Sophs and Seniors: Check Below for English Work-Respond

Check the posts below that apply to your class. Spread the word to your schoolsville-mates that I've posted some important information. Post a brief comment (at the post Post Holiday and Pre-Exam Work, not here!) to let me know that you've checked Schoolsville. If you do BEFORE THURSDAY, you'll get an extra credit point on your most recent test.

See you Thursday.

Seniors #3 Final Journal: The Gift of the Magi

The last paragraph of O. Henry's classic Christmas tale says it all. Hopefully, you realize the author's irony. O. Henry's story is NOT uneventful, and certainly not LAMELY related. Most importantly, Jim and Della were NOT two foolish children. Here's the ending for you to read again.:

"The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. "

How about if you take some time to lamely relate the greatest gift that you ever gave, or the most special one that you ever received? If you do, you'll be spreading the Gift of the Magi, and one of the true joys of the Christmas season?

For a good laugh, check out this classic video and commercial to see how happy these children were to receive a Nintendo N64 back in 2006. Better turn down the sound because the little boy gets a bit excited. 

Seniors: Post Holiday and Pre-Exam Work

On the first day that you return from break, we will peer evaluate your descriptive writing assignments. Those of you who were on early vacation should bring two copies to class on Thursday. On Friday, we may continue doing this in addition to going over some graded tests and writing assignments. 

For class on Monday, January 6, in honor of The Feast of the Magi,  you should read "The Gift of the Magi" found at this link. Your last and final blog will be based on this story. You do NOT have to post your response to this blog; instead, just print it out to turn in with the other two blog-journal assignments that you've already done this marking period (Your Bucket List & Your Good Place). Turn-In Day is Wednesday, January 8. 

For class on Wednesday, January 8, you should read the story "The Lottery." It is in your book and at this link, too. Come to class prepared with 10 questions & comments for your last "circle" discussion of the first semester. 

I will give you a clear idea of what to expect on the examination sometime soon. It will be cumulative, in part; for instance, I will expect you to know the authors, what they wrote and accomplished, and the important literary terms and ideas that we studied. 

Sophs: Post Christmas Holiday Work & Pre-Exam Work

I will begin a mini-unit on mid-19th century American poetry when we return on Thursday. It will consist of the following poets and poems: William Cullen Bryant ("To a Waterfowl"), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls"), and Oliver Wendell Holmes ("Old Ironsides"). I will give you biographical and literary notes on each of these authors on a handout.

For Monday January 6, you should have read "The Fall of the House of Usher," a short story by Edgar Allan Poe that is in your text book and is available online. I will post on Studywiz and hand out a pre-reading guide for that story that includes notes on Poe. We will study Poe for at least two days--one day on this story and another on his poem "The Raven."

I will collect journals from ALL CLASSES on Wednesday, January 8. The assignments were: Jim Valvano, Be Like Ben (Franklin), The American Dream, and the Stock Character. Make sure what you hand in is your "best" work for this will be your last "major" graded assignment for the second quarter.

Later during this same week  we will study two Transcendentalists authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson (pp. 365-371 in your book) and Henry David Thoreau (pp. 377-387).

To get ahead, you should read any or all of these works.

One last note: we will NOT finish The Greatest Generation until after semester examinations.

Birds of Christmas Day

The National Audubon Society, using backyard bird enthusiasts like myself,  conducts a Christmas Bird Count [CBC] from December 14 through January 5.  From year to year, the CBC helps the organization assess the health of bird species in different areas of the country. Though I haven't formally registered (yet) to participate, here, at least, is a list a Christmas Day visitors at my feeders: at least three pairs of male and female Northern Cardinals, Chickadees (White-capped or Carolina?), Tufted Titmice, Downy Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, Juncos, Blue Jays, Nuthatches, House Sparrows, and Red Bellied Woodpeckers.

Sophs--Breakfast, Anyone? More Stock Characters!

THIS POST IS NOT YOUR JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT, BUT IT WILL HELP YOU TO UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF THE STOCK CHARACTER.

SEE THE POST BELOW THIS ONE FOR YOUR JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT. 

First listen to the video with the sound muted. As each character appears, try to identify the teenage movie stock character. This won't be too difficult, despite the somewhat laughable fashions of the 80s. The sad truth is that everyday we will also stereotype so quickly, often just based on the way someone dresses, walks, or talks.

The Breakfast Club, a 1985 John Hughes written and directed film, first builds up its characters' stereotypes, only to shatter them to pieces. We, and the characters within the movie, see how all of these contrasting "types" are really more similar than they are different. Who would've thunk it (this expression is a cliche, the bad grammar completely necessary)? And it only took two hours of being locked into a room for a Saturday morning detention. Could life be so easy?

My capsule review of the movie? The critic in me, no longer a teen or even a young hip teacher, says that much of the movie dialogue today sounds so unreal, so exaggerated, so silly. And yes, the repeated use of the F word bothers me (I'll never get used to hearing teenagers curse). However, I have to admit that it (the dialogue) and the rest of the movie are never boring. Even in the preachy long monologues (and there are many), Hughes' characters make us care about them.

