E2: Update

Post your Briar Rose essays in the appropriate assignment, make sure your books and all are turned in.

Make sure you have The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon for class tomorrow and your notes. Updated notes are attached to this announcement on google classroom.

English 2: Briar Rose and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen (1992): 2-sentence summary + analytical paragraph for each section

• Becca's Quest: Gemma's Death ch 2, 4, 6
• Becca Gets Help & Learns Some Things ch 8, 10, 12, 14, 16
• Becca's Trip: Poland and Beyond ch 18, 20, 22, 24
• Gemma's Briar Rose: ch 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23
• Gemma's Castle + Becca's Quest ch 25-30
• Happy Ending for Becc? ch 31-33 + Author's Note

Reading October 22-November 16

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (1999) (There will be questions and discussions.)

• The Woods: outskirts, lost, center, escape or trapped
• Threes: quest, trials, helpers
• The Shadow
• Plotiness—Actual Fae (Tuatha): beings from a dimension next to ours where time and reality run differently

English 2: Sleeping Beauty

"Sun, Moon, and Talia"

• What archetypes do the main characters (Talia, the King, the Queen) fit into?
• Is this a conflict that has been in multiple stories? Name a few and explain the trope.
• Does the story draw from older stories or influence newer stories? How?
• What is the big idea the story explores?

Read Charles Perrault's "Sleeping Beauty" and write a 2-sentence summary and an analytical paragraph

Monday we'll read the Grimm's Sleeping Beauty and you can choose questions or paragraph.

Tuesday we'll read Gardener's Politically Correct version with an analytical paragraph.

Wednesday we'll watch and discuss Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty.

Thursday we'll be checking out Jane Yolen's Briar Rose and start reading. There will be information and details up on google classroom.

First Research Papers

English 2 topics will center around The American Dream or Poverty in the United States.
English 4 topics will stem from 30 for 30: Hillsborough
A more in-depth outline and packet can be found in your google classroom or in my actual classroom.

You have two options for the type of paper you write:

• Argument/Counterargument
• Explain or define the topic; go from general to specific
• Thesis Statement: one to two sentences that answer the following questions
• How is the topic relevant? Why does it matter?
• What do you have to say about it? What type of support do you have?
• Why are you writing the paper? Who is it for? (Avoid the obvious, "for class" or "my teacher" and try to figure out who your target audience is.)
• Your body will include a look at the major arguments for and against your topic, focusing on the side you think is "right".
• Conclusion
• So what? Now what? 
• Why does it matter? What does it change?
• Final Thought
• Problem/Solution
• Explain or define the problem; go from general to specific
• Thesis Statement: one to two sentences that answer the following questions
• How is the topic relevant? Why does it matter?
• What do you have to say about it? What type of support do you have?
• Why are you writing the paper? Who is it for? (Avoid the obvious, "for class" or "my teacher" and try to figure out who your target audience is.)
• Your body will include an analysis of possible solutions before focusing on the best solution.
• Conclusion: Explain the best solution and support it.
• So what? Now what? 
• Why does it matter? What does it change?
• Final Thought

E2: American Winter

Write a 7-10 sentence paragraph for each:

• What does American Winter have to say/show about poverty and how Americans handle it?
• What does American Winter have to say about getting involved in helping others? What are your thoughts on helping others and how did you develop them?

Sample 2-Sentence Summaries and Analytical Paragraphs

Analytical Paragraph (General): Response to an article, short story, chapter/book, play, poem, television show/episode, film, lecture, etc. (7-10 sentences)

• Choose one sentence from the summary as the topic sentence of the paragraph.
• Support from the text (paraphrase or quote w/acknowledgement)––Explain the first piece of support
• Another piece of support from the text (paraphrase, quote w/acknowledgement)––Explain the second piece of support 
• Make a connection to another article, poem, chapter, short story, television show, film, class, etc.––Explain the connection
• Finish with “So what? Now what?” or "Why does it matter? What does it mean? What does it change?"

Summaries

• What was it about?
• What was the message?
• If nonfiction: 
• Is the source/information reliable? How do you know?

Literature Example
Summary
Old Man created everything and everyone on the Great Plains. When the people stopped listening to Old Man's messengers, they lost everything (their land, their families, and their stuff).

