz 2
Week 4: September 15—19
1: "A & P" (p. 14); blogs due
2: "Revelation" (368)
3: "A Good Man is Hard to Find" (p.358)
4: "Cathedral" (p. 98); Vocab quiz 2 (lessons 4-6)
Week 5: September 22—26
1: "The Five Forty-Eight" (p. 503); blogs due
2: "Battle Royal" (p. 526)
3. "Shiloh" (p. 604)
4: "The Yellow Wallpaper" (p. 424); Multiple choice quiz 3
Week 6: September 29—October 3
1: "Greasy Lake "(p. 129); blogs due
2: "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" (p. 613)
3. "I Stand Here Ironing" (p. 637);
4: "The Things They Carried" (p. 625); vocab quiz 3 (lessons 7-9)
Week 7: October 6—9—No school Friday (Fall Break)
1: Drafts of papers due in class; no blogs due
2. Peer editing of short story papers
WED: Papers due for selected short stories; no quiz
Mr. Coon
Schedule of Assignments
August—October, 2008
Note: All assignments are DUE for the class day listed.
Week 1: August 25—29
Day 1: First day—welcome, syllabus, blog intro, assignments
Day 2: Set up account with Google Reader (see “how to start a blog,” on mrcoonsenglish.blogspot.com; write the letter indicated in the instructions after you establish your blog; vocabulary intro (bring books); Introduction to close reading
Day 3: Bring Pride & Prejudice; continue introduction to close reading
Day 4: Quiz 1—Multiple choice (15 minutes); close reading exercise
Week 2: September 2—5—No classes Monday (Labor Day)
Day 1: Discussion of passages
Day 2: Discussion of Pride and Prejudice; introduce short story presentations & roles
Day 3: Essay due on Pride and Prejudice; vocab quiz 1 (lessons 1-3)
Week 3: September 8—12
1: "A Rose For Emily" (28) (passage and essay-LCC; no commenters)
2: "Everyday Use" (p.443)
3: "Teenage Wasteland" (35)
4: "Interpreter of Maladies" (p. 579); Multiple choice quiz 2
Week 4: September 15—19
1: "A & P" (p. 14); blogs due
2: "Revelation" (368)
3: "A Good Man is Hard to Find" (p.358)
4: "Cathedral" (p. 98); Vocab quiz 2 (lessons 4-6)
Week 5: September 22—26
1: "The Five Forty-Eight" (p. 503); blogs due
2: "Battle Royal" (p. 526)
3. "Shiloh" (p. 604)
4: "The Yellow Wallpaper" (p. 424); Multiple choice quiz 3
Week 6: September 29—October 3
1: "Greasy Lake "(p. 129); blogs due
2: "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" (p. 613)
3. "I Stand Here Ironing" (p. 637);
4: "The Things They Carried" (p. 625); vocab quiz 3 (lessons 7-9)
Week 7: October 6—9—No school Friday (Fall Break)
1: Drafts of papers due in class; no blogs due
2. Peer editing of short story papers
WED: Papers due for selected short stories; no quiz
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Headings, formats, and style tips
HEADINGS FOR PAPERS—Always head your papers with the following information:
FORMATTING:
- Your name,
- Course and section number (AP -3, for example)
- Turnitin receipt number,
- Word count (your word processing program should perform this last task for you automatically).
FORMATTING:
- Use 12-point font
- Choose a font with serifs (Times New Roman, for example)
- Set 1 inch margins all round
- Give your paper a title which indicates its subject; when writing about literature, give more than just the name of the text you are writing about.
- Double space text
- For quotations of FIVE lines or longer, block the passage with one and one-half inch margins and single spacing.
- Remember to put novel and play titles in italics, poem and short story titles in quotation marks, and to give your paper a title different from the literary work it discusses.
- Use American spelling and usage: double quotation marks, not single; toward, not towards; judgment, not judgement; gray, not grey; honor, not honour, and so on.
- Avoid "naked" pronouns: this, that, which.
- Whenever possible, omit who, which, and that--make the relative clause either the main clause or a participial phrase.
- Simplify your language; use everyday words to express important ideas.
- Omit unnecessary words from your sentences, unnecessary sentences from your paragraphs, unnecessary paragraphs from your essays. Be studious of brevity.
- Whenever you face a choice between a general term and a specific word, opt for the latter.
How to Start a Blog 2008
Go to www.blogger.com. You should be automatically directed to their start page. Follow the "three easy steps" :
--Create your account using your PCDS e-mail account and password (use the same account and password for your turnitin.com account). Since your blog will only be read by me and by your classmates, please use your first and last name as your display name; that way I always know whose blog I'm reading and you get credit for having written it.
--Name your blog. Whatever you like, but it's a school assignment, so be appropriate, please. For your blog's url, use firstname-lastname so that we may find each other's blogs easily during the year.
--Select a template for your blog. Pick whichever one you like, with one condition. My eyes are getting older and I can't read black or dark backgrounds, so please don't choose one of those templates.
After you create your template, click "start posting" to go to the editing page of your blog. From there, you have one more crucial task. Click the Settings tab, then the e-mail tab. Type my e-mail address in the box marked "BlogSend": (lance.coon@pcds.org). After I have an RSS feed for your blog, I’ll ask you to turn this setting off. But to get started you need to include this step or you may not receive credit for your blog entries. (Be sure to click "Save Settings" before closing this tab.)
When you have completed these steps, click the "Posting" tab and create your first blog entry.
For AP English: Write your first blog about the reading you did this summer. I’m interested not only in the books you chose from my recommendations but also any books you read on your own. Include a list of any books you have read since the beginning of June, both titles and authors, and then write a short piece about ONE of the titles you read. Pick the one that made the strongest impression on you, or the one you enjoyed the most, or the one that stayed with you the longest after you read it. Here is a link to such a piece, one I wrote last summer after I read Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. As you write, remember to be as specific as you can in your language, your reasons, your examples.
For English IV: Write a blog about the book you chose from the grade 12 Summer Reading List. If you read more than one title from the list, choose the one that made the strongest impression on you. In your blog (500 words or so), identify which aspects of the novel are most prominent, which ones go the furthest to explain the impression the book made on you. Was it an idea, a character who seemed particularly lifelike, a relationship, the ambiguity of the book's ending or meaning, something about the writer's style? Your blog will serve as the first draft of a paper to be turned in next week, so give some thought to identifying and discussing those elements of the book which are most notable.
I recommend that you write, edit, spell-check, and word-count your letter on a word document then paste it into the box on the posting page of your blog. When you're done, give it a title, click the orange button marked "publish post," and voila!—you have created your first blog entry (436).
--Create your account using your PCDS e-mail account and password (use the same account and password for your turnitin.com account). Since your blog will only be read by me and by your classmates, please use your first and last name as your display name; that way I always know whose blog I'm reading and you get credit for having written it.
--Name your blog. Whatever you like, but it's a school assignment, so be appropriate, please. For your blog's url, use firstname-lastname so that we may find each other's blogs easily during the year.
--Select a template for your blog. Pick whichever one you like, with one condition. My eyes are getting older and I can't read black or dark backgrounds, so please don't choose one of those templates.
After you create your template, click "start posting" to go to the editing page of your blog. From there, you have one more crucial task. Click the Settings tab, then the e-mail tab. Type my e-mail address in the box marked "BlogSend": (lance.coon@pcds.org). After I have an RSS feed for your blog, I’ll ask you to turn this setting off. But to get started you need to include this step or you may not receive credit for your blog entries. (Be sure to click "Save Settings" before closing this tab.)
When you have completed these steps, click the "Posting" tab and create your first blog entry.
For AP English: Write your first blog about the reading you did this summer. I’m interested not only in the books you chose from my recommendations but also any books you read on your own. Include a list of any books you have read since the beginning of June, both titles and authors, and then write a short piece about ONE of the titles you read. Pick the one that made the strongest impression on you, or the one you enjoyed the most, or the one that stayed with you the longest after you read it. Here is a link to such a piece, one I wrote last summer after I read Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. As you write, remember to be as specific as you can in your language, your reasons, your examples.
For English IV: Write a blog about the book you chose from the grade 12 Summer Reading List. If you read more than one title from the list, choose the one that made the strongest impression on you. In your blog (500 words or so), identify which aspects of the novel are most prominent, which ones go the furthest to explain the impression the book made on you. Was it an idea, a character who seemed particularly lifelike, a relationship, the ambiguity of the book's ending or meaning, something about the writer's style? Your blog will serve as the first draft of a paper to be turned in next week, so give some thought to identifying and discussing those elements of the book which are most notable.
I recommend that you write, edit, spell-check, and word-count your letter on a word document then paste it into the box on the posting page of your blog. When you're done, give it a title, click the orange button marked "publish post," and voila!—you have created your first blog entry (436).
Syllabus 2008--English IV & AP
English IV Syllabus
Mr. Coon; Fall, 2008
I. Goals
In the courses which comprise English IV, we seek to expose members of the senior class to significant pieces of literature from the world tradition. The required semester selection of world authors includes pieces from the classical Mediterranean world, Asia, Africa, South America, and Continental Europe. Canonical authors such as Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Kafka, Tolstoy, Achebe, and Solzhenitsyn provide depth and balance to the assigned material. Authors and works are chosen with an eye toward providing significant intellectual, esthetic, moral, and literary challenges to readers. Each course asks students to read and think carefully, to listen and discuss, and to develop their language skills, especially in writing, critical reading, vocabulary, and English usage.
II. Readings
World Literature (first semester)
1. World Literature , Donna Rosenberg (editor)
2. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
3. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
4. selected novel(s) for summer reading
Advanced Placement World Literature (two semesters)
1. Literature: An Introduction, (10th edition) X. J. Kennedy & Dana Gioia, editors
2. Waiting for the Barbarians, J. M. Coetzee
3. The Sound and the Fury , William Faulkner
4. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
5. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (summer reading)
6. selected novels for summer reading and 2 additional papers
African-American Literature (second semester)
1. Hard Road to Freedom: The Story of African America, James Oliver Horton & Lois E. Horton
2. Black Boy, Richard Wright
3. Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
4. Fences, August Wilson
5. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Shakespeare (second semester); team taught with Mr. Burns
1. Hamlet
2. As You Like It
3. The Merchant of Venice
III. Additional texts
1. Vocabulary for Achievement, 6th course
2. Write with Pride—Abandon Prejudice: A Style Manual for English IV (available online at mrcoonsenglish.blogspot.com)
IV. Written work
The primary forum for written work is your blog. You are required to post weekly blog entries relating to the literature studied in the classroom. Your blogs will receive a grade, accounting for 30% of each quarter’s grade. Blog entries should be approximately 500 words in length (please indicate word count in parentheses at the end of each entry). I will not, however, grade by length alone; rather, quantity will be one of four criteria, along with regularity of entries, style, and originality of content. Instructions about creating and posting blog entries may be found on my blog at mrcoonsenglish.blogspot.com.
