The Bluest Eye, Day #1 – May 12 (A) and 13 (B)
In class: Meet Laura. Reader’s Quiz. Audio/Discussion of The B.E.
P.M. Review pp. 1-93. Progress on your Personal Essay.
The Bluest Eye, Day #2 – May 14 (A) and 17 (B)
In class: Lecture/Close reading – the Doll episode. “A Girl Like Me”
Weekend/P.M. Read pp. 93-165. (BLUES BLOG)
The Bluest Eye, Day #3 – May 18 (A) and 19 (B)
In class: Reader’s Quiz. Audio/Discussion of The B.E. Turn in Pers. Essay R/D.
P.M. Review 93-165. Continue to craft Pers. Essay. (BLUES BLOG)
The Bluest Eye, Day #4 – May 20 (A) and 21 (B)
In class: Lecture/Q & A – New Historicist/Marxist crit. of The B.E. //
Weekend: Finish the novel – pp. 165-The End. Continue to craft Pers. Essay. (BLUES BLOG)
The Bluest Eye, Day #5 – May 24 (A) and 25 (B)
In class: Reader’s Quiz III. Audio/Discussion of The B.E. Reflective Writing assignment. Pers. Essay Rough Drafts, back to you.
P.M. Review the entire novel. Begin work on the Reflective assignment. Pers. Essay. (BLUES BLOG)
The Bluest Eye, Day #6 – Wednesday, May 26 (LECTURE HALL)
In class: Lecture / Q & A on Deconstructionist & Fem. Crit. re. The Bluest Eye. Highlights from the B.E. Folklore Blog.
P.M. Review the entire novel. Continue your work on the Reflective assgmt. Pers. Essay (BLOG)
The Bluest Eye, Day #7 – May 27 (A) and May 28 (B)
In class: Final Exercises re. The Bluest Eye. Meet Toni Morrison (Uncensored).
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND: Complete 2nd Draft of Pers. Essay, three printed copies. Finish B.E. Reflective assgmt. (one typed copy).
A New Day – Tues., 6/1 (A) and Wed., (6/2) (B)
In class: Peer Edit 2nd Drafts. Hand in Reflective Writing assignment on The Bluest Eye.
P.M. Incorporate changes in your Personal Essay.
Personal Essays due: Monday, June 7 (A) and Tuesday, June 8 (B)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Personal Essay
Over your well-deserved Spring Break, you are welcome to begin contemplating, even designing, a Personal Essay for Honors English Eleven. Full assignment sheets will follow on your return in early April. For now, please mull over these thumb-nail descriptions of A Life-Changing Experience, The Three Traits, and the all-new and experimental College Essay Prompt!
A Life-Changing Experience
Write an essay that describes and explains what you have learned by living through, or working through, a big experience. Briefly describe the experience itself, but then write about what you've learned: the changes you’ve made, especially in your behavior in relation to others. For some, a life-changing experience prompts little changes, such as better manners, more eye-contact, or a new morning routine. For others, the changes are more profound: renewed courage, humor, and willingness to express feelings, for example; or stronger connections to siblings, more honesty in relationships, and stronger acceptance of those who are different from you or your friends. Analyze and evaluate the resulting changes in your life by subdividing your progress into discernible aspects of your behavior and values.
Three Traits, linked by a common thread or metaphor
In many students’ lives, there isn’t one “Big Moment” – a single catalyst that prompts major changes. Instead, the characteristics of one’s personality seem to develop independently over time. This prompt asks you to notice and describe three major characteristics of yourself. If you are happy-to-lucky, perhaps three of your strongest traits include your independence, your friendliness toward others, and your willingness to take risks in public. Another student might realize that three observable traits are loyalty, a passion for science, and a devotion performing instrumental music. Whatever your traits turn out to be, try to unite them with a common thread: an image that persists throughout your paper. For your common thread, try to imagine an image – a flower, a bird, an animal – that’s close to who you are, that will help readers connect & understand your three traits. (If I were writing about what I’ve learned this year, you know the common image I’d use… brazenly and un-sheepishly!!)
The College Essay prompt ~ New in 2010!!
