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.

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

Calendar of Assignments in Honors English Eleven – 2nd Semester, 2010.

Day 9 (of semester 2): A - Feb. 4 // B - Feb. 5
In class: Process your 10 artifacts from the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald's life. Launch Gatsby.
P.M. Read Chapter 1.

Day 10: A - Feb. 8 // B - Feb. 9
In class: Process Chapter 1. LIKELY QUIZ on Ch. 1. (Word to the Wise: from this point forward, a surprise reading quiz in Gatsby is possible on any given day.)
P.M. Read Chapter 2. BRING GRAMMAR PACKETS ON DAY #10.

Day 11: A - Feb. 10 // B - Feb. 11
In class: Process Chapter 2. BRING GRAMMAR PACKETS.
P.M. Read Chapter 3.

Day 12: A - Feb. 12 // B - Feb. 17
In class: Process Chapter 3
P.M./Weekend: Read Chapter 4

Day 13: A - Feb. 18 // B - Feb. 19
In class: Process Chapter 4
P.M. Read Chapter 5

Day 14: A - Feb. 22 // B - Feb. 23
In class: Process Chapter 6
P.M. Read Chapter 7.

Day 15: A - Feb. 24 // B - Feb. 25
In class: Process Ch. 7
P.M. Read Chapter 8

Day 16: A - Feb. 26 // B - March 1
In class: Process Ch. 8
P.M. Read Chapter The Last (9)

Day 17: A - March 2 // B - March 3
In class: Discuss Chapter 9.
P.M. Finalize your Close Readings & Take-Home Final.

Day 18: A - March 4 // B - March 5
In class: FIELD TRIP (TBA)
P.M./Weekend: Finalize your Close Readings & Take-Home Final: DUE ON DAY 18!!!

Day 19: A - March 8 // B - March 9
In class: Close Readings & TH Finals are DUE. Launch the Personal Essay (PE).
P.M. Poetry assignment, TBA.

Days #20-24 - POETRY I (& speeches) (PE RDrft & Outline due Day 24)

Days #25-30 - PLAY(s) (& speeches) (PE 1Draft due: Day 30)

Days #31-35 - POETRY II (& speeches) (PE Peer Edit 2Drft: Day 35)

Days #36-42 - THE BLUEST EYE, by Toni Morrison

Days #43 - Personal Essays due

Days #44-45 - Wrap-Up / Party / Evaluation / Summer reading plans!!

Indefinite Pronouns: Singular & Plural

I. ALWAYS SINGULAR:
anybody, anyone, anything,
each, either, everybody, everyone, everything
neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one
somebody, someone, and something

II. ALWAYS PLURAL:
both, few, many, several

III. CONTEXT-SENSITIVE:
(i.e., Singular or Plural, depending on its meaning within a sentence: singular when the pronoun refers to a singular word - plural when the pronoun refers to a plural word.)
all, any, more, most, none, some

Examples of a context-sensitive indefinite pronoun in action:

All of the vegetable garden has been planted. (garden is a singular noun)
BUT:
All of the vegetables have been planted. (vegetables is a plural noun)

Essay Questions on the AP English Exam in Literature -- Information & Answers

The essay portion of the AP test poses three questions. Students have forty minutes to respond to each question in a coherent essay. Test-takers are required to answer all three prompts.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_questions/2002.html#name08

The first question is almost always a poetry question. In 2008 the first question asks students to analyze two sonnets in a compare-and-contrast essay. Both sonnets are quoted in full, just below the essay prompt.

The second question has traditionally been an essay in response to a prose passage. The 2008 passage comes from a novel that deals with the experiences of a boy from India who stays with an American family as a foreign exchange student. Other prose passages in recent tests have come from The Crossing, a novel by Cormac McCarthy, and from The Importance of Being Earnest, the stage comedy by Oscar Wilde. (You do not need to know the whole book in order to succeed on this essay; everything you need to know lies within the quoted passage.)

The third question asks for an essay about a longer work -- a novel or play -- that you select from among works you do already know. This year's question deals with foils: contrasting characters. WHS Hon. Engl. 11 students might choose, for example, to write about Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, or about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, or about Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan.

Students and families can learn a lot about the AP Literature exam by surveying the AP Central website.

JSTOR Access for WHS English Students

If you would like to have access to JSTOR, the world's best repository of published articles on literature, bring your Public Library card (e.g., S. Washington County libraries, or St. Paul libraries) to the Minneapolis Public Library. For a one-time fee of $5.00, they will connect you to all the MPL web resources, including JSTOR.

Phil Bratnober
Woodbury English Department
March 31, 2008

Course Procedures and Expectations

Honors Eleven English ~ American Literature

Modified on Monday, March 31, 2008

Homework Journals

It will be difficult or impossible to pass the remainder of this course without maintaining an accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date journal. Students are encouraged to take detailed notes on the following:

• Reading assignments (especially when a Study Guide is not provided)
• Lectures, PowerPoint presentations, and film showings
• Class discussions and exercises

Each student should reserve an entire three-hole, lined spiral notebook for the course and should maintain this notebook in a three-hole, loose-leaf binder with ample pockets for saving handouts. Naturally, journals should arrive with students at every class.

Reading Assignments

Students are encouraged to make a practice of reading every assignment twice. The “second pass” solidifies key moments, themes and ideas from a text. Take notes in your journal as you read, and make hand-written copies of passages that stand out as crucial excerpts. With handouts, students are encouraged to underline, highlight and/or make notes in the margins. Unless otherwise noted, handouts are yours to keep, and all such documents are considered fair game when it comes to quizzes and tests.

Lectures and Guest Lectures

There will be lectures from time to time, including occasional guest lectures. To learn by attending lectures is an important prelude to unversity study; further, lectures offer key opportunities to students who are auditory learners.

Because the contents of Honors English 11 lectures are fair game on subsequent quizzes and tests, full attention and accurate note-taking are essential responses. Those who disrupt lectures with inappropriate noise or comments will – in order to protect the interests of those more intent on achieving academic success – be excused from class, with disciplinary referrals to the WHS administration and phone-calls home regarding rude or inappropriate behavior.

Film Screenings

Films or film-excerpts will be shown from time to time as a means of enriching students’ sense of historical context for works of literature under discussion. For example, segments from The Great Gatsby (1974) and from related films will support our discussions of The Jazz Age. The contents of all films and film-excerpts are curriculum-appropriate and family-appropriate; furthermore, parents and guardians are welcome to pre-screen any and all films-segments shown during the course. (See Mr. B for the exact segments to be used.)

In-Class Process Time.

Time will be provided at the discretion of the teacher for students to read, deal with group assignments, proofread essays, perform research, and discuss issues pertinent to success in the course. Students are encouraged to use Process Time wisely, and not to compromise success by wasting time in conversations, schmoozing, etc. Mr. Bratnober’s observation of student behavior during Process Time contributes to each student’s Participation Grade in the course.

Class Blog

The class blog contains valuable information on the course, including enrichment materials, music, video clips, and tips about resources regarding American Literature. Mr. Bratnober will make an effort to update the blog from time to time. (The blog, however, may not be the ultimate, up-to-the-minute authority on the unfolding calendar of daily assignments – for this, see ONLY the walls of Rm. 201.)

See the Course Syllabus for additional information, including the WHS English Department policy on plagiarism.