English 4: Dracula

Finish Dracula this week. Monday is a graded discussion (assessment points); the make-up is an analytical paragraph on the end of Dracula. We will be writing the end-of-the-book essay after Thanksgiving.

I updated the information packet on google classroom. If you want to get a preview on the essay questions, feel free. You can do any planning and pulling together of information on your own, BUT YOU HAVE TO WRITE IT IN CLASS.

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.

Honors 4: Regarding the Research Stuff

We are reading thirty articles, writing summaries and paragraphs for them. The paragraphs should work as building blocks for your research project depending on your topic. All the articles and topics spring from Hurricane Katrina, Zeitoun, and When the Levees Broke—from there, it's open.

This gives every person in class a solid, shared foundation of information. This forces everyone to examine various types of articles for useful information while looking at what works and what doesn't work for a college-level research paper. This will hopefully cut down on accidental plagiarism (or plagiarism of any sort).

For every 5-6 paragraphs you write, I grade the one that looks the worst on the scoring guide. This is to help you figure out how to improve, not to destroy your grades. You get points for each paragraph, but the scored ones are assessments. If all of your articles look good, then scoring any of them should be an easy bump. And, again, these are some of the building blocks of your essay.

Everything we have done in class so far has been in preparation for the 5-8 page research project. How you write, how you incorporate research, how you process and share information will determine whether you are ready to be graded at the WR121 or WR115 level. All of the steps we've done together in class, you would be doing on your own at college. If you take this seriously, you will have the skills you need to do well.

English 4: Dracula

We started Dracula. The notes are up on google classroom or you can pick them up in class. We are reading chapter 2 over the weekend. Don't forget your annotations and your Lit Questions.

If you missed the vocab quiz on Friday, make sure to sign up to come into Advisory next week!

Argumentative papers were due by today (at the latest). Please make sure you talk to me if there's a hold-up. I only have three people who have extensions.

Honors 2: Updates

Zeitoun information packets are available in class or on google classroom. We are reading Part 4 and the Part 3 discussion will be happening Monday.

If you missed the vocabulary quiz on Friday, be sure to sign up for Advisory to make up the quiz next week.

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

Myth: Archetypes and Hero's Journey

Write me two paragraphs: one focusing on how a single archetype is used in the Pilot; one on how a step in the Hero's Journey is used in the Pilot.

The Hero's Journey

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

Grimm Pilot

• Nick Berkhart (Grimm/police): hero, anti-hero, warrior
• Aunt Marie (Grimm/librarian): mentor, gatekeeper, warrior
• Juliet (Nick's gf/vetrinarian): best friend?, rational love interest?
• Hank (bff/police partner): warrior, best friend?
• Sargent Wu (police): warrior, shadow (everyman)
• Captain Reynard (police): warrior, trickster, villain??
• Monroe (werewolf/clock maker): warrior, thief (reformed), mentor, shadow

The Journey So Far

• Leaves Home/Receives Quest: Aunt Marie's dying, tells Nick to leave Juliet OR girls are being killed/kidnapped and a little girl has just been taken
• Meets Company: all the peeps
• Faces Trials: find the "big bad wolf" and save the little girl, trusting Monroe, finding the mailman, asking Hank for backup

Terms

• Wesen: people who are shapeshifters
• Grimm's: supernatural enforcers/killers
• Volga: to shapeshift

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 4: Activism

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.

30 for 30: Hillsborough (2013)

• In the news on April 15, 1989, one of the lead stories was about a riot in a soccer stadium that killed nearly 100 people; originally, the deaths were blamed on rowdy fans. The truth is a little different.
• What is an inquest? How does the process work? How would it have been handled differently in the United States?
• Who are Duckenfield and Burman? What impact did they have on how events played out?
• Why did it take 25 years between the events in Hillsborough and a documentary about it? Best Guess (amend your answer after the movie)
• Why do these deaths matter? Explain.
• Were the deaths in Hillsborough preventable? How?
• Who was ultimately responsible for how wrong things went? Explain.
• What was the purpose of this film? How do you know?
• Should the film maker have used more graphic imagery? Explain.
• Can you think of any other situations where families have had to fight so hard or wait so long for justice/compensation? Explain.
• What impact on sport stadiums and crowd control worldwide are evident based on the events of Hillsborough? Explain.

Myth: Notes and Assignments Pre-Bacchanalia

• Extra packets of notes are kept in the top, black basket (under the orange folders) if you need another copy.
• Don't forget to turn in one analytical paragraph for either "Ganesha and The Moon" or "The Wolf Man". I will accept it until 9/25/15.
• 3 God Assignment: Choose a figure form any mythology and compare it across cultures (at least three) or time periods. How are they similar and different? Why do you think they change? I will accept it until 9/25/15
• Make sure to log onto the google classroom or politely ask me if you are missing any of the Trojan War notes.

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