river oaks [english]

English II Presentations this week will be followed by discussion of Volume II. English IV All students should be finished viewing The Truman Show by class Wednesday (available on Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, etc). We will begin writing intros in class Wednesday and finish the analysis essay in class on Thursday. Your prompt follows: Write an analysis essay focusing on some aspect of Peter Weir's 1998 film The Truman Show . Your essay should strive to provide insight into the meaning of the film, 20 years later, in the context of our increasingly media-centered, artificial world. Art Survey Your "TMNT" presentations are due on Wednesday, complete with presentation notes. Please make you have done the following: used a legible font no smaller than 18 cited and referenced all sources, which must be credible (no Wikipedia) linked all pictures to the museum where they're located - in other words, each picture linked to its online version for the museum (i.e. Th...

English II Quiz Wednesday on the reading up to p142. We will also discuss the Frankenstein Presentation Project , which will research and connect a topic in current science to the novel. Please review the assignment and consider the topics listed. English IV As you receive your comments from Tuesday's workshop, then copy/paste your paper into a new document, and share it with me as "lastname-revision4". Revisions are due (printed, with sources and peer reviews attached) on Wednesday, and I will introduce the film you will be viewing in class: Truman Show . As you watch, take notes and consider the following: Character development - all are actors playing a part (except Truman) The various environments created Advertising - product placement and consumerism, in general Clues to the reality of Truman’s world Cameras everywhere Significance of names Themes of fear, loss, love, religion

English IV Of the three most recent essays - Robotics, Birkerts, and Simulation - choose ONE to revise for a 100-point grade: Search below for the associated prompt Clean up the draft you've chosen Print two copies of that essay to bring to class If sources were involved, then have those as well Regardless of topic, each person should give and receive two sets of comments. Final revisions are due Wednesday, printed, with sources. All essays should be at least 500 words, formatted according to MLA, including a "Works Cited" page. English II Your homework is to read through p126 (Vol II: Ch 3). This will take you up through the beginning of the creature's story, so we can compare the POV. For homework credit, answer the following in complete sentences, citing the text: Explain in what ways Victor feels responsible for Justine's (and William's) death. Describe his reaction to the death of Justine and William, physically and emotionally(102-4) Desc...

English II Read the rest of Volume One in Frankenstein , and be prepared for a reading quiz on Friday. Honors summaries are due on Monday. Answer the following for homework credit: Describe the creature (56-8) Describe Victor's reaction (57-8) What happens following Victor's "escape"? What poem is alluded to in Ch 5, and what's its significance? Who shows up via carriage, and how is this an example of deus ex machina ? How is Victor's illness to the natural world? Who is Justine, and what is her role in the Frankenstein household? Explain how Henry helps to "heal" Victor (69-73) Who is murdered, and what is the evidence? In what way is justice NOT served in Justine's trial? English IV On Friday, bring two sources related to your topic - printed and annotated - to use as support for your argument. If you pre-write the introduction, then go ahead share your essay as "lastname-simulation" before class.

English II Read through chapter four of Frankenstein and discuss the following in complete sentences, citing from the text: How do his friends react to Victor's departure for college? Compare and contrast Victor's two professors at Ingolstadt (44-45). Explain how Victor achieves "the summit of [his] desires" (49). What is the effect of Walton's narrative breaking the fourth wall (50)? Describe the making of the creature - its size, for example (51-52).. How does his family react to his absence? (53-54) Describe the creature and Victor's reaction (55-57). Your honors assignment for this week - due Monday - is to read and summarize the linked article on BIOHACKING . Please ask if you need a printed copy. Your summary should be 250-words, typed and formatted according to MLA. 

Your next paper is on the prevalence of simulation in today's world and our preference of the copy to the original in many aspects of modern life. This can be discussed with reference to food, beauty, health, social media, environment, technology, and entertainment. Our discussions will include Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Baudrillard's theory on simulation, simulacra, and the nature of reality itself. We will discuss the theories, and you will provide examples throughout the week. Your prompt for Friday is the following: Have we crossed over into Baudrillard's final stage of "simulacra," where "our models for the real have taken over the place of the real in postmodern society," or where the artificial has become preferable to the real? Or do we still value "authenticity" and "real" experience over the artificial?  What are the implications for human society, both positive and negative? Write a 500-word argument a...

The introductory notes on the context of the novel are now posted. Please refer to the notes if you've been absent. This past week, I have been covering the introduction of the book (vii-xxi). Your homework for Monday, now that you have the book in hand, is to read the first 50 pages . The novel begins with a series of letters from Robert Walton - an explorer trying to become the first man to reach the North Pole - written to his sister, Margaret Seville. He describes the landscape, his crew, and his emotions and ambitions. On this journey, he encounters a man on a sled who has is half-dead from traveling across the ice; this man is Victor Frankenstein, who then proceeds to tell the story of how he got there. The narrators are "nested" like Russian dolls . Please consider the following as you read the first 50 pages: Parallels between the two main narrators References to Enlightenment vs. Romantic ideals References to the Sublime, and to Nature, in general

English II You will have a quiz on the introductory material for Frankenstein on Friday. Please have your $5 by then, as well. English IV We have been discussing "Into the Electronic Millennium" in class. Your homework is to answer the questions following the essay and to think of a focus for your paper on Friday. We will begin by writing thesis statements and introductions tomorrow. Your prompt concerns the following: Birkerts argues that three categories of cultural problems have resulted from the evolution of media from print to digital formats: language erosion, the flattening of historical perspective, and the waning of the private self. Of these three, choose one to support, challenge, or qualify in an argument, updating the examples and support from a contemporary point of view.