AP English Language and Composition Reading Quiz:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Answer the following question in a freewrite as completely as possible. Use the text to help you prove your argument. Remember to prove that you read the entire book; it would not be wise to ignore the ending. You have 20 minutes. Dr. Maghan Keita, Professor of History at Villanova University, presents the following about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: "I ask people to do a juxtaposition when confronting Jim. Take for a moment the notion that Huck is not the central character, but Jim is.” Using your knowledge of the book and your understanding of character, support, refute, or qualify Dr. Keita’s assertion that Jim is the central character in this novel. Think of the story itself as well as the issues presented through the characters and the plot. English 10 Freewrite assignment:
Lord of the Flies In the last couple weeks, we have talked in depth about the nature of humankind. We wrote a Truth responding to Machiavelli’s belief that men are greedy. We watched the documentary G-d Grew Tired of Us and we spent some time talking and writing about how it disagrees with everything Machiavelli said. Then we read Lord of the Flies and tracked the symbols, situations, and character changes. We learned about Freud and his assertions about what makes our personalities the way they are. We thought about why that was relevant to the book. Now we’ve finished reading, and you have created a timeline of the important events from Golding’s novel. You were asked to talk in your groups about whether or not you think a situation like this could actually happen. Overwhelmingly, your groups said “yes, it could.” Now you’ve seen a remake of the Stanley Milgrim Experiment, and we have discussed what it implies about people in general. So, I guess the only question left to answer in essay form is this: "What insights are available [in Lord of the Flies], besides the writer confirming his own fears about the nature of humankind?" In other words, are there morals or values to learn from reading about what happened to the boys on the island? BE SPECIFIC TO THE TEXT. If there are, what are they? If not, what do we learn from reading this book? (You cannot say “nothing;” if you say there are no morals or values to learn, you should be able to say what there is to learn (or what idea is reinforced)). Honors English 9 Essay Prompt:
Romeo & Juliet Before we started reading Romeo & Juliet, we read and took notes on what Malcolm Gladwell calls “the culture of honor”. Then, we read together an excerpt from an essay called “Tragic Form in Romeo and Juliet,” annotated, and took notes. Now, it’s time to put it all together and to consider what this play – Romeo and Juliet – is all about. It’s time to move beyond what happens and to think about why it happens. Most people call Romeo and Juliet a love story. I disagree. Rather, it’s a story about two lovers who, because of the culture in which they live, cannot love each other freely. The prompt: Romeo and Juliet were both born into a culture of honor – a culture in which people were expected to fight in order to protect their reputations and the reputations of their family and friends. Sometimes these fights ended in death (as they did in the cases of Mercutio and Tybalt), and always they ended with more hatred brewing. In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare explores the implications (societal) and consequences (personal) of this culture. Write a paper exploring what William Shakespeare wants his audience to know about the implications and consequences of the culture of honor. Use what you know from your notes on Gladwell’s Outliers, Nevo’s “Tragic Form in Romeo and Juliet,” your own experience with (and in, if appropriate) the culture of honor, and the play itself (this is really important), to make a claim about Shakespeare’s beliefs and support your claim with text from these three sources (you may use other sources as well if you wish, as long as you cite them in the body of your paper). |
English 11 Reading Quiz:
The Great Gatsby Read and annotate the following passage that ends the chapter. Then answer the two questions below it (Remember that this book is about experience; nothing is stated explicitly, so you have to make some inferences to figure out what’s going on): "I don't trust him, old sport." "How long are you going to wait?" "All night if necessary. Anyhow till they all go to bed." A new point of view occurred to me. Suppose Tom found out that Daisy had been driving. He might think he saw a connection in it – he might think anything. I looked at the house: there were two or three bright windows downstairs and the pink glow from Daisy's room on the second floor."You wait here," I said. "I'll see if there's any sign of a commotion." I walked back along the border of the lawn, traversed the gravel softly and tiptoed up the veranda steps. The drawing-room curtains were open, and I saw that the room was empty. Crossing the porch where we had dined that June night three months before I came to a small rectangle of light which I guessed was the pantry window. The blind was drawn but I found a rift at the sill. Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement. They weren't happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale--and yet they weren't unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together. 1. Where is Gatsby waiting “till they all go to bed”? (short answer) 2. What do you know about Tom and Daisy from this passage – and from the rest of this chapter – that you didn’t know before. Consider what you know from the rest of the book up until this point (including the rest of this chapter). (short written response) Honors English 11 Freewrite Assignment:
Their Eyes Were Watching G-d Wow, what an amazing and rich discussion you had in the Socratic seminar – about the horizon, about the storm, about whether or not Janie is selfish (and, if she is, whether or not we can forgive her for it). Listening to you talk was refreshing and impressive, and some of the things you said, I couldn’t have said better myself… The prompt:At the very end of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow stands at the helm of his Black Pearl and says: “now, bring me that horizon” – it’s the last thing he says before the screen fades to black. All throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching G-d, I have asked you to pay close attention to the horizon – the book is “bookended,” as they say, by the horizon; it is the subject of the first lines as well as the last, and both Janie and Hurston refer to it throughout the book (we’ve read some of the passages together). Your question for today, then, is to consider and explore the significance of the Horizon in this book. You may, of course, use the notes you took during Wednesday’s seminar. There was talk about Tea Cake in relation to the horizon, and there was talk about the impossibility of ever getting there. Some people talked about the horizon being satisfaction itself, or even happiness – and some claim that it is love itself. Whatever you think the horizon is, support your ideas with text, then show the connections. IB Magnet English 9 Google Group Assignment:
Joy Luck Club 1. Read and annotate the first section of the essay by Xiaomei Chen called “Reading Mother’s Tale – Reconstructing Women’s Space in Amy Tan and Zhang Jie”, published by Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), Vol. 16 (Dec. 1994) pp 111-132. (Notice, as you read, that this college professor says many of the same things that you scholars have said already.) Mark passages of text that present ideas that either 1. you hadn’t thought about that way before, 2. evoke some kind of response from you (positive or negative or otherwise), 3. you couldn’t have said better yourself, or 4. you’re not quite sure about (either you don’t fully understand or you don’t fully agree). Then, choose one of those passages and write a short (1 or 2 paragraphs) analytical response using relevant pieces of text. If you choose a passage you’re not quite sure about, explore its meaning in your response in an effort to find meaning and understand. 2. READ YOUR CLASSMATES POSTS AND RESPOND TO AT LEAST TWO OF THEM. In your response you can agree with your classmate and add your own thoughts, you can disagree and show why, or you can ask questions and try to provide your own answers. This part of the assignment requires that you think about what each other say, and that you respond respectfully and appropriately. I will also be responding to posts. |