Review for exam on Dec. 14 - Short Story

The Shawl - poetic writing/purpose of shawl/emotion/tone invoked by Ozick

The Life You Save May Be Your Own - Characters not being self-aware/ See themselves as the ideal but it does not match reality/ ordinary gestures as symbols

Hills Like White Elephants- sparse dialogue - why? setting as symbols

Pit and Pendulum - symbol of hell/ use of fiction to make comment on human condition

The Veldt - Critique on technology through futuristic setting/ allusion to Wendy/Peter - Use of foreshadowing - three signs of story's end (wallet/scarf/screams)

Surrender - first person point of view of child - how one perceives event.

Make-up Do -Now's

"A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
- Ernest Hemingway

What does the quote mean? Explain fully.

"There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same."
- Norman Mailer

What does the quote mean and how does it connect to the excerpt from "Stay Alive, My Son"?

Thoreau - Blog 5

What is the difference between wanting to live and wanting to live deliberately? Is it possible, as Thoreau states, to find out you have not lived, and that there are parts of the human experience that have nothing to do with living? Think deeply.

TEST ANALYSIS

Test Analysis has THREE parts

A. What answer you chose and why

B. What the class chose and why

C. What you think now and why

Each section should have quotes from the novel to back up your thinking. You need to ANALYZE! Explore your thoughts.
In section B, you need to reference what other people in class stated, thought, argued for, especially if they agreed with you or made you change your mind.
Section C should be the longest part of the analysis, becuase it is the concept you have after argument and debate.

A 10 is about a page in length, with all of these details.

A 5 is about half a page, with minimal details.

Socratic Seminar questions for "The Veldt"

“The Veldt”
Student-derived questions
Per. 6/7

In the story, there is a reference to death: “Long before you knew what death was, you were wishing it on someone else. When you were two years old, you were shooting people with cap pistols,” (17). In reality, death is not what we think it is, so why do we use it in such a horrible manner like telling people,” I wish you were dead”?


Why didn’t the parents see the children imagining evil from the beginning?


Why do the children hate their parents and want to kill them?


What is the most important literary element in the story?


Did the family have a perfect life, without struggle or obstacles to overcome?

What would you see if you were in the nursery?

Is it good to have all that new technology?


Why was the nursery stuck on Africa? How is Africa symbolic?


If you had the opportunity to have a room like this, would you? Why?


Would you have machinery do everything for you? If so, how would your life be different?

Is technology really a necessity or is it a want? Explain the difference?

Does all the technology help families stay close, or does it force them apart?

What year does the story take place?

If you lived in a house like this, would you feel useless like the parents?

Why would life seem so terrible without technology when long ago, no one ever had technology?

Cambodia

Please click the link below to read a New York Times article about war crimes in Cambodia. Author Pin Yathay was alive during the communist regime Khmer Rouge was in power, killing 1.7 million people during their reign.

New York Times

Questions for The Life You Save

Whose life is saved in this short story? Why is that tragic?

This story is described as Gothic humor - Why?

Do Mr. Shiftlet and Mrs. Crater represent humanity? Why or Why not?

What is the significance of the hitchhiker scene?

What is the significance of the diner boy saying Lucynell looks like an "Angel of Gawd"?

What is the symbolism of Mr. Shiftlet describing two parts of the man - the body as a house and a soul that is in constant motion?

Blog 4- Due Friday, Nov. 16

Who is the bigger hypocrite, Mrs. Crater or Mr. Shiftlet? Use at least two quotes from the short story to support your argument. 150-word minimum

The Theme of Death

Dillard vs. Gibson

McCarron English 11R
Miracle Worker connecting to Annie Dillard’s “Seeing”

The following quote reveals Gibson’s purpose for writing the screenplay:
I wanted to teach you-oh, everything the earth is full of, Helen, everything on it that’s ours for a wink and it’s gone, and what we are on it, the-light we bring to it and leave behind in-words, why, you can see five thousand years back in a light of words, everything we feel, think, know – and share, in words, so not a soul is in darkness, or done with, even in the grave. (104)

1. How do I insert the above quote into my essay?

2. How does the quote expose Gibson’s purpose?

3. What are the symbols Gibson uses in the quote and what do they stand for?

4. How does the sentence structure reveal Gibson’s purpose?

5. How does this relate to Dillard’s purpose in the excerpt, “Seeing” from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek?

