Due After Break

You will need to read through Chapter 33 of Huckleberry Finn. If you do your reading early in break, make sure to review right before we come back to school in case there is a reading quiz.

Your SBAC Performance Task will be submitted through Turnitin and is due January 5th at 12:00pm. For those of you who have not yet had your Minister's Black Veil letters graded, please check in periodically on Turnitin towards the end of break to see your comments. I am able to see who has checked their comments, so please make sure that you do so.

Happy Reading and Happy Vacation!

Due Tuesday

Please read through chapter 9 for Tuesday.

Sorry I didn't get these posted for the weekend, but here are some important themes/motifs in Huck Finn that you will be wanting to pay attention to as you do your reading. Although understanding the plot is important, looking at how these topics help to create our understanding of characters is even more significant.

I suggest that you mark these topics in your text (or on a post-it). If you want to be extra fancy, you can also color-code these different ideas in your notes. Many of these topics are mentioned in chapters 1-5, so you may need to go back and mark them from that reading as well.

Superstition
The role of the river
Women (and their influence on Huck)
Religion
Education
Class Consciousness
Racial Identity
Clothing
Money/Wealth/Acquisitiveness (wanting to acquire stuff)
Deception
Search for Approval
Protectiveness

Due Friday and Performance Task Info

Please read Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County" and "Life on the Mississippi" focusing on Twain's storytelling and use of humor.



SBAC Performance Task packet

Writing Transfer Overhead

Poetry Assignment

Please continue to work on the poetry assignment that we started before Thanksgiving. I would appreciate it if you could have at least three of them done by Thursday, but I will not collect the assignment from you until Friday. If you did not bring your book home, most likely you will be able to find the text to the poem if you google the title.

Read the following poems:

334- “The Tide Rises”

336- “The Psalm of Life”

347- “The Chambered Nautilus”

352- “First Snowfall”

Write a response for each poem consisting of:

1. Literal Summary (1-2 sentences):

2. Interpretation/Theme: What deeper meaning does this poem convey (2-3 sentences)

3. Style analysis: What poetry devices (rhyme, figurative language, allusions, diction...) does this poem make use of? How do they help enhance the theme? (1-2 sentences)

Please include answers to these three questions after the title of each poem on your paper. Then, complete question number for after you have read and responded to all 4 poems:

4. What similarities do these poems share? In what way do they differ from each other? Which one did you find the most enjoyable? Explain your thoughts... (4-5 sentences)

Updates

An author list and study guide for the Romanticism test is available here.

I have not been able to locate an already made quizlet that covers all of this material.

Reading Due Wednesday, 12/3

For Wednesday, you will need to complete the passages by Frederick Douglass (426-430) in your textbook, and the photocopies of the Harriet Jacobs text. Because of my lack of photocopies, we are staggering the reading so that we can share the copies available. Here is the recommended reading timeline:

Window Side of the room:

Due Tuesday: Frederick Douglass
Due Wednesday: Harriet Jacobs

Door Side of the room:

Due Tuesday: Harriet Jacobs (remember to bring your copies back to class)
Due Wednesday: Frederick Douglass

If you were absent today, I'd recommend reading the Douglass excerpt in your book regardless of where you sit, and you can read the Jacobs for Wednesday.

Updates

Please make sure you are making progress on the assignments in the previous posts.

Your "Minister's Black Veil" concern letter will be turned in ONLINE only. An assignment is now available on Turnitin for you to submit to, with the due date as December 1st at noon.

Due Monday after Thanksgiving

1. Moby Dick reading from your textbook. (You need the actual book to complete this reading. Because it is excerpts from a novel, I can't link to the passages that your book uses.)

2. Letter from Reverend Hooper from "A Minister's Black Veil".

Imagine you are a Reverend Hooper responding to the community's concerns about your wearing of the black veil. Create a supported response that approximately follows the format below.


 Greeting/Salutation

 Overview of your purpose for writing the letter.

 Your acknowledgement of the negative consequences wearing the veil is having on
the community.*

 Your reasons for why you feel it necessary to wear the veil.*

 Summary and acknowledgments

 Your name and information


*Each of these sections should contain multiple quotations from the text to support your claims.

