English I (Pre-AP): Vocabulary/Meaningful Sentences for Intro to Greek Myth

Write meaningful sentences for each of these vocabulary words:

• Abducted (v / adj): carried off or led away illegally and in secret or by force; especially to kidnap / kidnapped


• Commerce (n): business; trade involving interchange of goods and services


• Conventional (adj): conforming or adhering to accepted standards, such as conduct or taste


• Destiny (n): the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events; fate


• Hearth (n): the floor of a fireplace, usually of stone, brick, etc., often extending a short distance into a room


• Immortal (adj): not subject to death; undying; everlasting; eternal


• Lure (v): to attract, entice, or tempt


• Outwit (v): to win due to superior mental creativity or cleverness; to outsmart


• Supernatural (adj): outside what is considered the natural world; unexplainable by natural law; abnormal


• Trident (adj): a three-pronged spear

For instance, if the vocabulary word was:

Legend (n): a story (without gods/goddesses) handed down by generations and generally accepted as historical.

a meaningful sentence would be:

My teacher told me a legend about Davy Crockett; it was full of unbelievable stuff, but the part about the Alamo was in the history book.

Due: Wednesday, Feb. 1st.

English II (on-level): Vocabulary for "Montgomery Boycott"

Write meaningful sentences for each of these vocabulary words:

• Coercion (n): the act of compelling someone to do something by force or authority


• Coherent (adj): logical; making sense; understandable


• Degrading (adj): intended to cause dishonor or disgrace


• Militant (adj): aggressive or combative


• Panic (n): a sudden overwhelming fear that produces irrational behavior and often spreads quickly through a group of people


• Spontaneous (adj): happening without planning, preparation, or intention; spur of the moment


• Struggle (n): a war, fight, or any a goal requiring a lot of effort to accomplish or achieve


• Tactic (n): a planned action or maneuver to reach a specific goal; apiece of a larger strategy.


• Tempo (n): the characteristic rate, rhythm, or pattern of work or activity


• Unoccupied (adj): empty; vacant; deserted

For instance, if the vocabulary word was:

Boycott (v): to abstain from buying or using; to refuse to patronize a business or service

a meaningful sentence would be:

David and I agreed to boycott McDonald's; we're not going to eat there until they bring back the McRib permanently.

Due: Wednesday, Feb. 1st.

English II (on-level): "Montgomery Boycott" by Coretta Scott King

If you need to refer to the text of "Montgomery Boycott," if can be found online here.

Pre-AP English II: Anthem Socratic Seminar Preview

Be prepared to discuss these questions in class on Monday, January 30, 2012. Remember to support your answers -- even the World Connection questions -- with evidence from the book.

If you missed the seminar, submit well-thought out written responses to two questions (100%; one question=80%). You may NOT answer a close-ended question.

If you were in class and did not respond twice, use the back of your remaining half-sheets ("buns") to respond to the questions. If you respond to a question discussed in class, your response must refer to the text and add to the conversation we had. (+20 points for the first, +10 points for the second)

WORLD CONNECTION QUESTIONS
If you made a discovery that could transform the world, what would you do? --E.M. (7th)

If someone else (government, school, parents, etc.) chose your career for you, how would you react? --B.L. (6th)

If you were separated from your parents (or never got the chance to know them), how would you feel? --L.F. (1st)


CLOSE-ENDED QUESTIONS
What happened to the man who spoke the Unspeakable Word? --M.S. (7th)

Where are people sent on their 40th birthday? --V.L. (6th)


OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
What was the Unspeakable Word? --T.S. (7th)

Why didn't the World Council accept the electric light that Equality-7 brought them? --M.R. (6th)


UNIVERSAL THEME / CORE QUESTIONS
What impact does technology have on society? --J.L. (6th)

Should Equality-7 be punished for his sins against society? Explain. --K.G. (1st)

Why is it wrong for students to be prevented (by society, by their peers, by themselves) from being smarter than others? --M.R. (1st)


LITERARY ANALYSIS QUESTIONS
Why did Rand decide to write the story in First Person Plural point of view? --Y.C. (7th)

Why is the name Fraternity 2-5503 ironic? --V.M. (1st)

What is ironic about the names of the World Council of Scholars members' names? --Mikesell

What is significant about the allusions to Prometheus and Gaia at the end of the novel? --Mikesell

English I (Pre-AP): Intro to Greek Mythology Presentation + Homework

Below is the presentation we reviewed in class yesterday and today. If you didn't copy down everything you wanted to copy down, do so now.

The homework assignment on the final slide reads:

If you could be the god or goddess of anything (classroom-approprite ... no sex gods), what would you be and why?

What myths would people tell about you?

5-7 sentences. Finish as homework.

Due: Friday, January 27, 2012.

Pre-AP English II: Anthem Test Preview

Be sure you have read at least Chapter I of Anthem.

You should know the following literary devices:

• Alliteration
• Allusion
• Anaphora
• Apostrophe
• Flashback
• Foreshadowing
• Hyperbole
• Imagery
• Metaphor
• Metonymy
• Onomatopoeia
• Oxymoron
• Paradox
• Personification
• Simile

You should know the three types of irony:

• Dramatic
• Situational
• Verbal

And the Aristotelean (persuasive) appeals:

• Logos
• Pathos
• Ethos

Pre-AP English II: Anthem Socratic Seminar Question Types

Submit two (2) of each of the following by Friday, January 27. I will pick several and post them to the website that evening. Be prepared to discuss them in class on Monday, January 30th. Questions may come from any section of Anthem. Include answers for each question.

WORLD CONNECTION QUESTIONS
Write two questions connecting the text to the real world.

Example: If you could change your name, what would you change it to?


