Senior Project Presentations

LIT 12 ONLY

.

It is time to start working on your Senior Project Presentation which will take place on December 12. You should plan on a 7-10 minute presentation on which you will be judged by members of our community.

.

You should review your research paper for material for your presentation. You may also want to discuss your mentor experience or your product.

.

Check the Senior Project Presentation Rubric to see how you will be graded. You should also review the Judges Responsibilities and their Follow-Up Questions to know what to expect from them.

.

Your COMPLETE Portfolio is also due on the 12th. You will need the Self-Evaluation form to complete this.

.

Make sure you e-mail me if you have questions or concerns.

Responsibility

Responsibility is taking ownership of your actions and the consequences of those actions.

When you decided to come to Classic City High School, you decided to take greater personal responsibility for your education.

The decisions you make in my absence can have a large effect on your grade or your credit.

Please be RESPONSIBLE.

I will be checking work in the next few days, so it may be a little while before you receive a response from me. Continue checking this blog and your e-mail daily.

In the meantime, read post below this one that has some examples of excellent work, or you can check out this cuteness.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri pages 1-198

I keep a list of all the books I finish every year, and every year when I get to the end, I realize a read very few books written by women or people from other cultures. This year was the same, and that is why I bought this book.

I was wanting to read a novel, so I may not have chosen this book of short stories if I had not been in a hurry. I enjoyed Lahiri's stories better than most, though.

The best thing about reading literature from other cultures is what you learn about different people. Most of the characters in these stories are married couples, so you get to learn a lot about Indian marriage traditions through these stories. I was also exposed to other cultural elements like Indian clothing, jewelry, and food as well as their special significance.

I would reccomend this book to others.

Very Nice!

I am very pleased with the work I have seen from all of you this semester. Please keep it up right until the end.

Here are a few examples of the best work I have seen lately:

Johnny Wallace: Why Auburn is Going to Beat Georgia this Year (good writing, but a bad prediction)

Bud Fowler doesn't like George W. Bush.

Ericka Samuel: Why the Graduation Test Should be Banned in All High Schools

The Transcendentalists can be one of the most confusing groups to study in American Literature, but they did not slow down Natasha Long or Jamal Arnold.

Jim Hayes got Medieval.

Modernism

What is the American Dream?

Can you define it?

Is the American Dream a Reality for all Americans?

.

The Great War (World War One) lasted from 1914 until 1918, and The United States became involved in 1917. The war was fought to protect humanity around the world, but became a bloodbath before long at all. Nearly 1,000,000 soldiers were killed in the Battle of Verdun alone. This was one of the first times modern technology like airplanes, poison gas, tanks, and other machinery were used to kill large numbers of people. World War One was a turning point for America and the rest of the civilized world, and it had major effects on the literature of our country.

.

One of the biggest themes of Moderist American Literature is disallusionment. Disillusionment is defined as freeing oneself, or getting away from an illusion, or getting away from ideas that have no logical basis. One of the most common targets of disillusionment was the American Dream -- the idea that the United States of America was a land of opportunity and that all its people were virtueous. Many writers were beginning to see that this wasn't all true, and they were not afraid to attack this ideal in their work.

.

This idea of disillusionment set the stage nicely for the Harlem Renaissance, when African-American artists were beginning to enjoy some mainstream success. These artists expressed the illogical nature of the American Dream since they especially were not permitted to enjoy the lifestyle it seems to guarantee. Many black soldiers who came home after serving in Europe immediately recognized that they were not treated with the same respect in their own homeland as they were in Eurpe. Many of these artists were the children and grandchildren of former slaves, and they too were ready to show that the American Dream was not quite the reality people thought. In their writing, music, and painting Harlem Renaissance artists either focused on the inequities that black Americans faced or celebrating the black American culture many people had not seen in art until this time.

.

Throughout the United States there was increased interest in the field of psychology, and this also showed up in the new literature. Look for instances where the author is inviting readers to look inside the minds of the charaters to figure out what may have contributed to their struggles.

.

The United States government also decided that alcohol was central to the social evils in the country, so they made its distribution and manufacture illegal in 1919. This contributed to the prevalence of speakeasys (illegal bars) and gangsters who became good at distributing illegal booze. You have probably heard these people refered to as "bootleggers". This shows up in Modernist literature as well. Many people call this the Jazz Age, and you can see many examples of speakeasys, jazz music, and an illegal lifestyle that was pretty common amoung social Americans.

.

Many American artists who had served in Europe during the war decided that Europe had more to offer than the United States. These people thought that the American Dream that they had heard about so much was not true, and they enjoyed the more lively and inexpensive lifestyle in Europe. This group, who chose to live mostly in France included writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemmingway, and Gertrude Stein came to be known as the Lost Generation.

.

Please post the following to your blog:

1. Choose one of the topics above that you are most interested in studying: Disillusionment, the Harlem Renaissnace, The Jazz Age, or Phychoanalysis. Write a paragraph that describes why you made this choice and how you expect to see the topic you chose represented in the literature you are about to read.

.

2. Read the story that coresponds to the topic you chose. Chose a topic according to your interests, not the length of the story. Choosing a story because of its length is not the wisest way to approach this assignment.

.

Disillusionment -- Soldier's Home by Earnest Hemmingway

The Harlem Renaissance -- Sweat or The Gilded Six-Bits by Zora Neale Hurston can be found here.

The Jazz Age -- Choose a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald here.

Psychoanalysis -- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber

.

When you are through reading, you should type a two-paragraph response to the story you read, and then provide another two paragraphs in which you analyize the topic you chose and how it is represented in the story. You need to be sure to provide quotes from the story to support what you claim.

