Homework over break!

Greetings Students!

I hope you have been enjoying your break so far! Just a friendly reminder that your thesis statement is due next Wednesday, January 2nd to me over email. I hope that you're working on your papers for JLC, feel free to send me any drafts or ideas.

The choices are endless; if you discover there is something else you would like to write on not given on the written assessment I provided, feel free to contact me with your idea! Good luck and have a great time off!

mcoulson@ttsd.k12.or.us

December 10th

Please take a look at the key passage given out today, and mark it up. Also, address what the passage is saying, how the author is saying it and what is the significance of the passage for class tomorrow!

December 7th!

Homework for the weekend, due Monday, Dec. 10th!

Read the first story from the section The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates "Rules of the Game".

Please tab (sticky note) the following:

-symbols

-metaphors

-similes

-personification

-thematic ideas

You need at least 8 tabs for the reading to receive full credit for the assignment. In addition, I would like you to write three examples of figurative language (simile or metaphor) for three different things:

1) an aspect of nature (like a storm)

2) a familiar emotion (like love or jealously)

3) and a description of a person (a friend or family member)

Write these three examples in your notebook for class on Monday! 

Have a great weekend...:)

December 3rd!

Monday, December 3^rd free write questions

Why does Tan title the first section “Feathers from a Thousand Li Away?” Look at the first paragraph from each of the first four stories. How do these introductions depict the point-of-view of the narrator?

Why do you think June receives the large sum of money she does from the joy luck club at the end of Feathers? What is it they wish for her to do?

According to the article over the weekend, Tan has an extensive theme showcased throughout her book. What is it about miscommunication that makes problems even worse? Think of a particular instance of miscommunication in your life and detail what happened. 

Read "Scar" for homework!

JLC! November 30th

For the weekend:

-be working on IOP's if you're presenting this next week!

-read JLC, the first story..."Feathers from a thousand Li away" and read the article handed out on Friday. If you were absent on Friday, you need to come see me first thing Monday morning to pick it up! Have both the novel read and the article by Monday's class.

-If you were absent on Friday, answer the following 3 questions for Monday's class:

1) Based on the first section of the first story, make a prediction about the novel will be about.

2) Explain the metaphor of the swan from the opening parable (first page of text in the novel)

3) According Jing-Mei, how does the Joy Luck Club originate?

Write a few short sentences for each answer. I'm looking for specific answers for questions 2 and 3, and an opinion for question 1. Attach these responses to the Mother Tongue article from Tuesday to turn in next week.

Have a great weekend; go Tigers!

Thursday, November 8th!

IOP Brainstorm

Today you received the IOP brainstorm handout that gives you an opportunity to think about three possible topics to discuss for your IOP presentation. Review your novel! This handout needs to be completed by Tuesday in detail. I'm attaching a copy to this blog in case you were not in class on Thursday or lose your copy. You may hand write your answers or copy and paste this document into microsoft word and word process it. Due by Tuesday!

                                                                                                Name:

IOP Beginning Brainstorm

Over the weekend, take some time to reflect back over your novel. Think about the areas of text that you liked, disliked, found intriguing, interesting, confusing, misleading, engaging, etc. Reflect over the characters, setting, conflict, dialogue, mood, tone, etc. As you think over the course of events in the novel, select three possible topics to discuss for your IOP presentation. Remember to be specific, concise and supportive.

Topic 1:

What I aim to reveal about my topic:

 How am I going to support my topic:

Topic 2:

What I aim to reveal about my topic:

How am I going to support my topic:

Topic 3:

What I aim to reveal about my topic:

 

How am I going to support my topic:

Wednesday, October 24th

Class: finished dissecting "Poetry" by Marianne Moore. Students need to have the poem completely marked up with notes, patterns, questions, explanations, symbols, etc. Along with notes, students should have written a sentence or two about their section's meaning as well as the meaning behind the entire poem.


Began round two of literature circles as well as audience participation. Period 2: groups 2( Sarah, Brianna W, Ashley, Katie G, Morgen) 8 (Sasha, Jen, Brianna S) 9 (Preston, Greg, Alex M, Katie C) will be presenting on Monday.

Period 4: Groups 1 (Rachel, McKenna) 4 (Cheyenne, Olivia, Austin) 7 (Mark, Tyler, Jessie, Maddie, Lauren) will be going Monday.


