Study Guides for English I and III - 3/14/2011

So, all of you have exams coming up soon.  Below I'm going to post some ideas and tips for you to consider as well as in order to review.  I'll also be reminding you of a few other deadlines coming up this week.

English I:

Your poetry exam is coming up on Friday/Monday.  We covered a lot of different poems in this unit, below are a few that you will be asked some specific questions about:

"in Just -" by ee cummings
"Legal Alien" by Pat Mora
"Back Again Home" by Haki Madhubuti
"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost
"Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall
"Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" by Adrienne Rich
"Ode to My Socks" by Pablo Neruda

Don't forget that you'll also be asked about some new poems that you haven't seen before so thinking about your TPCASTT and Color Coding Strucutres will be important to review in order to think about how to break these poems down.

There will also be a lot of literary devices that you'll see on this examination - think especially about the new ones related to poetry (alliteration, consonance, assonance, rhyme, lines, stanzas) as well as the old ones such as imagery, metaphor, simile, denotation, tone, connotation.

Remember to always think about how these authors create meaning within their poems through the use of literary devices.

English III:

You all will be having your examination on Early American Literature on Tuesday.  Here are the pieces that will be considered on that examination.

"A Narrative of the Captivity" by Mary Rowlandson
"From the Brief and Interesting Life" by Oluadah Equiano
Native American Mythology - "Coyote Finishes His Work" and "The Sky Tree"
Selected Poems by Phillis Wheatley, especially "On Being Brought from Africa to America"
"Some Verses Upon The Burning of Our House" by Anne Bradstreet
Excerpts from People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

As you work through these pieces you should focus on the main points that we have studied so far this unit especially the ideas of objectivity, subjectivity, and sensationalism.  You should also consider the ideas of logos, pathos, and ethos.  There will be a mixture of short answers and multiple choice questions.  So, you should focus on specific details from the texts as well as the bigger ideas for the short answer questions.

Now, I will be giving you the citation for the textbook tomorrow at the beginning of class - your drafts of the papers will be due on Friday!  Please don't forget to follow the formatting that I gave you on the assignment sheet.  Remember:  Thesis, Point, Counterpoint, Point, Conclusion.  Don't structure this like a regular five paragraph essay - you won't get through everything you need to and you'll waste a lot of time and energy.

This was a really long post - I'm going to go and write your exams now!

Weekend Work

I just typed this, and then it disappeared. I hate computers sometimes. I really, really do.

English I:

Priority number one for this weekend is to finish your Poetry Projects and make some serious headway here. I have extended the deadline on these projects so that you all will come to me outside of class and get my feedback on your creative and analytical writing. The projects will be collected on the 24th and 25th - we'll also have the memorized poems presented on this day. You also have your Poetry Unit Examination coming up at the end of next week. You should spend some time this weekend preparing for that exam. Look over your notes and be ready to review in class on Monday/Tuesday.

English III:

Over the weekend you should pull all of your research and evidence from your primary source together with your thesis into a coherent, well-organized outline. The goal of the outline is to show me what you're thinking and where you are with your ideas. I'll be checking these on Monday in the library. The first round of drafts will most likely be toward the end of next week with final drafts due shortly after that. You should also spend some time reviewing your notes and information about Early American Literature in preparation for your exam which is scheduled for Tuesday.

Homework - 10 March

English I:

Over the weekend, your primary goal should be to finish a large part of your poetry project.  We are moving quickly to the end of the poetry unit and it will be imperative that your projects are done well and thoroughly.  Over the weekend, try to get one of the writing pieces totally finished - either the essay or poems and then come see me next week for some feedback.

Also, you should begin preparing for your poetry examination.  You will be asked about the poems that we've studied and I will be giving you some new poems and asking you to either answer questions or write an essay on the new pieces.  Review your analysis techniques (Color Coding/TPCASTT) in order to see how to approach these areas.

English III:

Today's review of Anne Bradstreet went really well.  She is the last writer that we will be studying before moving on to The Crucible.  We will not start reading The Crucible until next week, but I would suggest that you go ahead and get your copy this weekend if you have not already done so.

For tonight you should spend time doing preliminary work on your position paper.  If you would like to do some research online tonight about your topic, please do so.  If you would like to further clarify your question, do that.  You should put in approximately one hour tonight working on this assignment.  Tomorrow we will spend half the class in the library working on research.  Also, I will talk to you all about formatting your Bibliography as well as in-text citations.

Some of you will find this link really helpful.  It provides a great way to approach the different elements of this paper as well as the structure of the essay.  I will be collecting an outline from you for this assignment next week.  A good outline is key to a good paper.  Please see me if you need help here.

That's all - Happy Friday tomorrow!

Homework - 7 March

Today has flown by.  I can't believe that it's already 4th period.  Here's what you all need to accomplish for tonight.

English I:

You should all be working hard on your poetry projects.  Be sure that you've finished at least one of your elements by this week and you've begun on the second.  The due date is coming quickly - next week!  If you've got any questions or concerns, please see me this week (Thursday/Friday) for assistance.  Don't forget to read and consider the poem "Back Again Home" as well as the questions.  We'll spend time on Tuesday/Wednesday discussing this piece in some depth.