.

3. Read the followin poems. When you study poetry, it is a good habit to read each selection MORE THAN ONCE.

.

Richard Corey by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Mending Wall by Robert Frost

A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes

Incident by Countee Cullen

.

Write a paragraph response to each poem in which you explain your opinions about what is being written as well as identify one of the elements of Modernism in each. These paragraphs must contain direct evidence from the poetry to support whatever claims you make. Please be thorough enough in this section so not to have to go back and make adjustmetns after I read your work.

SELF-EVALUATE YOUR WORK!!

ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.

ELAALRL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in a work of American literature and provides evidence from the work to support understanding.

ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

ELAALRL5 The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it correctly in reading and writing.

ELAALRC2 The student participates in discussions related to curricular learning in all subject areas.

ELAALRC3 The student acquires new vocabulary in each content area and uses it correctly.

Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt p 200-390

I am relieved to be finished with this book. It was interesting for the most part, but I am ready for something a little less dense.

My favorite of the last chapters was the one about King James and how Shakespeare used the knowledge of the King's superstitions to write Macbeth. Apparently, King James wrote a book about withcraft, so the witches in Macbeth surely would have interested the King.

The end of the book mostly concerns some of Shakespeare's land deals and his will.

This was not a real page-turner, but I am glad I read it.

Realism

Another Mini-Lesson:
The Rationalists thought the Puritans did not use enough of their scientific minds. The Romantics thought the Rationalists did not use enough of their imagination. How do you think the next group thought about the Romantics?

How would you feel about someone who was always stuck in their imagination?

The Realists came into fashion in the 1840s and 50s, and they did not think all the Romantic writings were doing much for people. The Realists saw social problems all around, and didn't think turning ones back on them would do much. Instead, they thought more could be accomplished by having readers face the ugly facts in their worlds.

Have you ever seen Boyz in tha Hood? It is an excellent example of realism. Boyz in tha Hood shows people who have never been to South-Central Los Angeles what life is like for the people who live there. When people see the blood and violence in the film, it should make them more aware of the social problems in that area than just being told about it. The realists felt the same way about slavery, the brewing civil war, women's rights, and many other social issues that they felt were not getting the attention they deserved.

Realists did not want readers to use their imagination, so their work is extremely detailed. These details can be the ugly facts they are trying to disturb their readers with, or they may be extremely descriptive explainations of how things look or what a character does. Think again about Boyz in the Hood. It is meant to disturb people. When people are disturbed, they are more likely to try to fix a problem.

I have another theory . . . Realism emerged at the same time photography was becoming popular. Think about the difference between a painting and a photograph. When you view a painting, you are encouraged to use your imagination, but when you look at a photograph, that isn't as necessary. Think painting=imagination=Romanticism / photograph=detaill=realism. Reading realism is much like looking at a photograph; they provide all the details so you do not need your imagination.

Your tasks:

8. Read "A Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. You should be able to indentify the following in this story:

a. details that specifically explain a characters actions, or detailed descriptions of a setting
b. a social issue that Chopin wants to solve

Write a paragraph respone to a and b in which you explain how this story includes these aspects of realism. Each paragraph should have some direct evidence from "A Story of an Hour".

9. Read "The Battle with Mr Covey" by Frederick Douglass. Follow the same directions for #1. Go further on this one to explain what you think Douglass' purpose was for writing this. Your response should be three paragraphs.

10. Provide a modern example of realism (Boyz in tha Hood, and Menace II Society, for that matter are off-limits). This can be music, a movie, a television show, a book, or whatever you may choose. You need to explain how it is realism, and provide an example from your choice (a lyric, description of a scene, quote, etc.)

11. The fun part - - -

a. Decide what you like best, Dark Romanticism or Realism.
b. Create a short piece ( a poem or very short story) of whichever you choose.
c. Explain (with at least a paragraph or two with direct evidence from your own example) how it is a good representation of Dark Romanticism or Realism. Keep in mind that you are proving how your story fits whichever idea you choose, so discussing the idea itself is necessary.

12. Explain (with DIRECT EVIDENCE FROM YOUR OWN WORK) how you have met (or exceeded) at least two of the standards listed below.

ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.

ELAALRL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in a work of American literature and provides evidence from the work to support understanding.

ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

ELAALRL4 The student employs a variety of writing genres to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of significant ideas in selected literary works. The student composes essays, narratives, poems, or technical documents.

Romantic and Victorian Poetry

To complete this project you will research both the Romantic and Victorian periods of British poetry, and then provide a collection of representative poetry.

STEP ONE: THE ROMANTIC PERIOD – You can find answers to these questions in a textbook or on the Internet. You will use this research to support what you find in the poetry, so doing a thorough job here will help you in the long-run. I would reccomend using the purple anthology, though you can find this information on the Internet as well.

Post the following on your weblog:
1. List and describe at least two historical events that occurred during or right before the Romantic Period (2 paragraphs).

2. After reading about these events, what do you think life was like for normal people during this time? (1 paragraph)

3. What did the Romantic poets want to express in their work? You should be able to list three or four qualities of Romantic poetry. These will be the things you will need to find examples of later. The purple anthology can help you here. (3-4 sentences for each quality you find)

Show me your responses to these questions before moving on.

STEP TWO: ROMANTIC POETRY:
Read a poem from each of the following poets, and then write a short review of each poem that: 1) Summarizes its content; 2) Analyzes how it is a good example of Romantic poetry; and 3) Uses direct evidence from the poem to support the claims you make in #3. Each of these reviews should be two paragraphs. Check to be sure each response includes the information for which I am asking. This will save you time. You can find many examples on the Internet by searching these poets' names. It would be helpful to create links to the poems you are describing. You can do with the link button above. I can show you how.

