Sophs and Seniors: Journals Due January 8

I will collect journals from all of my classes on Thursday, January 8.
Simply print out your journal responses for the second marking period, STAPLE them together, and turn them in on Thursday. DOUBLE SPACE.

You have fewer journal posts during this marking period. Here they are:

Seniors Modern American Themes: #1 Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? and #2 Is It Better to Know the Truth? (each one will be worth 15 points, minimum of 250 words for full credit)

Seniors Creative Writing: #1 Degas or Vermeer? #2 Understanding Your Poetry Out Loud #3 Your Good Place (each one will be worth 12 points, minimum of 250 words for full credit)

Sophomores American Literature: #1 Laugh, Think or Cry #2 Be Like Ben #3 The American Dream (each one will be worth 12 points, minimum of 250 words for full credit)

Modern American Literature journal #2: Is it Better to Know the Truth?

Post before January 6

An old saying, "ignorance is bliss," implies that what you don't know can't hurt you. But let's examine this more closely. Isn't it better to know the truth about things?

Johnny Bear exposes a painful truth about the Hawkins sisters, one that Alex Hartnett believes would have been better left unsaid. But is the town any better for this?

Johnny Bear, by virtue of his savant ability to "record" conversations, can be compared to our media today, specifically the paparazzi and media stalkers who will do anything for a story to sell to TV, a website, or some magazine. But do we really need to know every sordid detail of every misstep and mistake that the rich, famous, and powerful take? Wouldn't it be better if our leaders---like our politicians, church leaders, and community leaders---were exempt from scrutiny and examination from the press? Or shouldn't we know so that these leaders can be held to higher standards of behavior, or at least standards that their position requires? These questions are more complex than you think, and they explain why the narrator of "Johnny Bear" isn't so sure if he's done the right thing as soon as he plunks down a quarter to get Johnny Bear started.

Answer one of these prompts (minimum of 250 words):

1. Research and write about how the media/paparazzi destroyed the career of someone famous who did not deserve it
2. Research and write about how the media/paparazzi uncovered important information about one of our leaders that was responsible for his or her downfall. Tell us whether you agree or disagree with what happened and the media's methods.
3. Research and write about some recently uncovered scandals that are almost too "creepy" to write about, and really serve no purpose for the common good.
4. Write about a TV show or web site that is in the "infotainment" business that goes "over the top" at times.
5. Research and write about how the media uncovered a "scandal" that bettered our society.

Sophs #3 journal: The American Dream [don't post--just hand in with your journal on January 8]

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 #2 Journal: "Be Like Ben" (post before January 6)

Post before Tuesday, January 6

An older and wiser man writing his autobiography, Dr. Benjamin Franklin gave to the world his prescription for achieving "the bold and arduous task of moral perfection": list 13 virtues you wish to master, work on only one per week (like eradicating weeds from one flower bed at a time, he said), examine your day each evening to see if you had committed any actions contrary to that virtue (keep a record in a lined notebook), proceed to the next virtue the next week, and continue this process for a year (you'll be able to go through four cycles in 52 weeks). Sounds simple enough, right? About as easy and American as apple pie.

As a young man hiding behind the nom de plume of Poor Richard Saunders, Franklin's words of wisdom often took the shape of clever, pithily worded aphorisms like "God helps them that help themselves; a penny saved is a penny earned; fish and visitors smell in three days; an apple a day keeps the doctor away, etc."

Your journal assignment gives you some options. 

You should (choose ONE of the three):

A. Tell me a personal or family tale or practice that represents one of Franklin's thirteen virtues.

B. Tell me a personal or family tale or practice that represents the theme of one of Franklin's aphorisms. Write that aphorism as part of your title. Check out the "quotable Franklin" by clicking here.

C. Relate in detail some orderly plan that you contrived in order to achieve some goal.

Remember, write a minimum of 250 words.

As Ben would have said, "Do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

Creative Writing #3 journal: Your Good Place (due December 23)

POST BEFORE TUESDAY DECEMBER 23

I'm not always up to date on the most novel vernacular, teen or otherwise. By the time I start using some "new" expression, it's bottomed out to the level of drab cliche. So if you get a "you go, girl" or an "atta boy" from me, try not to gawk in amazement at me as if I'm some ancient mariner.

