Harrison Bergeron Study Questtions

Please support all answers with evidence from the text. Use this online copy of "Harrison Bergeron."

1. Why does George have to wear a handicap radio, but Hazel does not?


2. Harrison is wanted by the government for doing what?


3. What happens to Harrison at the hands of Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper-General?


4. In the end, why do Harrison's parents not react more strongly to what they see happen to their son on TV?


5. Think back to the 5-sentence summary you wrote in class. What is the story's resolution? Why does the story ending in such in keeping with everything else that happens in the story?


6. What is the climax of the story (this was one of your five sentences in your summary). Is it truly the point of highest interest and/or tension in the story. You may revise your assessment of the point of climax if necessary.


7. What conclusions can you draw about the quality of life held by the characters in Harrison's society. Be sure to back up your assertion with evidence from the text.


8. What conclusion does Vonnegut want you to draw about the outcome of making everyone in society "equal"? Again, back up your assertion with text evidence.


9. If Harrison became emperor, would society be better with him in charge? Predict what would happen next in the story if Harrison had taken power instead of being shot by the H-G. What would be better? What might be worse?


10. Consider what might have taken place for society to end up in Harrison's world. As this story takes place 70 years from now, what parts of society today could lead us down a path to "equality by averaging"?

Pre-AP English II: IWA #1

Authors carefully select the literary devices they use in order to help support the theme of their work or to produce a specific effect in their readers' minds. Read any pair of stories from the summer assignment, and then in a well-developed essay discuss how the authors' choices of literary devices support their themes or serve to elicit a specific response from the reader.

You may also use one of the two stories we'll be working with this six-weeks, "By the Waters of Babylon" and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," as a substitute for one of the stories in the summer assignment pairs. You'll need to decide which category the story belongs in; your analysis will support/defend your choice.

First-Draft Deadline: Sept 16.

Drop-dead Deadline: Sept 23.

Pre-AP English II: The Individual Writing Assignment (IWA)

Individual Writing Assignment (IWA) Guidelines

1. What is an IWA?
   
   An IWA is a short, to the point essay. You will write at least six of them throughout the course of the school year.
   
   Each IWA will cover a literary selection. You will be required to consider important topics and techniques in each IWA. Before writing an IWA, you must have read the selection closely. One cannot adequately compose an IWA based solely on in-class discussions and/or Sparknotes. You will be required to include textual evidence in each IWA. The questions you will be answering are modeled on essay questions from past Advanced Placement tests.



2. Why are we writing IWAs?
   
   The primary reason for writing IWAs is so that you become well practiced at revising your writing and reflecting on your thoughts. The more critical writing you do and the more care you put into revising, the easier the act of writing will become. The goal is for you to revise your writing on your own to an acceptable level (the meaning of this will be cleared up later). We may not get there; we will make great progress.



3. How will IWAs be turned in?
   
   One of your two-pocket portfolios will be your IWA portfolio. In the left pocket of a plain portfolio, you will place the IWA to be graded. In the right pocket, you will place any previous versions of the same IWA. I will only grade IWAs placed in the left pocket, so pay attention to what you turn in. Once an IWA is “accepted,” you will place it in your personal writing portfolio.



4. How will IWAs be graded?
   
   There are three grades possible on an IWA: rewrite, revise, and accepted.
   
   Rewrite – Indicates that the paper does not properly address the question and therefore must be largely rewritten. The paper cannot be fixed by just making a few changes or shifting things around. Questions regarding “rewrite” grades should be handled before or after school, as they may take some explaining.
   
   Revise – This is the most common grade on IWAs. A “revise” means that the paper may be adequate but could be much stronger by working on organization, style, and/or content. Additionally, punctuation and spelling errors will earn the paper a “revise”. Keep in mind that revising a paper does not simply mean changing a few words and handing the paper back in. Revision requires you to examine word usage, sentence structure, and thesis development. If you have questions about a “revise” grade, I will try to answer them on the spot if I am able. Otherwise, see me in tutorials.
   
   Accepted – This is the grade that you’re shooting for. “Accepted” does not necessarily mean that the IWA is flawless. It means that you have developed your ideas well, have presented them clearly, and have backed them up with solid textual evidence and reasoning.
   
