Work over Break!

To all of my students,

You don't have anything to do over break for my class. I would love it if you all picked up a book and read over the break - but I know that's probably not going to happen :)

You all have been working really hard. Take a long break, you deserve it. I'll have your papers back to you the day we return.

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!


Miller

English III - Final Draft Night!!!

Tonight you need to finish your final drafts! I will not read over drafts tonight but I will answer questions that you may run into. Please e-mail me at daniel.miller1234@gmail.com to ask questions.

Also, Psycho starts at The Carolina Theatre at 9:20. I'll be out front of the theatre around 9:10 to meet any of you that want to see the show.

Hope to see you tonight! Finish your paper, then come to the movie.

English III Work for 12/16

Tonight is the night you write your draft or format your draft if you've already written it.

Make sure that you follow all of the rules for MLA format in your draft. These are very specific rules, and I must hold you to these rules. If you do not follow these specifications, you will be accused of plagiarism.

At the end of your draft, make sure that you have your Works Cited page formatted appropriately at the end of your paper. Bring in everything tomorrow as we will work on drafts tomorrow.

If you have questions on MLA format, use the sample paper that I gave you. Everything in this paper is good except for the works cited page, I think that this is not in the 2009 format rules.

If you run into any problems, please e-mail me. I will spot check your papers for MLA citations tomorrow.

English III Homework - 12/15

For tonight!

A lot of you in class today had errors in your outlines that will get in the way as you begin drafting. I would recommend that tonight you spend your time reviewing your outlines and revising the errors seen within those. If you have revised your outline or think that you have an understanding of your errors. Begin to draft!

I will give you a crash course in formatting your draft tomorrow. Tonight, if you choose to write your draft, don't worry about the MLA formatting. You can add this in afterwards. Get your ideas down on paper and create a good research paper. Remember that as you write each body paragraph you will need to make your topic sentences connect to your thesis, and make your examples connect to your topics through thorough explanation.

If you need help/assistance - please e-mail! Ask for help!!!

English I Homework - 12/14 and 12/15

Please be sure to bring your final drafts of your essays with you to class on Wednesday/Thursday. Your final drafts will need to come in with your rough drafts, outlines, and rubrics. Be sure that you have everything on the day that it is due. If you need additional help, please come and see me before the paper is due.

English III Homework - 12/14

Students,

Tonight you MUST complete the outlines for your research papers. Make sure that you follow the outline format that I gave you today in class. Be sure that everything is labeled. Make sure that every topic relates back and proves your thesis and that all of your topics have evidence to support them.

Tomorrow in class I'll be calling each of you over to go over your outlines. We'll also talk about how to turn the outlines into a full paper tomorrow.

Lastly, Psycho will be showing at The Carolina Theatre at 9:20 PM. It's a pretty late showing. I think that Thursday would be a good day to see the movie, how do the rest of you feel about this?

If you need help on your thesis statements or outlines, please e-mail me or leave a comment.

English I - Weekend Work

This weekend you all need to write your rough drafts of your paper about A Separate Peace. Bring your paper with you to class on Monday/Tuesday. Be sure that you have used your outline, and that you follow the rubric to help you write the essay. The rubric will be helpful to show you what you will be graded on.

If you need help over the weekend, e-mail me or leave a comment. I will not read drafts this weekend.

English III Weekend Work

This weekend you should collect ten notecards on your novel - your primary source. As you go through your novel, think about your thesis. What quotes and evidence support your idea? How can you connect the quotes and evidence from your novel to the criticism that you have been finding the last few days?

Bring your ten notecards with you to class on Monday.

Also, for those of you interested in doing some more research I would suggest Perkins Library on Duke's West Campus. If you are interested I will be willing to meet you at Perkins Library around 2:00 PM on Sunday for a few hours of outside of class research. Let me know by Saturday afternoon (5:00) if you're coming. I'll send an e-mail to those interested letting you know where to meet up. We can also, at this time, work on forming outlines and the other important parts of the paper. If you're interested, send me an e-mail (daniel.miller1234@gmail.com) or leave me a comment here. If you leave a comment, leave your e-mail address so that I can respond.

