Writing Two (Lit 9-10)

Your next writing task is to complete a piece of descriptive writing, which is writing that appeals to the five senses. It should not be too hard to choose a topic, since you can describe most of anything. I would suggest that you try to get as many different pieces of sensory information into your draft: sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound, for example.

It should also be easy for you to organize this essay. Perhaps you will have a paragraph about each of the senses, or maybe a paragraph about each different aspect of whatever you choose to describe.

Some descriptive writing is about an event, and the author makes sure everything is described well so readers can feel like they are there with them. I'm sure some of you enjoy this about your favorite authors.

Try your best to be creative and make the reader feel like he or she is there with you seeing, hearing, and feeling what you are writing about.

Good Examples of Descriptive Writing:

"H's Hickory Chips"

!

'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

You will receive a 100 for having a draft that is two double-spaced pages of 12-point Times New Roman. Instead of posting your rough drafts, you should put them in my drop box, and I will print them for you. Failure to have a rough draft on the 7th will result in you getting a late grade for the draft as well as the editing exercise we will complete on that day. Having a rough draft on time will ensure that you receive highest grade you deserve for your work.

Sweet!

In the first couple weeks, I have seen some incredible work, and I just wanted to give some attention to some of the best.

I feel these examples demonstrate work which are not only original pieces that not only satisfy all the requirements, but go an extra step further.

Students should view these pieces as examples for their own work.

Analytical Writing: Danielle Steel by Natasha Long and The Athens Symphony Orchestra by Tiffany Fountain

Autobiographical Writing: One Painless Day in My Life by LaDreika Kelly

Anglo-Saxon Literature by Johnathan Barber, Danny McDaniel, Sean Riley, and Omar Ghosheh

Puritan Literatutre by Kimberly Jarrell

Short Story Projects: John Updike's A&P by Myles Shepley and Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat by Josh Duke

Stay tuned for more good work.
I appreciate EVERYONE'S hard work so far. THANK YOU. Keep it up!

Taking Research Notes

Taking notes from a book:

There are two separate ways to take notes from a printed source, and they are both very important.

The first way is to paraphrase, which means you take the information down in your own words.

EXAMPLE:
Myths are very appealing to the people who tell and hear them, and that’s why they last so long. Myths usually explain nature or the universe. Many myths describe that humans are not perfect creatures, and some have a god destroying humans to create a better version. Most cultures have myths that explain how humans discovered food or agricultural tools. Hero myths often teach people positive attitudes or how to act in society (23-34).

The second way is to copy direct quotes from the source that are strong statements about your topic.

EXAMPLE:
“Most of the major cultures start with the beginning of the universe – a chaotic, formless mass that a god or a pair of god separates. The gods multiply so that each can have his or her particular role in the universal scheme, and the creator-god brings life to earth in the form of plants, animals, and human beings” (23).

After you have finished collecting the notes you need, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to collect the bibiographical information you will need later. You will need to consult this MLA guide for help.

EXAMPLE:

Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology, An Anthology of Great Myths and Epics. Lincolnwood, Illinois. NTC Publishing Group. 1996.

Taking notes from an Internet source:

The first thing I need to decide is the reliability of the website I wish to use. Anyone can create a website, and some do not have quality information. Let’s say I am researching Negro League Baseball, and I am looking at the following websites:

Example One
Example Two
Example Three

Example two is the one I wouldn't use for my research since it is full of people's opinions. The other two are from reputable sources like the Official Negro League Museum like number three or may contain news articles like number one. Which of the three would you consider the best source? I hope you said number three. Number one may be helpful, but I would be careful.

I am going to take some notes from example number three. I still need to do the same things as I would do if I was collecting information from a printed source.

Paraphased Evidence:
African-Americans begain playing baseball about the same time as anyone else -- in the late 1880s. Most African-Americans played on school, military, or club teams, but since the United States was a segrigated society, they were not permitted to play in the professional leagues starting around 1900.

Direct Evidence:
"In 1920, an organized league structure was formed under the guidance of Andrew “Rube” Foster—a former player, manager, and owner for the Chicago American Giants. In a meeting held at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Mo., Foster and a few other Midwestern team owners joined to form the Negro National League."

