river oaks [english]

Seniors Your essay on Monday is about the possible connections between social media and body image, especially as it affects young people, but also how it is manifested in steroid abuse, extreme body modification, and eating disorders. The question is this: To what degree, and how, does the media create a "single ideal body image," and how does that affect readers, viewers and consumers? Our topic for next week is relationships online, both friendly and romantic, and how inter-personal communication is changing because of the internet and communication technologies. Lastly, your vocabulary list is linked HERE , and I can provide a copy next week if needed.Your vocabulary test will be next Thursday. Sophomores Your reading assignment for the weekend is Daniel Defoe's "Academy For Women," in the handout I gave you or HERE . Your QUIZ on Pope, Pepys, and Defoe will be on Tuesday.

Sorry I couldn't be there today. Here is your work if you missed it: Sophomores Read  The Diary of Samuel Pepys  in the handout OR HERE . After reading, answer questions at the end of the selection (comp check and #2-5). Questions are due Friday. Seniors You have been reading a series of essays in the book on body image. Please answer questions from TWO essays (excluding the photo). I haven't forgotten the vocabulary. The snow day threw us off schedule, and I will post or hand out a list tomorrow.

Seniors As we begin our discussion this week on social media and body image, please read the section in your textbook "Focus on Body Image" (482-92). Our discussion will include a host of issues examined through the context of electronic media: eating disorders, anti-aging drugs, male enhancement  medication, steroid abuse, plastic surgery, and the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry. We will also talk about the positive potential of media: Sophomores Your assignment for Wednesday is to type and revise your political cartoon analysis. Remember that you must attribute all information that is not common knowledge. This requires you to cite the sources using signal phrases . We will not include a "works cited" page with this paper, but I do expect you to include the names of both the cartoonist and the source publication for your article. For more on using signal phrases, try searching Google, or CLICK HERE . Your final draft must be within 10 words of

Seniors Your essay this week is an analysis of ONE of the selections in the AP packet. We will continue to discuss those pieces in class tomorrow. Don't forget your vocabulary assignment due Friday! Sophomores You will write an analysis this Friday of a political cartoon. Your assignment for tomorrow (Thursday) is to print three cartoons from CAGLE.COM , a database of contemporary cartoons. Because political cartoons are topical, you need to understand the context, so pick three that you understand! On Thursday, you will focus on one or two on a particular subject. Your homework for tomorrow is to find an article at GOOGLE NEWS and print it out. This will help you explain the context of your cartoon(s). On Friday, you will write an essay (of around 300 words) which analyzes the cartoon's use of satire.

Seniors Today, we went over one of the three essays in your AP handout. One of your assignments for this week is to find 20 terms from that handout that you don't know. You will then type a list of the terms with their definitions (taken from Webster's only , please) and turn the list in on Friday. Please format according to MLA. I will compile a list of terms for a quiz the following week. Sophomores You have a quiz on Jonathan Swift tomorrow. This week, we will continue to talk about satire, including a discussion of contemporary political cartoons.

Seniors In-class argument essay on the topic of social media and repercussions in real life. Sophomores Answer questions A-D, and #3-5 following Part Two of Gulliver's Travels .

Sophomores Please answer questions following Part One of Gulliver's Travels (Comprehension Check and #1-4) for tomorrow. If you really want to be prepared, you should also pre-read Part Two, linked below: Part Two: A Voyage to Brobdingnag

Seniors The focus for this week's essay is social media and privacy . Is the notion of privacy in social media an oxymoron? Should schools and/or employers hold a person's online persona against them? Also, you should be working on the AP multiple choice handout. Please put your answers on a separate sheet of paper and turn it in on Friday. Sophomores Please read the first part of our selection from Gulliver's Travels . We will discuss it in class tomorrow, and I will give you some questions to answer in class or afterwards. Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput

Sophomores Don't forget about the quiz on Monday. Also, please print out the following notes and bring them to class on Monday. We will continue the notes on the Restoration Period after the quiz: Restoration and the 18th Century

Seniors Your task for tomorrow in class will be to respond to #9 on p654: "Which of the predictions Birkerts makes in paragraphs 19-25 do you believe have occurred/been realized?" I will ask you to formulate an organized response, using specific examples from the text and the world around you. Sophomores Your optional homework assignment is to answer A-F on p449. You will have a quiz on Monday on the three works studied so far: Pilgrim's Progress , "Of Studies," and Paradise Lost .

Seniors The theme for this semester is technology and pop culture, so most of your readings and essays will be concerned with very current ideas and contemporary texts. We will talk about topics ranging from artificial reality and reality TV to robotics and "the uncanny valley." To get us started talking about some of the more difficult concepts, the first essay we'll read is from 1994. Although the essay was written before you were born, it introduces the transitional period you've been born into. Here is a facsimile of the original essay from your text: Into the Electronic Millennium by Sven Birkerts Sophomores Today, we discussed Sir Francis Bacon's "Of Studies," and I introduced John Milton. The homework for tomorrow is to read the excerpt from Paradise Lost . We will discuss and answer questions tomorrow. From "Of Studies" "The Fall of Satan" from Paradise Lost