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.

Due Monday, January 6

Read Huck Finn through chapter 33. There will be a reading quiz on these chapters.

Complete the analytical vocabulary assignment explained below.

Vocabulary and Analytical Sentences

Chapters 1-18

The words that you use in your writing have a significant effect on the voice you create. Accordingly, this activity will help you learn the definitions of some “mature” and “academic” words, and also help you apply them to your thinking about Huck Finn.

For each word, you’ll need to complete a two part process. After you look up the definition of the word, write down a meaningful definition; this will complete part one. Make sure you put this definition in your own words: do NOT just copy and paste! The second step is to create a statement (maybe 2-3 sentences) making an analytical observation about Huck Finn that uses this new word. (You can change the form of the word if necessary). It’s important to avoid making a sentence that is simply a plot summary. Instead you need to analyze a character, theme, idea, etc, much like we’ve been doing in our class discussions. In fact, you can even use some of the observations from our class discussions. Remember, analysis presents an observation (a reference to a specific event or events in the text) and then seeks to explain why that observation is important or significant to the story.

Also, please use this as an opportunity to focus on creating mature sentences. I recommend typing this assignment so you can revise as you go along; my example sentence below underwent at least 10 revisions before I decided to leave it alone. Notice you’re only being given a few words, so I expect high quality thinking and writing.

Here is an example:

0.) ambivalence: (Noun) a sense of uncertainty; undecided conflict between two emotions.

Huck’s ambivalence about his living conditions, the fact that he can be content under the rules of the widow but then quickly readapts to the harsher living environment with Pap, serves as an important indication of his malleable character. Because it is not in Huck’s nature to make up his mind fixedly, this indecision allows for perhaps his greatest act of open-mindedness-- the ability to come to see Jim as a person.

1.) juxtapose
2.) ostensible
3.) incongruous
4.) conventional
5.) ephemeral
6.) elicit

Extra Credit (Also due January 6th)

You will need to write a 2 page (double spaced) essay on the video that you viewed. One page or so should be summary information of what you learned, and the second page should be a reflection on the importance/significance of what you learned. The second half of the paper is reflective, so it can be written in the first person. Other than that, there are no specific structural requirements for the assignment.