Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Friday, May 30

Immigration Reform Argumentative Essay

Essay due: Friday, June 6
Bean Trees test Wednesday

Brief summary of The Immigration Bill--the crux of the issue: PATH TO CITIZENSHIP
—The estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally could obtain "registered provisional immigrant status" six months after enactment of the bill as long as:
(1) The Homeland Security Department has developed border security and fencing plans, per the specifications set out in the bill.
(2) They arrived in the U.S. prior to Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained continuous physical presence since then.
(3) They do not have a felony conviction or three or more misdemeanors.
(4) They pay a $500 fine.
—People in provisional legal status could work and travel in the U.S. but would not be eligible for most federal benefits, including health care and welfare.
—The provisional legal status lasts six years and is renewable for another six years for $500.
—People deported for noncriminal reasons can apply to re-enter in provisional status if they have a spouse or child who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, or if they had been brought to the U.S. as a child.
—After 10 years in provisional status, immigrants can seek a green card and lawful permanent resident status if they are current on their taxes and pay a $1,000 fine, have maintained continuous physical presence in the U.S., meet work requirements and learn English. Also the border triggers must have been met, and all people waiting to immigrate through the legal system as of the date of enactment of the legislation must have been dealt with.
—People brought to the country as youths would be able to get green cards in five years, and citizenship immediately thereafter.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/immigration-bill-summary-93557.html#ixzz33E6BRnKI

Immigration Reform S 744--Summary 1
Summary of Immigration Bill 2013

Human Trafficking in Portland
 

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Vocabulary for Final Exam: Norman Shur's 1000 Most Important Words
Quizlet cards for 50 most important words from the book The 1000 Important Words
Read The Bean Trees to page 70

Hand in poems. Enjoy!

Discuss characterization
Taylor (Missy)
What She's Like                                      Evidence--What she says, does, others say
1.  Stands up for herself                          1. "You think being busted is a joke?" (21)
2.                                                               2. "There was enough of destiny in it to satisfy me (16)
3. insecure; didn't believe in self            3. "I had expected more of a fight . . . " (7)
4. Wants to make some thing of self      4. "If I had wanted a baby, I would have stayed . . . (24)
5. Humble                                                 5. "He didn't treat me like teacher's pet . . ." (8)
6. She doesn't like abusive males          6. ". . . didn't have daddy, that I was lucky that way (12)
7.                                                               7. " I asked him how come he was giving me the job..."(8)
8. nonconformist         8. "...if I couldn't dress elegant I'd dress memorable." (6)
9.                                                               9."Which is not to say that we, me and Mama, were any        better than Harbines or had a dime to our name."(2)
10. "I'd probably seen the worst I was going to see so there was no reason to quit now." (13)
11. Wants to be free, to have vision       11. "In Kentucky, you could never see too far, since there were always mountains blooking the other side of your view." (17.)
12. Mrs. Hoge hinted in every imaginable way that she was retarded, but I mantained that she had her own ways of doing things and wasn't inclined to be pushed." (49)


Lou Ann
What She's Like                                      Evidence--What she says, does, others say
1. humble                                                  1. '... but thought of herself as just an ordinary Kentuckian...' (33)
2. Used to being objectified by men        2. "To be able to relax this way on a crowded bus was a     new experience for her..." (40)
3.  She focuses on the inside of a 
person and not appearances                    3."Lou Ann could never see why the accident needed to change his life at all" (36)
4. not confrontational--passive                 4. "thinking about herself and Angel splitting up... didn't particularly do anything about it..."(33-34)
5. very quiet and submissive                 5. "But Lou Ann rarely corrected anybody on anything." (38)
6. can't stand up for self; manipulable   6.'...Lou Ann had not experienced before. the arguments made her feel like the rubber in a Gumby doll, that her body could be bent into any shape and would stay that way.' (34)
7. Very self-conscious                           7. "As she was getting ready for bedshe caught sight of herself in the mirror and thought she looked disgusting and pornographic in her nightgown..."
8. Not ignorant                                        8. "Angel had warned her to keep them shut, but she had wanted to see where she was going."

2013 SAT Practice Test (Collegeboard.com)

Monday, May 12, 2014

A Near Summer Day

Today we will be writing nature poems. Use Mary Oliver's "The Summer Day" as a model.
(Homework is to read chapter 2 of The Bean Trees)



The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-- the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver, The House Light Beacon Press Boston, 1990.

Write your own nature poem today. Here's the process I'd like you to follow:
1. Either sit and look at the natural world or remember a time when you were in nature. 
2. Then write a list of ten very specific things that you see.
The best way to do this is to focus on something like Mary Oliver's grasshopper and write down details. These details will not be confined to the object you are focusing on but will include your surroundings.
2. Think in terms of how you perceive it and then write five images describing that place or thing 
(what you see, hear, smell, feel) Your descriptions of images might include wording similar to the following: "colorless and frail," "a watercolor painted peak," "like little devil horns"(simile) "behind hugging trees,"  (imagery; personification)"plastic imposter" (metaphor) "kids lightly, freely, innocently tossing the ball"  "on a morning like this, even the trash is beautiful"
5.(optional: Write your thoughts concerning at least one of these things)
6. Rewrite everything, making it a poem. 

Ripley's poem--An example of how to write the poem
1. Write a list of ten very specific things that you love about nature. Riplee's example is her camping spot

  • 1. Camping spot on the Alcea river
  • 2. Our cabin
  • 3. Path to the edge of the water
  • 4. Bright reflection of light off the water
  • 5. Warm sun on my skin
  • 6. Cold water
  • 7. The rock where we dove in
  • 8. The smooth texture of the rock
  • 9. Laughter
  • 10. The feeling of the water making my hair float in the water

2, 3 Describe five aspects of that place or thing 

  • The camping spot lies next to the water's edge
  •  there are tall trees, that give you 
  • The trail of sand leads down to the babbling brook 
  • The light is beautiful with blankets of shade and spots of sun
  • The water is cold
  • There is a rock with ridges and holes
  • I dive in head first into the sparkling water
  • the water makes my hair float in the water
5. Write your thoughts concerning at least one of the images
I feel free at the camping spot lies next to the water's edge
I'm at the height of pure bliss
I feel enclosed but free
Baking in the sun, you long for the cold water 
and give in to the desire.



6. Rewrite everything, making it a poem. 
We have a place on the Alce where your freedom is found, A place of pure bliss. A place with the tall trees, that give you blankets of shade and spots of sun. The trail of sand that leads down to the babbling brook and open rocks. Baking in the sun, you long for the cold water and give in to the desire. The awkward rock with ridges and holes, running out to jump, you meet the water, head first. Enclosed but free, looking up at the sparkling water, and wavy sun. For a second you wait at the height of pure bliss.

Examples of other nature poems
Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver reading her poem: Wild Geese
Text for Wild Geese