Before I leave the site, I need to collect that crucial bibliographic information that will be EXTREMELY IMPORTANT later. I am going to use the MLA guide for help. You will notice that there are several different ways to collect this information depanding on the type of source.

Example:

Negro League Basball Museum. Negro League History. 2004. Negro League Basball Museum. 24 August 2006. [http://www.nlbm.com/s/history.htm].

You probably noticed that not every piece of information you need isn't present on this website, so sometimes you need to leave a few things out. Notice that I used "Negro League Baseball Museum" as both the author and the organization. Sometimes this is necessary.

American Romanticism

Washington Irving was a straight-up pimp. Just look at him. If there was MTV then, he would have been on Cribs. He crashed parties at the White House, and he rolled the tightest whips. Most of this is true.

Irving was probably The United States’ first home-grown celebrity, and you are probably familiar with some of his stories like "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". These stories are some of the best examples of American Romanticism, a style of writing that required people to use their imaginations.

Irving was so famous that some of the stories he created are still accepted as fact today. Have you heard the story about Christopher Columbus proving the earth was round? That is fact, right? Have you heard the one about Abner Doubleday inventing the game of baseball? That’s a fact, right?

Neither one of these “facts” are true. These myths were created from Washington Irving’s stories. Irving wrote a children’s book about Columbus in which the explorer wanted to prove the world was round. The fact is that everybody already knew it was round at the time. In fact, globes were a popular thing with which people decorated their homes. Abner Doubleday probably did not invent baseball, either. He more than likely developed it from an English game called ‘rounders’. Doubleday was a friend of Irving’s, and when the time came to write a story about the invention of baseball, guess who got the credit?

It is not hard to believe that so many people would take Irving’s stories for fact. People needed a little fiction and imagination to get away from their lives because living in the United States during this time (the 1820s-40s) was not the most enjoyable. Most people lived in large cities like Boston, New York (which quadrupled in population in twenty years), and Philadelphia. These places were nasty. People threw their trash and sewage in the street; horse droppings were everywhere; if a horse dropped dead, it would stay in the street to rot; thousands of children and adults were homeless; pirates would come ashore and rob people in the cities; gangs controlled sections of many these cities, and a cholera epidemic killed up to one hundred people a day.

Romanticism is the school of thought that emphasizes intuition over logic, and feeling over reason. You should immediately recognize how this is different from the Rationalist school of thought. Romantics felt that reason and logic can only go so far for someone who is homeless and starving, or suffering the side-effects of the Industrial Revolution like pollution and being injured in large factories.

Be careful not to confuse Romanticism with what we commonly call "romantic" today. They are a little bit different. We call lovey-dovey movies and stories romantic today because it is a kind of Romanticism in that they depict relationships in the way we would imagine them, and not the way they actually are.

The Romantics believed there were higher truths than reason and logic, and they felt this could be accomplished by listening to one’s heart, or using one’s imagination to reach better places than where they were physically.

Many people around the world thought Americans were unsophisticated and stupid, and the Rationalists tried very hard to prove that this was unfair and untrue. Romantics, on the other hand, told stories of ordinary people, like Rip Van Winkle or Natty Bumppo who were unsophisticated and were able to rise to the level of hero. They wanted to prove that Americans were more innocent than Europeans, and that true knowledge was not found in libraries, but in adventures.

Romantics also focused on nature in their writing since they thought it was a way to escape from the loud city, as well as a way to hear ones intuition.

Your tasks:
Read either Rip Van Winkle or The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and then post the following to your weblog:

Better yet, listen to Rip Van Winkle as you read it. Please take the time to open the text file since reading and listening together will be the most useful, especially since you will need to find textual evidence later.
Rip Van Winkle Audio:








2. What about the story did you find particularly Romantic? You may want to reread the section on Romanticism again to refresh your memory. Give at least two examples with direct evidence for each.

3.

You can also find this video in my assignments folder in my drop box. If you view it there, you will be able to watch it full-screen. You can also view it here.

