Unit Two -- Renaissance Sonnets

Opening:
As always, we should take a look at the Georgia Performance Standards this unit will address. Please take a moment to read the standard below published by the Georgia Department of Education:

ELABLRL4 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.

You will also address some of the standards we have seen in the past unit: ELABLRL1 and ELABLRL3. You should remember what these standards addressed. If you do not, you should call me over so we can have a little chat.

1. Create a blog post titled "Unit Two" and explain what you think the above standard (ELEBLRL4) means. What kinds of expectations does it give you for this unit?

Mini-Lesson -- Renaissance Sonnets:

The sonnet was the most accepted form of written art during the Renaissance. People loved them then, but today they can leave us scratching our heads. I was often confused by sonnets and their flowery language, but once I learned how to read them, they became much easier to understand.
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IF YOU PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS POST, SONNETS WILL BE EASY FOR YOU TOO.

This will come in handy since you will be writing one of your own.

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First, it would be important to define a sonnet as a fourteen-line poem composed in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is the beat of the poem, and it essentially means that each line is made up of five pairs (penta) of syllables -- the first one unstressed, and the second one stressed. Here is an example of a line of iambic pentameter from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

But soft! - What light - through yon - der win - dow breaks?

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Now imagine you are a poet writing a sonnet, and if you were a poet in the Renaissance, sonnets and plays (also written in a certain meter) were the only accepted forms of literature. Imagine how dificult it would be to choose words with exactly the right stress as well as number of syllables. You see, these poems weren't written the way they were just to give you a hard time.

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Next, we need to talk about rhyme scheme. This is pretty simple. Check out my example below; it is one that may also help you with geometry:

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Pythagoras had a good ruse (A)

With a rule just for triangles to use (A)

"Add the squares of each side," (B)

He said with some pride," (B)

That's the square of the hypotenuse!" (A)

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The rhyme scheme of this poem is AABBA. All you have to do is look at the last word on each line. I start with ruse, and since it is the first line, I assign it an A. Then I look at use, and see that it rhymes with ruse, and so it is an A as well. Then I look at side, and see that it does not rhyme with ruse or use, so it is a B. Pride rhymes with side, so it is a B as well. At the end, when I see hypotenuse rhymes with ruse, it is an A. That makes the rhyme scheme ABBA.

It is important to understand rhyme scheme when reading a sonnet. If you pay close attention to the rhyme scheme, it can help you divide the poem into sections which will make it much easier for you to comprehend.

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Let's look at an example of a sonnet from the two most popular sonateers, William Shakespeare and Edmund Spencer. These poets use two different rhyme schemes in their sonnets. Shakespeare uses a ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme, and Spencer uses ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. I will draw lines to show how the rhyme scheme divides the poem into four sections.

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Sonnet 18

William Shakespeare

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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (A)

Thou art more lovely and more temperate. (B)

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (A)

And summer's lease hath all to short a date. (B)

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Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (C)

And often is his gold complextion dimmed, (D)

And every fair from fair sometimes declines, (C)

By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed. (D)

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But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (E)

Nor lose possesion of that fair thou owest, (F)

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade (E)

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. (F)

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So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, (G)

So long lives this, and gives life to thee. (G)

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Sonnet 30

Edmund Spencer

My love is like to ice, and I to fire; (A)

How comes it then that this her cold so great (B)

Is not dissolved through my so hot desire, (A)

But harder grows the more I her entreat? (B)

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Or how comes it that my exceeding heat (B)

Is not delayed by her heart frozen cold, (C)

But that I burn much more in boiling sweat, (B)

And feel my flames augmented manifold? (C)

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What more miraculous thing may be told (C)

That fire which all thing melts, should harden ice, (D)

And ice which is congealed with senseless cold, (C)

Should kindle fire by wonderful device? (D)

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Such is the power of love in gentle mind, (E)

That it can alter all the course of kind. (E)

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:Work Period:
Continue by adding the following to your Unit Two post

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2. Examine the difference between the rhyme scheme Spencer uses and the one Shakespeare uses. Explain the difference. Which one do you prefer? (If you are unable to give a good answer to this question, it is time to come talk to me.)