William Blake
William Wordsworth
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats

STEP THREE: THE VICTORIAN PERIOD – You can find answers to these questions in a textbook or on the Internet. You will use this research to support what you find in the poetry, so doing a thorough job here will help you in the long-run. I would reccomend using the purple anthology, though you can find this information on the Internet as well.

1. List and describe at least two historical events that occurred during or right before the Victorian Period. (2 paragraphs)

2. After reading about these events, what do you think life was like for normal people during this time? (1 paragraph)

3. What is the biggest difference between the Victorian Period and the Romantic Period? What caused this change? This is one of the things you will need to prove with examples from the poetry you will read. It is important to created a good response here. The purple anthology can help you. (1-2 paragraphs)

4. What did Victorian poets want to express with their work? You should be able to identify three or four qualities of Victorian poetry. Once again, you will be searching for these qualities in the poems you read, so a thorough job here will help you in the long-run. (3-4 sentences for each quality you find)

Show me your answers to this section before moving on.

STEP FOUR: VICTORIAN POETRY
Read a poem from each of the following poets, and then write a short review of each poem that: 1) Summarizes its content; 2) Analyzes how it is a good example of Romantic poetry; and 3) Uses direct evidence from the poem to support the claims you make in #3 and 4. Each of these reviews should be two paragraphs. Check to be sure each response includes the information for which I am asking. This will save you time. You can find many examples on the Internet by searching these poets' names. It would be helpful to create links to the poems you are describing. You can do with the link button above. I can show you how.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Robert Browning
Matthew Arnold
Thomas Hardy

Sample Mentor Log

There seems to be some confusion as to what a mentor log should look like. Here is an example to go by . . .

October 24, 2006
1:30 P.M. -- 3:00 P.M.

I visited Rafeal Martinez at the Rawlings Baseball Factory in Costa Rica. When I came into the door, I had to wait a while in a small office until Rafeal was ready to come get me. While I waited, a lady in the office got me a safety helmet and some earplugs. I also had to sign some paperwork that said I would not sue the baseball factory if I were to get hurt.

After about ten minutes, Rafeal knocked on the door and led me into one of the first rooms of the factory. In this room, there were giant spools of string. Some of them were taller than a house. Rafeal explained that this was the kind of string that is used to wind up the inside of a baseball, and that this string was specially made for this purpose. No one else is able to purchase this particular string. I asked him why this is true. He said he wasn't very sure, but he thought it was because Rawlings did not want other companies like Spalding or Wilson to be able to manufacture baseballs in the same way.

Next Rafeal showed me the room where they store the thousands of little cork balls around which the string is wound. I never knew the center of a baseball was made of cork. We did not stay in this room very long. Before going into the room where large rolls of leather were stored. The leather is for the outside of the baseballs. Rafeal explained to me how the leather is cut into hourglass-shaped pieces in the next room to be sewed together around the cork and string.

Rafeal and I planned our next meeting to be next week. Then he is going to show me how the balls are stitched together and quality tested. I discussed with Rafeal my product for this project, and he suggested I manufacture my own baseball once I understand the process and learn how to use all the machines.

Notice that I included the things I saw, learned, and asked. I will be checking you logs again soon. This is a major part of this project, and you should be putting as much effort into this portion as you put into your research paper.

The Restoration

The Renaissance was already over for the most part when King James I died in 1625, and his son Charles I took the throne. Charles was a terrible ruler, more like an invisible dictator than a king. By 1649, people were fed up with Charles, and during this year some the most powerful people in the kingdom had him beheaded. For the next eleven years England was ruled by the Parliment while the heir to the throne, Charles II was hiding in France.

In 1660, Charles II returned to the throne, which began a period of more normal and steady life for the English. In the time between the death of James I and the restoration of the crown, England was devistated by plague, damaged by a fire that left two thirds of London homeless, and had been in the grips of a civil war for twenty years. The country was exhausted. This new period which lasted until arounf 1800 is known as the Restoration -- a period when people continued their quest for higher learning, art and philosophy.

Many people call this period "The Age of Reason" because many people began to turn to science to explain the mysteries of the universe that were precviously explained through religion. For those of you who remember the Rationalists from American literature, these periods were very similiar. Instead of asking why things happend, people started investigating how they happened. This included everything from astronomy to biology to physics. A philosophy called Deism. in which people believed God built the universe and then left it alone for people to run became more popular.

English writing went through a transformation as well. Instead of the flowery poetry of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, English writers began to adopt prose (prose = not poetry), a much simpler and planer form that was accessable to more people. New forms of writing like diaries, journals, newspapers, magazines, and novels became much more popular.

Please post the following to your blog:

1. Research The Glorious Revolution (sometimes called the Bloodless Revolution) online or in one of the textbooks. Write a paragraph summarizing what happened, and then another that explains why you think the event was so important.

2. Define "satire". Don't just copy and paste a definition from another source. Read the definition, and then explain it in your own words. Once you have done that, provide a few modern-day examples of satire (television shows, movies, magazines, etc.).

3. Read "A Modest Proposal", which may be difficult at first, but if you stick with it, the message will become more clear. Once you are finished reading, you should write a short response to what you read (4-5 sentences), and explain how this is a work of satire.

4. Read either "from the Diary of Samuel Pepys" or "from A Journal of the Plague Year" by Daniel Defoe, both of which can be found in the purple anthology. Once you have finished reading, write a 1-2 paragraph response to what you have read. Please be sure to include some direct evidence from the text to help show what you are responding to.