Read “Thanatopsis” here. Then write a summary of what you think this poem is saying. What is Romantic about this poem?

4. Read “The Ropewalk” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow here. What is the point of this poem? What images stand out to you? How is “The Ropewalk” a good example of Romanticism?

5. Look at this painting. How could a piece of visual art like this be considered Romanticism? When you are through responding, upload an image to your post that you consider a good example of Romanticism, and then explain why you chose it. HINT: don’t fall into the present-day definition of “romantic”. You may also choose to compose an original poem in the Romantic fashion. Be sure to explain how your poetry fits the mold.

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.

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.

ELAALRC4 The student establishes a context for information acquired by reading across subject areas.

We LOVE to EDIT around here!

Short Story #2 (Nonfiction)

For your next short story project you will read some nonfiction. Nonfiction can take many forms: magazine stories, newspaper articles, memoirs, and essays are all examples. You will read at least two different examples for this project.

The first thing you will need to do is to pick a memior or a personal narrative of an event. The gold and green textbooks have several good examples.

Some Suggestions:

It Can't Be Helped from Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James Houston -- page 355 in green anthology;
R.M.S. Titanic by Hanson W. Baldwin -- page 390 in green anthology
A Presentation of Whales by Barry Lopez -- page 432 in green anthology
When I Lay My Burden Down from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou -- page 357 in gold anthology
Haven't I Made a Difference! by James Harriot -- page 407 in gold anthology

If you plan to choose a different memoir or personal narrative, please show me what you plan to use before you begin. Please remember that stories that are very short often make your task harder in the long run.

When you are finished reading, post the following to your blog:

1. Write a 2-3 paragraph summary/response to what you have read. Please be sure to consentrate more on your feelings about the story rather than simply summarizing what happened.

2. Explain what you think the author's purpose was for wrinting this story. What do you think he or she wanted readers to come away from this story thinking? Your answer should be between 2 and 3 paragraphs, and the best responses will include some direct evidence from the story.

3. Why do you think it is important to read about moments in other people's lives? Why are these stories so popular? Are there instances in your life that would be helpful to other people to read about?

When you are through, you should use the "save as draft button" since you will need to add more to your post later.

NEXT:

Read either "China and the World Facing Major Polution Crisis",
"Poker, A Harmless Activity for Teens . . . Wanna Bet?" , or
"World Desparately Preparing for Possible Flu Pandemic".

These may take a minnute or two to load.

When you are finished reading, add the following to the post you started earlier.

1. Write a 2-3 paragraph response to the article you chose. What information stuck out to you the most?

2. Two Quotes/Two Questions – Please pick out two quotes that for some reason you find to be important. Then go back through the article and come up with two questions that you have about what you read.

3. What is the main idea of the article you just read?

4. List at least three details the author of the article used to support the main idea you identified in #3

When you are finished, publish all your responses to your blog, and then leave a comment to this post telling me to check your work.

The Middle Ages

1066 is one of the most important dates in English history. In October of this year, a daylong battle near Hastings, England changed the course of history. William of Normandy, a place in France just across the English Channel, conquered King Harold of England, who was the last remaining of the Anglo-Saxon Kings. William of Normandy would now forever be known as William the Conquerer, which is fortunate since he was previously known by a name that rhymes with Billiam the Wastard. This began what is known as the Norman Conquest, and it would eventually lead to England having a single ruler, and a single language that is closer than the Old English spoken by the Anglo-Saxons to the English we speak today.

England changed drastically under William. For instance, William was able to inventory nearly every piece of property in England. He called this the Doomsday Book, and it allowed a government to tax people according to what they owned for the first time European history. William remained a duke in Normandy, which made for a alliance between England and Normandy (what we call France today). This made England a European power for the first time.

Feudalism is another one of Williams innovations that would shape the future of England. Here is a very good chart that explains the Feudal system. It does well to show what each level gave and received from the others. Feudalism operated from the king all the way down to the serfs, who were peasants who were not permitted to leave the land where they worked. Some of the most familiar figures from the Middle Ages were knights who were loyal protectors of the king.