Occasionally I will ask you to respond to particular prompts or questions on my blog, but often there is no set topic for your weekly entries. Rather, I ask you to find an element of the assigned reading that interests you and discuss it thoughtfully. This comment may take many forms, a few of which are suggested here:
• Discuss a character’s actions, words, personality, moral values, or humanity.
• Comment on the writer’s style, use of language, tone, irony, or imagery.
• Consider a topic or idea raised in class discussion, trying to go beyond what has already been stated.
• Raise and discuss a question about the text under consideration.
• Discuss the importance or meaning of a key passage or scene from the reading.
• For longer works, show how a scene or passage develops a theme or pattern identified in class.
• Make a comparison between a scene, character, or idea from the literature and something from another source or from your own experience
• Use an idea from my blog or from that of one of your classmates as a point of departure for your response.
• Locate relevant research material on the web, post a link to the site on your blog, and discuss your choice.
In all cases, your goals are to demonstrate close, careful reading of assigned texts, challenge yourself to creative, original thinking, and develop your fluency as a writer. In addition to blog entries, several times each semester, I will assign papers, either revisions of blog entries or interpretations of asigned novels, plays, poems, or stories. Your papers will account for another 30% of your grade.
IMPORTANT: HEADINGS FOR PAPERS—Always head your papers with the following information: your name, date, turnitin receipt number, and word count (your word processing program should perform this last task for you automatically).
V. Turnitin.com
In addition to submitting hard copies of your papers this year, you are required to submit electronic copies of all papers to turnitin.com. These instructions will help you submit your papers. Use the same e-mail address and password for turnitin.com that you use for your account at blogger.com.
• On your web browser, go to turnitin.com. Register as a new user or login to the personal home page you created last year. You must give your e-mail address and a personal password which contains both letters and numbers to register. Click “student” as your user type. Give whatever other information may be necessary as you move through the required fields.
• When you reach your personal home page, click “join new class.” Then enter a class ID and a class enrollment password. For AP students, the class ID is 1598905 and the password pcdsap; for World Literature students (non-AP) the class ID is 1875359 and the password is pcdswl. Click “submit” when you finish. N.B: You only need to complete this step once.
• Then submit your paper. When you click on the class title, you will go to the class history page. Click on the word “submit” in the middle navigation bar. Enter the title of your paper and select the assignment with the correct date from the pull down menu. Assignments are listed by the title of the work and the date an assignment is due.
• After entering your title and selecting the correct assignment, paste your essay into the box marked “main text.” (In my experience, the copy and paste method works better than the upload method. You may, of course, find otherwise). You may ignore the boxes marked abstract and bibliography unless otherwise instructed. When your paper has been pasted into the “main text” box, click “submit.”
• Remember to put your digital receipt number on the assignment before you give it to me. Otherwise your assignment will be marked late and penalized accordingly.
VI. Participation and attendance
• Class discussion is a crucial part of the course. Therefore, it is imperative that we all treat one another with respect and behave in such a way as to contribute to, not disrupt, an atmosphere conducive to maximum learning.
• Participation in class is mandatory. I understand that the introverts have difficulty speaking in front of your peers and me; nevertheless, I expect you to contribute meaningfully to class activities and discussions. You must come to class having done the reading assigned and be prepared to discuss the material, answer questions, venture informed opinions, and articulate personal responses.
• Participation grades are assigned as follows and account for 20% of your grade in the class: "A" students are fully engaged, on time with the necessary books and supplies. They display obvious enthusiasm for the tasks of the class: reading, talking, listening, working in a group, thinking about a problem. "B" students' engagement varies slightly, sometimes at "A" level, sometimes not. "C" students are generally involved but with noticeable lapses. They may arrive late to class or frequently forget materials. They spend time on things other than the work at hand: chatting with friends, doing homework for another class, catching up on sleep, or staring off in space. "D" students exhibit these behaviors to an even greater degree, becoming a distraction to the work of the class, having a negative impact on the group's ability to get its work done, regularly coming to class unprepared.
• The first six excused absences each semester, not including those for School business (athletic competitions, class trips, performances, field trips, etc) will not be penalized. The seventh, ninth, and eleventh absences will result in a one-third letter grade penalty in your participation and attendance grade, and the thirteenth will result in a participation grade no higher than D for the semester. Latenesses to class, including leaving the room to find a book or go to the restroom, will result in penalties on weekly quizzes.
VII. Vocabulary
• Three new lessons in the vocabulary book are assigned every other week. We will look briefly at the new words during the first class of the week, so please bring your books to that session. Quizzes will take place the first 10 minutes of class on alternate Fridays unless otherwise notified.
• For first semester, we will cover lessons 1-18; for the second, lessons 19-30. Quizzes will contain all 30 words from the three lessons.
• Missed vocabulary quizzes must be made up at your earliest possible convenience. After one week, barring extraordinary circumstances, missing scores will be entered as zeroes.
VIII. Grading policy
• Grades are determined on a point system in which each assignment is weighted by the number of points it contains. Points will be totaled at the end of each quarter and semester and grades determined in accordance with the percentages contained in your student handbook.
• Grades from individual assignments are then weighted into categories as follows: blogs (30%), papers (30%), vocabulary and quizzes (20%), participation and attendance (20%).
• Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Work turned in during or after class is considered late and will be penalized. Late work is eligible for a score no higher than 75%, depending on the quality of the assignment and the degree of lateness. If you are absent the day an assignment is due, either have a classmate turn it in or fax the assignment to the Upper School office (602-224-6177).
• Students who miss quizzes or tests because of excused absence must make arrangements for make-up immediately upon returning to school. Missing work (quizzes or assignments never turned in or made up) will result in an incomplete grade for the quarter or semester.
• Any student who establishes a clear pattern of failing to complete the assigned reading according to the prescribed schedule will receive a semester grade of D or F, regardless of that student’s scores on other assignments. Repeated missing or poor written work, failed quizzes or tests, or the inability to supply basic factual information in class will be taken as signs of not reading.
• All assignments must be completed in accordance with the school’s honesty policy. See your handbook for details and be certain you know the difference between plagiarism and acceptable use of source material.
X. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Group 1—Questions to which the answer is “yes” (often because you asked):
• Will this assignment be graded?
• Will this be on the test?
• Does this count very much?
• Do we need to know this?
• Was I supposed to send this to turnitin.com?
• Do we need our books today?
• May I go to a college meeting during class period tomorrow?
Group 2—Questions to which the answer is “no” (generally as a matter of policy):
• Is it OK if I’m a few minutes late to class today?
• May I use the restroom?
• Should I go get my book from my car?
• I didn’t get a chance to read last night. Is it all right if I turn this in tomorrow?
• May I go to a college meeting today?
Group 3—Other questions
• What’s the best way for me to improve my grade in this class? (A: Spend more time on your blog and on your papers AFTER you write them.)
• Will you look at my college essay? (A: Yes, but I need 24 hours to get it back to you)
• I’m a very quiet person by nature. How can I improve my participation? (A: When something comes up that interests you or that you thought about while you were reading, make a point to say something brief. Keep doing that. Over time it will get easier as you expand your comfort zone.)
• What kind of people do best in English class? (A: Those who like to read, those who can write clearly, those who think about the meaning of what they read, those who stay on top of their day-to-day responsibilities, those who come to class prepared, those who volunteer information and ideas during class discussions.)
XI. Contact information
• In person—room 311. Stop by to talk or ask a question anytime I’m free. My schedule is posted on the door of my classroom. To make up a quiz, go over an assignment, a speech draft, or a college essay, please make an appointment first.
• By voice-mail—602-956-0253 x4296
• By fax—602-224-6177
• By e-mail—Lance.Coon@pcds.org
Mr. Coon; Fall, 2008
I. Goals
In the courses which comprise English IV, we seek to expose members of the senior class to significant pieces of literature from the world tradition. The required semester selection of world authors includes pieces from the classical Mediterranean world, Asia, Africa, South America, and Continental Europe. Canonical authors such as Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Kafka, Tolstoy, Achebe, and Solzhenitsyn provide depth and balance to the assigned material. Authors and works are chosen with an eye toward providing significant intellectual, esthetic, moral, and literary challenges to readers. Each course asks students to read and think carefully, to listen and discuss, and to develop their language skills, especially in writing, critical reading, vocabulary, and English usage.
II. Readings
World Literature (first semester)
1. World Literature , Donna Rosenberg (editor)
2. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
3. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
4. selected novel(s) for summer reading
Advanced Placement World Literature (two semesters)
1. Literature: An Introduction, (10th edition) X. J. Kennedy & Dana Gioia, editors
2. Waiting for the Barbarians, J. M. Coetzee
3. The Sound and the Fury , William Faulkner
4. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
5. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (summer reading)
6. selected novels for summer reading and 2 additional papers
African-American Literature (second semester)
1. Hard Road to Freedom: The Story of African America, James Oliver Horton & Lois E. Horton
2. Black Boy, Richard Wright
3. Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
4. Fences, August Wilson
5. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Shakespeare (second semester); team taught with Mr. Burns
1. Hamlet
2. As You Like It
3. The Merchant of Venice
III. Additional texts
1. Vocabulary for Achievement, 6th course
2. Write with Pride—Abandon Prejudice: A Style Manual for English IV (available online at mrcoonsenglish.blogspot.com)
IV. Written work
The primary forum for written work is your blog. You are required to post weekly blog entries relating to the literature studied in the classroom. Your blogs will receive a grade, accounting for 30% of each quarter’s grade. Blog entries should be approximately 500 words in length (please indicate word count in parentheses at the end of each entry). I will not, however, grade by length alone; rather, quantity will be one of four criteria, along with regularity of entries, style, and originality of content. Instructions about creating and posting blog entries may be found on my blog at mrcoonsenglish.blogspot.com.