Within the last year, people my age and in my small circle of very cool friends have begun to use the phrase "in a good place," as in "his boss gave him a raise today, so he's in a good place" or he was able to watch football all Sunday afternoon, so he was "in his good place." Getting a raise might put you in a "figurative good place," but watching football all Sunday afternoon and evening on your couch in your Mancave is a "real good place."

Which leads me to this blog's question: Where's your "good place?"

You SHOULD answer VERY literally and specifically, sparing no expense of travel and writing descriptively as you can. The place must exist.

Maybe take me to some sunny exotic island in the Bahamas, send me schussing down the Rockies, or lead me to traverse your favorite hiking spot on the Appalachian Trail. Send me on a trip to a Delaware beach, or for youse Jersey girlzs and guyzs, the "shore." Plop me in the middle of the Christiana Mall (no... please don't) on Black Friday or maybe at Granny's house for a home-cooked meal. Take me on an Owl Prowl through Brandywine Creek State Park (look it up, it's a real thing--it's on my "bucket list"), a nice walk around Valley Garden Park in late spring, or an easy five mile jog in White Clay Creek Park with your IPod at full blast and with your eyes (and other senses) wide open.

Or perhaps you're the more "stay at home" type, who like Henry David Thoreau or Emily Dickinson, could make a full day out of bird watching, sitting in his cabin doorway or "going to church" in her family orchard. Then stay at home. Describe what it's like to be playing the guitar, getting big in the weight room, or just "chewing the fat" with your friends. 

This journal constitutes your attempt to write description, using concrete nouns, figures of speech, sensory images, and connotative words to set a certain mood.

However, one requirement of your post at Schoolsville is that your "good place" MUST be a "good place." Please, for this assignment I want no glimpses into any personal mansions of doom and gloom. As I might have said once or twice in the 70s, "Don't be such a downer, man."

For Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, listening to the music of the "two Italian ladies" took his soul to heights that not even two weeks of prison lockup could destroy.

Can your "good place" do the same?

Minimum of 250 words. If you've had trouble posting at Schoolsville, then e-mail me your response. 

Modern American Themes: Hero Calls Out Fake Hero

Watch this video to see a real ex-soldier "call out" a man impersonating an Army Ranger in the local Oxford Valley Mall recently.

Modern American Themes: Pat Tillman video

Watch this video about football star and Army Ranger/war-hero Pat Tillman. Tillman left professional football to serve his country, was killed by "friendly fire" and SOMEONE in the government tried to cover up the cause of his death, creating greater pain for his family.

Creative Writing: Punctuating Dialogue

When you write dialogue, be sure to punctuate it correctly so that your readers can see who is talking and where a line of dialogue begins or ends. The rules for using quotation marks, commas, and end marks of punctuation are listed below.

Use quotation marks before and after a character's exact words. Place a period inside closing quotation marks. 

"Peter and Esteban are joining us." 

Use a comma to set off the speaker's tag (he said) from the beginning of a quotation. Place the comma inside closing quotation marks when the speaker's tag follows the quotation. 

Harry said, "Come on, Ray. It'll be fun."
" Let's go," Gilda said.

Use quotation marks around each part of a divided quotation. Remember to set off the speaker's tag with commas. 

"I'm not sure," said Ray, "that I feel like it."

Place a question mark or an exclamation point inside the quotation marks when it is part of the quotation. 

"When will we be back?" Ray asked.
" Hooray!" said Debbi.

Place a question mark or an exclamation point outside the quotation marks when it is not part of the quotation. 
Did I hear Ray say, "Okay"?I can't believe he said, "Okay"!

Start a new paragraph when you move from one speaker to another. 
      "How long a hike is it?" Ray asked. "I don't know whether I have the energy to make it. I'm suddenly feeling really out of shape."   
      "I think," said Iris, "that it's about seven miles to the top."    

Sophs: Vocab class--Unit 4-- for Wednesday's class

Go to this link, where you'll learn the words and then participate in some contests for extra credit.