Knights strictly obeyed a code of conduct called chivalry, which included their oath of loyalty to their overlord, rules of warfare (like never striking an opponant who was unarmed), and the adoration of a particular lady which may not have been their wife. The adoration of the lady was meant as a means of self-imporvement for the knights, and they would spend their idle hours composing poetry and songs of praise. This gave birth to a new form of poetry: the romance. Though women where highly idealized in Medieval culture, they had very few rights.

Please post the following to your blog:

1. Research these important events that took place in the Middle Ages: The Crusades; The Murder of Thomas a Becket; The Magna Carta; and The Black Death. Provide a paragraph on each of the subjects.

2. Have you seen The Breakfast Club? For those of you who have not, it is a story about five teenagers who serve detention on a Saturday afternoon at their school. The writers of the movie cast a jock, geek, hood, rich girl, and basket case as the main characters. The movie takes place in the school library where they get to know each other and their differences. The most well-known text from the Middle Ages is Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury tales. It is the original story with this format where several people from different backgrounds are forced to share the same area. In this story, the characters are going on a pilgrimage to see the body of Thomas a Becket (remember him?), and they have a storytelling contest to pass the time on the journey. The tales are often humorous, and Chaucer uses these tales to poke fun at all levels of society.

Read the prolouge to the Caterbury tales here. When you are through, provide a brief description of each of the main characters, as well as a line of direct text that supports your description. This may take a while.

3. From the link above, choose one of the character's tales to read. Many student texts include the Wife of Bath's Tale, or the Pardoner's Tale. You can choose whichever you like. Be forewarned that the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale would be rated "R" by todays standards. When you finish reading, provide a 1-2 paragraph response to what you've read. Not feeling The Canterbury Tales? Reading the excerpt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the purple textbook would be a good substitution.

4. How does the literature you've read reflect the Middle Ages? Give three seperate examples of how the piece you chose reflected what is written above. Provide quotes from the texts to support what you have to say.

The Rationalists

Before you continue on with Unit One, review this additional Georgia Performance Standard that you will address:

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

5. Post the following to your blog: What new vocabulary have you used in this unit already? What do these new terms mean to you?

Another Mini-Lesson:

Why did Ben Franklin fly a kite in a lightning storm? Because he wanted to have an explanation for what lightning was; he didn't accept the Puritan notion that God was responsible for everything, and people were not supposed to concern themselves with such things. This was the prevailing idea of the 18th century (the 1700s) in America, sometimes called the Age of Reason, or the Age of Rationalism.

This philosophy started in Europe almost one hundred years before it became popular in America. You probably recognize names like Sir Isaac Newton, who used science instead of religion to explain gravity. Like Newton, Rationalists in America wanted to achieve order and explaination of the natural through science. People sought to become more educated in Mathematics, Astronomy, Botany, and Biology. Collecting fossils and plants, and peering into microscopes and telescopes became much more popular than studying the scripture.

It was during this time that many people's notion of God changed from the vengeful God in Johnathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, to a more humanitarian God. A popular religious movement of the time was Deism, which was a body of ideas that did not revolve around a church itself. It was a faith based on science and mathematics. Deists believed in God, but not as a power that controlled everything. They believed that God created the universe, but left it up to the people to figure out how to work it, or to figure out the natural laws.

Rationalist Men and Women also believed that human society was run by natural law. If people were able to discover and understand these laws, they would be able to improve their lives. While improvement was important to the Puritans, they pleaded with God for it, and the rationalists believed they could take a scientific approach to self-imporvement.

A Rationalist would believe that anything could be understood through science. Puritans thought this to be an insult to God since they believed humans had no business deconstructing God’s work. Think of the on-going debate over the theory of evolution, and you will have a pretty good picture of how the Puritans and the Rationalists differed.

Many of the doucments upon which our country was founded were penned by Rationalists. For instance, The Declaration of Independence makes reference to certain unalienable rights that everyone had. Puritans would have believed that God decided who had certain rights, and that some people did not have as many as others. It is interesting to see what happened to the men who signed the declaration.