Occasionally I will ask you to respond to particular prompts or questions on my blog, but often there is no set topic for your weekly entries. Rather, I ask you to find an element of the assigned reading that interests you and discuss it thoughtfully. This comment may take many forms, a few of which are suggested here:
• Discuss a character’s actions, words, personality, moral values, or humanity.
• Comment on the writer’s style, use of language, tone, irony, or imagery.
• Consider a topic or idea raised in class discussion, trying to go beyond what has already been stated.
• Raise and discuss a question about the text under consideration.
• Discuss the importance or meaning of a key passage or scene from the reading.
• For longer works, show how a scene or passage develops a theme or pattern identified in class.
• Make a comparison between a scene, character, or idea from the literature and something from another source or from your own experience
• Use an idea from my blog or from that of one of your classmates as a point of departure for your response.
• Locate relevant research material on the web, post a link to the site on your blog, and discuss your choice.
In all cases, your goals are to demonstrate close, careful reading of assigned texts, challenge yourself to creative, original thinking, and develop your fluency as a writer. In addition to blog entries, several times each semester, I will assign papers, either revisions of blog entries or interpretations of asigned novels, plays, poems, or stories. Your papers will account for another 30% of your grade.
IMPORTANT: HEADINGS FOR PAPERS—Always head your papers with the following information: your name, date, turnitin receipt number, and word count (your word processing program should perform this last task for you automatically).
V. Turnitin.com
In addition to submitting hard copies of your papers this year, you are required to submit electronic copies of all papers to turnitin.com. These instructions will help you submit your papers. Use the same e-mail address and password for turnitin.com that you use for your account at blogger.com.
• On your web browser, go to turnitin.com. Register as a new user or login to the personal home page you created last year. You must give your e-mail address and a personal password which contains both letters and numbers to register. Click “student” as your user type. Give whatever other information may be necessary as you move through the required fields.
• When you reach your personal home page, click “join new class.” Then enter a class ID and a class enrollment password. For AP students, the class ID is 1598905 and the password pcdsap; for World Literature students (non-AP) the class ID is 1875359 and the password is pcdswl. Click “submit” when you finish. N.B: You only need to complete this step once.
• Then submit your paper. When you click on the class title, you will go to the class history page. Click on the word “submit” in the middle navigation bar. Enter the title of your paper and select the assignment with the correct date from the pull down menu. Assignments are listed by the title of the work and the date an assignment is due.
• After entering your title and selecting the correct assignment, paste your essay into the box marked “main text.” (In my experience, the copy and paste method works better than the upload method. You may, of course, find otherwise). You may ignore the boxes marked abstract and bibliography unless otherwise instructed. When your paper has been pasted into the “main text” box, click “submit.”
• Remember to put your digital receipt number on the assignment before you give it to me. Otherwise your assignment will be marked late and penalized accordingly.
VI. Participation and attendance
• Class discussion is a crucial part of the course. Therefore, it is imperative that we all treat one another with respect and behave in such a way as to contribute to, not disrupt, an atmosphere conducive to maximum learning.
• Participation in class is mandatory. I understand that the introverts have difficulty speaking in front of your peers and me; nevertheless, I expect you to contribute meaningfully to class activities and discussions. You must come to class having done the reading assigned and be prepared to discuss the material, answer questions, venture informed opinions, and articulate personal responses.
• Participation grades are assigned as follows and account for 20% of your grade in the class: "A" students are fully engaged, on time with the necessary books and supplies. They display obvious enthusiasm for the tasks of the class: reading, talking, listening, working in a group, thinking about a problem. "B" students' engagement varies slightly, sometimes at "A" level, sometimes not. "C" students are generally involved but with noticeable lapses. They may arrive late to class or frequently forget materials. They spend time on things other than the work at hand: chatting with friends, doing homework for another class, catching up on sleep, or staring off in space. "D" students exhibit these behaviors to an even greater degree, becoming a distraction to the work of the class, having a negative impact on the group's ability to get its work done, regularly coming to class unprepared.
• The first six excused absences each semester, not including those for School business (athletic competitions, class trips, performances, field trips, etc) will not be penalized. The seventh, ninth, and eleventh absences will result in a one-third letter grade penalty in your participation and attendance grade, and the thirteenth will result in a participation grade no higher than D for the semester. Latenesses to class, including leaving the room to find a book or go to the restroom, will result in penalties on weekly quizzes.
VII. Vocabulary
• Three new lessons in the vocabulary book are assigned every other week. We will look briefly at the new words during the first class of the week, so please bring your books to that session. Quizzes will take place the first 10 minutes of class on alternate Fridays unless otherwise notified.
• For first semester, we will cover lessons 1-18; for the second, lessons 19-30. Quizzes will contain all 30 words from the three lessons.
• Missed vocabulary quizzes must be made up at your earliest possible convenience. After one week, barring extraordinary circumstances, missing scores will be entered as zeroes.
VIII. Grading policy
• Grades are determined on a point system in which each assignment is weighted by the number of points it contains. Points will be totaled at the end of each quarter and semester and grades determined in accordance with the percentages contained in your student handbook.
• Grades from individual assignments are then weighted into categories as follows: blogs (30%), papers (30%), vocabulary and quizzes (20%), participation and attendance (20%).
• Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Work turned in during or after class is considered late and will be penalized. Late work is eligible for a score no higher than 75%, depending on the quality of the assignment and the degree of lateness. If you are absent the day an assignment is due, either have a classmate turn it in or fax the assignment to the Upper School office (602-224-6177).
• Students who miss quizzes or tests because of excused absence must make arrangements for make-up immediately upon returning to school. Missing work (quizzes or assignments never turned in or made up) will result in an incomplete grade for the quarter or semester.
• Any student who establishes a clear pattern of failing to complete the assigned reading according to the prescribed schedule will receive a semester grade of D or F, regardless of that student’s scores on other assignments. Repeated missing or poor written work, failed quizzes or tests, or the inability to supply basic factual information in class will be taken as signs of not reading.
• All assignments must be completed in accordance with the school’s honesty policy. See your handbook for details and be certain you know the difference between plagiarism and acceptable use of source material.
X. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Group 1—Questions to which the answer is “yes” (often because you asked):
• Will this assignment be graded?
• Will this be on the test?
• Does this count very much?
• Do we need to know this?
• Was I supposed to send this to turnitin.com?
• Do we need our books today?
• May I go to a college meeting during class period tomorrow?
Group 2—Questions to which the answer is “no” (generally as a matter of policy):
• Is it OK if I’m a few minutes late to class today?
• May I use the restroom?
• Should I go get my book from my car?
• I didn’t get a chance to read last night. Is it all right if I turn this in tomorrow?
• May I go to a college meeting today?
Group 3—Other questions
• What’s the best way for me to improve my grade in this class? (A: Spend more time on your blog and on your papers AFTER you write them.)
• Will you look at my college essay? (A: Yes, but I need 24 hours to get it back to you)
• I’m a very quiet person by nature. How can I improve my participation? (A: When something comes up that interests you or that you thought about while you were reading, make a point to say something brief. Keep doing that. Over time it will get easier as you expand your comfort zone.)
• What kind of people do best in English class? (A: Those who like to read, those who can write clearly, those who think about the meaning of what they read, those who stay on top of their day-to-day responsibilities, those who come to class prepared, those who volunteer information and ideas during class discussions.)
XI. Contact information
• In person—room 311. Stop by to talk or ask a question anytime I’m free. My schedule is posted on the door of my classroom. To make up a quiz, go over an assignment, a speech draft, or a college essay, please make an appointment first.
• By voice-mail—602-956-0253 x4296
• By fax—602-224-6177
• By e-mail—Lance.Coon@pcds.org
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Solzhenitsyn obituary
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, one of the best-known and most important literary figures of the past half-century, died in Moscow in early August. Since we are reading his first and most famous novel this semester, I wanted to include a link to a lengthy but informative obituary from the New York Times. Please read this tribute to a great writer's career and bring your questions and observations to class.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
AP poetry and novel papers
- Please submit both your poetry presentation and your novel papers to turnitin.com this week.
- I've noticed that several of you have done either biographical or interpretive research on your poems and poets. While it was not my intention that you do so, it is an acceptable practice PROVIDED you document the source of any information in your presentation that did not come from either your own knowledge or your own interpretation of the poem. For example, if you looked up the poet's life on wikipedia, you must include that as a source (parenthetical is fine) in your final draft. Otherwise you could be guilty of using material inappropriately.
- Same goes for your novel papers. The in-text citations should be parenthetical, including the author's last name and the page number where the information or quotation occurs. The last page of your essay should be a Works Cited page, listing the complete citations for all the references in your paper, including the novel itself.
- Remember that I have suggested two methods to incorporate criticism into your paper: either summarize, in your opening page, key points from the research you did, then identify your thesis and go on to develop it; or, write a briefer introduction and use references from your critical articles in the body of your essay to develop individual topics related to your thesis.
- See me with any questions.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
This week's Shakespeare blog
WHAT: Write a full-length blog entry (approximately 800-1000 words) discussing and evaluating Shakespeare’s presentation of the character of Shylock and the extent to which that presentation either endorses or subverts prevailing Elizabethan anti-Semitism.
WHEN: Entries are to be posted no later than Friday, May 2.
HOW: Begin by reading the resources available at Prof. Grant Stirling’s web site. You should also identify some other relevant resources, but this site will serve as an introduction to the issues and evidence of this debate. In your entry, show your understanding, both of the topic and of the play, by evaluating the evidence on both sides and presenting your own conclusions.
Since this essay involves some research, be certain both to document your sources and to give credit for ideas as well as direct quotations. Use act, scene, and line numbers for quotations from the play, and put other sources in parenthetical citations. You may also, if it serves your purposes, refer to Michael Radford’s film version of the play.
SUGGESTIONS: Read all the available information, paying special attention to what you find most persuasive. Give fair treatment to the different sides of the question. In your evaluation, state which ideas you believe are strongest and why. Support your reasons by referring to the play itself.
WHEN: Entries are to be posted no later than Friday, May 2.
HOW: Begin by reading the resources available at Prof. Grant Stirling’s web site. You should also identify some other relevant resources, but this site will serve as an introduction to the issues and evidence of this debate. In your entry, show your understanding, both of the topic and of the play, by evaluating the evidence on both sides and presenting your own conclusions.
