December 13, 2012

Today we will be color marking Mary Oliver's poem "The Summer Day."  Your homework assignment is to write the opening paragraph to your commentary on the poem.  Here's how to do it:

• Read the poem three times and as you read ask yourself what point the author is making
• To help you understand the message of the poem, ask yourself why the author uses the literary devices she does (imagery, word choice, anaphora (repetition of word or phrase for dramatic effect), metaphor, etc.)
• Try to  come up with three different points you think the author is making
• Then find a main point or theme that fits everything you have come up with

Your EXCELLENT opening paragraph is due at the first of the period tomorrow.

It looks like I didn't go over this week's vocabulary with you, so we will have the test Monday.  I will give extra credit to a couple of students who prove that they studied the words anyway.

Here's the poem:  The Summer Day

December 10

SUB FOR SANTA

4 YR OLD BOY
LEGOS
TRUCKS
ACTION FIGURES
MOVIES
COLORING STUFF

10 YR OLD BOY
NERF GUN
GAMES- BOARD, WORD, CARD
MOVIES
RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT
REMOTE CONTROL CAR -LAMBOURGHINI AT TOYZ'RUS

19 YR OLD BOY 
CLOTHES- CUSTOMIZED SHOES, JACKETS, SHIRTS
GIFT CARD TO WALMART, AMAZON
MUSIC

12 YR OLD GIRL 
TARGET GIFT CARD
CLOTHES- PINK JACKET, GLOVES, HAT
CANDY

MOM
SPA GIFT BASKET
MASSAGE/PEDICURE/MANICURE
CHICK FLICKS- POPCORN, MOVIES, CANDY
CANDLES
GROCERY SHOPPING CARDS

DAD
GUITAR AMP
GIFT CARD TO RANCH RECORDS, AMAZON

THE WHOLE FAMILY WANTS A WII GAME CONSOLE PLUS GAMES- DONATED BY STUDENT  

32 STUDENTS IN THE CLASS
STUDENTS ARE ASSIGNED TO  1 OR MORE GIFTS BUT PARTICIPATION IS VOLUNTARY

December 10th

By today you should have finished at least chapter 31 in Huckleberry Finn.
It has become obvious that a lot of people aren't reading.  I'll be giving you a pop quiz sometime this week }:-{

November 28th

The "N word."  Should Huck Finn be banned?

Dave Chappelle and Maya Angelou discuss the N word.

The N word

November 15th

Homework:  Huckleberry Finn read to the end of chapter chapter 11 for Monday.
Over Thanksgiving, finish chapter 16

Walden Poster due Monday, November 19th (30 pts)
On a separate sheet of paper, type at least 1/2 page single-spaced explaining how your picture illustrates the idea of the quote

Walden quotes.
25 quotes
Pick 4 quotes.  Write 1 paragraph each explaining what Thoreau is saying
For a 5th quote, write 3/4 page " "
No, none of these quotes are used for your poster.  That's a 6th quote
I prefer typed work.
Hand in Monday


Share examples of Transcendentalism in Dead Poets Society.

Hand in.  10 points

Read Huck

Discuss view of religion (heaven, Moses)

Describe Pap

What is Twain saying in the reformation of Pap passage?

irony of "Govment" passage

November 8

We will be checking out the novel Huckleberry Finn today.  If you read the novel carefully, you will see a couple of similarities between Twain's philosophy and that of the Transcendentalists.  Twain is both a Romantic and a Realist, so this book forms a nice bridge between the two literary movements.

Tomorrow you have a vocabulary test, words 31-60
Scarlet Letter Vocabulary
Homework: Finish your Walden reading--the conclusion as well as 10 pages of your choosing.
Homework: Walden poster due Monday, November 19th.  Start thinking about your photo choice
Homework: Walden quotes due Friday, November 16th.

Watch Dead Poets' Society tomorrow

Write your ten examples and briefly state the connection to Transcendentalist ideas.  Due at the end of the period
Mr. Keating  Oh Captain, my Captain
Neal Perry
Todd Anderson (protagonist)


Transcendentalism

• praises individual worth over society
• shows contempt for attachment to social customs and habits
• heart over mind.  Following your heart is more important than
• belief in living in harmony with nature
• great dignity in manual labor; the common man is the true hero
• praise for the simple life; criticism for reliance on material possessions
• relationship with God should be personal
• value for revolutionary thoughts and ideas
• rejection of customs, especially traditional European ones
• focus on individual responsibility for developing a moral code
• value for intense feeling; Transcendentalists feel deeply and value that
• powerful emotion.
• belief that Nature is the Great Teacher
• optimism

The Dark Romantics--Poe and Hawthorne--have a worldview that is, on the one hand very different from that of the Transcendentalists, and on the other, similar at its foundation.  I've reprinted the principles of transcendentalism, but this time I've changed them to show that the Dark Romantics take a similar view but put a dark, pessimistic tone to it.  The focus is still upon mankind and intense personal feeling, but . . .