5. What do you think was most important to people living in this time? Write a 1-2 paragraph response to this question in which you use direct evidence from the texts you read to support whatever arguments you make.

A Will in the World by Stephen Greenbatt p 87-199

This book is becoming more and more interesting. I was thinking of puting it down, but I kept at it. Now I am glad. The author, Stephen Greenblatt has spent the last couple of chapters refuting some of the common wisdom on the life of William Shakespeare. One of the more interesting investigations is into the reason why Shakespeare left his hometown, Stratford to go to London. Greenblatt speculates that it may be because William got into trouble poaching deer off another man's land as a prank, or that he was anxious to get away from the wife he was forced to marry because he got her pregnant, or maybe it was because he was afraid authorities would find out about his Catholic family background.

When Shakespeare was a young man, the pope announced to the world that it would not be a sin to murder Queen Elizabeth since she headed a country that was against the authority of the church. Elizabeth took this very seriously, going as far as public excutions for people who were even suspected of being Catholic. These descriptions were very suprising to me. There are more than a few examples of beheadings, disembowlment, drawing and quartering, as well as the display of heads on London Bridge.

The last chapters I have read focus mostly on William's early acting and playwriting career, and the sources he may have used in his research. Once again, I am glad I have continued reading this book; I needed to add something a little more challenging to my list anyhow.

Writing Four -- Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing is a form with which you are probably very familiar. It appears in newspapers and magazines, and you are likely to have already written your fair share of persuasive writing. The topics for the Georgia High School Graduation Writing Test are usually persuasive in nature.

Persuasive Writing is a piece of writing in which you try to persuade someone to agree with you or to convince them to share your opinion of something.

You may choose a political issue like immigration, upcoming elections, state graduation tests, drivers' licence policies for teanagers, or the war in Iraq to attempt to get others to share your feelings on the issue.

You may choose to argue that your favorite entertainer, athlete, team, television show or movie is the best.

You may choose to convice people that something going on today needs to be changed.

You can read some good examples of persuasive writing here, here, here, and here.

EVIDENCE is one of the most important elements of persuasive writing. If you are attempting to change someone's mind, or influence their opinion, you need to provide examples of why you feel the way you do.

You will need to complete a two-page double spaced (Times New Roman 12pt) draft by November 2nd to be ready to edit.

Please let me know if you need help choosing a topic.

Dark Romanticism

Before you start:

1. What is original sin?

2. How did the Transcendentalists feel about it?

If you cannot explain these two questions, you probably need to call me over for a little conversation. It would not make much sense progressing without knowing these things and being able to explain them well.

Just like every other movement in American Literature you have studied (Puritanism, Rationalism, Romanticm, and Transcendentalism) Dark Romanticism is a reaction to the movement that came before it. Dark Romanticism is a little different because it coincides with Transcendentalism. Sometimes the Dark Romantics are known as Anti-Transcendentalists for this reason.

First, let's review the Transcendentalist philosophy:

1. They believed that everyone was absolutely pure and that each individual is a part of God.

2. They believed that people's thoughts and intuition were the voice of God.

3. They did not believe in institutions like government because they thought the individual human mind was the strongest power in the universe.

What would your argument to this philosophy be? Are all people good? Is the voice inside people's heads the pure voice of God?

Let's review the lives of some of the Dark Romantics to see if we can predict how they would answer these questions:

Nathaniel Hawthorne's great grandfather was one of the judges in the Salem witchcraft trials during Puritan times. During these trials, nineteen people and two dogs were hanged, and one man was crushed to death by stones all in the name of God. Nathaniel Hawthorne was embarrassed by this, so he changed the spelling of his to lessen the association with his relative, a minister and a judge who sentenced people to cruel deaths because other people accused them of being evil. Hawthorne would become famous for his novel The Scarlet Letter and short stories like "The Minister's Black Viel" and "The Birthmark" in which he criticises the Puritan culture. How would Hawthorne feel about the Transcendental philosophy? Reread thier beliefs if you need to.

Herman Melville was not a trained and educated writer like Emerson, Thoreau, or Hawthorne. He instead made his early living in the merchant marine as a sailor because of the fiancial breakdown in his family. Melville, who wanted to become a writer, was working on a ship as early as twelve years old. While sailing around the globe, Melville witnessed many things he would not have seen at his home in New York. One sight that reportedly effected him severely were the cannibals he saw in the South Pacific. Melville would write Moby Dick later in his life. Moby Dick was a novel about a ship captain, Ahab who was so obsessed with killing a white whale that ate his leg that he sacrifices his entire ship and all the men on it. Was Ahab pure of mind to sacrifice all the men he was charged with leading? Would a man who witnessed people eating human flesh agree that everyone was good and pure?

Edgar Allen Poe's mother died when he was very young, his stepfather disowned him when he went to college, and all three of his wives died from tuberculosis. Poe developed terrible addictions to opium and alcohol. By today's standards, he was probably insane. Poe's stories and poetry all feature characters who begin with a small grain of evil in their minds which eventually takes over. Many biographers argue that every one of Poe's stories represent something inside his mind.

In short, the Dark Romantics, after reviewing their life experiences thought that the Transcendental philosophy was severely flawed. They saw that people could be evil, insane, unpure, or generally not 100% good like the Transcendentalists thought. Unlike the Transcendentalists, they believed in original sin, and that it was responsible for the evil that existed inside of everyone.

Post the following responses to your blog:

1. Which side of the divide do you fall? Are you closer to being a Transcendentalist or a Dark Romantic? Explain your answer with a short paragraph.

