river oaks [english]

Each nine weeks, honors students are required to read ONE book, in addition to their regular course work. This book should be either one that I recommend in class or one that is chosen from the "honors" list. THE LIST: 101 Great Books The list comes from College Board , the folks who write the SAT, CLEP and AP exams. The books listed are frequently used on standardized tests and are generally considered masterpieces. I will occasionally offer suggestions in class, related to the era we are discussing. My only other requirement is that students read books they have not read before. For each book students must: Write a letter telling me which book you have chosen and why; the letter must be written in full block style (discussed in class) Either take a test or write a critical paper on the selected book, depending on the book. I would also like to remind students that you can earn extra point at any time by reading extra books and taking AR tests in the library.

Are we all excited about school? I thought so. Well, it promises to be another enlightening year, one full of studies and papers and essays and exams....and football and other stuff. As you all know, you have something due already. Yes, I know, you loved writing that book report (DUE THURSDAY) and you are so looking forward to writing an essay in class (ON FRIDAY). We'll ease into the year, in other words. Seriously, I am looking forward to this school year! New faces and some slightly old ones...a new class for the seniors...fancy new technology...football and other stuff. So, I'll see you in class....let's have a great year!

For each additional summer reading assignment, students will compose a reading guide. Each report should be typed, double-spaced and formatted according to MLA. Please use 1" margins and 12-point Times New Roman. The entire report should be no longer than two typed pages. Include the following: An introductory paragraph of no more than 100 words summarizing the book, including a statement concerning the central theme or idea. A body paragraph that introduces and explains a significant quote from the book; the quote should be no longer than three lines and should be in quotation marks; please cite the page number at the end of the quote -- i.e. (#). Finally, a one-paragraph conclusion that reviews the book, again about 100 words; please include WHY you did or did not like the book; feel free to compare it to other books (or films). This assignment requires no research or additional sources, so avoid looking up information about the book(s) online. Using ONLY your reading of the bo...

Welcome to summertime, and you know what that means: summer reading assignments! Don't get stressed about it; take a book to the beach or the backyard and relax. A copy of the reading list was included with your report card, and you can find it here at any time. Like last year, each honors student will read THREE books this summer; non-honors students will read TWO. Of these, only one is chosen for you. The others are up to you, with some stipulations. The list for summer 2008: Freshmen ~ The Alchemist , but Paulo Coelho (incidentally, the book entering ULM students are reading) Sophomores ~ The Catcher in the Rye , by J. D. Salinger Juniors ~ 1984 , by George Orwell Seniors ~ B ayou Farewell , by Mike Tidwell Students will be asked to write an in-class essay when they return to school, based on topics provided by the teacher, using the book and an outline only. As noted, the other selections are up to you. For each additional book, you will write a short report (referred to as...

I know all of you would like to be exempt from the final, but I promise it won't be too bad -- if you study, that is. I've made the tests and quizzes available in class, and you are all welcome to come early on Friday to take notes and review. The exam will be 75-100 questions, both multiple choice and matching, and will be divided into literary periods. The exam will include information from the following periods, authors and works: Renaissance Period (1485-1660) Intro to the period (pages 193-211) Sonnets -- Wyatt, Spenser & Shakespeare (214-229) "Carpe Diem" & "Metaphysical" Poetry (238-254) The Renaissance Theater (283-288) William Shakespeare & Macbeth (289-389) King James Bible (413) -- psalms, parables Restoration Period (1660-1800) John Milton & Paradise Lost (435-450) John Bunyan & Pilgrim's Progress (451-453) Jonathan Swift & Satire (486-513) Gulliver's Travels A Modest Proposal Romantic Period (1798-1832) Intr...

Your final drafts of the research paper are due Friday.  Please include the following in your folder: The FINAL DRAFT of your paper -- Six (non-honors) to eight (honors) pages, with at least four (non) to seven (honors) secondary sources, cited and  formatted according to MLA The graded PRIMARY SOURCE PAPER (with my comments) Your Annotated BIB Your most recent OUTLINE All SOURCES used in the paper, stapled with citations and highlighted for content, arranged in the order they appear on the "Works Cited" page I said I would give you a copy of the rubric I will be using; instead, please refer to the following: TWO points each = plurals/possessives, spelling, typos, word choice, and usage TWO points each = formatting errors (spacing, numbering, punctuation) FIVE points each = run-ons, fragments, P/A and S/V, parallelism FIVE points each = sentence-level issues (variety, clarity and syntax) TEN points each = paragraph-level issues (unity and development) TEN points each = misus...

As you work on your memory books this week and next, you should also be working on the end-of-year writing assignments.  I've given you a handout (if you were on class): A letter to your future self -- imagine yourself four years from now...where will you be, and what will you be doing?  Is it what you planned?  What do you hope to remember about NOW?  What's important?  Address your future self in a letter (standard form), and enclose it in a self-address envelope.  I won't read it, but I do need to know you've done it, so don't seal it. A reflective paragraph that will serve as the introduction to your memory book.  What is your overall impression of your high school years?  What do you want to remember most? Finally, write a poem about your senior class.  The form and tone of the poem is up to you: funny, serious or sad; rhyming couplets, ballad, or free verse.  However you write it, though, please take it seriously.  A copy of this poem should go in your memory ...

Your next assignment is to create an a nnotated bibliography  of the sources for your research paper. As discussed in class, this is a list of citations with short critical summaries for each source. Include the following: The citation for the source A short summary of the source's connection to your thesis We'll cover citations in class, of course, but for additional help try Purdue's OWL  and/or  Bedford St. Martins . They're both current and reliable.  You should also include a citation for your primary source (the novel); for the annotation, please state your thesis. There are several annotated bib  examples online ; the best are through  Cornell  and  Purdue . If you've completed your note card assignment, then this should be simply a matter of typing the information. Remember to  alphabetize  your list. Use MLA format, including double-spacing and page numbers.

