Honors 4: 2015 Summer Assignments

• Rationale
• I need to know how you think, collect information, and write. This assignment will give me a feel for all of those things. It will also help me know which areas need to be addressed to help you do the best you can on the Personal Research Project (which can be used in the WR121 portfolio).
• Pre-reading Information
• Fairy Tales: Stories written by the literate for the literate to examine "modern society" and how to best survive in it. Connected to much folklore in that it was meant to help young people navigate a dangerous world. To truly understand these stories, the reader/listener must know the coded language of the stories. 
• Restoration Tales: the dispossessed noble has trials, adventures, and with help gets a better situation
• Rise Tales: the poor rises to greatness through trials, adventures, and rescue/ing
• Actual Fae (Tuatha): beings from a dimension next to ours where time and reality run differently
• The Rule of Threes 
• Three trials, three people, three chances to change 
• Each seemingly needy person or animal has the potential to help later on down the line 
• There are always three obstacles to overcome or three tries at the big obstacle (sometimes both) 
• The Forest 
• Where chaos reigns 
• Where the jaded warrior becomes the green man 
• Where people see the self through the mirror of nature 
• Everyone enters the forest, not everyone exits 
• No one comes out of the forest the same 
• Symbolism 
• The  language of fairy tales is metaphor to lead to misdirection 
• Don’t eat or drink when taken out of the world, it’ll get you stuck where you don’t want to be 
• Old people have power, be nice to them. 
• Poor people might be rich, be nice to them 
• The Metamorphosis (1915)
• Read the book and determine if it fits the definition of a fairy tale using the information above and any information you can gather from other sources (keep those sources close).
• It might be helpful to find out a little about Franz Kafka.
• The Essay
• The Questions: Is The Metamorphosis a fairy tale? OR How does Kafka’s life feed into the characterization and themes in The Metamorphosis?
• The essay must have two quotes (cited) and two paraphrases (cited). It must include direct references to The Metamorphosis and to two articles the student finds to support his or her thesis.
• Minimum of four well-written paragraphs with a bibliography for sources used in the essay.
• The articles and the essay (with a bibliography) must be emailed to mthouvenel@pendletonsd.org by August 20, 2015 (for any student who is registered for Honors 4 before July 1, 2015) or by August 27, 2015 (for any student who is registered for Honors 4 after July 1, 2015).
• Failure to complete the assignment or a failure to turn in original work will result in the student being removed from Honors 4. Please feel free to contact me at the above email address or to check my school blog (phs242.blogspot.com) for information or help.

English 2: Wrap Up

Read articles on the Pistons and write 3-sentence summaries.

Watch Bad Boys documentary, write daily synopsis, write a 3-sentence summary, write an analytical paragraph and turn it all in.

3-sentence summary

• What was it about? (name it)
• What was the message?
• Was the source/information reliable?

Analytical Paragraph

• What was it about? (name it)
• What was the message?
• How do you know? (two examples explained)
• What did you learn?
• Why does it matter?

E2: Last Vocabulary List

Quiz on June 8

• Acumen: keen insight; shrewdness
• Adulting: the ability to take care of business all the time (pay bills, keep up a house, be social, and mostly legal)
• Caustic: capable of burning, corroding, or destroying living tissue; severely critical or sarcastic
• Dilettante: a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for enjoyment; may find a true passion in one of these or in the promotion of others; a dabbler
• F.O.C. (pronounced "folk"): family of choice—people who have a tighter bond than just friendship and support each other emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and (sometimes) financially (for short periods)
• Friends: people who come together for support and mutual mental and emotional (sometimes financial) benefit.
• Friendly: treating other people with courtesy and sincerity without wishing to move into friendship
• Halcyon: calm; peaceful; tranquil
• Jobing: doing the best one can with the good and the bad that life throws down (references the Judeo-Christian story of Job)

E2: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Briefly identify where, what, or who each thing is and explain in a sentence or two.