• The individual doesn't fit into society because he's damaged
• shows contempt for attachment to social customs and habits 
• Nature is malevolent; mankind struggles with his inner demons
• The common man is the subject of the stories, and the protagonist is evil
• The protagonist has a dark relationship with dark forces within (no God in these stories)
• The protagonist has revolutionary thoughts and ideas, but they're twisted
• rejection of customs, especially traditional European ones
• the individual moral code is twisted and is at odds with society's values
• value for intense feeling; stories are all about the heart and psychology
• there is no Great Teacher.  The protagonist has no moral center.  He is alone
• Pessimism

Election Day!

Word of the day: honorificabilitudinitatibus
Definition: Honorableness

Website: <http://wordsmith.org/words/honorificabilitudinity.html>
Scarlet Letter Vocabulary List

November 2

1. Vocabulary test, words 31-60
2. Formative Assessment
3. Notes: characteristics of Transcendentalist philosophy

4. Watch Dead Poets' Society

5. Write your ten examples and briefly state the connection to Transcendentalist ideas

Transcendentalism

• praises individual worth over society
• shows contempt for attachment to social customs and habits
• belief in living in harmony with nature
• great dignity in manual labor; the common man is the true hero
• praise for the simple life; criticism for reliance on material possessions
• relationship with God should be personal
• value for revolutionary thoughts and ideas
• rejection of customs, especially traditional European ones
• focus on individual responsibility for developing a moral code
• value for intense feeling; Transcendentalists feel deeply and value that
• belief that Nature is the Great Teacher
• optimism

The Dark Romantics--Poe and Hawthorne--have a worldview that is, on the one hand very different from that of the Transcendentalists, and on the other, similar at its foundation.  I've reprinted the principles of transcendentalism, but this time I've changed them to show that the Dark Romantics take a similar view but put a dark, pessimistic tone to it.  The focus is still upon mankind and intense personal feeling, but . . .

• The individual doesn't fit into society because he's damaged
• shows contempt for attachment to social customs and habits 
• Nature is malevolent; mankind struggles with his inner demons
• The common man is the subject of the stories, and the protagonist is evil
• The protagonist has a dark relationship with dark forces within (no God in these stories)
• The protagonist has revolutionary thoughts and ideas, but they're twisted
• rejection of customs, especially traditional European ones
• the individual moral code is twisted and is at odds with society's values
• value for intense feeling; stories are all about the heart and psychology
• there is no Great Teacher.  The protagonist has no moral center.  He is alone
• Pessimism

October 24--Transcendentalism

I hope you're all enjoying reading Walden.  Ok, let me rephrase that so that I'll get a more positive response here: "I hope that all of you have found at least three sentences in Walden that resonate with you."  The 25 quotes will be due November 5 (we'll be studying Edgar Allan Poe and writing scary stories in the interim).

Today we will share our favorite Emerson quotes and find connections between his ideas and those of Thoreau.  We will also continue preparing for Thursday's Socratic Seminar, and then we will watch Dead Poets' Society.
As you watch the film, find 10 examples from the movie that reveal it's Transcendentalist world view.  Here are some characteristics of Transcendentalism to keep in mind:

         Transcendentalism

• praises individual worth over society
• shows contempt for attachment to social customs and habits
• belief in living in harmony with nature
• great dignity in manual labor; the common man is the true hero
• praise for the simple life; criticism for reliance on material possessions
• relationship with God should be personal
• value for revolutionary thoughts and ideas
• rejection of customs, especially traditional European ones
• focus on individual responsibility for developing a moral code
• value for intense feeling; Transcendentalists feel deeply and value that
• belief that Nature is the Great Teacher
• optimism

Write your ten examples and briefly state the connection to Transcendentalist ideas

Wednesday, October 17th

Politics in America

Did you watch the Debate last night?

I think it's important for all of us to be informed members of society and to make our voice heard.

It's looking like this election could be very close, and as such, it's extra important for all of us in the country to think through issues that will affect our lives.  Not only will the next president guide the country through the next four years, but during those four years it is very likely that he will appoint 1 or 2 Supreme Court justices, and those judges will make decisions that could last your entire lifetimes.  So, in case you're interested in following the polls these last three weeks, here are some that show how President Obama and Governor Romney are doing in the states that matter most:

Current Polls

1. Who's going to win?  How do you know?

2. Read "When I Heard the Learned Astronomer"

Write 1 paragraph giving one example from the poem showing that it is a romantic piece.