2. Read either "The Black Cat" or "Hop-Frog", both by Edgar Allen Poe. As you read, keep the Dark Romantics' beliefs in mind because you will be asked to point out these beliefs in the story later. You can also choose to listen to "The Masque of Red Death" below:

3. Write a 2-3 paragraph response to the story you read. You should explain what you thought of the story as well as how well it illustrates how the Dark Romantics disagreed with the Transcendantalists. You need to provide at least a line or two of direct textual evidence from the story you chose to prove your claim.

You can also see the video a little larger here.

5. Once of Poe's most famous works was "The Raven", a poem he wrote while his second wife was literally dying in the next room. Read the poem (more than once), and then write a response (at least two paragraphs) that includes a few lines that stuck out to you. Add another paragraph or two that should explain how this poem represents an anti-Transcendental idea. As always, responses with direct evidence are always better than those that do not.

When you are finished, review your work to be sure it contains everything I've asked for, and then leave me a comment to this post to remind me to read your work.

Self-Evaluate Your Work!!

ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.

ELAALRL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in a work of American literature and provides evidence from the work to support understanding.

ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

ELAALRL5 The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it correctly in reading and writing.

ELAALRC2 The student participates in discussions related to curricular learning in all subject areas.

A Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt p 1-86

The first two chapters of this book have been dense but still enjoyable. I may have been more interested in reading a book that tries to prove that William Shakespeare did not really write all the plays attributed to him, but this one is fine for now. In this book, Stephen Greenblatt makes an attempt to prove that Shakespeare did write what he is credited with. He does this by speculating many points since very few tangible records of Shakespeare's life exist. There aren't any manuscripts of his plays.

So far Greenblatt has spent most of the book discussing Shakespeare's father, John. John Shakespeare was a baliff, sheriff, and altogehter respected man in his town of Stratford. He even got elected to be the villiage ale-tester, which according to Greeenblatt was a very respected position. I think I would have been good at that, but enough about me.

Eventually John Shakespeare loses his fortune and his place in society, and his son William makes many attempts to restore it. The main way he does this is to apply for a family crest. During Shakespeare's time, there was a big division between the gentiles and the peasants, and one way to prove a family's standing was with a crest. William Shakespeare, after he becomes an actor of repute in London, applies for a crest for his family, but it later gets regected.

Editing ROCKS!!!

Moneyball by Micheal Lewis -- p 119-288

The second half of Moneyball gets deeper into the A's drafting players that other teams do not really want, and then follows these players' stories as they rise up to the Major Leagues and do very well to everyone else's suprise.

One of these players was Jeremey Brown, who Billy Beane drafted out of Alabama. In most people's eyes, Brown was fat and lazy, and no other team wanted anything to do with him. What Beane and his men saw was that even though Brown didn't look like the greatest baseball player, he got on base much more than anyone else in his conference. Other teams laughed at Beane and the A's for drafting Brown, but he ends up shooting up through the minor leagues as one of the best players drafted in his year.

The end of the book focuses on the A's run to the playoffs, and how even though the team has been successful with their unconventional ways, many people still fail to put any confidence in them. The A's are still doing things in their own way now, and they have made it to the playoffs again.

I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in baseball or business. Other people may be bored by it, but I think it will prove to be one of the most important book written on baseball this generation. Many other teams are already modeling their practices after Beane's ways that are described in Moneyball.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance in Europe was probably the most important period for the Western artistic world. After the black plague killed approximately one-third of Europe's population, the surviving people were ready to move on with a new attitude. If you narrowly escaped a period when one out of every three people died, how would you feel?

Many say the Renaissance began in Italy when the Catholic church began commissioning artists. An example with which you are probably familiar is when Pope Julian II hired Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

The new theories about life, philosophy, religion, and art were strengthened by a group known as the Humanists, who studied Latin and Greek classics to find answers to live better lives. This was the beginning of the Renaissance's turn from the Catholic Church. This turn, better known as The Reformation, was strengthend even furhter with Johannes Guthenberg's invention of the printing press.

The printing press was immediately important because it lowered the cost of books and other printed items. Before the press, monks copied most of the books. This was time consuming and extremely expensive. Once the press was invented, more people could buy books, mostly Bibles, and this helped raise the literacy rate throughout Europe. When people started reading their own Bibles, things started changing quickly. They no longer relied on the Pope to translate the messages in the Bible for them -- this lead to many people doubting the power of the Catholic church, and soon many protestant religions formed to rival the Catholic church.

Another big blow to the church came when England's King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic church to start the Church of England. He wanted to divorce one of his wives, but the Pope would not allow it. He decided to start his own protestant church instead. He eventually had six wives in all: two he divorced, two he had beheaded, one died on her own, and one outlived him (lucky her). There is an interesting website about his six wives here. My aunt once proved that my mother's family is related to Henry VIII -- enough about me . . .

Things got really interesting once Henry VIII died. At the time of his death, he had three children: Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward, who was nine years old. The succesion laws said that the sons had to be crowned first, so for the next six years, England was ruled by a child (Edward VI)-- actually he ruled in name only; his sisters called the shots. Edward was a sickly boy who died before his sixteenth birthday.

The next ruler of England was Mary, who would rule for five years. Mary's mother was the princess of Spain, and Mary held tight to her Catholic roots. She would come to be known as "bloody Mary" since she set out to rid England of protestants. She had many executed and burned many more alive.

When she died, her younger sister, Elizabeth became queen. She would rule England for the next forty-five years. She never married, and she used the many princes and kings from other countries who wanted to marry her to England's advantage. She restored the Church of England, and was a lover of art. Many historians speculate that she was the one who actually wrote Shakespeare's plays.