English III:

For tonight's homework, I'd like for you to complete the following activity to get us started in a thorough review of subjectivity, objectivity, and sensationalism.

First, Google information related to tabloid journalism and find an example of a tabloid publication/website. You may want to navigate to a specific tabloid that you know (National Enquirer, Hello!) or look for someone who publishes in this style (Perez Hilton.)

Second, share a link to a story, image or something else that has been produced in the style of a tabloid. Then, point out elements which are sensationalized, objective, and subjective. Select one of these three and comment further as to what you think the effect of the sensationalism, objectivity or subjectivity is.

This should be done on your own paper to be submitted tomorrow OR login to the google group and respond to the discussion board with your answers!

See you tomorrow for another quick day!

Homework - 2 March

English I:  You all had your Benchmark Exam today, thus you have no required homework for tonight.  However, if I were you I would take this night to work on your poetry projects.  Get one of the poems written or work on the memorization aspect of your poem.  On Friday we will move on to looking at a few new kinds of poetry as we move forward through our study of poetry.

English III:  For tonight I would like for you to read Mary Rowlandson's "A Narrative of the Captivity" in the textbook.  Use the access information that I gave you today to get to the online book or use a book which you brought from class.  Complete the worksheet that goes along with the story.  As you read the story, it will be important that you all read all of the attached information including Rowlandson's biography as well as the information about Captivity Narratives.

Let me know if you've got questions!

Homework - 1 March

Happy March!  Only four weeks to go until the end of the grading period!  Lots of things to do this month - keep up with all of your due dates and requirements.

Freshmen:  Over the next two days you will have your Second Benchmark Exam.  It's important that you prepare yourself in any way necessary for this exam as I will be using this exam to individualize instruction for you moving to the EOC.  There are two key sections to the exam:  grammar and literature.  For the grammar section, look over your warm-ups.  Try to recognize what looks right and what doesn't.  It's not a good use of your time to memorize grammar rules - focus on the patterns that we've been observing all year.  For the literature section you should focus on literary terms - there is a resource in your textbook which you can use for this on page 1019 and you can look over all of your notes that you've taken all year.  Come to class ready with a pencil on Wednesday/Thursday.

Juniors:  Time to start a new unit today - Early American Literature.  Today we began with a piece of history so that you all can understand a bit more the context for the writings we'll be reading in the next few weeks.  For tonight, finish reading the piece by Zinn; remember to annotate heavily.  Tomorrow we will review this piece and move on to some Native American literature before studying our first Puritan piece.  Also, don't forget to get yourself some post-its that you will use to annotate in your textbook in class.

English III - Test Preparation

Tomorrow you're going to have a quiz/test on Early American Literature. The quiz/test will cover all of the pieces that we've studied so far. Here's a quick list.

Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States

Use of primary sources in the piece, rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos), "unlearning"

Native American Literature

views of nature, organization of society, purposes of mythology, cyclical view of life and nature

Mary Rowlandson's "Narrative of the Captivity"

use of allusions, attitude toward the Native Americans, strong woman

Oluadah Equiano

use of irony, difference between Oluadah and Mary in their story and narration, purpose and rhetorical appeals, appeal to the audience

Phillis Wheatley

poetic style, the use of the master's letter, revolutionary and conformist

Anne Bradstreet

Puritan life and womanhood, poetic style

English III Homework, 3/2

Tonight you need to read a few things in the following order.

First, read the biographical information on Anne Bradstreet on page 27. Feel free to skim this. Then read the information on plain style and inversion on page 28, and finally the poem on page 29.

After you've done all of that, you can read the article that I gave you. Think about how the article informs your understanding of Bradstreet and the poem.

English III Homework - Weekend 2/26

Over the weekend you have a bit of reading to do. Read the next captivity narrative in the textbook: "From the Interesting Life of Oluadah Equiano." The story begins with some biographical data on page fifty. Please complete all of the reading of Oluadah's story. It goes from page fifty to page fifty-nine.

As you read, pay attention to similarities and differences between Oluadah's story and Mary's story. Also, compare and contrast the two narrators in each story. Both of these stories are captivity narratives. How are they different from one another?

I will try to have your outlines back to you next week as well as your tests and projects.

If you have questions about the reading, please leave a comment.

English III Homework - 2/25

Tonight you have a few things to do:

1. Finish your outlines for your Catcher essays. Follow the formatting rules that I gave you today in class.

2. Log-in to the online textbook and complete the reading of Mary Rowlandson's "Narrative of the Captivity."

3. Complete your handout while reading "Narrative..." Bring the complete handout to class with you tomorrow morning. We will review this tomorrow.

That's all. Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail if you have further questions.

English III Homework - 9/16

Tonight you are starting with the earliest American literature - Native American Myths. Begin by finishing the reading on page twenty-three. As you read this article by Joseph Bruchac, focus on what you are learning about Native American literature. What are some of the elements of Native American literature that are indicative of the genre? In what ways does the literature reflect the culture? After that, read the three pieces on page twenty-four and twenty-five. For the myth called "The Sky Tree" focus on the idea of creation as this is a creation myth. For the myth called "Coyote Finishes His Work" focus on the idea of destruction.

Finally, review the questions on page twenty six, you are not required to write anything down, but we will be using these questions tomorrow in our discussion of these three pieces.