3. 

Contrast Puritans with Transcendentalists
In The American Experience, read pages 70-73, "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards.
And then read pages 456-460, "Song of myself,"  by Walt Whitman

October 11

Dr. Heidegger's Experiment online text

Today we will discuss Hawthorne's bizarrely intriguing story. What was in the champagne glasses? Why did the butterfly come back to life?  What is the moral of the story?

As we explore Romanticism, we need to do some reading to see how it manifest itself in America.
Read pages 238-257 in the text The American Experience and write 10 quiz questions.  Supply the answers since I will use your actual questions for the test.

Homework:
1. Memorize vocabulary words 41-50 for tomorrow's test (no Friday this week, so the vocab test is tomorrow).
2. Over the weekend, read to the beginning of chapter 23.  That means that you might want to start tonight

September 25

The Crucible

Today we will finish watching the fantastic film production of The Crucible. 

We will end the period with a discussion of the play/movie.  Which chararacters do you think are most "evil"?  Who do you now consider to be less culpable?  Remember, Arthur Miller does not see the world in black and white but, rather, in shades of gray. 

Interesting article showing inaccuracies in the film
inaccuracies in the film (if you don't feel like reading the whole thing, about three pages in you'll find bullet points)

And this article suggests that the real reason the girls appeared possessed was that they ate some rotten wheat (ergotism)
What Really Happened in 1692

Homework:  Keep reading The Scarlet Letter.  By Monday  you will need to have finished chapter 10
(And yes, I know that some of you haven't even started it yet.  And I also know that this book is very difficult for many of you.  That's why I suggested buying the Kaplan edition)

September 20

Today we are signing up for Turnitin.com accounts.
Here's our class ID: 5572052
Password: saxons

We'll be finishing up The Crucible today and tomorrow, and your assignment is to consider just where the characters fall on the "good/evil" continuum.  Remember, Arthur Miller doesn't really believe in a black and white world, so don't tell me that anyone is 100% evil or absolutely angelic.

Here's the netflix link to the film, which is available as "watch instantly"
The Crucible     I imagine that you have to own an account to see it.

The online text of the entire play can be found here:
Arthur Miller's The Crucible
(Remember, most books written more than 50 years ago are available for free on the internet if you simply search for "online text The Crucible"(or whatever the title is, of course))

YOUR    HOW TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (THE RIGHT WAY)  ESSAYS
MUST BE SUBMITTED TO  TURNITIN.COM BY MONDAY, 11:59 PM

Ah, remember, you have a vocabulary quiz tomorrow at the first of the period.  I forgot to remind you, but you already know that you have a vocab quiz every Friday, so I don't really need to remind you, do I?  
;~)

Monday, September 17, 2012

Your reading assignment tonight is to tackle Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil."  I think that you'll see some similarities between this story and The Scarlet Letter, and both stories will help us to get a handle on the Puritan's ways of dealing with guilt. 

At the same time that we are reading Hawthorne, we will be watching the movie version of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.  In The Crucible we also see characters struggling with guilt--some in ways similar to Hawthorne's characters, and some in more contemporary ways (this play was written in 1953 and deals with issues of that time). 

Here is the link to the online text for The Minister's Black Veil.  Be ready to discuss it tomorrow.


And don't forget that you have a vocab quiz Friday (and will every Friday)

September 13, 2012

What is the point of the story Young Goodman Brown? 
Vocabulary for the week
PSAT vocabulary
chapter 1 Scarlet Letter, chapter 1

Your homework assignment is to add a quote to our Google Doc for To Kill a Mockingbird
Significant Quote--To Kill a Mockingbird

September 11, 2012

Scarlet Letter Vocabulary List
Test on first 10 Friday

September 7

You homework assignment is to print and read Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown."  You'll find it at this link:

Young Goodman Brown

Welcome to Honors American Lit

What can I say, I love teaching Honors American Lit where the discussions are lively, the insights keen, and the writing enjoyable to read (keep it that way :~]

Rather than create a website, I've set up this blog for our class and you will be required to view it from time to time.  I prefer blogs to websites because they can be updated so easily and they also give you the opportunity to comment on the things that are said here and to give me input concerning neat and useful links to add to the "Resources" tab and the "Cool Stuff "tab.

The first thing I'd like you to do is to go to  the "Handouts" tab, open the syllabus, and print it.  Then read it, sign it, and have your parent or guardian sign it.  Detach the part at the bottom (keep the rest) and bring it to class by Friday.  Thanks!

Scarlet Letter Vocabulary List
Test on first 10 Friday, September 13th