The lesson is this. Stock characters are OK in literature and film, but stereotyping in real life is dead wrong, and probably responsible for creating every hateful ideology known to mankind. Watch the film to learn that a man (or woman) shouldn't be judged by his clothes or the company that he keeps.

Sophs & Seniors: Week of 12-16

Sophs:

See me ASAP to make up Friday's test!!
Post journal #4 before Friday's class--it's below this post
Monday--vocab unit 6 due (through complete the sentence) along with blog vocabulary sentences
Tuesday- reading of assignment #1 The Devil and Tom Walker due for class
Wednesday-continue to go over The Devil and Tom Walker
Thursday--vocab quiz for yellow and blue sections--review pages for The Greatest Generation on Love, Marriage, & Commitment
Friday--vocab quiz for green section blue does NOT meet)--review pages for The Greatest Generation

Seniors:

 I will review for Tuesday's test tomorrow. Included on the test will be specific questions on  the descriptive lines from Johnny Bear. I have posted a test review on Studywiz  more "selective" than the original one.

Check Studywiz for setting creative assignment that is now due Thursday--sample student writings from previous years are posted.

Monday: test review
Tuesday: test
Wednesday:setting creative assignment lab day
Thursday: setting creative assignment due--peer evaluation
Friday: setting peer evaluations, etc.

Soph #4 Journal: The Stock Character

POST BEFORE FRIDAY MORNING, DEC. 20

A stock character is a character type, often a stereotyped character, used repeatedly in genre fiction (like horror, sci-fi, moral tales) and of course, movies and television shows that like to use these character types. Examples include the mad scientist, the blond airhead, the femme fatale (sure, look it up if you don't know what this means), the rags-to-riches hero, and the conniving villain. 

In The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom Walker exemplifies the stock character known as The Miser, one who would value money over everything. You should know the Greek tale of King Midas, a miser who learned, as many do, that wealth isn't everything. Go to this link to read the Midas tale. Tom Walker's wife is the stock shrew, the nagging wife who browbeats her husband.

You've read enough (and seen enough tv and movies) to recognize stock characters, so tell me ...who is your favorite "stock" character?

Define the stock character type you choose and then give me some details about your specific character that proves that he or she is, indeed, stock. Of course, tell me why you enjoy your character. Choose a character from books, movies, short stories, and television shows. As always, respond with a minimum of 200 words.

I've provided an example for you, namely Ebenezer Scrooge.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly misanthrope (he's a miser--all about money--and he's a misanthrope--a "hater of mankind") in the Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol. His love of money and disdain for Christmas characterizes the original Scrooge. Note that the wordscrooge to denote characters like him is now regularly used in our vernacular. Scrooge overworks and underpays his loyal employee, Mr. Bob Cratchit. Cratchit, a good and holy family man, has bills to pay and a crippled son (Tiny Tim) to take care of, but he faces his trying responsibilities with Christian fortitude. He even refuses to admit to his poor family that Mr. Scrooge is a bad man. You might say that Cratchit is a stock character himself, the "poor but happy" fatherly figure whose diligence and Christian piety keep his family in food and clothes.

Back to Mr. Scrooge, who grudgingly allows poor Bob to stay home on Christmas Day, but orders him to arrive earlier the next. He greets holiday well wishers, like his kind nephew, with a "Bah, humbug" that of course, is now universally recognized as the reply of the Christmas Scrooge. Suddenly, however, his world is turned inside-out when he is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, his former business partner and a scrooge like himself. The forlorn ghost, who now does penance by walking the earth in heavy chains, money boxes, and keys, warns Scrooge to mend his ways, lest he suffer the same fate.

Scrooge is shaken, but falls asleep. During the rest of the well-known story, he is visited by three Christmas ghosts. He then undergoes a miraculous change. The new Christmas-loving Scrooge sends a huge turkey to the Cratchit home, raises Bob's salary, and becomes a surrogate grandfather to Tiny Tim.

This Christmas tale is a story of faith, redemption, and the goodness that lies within us all. These qualities were once buried in Ebenezer Scrooge, but were unearthed in the joyful end of the novel.

Sophs and Seniors: LATEST UPDATE Week of 12-11

Sophs: test review tomorrow for the blue and yellow sections--test review THURSDAY for the green section---test is now scheduled for FRIDAY. Next vocabulary unit 6 (through sentence completions) is due for MONDAY'S class, 12-16. Post your ten vocabulary sentences (see the post below this one) before MONDAY'S class, too.

Seniors: no test tomorrow (or THURSDAY, for that matter). Read the story Johnny Bear for THURSDAY'S class. It's posted on Studywiz. Read the instructions for this reading assignment, too. I will use this story for your test NOW RESCHEDULED FOR MONDAY 12-16.