Assuming you acquire the necessary pre-approval – the doting nod – from your English teacher, you are welcome to compose an actual college essay, for an actual school you intend to apply to. Most colleges require an essay – a major reason why we pursue this assignment – so why not write a response to a real one? Some colleges are notorious for their vexing and demanding essay prompts. The University of Chicago is foremost among these, but there are other colleges and universities that require the essay as well. The Up-side of doing this includes timeliness and focus on the college decision! Pitfalls include laboring over a school you ultimately don’t qualify to attend, raising hopes and dashing expectations! With this assignment it is essential that you obtain pre-approval, which will hinge, among other things, on whether the essay you choose resembles the scope of the other two essays in terms of effort, writing demands, and all the rest.
In General:
Write and rewrite! Develop this essay into a masterpiece of honest observation, of attention to detail, and of vivid, life-like, even piquant expression in prose.
Organize and reorganize!! Push yourself to achieve solid structural integrity – a literary “architecture” of purpose - that makes it easy for readers to follow your thinking, step by step, with persistence around a unifying sense of purpose.
Piquant prose is provocative; but then, so are truthfulness, simplicity, and thoughtfulness. Hester Prynne’s advice to “be true” prompts some students to run for cover ("What, my truth?? But it’s so boring!!). Still, be true. Essays draped in half-truths or exaggerations do not survive the tough scrutiny of college admissions readers (i.e., they know right away when it is - or when it's not - the real Spiderman or Venus Williams who’s applying!) So… be true! Trust that the facts of your life will carry the day, empowering this essay with vivid, true and coherently-drawn examples of how you choose to live your life.
A Life-Changing Experience
Write an essay that describes and explains what you have learned by living through, or working through, a big experience. Briefly describe the experience itself, but then write about what you've learned: the changes you’ve made, especially in your behavior in relation to others. For some, a life-changing experience prompts little changes, such as better manners, more eye-contact, or a new morning routine. For others, the changes are more profound: renewed courage, humor, and willingness to express feelings, for example; or stronger connections to siblings, more honesty in relationships, and stronger acceptance of those who are different from you or your friends. Analyze and evaluate the resulting changes in your life by subdividing your progress into discernible aspects of your behavior and values.
Three Traits, linked by a common thread or metaphor
In many students’ lives, there isn’t one “Big Moment” – a single catalyst that prompts major changes. Instead, the characteristics of one’s personality seem to develop independently over time. This prompt asks you to notice and describe three major characteristics of yourself. If you are happy-to-lucky, perhaps three of your strongest traits include your independence, your friendliness toward others, and your willingness to take risks in public. Another student might realize that three observable traits are loyalty, a passion for science, and a devotion performing instrumental music. Whatever your traits turn out to be, try to unite them with a common thread: an image that persists throughout your paper. For your common thread, try to imagine an image – a flower, a bird, an animal – that’s close to who you are, that will help readers connect & understand your three traits. (If I were writing about what I’ve learned this year, you know the common image I’d use… brazenly and un-sheepishly!!)
The College Essay prompt ~ New in 2010!!
Assuming you acquire the necessary pre-approval – the doting nod – from your English teacher, you are welcome to compose an actual college essay, for an actual school you intend to apply to. Most colleges require an essay – a major reason why we pursue this assignment – so why not write a response to a real one? Some colleges are notorious for their vexing and demanding essay prompts. The University of Chicago is foremost among these, but there are other colleges and universities that require the essay as well. The Up-side of doing this includes timeliness and focus on the college decision! Pitfalls include laboring over a school you ultimately don’t qualify to attend, raising hopes and dashing expectations! With this assignment it is essential that you obtain pre-approval, which will hinge, among other things, on whether the essay you choose resembles the scope of the other two essays in terms of effort, writing demands, and all the rest.
In General:
Write and rewrite! Develop this essay into a masterpiece of honest observation, of attention to detail, and of vivid, life-like, even piquant expression in prose.
Organize and reorganize!! Push yourself to achieve solid structural integrity – a literary “architecture” of purpose - that makes it easy for readers to follow your thinking, step by step, with persistence around a unifying sense of purpose.