When Elizabeth died, the Renaissance was already coming to an end. She was followed by King James, who you might recognize as the person who commissioned the English translation of the Bible that is still popular today. James was a dull man in comparison to Elizabeth -- he did not care for the arts as much as she did, either.

Individual Novel Project

The first thing you need to do is choose a novel from the reading list for novel projects, which you can access here or under "class documents" on the main page.

It is very important that you make a wise decision since this project will count as two grades and it will take you several weeks. Making a good choice of a novel will make this easier for you. Do not choose a book just because you think it is short; this often makes things more difficult. Do not try to get away without reading the book. This is a novel project -- you need to READ a novel.

Step One: Choose a novel from the list, and then talk to me about your choice before you begin. You may want to have several choices since I won't approve everything.

Step Two: Read your novel. You will be able to add this reading to your independent reading record. Once again, trying to complete this project without reading your novel is foolish. I expect you to post three separate responses to your novel as you read. These responses need to be at least four complete paragraphs. You should not wait until the end to do this (keep in mind that Blogger puts a date on all your work). You may want to look over your book and plan where you will write your responses before you begin. The completion of these three responses accounts for 25% of your total grade.

Step Three: When you finish your novel, you should do some research on the author. Go beyond the regular information like where they were born, where they died, etc. Get interesting information about their life experiences, and try to make a connection between the author's life and the novel they created. Maybe you can find the author's purpose for writing the novel the way he or she did. When you are finished with your research, post a 4-5 paragraph biography with your findings. Please remember that you agreed to submit only original work. The completion of this biography will be graded according to the rubric for weblog posts, and will account for 25% of your grade.

Step Four: What is the historical significance of the novel you chose? What makes it worthy of study in a literature class? You should search the Internet for some critical essays about your novel for some of this information. Use the information you find to prove how the novel you chose is an important piece of literature. This should be the most intense part of this project, and your final product should be an essay that proves the importance of your novel that includes evidence from the critical essays you have read, as well as evidence from the novel itself. This essay should be written in the same format as your other essays. You will receive an additional three writing grades for this part of your project (rough draft, editing, final draft). ROUGH DRAFTS WILL BE DUE NOVEMBER 16, 2006.
The final draft of this essay will be graded according to the writing rubric, and will account for 50% of your grade on this project.

Moneyball by Michael Lewis p 1-118

Moneyball is one of the most popular sports books of the past ten years or so. If you are a baseball fan, you may have heard the title already. Since this book's publication "moneyball" has been a term that people use for how some baseball teams with very small budgets can hang with teams with much bigger payrolls. For instance, this year the Florida Marlins are close to making it to the playoffs with a team that gets paid less than three individual New York Yankees.

So far this book has focused on two people: Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's, and Bill James, a freelance baseball staistician.

Billy Beane grew up as one of the top prospects in Major League Baseball. He was drafted straight out of highschool, but never did much once he reached the Majors. This ruined his beliefs about how new ballplayers should be chosen for the Majors. Beane eventully quit playing baseball and asked to be a scout for the team. Within years he was the general manager of the A's.

Bill James was not hired by any professional team. He used to compile his stats from box scores in newspapers (there was no Internet then), and publish a book called Baseball Abstract every year. He would advertise his book in classified ads across the country. In his first year he would sell under 50 copies. His abstract took into question the way baseball records were kept. He also suggested new ways of keeping stats and records. Not many people took him seriously -- then.

The last chapter I read was about the 2001 Major League Basball draft. Beane, using James-like information has just chosen 20 players that nobody else wanted. Most of the other teams are laughing at him at this point. From memory, I know the A's did pretty well that year, and Beane got many people's attention that year. I also know that the A's, with Beane as their G.M. is about to win their division this year, so something must be working.

I am not sure how I would rate this book at this point. I think I would reccomend Buzz Bissenger's and Tony LaRussa'a Three Nights in August over this one.

Writing Three

You will receive three grades for each of your writings, which should give you the best opportunity to produce the best work. You should have your rough draft completed at the beginning of class on September 28, 2006.

The topic of this piece of writing is a little different, and it could earn you some MONEY, CASH, CHEESE, MOOLAH, DOUGH, BREAD, etc.

All you have to do is write an essay that explains how Communities in Schools (the company that makes schools like Classic City Performance Learning Center possible) has made a difference in your life. You should focus on one big reason and then back it up with several examples.

If you really aren't into winning money, let me know and we can decide an alternative topic.

You need to have a two-page, double-spaced (12pt. Times New Roman) draft at the beginning of class on the date above to be able to edit.


Last Year's State Written Expression Winner

Transcendentalism

Opening: Call me over to your work area so you can answer the following questions.

a. What is original sin?
b. How did the Puritans feel about original sin?
c. How did the Rationalists differ from the Puritans?
d. What are the main themes of Romanticism? Georgia Performance Standard ELAALRL2 states that you should be able to identify themes and support them with evidence. I will expect that you can do this at this point.

That should have been easy.

Now we are going to investigate the central themes of another group of Romantics called the Transcendentalists.

You will continue to address the following Georgia Performance Standard:

ELAALRL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in a work of American literature and provides evidence from the work to support understanding.

Mini-Lesson:
By the mid-1800s, the United States was still in search of its literary identity. America had popular writers like Washington Irving, but they still did not have the heavy hitters to match up with some of Englands poets and essayists. The Unites States wanted to declare literary independence from Enlgand, much like the political separation that happened almost one hundred years earlier.