Due Thursday

Read "The Minister's Black Veil".

Due Wednesday

Read Doctor Heidegger's Experiment. The story is available in your books, but the text is available here in case you forgot your book.

Due Monday

Read the excerpts from Emerson in your book: "Nature" and "Self-Reliance" (268-271)

Additionally,

Research Emerson quotations online and select 5 that you really enjoy. Copy and paste the quotations into a document and format it so that you have a pretty readable font-size (around 20). Cut out each quotation individually, and bring them with you to class.

We will be doing a class activity with these quotations, so make sure to get this done so you don't feel left out.

Due Wednesday

Please make sure you have completed all elements of the "Devil and Tom Walker" assignment.

Also, please make sure you have read pages 162-172 in your lit book, which will provide you background information to this time period. There will be a quiz.

Due tomorrow

Make sure you have completed you reading of the Fall of the House of Usher for our Halloween discussion.

Colonial Authors Paper Due tomorrow!

Both the paper copy and electronic copy of your Colonial Author's Paper are due tomorrow! You final should be turned in with the rough draft copies stapled beneath it. Your electronic copy should be submitted by the end of lunch tomorrow.

Remember in addition to getting scores on Analysis, Transitions, and Conventions, you will be receiving an addition score that factors in timeliness, completion, academic honesty (avoiding plagiarism), rough draft scores, and getting your digital copy turned in.

Due Monday

Bring a printed rough draft of body paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Colonial Authors Essay for revisions in class on Monday.

Due Friday

The rough draft of the introduction and first body paragraph of your Colonial Authors paper will be due this Friday. Here is a chart that will help explain the assignment and help you outline your paper.

Test information for the content test on Wednesday is available below.

Unit 1 Content Material

Literary Devices:
o Aphorism,
o Personification
o Periodic Structure
o Allusion, Metaphor
o Parallel Structure
o Metaphysical Conceit
o Epanorthosis
o Rhetorical Questions
o Rhetorical Appeals

Title of Passages we’ve read

o General History or Virginia
o Of Plymouth Plantation
o Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
o Wonders of the Invisible World
o Dialogue…Gout
o Autobiography
o Poor Richard’s Almanac
o Speech in the Virginia Convention
o Declaration of Independence
o The Crisis
o To his Excellency, General Washington

Authors of Passages we’ve read

General time period, dates, and purpose of passages we’ve read

You will need to be able to identify excerpts from the passages we’ve read

Info

Please have the Franklin Autobiography reading completed by Thursday.

Below are some usage rules powerpoints.

Usage 1
Usage 2
Usage 3

Due Tuesday

Read Franklin's "Dialog Between Franklin and the Gout". (99-104)

Edwards Body Paragraph Outline

To make sure you get all of the steps needed for quality analysis, I am posting an outline of what an Edwards Body Paragraph should do. Please note that you will need to do all steps within your paragraph, but that each step will probably be more than one sentence-especially the how step. This is a single paragraph, so it should look like a single paragraph on your paper.

I've reprinted the prompt for your assignment below in case you need it.

Edwards Introduction and Body Paragraph


Using the format provided in Part I of your “Musings” packument, write an introduction and body paragraph on “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”


Thesis Ideas: Edwards creates fear in the audience. The purpose of this fear is to ________________________.


POA: Edwards uses imagery, structure, and rhetoric.


Your body paragraph will focus on the discussion of his use of imagery.

Additional Grammar Practice

If you are looking for more grammar practice, please go to the Sprague Writing Center webpage to practice what you need. Please note the topics listed on the left hand side. If you select one of those topics for more information, there will be information and explanations on the right, and then a link to practice exercises and examples on the left.

Due Tuesday

Please identify the sentences on the worksheet below as either simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. Print (or hand write if your printer is not working) and bring to class completed.


Sentence Structure Practice

Due Friday

Read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (70-73). Pay careful attention to Edwards' use of figurative language and imagery and how they help him achieve the purpose of his text.