Homework:

-Lit circle preparation and reading

-Create a poem mimicking the style and message of Marianne Moore's poem "Poetry". It can be hand written or typed. Style it however you'd like with stanzas or not, rhyme or not but include imagery and strong language. Refer back to Monday's freewrite on enjoying something as an individual that maybe others don't understand, appreciate or understand. Use examples from your own life or someone you know. Maybe choose something that you've changed your mind about over time. Have it ready by Monday!

-Enjoy your time off; you've worked and deserve it!

October 17th!

Today in class we:

Identified elements in stanza 2 for "Easter 1916" and received a signature from Coulson when finished. 

Listen or presented the first two literature circle groups, moving onto the second two tomorrow! Be prepared when your group is presenting, have something written and be ready!

Homework:

-reading choice novel

-working on lit circle presentations.

-by Friday, you must blog a coded passage of the final stanza of Yeats' poem "Easter 1916". You only need to code 5-7 lines of the stanza 4! Remember when we coded a LOTF passage? You will do the same thing here. Highlight, bold, underline, italicize, number, shade, etc key vocabulary, literary elements, structure, rhyme, meter, theme, etc. Write a few sentences at the bottom of your coded stanza about the intentions of this stanza.

 -complete a guided journal on your choice reading assignment. 150 words, including a quotation from the text on anything your choose to write on from any place in the novel you've read. Prompts are on the handout given about reader response journals a few weeks back.

Good luck! Email me with any questions!

Monday, Oct 15th

Class:

Freewrite on the young Pakistani girl named Malala who was shot in the head by the Taliban last week. Article titles "I am Malala" are located on CNN, as well as videos covering this topic. Questions that I posed in class on the freewrite were:

1) how is the essence of education pivotal for all people?

2) Why do "some" try to limit access to education for people?

3) What are your thoughts on freedom of speech and how she's exercising her thoughts about the lack of educational opportunities for girls?

Students devised reading schedules for the choice novel... be reading! Finished thoughts and commentaries on "Still I Rise" as well as the annotation chart.

Be sure to upload Piano Lesson papers on turnitin before midnight tonight!

Literature circles begin Wednesday...pages 1-20 will be covered for select groups.

No homework other than reading and notetaking....

Wednesday, October 10th

In class:

-Piano Lesson presentations
-turned in Piano Lesson essays
-learned about turnitin.com
-book overview
-read online reviews of novels


Turn it in:

1. Go to www.turnitin.com
2. Either login with previous email and password or create a new account
3. enter the user ID and password I gave in class today
4. Enroll in the correct class and upload both LOTF and PL essays

Book Review:
We are now moving towards our choice reading unit. The novels Catcher in the Rye, Great Gatsby, The Color Purple, Lean on Pete, Yellow Raft on Blue Water and Behind the Beautiful Forevers were introduced today. Please go online and read summaries of each novel before coming to class tomorrow and begin to sign up. Select the novel best suited for you (style, content, level of interest, challenge, etc) not what your friends are signing up for.

See you Thursday!

pages on pages on pages!

October 9th:

Today in class we did a lot! To review, we covered how to cite properly in MLA format for play quotations, how to utilize topic sentences, the importance of understanding that August Wilson argues that there are "two Americas" and the essence of defending your thesis and essay which is due tomorrow!

Citing Quotes:

I’m only requiring the act number and scene number for your essays when citing quotations...for example: (2.4).

When you quote sets of dialogue between two or more characters use block format and put the characters' names in all capital letters. Don't forget a lead-in and a citation that includes all speeches being quoted. Example:

WINING BOY. What you mean broke? I got a whole pocketful of money.

DOAKER. Did you all get that truck fixed?

BOY WILLIE. We got it running and got halfway out there on Centre and it broke down again. Lymon went out and messed it up some more.

LYMON: Lymon nothing. You go down there and sleep in it. (1.2)

Block Quoting:When you have a quotation longer than four lines, you need to block quote.

Sample Block Quote:

 The plight of minorities adjusting to a predominately white university has historically

been difficult. The pressure put on minorities can be seen in this 1920 letter from a father

to his son:   

   

            “Son, remember you're a Negro. You'll have to do twice as much

            better than your classmates. Before you act, think how what

            you do may reflect on other Negroes. Those white people will       

            be judging the race by you. Don't let the race down, Son. . . . A Negro's

            just as good as anybody else, but he's always got to prove it,” 

            (Redding 112).   