Piquant prose is provocative; but then, so are truthfulness, simplicity, and thoughtfulness. Hester Prynne’s advice to “be true” prompts some students to run for cover ("What, my truth?? But it’s so boring!!). Still, be true. Essays draped in half-truths or exaggerations do not survive the tough scrutiny of college admissions readers (i.e., they know right away when it is - or when it's not - the real Spiderman or Venus Williams who’s applying!) So… be true! Trust that the facts of your life will carry the day, empowering this essay with vivid, true and coherently-drawn examples of how you choose to live your life.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Plays and Playwrights under Consideration
Two by Tennessee Williams:
The Glass Menagerie; A Streetcar Named Desire
Two by Arthur Miller:
Death of a Salesman; A View from the Bridge
Two Great Modern Comedies...
Neil Simon: Lost in Yonkers
Larry Shue: The Foreigner
Two Great Modern Dramas:
August Wilson Joe Turner’s Come & Gone
Margaret Edson: Wit.
... and Two Scenes from an All-American Musical:
GIRL CRAZY!! Act I (Day 2) -- Act II (Day 1)
The Glass Menagerie; A Streetcar Named Desire
Two by Arthur Miller:
Death of a Salesman; A View from the Bridge
Two Great Modern Comedies...
Neil Simon: Lost in Yonkers
Larry Shue: The Foreigner
Two Great Modern Dramas:
August Wilson Joe Turner’s Come & Gone
Margaret Edson: Wit.
... and Two Scenes from an All-American Musical:
GIRL CRAZY!! Act I (Day 2) -- Act II (Day 1)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Close Reading Example
EClose Reading Example in Fitzgerald
The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens – finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch (Fitzgerald 6).
The vast lawn’s “run,” from the East Egg shoreline toward the imposing Buchanan mansion, mimics a run by a football star who scores a touchdown, sprinting the length of the field. The run is panoramic, as Nick’s eye - camera-like - tracks details of the adventurous course. The personified lawn surmounts obstacles in its path, “jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens,” in much the same way that a football hero (Tom Buchanan was a fabled end at Yale, recipient of touchdown passes) might hurdle past defenders on his way to a goal-line. As the lawn reaches the mansion, the green sprawls “up the side” of the house “in bright vines,” as if the forward motion of the run cannot be contained. In one sense, Nick fulfills his football metaphor, comparing the merger of grass-unto-vines to a runner’s crash into the end-zone, merging with the crowd. In another sense, however, Nick curtails the lawn’s advance by noting that it hits the solid, ivy-covered mansion. Here the running lawn retires into a staid domesticity, evoking nostalgia for its bygone days on the field, just as Tom is an Ivy League football legend, for whom “everything afterward savors of anticlimax” (6). As Nick’s gaze shifts to the mansion’s owner, alone on the veranda, “his legs apart,” the view of Tom Buchanan is enlarged thanks to the alert narrator’s playful conflation of Tom’s past and present lives. Nick demurely suppresses what he knows about Tom’s impending brutality, dwelling instead on the “reflected gold” of Tom’s illustrious past, and on the aura of Tom’s unfathomable wealth today, reflected in golden light that “glows” from the mansion windows. ~ PRB
The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens – finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch (Fitzgerald 6).
The vast lawn’s “run,” from the East Egg shoreline toward the imposing Buchanan mansion, mimics a run by a football star who scores a touchdown, sprinting the length of the field. The run is panoramic, as Nick’s eye - camera-like - tracks details of the adventurous course. The personified lawn surmounts obstacles in its path, “jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens,” in much the same way that a football hero (Tom Buchanan was a fabled end at Yale, recipient of touchdown passes) might hurdle past defenders on his way to a goal-line. As the lawn reaches the mansion, the green sprawls “up the side” of the house “in bright vines,” as if the forward motion of the run cannot be contained. In one sense, Nick fulfills his football metaphor, comparing the merger of grass-unto-vines to a runner’s crash into the end-zone, merging with the crowd. In another sense, however, Nick curtails the lawn’s advance by noting that it hits the solid, ivy-covered mansion. Here the running lawn retires into a staid domesticity, evoking nostalgia for its bygone days on the field, just as Tom is an Ivy League football legend, for whom “everything afterward savors of anticlimax” (6). As Nick’s gaze shifts to the mansion’s owner, alone on the veranda, “his legs apart,” the view of Tom Buchanan is enlarged thanks to the alert narrator’s playful conflation of Tom’s past and present lives. Nick demurely suppresses what he knows about Tom’s impending brutality, dwelling instead on the “reflected gold” of Tom’s illustrious past, and on the aura of Tom’s unfathomable wealth today, reflected in golden light that “glows” from the mansion windows. ~ PRB
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Gatsby Take-Home Final Is Due AS SCHEDULED.