CLOSE-ENDED QUESTIONS
Write two questions about the text that will help everyone in the class come to an agreement about events or characters in the text. This question usually has a “correct” answer.

Example: How did Equality-7 make light?


OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
Write two insightful questions about the text that will require proof and group discussion and “construction of logic” to discover or explore the answer to the question.

Example: Why did Equality-7 rename Liberty-5 "The Golden One"?


UNIVERSAL THEME/ CORE QUESTIONS
Write two questions dealing with a theme(s) of the text that will encourage group discussion about the universality of the text.

Example: Why is it wrong to not be given a choice in determining your destiny?


LITERARY ANALYSIS QUESTIONS
Write two questions dealing with HOW an author chose to compose a literary piece. How did the author manipulate point of view, characterization, poetic form, archetypal hero patterns, for example?

Example: Why is Equality-7's/Liberty-5's/International-6's name ironic?

All Classes: 2012 TAKS Challenge

In case you wake up in the middle of the night wondering if I really said what I said, here's the 2012 TAKS Challenge.

If 95% of my students pass their EOC/TAKS test, I will celebrate their achievement by getting in touch with my inner diva and wear a prom dress/shoes during the Spring ACP review week*.

If 20% of students get commended, I will also wear make-up and a wig**. (The higher the commended rate, the more likely things like earrings, shaved legs, etc., become.)

*Like last year's gorilla-suit "celebration," this will be a one-day-only event.

**This will only happen if the 95% threshold is crossed. I won't be wearing the make-up and wig unless I am also in a prom dress.

Pre-AP English II: Free Anthem Audio Book

If you'd like to listen to Anthem as you read it, check out these two free options:

• Librivox recording read by Chere Theriot


• ThoughtAudio recording read by Michael Scott

Remember, you still have to read the book. Listening along with the audio recording, however, will enable you to finish in just over two hours.

You're welcome.

Pre-AP English II: IWA #4

Write a well-organized essay on the following prompt:

Novelists and playwrights often use the names of their characters to add meaning to their work. In a well-organized essay, analyze the significance of character names and name-changes in Anthem, and explain how they contribute to the novella’s meaning.

Extensive plot summary will result in a REDO grade (no points), not a REVISE (85 points). Look at diction, metaphor, imagery, etc., and how the author’s use of these techniques — tied to the characters’ names — contributes to meaning.

Remember that only REVISE and ACCEPTED essays will be taken for a grade, so submit your IWA early, rather than at the last minute to ensure that your essay will count!

*** More than 10 careless spelling mistakes ***
*** will result in a REDO grade ***

All essays must be typed and adhere to the MLA formatting requirements (see below). All essays must be submitted with the draft in the LEFT pocket (inside front cover) of a 2-pocket portfolio folder. Failure to meet these minimum requirements will result in the draft being returned to the student unevaluated and with no score recorded.

• Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper.


• Double-space the text of your paper (paragraph settings). Use Times New Roman (Garamond if you're “fancy”); the font size should be 12 pt. (font settings).


• Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks.


• Set the margins of your document to 1" on all sides.


• Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you use the Tab key as opposed to pushing the Space Bar five times, or set your paragraphs to indent the first line 0.5". Do not skip a line (i.e., leave a blank line) between paragraphs.

Daily P.A. unless draft submitted: Friday, February 3.

Daily P.A. unless Revise/Accepted grade achieved:
     Friday, February 10.

Drop-Dead Deadline: Friday, February 17.

IWA 4.1 delivered to students unsuccessful on IWA 4.0:
     Monday, February 20.

All Classes: ACP Tips

Pre-AP English II: Poems for IWA 3.1 ("Richard Cory")

Use these two poems to address the prompt for IWA 3.1 ("Richard Cory").

Richard Cory
by Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.



Richard Cory
by Paul Simon (1941- )

They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.

[Chorus]
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.

The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes:
Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show.
And the rumor of his parties and the orgies on his yacht!
Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got.

[Chorus]

He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."

[Chorus]

Pre-AP English II: IWA #3.1 ("Richard Cory")

The images and word choices an author chooses have a direct impact on their readers’ moods. In a well-developed essay analyze and explore how Edwin Arlington Robinson and Paul Simon use diction and imagery to build narrative tone and consequently evoke different responses from the reader.

Tips to success:

Focus on both of the poems. Focusing on only Robinson’s or Simon’s poem will immediately result in a REDO grade (no points). Your conclusion should reveal how the speakers’ different choices of words and images result in different reader responses.

Do not simply recount the plot or attributes of the characters (speaker, Richard Cory, etc.). You must specify what tone(s) the speakers reveal through their selections of images and words and what reaction(s)—mood(s)—they produce in a hypothetical, typical reader. Extensive lack of focus on diction and imagery will result in a REDO grade (no points), not a REWRITE (70 points).

The earlier you turn in a draft that you expect to earn an 70 (only revision is needed) the more likely you are to eventually receive an 70 (your idea of what is revision-only and my idea of what is revision-only may differ) or higher (because you’ve refined your essay on your own before you turned it in).

This will be the last time a70-point grade will be given on an IWA. Last year many students who had never bothered to rewrite an essay during the first semester had a very difficult time during the second semester when an 85 was required to avoid P.A. and/or IWA n.1.

This is also the last time IWAs may be turned in handwritten. Please see the note on the bonus in the next paragraph.

Paper should be about two-pages long, handwritten, or one-page long, typed, double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman or Garamond. Five bonus points will be awarded to properly typed essays.



Daily P.A. for all students writing IWA 3.1 begins Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Drop-Dead Deadline: Tuesday, January 24, 2012.

P.A. will be assigned every day (including ACP test days) until a grade of 70 is achieved.