   The Exception – From time to time, a student may attempt to simply turn in an IWA which does not contain a serious attempt at addressing the topic. These papers will not be graded and will receive no score.



5. What is the deadline for IWAs to be “accepted” and how many points will I get?
   
   As a rule, I require two days to grade an IWA, not counting weekends. Therefore, you should plan your writing time appropriately. IWAs have no fixed due dates, but I will no longer accept IWAs for the grading term after the fifth week. Write early because you will have to revise! For the first semester, “rewrite” grades will earn 70 points, “revise” grades will earn 85 points, and “accepted” IWAs get the full 100 points. For the second semester, “rewrite” grades will not be awarded.



6. How will IWAs be formatted?
   
   IWAs are formatted per the MLA guide. An MLA guide is available in the library and online for your reference.<

Pre-AP English I & II: Flashcardlet

If you have an iPhone/iPod Touch and are in the market for a flash card app to do your literary terms presentation and/or flash cards in general, check out Flashcards* for iPhone (also goes by the name "Flashcardlet").

It does not allow you to include a graphic on cards made in the app. If you're going for the 100 points, look for other apps on the iTunes app store. I thought it did; it doesn't. My bad.

Quizlet.com is a website that allows you to make flashcards with graphics, so if you want to go this route instead of the traditional PowerPoint, check it out.

English II: Compound Sentences (FANBOYS)

Yesterday we worked on meaningful sentences, a type of compound sentence where to independent clauses (simple sentences) are joined by a semicolon.

Please view the presentation on coordinating conjunctions (the FANBOYS) below, then complete the assignment.



Compose seven compound sentences using the comma+FANBOY technique. Each sentence has been started for you:


I got up early, for...

I got up early, and...

I got up early, but...

I got up early, or...

I got up early, yet...

I got up early, so...

I didn't get up early, nor...

Make sure you have a complete sentence after the FANBOY. I got up early, for swimming practice. is NOT a complete compound sentence (swimming practice is not a full sentence). I got up early, for swimming practice was being held before school that day. is a complete compound sentence.

All Pre-AP Classes: Literary Terms Presentations

Using the following presentation as both a rubric and a model, develop a PowerPoint-like presentation for the literary terms your grade-level is working on.



Both Pre-AP English I and II students will use the following 10 terms:

• Simile
• Metaphor
• Alliteration
• Onomatopoeia
• Personification
• Allusion
• Oxymoron
• Paradox
• Diction
• Hyperbole

In addition to those terms, Pre-AP English II students will include the following in their presentations:

• Anaphora
• Apostrophe
• Foreshadowing
• Flashback
• Imagery
• Metonymy

Remember, if you don't have Microsoft PowerPoint, you may use other presentations like the free OpenOffice or online solutions like Google Docs. If you have a smartphone with a flashcard app, you may use that (term + definition on one side, example and illustration on the other). Digital files can be emailed to me as an attachment or delivered on a flashdrive.

If you have absolutely no way of doing this digitally, you may use "paper slides," but you really need to work on finding a long-term solution. Pre-AP II: As soon as the third six weeks, you'll need to be typing/word processing outside writing assignments.

English II: "Harrison Bergeron" Vocabulary and Meaningful Sentences

Write meaningful sentences for each of these vocabulary words:

• Abandon (v.)/Abandoned (adj.)
• Burden (n.)/Burdened (adj.)
• Consternation (n.)
• Cower (v.)
• Neutralize (v.)
• Plot (v.)/Plotting (adj.)
• Resemble (v.)/Resemblance (n.)
• Synchronize (v.)
• Vigilance (n.)/Vigilant (adj.)
• Wince (v.)

Remember:

• a meaningful sentence is made up of two independent sentences combined with a semicolon (;)


• the first sentence includes a vocabulary word


• the second sentence contains the definition of that vocabulary word


• the first word of the second sentence is not capitalized


• you should underline the vocabulary word and its definition

For instance, if the vocabulary word was:

Vigilant (adj.): Alert, aware, watchful. .

a meaningful sentence would be:

The security guard was vigilant; he was alert for any danger.

Due: Wednesday, August 31st.