Work Period:

5 (continued) -- add to your list of vocabulary now that you have read about the Rationalists. You should have around five new terms with your own definition for each.

6. Briefly (one good paragraph) describe the differences between the Puritans and the Rationalists. Please be careful not to repeat the same words you have read in this entry. Where in today's society do you see some of the ideas you have read about here represented?.  (Hint -- check this out, especially the comments section.)

7. Read the excerpt from The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin in the red American Literature book. Pay special attention to the efforts Franklin made to improve his life.

Give one example from The Autobiography of how Franklin is a good example of a rationalist. Make sure you explain why, and provide an example straight from the text.

8. If you were to make a list of thirteen virtues to improve upon in your life, what would they be? List them the way Franklin did. There are a couple more good examples here. Do you think you could reach moral perfection in this way? Explain how you feel. This should be a paragraph or two.

Closing:

9. This unit has addressed the following Georgia Performance Standards:

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.

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.

please take a moment to specifically address how the work you did in this unit addresses these standards. You should provide evidence from your own work to illustrate what you claim.

Senior Project Incentives

September 21, 2006
Rough Drafts Due

Students who submit a complete rough draft will receive a pass to leave class 30 minutes early.
A complete rough draft meets or exceeds the following criteria:

· At least 8-10 pages in length (12pt double-spaced Times New Roman)

· Include a complete bibliography with at least seven sources (three must be print sources; three must be Internet; one must be student’s mentor)

· Internal citations must be present


December 7, 2006
Portfolios Due

Students who submit a complete portfolio will receive a free item at Jittery Joe’s.
A complete portfolio meets or exceeds the following criteria:
· Contains all required sections:
o Binder or notebook
o Title Page
o Table of Contents
o Deadline Checklist
o Letter of Intent
o Parental Consent Form
o Research Paper
o Mentor Approval Form
o Mentor Verification Log
o Thank You Letter to Mentor
o Additional Documentation, pictures, etc.
o Self Evaluation

December 12, 2006
Presentations

Presentations will be judged and the following prizes will be awarded:

The student with the most creative project will be awarded a $25 gift certificate.

The student who completes the project judged to be the best in the class will be awarded a $200 gift certificate.

The student who completes the project judged to be the runner-up will be awarded a $25 gift certificate.

Writing One

You will receive three grades for each of your writings, which should give you the best opportunity to produce the best work.

You will receive a 100 for having a draft that is two double-spaced pages of 12-point Times New Roman. Instead of posting your rough drafts, you should put them in my drop box, and I will print them for you. Failure to have a rough draft on the 17th will result in you getting a late grade for the draft as well as the editing exercise we will complete on that day. Having a rough draft on time will ensure that you receive highest grade you deserve for your work.

Students in Lit 9/10 should submit a piece of autobiographical writing. This does not mean start at your birth and tell us everything up until today. It is much more interesting if you would focus on one meaningful event in your life and explain the many ways it has shaped your unique personality.

Here is the one I wrote. I know you are dying to read it.


Students in Lit 11 should submit a piece of analytical writing. To analyze something means to break it into small pieces to understand it better. For instance, if I wanted to learn more about engines, I might take one apart to better understand how it works. Analytical writing is a little different. You may want to analyze the work of your favorite musician or visual artist, or you may want to analyze how a certain political decision affects people, or whether or not a decision was the correct one to make.

Examples you should read:

Are Baseball Umpires Racist?

Should Huck Finn be Banned?

Or you can read one of mine:

Atlanta Sports Fans
Records or CDs?

Welcome to Siegmund's English Weblog

Using a weblog for your assignments should be exciting and fun, but there are a few things I want you to always keep in mind.

1. You will be able to view other students' work. This makes it your responsibility to submit work that is entirely original.

2. Your work will be available for the world to see. This means you should never submit anything that is not your best work.

3. You must read and agree to the user agreement before I will read your blog or add it to the class blogroll.

4. Be as creative as you can. If you need help, ASK ME!

The Anglo-Saxons

When looking at a map, it is easy to see that Britain is an island that is isolated from the rest of Europe. In the past, the entire island was known as England, and was the home of many legal and political systems still used across the world today. Since it is an island, England had more than its fair share of invaders, each of whom left as aspect of their culture.