Since this essay involves some research, be certain both to document your sources and to give credit for ideas as well as direct quotations. Use act, scene, and line numbers for quotations from the play, and put other sources in parenthetical citations. You may also, if it serves your purposes, refer to Michael Radford’s film version of the play.
SUGGESTIONS: Read all the available information, paying special attention to what you find most persuasive. Give fair treatment to the different sides of the question. In your evaluation, state which ideas you believe are strongest and why. Support your reasons by referring to the play itself.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Shakespeare Assignments for April
Choose one of the following three choices. For choices 2 & 3, essays should be approximately three pages in length. For option 1, obviously, they will be somewhat longer. Assignments are due Thursday, April 10, both in print and to turnitin.com (Richard III essay). Late assignments in either form will be penalized. (ALSO, this semester’s final vocabulary quiz, on lessons 28-30, will take place Friday April 11.)
1. Select a scene or portion of a scene of approximately 200 lines in length. No teeny-weenie scenes please. Study your scene carefully and add director’s notes clarifying and making explicit the subtext (motives, thoughts, feelings, and hidden agendas), stage directions (movements, gestures, expressions), and adverbs denoting tone of voice. Be certain to make your notes easy to distinguish from the text of the scene by putting them in a different type face (bold, italics, etc).
The play may be found on the M.I.T. web site (google Shakespeare + MIT)
2. Compare the speeches delivered by Richmond and Richard prior to the final battle at Bosworth Field. (Act 5, scene 3, lines 250-285 and 332-363, pages 291 & 297 in the Folger Library Edition). In your essay, examine the rhetoric of the two speeches as examples of persuasive language. Show how the language, style, and methods of persuasion reveal the differences between the two leaders at this critical moment. To what does each appeal in order to exhort his troops to victory? How do the speeches reveal not only their characters but also the themes of the play? Refer generously to the two speeches in your discussion.
3 Write a critique of the Richard III video viewed in class. Discuss the merits of adapting a Shakespearean script in such an unusual way. Consider some of the following questions. How successfully and how meaningfully does Loncraine's film update the play Richard III? What is gained, or lost, of the play's meaning by changing the setting from the 1480's to the 1930's? Do the changes made to Shakespeare's script make the play more or less accessible to modern audiences? Does the imagery of the film accurately depict both the glamour and the corruption of the Plantagenet royal court? Which actors' performances are most true to Shakespeare's original conception of the characters? Does this film lend credence to the often-stated belief that Shakespeare's plays are timeless? Discuss whichever of these issues allow you to develop your understanding of both play and movie. Above all, focus on those elements of the film that allow you to assess both the validity and desirability of modernizing Shakespeare's play.
1. Select a scene or portion of a scene of approximately 200 lines in length. No teeny-weenie scenes please. Study your scene carefully and add director’s notes clarifying and making explicit the subtext (motives, thoughts, feelings, and hidden agendas), stage directions (movements, gestures, expressions), and adverbs denoting tone of voice. Be certain to make your notes easy to distinguish from the text of the scene by putting them in a different type face (bold, italics, etc).
The play may be found on the M.I.T. web site (google Shakespeare + MIT)
2. Compare the speeches delivered by Richmond and Richard prior to the final battle at Bosworth Field. (Act 5, scene 3, lines 250-285 and 332-363, pages 291 & 297 in the Folger Library Edition). In your essay, examine the rhetoric of the two speeches as examples of persuasive language. Show how the language, style, and methods of persuasion reveal the differences between the two leaders at this critical moment. To what does each appeal in order to exhort his troops to victory? How do the speeches reveal not only their characters but also the themes of the play? Refer generously to the two speeches in your discussion.
3 Write a critique of the Richard III video viewed in class. Discuss the merits of adapting a Shakespearean script in such an unusual way. Consider some of the following questions. How successfully and how meaningfully does Loncraine's film update the play Richard III? What is gained, or lost, of the play's meaning by changing the setting from the 1480's to the 1930's? Do the changes made to Shakespeare's script make the play more or less accessible to modern audiences? Does the imagery of the film accurately depict both the glamour and the corruption of the Plantagenet royal court? Which actors' performances are most true to Shakespeare's original conception of the characters? Does this film lend credence to the often-stated belief that Shakespeare's plays are timeless? Discuss whichever of these issues allow you to develop your understanding of both play and movie. Above all, focus on those elements of the film that allow you to assess both the validity and desirability of modernizing Shakespeare's play.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Shakespeare--visiting author workshop
Google Jennifer Lee Carrell before tomorrow's writer's workshop (I could post the links myself but I'd rather you find them). In five to ten minutes, you should be able to find answers to the following questions:
When was Interred With Their Bones published?
Where does the title come from?
What is Ms. Carrell's academic background?
With what bestseller has the novel been compared?
What work of non-fiction has she also written?
What is one question you would like to ask her, based on what you know about her?
When was Interred With Their Bones published?
Where does the title come from?
What is Ms. Carrell's academic background?
With what bestseller has the novel been compared?
What work of non-fiction has she also written?
What is one question you would like to ask her, based on what you know about her?
Poetry presentations
AP English
April, 2008
Schedule
1. Each day we will discuss one or two of the poems listed below. Each will be "presented" by me or one of you. Presentations include a memorized recital of the poem, a brief discussion of its meaning and use of the elements of poetry, and a 600-700 word essay on the poem, posted on blogs. Presentations will begin Wednesday, April 9 and continue through Friday, April 25.
2. See my blog post for specific instructions about the content of the essay which comprises the single largest part of your presentation.
3. Poems--all page numbers refer to Literature, 10th ed.
Aunt Jennifer's Tigers 664--LCC The World is Too Much With Us 912
My Last Duchess 668--LCC One Hundred Love Sonnets 973
My Papa's Waltz 674 Traveling Through the Dark 991
The Unknown Citizen 690 Dover Beach 1078
Dulce et Decorum Est 698 Quinceañera 940
Batter My Heart… 709 Anorexic 1088
Metaphors 771--LCC Kubla Khan 1096--LCC
The Silken Tent 780 A Valediction… 1102
Since There's No Help… 858 Digging 1118
Swan and Shadow 885 Death Be Not Proud 1101
Neutral Tones 897 To An Athlete Dying Young 1124
White Lies 680 When I Have Fears 1129
Her Kind 687 When I Consider… 1142
The Red Wheel Barrow 688--LCC That Time of Year… 1183
America 938 Daddy 1150
Below Zero 982 A Description of the Morning 1171
One Art 998 The Writer 1181
Theme for English B 1035 When You Are Old 1190
Also, this reminder, that for Friday, April 11 you will post the first of 3 blog entries containing your clear and specific first thoughts about your selected novel. What do you observe about the characters, the author’s style, and the way the subject matter is presented in the early chapters, having read the first 50 to 75 pages of the novel. Additional blogs are due April 17 (with bibliography) and April 25.
April, 2008
Schedule
1. Each day we will discuss one or two of the poems listed below. Each will be "presented" by me or one of you. Presentations include a memorized recital of the poem, a brief discussion of its meaning and use of the elements of poetry, and a 600-700 word essay on the poem, posted on blogs. Presentations will begin Wednesday, April 9 and continue through Friday, April 25.
2. See my blog post for specific instructions about the content of the essay which comprises the single largest part of your presentation.
3. Poems--all page numbers refer to Literature, 10th ed.
Aunt Jennifer's Tigers 664--LCC The World is Too Much With Us 912
My Last Duchess 668--LCC One Hundred Love Sonnets 973
My Papa's Waltz 674 Traveling Through the Dark 991
The Unknown Citizen 690 Dover Beach 1078
Dulce et Decorum Est 698 Quinceañera 940
Batter My Heart… 709 Anorexic 1088
Metaphors 771--LCC Kubla Khan 1096--LCC
The Silken Tent 780 A Valediction… 1102
Since There's No Help… 858 Digging 1118
Swan and Shadow 885 Death Be Not Proud 1101
Neutral Tones 897 To An Athlete Dying Young 1124
White Lies 680 When I Have Fears 1129
Her Kind 687 When I Consider… 1142
The Red Wheel Barrow 688--LCC That Time of Year… 1183
America 938 Daddy 1150
Below Zero 982 A Description of the Morning 1171
One Art 998 The Writer 1181
Theme for English B 1035 When You Are Old 1190
Also, this reminder, that for Friday, April 11 you will post the first of 3 blog entries containing your clear and specific first thoughts about your selected novel. What do you observe about the characters, the author’s style, and the way the subject matter is presented in the early chapters, having read the first 50 to 75 pages of the novel. Additional blogs are due April 17 (with bibliography) and April 25.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
AP--Reading poetry
A. How to read a poem:
There is no single way. The best advice I can give you is to sit by yourself in a quiet place and read aloud slowly, several times, paying attention to the images, ideas, and feelings the words call into your mind, imagination, and heart. Poetry can be magical stuff, but it can't compete with ipods and cell phones, tv's and texting. Give it a chance to get inside you and stretch out.
B. Questions to ask of individual poems:
1. Who is the speaker of the poem? What qualities of personality does the poet provide? What kind of language does the speaker use? How does the speaker's mind work? What hints of personal history are given? Are there any specific facts about the speaker's identity?
2. What is the situation of the poem? Is there a social, cultural, historical, or familial context given? Does the poem refer to any specific events? Does it contain an account of an incident? Imagine the poem as a dramatic utterance—what scene is being portrayed?
3. What is the tone of the poem? Are there words that describe the attitude of the speaker toward the subject of the poem as a whole? Does the tone change as the poem develops? If so, where are those "turns" (shifts of tone or subject)? What is the tone of individual lines or sections of the poem?
4. How would you paraphrase the poem into a series of prose sentences. What clarity is gained from paraphrasing? What essential qualities are lost?
5. Does the poem have a basic meter? What is it? How does it either advance the musicality of the poem or provide emphasis to certain words and ideas? Where does the meter change?
6. What devices or poetic techniques does the poet employ? How does the poet use strong diction, concrete detail, sensory images, irony, or figurative language? How do these devices help us better understand some element of the poem's meaning? How does the use of language strengthen both the idea of the poem and its emotional content?