Due Thursday

Read Cotton Mather's "Wonders of the Invisible World" (75-78). Please create a S.O.A.P.S. chart that you will turn in tomorrow as homework. Under the "Speaker" category, please provide two inferences about the speaker with a quotation that supports each. You may want one of them to address the issue of speaker bias.

Due Wednesday

Based on your notes today in class, please print and complete this parts of speech practice worksheet.

Assignment Info

Due Wednesday:

Please complete the practice exercise below and bring it to class tomorrow so we can discuss it:

1. To what extent is the 7 period day schedule an effective schedule?

a. thesis/antithesis/POA statement
b. first sentence of antithesis paragraph
c. first sentence of first thesis paragraph.


Due Thursday:

Antithesis/Thesis Practice Writing Assignment

Step 1: Select a topic of your choice that you would like to write practice antithesis/thesis paragraphs with. You might consider something from:
 Music
 Movies
 Politics/Policy
 Food
 Hobbies, Sports, activities
 (Anything else that interests you—if you’re unsure about your topic, check with me first)

Step 2: Following the guidelines in the “Musings” packet, write an Antithesis/Thesis statement with 2 POA points. Remember to focus on the concept of opposing, not just opposite. (Note that you’re not writing an entire introduction, just the antithesis/thesis).

Step 3: Write a corresponding antithesis paragraph. Make sure to remember your qualifying transition. You should have 3 pieces of evidence to support your antithesis paragraph and use standard paragraph format.

Step 4: Write a corresponding thesis paragraph. Make sure to use an appropriate contrasting transition word that acknowledges your antithesis, and clearly state your thesis and POA point. You should have 3 pieces of evidence and use standard paragraph format.

Step 5: Proof read your paragraphs, checking for conventions errors, and making sure that you match the structure given to you in the packet.


Due Friday:

Read "The General History of Virginia" (42-47)
Read "Of Plymouth Plantation" (50-54)

Due Monday

Please read Part II of the "Musings" packet. Again, I apologize that they haven't come back from print yet, so please use the links provided in the previous post.

Due Friday, 9/5

Please read and study Part I of the "Musings" packet. Remember, you will have a copy given to you as soon as it comes back from print. I will make it accessible below as a PDF and a Word Document.

PDF
Word

Due Thursday, 9/4

Humanities Writing Pre-Test


Imagine you are writing an essay on one of the following topics:

1. Why is the study of past events (history) important in a world that is focused so much on the present and future developments?

2. Why is the study of past writing (literature) important in a world that seemingly places little emphasis on this medium of expression?

Now, the assignment:

Write an introduction and a body paragraph that address ONE of these topics. Set up your introduction as if you were writing the entire essay, but you, of course, will just be writing one body paragraph.

Please use this as an opportunity to show off your best writing in terms of vocabulary, structure, organization, and ideas. I understand that this is essentially a ‘first draft’ and has not undergone a lengthy revision process, but you should proof read for conventions.

Please type in 12-point font unless you are currently without access to a computer/printer. If that's the case, hand write neatly in pen.


Due tomorrow!

Last minute info

Please check intouch to make sure that you have received credit for all of the assignments that I am entering these last few days. I have a few no name assignments as well that will need to be identified, so if you think you should have received a score and you didn't, please come see me.

Extra Credit Questions Due Friday

John Dos Passos was an influential Modern writer at the same time as Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald. Like Hemingway, his experiences in World War I contributed greatly to his writing. One of his most famous works, the U.S.A. trilogy, traces the lives of several characters in the years preceding, during, and following World War I. In addition to telling the stories of these characters’ lives, he includes several “biography” sections in this work, in most cases of famous Americans. The biography he presents in this section is of a different sort. Read this section carefully and answer the following questions in detail using specific quotations from the text. The excerpt is challenging, so you may find that you need to read it more than once.