The pressure on minorities to succeed, for themselves and their race, has been enormous.

 

 Remember:

-single space your header

-pagination and name in the top right corner

-double space

-times new roman

-use present tense!

-have fun and say something!

Monday/Tuesday classes 10-1/10-2

Monday:

Freewrite: Please reflect over the following quote and respond to it's meaning, whether you agree or disagree, and any other observations you may have.

“Blacks in America want to forget about slavery—the stigma, the shame. That’s the wrong move. If you can’t be who you are, who can you be?  How can you know what to do? We have our history. We have our book, which is the blues. And we forget it all.”

 -August Wilson

We also covered the basics of the essay, due Thursday, October 4th.

 Watched part of the film!

Tuesday: 

Grammar 2 practice

Sample thesis statements

Finished film

Group work time

HW:essay, project, vocab (quiz is Friday!)

Piano Lesson assignment for Monday October 1st!

We have now finished reading the play and are viewing the made for television version in class. We will most likely finish it on Monday. If you were absent on Friday, you can view the film on youtube, just make sure it looks like the version of the clip we watched of the men in the play singing "Berta Berta". We stopped right about the time Doaker begins to explain the origins of the piano. Today we started watching the film, along with receiving our group project assignment that you will begin in class next week. Over the weekend, you need to address the following topics and blog your responses. Responses need to be a paragraph in length, (about 5-7 sent) if not more.

1) What do you think "the piano lesson" is?
2) Why did August Wilson choose this title?

At the end of the play, Boy Willie finds himself at odds with Sutter's Ghost and decides to leave the house and return peacefully once and for all to Mississippi.

3) How is it that Boy Willie comes to understand the importance of the piano in the final scene of the play?

Berniece has had the power all along to rid the house of Sutter, yet she doesn't use her power until the final scene when she sings to her dead ancestors.

 4) What is significant about her calling out the names of her dead family members?

5) What purpose does this serve?

Ownership

What is owned in the play? What do the characters wish they owned?

Respond to this on the same paper you have written about motifs and symbols. Due by tomorrow's class!

September 24th!

In class today, you received time to work on your group characterization projects. Make sure you complete your role as you will be limited on time tomorrow to work on them. Be sure to finish reading Act. II scene 3 tonight and use the information given today in the play to add onto your character description.

I asked you at the end of class to think about this statement: Choose any character from the play and decide what they symbolize within the motif of social mobility. This is not a formal journal entry, but do reflect carefully on how your character showcases this idea. Go back and look at your notes and the article over the weekend to refresh about social mobility.

This is not a blog post! Write out your response for class tomorrow!

greetings...fun times over the weekend!

Hello adolescent children:

You have an article to read  over the weekend and two questions to respond to...the article covers the topic of social mobility and how it's diminishing slightly in America. Think about the author's point of view, consider what we discussed in class on Friday and connect any themes you see in the article with the Piano Lesson. Have fun guys!

In order to access the article, follow these steps:

1) open an internet browser
2) google the following...the downward path to upward mobility
3) the first thing that should pop up on google is an article with that title from the Washington Post with a small icon of a man... the author, Fareed Zakaria. Click on the the link and read the article.

Questions!
 Why  does Zakaria think that social mobility is going down in the United States? What do you think about his conclusions?

What is the biggest factor for getting the US back on track with the American Dream and social mobility? Why?

Make sure to post your responses on your blog!

Papers papers and papers

Papers and Papers and Papers and Papers

Hope your papers are going well. Remember each body paragraph should include:
1. Topic Sentence
2. Quote Introduction
3. Quote
4. Explanation of WHY quote is an example of the technique you're talking about.
5. Analysis of effect
6. More analysis-say what you need to say! John Mayer!


Email me at mcoulson@ttsd.k12.or.us if you have questions.

Blog assignment 3: Piano Lesson Act 1

So far in the play, we've been introduced to the characters Boy Willie, Doaker, Lymon and Berniece. Think about the following questions and respond to them regarding what you've read so far.


1. Who are the ghosts of the Yellow Dog?


2. How is the "n word" used so far?

3. What is the Irene Kauffman Settlement House?

4. What is Parchman Farm a historical reference to?

Theme notes

Theme: arriving at an understanding of what the author is saying about the subject or subjects.

Literary Devices:
Characterization: how the characters think, feel, and act?