First there were the Celts, who led their lives according to their magical religion. They believed in animism, and contributed many of the myths and tales still told in the world today. The remnants of the Celts' culture are still strongly associated with Ireland.

Beginning with an invasion by Julius Ceasar in 55B.C., the Roman Empire would control the island for the next four hundred years. The Romans were very good at protecting Britain from invaders with their technologically advanced military. They also built roads and walls that still exist in England today. Eventually the Roman Empire would begin to fall, and in A.D. 409, the Romans left Brittain unprotected. Rome would ultimately fall in A.D. 476.

The Angles and Saxons attacked from what is modern-day Germany, and the Jutes (yoots) attacked from what is now Denmark. These tribes eliminated the Brittons who enhabited the island except for the Celts who escaped to Wales. The most famous Celt of them all was King Arthur.

Anglo-Saxon England was not very organized at all. There was a different King for each area, and none of the laws nor customs were similar. This all changed when King Alfred of Wessex, or Alfred the great organized the defeat of attacking Danish pirates we know as Vikings. Alfred's success as well as the spread of Christianity across the island helped unify a new land the Anglo-Saxons called England. Though they were more unified at this point, England was still ruled by a large group of kings.

The centerpiece of Anglo-Saxon culture was the warrior tradition, and the ultimate protection of England from its invaders. Absolute loyalty to leaders was essential to the Anglo-Saxons. Though Christianity was on the rise in England, the old Anglo-Saxon religion was still strong. The most important Anglo-Saxon god was Odin, the god of death, poetry, and magic. The Anglo-Saxon name for Odin was Woden, and this is where we get the name for Wednesday. Other important figures in the Anglo-Saxon religion were Thunor, or Thor, and the dragon, who is usually the protector of treasure or warrior graves. The most important people in Anglo-Saxon culture were the warriors and the bards, who recited tales and poetry that often featured plenty of violence.

You can read much more here.

Your Assignment . . .

1. Read the 12 episodes of Beowulf here. This is a modern translation, which may still be a challenge to read because it is a poem. Don't give up! If you need help, ask me! It would help you to jot down notes on each of the episodes.

post the following to your blog -

1. Write a 4-5 paragraph response to Beowulf. What did you think of the story? What parts stuck out to you the most. You may also want to include some of your thoughts on the Anglo-Saxon culture.

2. Think about what you know about the Anglo-Saxon's culture. How well does Beowulf illustrate what the Anglo-Saxons believed? Give at least three separate examples, and back them up with direct evidence from the poem.

3. How does this story compare to the hero stories from our culture? Provide at least one exmample of how Beowulf is similar, and one of how he is different. You should provide some evidence from the text to support what you claim.

4. What do you think of the way Beowulf dies? Write a 2-3 paragraph response on how you feel about the ending of the story. If you don't know where you are going with this, you should talk to me about it. It is especially important to support your opinions with some evidence from Beowulf.

SELF-EVALUATE YOUR WORK!!

When you are finished, leave a comment to this post, and I will check your blog for your work and set up a conference when we will talk about what you have accomplished.

The Puritans

To study the Puritans' literature, we must first understand who they were as people.

The Purtitans' core beliefs were as follows.

Total Depravity - through Adam and Eve's fall, every person is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.

Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation.

Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.

Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.

Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.

You should read more here.
You should also read more about the Puritans in an American Literature textbook.

Read an excerpt of Johnathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God .

Read this excert of William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation

When you are through, you should post the following to your blog:

1. Briefly summarize the Puritans' beliefs. This should be a paragraph or two.

2. Write a 4-5 paragraph response to the Puritan texts. Explain your thoughts about how these people lived. Better responses will have some direct textual evidence to support what you say.

3. Choose three of the beliefs at the beginning of this post of which you saw examples in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, or Of Plymouth Plantation. Provide these examples with direct textual evidence.