Paragraph
According to "Blackfoot Genesis", Old Man created everything and everyone on the Great Plains. We see this when he creates the big horn sheep and the antelope. With each of these creatures he provides for his people and for the animals, showing how much he cares about what he creates. He also takes care of the people he creates when he protects them from the buffalo. He shows the people how to use bows and arrows which allows them protection and food. Old Man doesn't just create things, he protects and cares for what he creates.

Article Example
Summary
"Chipotle Treats Customers Like Idiots" is about the importance of carefully checking sources and intentions, even in advertising. People too easily get sucked into a clever marketing campaign without finding out the truth behind it and that can, unfortunately, inform their decisions. This article is fairly reliable, because the author makes the information easy to access and fact-check.

Paragraph 1
People too easily get sucked into a clever marketing campaign without finding out the truth behind it and that can, unfortunately, inform their decisions as shown in "Chipotle Treats Customers Like Idiots." One example from Bailey's article is shown when he writes "every independent scientific body that has ever evaluated the safety of modern biotech crops has deemed them safe for human beings to eat." Bailey is referring to a Chipotle ad campaign where they claim, in the interest of customer health, they will go GMO free in their products. This is disingenuous at best, he goes on to argue that they manipulate the information and the consumer. He also points out that the prices of organic or natural foods are inflated based on nutritional value which fools some customers into believing they get what they pay for. What people need to remember is that Chipotle is taking GMOs out of their products for marketing, not integrity.

Paragraph 2
"Chipotle Treats Customers Like Idiots" is about the importance of carefully checking sources and intentions, even in advertising. Bailey shows this when he writes, "every independent scientific body that has ever evaluated the safety of modern biotech crops has deemed them safe for human beings." This illustrates how companies keep playing on people's fears instead of encouraging consumers to find out about the safety of GMOs for themselves. He continues by giving examples of Chipotle, individually, trying to take advantage of customer's ignorance through their campaign's implied claim that they are making changes in order to promote the health of their customers. The irony is clear when consumers acknowledge that Chipotle is a chain restaurant that caters to quantity over quality. Checking facts becomes even more important when reading articles like "Government Deception of GMOs" which is full of unsupported suppositions. Ultimately, consumers need to check facts rather than relying on ad campaigns for information on any type of decision making.

E2 : Questions for 9/23

Switching Gears:

• What is the American Dream? Why does it send so many people into debt?
• What is a social "safety net"? Is it necessary in our society? Why?
• If you've never been in the positon of being homeless or worrying about food, how would you deal with it? If you have been in either position, how did you deal with it?
• Does our society need to change to help people not live below the poverty line? How?

English 2: Notes for 9/10-9/21

Mythology: stories told to help people understand the rules of the universe and our place in it.

The Norse: warrior people who raided and conquered any groups touching the Atlantic ocean; their myths were strongly their religion until the rise of Christianity. 

• Major Gods and Goddesses
• Odin: King; Poetry, battle, and death
• Erda: earth, fertility; mother of Thor
• Frigga: seer, mother of seven children w/Odin; Queen of the realm
• Thor: God of sky; Associated with law (sort of sheriff)
• Sif: Wife of Thor
• Balder: Wisdom & Knowledge; Son of Odin and Frigg; killed by Hod (thanks to Loki)
• Freya: fertility, love, lust;; Goddess of the Vanir
• Hel/Hela: Helheim; God/Goddess of the Dead
• Loki: Trickster; At least half giant; becomes increasingly evil over the course of the mythic stories
• Realms
• Asgard: Where the gods live
• Vanaheim : the Vanir home; connected to Asgard
• Alfheim: the light elves home; connected to Asgard
• Midgard: Land of Humans (Earth)
• Nidavellir: Land of dwarves; connected to Midgard
• Jotunheim: Land of giants; connected to Midgard
• Svartalfheim: Land of dark elves; connected to Midgard
• Hel/Helheim: Realm of the dead
• Niflheim: World of the dead
• Valhalla: Where dead heroes are taken by the Valkeryie to feast and train until Ragnarok
• Ragnarok: the end of the world; all creatures fight on the side of light or dark, no one survives from Elder Edda

The Celts: early people who lived in Ireland and parts of Greater Britain
Choose one of the cycles to look up. Write a paragraph about it. Turn in the paragraph (7-10 sentences).

