Recitation POSTPONED TILL SATURDAY!!!

O frabjous day, calloo, callay!!!

RECITATION ON SATURDAY.

Friday, don't forget your books!!!!

in-class, d2, recitation

big week sophs:

in-class essay block 6 monday, block 5 tuesday (just so each class gets full 55 minutes...)

8:00 thursday, draft 2 due to mr.cmwhite@gmail.com

friday, you will deliver your recitations with poise, grace, and drama.

saturday review for test!

but you know this already from reading the calendar....

Oh! Thello?

Extension till Friday

You may turn in your persuasive essay on Friday. This MUST BE A HARD COPY. I will subtract 5 POINTS from any paper that is not turned in properly. Please refer to the assignment under Links.

Papers should be 3-4 pages. You must use 3 sources. Use MLA formatting and in text citation.

Questions? Click on the LINK to Diana Hacker's article on MLA formatting or send me an email.

Get crackin.

Cheers.

Outline: Persuasive Essay

All Right, it's not really a full outline.
Brainstorm some thoughts about what you would like to argue. Topics in the past have included:

The drinking age should be 18
Abortion should be outlawed
Breakfast is essential to good health
Marijuana should be legal
The War in Iraq is Good
The War in Iraq is Bad
Hannah Montana Should be Mine, Only Mine (that's Sam Bacon)
Tabor Should abolish Saturday Classes
Dress Code Shmesh Code

All you have to do is find an issue that you care about, pick a side, and start thinking about some key points that support your argument. Click on comments and write all that in a paragraph. Put some thought into it please.

Blog: Soliloquy/Recitation

Here's the deal. You pick your lines, only i don't want repeats. This is first come first serve. You must have 12-17 lines--either in a chunk of dialogue or a soliloquy. You can choose the passage from anywhere in the play.
If someone already chose your lines, you need to choose again.

Your homework, for 5 points, is to simply find the passage and write down the Act, Scene, and Line numbers. You do not have to write out the entire passage here.

Enjoy.

HW: Quotations

Look back through Act 1 and find one passage that you think reveals something about the character's personality/temperament/nature.

Block 5: You get Iago
Block 6: You get Othello

First quote the passage. Then make your point: what quality(ies) does this reveal? Finally explain how and why. You should write a good paragraph, not including the quote itself.

Due Monday.

Also, quiz Monday.

Football? To play or not to play?

Troy and Cory disagree over football.

BLOCK 5 ONLY!!!: Take Troy's side in this argument. Why is he correct? Use examples from the text.

BLOCK 6 ONLY!!!: Take Cory's side. Why is HE correct? Again, prove it with the text.

The class that does the better job on this assignment shall receive two points in the CLASS WAR. Also shall receive a prize.

EXTENSION ON FINAL SUSPENSE DRAFT!

y'all have an extension until monday on your final suspense draft.

reading quiz thursday on p. 1-20 of Fences.

no vocab quiz thursday.

welcome back.

Suspense Outline: Due before class 10/14

Outline the following in your comment to this post. This assignment is worth 10 points.

1. Protagonist: A. What does he/she want? B. Give one distinguishing characteristic. C. Give one piece of history that shapes him/her.

2. Antagonist: A. What does he/she want? C. Give one reason that puts him/her in conflict with Protagonist.

3. Plot: A. What will be the climax of the story? B. What is the set-up? C. What is the conflict?

4. Setting: Where and when does this story take place?

5. Theme: What deeper ideas will you touch on?

Sunday: The Unblog

good evening bloggers of block 5 & 6

First off, if you were absent on Saturday, you don't have the story. Either borrow it or click on the link to the right, under Suspense. The story is called, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find."

hope you had a restful, relaxing, and rockin weekend.

some of you, or rather, one of you, has gone to the blog to see what tonight's question might be, and there is no question on the blog for "A Good Man Is Hard To Find."

On Monday, we will have a visiting teacher, a writer from the best graduate creative writing program in the country. He will be talking with you about the story, about suspense, and about creative writing in general.