C. Define and be able to identify examples of each of the following terms:
FORMS
sonnet (Elizabethan, Petrarchan)
villanelle
sestina
dramatic monologue
quatrain
couplet
stanza
closed form
open form
terza rima
heroic couplet
blank verse
free verse
ballad stanza
STYLE
diction
imagery
detail
repetition
speaker
connotation
denotation
tone
DEVICES
apostrophe
personification
irony
rhetorical question
simile
metaphor
metonymy/synecdoche
allusion
symbol & allegory
SOUND
masculine rhyme
feminine rhyme
approximate (slant)
rhyme
alliteration
consonance
assonance
end-stopped lines
enjambement
caesura
METER
iambic/ anapestic
dactylic
trimeter
tetrameter
pentameter
trochees
spondees
TONE (apply to poems)
audacious
awestruck
baffled
bemused
bitter
bleak
complacent
confident
critical
desperate
discouraged
disheartened
disturbed
dreamy
ecstatic
envious
euphoric
exuberant
fearful
gentle
giddy
humble
humorous
hypnotic
ironic
lethargic
lonely
majestic
melancholy
mocking
mystical
outraged
passionate
patronizing
persuasive
playful
pleading
puzzled
sarcastic
seductive
shrewd
timid
vengeful
weary
wistful
yearning
Monday, March 31, 2008
AP--April Assignments
We have two reading and writing projects yet to complete. The first, reading a novel from the AP authors list, researching critical literature on that novel, and writing your final paper for the course, is described on the "April Reading List" document from Wednesday March 19 on this blog. Give me your choices by Wednesday, April 2. As part of this assignment, post THREE blog entries while you read your novel (due April 11, 17, and 25), the second of which must include your list of research articles found on JStor.
The second project is a poetry unit, the one genre we have not formally considered. The components of this assignment are as follows:
1. Select a poem from a list I will post.
2. Memorize your poem. If your poem is longer than 25 lines, you may memorize part of it--at least 20 lines--and read the rest.
3. Recite your poem to the class as you begin your in-class presentation.
4. Post on your blog (and read as part of your presentation) a 600-700 word essay (approximately) discussing one of the elements of the poem. Discuss either the poem's form, control of tone, diction, use of figurative language, use of imagery, use of irony, or portrayal of its speaker. Whichever element you choose, use specific examples to illustrate how that element of the poem contributes to our understanding of the poem's meaning.
5. Lead a brief discussion.
Finally, our test and quiz schedule is as follows:
April 4--Vocabulary 28-30 (Last vocab quiz of your high school career)
April 11--Multiple choice--12 minute quiz
April 28 & 29--60 minute multiple choice test (section 2 Monday, Sections 1 & 3 Tuesday)
May 2--Papers on novels due
Thursday, May 8--AP exam
The second project is a poetry unit, the one genre we have not formally considered. The components of this assignment are as follows:
1. Select a poem from a list I will post.
2. Memorize your poem. If your poem is longer than 25 lines, you may memorize part of it--at least 20 lines--and read the rest.
3. Recite your poem to the class as you begin your in-class presentation.
4. Post on your blog (and read as part of your presentation) a 600-700 word essay (approximately) discussing one of the elements of the poem. Discuss either the poem's form, control of tone, diction, use of figurative language, use of imagery, use of irony, or portrayal of its speaker. Whichever element you choose, use specific examples to illustrate how that element of the poem contributes to our understanding of the poem's meaning.
5. Lead a brief discussion.
Finally, our test and quiz schedule is as follows:
April 4--Vocabulary 28-30 (Last vocab quiz of your high school career)
April 11--Multiple choice--12 minute quiz
April 28 & 29--60 minute multiple choice test (section 2 Monday, Sections 1 & 3 Tuesday)
May 2--Papers on novels due
Thursday, May 8--AP exam
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
April Reading List
AP English--Reading list
Select a novel for independent reading during the month of April. You may choose from the list below, from the first semester list, or another 20th century novel of comparable literary merit (with my approval). Also look for three critical analyses of the novel in a local library or on J Stor. Write a paper of 1500-2000 words (5-7 pages) developing in some depth a key aspect of the novel’s meaning, using both direct quotations and your 3 outside sources. Papers are due Friday, May 2.
Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson
Handmaid’s Tale; Cat’s Eye, Margaret Atwood
Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin
My Antonia; O Pioneers!, Willa Cather
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich
Light in August; Absalom! Absalom! , William Faulkner
Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Howard’s End; A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
Catch-22 , Joseph Heller
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Sons & Lovers; Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D. H. Lawrence
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
All the Pretty Horses or The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner
Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
All the King’s Men , Robert Penn Warren
Age of Innocence , Edith Wharton
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
Native Son, Richard Wright
Also, consider one of the selections from the October list: Jane Austen (Persuasion, Emma, Sense and Sensibility),Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre),Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities), George Eliot (Silas Marner), Gustave Flaubert (Madame Bovary), Thomas Hardy (The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Return of the Native), Mark Twain (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court).
Finally, if you are up to a significant challenge this late in the year, Crime and Punishment or Anna Karenina are excellent but lengthy choices.
Select a novel for independent reading during the month of April. You may choose from the list below, from the first semester list, or another 20th century novel of comparable literary merit (with my approval). Also look for three critical analyses of the novel in a local library or on J Stor. Write a paper of 1500-2000 words (5-7 pages) developing in some depth a key aspect of the novel’s meaning, using both direct quotations and your 3 outside sources. Papers are due Friday, May 2.
Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson
Handmaid’s Tale; Cat’s Eye, Margaret Atwood
Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin
My Antonia; O Pioneers!, Willa Cather
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich
Light in August; Absalom! Absalom! , William Faulkner
Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Howard’s End; A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
Catch-22 , Joseph Heller
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Sons & Lovers; Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D. H. Lawrence
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
All the Pretty Horses or The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner
Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
All the King’s Men , Robert Penn Warren
Age of Innocence , Edith Wharton
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
Native Son, Richard Wright
Also, consider one of the selections from the October list: Jane Austen (Persuasion, Emma, Sense and Sensibility),Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre),Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities), George Eliot (Silas Marner), Gustave Flaubert (Madame Bovary), Thomas Hardy (The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Return of the Native), Mark Twain (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court).
Finally, if you are up to a significant challenge this late in the year, Crime and Punishment or Anna Karenina are excellent but lengthy choices.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Best negative review of the week
From Ron Liddle, in The Times of London, reviewing an autobiography by British politician Menzies Campbell: "This book is drier than an urn full of crematorium ashes."
(thanks to Paper Cuts, the blog of the New York Times Book Review, for this tip.)
(thanks to Paper Cuts, the blog of the New York Times Book Review, for this tip.)
Monday, March 10, 2008
AP English--Week 10 (March 10-14)
Reading: Am I Blue by Beth Henley, for next Monday, March 17. Page 1959 in your anthologies.
Writing: In-class essay Friday March 14
Blog: Post 5-10 comments (observing the amenities of civilized discourse and appropriate school language, please) for the blog posts of your peers from either A Doll's House or Fences. Be thoughtful; give praise where praise is due; add an idea of your own.
Links: Information on the Negro Leagues of the 1920s through 1940s;
An article on the life and career of Josh Gibson, the character Troy is partly modeled on;
Further information about the career of Beth Henley;
A photograph posted by Katie Senzig, class of 2006, with her request that we "vote" for her picture to help her qualify for a scholarship opportunity.
Submit your poetry and short prose pieces for publication in Daybreaks. Send them to alex.zadel@pcds.org, deepa.rao@pcds.org, or nina.warner@pcds.org
PS--in my world, Thursday the 13th is my daughter-in-law Adrienne's birthday, Friday March 14 is the birthday both of my brother Grant and his slightly better known physicist counterpart Albert Einstein, the 15th is, of course, Beware the Ides of March Julius day, the 16th is my stepson Noel's birthday, and the 17th is our annual corned beef and cabbage dinner in honor of St. Paddy. A week crowded with incident. And my grades are due Monday also. Fun fun fun.
Writing: In-class essay Friday March 14
Blog: Post 5-10 comments (observing the amenities of civilized discourse and appropriate school language, please) for the blog posts of your peers from either A Doll's House or Fences. Be thoughtful; give praise where praise is due; add an idea of your own.
Links: Information on the Negro Leagues of the 1920s through 1940s;
An article on the life and career of Josh Gibson, the character Troy is partly modeled on;
Further information about the career of Beth Henley;
A photograph posted by Katie Senzig, class of 2006, with her request that we "vote" for her picture to help her qualify for a scholarship opportunity.
Submit your poetry and short prose pieces for publication in Daybreaks. Send them to alex.zadel@pcds.org, deepa.rao@pcds.org, or nina.warner@pcds.org
PS--in my world, Thursday the 13th is my daughter-in-law Adrienne's birthday, Friday March 14 is the birthday both of my brother Grant and his slightly better known physicist counterpart Albert Einstein, the 15th is, of course, Beware the Ides of March Julius day, the 16th is my stepson Noel's birthday, and the 17th is our annual corned beef and cabbage dinner in honor of St. Paddy. A week crowded with incident. And my grades are due Monday also. Fun fun fun.
Monday, March 3, 2008
AP--week 9
Reading--Fences, p. 1996 in your anthology. (N.B.--this play was not included in the 8th or 9th editions of the textbook,so if you are using one of those you'll need to find another source of the text.)
Complete the reading by Wednesday, March 5.
Quiz--vocab 25, 26, 27 for Friday March 7. Also a brief video interview with August Wilson Friday.
In-class essay next week. If you didn't blog last week on A Doll's House, please do so this week for Fences.
Here's a list of August Wilson's plays.
Wilson saw writing a play as akin to writing a poem: "you use metaphor and condense." How might this philosophy apply to this play? What cultural forces or historical processes are embodied in his characters?
Complete the reading by Wednesday, March 5.
Quiz--vocab 25, 26, 27 for Friday March 7. Also a brief video interview with August Wilson Friday.
In-class essay next week. If you didn't blog last week on A Doll's House, please do so this week for Fences.
Here's a list of August Wilson's plays.
Wilson saw writing a play as akin to writing a poem: "you use metaphor and condense." How might this philosophy apply to this play? What cultural forces or historical processes are embodied in his characters?
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Are you a beatnik?