• The Cycles
• Mythological Cycle: the stories of The Dagda, The Morrigan, and the other gods of Ireland
• The Book of Invasions: records the five waves of "invaders" to Ireland; the Tuatha (children of Danu) became The Fae
• Finean Cycle: records the adventures of Finn Mac Cool and his warriors, the Fianna
• Ulster Cycle: records the adventures of Cuchulainn, The Cattle Raid of Cooley (The Tain) and the hero's misadventures with Queen Meave and The Morrigan
• The Cycle of Kings: records the major events of various Irish kings and nobles; each set of stories focus on a different clan
• A Few Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes
• The Dagda, god of earth and treaties; ruler over life and death; leader of the Tuatha; master of magic, fearsome warrior, artisan; married to The Morrigan; the never-empty cauldron, harp, club of life and death
• Lugh of the Long-Spear; sun god, warrior, full of energy; son of Clan and Ethlinn; a classic hero and High King of Tara
• The Morrigan, battle goddess; shapeshifter including crow, wolf, and cow; also goddess of strife and self-rule (sovereignty) 
• The Brigid, three-faced goddess; healing, poetry, technology; fertility, home and hearth; daughter of Dagda; wife of Bres of the Fomorians; the three-faced goddess (crone, mother, maiden); mother of Ruadan; sometimes she is mixed in with Saint Brigid, the only woman to ever become a Bishop in Catholic Church
• Epona, horse goddess; fertility and earth; farmers will often name their best horses after her; shapeshifter; takes the dead to The Summerlands; one of the only Celtic gods/goddesses to have her own feast in ancient Rome

The Hero's Journey

• Leaves Home/Recieves Quest
• Meets Company
• Faces Trials
• Separates from Company
• Final Trial: Win, Lose, or Die

The Screw-up's Journey
The Anti-hero's Journey
The Interior Journey


Folk Tales: oral stories to teach teenagers in the Middle Ages how to live in the world, how society worked and how to get along in life.

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

English 2: Vocab for 9/11

• Allusion: a historical or cultural reference to something outside the piece of literature
• Ambiguity: uncertainty of intended meaning
• Atmosphere: mood, ambience, or emotional tone of a text
• Cacophony:  the use of words and phrases that imply strong, harsh sounds within the phrase (these words have jarring and dissonant sounds that create a disturbing, objectionable atmosphere)
• Characterization: creating and establishing specific individuals (characters) in a story, poem, or film
• Conflict: a resistance the protagonist of the story finds in achieving his aims or dreams
• Connotation: secondary or associated meanings for a word (contextual usage sometimes)
• Denotation: dictionary definition of a word

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

E2: Scifi Short Stories, Childhood's End, and vocabulary for 5/18 quiz

Scifi Short Stories

• "That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril
• Why doesn’t the mother see the problem with the child? How do parents often see the best or worst in their children? Answer with an analytical paragraph using examples from the story and make a connection from other stories, real life, etc.
• "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke
• Why do some people want the world to end already? Answer with an analytical paragraph using examples from the story and make a connection from other stories, real life, etc.
• "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin
• When is it okay to sacrifice one life for the needs of several others? Answer with an analytical paragraph using examples from the story and make a connection from other stories, real life, etc.

Childhood’s End––Introduction and Part 1

• Write a 2-sentence summary for the Introduction
• Write a 2-sentence summary for each section of Part 1
• Write a three to four paragraph essay on Part 1 that answers one of the following questions
• What does it  mean to be human? What qualities make us unique as a species?
• Why would The Overlords feel the need to hide their true nature? What do they look like? Why would that scare humans?
• What do you think the future of humanity holds? Be specific with (and support) your ideas.