• The Woods
• Outskirts
• Lost
• The Center of the Woods
• Out or Further In
• The Rule of Threes
• The Quest
• Trial #1
• Trial #2
• Trial #3
• Helper (could cause harm) #1
• Helper (could cause harm) #2
• Helper (could cause harm) #3
• The Otherself
• What is a shadow? Support and explain.
• Who is Trisha’s shadow in the beginning of the story? Support and explain.
• Who is Trisha’s shadow when she is fully lost? Support and explain.
• Who is Trisha’s shadow just before she is rescued? Support and explain.
• The Plot
• Which type of a fairy tale is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon? Support and explain.
• Restoration Tales: the dispossessed noble has trials, adventures, and with help gets a better situation
• Rise Tales: the poor rises to greatness through trials, adventures, and rescue/ing
• Actual Fae (Tuatha): beings from a dimension next to ours where time and reality run differently

The Essay requires an outline (fill in the blanks)

• Introduction
• 2-sentence summary of the book (don’t forget to name that book/story/article)
• Claim/Thesis (short answer to the question/prompt)––Answer + Basic Reasons
• The Body
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Conclusion
• What did we learn?
• What do we do with that information?
• Final Thought

E2: Childhood's End

• Prologue
• Konrad Schneider (briefly explain his importance)
• Reinhold Hoffmann (briefly explain his importance)
• Why does the prologue end with, “The human race was no longer alone” (Clarke 11)? Support and explain.
• Earth and the Overlords
• Stormgren (briefly explain his importance)
• Pieter Van Ryberg (briefly explain his importance)
• Karellen (briefly explain his importance)
• How does Stormgren know that letting him see Karellen was “proof…of Karallen’s affection for him” (Clarke 64)? Support and explain.
• The Golden Age
• Why spend a whole chapter explaining how awesome the world is? Support and explain.
• Jean Morrel (briefly explain his importance)
• George Greggson (briefly explain his importance)
• Rashaverak (briefly explain his importance)
• What are the aliens waiting for? Support and explain.
• Jan Rodricks (briefly explain his importance)
• Why did the Overlords let Jan go? Support and explain.
• The Last Generation
• Why is it so important to the people of Athens to “save something of humanity’s independence, its artistic transitions” (Clarke 140)? Support and explain.
• Jeffrey Greggson (briefly explain his importance)
• Jennifer Ann Greggson (briefly explain his importance)
• What saved Jeff on the beach? Support and explain.
• Why does Rashaverak tell George as much as he does in their conversation in pages 172-177? Support and explain.
• What do you think of Karellen’s speech and the information he gives in chapter 20? Does this change your understanding of the book? Support and explain.
• What was the message of the book? Analytical paragraph response.

The Essay requires an outline (fill in the blanks)

• Introduction
• 2-sentence summary of the book (don’t forget to name that book/story/article)
• Claim/Thesis (short answer to the question/prompt)––Answer + Basic Reasons
• The Body
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Specific moment or quote from the piece (with line/page number/chapter)
• Why does it matter?
• How does it support your answer?
• Conclusion
• What did we learn?
• What do we do with that information?
• Final Thought

E4 & H4: Wrapping Up

Activism: people taking action to create a specific change in society

• What is a current problem in our world that deserves notice?
• What is the solution to the problem?
• Does it deserve activism? Why? How?
• What is a problem in our nation that deserves notice?
• What is the solution to the problem?
• Does it deserve activism? Why? How?
• What is a problem locally (Oregon/Pendleton/PHS) that deserves notice?
• What is the solution to the problem?
• Does it deserve activism? Why? How?
• What is a problem that currently is getting a lot of media attention that you don’t think deserves it? Fully explain.
• What is a problem that is not getting much media attention? Why does it deserve to be part of the national conversation? Fully explain.

Each set should be answered with a paragraph. We will have a two-day graded class discussion (the answers and the discussion are worth points).