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3. The rhyme scheme divides sonnets into four sections. The first section is a question asked from one point of view, the second is the same question asked from another point of view. The third section is called the turn. The turn is a shift in focus or the thoughts of the first two points of view. The last section is the conclusion. Use this method to explain the message in each of the four sections of the two poems above.

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4. Choose one more of Shakespeare's sonnets as well as another one of Spencer's sonnets. You can find these all over the Internet. Post each poem on your blog then: a. Label the rhyme scheme like my examples; b. explain the message in each of the four sections like you did in question #2.

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5. Come get an amatuer sonateer form from me, and then complete both sides.

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6. When you have finished, post your completed sonnet on your blog.

Closing:

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

• ELABLRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events, main ideas, and characteristics) 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.
• ELABLRL3 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.
• ELABLRL4 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.

Using your own work as evidence, explain how you have addressed at least two of the standards above. Better responses will have evidence of all three.

SELF-EVALUATE YOUR WORK!

Peer Editing

Editing with your peers will further address the following Georgia Performance Standard:

1. ELA11W4 The student practices both timed and process writing and, when applicable, uses the writing process to develop, revise, and evaluate writing.

One of your grades for each of your writings will be for completing a peer editing exercise. This should not be a very difficult activity, but it does require that you remain on task for the duration since the person whose writing you are evaluating deserves your best work.

Becoming a good editor is a great way to become a better writer. No one expects you to find every error in a piece of writing, or to make it perfect. The key here is to help your writer improve their writing any way you know how.

Some tips:

1. This is not about finding misspelled words and missing commas. If you see them, mark them, but you are after more important improvements.
2. If something is not clear, write your questions on their paper so they can see what needs to be clarified.
3. Add to their paper. Do they need examples? additional sentences? Treat their paper like it was your own.

The Editing Process:

1. Find another student with whom to trade papers. Do not try to edit your own paper since it would be very hard to satisfy the requirements of this exercise with your own work.
2. Read and edit the other student's paper for a full 30 minutes. Read it as many times as time will allow, and make as many marks, suggestions, questions, or adjustments as you see necessary. Remember, the more you mark, the more you help your writer.
3. When the 30 minutes are over (I will let you know), look at the following Georgia Performance Standard: ELA11W1 The student produces writing that (1)establishes an appropriate organizational structure, (2)sets a context and engages the reader, (3)maintains a coherent focus throughout, and (4)signals a satisfying closure.
4. Turn your writer's paper over and write the following sections on the back of their draft, making sure to leave yourself enough room to make note of at least two things your writer is doing well and two things your writer needs to work on for each of the four elements in the standard above:

• Organization
• Context / Engagement
• Focus
• Closure (conclusion)

Step 5. For each of the above elements, write down notes for your writer. Your notes should include at least two things the writer is doing well, and at least two things they should work on to improve.

Example:

ORAGANIZATION:
1. You have done well to divide your essay into unified paragraphs.
2. The organization of your paper makes it easier for me to understand.
3. There are a couple sentences in your third paragraph that do not really belong there. I would move them to your fifth paragraph since they fit there better.
4. I think your second paragraph is really your introduction. I would think about moving it up.

Step 6. When you are through, you should have a brief discussion with your writer.
Step 7. When you get your paper back, it is wise to make adjustments immediately since you are in a writing / editing frame of mind.
Step 8. Rename your file so that the word "final" appears in the file name, and put your adjusted draft in my drop box. Hand me your edited paper draft so I can make comparisons and see how your writing has developed.

Unit Two -- Romanticism and Transcendentalism

Opening: Let's start where we always do -- with a discussion of the standards this unit will address. Take a moment to read the Georgia Performance Standard I have pasted below:

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.

1. Read it again. What is a theme? Would you know one when you saw it? Could you provide evidence to support what you say? Take a moment to post to your blog what this standard might mean, and while you are at it, what this thing called theme" is.

Mini-Lesson -- Washington Irving was a straight-up pimpdaddy. 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? NOPE.

This myth (as well as some others) 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.

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.

Work Period:
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. How does this poem illustrate all three of the main themes of Romanticism? Make sure you provide evidence for each claim you make.