1. Values-what people, places, or things, are most important in the character's life?
2. Feeling-what emotions does the character feel most strongly?
3. Goals- what are the character's greatest hopes? What do they want to accomplish?
4. Problems-what other character's or circumstances are keeping the character from achieving his or her goals?

Conflict: central source of tension/drama
1. Character vs. Character
2. character vs. society
3. character vs. nature
4. character vs. self

*does LOTF conflict/s fit one of these?  * can you state the central problem/s of the story?


Theme equation=subject=what's the author saying+how are they saying it? This contributes to identifying the theme, but then you need to decide what you think about that theme.

Be working on your essays for Friday!

sample coding for passage 10

Example of coding a section of passage 10 (page 155)

“Hullo. Fancy meeting you, Ralph.”

“We just been in the forest.--"

“—To get wood for the fire—"

“—we got lost last night—.”

Ralph examined  his toes.

“You got lost after the…”

Piggy cleaned his lens.

“After the feast,” said Sam in a stifled voice. Eric nodded. “Yes, after the feast.”

“We left early,” said Piggy quickly, “because we were tired.”

“So did we—"

“—very early—"

“—we were very tired.”

-- Repetition of dashes

"" Use of dialogue between Ralph and Samneric

Bold-diction exposing the fear in the boys, expresses their reluctance to tell the truth

underline-repetition of the word tired, signal word for excuse=denial=Golding's way of showcasing the boys increasing fear that the beast is them.

Coding!

Coding is the marking of the techniques in the passage; analysis is explaining the effect of those techniques!

Homework:
Find an element or technique in passage 8 or 9 on your white slip of paper. Mark as many times as you see that technique, as well as others and code the text with symbols, markings, colors. etc.  Then, write a paragraph identifying the technique and explaining its effect. Your paragraph should be at least 7 sentences in length. Post the paragraphs on your blog before class starts Wednesday, September 12th.

Remember:

• Embrace the fact that you have already read the entire book. Draw from other parts of the book to inform your analysis of the effect.
• Don't stop asking "what is the effect of this" until you absolutely can not dig any deeper. For example: Alliteration. What is the effect of this? Creates a rhythmic sound. What is the effect of this? Mirrors the sound of the ocean. What is the effect of this? Highlights the water locked setting. What is the effect of this? Associates the rhythmic consistency of the ocean to the programed nature of humans to follow a pattern. What is the effect of this? Creates an almost trance like mood. What is the effect of this? Develops the theme that human nature will always revert to a natural and instinctual pattern of behavior.

Here's an example from your academic tutor:

“Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. […] The naked crooks of his knees were plump, caught and scratched by thorns. He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat. He came forward, searching out safe lodgments for his feet, and then looked up through thick spectacles”

S – Alliteration:

C – Alliteration:

Th – Repetition:

Diction/tone – Adjectives that indicate disability/weakness:

All of the negative attitudes describing Piggy on the first page serve two purposes. First, it makes him unrelatable/unappealing to the reader. As Piggy will eventually progress to be the icon of the civilization we would like to hold as valuable, being described negatively makes that ideal more distant, demonstrating that our civilization isn’t as inherent as we would like it to be. Secondly, focusing on disabilities largely found in ‘developed’ societies, Golding identifies Piggy with all the weaknesses of the modern world. Being “plump” and having “thick spectacles” shows how Piggy is dependant on society to treat his shortcomings.

First blog writing assignment

This weekend's homework (to be done on your blog)

1. Choose a key passage (either 5, 6, 7)
2. Find a symbol in your key passage and CITE a part of the text discussing the symbol.
3. Explain the effect of the symbol
4. Try to connect your symbol to a larger theme we see in the book

Post by Monday's class!

Creating a blog!

You will need to create your own blog to complete assignments for this class. In order to do that, you need to follow these steps. You're blog does not have to be created until Monday's class, so you have tonight and all weekend to play around with it.

1. Go to blogspot.com
2. Login using your TTSD account. Your username is your esis login@ttsdstudents.org (example 12mcoulson@ttsdstudents.org). Your password is your student ID number.
3. Click "continue"
4. Click "new blog"
5. Assign a title and domain name for your blog. Save your information.
6. Find my blog and follow it.
7. Email me your blog address...mcoulson@ttsd.k12.or.us

Welcome!

Welcome to Ms. Coulson's Adv. Sophomore English class! I look forward to getting to know you all well and having a terrific term. You will need to visit this blog for any and all information relating to class as well completing assignments.