Vocabulary for 5/18/15 quiz

• Entitled: professional victim who always has an excuse; reacts instead of adapts; and expects privileges for existing.
• Ephemeral: lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory.
• Epiphany: sudden revelation
• Epitome: a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class
• Fallacy: a deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc.
• Fluid Intelligence: the ability to see connections or relationships despite a lack of training 
• Gription: when grip gives traction
• Iconoclast: someone who breaks the rules (or tries to overthrow and institution) in order to create a better world
• Idiosyncratic: something peculiar to an individual

E2: Scifi Starter and Vocabulary for 5/4/15 Quiz

Using your resources (various packets of information, class discussions, the wide web) answer the following questions completely––

1. What does SciFi have in common with mythology? Support and explain.
2. What does SciFi have in common with fairy tales? Support and explain.
3. What do the two sets of archetypes (Classic and Romantic) have in common? Support and explain.
4. What archetype do you most relate to? Why? Support and explain.
5. How much does technology affect your day to day life? Support and explain.
6. What do you think will be the "next big thing" in technology? Support and explain.
7. What do you think the world will be like when you are thirty? Support and explain.
8. Why do ScifFi writers use religion in their stories? Support and explain.

Among the stories we will be reading are (the provided links are what I could find): 

• "Microcosmic God" by Theodore Sturgeon
• What would you give up in the name of progress? Support and explain.
• Is it alright to trick people into doing something? Support and explain.
• Why do people give up their ability to make decisions or think for themselves? Support and explain.
• What was Kidder's best invention? How would it fare in our world? Support and explain.
• What will happen if the neoterics ever leave the island? Support and explain.
• "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov
• What would it be like to never know true darkness?
• What places in our own world may have inspired this story?
• Why do people go crazy when it actually gets dark?
• What is normal? (Analytical Paragraph w/support from the story)
• "Mimsy Were The Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett with a bonus "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Caroll
• Why are the children able to accomplish things the adults are not? What lesson is there for the rest of us? Answer with an analytical paragraph using examples from the story and make a connection from other stories, real life, etc.
• "Huddling Place" by Clifford D. Simak
• How common is a fear that controls someone so completely? Answer with an analytical paragraph using examples from the story and make a connection from other stories, real life, etc.
• "That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril
• Why doesn’t the mother see the problem with the child? How do parents often see the best or worst in their children? Answer with an analytical paragraph using examples from the story and make a connection from other stories, real life, etc.
• "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke
• Why do some people want the world to end already? Answer with an analytical paragraph using examples from the story and make a connection from other stories, real life, etc.
• "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin
• When is it okay to sacrifice one life for the needs of several others? Answer with an analytical paragraph using examples from the story and make a connection from other stories, real life, etc.
• Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (yes, it's a novel)

Vocabulary for 5/4/15 Quiz

• Bailiwick: a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work
• Bona fide: made or carried out in good faith
• The Bounce: the ability to move, then crawl, then walk after life knocks someone all the way to the bottom 
• Complacent: pleased with oneself, often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied
• Dharma: the principle of cosmic order (Hindu); the teaching or religion of Buddha; applying beliefs to how life is lived 
• Dilettante: a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement; may find a true passion or in the promotion of others; a dabbler
• Eclectic: not following any one system, but selecting and using what are considered the best elements of all systems
• Enfranchise: to grant a franchise to; admit to citizenship, especially to the right of voting

E2: Poetry and Vocabulary for 4/20/15 Quiz

4/7/15––Poetry Notes; read and discuss "To Autumn" by John Keats; write an analytical/claim paragraph

4/8/15––Read and discuss "Autumn Daybreak" by Antonio Machado; write an analytical/claim paragraph; write a Snapshot Poem (3-10 lines/20-50 words/capture a specific moment or image)

4/9/15––Read and discuss "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" by Walt Whitman; write an analytical/claim paragraph; write a Haiku (5 syllables/7 syllables/5 syllables; Japanese nature poem)

4/10/15––Read and discuss "Fog" by Carl Sandburg and "Falling Snow" by Amy Lowell; write an analytical/claim paragraph; write a Five by Five poem (five lines/five words per line/no rhyme)

4/13/15––Find examples of each poetry term from the packet (underline and label it)

4/14/15––Share examples; read and discuss "Spring is like a perhaps hand" by e.e. cummings; write a two-sentence summary for each part of the poem (whole; in parens; not in parens)

4/15/15––Read and discuss "Hurt Hawks" by Robinson Jeffers; write an analytical/claim paragraph; write a poem (your choice of topic and style)

Poetry Terms for April 20 Quiz––it's open-note, so make sure you find an example of teach term from your poem packet.