This year, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the publication of On The Road, one of the sacred texts of the so-called "Beat Generation," the original 120-foot long scroll of paper on which Jack Kerouac typed the novel is traveling around the country, going "on the road" itself.
To find out if you have the true "beat spirit" take this quiz, sponsored by the University of Texas.
To find out if you have the true "beat spirit" take this quiz, sponsored by the University of Texas.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Course sign-up for Juniors (Revised)
Members of the junior class:
It's time to begin thinking about your course sign-up for next year's English classes. You have two options: a year-long AP course, or two semester courses, one required (Introduction to World Literature) the other elective (Shakespeare, African-American Literature, The Art of Composition). Essentially, the difference between the two tracks is that the AP class has more assigned reading, moves at a slightly faster pace, and is graded on a slightly more demanding scale.
The ideal candidate for AP English is the student who enjoys reading, thinking about, and discussing literature, who has already proven the willingness to work hard throughout a year-long course, who enjoys sharing ideas and interpretations with others in a seminar-style discussion format, and who will choose a senior-year schedule with only one or two other AP courses. The ability to write clear, logical, well-supported essays of textual interpretation is crucial, since writing is the primary method of evaluation in the course.
If you wish to be considered for AP, please ask Ms. Driscoll for her recommendation. There are 32 spots available, and I will select the class based on the following criteria (in order of importance):
I will be happy to answer any questions you have in the weeks between now and the sign-up date.
LCC
It's time to begin thinking about your course sign-up for next year's English classes. You have two options: a year-long AP course, or two semester courses, one required (Introduction to World Literature) the other elective (Shakespeare, African-American Literature, The Art of Composition). Essentially, the difference between the two tracks is that the AP class has more assigned reading, moves at a slightly faster pace, and is graded on a slightly more demanding scale.
The ideal candidate for AP English is the student who enjoys reading, thinking about, and discussing literature, who has already proven the willingness to work hard throughout a year-long course, who enjoys sharing ideas and interpretations with others in a seminar-style discussion format, and who will choose a senior-year schedule with only one or two other AP courses. The ability to write clear, logical, well-supported essays of textual interpretation is crucial, since writing is the primary method of evaluation in the course.
If you wish to be considered for AP, please ask Ms. Driscoll for her recommendation. There are 32 spots available, and I will select the class based on the following criteria (in order of importance):
- A strong recommendation from Ms. Driscoll about the consistency of your work ethic and level of motivation;
- A strong recommendation from Ms. Driscoll about the level of your writing skills;
- B+ or better grades in English III, English II, (and U.S. History since it involves several of the same skills--reading, writing, and motivation).
I will be happy to answer any questions you have in the weeks between now and the sign-up date.
LCC
Sunday, February 24, 2008
"Where We Live"
I just read a short story called "Where We Live" on an online magazine called Strange Horizons. The story is written by Daniel J. Pinney, a former student of mine now a grad student and part-time teacher at NAU. The story, which takes place 40 or 50 years in the future, in the perpetually war-torn regions along the Israeli-Lebanese border, concerns the lives of characters living in a post-nuclear-war zone, a world of constant sniper fire, nuclear fallout, and random, sudden death.
And yet.
And yet it is a love story, reaffirming in its understated but insistent voice that however sad or dangerous the times and places we live in, it's how we live, not where, that matters most. And for this reason, "Where We Live" is a tender and poignant story, of loss but also of life, of terror but also hope.
When Daniel was a student here, he did an independent study with me, producing a 100+page novel called King Arthur: The Untold Story of which I still possess a signed copy. It was great fun to work on the project with him, the product a whimsical but highly amusing tale in which the three main characters are King Arthur, a ghost, and an alien from another world. And Dan has kept in touch with me from time to time over the years, most recently by including me on a distribution list announcing the publication of his first paid piece of writing. It's one of the parts of my job I enjoy most, hearing from former students and being able to follow pieces of their life stories over the years. So thanks, Dan, for the e-mail and for the story, which I very much enjoyed. And may there be several of you, my current students, who will also choose to keep in touch with me, send me news of your lives, pictures of your children, even copies of your writings.
And for those interested in reading Daniel's story, here's the link.
And yet.
And yet it is a love story, reaffirming in its understated but insistent voice that however sad or dangerous the times and places we live in, it's how we live, not where, that matters most. And for this reason, "Where We Live" is a tender and poignant story, of loss but also of life, of terror but also hope.
When Daniel was a student here, he did an independent study with me, producing a 100+page novel called King Arthur: The Untold Story of which I still possess a signed copy. It was great fun to work on the project with him, the product a whimsical but highly amusing tale in which the three main characters are King Arthur, a ghost, and an alien from another world. And Dan has kept in touch with me from time to time over the years, most recently by including me on a distribution list announcing the publication of his first paid piece of writing. It's one of the parts of my job I enjoy most, hearing from former students and being able to follow pieces of their life stories over the years. So thanks, Dan, for the e-mail and for the story, which I very much enjoyed. And may there be several of you, my current students, who will also choose to keep in touch with me, send me news of your lives, pictures of your children, even copies of your writings.
And for those interested in reading Daniel's story, here's the link.
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Thursday, February 21, 2008
AP--Week 8 (February 25-29)
Read A Doll's House, pp. 1679-1734 in your anthology. Complete the reading by Tuesday, February 26, so that our discussions in class can be fully informed.
Write a blog entry of approximately 500 words after you have read the play. Questions 5 & 6 at the top of page 1735 (under questions for Act III) are, I think, good questions, as are questions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 in the list of "general questions."
Multiple choice quiz Friday, February 29.
Write a blog entry of approximately 500 words after you have read the play. Questions 5 & 6 at the top of page 1735 (under questions for Act III) are, I think, good questions, as are questions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 in the list of "general questions."
Multiple choice quiz Friday, February 29.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
AP--Hamlet (blogging for subtext)
Subtext assignment (due as blog entries Friday, February 22--please post Thursday evening, not before):
1. Using this link, download act 3, scene 4 from the beginning to Gertrude’s line “I have no life to breathe what thou hast said to me.” (Delete everything beginning with Hamlet’s line “I must to England, you know that?”)
2. Turn this scene into a word processing document. It will be several pages long.
3. Keep the entire text as it is, except change the name Queen Margaret to Queen Gertrude at the beginning of the scene (a mistake on the web site).
4. Identify as much subtext as you can. This is the most important part of the assignment. Subtext refers to all the meanings not directly contained in the text. Specifically, as we discussed in class, the subtext contains implied stage directions, the character’s thoughts, feelings, and motives as the lines are being spoken, as well as notes indicating tone of voice, movements, and gestures. Write your subtext at the end of short speeches or at the appropriate points in the middle of longer speeches. Do not simply paraphrase speeches. And please don't invent off-the-wall meanings which are not clearly implied or logically compatible with the original text.
5. When you finish, paste your document into the "compose" window of your blog. But before you click "publish post," go through the document carefully and put everything you added in BOLD or in a different color (you can't do this step before you post or the formatting will be lost when you paste your word document to your blog and you'll have to do it all over again, probably muttering to yourself inappropriate language in the process, and we wouldn't want that, now, would we?) Putting all your additions in boldface or color makes it easier for me to identify what you have added.
Please do NOT consult with each other in preparing this assignment or wait to post your scene until after you have read the work of others. What you post must be your work and only your work. As you should know, the school takes a particularly dim view of collaborating on assignments that are not collaborative in nature. It's called cheating. Don't let it happen to you.
Done in a spirit of exploration, with a strong mind and a clear heart, this assignment can be a lot of fun for all of us.
1. Using this link, download act 3, scene 4 from the beginning to Gertrude’s line “I have no life to breathe what thou hast said to me.” (Delete everything beginning with Hamlet’s line “I must to England, you know that?”)
2. Turn this scene into a word processing document. It will be several pages long.
3. Keep the entire text as it is, except change the name Queen Margaret to Queen Gertrude at the beginning of the scene (a mistake on the web site).
4. Identify as much subtext as you can. This is the most important part of the assignment. Subtext refers to all the meanings not directly contained in the text. Specifically, as we discussed in class, the subtext contains implied stage directions, the character’s thoughts, feelings, and motives as the lines are being spoken, as well as notes indicating tone of voice, movements, and gestures. Write your subtext at the end of short speeches or at the appropriate points in the middle of longer speeches. Do not simply paraphrase speeches. And please don't invent off-the-wall meanings which are not clearly implied or logically compatible with the original text.
5. When you finish, paste your document into the "compose" window of your blog. But before you click "publish post," go through the document carefully and put everything you added in BOLD or in a different color (you can't do this step before you post or the formatting will be lost when you paste your word document to your blog and you'll have to do it all over again, probably muttering to yourself inappropriate language in the process, and we wouldn't want that, now, would we?) Putting all your additions in boldface or color makes it easier for me to identify what you have added.
Please do NOT consult with each other in preparing this assignment or wait to post your scene until after you have read the work of others. What you post must be your work and only your work. As you should know, the school takes a particularly dim view of collaborating on assignments that are not collaborative in nature. It's called cheating. Don't let it happen to you.
Done in a spirit of exploration, with a strong mind and a clear heart, this assignment can be a lot of fun for all of us.
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Thursday, February 7, 2008
Quote of the week
From Brian Frazer, in Los Angeles magazine, on the film version of “Love in the Time of Cholera”:
"[A] movie that would have been more entertaining if they’d just filmed some guy reading the book into the camera."
(I still haven't seen the movie myself, but aren't poison pen comments wonderful when they're as witty as this one?--LCC)
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AP--important announcement
To ALL AP English students:
This is a test, of the blogger-announcement system. I am changing the due date of the "Blog to Essay" Assignment, from Friday, February 8 to Monday February 11.
Feel free to complete the assignment and turn it in Friday if you already have a full weekend of other obligations or plans. But if you need the weekend to complete this assignment, you may have it.
Please tell your friends about this announcement. Or don't. From what I can tell in class lately ("when is this due?") not a lot of you have been paying all that close attention to my published announcements lately, so this one is really for the benefit of those of you who are. So let's let it be our little secret, OK?
This is a test, of the blogger-announcement system. I am changing the due date of the "Blog to Essay" Assignment, from Friday, February 8 to Monday February 11.
Feel free to complete the assignment and turn it in Friday if you already have a full weekend of other obligations or plans. But if you need the weekend to complete this assignment, you may have it.