English III Review of Day - 12/10

Today we started the process of researching for your papers. Tonight, to work on this assignment I would suggest that you think about what you found today to create your thesis statement. Your thesis is (like always) key to this paper. Today we also talked about how to create an outline. As you work and research, you should think about organizing and outlining in your head.

Tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday we will be in the library to research. The reason why is because, as you learned today, the process to research takes a long time.

Another thing that you can do at home is to collect evidence from your novel to support your thesis. Remember that this paper will need to include evidence from critics and from your novel.

If, at any point during this process you feel lost, please come and see me! Don't wait to get too overwhelmed. This is a difficult assignment.

English III Reminder

BUY INDEX CARDS!!!!!!! WALK IN TO CLASS TOMORROW WITH ABOUT FIFTY INDEX CARDS IN YOUR POSSESSION SO THAT YOU CAN DO RESEARCH!

Homework - 12/8 and 12/9

English III:

Your homework for tonight is to study for your Realism test. You should also spend some time working on your thesis for your research papers. Work on that three part chart that I gave you today in class to help organize your thoughts on a thesis. As you begin to get into the library and work on researching, you will clarify this thesis.

English I:

Your homework for tonight is to work on your outlines. Use the rubric to see where I took points off of your original outline. Bring your revised outline to class with you on Thursday/Friday. We will use these outlines to write body paragraphs on Thursday/Friday.

If you have questions - please ask!

English III Homework - 12/7

Your homework for tonight is to complete the reading of Jack London's "To Build A Fire" and to complete writing your dialectical notebook. Be sure that you follow all instructions in completing this assignment.

Furthermore, you should work on your thesis statement for your research project if you have not already gotten approval from me on your thesis. Final thesis statements are due on Wednesday.

Things to do over the weekend...

This post is for all classes - you've got some things to accomplish this weekend.

English III:

This Monday you are going to have a timed writing assignment on your novels. I would recommend that you spend the weekend looking over your novel, and reviewing the information about your themes, topics, and motifs.

English I:

Over the weekend you will need to finish reading A Separate Peace. Your finished Dialectical Notebook sheets are due on Tuesday for A-day and Wednesday for B-day. I will be checking for your entries for chapters eight through thirteen. This will result in twelve entries for Honors students and six entries for Standard students. Also, as you finish the book, I want you to think about the following question - you don't need to write something about it, just think.

What did you learn about life from this book? How did you learn it?

Also, on Monday, I will have a redo session for Essay outlines. If you are not happy with your essay outline grade, then you will have the chance to redo this assignment during Monday's study hall. Don't miss this chance!

English I Homework - 12/2 and 12/3

Tonight for homework you have a few things to do:

1. Read chapter twelve of A Separate Peace. Things in the novel are starting to move to a conclusion - begin to start wrapping up the novel and see what happens to all of our major characters, especially Finny and Gene.

2. Complete your dialectical notebook entry for chapter twelve.

3. Your essay outline is due to the box on Friday (A-day) or Monday (B-day). If you need assistance completing this. Please let me know as soon as you can. Don't turn it in late!

English III Homework, 12/2

Tonight for homework you need to read Jack London's "To Build a Fire." This story can be found in your textbook on page 481. As you read, for each page, you will need to write down a significant quote and explain the quote's significance. For example:

"It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of sun." (481)


This quote is significant to the story because it sets the mood at the opening. The word pall, gloom, and absence of sun make the setting and mood scary and foreshadow a difficult time for the main character.


As you can see - in the entry I have written down the quote, the page number, and a thorough explanation. You need to do the same, one entry per page, eleven entries total.

English III Homework - 12/1

Tonight, your homework is to read Flannery O'Connor's story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own." This story is a fantastic representation of the Southern Gothic. As you read - be an active reader. Underline things in the text you find interesting, ask questions, make connections. I want for you to identify elements of the text that are particularly indicative of the Southern Gothic. Focus on the following elements:

1. Grotesque
2. People that are marginalized in Southern society.
3. Southern culture and traditions
4. Disturbed personalities

Enjoy the story - it's pretty good. Not O'Connor's best, but definitely good.