• Imagery: words and phrases to create “mental images” for the reader
• Figurative language: writing appeals to the senses; using words that have unusual constructions or sounds
• Alliteration: two or more words in a grouping with the same opening sound (the super suicide society of summer session)
• Analogy: a comparison of two things (the umbrella for metaphor and simile)
• Cliché: overused phrase
• Conceit: an unusual or fanciful comparison
• Euphemism: an inoffensive expression used in place of a blunt or embarrassing one
• Hyperbole: an extreme overstatement
• Idiom: a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., rain cats and dogs, see the light ).
• Metaphor: an implicit comparison that doesn’t use like or as
• Personification: giving human qualities to something not human
• Onomatopoeia: sound words
• Simile: an explicit comparison using like or as 
• Symbol: a word or phrase that signifies something or has a range of reference
• Lit. Devices
• Allusion: a historical or cultural reference to something outside the piece of literature
• Ambiguity: uncertainty of intended meaning
• Atmosphere: mood, ambience, or emotional tone of a text
• Cacophony:  the use of words and phrases that imply strong, harsh sounds within the phrase (these words have jarring and dissonant sounds that create a disturbing, objectionable atmosphere)
• Diction: word choice
• Fallacy: a deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc.
• Irony: playing around with words such that the meaning implied by a sentence or word is actually different from the literal meaning (the deeper, real layer of significance is revealed not by the words themselves but the situation and the context in which they are placed)
• Motif: a conspicuous element that recurs throughout a story
• Paradox: a statement that seems to be contradictory, but that actually makes sense
• Point of View: the way a story gets told; the way an author presents characters ,dialogue, action, setting, and events
• Theme: the big idea examined in the text
• Tone: overall effect

Vocabulary for April 20 Quiz (there will also be an open note portion for poetry)

• Theme: the big idea examined in the text
• Tone: overall effect
• Trickster: element of chaos, curious to know how and why, practical joker; often causes problems for everyone by accident; Comic relief 
• Voice: agent or agency speaking through the poem; persona

E2: Independent Reading and Vocabulary for 4/6/15

Independent Reading 

• The book must be at least 250 pages or approved by instructor. 
• The book needs to be appropriate to the level of a high school sophomore in content, context, and reading level. 
• This should NOT be a book you have read for another English class. Pick a book about something you actually want to read.

Essay #1: To be written after chapter four, but prior to the halfway point. It should be 500 words and answer one or more of the following questions––

• What’s the point of view and how well is it executed? Support and explain.
• Are the characters believable? Are they well-written? Support and explain.
• What themes are being set up? How do you know?
• What motifs and symbols seem to be important at this point? Support and explain.

Essay #2: To be written after the halfway point, but prior to the end. It should be 600 words and answer one or more of the following questions––

• How well does the author build the characters? Support and explain.
• Is the plot developed naturally and believably? Support and explain.
• Have the themes continued to be weaved into the narrative? Have new themes become apparent? Explain.
• Are there any significant changes to the motifs and or symbols? Have they been developed further? Support and explain.

Essay #3: To be written after you finish the book. It should be 750 words and answer one or more of the following questions (feel free to bring in and acknowledge other sources)––

• How does the book fit into the time which it was written? Support and explain.
• How did the author’s own experiences influence the themes, plot, and characterizations? Support and explain.
• Does the author do a good job writing an interesting story? What areas could use editing or improvement? Support and explain.

Vocabulary List for 4/6/15 Quiz

• Rhetoric: a type of discussion whose chief aim is to persuade the audience to think or act in a particular way; the art of debate (political debates)
• Satire: making a topic or lifestyle look ridiculous through presentation and hyperbole (the daily show, the colbert report, SNL while it was good)
• Shadow: represents the hidden qualities (inner demons) of the hero; represents the suppressed elements of the other characters – things that seem like weaknesses (can be the polar opposite or a doppleganger)
• Shapeshifter: can change form, but usually appears to change from good to evil, mean to kind, friend to lover, etc. (werewolves, some vampires, vessen, coyote)
• Soliloquy: the act of talking while or as if alone (when the character breaks the fourth wall and talks to the audience)
• Sonnet: 14-line poem (three quatrains, one couplet); means “little song” in Italian
• Style: how a speaker or writer uses words to convey a  point or message
• Stanza: a group of lines in a poem separated by an extra space from other groups of lines Subjective: the author incorporates personal experiences or ideas into the information or story (versus objective which is distant and without bias)
• Symbol: a word or phrase that signifies something or has a range of reference (black: death, darkness, long loneliness, all the colors ever)

E2: Final push on the novels and vocabulary for the 3/16 quiz

Finish 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Life of Pi this week. I'm hoping to start the book-related essays Wednesday.