1. Identify several instances in which Dos Passos uses language/structure in a unique way.
What overall effects does this use of language have on the piece?
2. What insight does this piece give into society of this time period in regards to racial relations?
3. How is war depicted in this passage?
4. What are some ironies that this excerpt addresses?
5. What role does repetition play in this passage?
6. How does this passage’s style and content compare to the writings of Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald? (Be sure to address all three.)
7. What is your personal opinion of this passage? (Reactions, thoughts, comments, etc.)

Author Chart

Create a 4 quadrant chart in which you write down the following information for Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Faulkner

Location(s)
Types of Characters
Common Themes
Stylistic Observations
A defining Quotation

Due Tuesday

Please read Faulkner's Wash and be prepared to discuss. Make sure to have an understanding of Faulkner's use of flashback.

Due Thursday

Due Thursday: Pages 68-94


Last sentence: "Then it spread like a cloud . . . "

Due Wednesday

Pages 43-68

Last sentence: "'I do not know,' he said aloud. 'I have never had a bone spur.'"

Let's plan on your vocab quiz being on Thursday, so please review your words as well.

Due Monday

Please study vocabulary over the weekend and get a head start on your Old Man and the Sea reading due on Tuesday.

Due Tuesday:

Pages 1-43

Last sentence: "He tightened the pressure of his thumb and finger for a moment and the weight increased and was going straight down"

Here is a link if you did not check out a copy.

Due Friday

Please study set 1 of vocabulary words on Quizlet.

If the link does not work, they are listed under the title of Vocab Workshop F 1 A and B.

Due Thursday

WELCOME BACK!

For Thursday, please read the story "In Another Country" by Ernest Hemingway. (722-727).

Pay special attention to:

- The role of technology
- Existential elements (alienation, creation of essence, anxiety)
- Symbolism of characters

(In other words, if I ask a question about these topics in class, you should be able to point to specific quotations and add your own thoughts.)

Here is the complete text (I think) just in case you've forgotten your book. Just ignore the weird layout.

Harlem Renaissance

You will find the poems we used for our Harlem Renaissance Activity here. If you do not know what to write down for the assignment, please consult a group member.

Due Friday

Please finish your reading of Gatsby and be prepared to discuss on Friday.

Also, semester 2 grading information:

Grading Scale:

87 -100 = A
74-86 = B
61-73 = C
48-60 = D
0 – 47 = F

Weighted Categories:

Homework: 15%
Checkpoints: 15%
Exam: 10%
Quizzes: 8%
Assessed Writing: 8%
Research Paper Content: 9%
Research Paper Style: 9%
Research Paper Conventions: 5%
Research Paper Requirements: 5%
Research Paper MLA: 5%
Research Paper Bibliography: 6%
Verification: 5%

Assignments over Spring Break

1. Please read chapters 5 and 6 of Gatsby.

2. Your observation paragraph is due on Sunday, March 23rd by 11:59 pm. Make sure to submit it on Turnitin. Information and an example of an observation paragraph are available on the research paper page.

3. Your importance thinking activity is due on Tuesday, April 1st on paper. Please bring a printed copy to class on Tuesday. This does not need to be submitted online. Information is available on the research paper page. Note that you are completing this activity for only 2 of your importance quotations.

Miscellaneous:

You can find the overheads about connective phrases and examples available here.

I have also posted an assignment on Turnitin called "randome/late checkpoints" if you would like to submit a document asking for help over spring break. This is a better way that over email, so type up whatever questions you have, examples, quotations, whatever, and I will do my best to answer them if I have time.

Due Monday

Please read chapters 1, 2, and 3 of The Great Gatsby for Monday. There will be a reading quiz over these chapters. If you were absent today, and did not check out a copy, here are some options:

1. Maybe your house already has a copy?
2. Buy a copy from a book store?
3. Download a digital copy?
4. Borrow from a friend when he/she is done reading?
5. Public library?

The Great Gatsby is still under copyright law in America, so there is no free e-text that I can link you to. Interestingly, it is available on the web because it is not under copyright in Australia, but of course I would not tell you to access this copy, nor link to it from this page.