It was a good time for Americans to want to assert themselves in the literary world. Learning was very popular at the time. Most Americans wanted to improve their minds in one way or the other. Some of the most popular things to do were attending lectures on topics from astronomy to botany to physics to philosophy. Groups pushing for the abolition of slavery and increased rights for women were also forming during this time.

This strive for independence began for the most part during a hiking trip and dinner with a guestlist that would include some of the United States' most famous literary figures: Nethaniel Hawthorne, Herman Mellville, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. It was at this outing that these men decided that the United States should have writers as good as England's William Shakespeare, and that this would never happen unless they made an effort to do so. These men's dreams would soon be realized in two separate groups -- The Transcendentalists and the Dark Romantics, sometimes known as "anti-transcendentalists".

The Transcendentalists:

The Transcendentalists were Romantics who adopted philosophies from many other places and cultures. They believed that the individual human mind was one of the most powerful instruments in the world, and that the individual mind was connected to all others through what was known as the "oversoul", a collection of everyone's soul that we all share.

Transcendentalists believed that God spoke through people's minds and their hard work. Since they believed this, they also believed that every human was absolutely good and pure. They did not believe that the origianl sin committed by Adam and Eve made the rest of us sinners. Why would God communicate through an impure mind? They also believed that God could communicate to people through nature and a persons intuition.

Since God spoke through individuals, Transcendentalists did not belive that institutions like the governemnet or organized religion were effective. They believed that if a person was truly in touch with their surroundings, they could transcend these physical and man-made things to connect with God. The Transcendentalists' optimism and overall trust in the goodness of all people made them popular with outsiders who would often enjoy their lectures.

Please read the following (all of these can be found in the red anthology):

from "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
from "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson


5. When you are through reading, post a 1-2 paragraph response to each piece of writing to your blog. Be sure to concentrate more on what you thought of each piece of writing. Try to include at least one piece of direct evidence with each response (remember standard #1). This should be something that stuck out to you about the particular piece of writing.

6. Next, write explain how each piece is a good example of Transcendentalism by identifying the central themes I described earlier in the post. Use what you read above, and prove that each piece is a good example with a paragraph supported with direct evidence (one paragraph each).

NEXT!!

Check this guy out. If you do not see the video here, you can find it in my assignments folder. I have called it Wilderness:

7. How can you apply Transcendental philosophy to the man in this video? I'm sure you could easily spend a couple paragraphs telling me how. I also know it would be easy for you to back up whatever you say with direct evidence from the texts you have already read. If you are really into it, you might read a little of Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Just choose a couple sections you think you would like.

Self-Evaluate Your Work!!

Once you are finished, leave me a comment so I know to view your work.

Awesome Work!

I would once again like to congratulate everyone on their efforts so far. Below are some great examples of descriptive writing that I have had the pleasure to read this week.

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!

'64 Caprice by Josh Duke

A Walk in the Woods by LaDreika Kelly

The Beach by Myles Shepley

A Typical Day in My Neighborhood by Michelle Nash

Christmas by Kaneelvis Smith

Independence Day by Ravente Nowell

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami -- pgs 102 -- 299

I finished this book last night, and I still say it was not as good as Kafka on the Shore, which I would highly reccomend to other people. I still like the way Murakami writes, and I kind of wish I could read his books in Japanese since I'm sure I'm missing a lot reading a translation.

This book is titled A Wild Sheep Chase because the main character has to track down a special sheep in the mountains of Japan to save the company he and a friend of his started. This sheep is magical in that it can inhabit people's bodies for years at a time. The political boss that has the main character on this search needs to find the special sheep because it has left his body, and now he is very ill. We also find out that the main character's best friend, a guy named The Rat was also inhabited by this special sheep.

There is a sequel to this book called Dance, Dance, Dance, and I will probably read that one too -- just not right away. Come to think of it, Kafka on the Shore was originally published as two books in Japan, and later turned into one for American markets.

Research Paper RUBRIC

RESEARCH PAPER RUBRIC
This is how your final product will be graded. You should pay close attention to this and self-evaluate your work as you go. There is another version of this in your Senior Project Handbook that may be easier to use. Each section lists the possible points you can earn.


AREA I: Format

Front page

3

Internal documentation

10

Pagination

2

Bibliography

15

AREA II: Organization


Beginning (thesis statement)

10

Middle (well-developed support)

25

End (thoughtful conclusion)

5

AREA III: Grammar


Sentence Structure
10

Use of tense
5

Capitalization
5

Spelling
5

Punctuation
5

TOTAL

100

The YES test

Use this guide when writing your research paper. I will not accept drafts that do not pass all of these requirements.

Minimum length (not including Title Page and Bibliography)

Typed

Correct format

Internal documentation

Title page with title, name, date, and teacher’s name

Bibliography

Minimum required sources

Correct format

Pages numbered

Citing your Sources

When you write your research paper, it is important to cite every source you use. This insures that you give the people from whom you got your information get credit for their ideas. Failure to give this credit results in plagiarism.

This is where copying down all the bibliogroaphical information from your sources will come in handy. If you have neglected this important step, this is where you will really start to regret doing so.

EXAMPLE – Many Major League Baseball players in the 1940s and 50s took years out of their careers to serve in the military (Jones 345). One well known example is Ted Williams who took time out of his career with the Boston Red Sox to serve in World War II and the Korean War. “Williams said he owed it to his country to serve, and that the bats and balls would be waiting for him upon his return” (Thomas 194).

In this example it should be clear that the first bit of paraphrased evidence came from an author named Jones, and the direct quote came from an author named Thomas. If a reader wanted to know more about these sources, the entire entry will be listed alphabetically in my bibliography.