Please tell your friends about this announcement. Or don't. From what I can tell in class lately ("when is this due?") not a lot of you have been paying all that close attention to my published announcements lately, so this one is really for the benefit of those of you who are. So let's let it be our little secret, OK?
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Monday, February 4, 2008
AP Assignments February 2008
Weeks 5 & 6--Hamlet--Read acts 1 & 2 during week 5 (February 4 - 8), read acts 3, 4, & 5 during the week of February 11.
Writing: For the week of February 4: Re-write one of your blogs from this semester in the form of a short paper (2-3 pages, roughly 600-900 words).
For the week of February 11: 500 word blog on a scene, speech, character, motif, theme, or problem from Hamlet.
For the week of February 18: 10 comments on last week's Hamlet blogs. A new rule for all English IV blogs, one which shouldn't be necessary but which, based on recent evidence, I now state clearly and succinctly: They're your blogs but also school assignments, so all language used must be appropriate in tone. A slightly more casual, personal tone and style are appropriate to the nature of the blog, but no profanities, vulgarities, or insults will be tolerated. All these will result in negative blog points for the writer, and repeat offenders will be referred to the Dean of Students and the Assistant Head of the Upper School for disciplinary action.
Quizzes: Friday, February 8, Multiple choice No school Friday, February 15, therefore no quiz.
Links:
Source
Seneca
Hamlet online
Writing: For the week of February 4: Re-write one of your blogs from this semester in the form of a short paper (2-3 pages, roughly 600-900 words).
For the week of February 11: 500 word blog on a scene, speech, character, motif, theme, or problem from Hamlet.
For the week of February 18: 10 comments on last week's Hamlet blogs. A new rule for all English IV blogs, one which shouldn't be necessary but which, based on recent evidence, I now state clearly and succinctly: They're your blogs but also school assignments, so all language used must be appropriate in tone. A slightly more casual, personal tone and style are appropriate to the nature of the blog, but no profanities, vulgarities, or insults will be tolerated. All these will result in negative blog points for the writer, and repeat offenders will be referred to the Dean of Students and the Assistant Head of the Upper School for disciplinary action.
Quizzes: Friday, February 8, Multiple choice No school Friday, February 15, therefore no quiz.
Links:
Source
Seneca
Hamlet online
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Kafka Movie
Check out the short animated film of "The Metamorphosis" Becca found on a publisher's website, part of a 2003 promotion for the graphic novel version of the story. Post a quick comment on your blog, or on Becca's, saying what you notice (about the music, the art, the way text is incorporated, or anything else you observe). Prize for best original comment.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Blogging Shakespeare
Here are a few suggestions to get you started with the new semester and your Shakesblog:
*One I call Notes & Quotes: find a few of your favorite (brief) passages from the play, copy them from an online Shakespeare source (for the M.I.T. website, click here), and for each one you select, write a few sentences explaining why you chose it. Part of the fun of Shakespeare is exploring the language he uses and the way he says things.
*Write a blog about a character you find either interesting or appealing. Think of characters from other stories who have something in common and explain the similarity. Think of a real person you are reminded of and explain why.
*Go to "Shakespeare and the Internet" (link here) find some interesting material, and write about why it's interesting.
*Choose a scene from the play and explain why it is important to the play as a whole.
*Revisit the list of blog starters on the entry "Your class blog" (click here) for some whopping good ideas you've probably forgotten since August.
As you think of other excellent ideas, let me know.
*One I call Notes & Quotes: find a few of your favorite (brief) passages from the play, copy them from an online Shakespeare source (for the M.I.T. website, click here), and for each one you select, write a few sentences explaining why you chose it. Part of the fun of Shakespeare is exploring the language he uses and the way he says things.
*Write a blog about a character you find either interesting or appealing. Think of characters from other stories who have something in common and explain the similarity. Think of a real person you are reminded of and explain why.
*Go to "Shakespeare and the Internet" (link here) find some interesting material, and write about why it's interesting.
*Choose a scene from the play and explain why it is important to the play as a whole.
*Revisit the list of blog starters on the entry "Your class blog" (click here) for some whopping good ideas you've probably forgotten since August.
As you think of other excellent ideas, let me know.
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Sunday, January 20, 2008
Blog groups for writing and responding
I said the other day that for the next few weeks we would split into two groups for blogging and responding. Here are the groups (taken from the order in which your names appear on the list on my blog):
Group 1 (blogs this week for Oedipus, comments next week for Antigone; responsible for reading both pieces of literature):
Aaron, Abby, Alex, Ally, Jillian, Becca, Becky, Caitie, Chelsea, Danni, Dave, Deepa, Eric, Gary G, Emily, Andrew, Greg, Hutch, Ian, Ivy, Todd, Jessi, and Jimmy (23)
Group 2 (comments this weekend for Oedipus or Kafka, writes blogs next week for Antigone, reads both plays): Jonny, Julia, Kaleena, Karen, Katelyn, Lauren and Lauren, Lizzy, Manasi, LeManley, Michele Sue, Aravind, Natalie, Navdeep, Nina, Nick, Piper, Q, Richard, Gary S, Sam, Warren, and Yesenia (23)
Comments: Let's make this work well; here a few guidelines:
*Listen to what the writer is saying; give credit for good ideas
*If you disagree, that's OK, but no cheap shots or mocking; take ownership of your own responses by making "I" statements
*Our comments are public documents, so let's keep the tone civil; no flaming or obnoxious language
*Don't limit your comments to your 5 closest friends; each time you write comments, choose different people.
*In a few weeks, I'll redraw the groups so you will have the chance to comment on different blogs
*I absolutely enjoy reading your blogs and giving you my best possible comments; I hope you will have fun with this also.
*Each time you're in the commenting group, leave 5-10 comments at the end of the week and over the weekend.
Group 1 (blogs this week for Oedipus, comments next week for Antigone; responsible for reading both pieces of literature):
Aaron, Abby, Alex, Ally, Jillian, Becca, Becky, Caitie, Chelsea, Danni, Dave, Deepa, Eric, Gary G, Emily, Andrew, Greg, Hutch, Ian, Ivy, Todd, Jessi, and Jimmy (23)
Group 2 (comments this weekend for Oedipus or Kafka, writes blogs next week for Antigone, reads both plays): Jonny, Julia, Kaleena, Karen, Katelyn, Lauren and Lauren, Lizzy, Manasi, LeManley, Michele Sue, Aravind, Natalie, Navdeep, Nina, Nick, Piper, Q, Richard, Gary S, Sam, Warren, and Yesenia (23)
Comments: Let's make this work well; here a few guidelines:
*Listen to what the writer is saying; give credit for good ideas
*If you disagree, that's OK, but no cheap shots or mocking; take ownership of your own responses by making "I" statements
*Our comments are public documents, so let's keep the tone civil; no flaming or obnoxious language
*Don't limit your comments to your 5 closest friends; each time you write comments, choose different people.
*In a few weeks, I'll redraw the groups so you will have the chance to comment on different blogs
*I absolutely enjoy reading your blogs and giving you my best possible comments; I hope you will have fun with this also.
*Each time you're in the commenting group, leave 5-10 comments at the end of the week and over the weekend.
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Monday, January 14, 2008
Vocab game
Mr. White and Katie Senzig told me about a web site that’s fun, educational, and humanitarian. It’s a vocabulary game with 50 levels. When you answer questions correctly, you move to a higher level. Each one you miss moves you to a lower level. More importantly, the sponsors of the web site donate 20 grains of rice, through the UN, for every word you answer correctly. Hence the name, “free rice.”
Here’s the link.
Here’s the link.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
AP Assignments January 2008
Week 1 (January 8-11): Read The Death of Ivan Ilyich, p. 280 in our anthology. Look at my blog entry for September 24, 2007 for discussion and blog questions. As you read this story and the discussion questions, think about the story’s central message. In what ways is Tolstoy’s story critical of bourgeois Russian culture? Is Ilyich meant to be a unique or a representative character? We will discuss questions 1 through 6 beginning Wednesday afternoon through Friday and finish our discussion Monday and Tuesday morning. Blog entries are due by Sunday. No quiz this week.
Week 2 (January 14-18): Read The Metamorphosis, p. 317. Look at my blog entry for November 1, 2007 for a possible blog idea. As you read this story, think about the possible levels of interpretation (Freudian/phychoanalytic, cultural, mythic, historical, and so on) that the story, or parts of it, lend themselves to. What do you see as the significance of Gregor’s transformation? What emotions does Kafka dramatize through Gregor’s plight? Is the story more about Gregor himself or the family situation of which he is a part? We will begin discussion Tuesday afternoon and continue through Friday. Blog entries are due Friday, with a vocabulary quiz over lessons 16-18 also scheduled that day.
Week 3 (January 22-25—No school Monday, MLK Holiday): Read Oedipus The King, page 1285. Also read my Introduction to Tragedy (Wednesday, September 5, 2007 on my blog) and the questions at the end of the play. This is one of the most famous plays in all of Western literature. Why do you think that is? How does Sophocles give the play both philosophical and psychological depth in addition to developing the emotional tension which is central to the experience of all drama, especially tragedy? What does Oedipus’ story represent? How does it raise issues relevant to all human life? This week, half of you will blog on some aspect of this play (entries due Friday), while the other half of you post comments on 5-10 of your classmates blogs (be polite, be respectful, be responsive to others’ ideas—comments due by Sunday). Multiple choice quiz Friday.
Week 4 (January 28-February 1): Read Antigone, page 1324 in our anthology. Look at the links from my blog entry of September 18, 2007 and the questions at the end of the play. Why is Antigone’s dilemma important? What does it represent? Which character, Antigone or Creon, best fits the definition of the tragic character from the Introduction to Tragedy? Blog entries, for those who did not write the week before, are due Friday. Comments (5-10) from those who blogged last week are due Sunday. Vocabulary quiz Friday, covering lessons 19-21.
Week 2 (January 14-18): Read The Metamorphosis, p. 317. Look at my blog entry for November 1, 2007 for a possible blog idea. As you read this story, think about the possible levels of interpretation (Freudian/phychoanalytic, cultural, mythic, historical, and so on) that the story, or parts of it, lend themselves to. What do you see as the significance of Gregor’s transformation? What emotions does Kafka dramatize through Gregor’s plight? Is the story more about Gregor himself or the family situation of which he is a part? We will begin discussion Tuesday afternoon and continue through Friday. Blog entries are due Friday, with a vocabulary quiz over lessons 16-18 also scheduled that day.