Begin Citation Outline

Please visit the research paper page and click on the information for the citation outline. There are a lot of suggestions at the beginning of the document about how to process your research and narrow down your ideas. You may not need that help, so scroll to the end of that document for the actual example of the citation outline format. Also, Google docs ruined most of the formatting with the cards on that document, so I know it is a mess, but I also don't want to take the time to try and fix it.

Due Tuesday

First of all, remember that your first research paper checkpoint is due on Monday. Get off to a good start! Do NOT miss your checkpoint.

Secondly, your Whitman paragraph is due on Tuesday. The directions for the assignment are listed below.

Directions:

Write a paragraph that analyzes how Walt Whitman uses different literary devices in order to advance Romantic themes in his poem. Consider such things as diction, syntax, imagery, form, etc. You may also address how Whitman advances Romantic themes by creating contrast to those ideas. Your three examples in your paragraph may be any combination of the devices listed above; it should not be a paragraph that talks about only diction.

You must provide a quotation for each support, and follow all style rules.

Your paragraph will be scored using the two rubrics that will be used for your research paper. Please go to the research paper page, scroll down the left side until you find "Scoring Rubrics" and print and bring copies of these to class.

Speaking of printing, please bring copies of this document to class as well.

Updates and Quiz Friday

Remember you have a quiz on passive, progressive, and linking on Friday.
Also, observation notecards for your research paper are due on Monday. Please visit the research paper page (link to the left) for information on how to complete them if you have questions.

Today we did a little "unpassiving" practice. If you'd like the practice, the paragraph that we worked with is available below. Notice that all sentences are in passive and need to be rewritten to active voice.

Much of the reform in the 20th century was motivated by various disasters that took place in the United States at the time. In Galveston, Texas, major destruction was caused by a hurricane and the lack of a sea wall. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire disaster of 1911 was caused by faulty planning and local corruption. Over 140 people were killed because of locked doors and inoperative fire escapes. In 1913, Dayton, Ohio was flooded after strong winter storms brought heavy rainfall that quickly saturated the soil. Levees were quickly overrun by water that soon raced through the downtown area. As a result, the Vonderheide Act was passed by the General Assembly allowing for the creation of conservancy districts to plan against future flooding.


We also discussed the poem "When I Heard the Learned Astronomer" by Walt Whitman. You will want to look at how his devices such as diction, imagery, syntax, and form, contribute to the Romantic theme of an emotional appreciation of nature's beauty rather than a scientific approach. The text is below, and we will talk about our writing assignment based on this later.

When I Heard the Learned Astronomer
by Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and
measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

Due Tuesday

Please print and bring to class.

Narrative Writing

Today, after the farming simulation, we talked about components of strong narrative writing, which is available here as a document.

Your narrative writing assignment is actually done for Mr. Nickel, so please check his website for information about requirements and due date.

The Research Paper

The Research Paper webpage is activated. Please visit it here. Note that due dates for your class have not been entered yet, but a link to the observation/importance powerpoint is available on the left.

Study Study Study

Here is a link to the review activity we did in class, just in case you want to play again at home.

Due Wednesday

Make sure to read "To Build a Fire" by Jack London. An e-text is available here in case you didn't take your book home

Semester 1 Final Format

Below is information about your semester one objective final. Your semester one reading list is available on the right.

Semester 1 Final Exam

127 Multiple Choice Questions
Essay Component (maybe..hopefully)

Objective Test breakdown:

 60 Huck Finn Questions

 15 Timeline Questions
 20 Character/Quotation Questions
 12 Character Interpretive Importance Questions
 12 General Knowledge/Interpretive Importance Questions

 20 Time Period General Description Questions

 12 Quotation matching to Time Period

 8 Literary Device Identification

 10 Literary Device Definition

 16 Author Identification

Literary Devices: Semester 1


Aphorism
Personification
Periodic Structure
Allusion
Metaphor/Analogy
Argumentation
Parallel Structure
Rhetorical Questions
Faulty Dilemma/Ultimatum
Slogan
Conceit
Enjambment
Epanorthosis
Diction
Syntax
Simile
Imagery
Appeals to Logic,
Emotion, Authority,
Fear

Due Wednesday 1/8

Complete reading through Chapter 38.