Sophs: Vocab Unit 6 sentences (all sections)

Post BEFORE CLASS ON Friday ten (10) sentences using ten different vocabulary words correctly, giving a context clue to the meaning of the word within your sentence. You will be graded on the quality of your sentences. 

Rows 1-3 should work with words 1-10; rows 4-6 should work with words 11-20.

Your context clue should use restatement, contrast, or inference (see p.7  of your vocab book if you need help with these).

Of course, identify yourself according to your first name, last initial, and section color.

e.g. Usually slightly nervous and uncertain, most ninth graders entering St. Mark's are somewhat TACITURN during their initial days in school.

Emily!

The nice thing about a snow day is that you're playing with house money, or free time, if you don't understand the gambling metaphor.  This poem comes courtesy of the The Writer's Almanac (the website), and Emily Dickinson (the author). Spend your free time "taking your time" to read it out loud, maybe look up a few words, then re-read it slowly and carefully so that the final two lines "stun" you with "Bolts of Melody."

I would not paint—a picture—

I'd rather be the One

Its bright impossibility

To dwell—delicious—on—

And wonder how the fingers feel

Whose rare—celestial—stir—

Evokes so sweet a Torment—

Such sumptuous—Despair—

I would not talk, like Cornets—

I'd rather be the One

Raised softly to the Ceilings—

And out, and easy on—

Through Villages of Ether—

Myself endued Balloon

By but a lip of Metal—

The pier to my Pontoon—

Nor would I be a Poet—

It's finer—Own the Ear—

Enamored—impotent—content—

The License to revere,

A privilege so awful

What would the Dower be,

Had I the Art to stun myself

With Bolts of Melody!

Sophs #3 journal: The American Dream [due Friday 12-6]

You've studied the early colonists and then the early Americans. Both groups of people had visions of the greatness of America. The Puritans envisioned a religious "city upon a hill" nurtured and protected by their God. America's founding fathers constituted a democratic republic that would encourage other governments throughout the world to also engage in a social contract with its citizens, ensuring a protection of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a democratic republic. America was created to be a model government for the rest of the world.

A Frenchman, Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, emigrated to the colonies in 1755. He married a American-born women, raised a family, and farmed in Orange County, NY. Life was going well until the Revolutionary War broke out. Unwilling to choose between the revolutionary and the Tory cause, de Crevecoeur fled to England, leaving his wife and children. When the war ended, he published a book in 1782, Letters From an American Farmer, adapting the pseudonym of an American farmer, James, and writing back in epistles (letters) to his brethren in England. The book told of the promise of the good life in America; it is one of the first written statements of the American Dream.

The notion of the American Dream (even today) represents a romanticized ideal of the hope and promise of America. For de Crevecoeur, the American Dream promised these new and exciting gifts to all who dared to call themselves, Americans:

1. America is an asylum, a refuge for Europe's poor and downtrodden
2. The American society is a melting pot of people from all over Europe
3. The American economy rewards the hard worker with a chance to get ahead.
4. The American is free to worship any God as he pleases, and religion demands little of him.
5. Americans are the "western pilgrims," bringing the best of Europe to this new land, and even making it better. Americans are looked upon as leaders of the world.

Throughout America's history, there is no doubt that the American Dream has been realized by millions of successful people. There is also little doubt that reality of America did not always live up to the Dream. Undoubtedly, millions of people experienced failures, too--nightmares, not dreams.

Look over the five aspects of deCrevecouer's Dream listed above.

Write about how any ONE of those ideas either rewarded OR failed any ONE individual. Ideally, I'd like you to relate a personal story about a relative or someone you closely know. However, if you absolutely cannot relate a personal story, you are free to write about someone else, but NOT someone whose story has been told many times. If you have to write about someone whom you researched, provide your information source at the end of your writing.

REMEMBER, WRITE A MINIMUM OF 25 BLOG LINES OR 200 WORDS.

Sophs and Seniors: Week of 12-2

Sophs: Read The Greatest Generation up through "Shame." Write 3-4 sentence summaries for each section. This had been assigned before Thanksgiving break. For Tuesday's class, come prepared with your summaries---the Blue class should bring their TGG books to read silently during their block minutes. During your next class we will read a short passage from DeCrevecouer's Letters From An American Farmer, an early colonial book that first publicized specific ideas of The American Dream. A blog will be posted soon (journal #3) to be completed before Friday's class (all sections). We will begin reviewing on Friday for your next (pretty extensive) literature test to be held Wednesday, 12-11. You will get a review sheet soon.

Seniors: Blog #2 has been posted below--it is due on Tuesday 12-3, of course [this had been posted since 11-26]. This is a warm-up for your next creative assignment, which has already been posted at Studywiz if you're interested in working ahead. This week we will attempt to review for your next [largely objective] test on scene, summary, description, and setting (use and types of ...) to be given next Monday. Why so far ahead? Well, you have a penance assembly on Wednesday so the red class will definitely miss class and the purple class is likely to miss some of its class. I figure that we need at least two days (Thursday and Friday) to review for the test, give back some papers, and begin to prep ourselves for our next creative piece.