ANNIE: Words stand for objects – “How, how, how can I tell you that this – means a word, and the word means this thing? (104)

Dillard – Before the operation a doctor would give a blind patient a cube and a sphere; the patient would tongue it or feel it and name it correctly. After the operation the doctor would show the same objects to the patient without letting him touch them; now he had no clue whatsoever what he was seeing. (25)

Dillard – “Form is condemned to an eternal danse macabre with meaning; I couldn’t unpeach the peaches,” (29) danse macabre – dance of death

Dillard – I’m told I reached for the moon; many babies do. But the color-patches of infancy swelled as meaning filled them; they arrayed themselves in solemn ranks down distance which unrolled and stretched before me like a plain. (29)

Director’s notes – a change in Helen’s face, some light coming into it we have never seen there, some struggle in the depths behind it…. (118)

ANNIE: Captain Keller’s concern for outward appearances rather than true self : Give them back their child and dog, both housebroken, everyone’s satisfied. But me, and you. (103)
Compare and contrast the ideas the above quotes are revealing.

Quotes for Class

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller

Interpret the quote and write a short paragraph explaining how it relates to The Miracle Worker.


The highest good is like water.
Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.
It flows in places men reject and so it is like the Tao.

Tao Te Ching

Is it all a dream? - Due Tuesday - Oct. 16

Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the big poppas of existentialism (Heidegger gets the official title), said life was like walking around a dark room looking for the light switch. There is no certainty and hope/faith is absurd.
For this blog, write a formal response in which you define existentialism in your own words (no copy paste from dictionary.com) Then imagine you are in that dark room (similar to Helen on a metaphorical level) and what would happen if you found the switch, and everything you thought you knew was wrong. Nothing looked the same, nothing was as you thought, and you have no idea how to process this new world. I want deep thinking. What is to be done? Minimum - 150 words.

Allegory of the Cave

Do you understand what you see? Is it real? Is there another type of vision? What if you woke up tomorrow, and discovered you had been misled, blind, and now, all was new, and real. What would you do? How do you know, how are you certain?

Time article for Homework - 10.3.2007

Read the following Time article from the link below about Helen Keller and bring in a Socratic Seminar question for Thursday's class.

Helen Keller

Essential Questions for The Miracle Worker

How can education be painful?


How does perception influence what is seen?


What is the relationship between words and their meaning? Connotation vs. Denotation.


Can meaning limit what is seen?


How do human beings approach what they have never seen?


What does vision symbolize?

Blog 2 - Thursday, Oct. 4

Read the article from the Canadian Press Web site. How does it relate to our class discussions on blindness? Minimum, 100 words.

Legally blind boxer Anthony Mundine vows to fight on


SYDNEY, Australia - WBA champion Anthony Mundine, who says he is legally blind in one eye, will fight for the undisputed world super-middleweight title next year.

"I don't need two eyes to beat them," Mundine said Thursday. "I'll fight with one eye."

Mundine, 32, suffered impairment to his sight when he infected his left eye two months ago after using his tongue to clean a contact lens.

He underwent surgery to remove a growth behind the eye and has since been treated with steroids and antibiotics.

"My vision is not great - maybe 40-50 per cent - which is pretty much legally blind at the moment," Mundine said. "It's not sore but there's still a bit of cloudiness in the eye."

Mundine, who last defended his super middleweight title against Argentina's Pablo Zamora Nievas in June, said he is determined to carry on with his career.

He said his priority is to fight Denmark's Mikkel Kessler next year.

The undefeated Kessler, who outpointed Mundine in a WBA title defence at Sydney in June 2005, is scheduled to fight unbeaten WBO champion Joe Calzhage in Cardiff on Nov. 3.

"I'm the only guy that's got the tools to beat Kessler, and he knows it, and hopefully I can get the fight in next year, with God's will," Mundine said.

"All I need is for my eye to be about 60 per cent," he said. "If I can see a silhouette under them lights in my left eye, I feel that I can still become what I have always desired."

The Miracle Worker

We, in English 11R, are almost finished with The Miracle Worker. Please have Act Three read by Monday, Oct. 15 with a Post-it for every three pages.

Common Writing Errors and Class Goals

Our writing goals, as a class, are to never use "I" or "you" and to avoid plot summary. Here are some other helpful hints for writing.

Plot summary – Ex. You have one minute to tell me why you should be able to have Ipods in class while writing essays or doing solitary work.

You must get to the point. Plot summary reveals nothing about the novel, controlling idea, or your thesis. Use the book as a tool.

One sentence is ok, but sentences are not.