Please ignore any rumors you may hear regarding an extended deadline. There is no extended deadline.
The assignment is due by 3:30 p.m. on March 9, 2010.
The assignment is due by 3:30 p.m. on March 9, 2010.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Gatsby Take-Home Final
STUDY GUIDES:
Create two new pages for the Gatsby Study Guide, one for Chapter 8 and one for Chapter 9. Ask roughly eight questions for each chapter, just as the Study Guide does for chapters 1-7. Include one Close Reading challenge per chapter.
ANSWERS:
Answer any two questions - other than the Close Readings - from each set of questions, for a total of four responses.
CLOSE READING EXERCISES:
In addition to the four responses, complete the Close Reading challenge you pose for each chapter.
THUS... Your completed assignment will consist of sixteen questions, four answers, and two close reading responses.
FORMAT: Completed responses should be typed. Spacing is up to you. Be clear.
DUE DATE: 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9, via email or in print.
QUESTIONS? Room 201 - tall guy - glasses, etc.
Create two new pages for the Gatsby Study Guide, one for Chapter 8 and one for Chapter 9. Ask roughly eight questions for each chapter, just as the Study Guide does for chapters 1-7. Include one Close Reading challenge per chapter.
ANSWERS:
Answer any two questions - other than the Close Readings - from each set of questions, for a total of four responses.
CLOSE READING EXERCISES:
In addition to the four responses, complete the Close Reading challenge you pose for each chapter.
THUS... Your completed assignment will consist of sixteen questions, four answers, and two close reading responses.
FORMAT: Completed responses should be typed. Spacing is up to you. Be clear.
DUE DATE: 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9, via email or in print.
QUESTIONS? Room 201 - tall guy - glasses, etc.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Papers
I admit it: I kept them for a long time because I genuinely didn’t want to give them back. They are dear to me because they’re variously so funny, so thoughtful, so original, and above all, so enthusiastic. Singular gems reside among them – I’ve taken the liberty of photocopying several; let me know if you object – but what I like best of all is the sensation of holding the whole stack in my hands. As a class you did such beautiful work, and I knew I’d be the last person ever to grip the whole stack.
A simpler way of saying it… You make me proud to be your teacher.
For this, the occasion of a generic message, please allow me some general observations:
TO THE BARTLEBY/RWE Authors: There were grades of ‘A’ on both sides of the argument. Some outstanding essays argued that Bartleby is Emerson’s great man; at least two strong papers earned top-honors by arguing that Bartleby is a schlump who defies “great-man” status. If you proved your point using abundant textual evidence to back up your arguments, you probably got a respectable grade. (Reminder: ‘B+’ = Very, Very Good in a 12th grade English course.)
TO THE THOREAU Authors: We have serious philosophers in this room. The Thoreau/Time prompt generated some of the most creative, profound, searching, and fearless essays I’ve read in my (admittedly brief) career. I’ll try to share some of your observations on the SmartBoard. Congratulations on addressing a biggie!
TO THE SCENE-Unto-TONE Essayists: As I said to Kellen, this required student authors to ski the black diamonds of literary analysis: through a slalom course, on sheer ice. This was to literary analysis what “skating figures” is to figure-skating: carving those perfect circles, ovals, etc. as you switch blades, cross ankles, etc. at just the right moments. There were a few wonderful essays in this batch – so strong, in fact, that I felt pangs of guilt for having asked you to write about anything else. This was the most “A.P.-like” of the four prompts, so I was extremely proud of each person who even contemplated writing it. (And P.S., if you didn’t do this one, you might remember it, because it’s the kind that dogs people on the A.P. Lit. exam… “How does scenery contribute to tone? How does irony contribute to characterization? How does setting affect mood?” The whole genre of “How does A affect B?” is “boffo” on the A.P. test these days, so please use your book speeches to warm up on this stuff!)