4. The Puritans wrote in what was called the plain style, which meant they did not expect anyone to receive any pleasure from reading what they wrote. They just wanted people to get the facts. Give a direct example of something you found particularly plain in one of the texts, and explain why you think the Puritans wrote in this style. This response should be 2-3 paragraphs.

Leave a comment on this post to tell me you are fininshed. I will then look at your work and discuss with you what you have accomplished.

Short Story #1 (Lit 9/10)

The first thing you will need to do is choose a story you would like to study. You can do this alone or with a group of people. You can find stories online or in the many anthologies I have in the classroom. Ask yourself why your choice would be good for study in a literature class. When making your choice, do not choose a story just because of its length. Oftentimes a very short story will make your assignment harder than a story that is a little longer. Once you have a story you think will work, let me know what it is, and I will let you know if I think it would be a good choice.

Some Suggestions
The Things they Carried by Tim O'Brien
To Hell with Dying by Alice Walker
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe
A Worn Path by Eudora Welty
The Enormous Radio by John Cheever
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

Next, you will want to read the story. If you are working as a group, you want to do this all togehter. Groups should ask each other questions while they read the story.

Good Questions
What do you think about _______?
What do you think is going to happen to ______?
I'm confused. What happened to _________?

Not So Good Questions
What color car does ________ drive?
How many times does _______ go to the store?
Any question that has a right or wrong answer

When you are finished reading the story, you should post the following things to your blog:

1. Your own summary of what happened, as well as what you think about what happened. This should be 4-5 paragraphs.

2. Explain what you think of the characters in the story. You should include a few direct quotations from the story to show readers how you came to your opinions.

3. Explain how the author showed you what the characters were like. Did the author tell you what the characters were like, or did you figure it out from the character's actions? Provide a few direct quotations from the story to support what you say.

4. Define the following. You will find these definitions in the back of a literture textbook.
simile
metaphor
personification
allusion
hyperbole
irony

5. You should recognize some of these devices in the story you read. You should be able to give me 2-3 separare examples of direct quotations that contain some of these devices. You won't find all of them. Ask for help if you need it.

When you have posted these five things to your blog, leave me a comment to this post. I will then check your work and discuss with you what you have done.

Classroom Procedures and Expectations

Classroom Procedures and Expectations
Dana Siegmund
Classic City High School

NovaNet:
You are required to score at least an 80% on all post-tests.

You should take notes on all your lessons to use when you take the post-test. Pasting screen shots onto Powerpoint is not taking notes.

I will check your notebook four times during the semester, and these grades will be factored into your total NovaNet score.

I will not override prescriptions after your pretest, unless it is a special circumstance.

If you score lower than a 70 on a post-test, I will reassign prescriptions

Leaving the Classroom:
Please let me know you need to leave before doing so.

Once you leave, take care of your business and come right back. Do not disturb other classes.

If you plan to purchase anything from Jittery Joe’s, you will need the pass.

If your trip is not absolutely necessary, please do not be surprised if I say “no”.

If you are gone for 15 minutes of any class period, I will mark you absent.

Administrative Absences:
If you did not come to school to work, I will mark you absent and ask you to leave.

You shouldn’t take this personally.

There is a waiting list full of people waiting to be a student at Classic City High School PLC, and if you are not making the best use of your spot, it will soon be someone else’s.

Great Headphone Issue:
Some people work well with headphones and others do not.  If you choose to use headphones, you should have your own.  I have a couple sets that are reserved for projects that require them.  Students using headphones need to use them responsibly.  If your headphone use is disrupting yours or other students' work (completely at my discretion), your privileges will be suspended (see Internet Use as well).



Internet Use
The Internet is an extremely useful educational tool, but it can also be misused.  If your Internet use becomes detrimental to your progress, your Internet privileges will be blocked.  Students who attempt to circumnavigate this decision will receive an administrative absence.

Food:
Food is great. Pick up your trash.

Mobile Phones:
I will follow the mobile phone policy explained in the Classic City High School Handbook.

The Classroom:
Please leave it in the condition you found it.

Push in your chairs.

Put books away.

Pick up after yourself.