EXAMPLE -- Negro League players faced many problems once they joined Major Leagur teams. Many were the only African-Americans on their teams, and in many cases they were forced to use different showers, and they were not permitted to wash their uniforms with the rest of the team's clothes. These troubles were not only in the clubhouse and dugout. In many cities, these players received death threats and were taunted by racist fans (Negro League Baseball Museum).

In this example it should be clear that all this information was taken from the Negro League Baseball Museum. Since this was from a website, no page number is necessary. Look at the difference between the first and second examples. The first has two sources in the same paragraph, so I put the citation after the information from that source ends. In the second example, I just put it at the end of the paragraph.

In most cases, your citation will include the last name of the author, or the origanization responsible for a website plus the page number, if necessary. The period always goes outside the citation.

EXAMPLES -- (Siegmund 74). (Jones 1). (National Association of Negro League Players).

Sometimes these citations are a little different if you name the author at the beginning of the paragraph. In that case, all you need is the page number.

EXAMPLE -- In his autobiography, Ready to Play Cool Pappa Bell describes his first time traveling with a major league team. "First off, I had to stay in a different hotel on the colored side of town. I was late to the stadium because the team bus wouldn't drive over there to pick one player up. My manager was angry about that, but when I stole three bases and hit a double in the game, he seemed to forget pretty fast" (34).

Outlining Your Research Paper

Writing a research paper is a major task, and one that should not be done without some planning. It would not be wise to take on this kind of task without an outline. I know how some people may feel about outlines, and believe me, I have felt the same. An outline does not have to be a fancy document with numbers, letters, and subsections. If you can make a list, you can write an outline. People with good outlines have their entire paper mapped out for them before they start writing.

If you have taken good notes from around ten sources, you are ready to begin outlining your paper. This is when you move from collection mode into writing mode, though you may still need to collect a few more sources. An outline can also help you see which sections of your paper need more sources.

Let's continue with the example I started with. I am writing a research paper on Negro League Baseball. I have collected notes from twelve sources from the Internet and from print sources. The first thing I want to do is to catagorize what I have found. After reviewing my notes, I see that I have the following catagories of information:

1. History of the Negro Leagues
2. Negro League Players
3. Negro League Stadiums
4. Negro League Teams
5. Integration into the Major Leagues

All I have done so far is make a list. Anyone can do this. If your list is very short, then you know you should look for different types of information. Once I have this, it is time to stretch this list out, and list some of the details I will include about these subjects.

1. History of the Negro Leagues
a. How did it start?
b. Where did it start?
c. What prevented African-Americans from playing in the Major Leagues?
d. How long did the league last?

2. Negro League Players
a. Well-known players
b. Records
c. Negro League Hall of Fame

3. Negro League Stadiums
a. Kansas City
b. Homestead
c. New York
d. Atlanta
e. Which stadiums are still there?
f. attendence

4. Negro League Teams
a. Kansas City Monarchs
b. Homestead Greys
c. New York Cubans
d. Atlanta Black Crackers
e. What became of these teams
f. Championships, etc.

5. Integration into the Major Leagues
a. How many players integrated
b. How did the African-American players do in the major leagues
c. What struggles did the new players have?

Now that I have catoragized my information and stretched each of those sections out, it is time for me to get more detailed about what is actually going to appear in my paper. If I do this part well, my paper will almost write itself off of this outline. This is where I am going to specify where I am going to use all the information I've taken from my sources. It may be helpful to number your notes at this point.

1. History of the Negro Leagues
a. How did it start?
1. Original Baseball Leagues had black players (note 25)
2. Segrigation Laws (note 13)
3. School Teams (note 9)
4. Military Teams (note 16)
b. Where did it start?
1. Texas (note 12)
2. Ohio (note 2)
3. New York (note 5)
c. What prevented African-Americans from playing in the Major Leagues?
1. Segrigation Laws (note 23)
2. Burger vs. New York (note 8)
3. Players arrested for playing baseball (notes 13, 43)
d. How long did the league last?
1. New York League (note ?)
2. Ohio League (note 32)
3. Major Negro League (note 8)
4. Post-Integration (notes 7, 23, 14)

2. Negro League Players
a. Well-known players
1. Jackie Robinson (notes 2, 4, 56)
2. Josh Gibson (notes 18, 2, 43)
3. Satchel Paige (notes 34, 23, 19)
4. Cool Papa Bell (notes 1, 56, 7)
b. Records
1. Home Runs (note 34)
2. Hits (note 43)
3. Stolen Bases (note 8)
4. RBI (note 29)
5. Strikeouts (note 32)
c. Negro League Hall of Fame
1. Kansas City (note 5)
2. Exhibits (note 18)

3. Negro League Stadiums
a. Kansas City
1. Dates (note 26)
2. Capacity (note 17)
3. Now (note 11)
b. Homestead
1. Dates (note 26)
2. Capacity (note 17)
3. Now (note 11)
c. New York
1. Dates (note 26)
2. Capacity (note 17)
3. Now (note 11)
d. Atlanta
1. Dates (note 26)
2. Capacity (note 17)
3. Now (note 11)
e. Which stadiums are still there?
1. How are they used? (note ??)
f. attendence
1. How did it compare to MLB? (note ??)
2. Did white people attend? (note ??)

You should be able to see that if I had continued stretching out my entire outline, I would have a map of my paper. This work will make it simple for me to begin my first draft of my research paper since I have a list of everything that will go into it, right down to the notes I will use. Keep in mind that each of these green sections are likely to be paragraphs including the paraphrased and directly quoted material you have collected. Creating an outline like this takes time, but it will make the writing easier in the long run.