“I” and “You” and “We” – Never, ever, ever. You are the expert, act like it. “I” statements are extraneous and weak. And you – you who?

Be Specific.
Being specific does not mean plot summarizing. Use quotes. Always, always, always support your thesis. You are not proving you read the book, you are taking a stand on author’s purpose and proving you are right.

DO NOT USE MANY!!!!!

Many literary elements add to author’s purpose. SO WHAT!!!
This could be interpreted…. Yeah, so could a lot of things.

Many characters have an affect on the main character. SO WHAT!!!


Awkward sentences. Read your work over aloud. Even if people think you are crazy!!! If it sounds weird, it is. Don’t try to make your writing better by using words you don’t understand. Our writing voice should be similar to our speaking voice.

Ex. Setting is shown in Ryan White My Story because where Ryan lives affects who he is.

Ex. Ryan White shows this very well once he has gotten A.I.D.S.

Ex. Due to where Ryan lived which was in the Mid-west people judged him wrongly about his disease.

Ex. Can be seen/ can be proven true/ Contributed greatly –
Turn this into reveals/illustrates/ illuminates


You must connect back to your thesis. Must, must, must and use lit/ elements to do so.

Time article about your generation

Is the article on point or not?

Words for Ryan White

Click on the link for a short video of Ryan White taking a stand on prejudice.

Ryan White

VOCABULARY and GRAMMAR

Two dreaded words! Work on both with these links.

PREFIX/SUFFIX

VOCABULARY ON TESTS

BASIC GRAMMAR

MORE GRAMMAR

SAT Prep - Homework

SAT and ELA Prep must be ongoing, as the dates are coming up throughout your junior year. The Regents is scheduled for January 2008. I will be adding helpful links so you can practice in the next few weeks. Also, go to the school Web site to find out dates for tests. http://www.northsalemschools.org/middle/guidance.php


SAT PREP

SAT QUIZZES

Ryan White Blog Two - Due Friday, Sept. 21

Joseph Campbell states in his work, The Hero With a Thousand Faces: the hero discovers and assimilates his opposite (his own unsuspected self) either by swallowing it or by being swallowed. One by one the resistances are broken. He must put aside his pride, virtue, beauty, and life or submit to the absolutely intolerable. Then he finds that he and his opposite are not of differenig species, but one flesh (108).

Could Ryan White be classified as a hero in light of Campbell's words? Argue, in 100 words, whether you think he is a hero or not according to what Campbell states and what you think the qualifications of a hero are.

Course Description

Required Materials (expected in class daily)
* Pen/pencil
* Text
* Three ring binder with folder and notebook paper.
* Plenty of Post-it notes

Guidelines
Students are expected to:
Respect faculty, staff, themselves, and fellow students
Come to class on time and prepared. Lateness is disruptive.

Homework Policy
* Homework is always posted online.
* Missed quizzes/tests following a legal absence must be rescheduled immediately.* Students will receive a zero for assignments not turned in due to an illegal absence/cut.
* It is the student’s responsibility to make up any work he/she has missed due to an excused absence or lateness.

Grading Policy
Quarterly grades are based upon:
Writing: 40%
Tests/Quizzes: 30%
Journals/Blogs/Homework: 30%
(All essays can be revised for a higher grade.)

Attendance and Tardiness
Attendance and punctuality are crucial to participation and success in this course. Unexcused absences will be treated according to the North Salem High School cut policy.

Examination/Homework Policy-Missed quizzes/tests following a legal absence must be rescheduled immediately-Students will receive a zero for assignments not turned in due to an illegal absence/cut.

Extra Help
Extra help is available Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 2:15 – 3 p.m. or by appointment.

Essential questions for Ryan White

Can a trauma/struggle make an individual a better human being? Is it necessary to do so? Explain.


How does truth change?


Why is there a need in human beings to separate, to fear difference?


What happens when a person is no longer considered a human being? How is this possible?


Does an individual’s knowledge of death unite or separate him from human community? Explain.


How does education combat ignorance?

Ryan White Blog One - Due Wednesday, Sept. 12

Ryan White My Own Story uses literary elements to convey several themes. One such element is setting. Setting does not simply mean the physical surroundings or time period of a text. Setting in not necessarily static. It can refer to the socio-economics of a community, a community's accepted mores, current events and their impact on people and society. Choose an aspect of setting that contributes to a theme in Ryan White's story and explain how and why it is used. Be specific, include at least two quotes from the text and think up your own answer. If someone already used one aspect of setting, you must find another! 100 words.