Closing:

4. Take a moment to review the Georgia Performance Standards we have studied so far:

• 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.

As specifically as possible, please explain how you have addressed the above standards. You should have something to say about each.

When you have finished these exercises, continue on to The Transcendentalists.

Lit 12 Writing Exercises

Before looking at the actual writing assignments, lets begin by identifying the Georgia Performance Standards they will address as well as the process we will use in this class.

The Standards:

ELA12W1 The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure.

ELA12W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.

ELA12W3 The student uses research and technology to support writing.

ELA12W4 The student practices both timed and process writing and, when applicable, uses the writing process to develop, revise, and evaluate writing.

As you compose your rough drafts, you should always keep these standards in mind. They will also be instrumental in our editing process.
The Writing Process:

You will receive three grades for each of the four writing assignments you will complete:

1. Rough Draft -- have at least two pages of double-spaced Times New Roman 12-point text by the day it is due for editing.
2. Editing -- You will edit with one of your peers. This is a timed exercise, and it should be easy to earn a high score on this portion of your writing process.
3. Final Draft -- This will be my evaluation of your writing. You may complete more drafts to earn a higher score if you choose. Any essay scoring below an 80 will need to be revised.

Your Writing Assignments:

Writing One -- The Hero Cycle
This piece of writing, an original hero story, will be related to the work you have done in unit one and your study of Beowulf. Before you start writing, I would like you to be familiar with something called the Hero Cycle: View the Hero Cycle slide show here.

After viewing the slide show, you will begin constructing your own story with a new hero you create. Since your hero should have many of the same experiences as those in the Hero Cycle, it will be very helpful to map out these steps before you start writing. A simple list of the steps and how your hero experiences them would be fine.

Once you finish your list, you should use it as an outline for composing your story. When your draft is finished, put it in my drop box.

User Agreement

Using a weblog for our classwork will require some parameters for your safety and the quality of everyone's work. First, you should recognize that your work, as well as mine will be published for the entire on-line world to see. This will ultimately make us all responsible for better and more original output than ever before. By visiting other students' weblogs, you will be able to view all their work, and it will also make it easy for me to see who is not making an effort to submit work that is original.

Once you create your own weblog for this class, I will add it to the class blog roll so everyone's work can be accessed from this page. I encourage you to look at your peers' work for ideas or inspiration, but what you submit must be your own. Language Arts lends itself well to this format since you will be asked to respond to the literature and history we study with your own ideas and opinions. There are no right or wrong answers in a Language Arts class, so looking at other students' ideas can help you. It can also create problems if you choose to be lazy.

I will leave comments about your work. These comments will usually instruct you on how you can improve your work. Please make sure you check your comments and your e-mail regularly, and make sure you are finished with one assignment before moving to the next.

Since this weblog will be part of your education at Classic City High School, any activity on your weblog should be considered school activity, even if it is done outside of school. You should feel free to create posts that are not school related, but you should also be sure to refrain from anything that could be considered inappropriate. This includes, but is not limited to: references to alcohol or drugs, violence, or gang activity, foul language, nudity, threats, etc.

Plagiarism is submitting someone else's work as your own. This can be done in many ways: copying work from Wikipedia, classmates, Sparknotes, etc. If you plagiarize your work, you will receive a zero -- no questions asked.

THE USER AGREEMENT:

1. I agree to submit original work to my weblog. I realize I will have the opportunity to view my peers' work, and I will use this opportunity constructively. I understand that if I choose to plagiarize, I will receive a zero for the work in question with no option to redo the assignment in question.

2. I agree to keep my weblog appropriate for Classic City High School. I understand that if innapropriate material were to appear on my weblog, be it from myself or an outside comment, I will be asked to remove it. Failure to do so will result in my weblog being removed from the class roll. I also understand that refereneces to illegal or dangerous activities will be reported since it is the legal responsibility of my teacher.

To agree, post a comment to this message like this:
I agree to Mr. Siegmund's Weblog User Agreement.
I will not add your weblog to the class roll until I receive a comment from you like the example above.

Unit One -- The Anglo-Saxsons

Opening: Discussion of Standards

Before you begin this unit, you should review the Georgia Performance Standards it addresses. Please take a moment to read the standard below published by the Georgia Department of Education:

ELABLRL3 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.

