The Ultimate Summer Playlist

What songs need to be on our playlists this summer?  Please post below.  One day to go!!!

Final Exam- American Lit. (Periods 3, 6 & 7)

You’re Invited…

English 11 Final Exam 2015 - Mrs. Baker

Background:

We are ending our year with a dinner party!  The most notable characters/authors from this year’s readings will sit down and enjoy good food and lively conversation.  Imagine a table with Willy Loman, Tim O’Brien, Mama Younger, and Jay Gatsby.  What would they discuss?  How would they act?  What would they eat?

Task:

Create a script (minimum 5 pages) that includes five of the characters/authors from at least four works of literature covered this year.  Display your knowledge of the characters’ values, dreams & beliefs as you develop the dinner party conversation.  Utilize at least 12 textual references/ quotes in the script. Include 15 of the vocabulary words that we studied this year.  Incorporate 5 symbols from the texts.  Plan a menu that takes into account food mentioned in the core texts this year.  Present your dinner party during our final exam.

Audience:

Your classmates and teachers will be your audience.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is to review the major works of literature in this course as they relate to the course essential questions.  The final product should entertain and inform your audience of some of the major themes and characters covered in this course.

Procedure:

1.     Decide upon a group of no more than five classmates.  Individuals who want to work solo will need to ask classmates to play various roles.

2.     Determine which characters will be invited to your dinner party.  Consider the following texts: Death of a Salesman, The Things They Carried, Raisin in the Sun,  Nickel & Dimed, and The Great Gatsby.  At least five characters must be in attendance from a minimum of four texts.

3.     Decide who will portray each character.

4.     Complete the “Dinner Party Graphic Organizer” to determine what character traits and details should come across in the writing.  Begin to list subjects/ topics that each character might add to the “conversation.”

5.     Determine an appropriate menu.  Add food possibilities to the “Dinner Party Graphic Organizer.” Perhaps each character is responsible for “bringing something to the table.”  Web searches with both the novel title and the word “food” may yield some interesting results.  Compose the script utilizing GoogleDocs.  This is a collaborative process, but each group member should take the responsibility of one dinner party guest.  Be creative!

6.     Be sure to edit the script and rehearse.

7.     Make a list of the props and food each group member is responsible for bringing in.

8.     Show up for dinner!  You may use your scripts during the party, but try to keep the conversation flowing as naturally as possible.

Final Exam-Honors

You’re Invited…

English 11 Honors Final Exam 2015 - Mrs. Baker

Background:

We are ending our year with a dinner party!  The most notable characters/authors from this year’s readings will sit down and enjoy good food and lively conversation.  Imagine a table with Gatsby, Tim O’Brien, Thoreau, Barbara Ehrenreich, Willy Loman and Sula.  What would they discuss?  How would they act?  What would they eat?

Task:

Create a script (minimum 10 pages) that includes a minimum of five of the characters/authors from at least four works of literature covered this year.  Display your knowledge of the characters’ values, dreams & beliefs as you develop the dinner party conversation.  Utilize at least 12 textual references/ quotes in the script.  Include 15 of the vocabulary words that we studied this year.  Incorporate 5 symbols from the texts.  Plan a menu that takes into account food mentioned and/or typical food of the time and setting of the core texts this year.  Present your dinner party during our final exam.

Audience:

Your classmates and teachers will be your audience.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is to review the major works of literature in this course as they relate to the course essential questions.  The final product should entertain and inform your audience of some of the major themes and characters covered in this course.

11th Grade English Course Specific Questions:

1. How does literature teach us about rebellion and individual responsibility in a free society?
2. In what ways are humans connected or not to the natural world?
3. How does a work of literature function as a social commentary?
4. What does the literature studied in this course suggest about what it means to be American? What is the "American Dream?"

Procedure:

1.     Decide upon a group of three to five classmates.  Individuals who want to work solo will need to ask classmates to play various roles.

2.     Determine which characters will be invited to your dinner party.  Consider the following texts: Death of a Salesman, The Things They Carried, Walden, Grapes of Wrath, Nickel & Dimed, Sula, Paper Towns, and The Great Gatsby. You may also consider the short stories and poems we covered this year as well.   At least five characters must be in attendance from a minimum of four texts.

3.     Decide who will portray each character.

4.     Complete the “Dinner Party Graphic Organizer” to determine what character traits and details should come across in the writing.  Begin to list subjects/ topics that each character might add to the “conversation.”

5.     Determine an appropriate menu.  Add food possibilities to the “Dinner Party Graphic Organizer.” Perhaps each character is responsible for “bringing something to the table.”  Web searches with both the novel title and the word “food” may yield some interesting results.

6.     Compose the script utilizing GoogleDocs.  This is a collaborative process, but each group member should take the responsibility of one dinner party guest.  Be creative!

7.     Be sure to edit the script and rehearse.

8.     Make a list of the props and food each group member is responsible for bringing in.

9.     Show up for dinner!  You may use your scripts during the party, but try to keep the conversation flowing as naturally as possible.

Sample Post

It is very difficult to settle on four poems, so I chose five:) These are the poems that are "speaking" to me at this stage in my life.  I look forward to reading about the poems that resonate with you.

The first poem that I would like to share is "To My Son's Girlfriend" by Michael Milburn.  I love how Milburn likens the parental love the father feels toward his son with a table a woodworker makes "intending to sell it but prays no buyer will recognize its worth."  I imagine myself feeling similar feelings of possessiveness and jealousy when my daughters enter their teenage years.

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index/index.php?date=2010/03/29

Similarly, I love how Sharon Olds employs mathematical computations to describe her daughter's coming of age in "The One Girl at the Boys Party."  I hope the daughter (and mine as well) continues to use her mathematical mind even if "in her head sh'll be doing her wild multiplying."

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-one-girl-at-the-boys-party/


It probably doesn't surprise you that I would enjoy about poem about food.  In this case "Good Hot Dogs" by Sandra Cisneros.  I love the image of last line "You humming and me swinging my legs" because it portrays the pure joy and childhood innocence of the simple moments in life shared with someone you love.

https://www.utexas.edu/staff/hfsa/pdfs/HFSASummerWritingWorkshopSession4Reading1.pdf

The last two poems are similar as they speak about timing.  I love the way William Baer describes that image of the snowflake and then uses the qualities of the snowflake to describe the chance timing of this couples meeting and eventual kiss.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/237372

In "End of April," Phillis Levin uses the qualities of a broken Robin's egg to compare to a loss felt by the speaker.  The "bird" that has left the shell "lives in my heart where, periodically, it opens its wings, tearing me apart."  Levin captures for me the feelings that we think we have put to rest, but occasionally catch us off guard.

"Poems I Love..." This week's poem assignment. Due Friday.

Spend some time reading contemporary poems.  Choose four of your favorite poems. Post the links to these poems and tell why you appreciate each of them.  Comment on a classmate's choices.

Some helpful links:
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/poems
http://www.favoritepoem.org/

Robert Frost

Please post a 3-5 sentence comment regarding Frost's life, style, and the content of his poems.  What did you notice?  Reference specifics from the readings.

Inspired by Emily Dickinson...Post your poems here.

Gatsby Nonfiction Links

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/business/31scene.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/opinion/editorial-observer-jay-gatsby-dreamer-criminal-jazz-age-rogue-man-for-our-times.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20fFOB-WWLN-t.html