Week 3 (January 22-25—No school Monday, MLK Holiday): Read Oedipus The King, page 1285. Also read my Introduction to Tragedy (Wednesday, September 5, 2007 on my blog) and the questions at the end of the play. This is one of the most famous plays in all of Western literature. Why do you think that is? How does Sophocles give the play both philosophical and psychological depth in addition to developing the emotional tension which is central to the experience of all drama, especially tragedy? What does Oedipus’ story represent? How does it raise issues relevant to all human life? This week, half of you will blog on some aspect of this play (entries due Friday), while the other half of you post comments on 5-10 of your classmates blogs (be polite, be respectful, be responsive to others’ ideas—comments due by Sunday). Multiple choice quiz Friday.
Week 4 (January 28-February 1): Read Antigone, page 1324 in our anthology. Look at the links from my blog entry of September 18, 2007 and the questions at the end of the play. Why is Antigone’s dilemma important? What does it represent? Which character, Antigone or Creon, best fits the definition of the tragic character from the Introduction to Tragedy? Blog entries, for those who did not write the week before, are due Friday. Comments (5-10) from those who blogged last week are due Sunday. Vocabulary quiz Friday, covering lessons 19-21.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The Tin Roof Blowdown
James Lee Burke is a mystery writer with a series of twenty or more novels detailing the exploits of Detective Dave Robicheaux, a deputy sheriff in a small Louisiana town, a recovering alcoholic, Vietnam war veteran, married to a former nun--a good if somewhat complicated man. In the latest installment of the series, which I finished yesterday on an airplane to Sacramento--where I'm playing my favorite role, that of "gramps"--Dave finds himself in the middle of a story involving homicide, theft, looting, organized crime, a missing priest, and a psychopathic killer, all coming in the days and weeks following the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.
What is remarkable about the novel, at least to me, is the elegiac mood. All the Dave Robicheaux novels involve the solving of a crime, but it's the backdrop of this one, the character's (and author's) palpable sense of overwhelming grief, mixed with anger, at the destruction of a once-beautiful city which he clearly loves, which gives the story the depth of feeling that kept me turning pages for several days.
I recommend it highly to anyone who likes mystery novels or who wants to try to imagine the chaos that followed in the wake of the terible hurricane.
If you're interested in learning more, click here for the New York Times review of the novel (226).
What is remarkable about the novel, at least to me, is the elegiac mood. All the Dave Robicheaux novels involve the solving of a crime, but it's the backdrop of this one, the character's (and author's) palpable sense of overwhelming grief, mixed with anger, at the destruction of a once-beautiful city which he clearly loves, which gives the story the depth of feeling that kept me turning pages for several days.
I recommend it highly to anyone who likes mystery novels or who wants to try to imagine the chaos that followed in the wake of the terible hurricane.
If you're interested in learning more, click here for the New York Times review of the novel (226).
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
AP exam sample questions
Through the college board's web site, you have access to samples of previous years' essay questions, scoring guides, and other useful information.
Click here to access sample questions and scoring guidelines for the AP exam in English literature.
Click here to access sample questions and scoring guidelines for the AP exam in English literature.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Elements of Prose Style
Actually two lists, which we discussed briefly in the first week, while looking at Jane Austen's style:
First, the elements of Fiction, as defined by novelist and critic E. M. Forster in his book Aspects of the Novel:
Plot--including not only WHAT happens, but WHY
Characterization--including who the characters are and how we come to know them better
Setting--the effect of time and place on the nature of the action and its effects on the characters
Point of View--First person retrospective, third person limited omniscient, fully omniscient--what are the advantages of a particular point of view to the effect the writer wishes to achieve
Theme--the social, cultural, philosophical or psychological ideas contained in the writing; in the fullest sense, what the story is about.
Second, the aspects of prose style, which apply to fiction and non-fiction, essays, stories, editorials, letters, blogs, journalism, and all prose writing:
Syntax
Organization
Language
Imagery
Diction
Detail
Irony
Point of View
Tone
Of these, often tone is seen as the most important, as it contains our understanding of the writer's attitude toward the subject or topic of the piece of writing. Therefore, the others on the list are often viewed as tools or techniques employed by writers to aid in communicating and controlling the overall tone.
First, the elements of Fiction, as defined by novelist and critic E. M. Forster in his book Aspects of the Novel:
Plot--including not only WHAT happens, but WHY
Characterization--including who the characters are and how we come to know them better
Setting--the effect of time and place on the nature of the action and its effects on the characters
Point of View--First person retrospective, third person limited omniscient, fully omniscient--what are the advantages of a particular point of view to the effect the writer wishes to achieve
Theme--the social, cultural, philosophical or psychological ideas contained in the writing; in the fullest sense, what the story is about.
Second, the aspects of prose style, which apply to fiction and non-fiction, essays, stories, editorials, letters, blogs, journalism, and all prose writing:
Syntax
Organization
Language
Imagery
Diction
Detail
Irony
Point of View
Tone
Of these, often tone is seen as the most important, as it contains our understanding of the writer's attitude toward the subject or topic of the piece of writing. Therefore, the others on the list are often viewed as tools or techniques employed by writers to aid in communicating and controlling the overall tone.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
NEW ! ! !
I was having coffee with a friend of mine (a former student), telling her about our blogworld, and she said I should put links to all your blogs on my blog.
So I did. Now, when you want to comment on others' blogs, you can get there directly from my blog. (Thanks, Sophie: "She approaches; she is nigh.")
Ain't blogworld grand?
LCC
So I did. Now, when you want to comment on others' blogs, you can get there directly from my blog. (Thanks, Sophie: "She approaches; she is nigh.")
Ain't blogworld grand?
LCC
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
English IV: Final paper
English IV: World Literature
Final essay
December, 2007
For your last essay of the semester, identify an important area of human life, human nature, or human values and write a paper of six to eight pages discussing the theme you have identified. In your discussion, refer generously to three or four of the seven authors we have studied. (If you use your summer reading novel, please include three others from the semester.) Your papers are due Tuesday, December 18 by noon, hard copy with turnitin receipt number (turnitin title: 2007-Final Paper).
Sample Questions (develop your own variations):
What does it take to be a successful human being in the world? Is “success” a matter of getting what one wants, of attaining a desired result—love, money, power, freedom, social status—or is it a question of character, of developing within the self those qualities most essential to a complete human being: virtue, wisdom, compassion, spiritual enlightenment, moral insight, ethical depth, duty, honor?
Can social institutions, cultural traditions, or rituals help develop successful people, or does the literature portray these customs more as impediments to growth?
What is a “complete” human being? What components are most important in defining what a human being “should” be?
Under what conditions do the characters’ worlds become traps, bringing out the worst in people, debasing their lives and stripping their existence of meaning or purpose? What happens to the hearts and souls of those who live in such worlds?
Professor Robert George of Princeton says, “the conquest of the self is part of what it means to lead a successful life.” Which characters have inner demons or parts of themselves they must conquer? How successful are they?
William Faulkner said that literature is composed of “old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.” Which of Faulkner’s truths find most powerful expression in the literature we have read this semester.
Dr. Carl Hammerschlag, a psychiatrist, writes, “Mental health . . . can be described as having your head, mouth, and heart in a straight alignment. Mental health happens when what you believe in your heart is the same as what you say with your mouth. You are mentally healthy when what you feel is something you also believe. . . .You have to keep in balance if you want to stay healthy.” In these terms, which characters are healthiest? Which are not? How do they achieve balance? What are the costs of not finding it?
Many works we have read center on characters who, because of their personalities, beliefs, or personal circumstances, find themselves in conflict with their society. Choose three important characters from different works and discuss the ways in which they are out of synch with the world around them. For each character you discuss, say whether the conflict primarily reveals a flaw in the character or in the society’s assumptions and moral values.
Final essay
December, 2007
For your last essay of the semester, identify an important area of human life, human nature, or human values and write a paper of six to eight pages discussing the theme you have identified. In your discussion, refer generously to three or four of the seven authors we have studied. (If you use your summer reading novel, please include three others from the semester.) Your papers are due Tuesday, December 18 by noon, hard copy with turnitin receipt number (turnitin title: 2007-Final Paper).
Sample Questions (develop your own variations):
What does it take to be a successful human being in the world? Is “success” a matter of getting what one wants, of attaining a desired result—love, money, power, freedom, social status—or is it a question of character, of developing within the self those qualities most essential to a complete human being: virtue, wisdom, compassion, spiritual enlightenment, moral insight, ethical depth, duty, honor?
Can social institutions, cultural traditions, or rituals help develop successful people, or does the literature portray these customs more as impediments to growth?
What is a “complete” human being? What components are most important in defining what a human being “should” be?
Under what conditions do the characters’ worlds become traps, bringing out the worst in people, debasing their lives and stripping their existence of meaning or purpose? What happens to the hearts and souls of those who live in such worlds?
Professor Robert George of Princeton says, “the conquest of the self is part of what it means to lead a successful life.” Which characters have inner demons or parts of themselves they must conquer? How successful are they?
William Faulkner said that literature is composed of “old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.” Which of Faulkner’s truths find most powerful expression in the literature we have read this semester.
Dr. Carl Hammerschlag, a psychiatrist, writes, “Mental health . . . can be described as having your head, mouth, and heart in a straight alignment. Mental health happens when what you believe in your heart is the same as what you say with your mouth. You are mentally healthy when what you feel is something you also believe. . . .You have to keep in balance if you want to stay healthy.” In these terms, which characters are healthiest? Which are not? How do they achieve balance? What are the costs of not finding it?
Many works we have read center on characters who, because of their personalities, beliefs, or personal circumstances, find themselves in conflict with their society. Choose three important characters from different works and discuss the ways in which they are out of synch with the world around them. For each character you discuss, say whether the conflict primarily reveals a flaw in the character or in the society’s assumptions and moral values.
Monday, November 26, 2007
On Lovers and Madmen
from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, scene 1:
How does this passage suggest any of the central themes of Love in the Time of Cholera?
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation, and a name.How does this passage suggest any of the central themes of Love in the Time of Cholera?
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