1. Before you begin this unit, I want you to have a clear understanding of what you should be learning. Take a moment to post to your blog what you think the standard above addresses, and why you think it is important for you to master. Show me what you have written before you show me the rest.

Mini-Lesson: 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.


Work Period . . .

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 -

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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!!

Closing: Review of Georgia Performance Standards:
Please review the standards at the beginning of this unit as well as the one in Before Unit One.
6. Write a few sentences to a full paragraph explaining how completing this unit helped you address these standards.

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.

Lit 11 - Writing Assignments

Before looking at the actual writing assignments, lets begin by identifying the Georgia Performance Standards they will address as well as the process we will use in this class.

The Standards:

ELA11W1 The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure.

ELA11W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.

ELA11W3 The student uses research and technology to support writing.

ELA11W4 The student practices both timed and process writing and, when applicable, uses the writing process to develop, revise, and evaluate writing.

As you compose your rough drafts, you should always keep these standards in mind. They will also be instrumental in our editing process.
The Writing Process:

You will receive three grades for each of the four writing assignments you will complete:

1. Rough Draft -- have two pages of double-spaced Times New Roman 12-point text by the day it is due for editing.
2. Editing -- You will edit with one of your peers. This is a timed exercise, and it should be easy to earn a high score on this portion of your writing process.
3. Final Draft -- This will be my evaluation of your writing. You may complete more drafts to earn a higher score if you choose. Any essay scoring below an 80 will need to be revised.

Your Writing Assignments:

1. Writing One: 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.
   
   
   
   Some Student examples that may be helpful to you:
   
   
   Curt Cobain did not Kill Himself -- Morgan Chapman
   Immigration -- Carlos Baires
   Monopoly at McDonald's is not a Rip-off -- Anisha Hayes
   The Attendance Policy is Dumb -- Toikia Hancock
   
   
   
2. Writing Two -- Analytical Writing -- 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: Analytical Writing -- Kayla Fortson -- Rhythm and Blues
   Analytical Writing -- Andrea Coleman -- Reggae
   Analytical Writing -- Caleb Pope -- Emo Subculture
   Analytical Writing -- Jeff Green -- The Magic of Athens
   
   
   
   
   Are Baseball Umpires Racist?
   
   
   
   
   Should Huck Finn be Banned?
   
   A Track-by-Track Breakdown of Lil' Wayne's Rebirth
   
   
   Or you can read one of mine:
   
   Atlanta Sports Fans
   Records or CDs?
   
3. Research Writing --
   
   
   
   Your next writing assignment will require you to do some research on a topic of your choice. Completing this assignment responsibly will help you with your senior project research paper when that time comes for you.

   
   

   This research report will be pretty brief (the usual two pages of double-spaced 12pt Times New Roman), and you will need at least two reliable sources from which you get your information. If you are having a difficult time choosing reliable sources, check out the post titled Taking Research Notes, which will also instruct you on how to get necessary bibliographic information from your sources. When it is time to start writing, you should also review the post titled Citing Your Sources, which will show you how to give credit to the people from whom you collected your research. Students who choose to learn these skills with this piece of writing will have a much easier time when it is time to write your big research paper.

   
   

   So? What do you research?

   
   

   I would choose something in which you are interested, but know little about. Researching something about which you are already knowledgeable can be difficult.

   
   

   Some ideas:

   
   

   The history of public school in Athens, Ga

   
   

   The requirements for starting a career in which you are interested

   
   

   The history of a school you would like to attend

   
   

   The development of your favorite sport or game

   
   

   The origins of a law or policy with which you agree or disagree

   
   

   The posibilities are endless, but you should discuss your topic with me before you start. I do not want you researching a topic that will make this assignment any more difficult than it needs to be.
   
   Here are some examples that may help you out:
   
   Amber Gaines -- Lizzie Borden
   Todd Roberts -- How to Run for President
   Tony Bolton -- Wilt Chamberlain
   Victoria Slaboda -- Geisha (a great example of citations)
   
   
4. 
   
   
   Timed Writing Exercise -- GHSGWT Practice -- Stay tuned