Since we need every minute, you will not have a reading quiz on "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." However, I will be taking notes on your participation in the discussion, instead, for which you will receive a grade of 5-0, where 5 is excellent and 0 is, well, 0.

In other words, make sure that you have read the story. And if you still don't understand "Until Gwen," or never read it, read it again please.

Finally, please check the course calendar after 8:00 pm Sunday night for updates on the next writing project.

Cheers,
Mr. GW

HW #7: Until Gwen

In a nice, perfect paragraph, explain the meaning of the title, "Until Gwen."

HW #6: Killings

Consider Matt Fowler's crime and answer the following--you should have 5-6 sentences in total, not a full paragraph on each question:
1. Does Matt do the right thing? Explain.
2. Do you think he'll get away with it? Explain.
3. What will his married life be like now and going forward?

HOMEWORK #5: The Swimmer

What has happened to Neddy Merrill by the end of the Swimmer? The story doesn't tell you exactly, but it does give you hints. What do you think? What symbols or hints in the story guide your opinion?

HOMEWORK #4: Footbinder

1. Pleasure Mouse looks forward to the visit from the footbinder right up until the big moment. Along the way she visits a number of characters who develop various ironies for the reader. Choose one of these characters and explain how his/her scene with Pleasure Mouse is ironic.

2. Who do you blame more for the footbinding--Pleasure Mouse's mother or father. Why?

HOMEWORK #3: Pied Piper of Tucson

Charles "Smitty" Schmid

Again, this is a five point assignment. Answer on time, or you will lose 10%/day--that's .5 points.

A. Go to the Short Story Links on the right. Click on Casebook: J.C. Oates
Of the "Four Critical Interpretations" which do you agree with the most? Why?

B. Now click on the link called Time:Smitty
How is the teen culture of the article similar to Connie's lifestyle? Do you think Oates is blaming the victim by "killing" Connie in her story? Why or why not?

HOMEWORK #2: "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

This assignment is worth 5 points. Click on comments and answer ABC.

A. Look at the name Arnold Friend. Now take out the "R" in each word. Write the new "name."

B. Look up the meaning of the new "name" of Arnold Friend. How does this meaning change the way you look at the story?

C. What happens to Connie after she goes off with Arnold Friend? Provide an example from the text as evidence.

HOMEWORK #1: "Stuff"

How does J.T. Leroy "prove" to the reader that "Stuff" is a true story? Click COMMENT and write a short paragraph in response.

Course Overview

Course Overview: SophoMorphology 08/09

This ain't yer brother's or sister's sophomore English.

The focus of Fall Semester is on writing. You will almost always be working on a draft of an essay. As a general rule, three out of four class meetings will cover writing, grammar, and vocabulary, while one day will center on Literature.

As we move into Othello, in Quarter 2, I will change up the cycle so that we spend two out of every five class meetings addressing the play.

Quarter 1: Approximately seven weeks: Sept 10--Oct 30

Grammar: parts of speech, parts of a sentence, sentence completeness. Exercises drawn from Grammar for Writing

Writing Assignments: review elements of the paragraph, narrative/descriptive (biographical essay), persuasive (Tabor editorial), literary analysis (short story element). Set up writing workshop and have partners use each week the skills of revising, editing, and proofreading

Literature: select short stories and Fences

Quarter 2: Approximately eight weeks: Oct 31--Jan 19

Grammar: phrases (prep, participial, gerund), clauses, sentence types. Exercises from Grammar for Writing

Writing Assignments: Students will use the three different essay types from Q1 (narrative, persuasive, lit. analysis) to respond to teacher-created topics.

Speech: Prepare persuasive speech before Christmas Break. Use vacation time to memorize and practice--ski lifts and tropical beaches are excellent for this type of exercise--then deliver
speeches in January. Final competition will be around Jan 20th. Serious cash money prizes and mad props to the winners. Would you prefer to attend college at Dartmouth or UMass Dartmouth? This honor could ultimately make the difference for you!

Literature: select short stories and Othello

Quarter 3:

Literature: 1984 and Their Eyes Were Watching God

Quarter 4:

Literature: Zodiac