Vocabulary for the March 16, 2015

• Irony: the meaning implied differs dramatically from the meaning expressed (literary term, figurative language)
• Metrical Verse: a structure of lines, rhythmic energy, and repetitive sound; meant to be read aloud (poetry, duh)
• Memoir: the mostly true story of what the author has learned through life (how is this different from an autobiography?)
• Mentor: teaches and protects the hero; Gives the hero magical gifts to help complete the quest; Often tied to nature or religion; could be a failed hero who is trying to help the next generation (another archetype)
• Myth: stories told in pre-literate cultures to explain the universe, mankind’s existence, and how to live in community; a culture's sacred stories
• Objective: the author presents the information or story with a detached tone (type of pov)
• Pathos: passions, sufferings, or feelings of an individual; in rhetoric it is the emotional manipulation used in an argument (related to ethos and logos in rhetoric)
• Plot: events and actions in a story and the order they are set to achieve a particular emotional or artistic effect (literary device)
• Point of View: the way a story gets told; the way an author presents characters, dialogue, action, setting, and events (literary device)

English 2: Novels and Vocabulary

Everyone (even the slowest and most reluctant readers) should be at least finished with Part 1 of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Life of Pi by Monday. You will have until March 5 to finish the novels.

Every set of chapters (however much you are able to read in a 30-60 minute sitting) should have a 2-sentence summary. That means everyone should have at least 12 summaries by Monday.

Vocabulary for the March 2 quiz:

• Criticism: term for works concerned with defining, analyzing, classifying, and evaluating words of literature. Analyzes and evaluates a product.

• Connotation: secondary or associated meanings for a word
• Denotation: dictionary definition of a word

• Ethos: overall disposition or character of an individual; in rhetoric it is validity of an argument (connected to logos and pathos––this term we are focusing on the rhetoric definitions)

• Figurative language: all forms of words that create images (analogy, allusion, alliteration, etc)
• Free Verse: uses common sense and natural expression; must feel like a poem; plays with expectations of readers and poets; poetry with varying line length that does not need to rhyme
• Hyperbole: an extreme overstatement

• Gatekeeper: Person who guards a gateway or task; Sometimes they are part of the villain’s company or sometimes they can become allies or members of the hero’s group (type of archetype)
• Hero: puts the well-being of his people above his own safety and from beginning to end, he learns important skills and changes as a person (type of archetype)

• Humanism: set of beliefs that focus on activities of mankind – mathematics, naturalism, philosophy, and theology

English 2: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Speculative Fiction overview

Write a 2-sentence summary (What was it about? What was the message?) for each section.

• 2/10/15—Part 1, chapters 1-3
• 2/11/15—Part 1, chapters 4-6
• 2/12/15—Part 1, chapters 7-9
• 2/13/15—Part 1, chapter 10
• Weekend—Part 1, chapter 11
• 2/16/15—Part 1, chapters 12-13
• 2/17/15—Part 1, chapters 14-16
• 2/18/15—Part 1, chapters 17-18
• 2/19/15—Part 1, chapters 19-20
• 2/20/15—Part 1, chapters 21-23
• Weekend—Part 2, chapters 1-2
• 2/23/15—Part 2, chapters 3-4
• 2/24/15—Part 2, chapters 5-6
• 2/25/15—Part 2, chapters 7-9
• 2/26/15—Part 2, chapters 10-11
• 2/27/15—Part 2, chapters 12-13
• Weekend—Part 2, chapters 14-15
• 3/2/15—Part 2, chapters 16-17
• 3/3/15—Part 2, chapters 18-20
• 3/4/15—Part 2, chapters 21-23
• Book Essay