TO THE POETRY Authors: Congratulations on your bold decisions to write on America’s two finest poets. The most beautiful descriptive & analytical language emerged in this one; further, I thought yours was the gutsiest of the four choices, given the uber-succinct amount of time we’d spent on Whitman and, especially, Dickinson(!) as a class. I intend to share some of your fine work on the board.
To all: Congratulations again on the occasion of producing a strong batch of essays. I apologize for being so slow in returning them. Your score is based on 100 points (10-each in six categories; 20-each of two categories). A forthcoming announcement will explain a process for corrections and re-writes. (The worst area, overall, BTW, was that of Vague Pronoun Reference. If I had a nickel for every time I drew the “reverse-arrow-circle” gimmick (plus ?-mark), I’d be able to buy a cheap Toyota Camry with a reliable gas pedal. SV-Agrmt. suffered in a few cases; PAR means “You missed an opportunity to create a helpful parallelism.” Prepare to go a-fishin’ in these streams in the days ahead.)
PRB
A simpler way of saying it… You make me proud to be your teacher.
For this, the occasion of a generic message, please allow me some general observations:
TO THE BARTLEBY/RWE Authors: There were grades of ‘A’ on both sides of the argument. Some outstanding essays argued that Bartleby is Emerson’s great man; at least two strong papers earned top-honors by arguing that Bartleby is a schlump who defies “great-man” status. If you proved your point using abundant textual evidence to back up your arguments, you probably got a respectable grade. (Reminder: ‘B+’ = Very, Very Good in a 12th grade English course.)
TO THE THOREAU Authors: We have serious philosophers in this room. The Thoreau/Time prompt generated some of the most creative, profound, searching, and fearless essays I’ve read in my (admittedly brief) career. I’ll try to share some of your observations on the SmartBoard. Congratulations on addressing a biggie!
TO THE SCENE-Unto-TONE Essayists: As I said to Kellen, this required student authors to ski the black diamonds of literary analysis: through a slalom course, on sheer ice. This was to literary analysis what “skating figures” is to figure-skating: carving those perfect circles, ovals, etc. as you switch blades, cross ankles, etc. at just the right moments. There were a few wonderful essays in this batch – so strong, in fact, that I felt pangs of guilt for having asked you to write about anything else. This was the most “A.P.-like” of the four prompts, so I was extremely proud of each person who even contemplated writing it. (And P.S., if you didn’t do this one, you might remember it, because it’s the kind that dogs people on the A.P. Lit. exam… “How does scenery contribute to tone? How does irony contribute to characterization? How does setting affect mood?” The whole genre of “How does A affect B?” is “boffo” on the A.P. test these days, so please use your book speeches to warm up on this stuff!)
TO THE POETRY Authors: Congratulations on your bold decisions to write on America’s two finest poets. The most beautiful descriptive & analytical language emerged in this one; further, I thought yours was the gutsiest of the four choices, given the uber-succinct amount of time we’d spent on Whitman and, especially, Dickinson(!) as a class. I intend to share some of your fine work on the board.
To all: Congratulations again on the occasion of producing a strong batch of essays. I apologize for being so slow in returning them. Your score is based on 100 points (10-each in six categories; 20-each of two categories). A forthcoming announcement will explain a process for corrections and re-writes. (The worst area, overall, BTW, was that of Vague Pronoun Reference. If I had a nickel for every time I drew the “reverse-arrow-circle” gimmick (plus ?-mark), I’d be able to buy a cheap Toyota Camry with a reliable gas pedal. SV-Agrmt. suffered in a few cases; PAR means “You missed an opportunity to create a helpful parallelism.” Prepare to go a-fishin’ in these streams in the days ahead.)
PRB
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