It's the assignment you've all been waiting for: the memory book. Okay, it's a scrapbook. Whatever. Your assignment is to gather material for a scrapbook that will cover the last four years of your life.  You'll be glad you did it, so don't complain or I'll make you do some real work.  Please start with a LARGE book, not one of the wee little books that you can find some places.  Get a BIG one (12 X 12). For each year of high school, you are required to have  at least  four pages organized into the following categories, but not limited to the examples provided: (1) Student Life -- school-related stuff, friends, sports, spirit groups (2) Personal Life -- family, faith and friends (3) Culture -- what was going on in the world, favorites from that year  Some suggestions for info on the year 2004 (your Freshman year?): CNN Time Magazine Infoplease NOTE: Two sheets front and back for every year = 16 total pages (8 sheets). You can certainly go over this minimum requi...

Remember I was telling you guys about the scientists that grew a rat heart and then got it to beat?  Well, here's the video: Here's a more extensive look at the science behind the freakiness , from National Geographic .

Your test is on Monday and will cover English Romanticism, beginning with the introduction to the period (622-638).  The period includes two revolutions -- French (for freedom and equality, but which lead to disillusionment) and Industrial (for scientific and economic progress, but which lead to skepticism and degradation).  Note the chart that outlines the developments and concerns of the period, including the reverence for youth and role of the imagination.  We also talked a bit about some of the paintings of the period . The major writers of the period can be divided into three groups: early, late and women. First, the poets who defined the period -- William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  Their collection Lyrical Ballads includes two of the period's most famous poems, Rime of the Ancient Mariner  & "Tintern Abbey."  We also studied "Kubla Kahn".  Note the form for these poems as well as the content .   William Blake is also of the earlier gene...

Thanks to Ms. Megan Lowe for the presentation on Thursday!  She wrote me to say she will be at the library on Sunday if anyone needs help finding sources (they open at 2:00).  Plus, she sent me a link to her presentation , just in case you misplaced the one she gave you.   I will also be there from 2:00-4:00 on Sunday.  Your assignment for Monday is to bring three relevant sources to class ( five if in Honors).  We will discuss how to create citations then, as well as talk more about integrating the sources into your papers.

As discussed in class, MOST of your secondary sources need to come from “scholarly journals.”   The best source for journal articles is a subscription database like the following: JSTOR – full-text scholarly articles Go to the ULM Library (or website:  http://www.ulm.edu/library/ ) click the JSTOR link in left column enter user name and password (if off-campus) search using keywords (string together using “and”) click on the title to view the text click PDF to download File à Save In à Flash Drive Print out at home! INFOTRAC – citations, abstracts, and full-text scholarly and popular articles Go to the River Oaks website ( http://www.romustangs.com ) click the InfoTrac link at bottom of page the Library ID is RIVER search the entire collection by entering “Frankenstein” in the box at the top select the “full text” box to find complete articles search within results by typ...

The Juniors will be taking a field trip to the ULM Library on Thursday! A bus will be here at around 9:00 to take us there. Bring money to eat on campus. You all received a brief orientation in class, but I though I'd post some of the information here, as well. First, we are going to the library for two reasons: because it's a very nice, local, university library; and because they have JSTOR (for "journal storage"), which is a subscription database. I want to start with JSTOR because it is by far the best resource I've found for full-text scholarly articles on literature. A distinction needs to be clear regarding the difference between "popular" and "scholarly" periodicals: Popular periodicals (i.e. Newsweek) focus on a variety of topics and give general information and editorial comments; they are published frequently, and although they are reliable sources, it's hard to find information for a literature paper, unless your thesis ti...

Your final draft of the primary source paper is due on Wednesday, April 9th. The paper should be typed, double-spaced and formatted according to MLA. Please bring a clean copy of the paper, stapled and free of editing marks. On a side note: As noted in class, long quotes should be treated differently than shorter (or partial) quotes. First, you should make certain that you need the quote in its entirety. It's possible that you may only need a portion, or even that a summary of the quote would suffice. That said, sometimes it is necessary to quote a monologue or longer descriptive passage. If you do, please observe the following rules: indent two tabs (or ten spaces) omit the quotation marks follow the quote with end punctuation THEN the citation All other times you cite, the period comes LAST: According to Mr. Ryland, "if you must quote, then do it correctly" (#).

As noted in class, we'll shift focus this week to the ACT test coming up this weekend.  Even if you aren't taking the test this time, the information should prove useful to you as you finish up your research papers. We'll talk about the tests themselves, and I'll relay some of the strategies from the various preparation materials available.  We'll also look at specific examples from the tests and practice the English and Reading portions of the exam.   In addition, you should spend some time this week (after you've completed your draft for Wednesday) preparing for the test on your own.  To that end, I've listed some helpful sites below: ACT's official test prep site ACT SparkNotes test prep ACT Test Prep @ Yahoo! Education Free Online Test (not official, but helpful)! Above all, get a good night's sleep.  I'm not joking; it really does help.

This is just a reminder that your 250-word papers are due with the projects. This paper is required for all of those students who either completed an art project or participated in a group video. Remember: I'm not grading you on how great an artist you are, or how well you can act. I'm grading on your participation and effort, as well as your attention to detail and focus on Macbeth . The paper is your opportunity to make your case for receiving full marks on the project. As discussed in class, the paper should include the following: If in a video, tell me what you did and why ; what was your process in completing the project? Again, please be specific in detailing your participation, as this is the only way for you to defend your work, other than what I see on the video. If you created a piece of artwork, then tell me why you decided to choose your subject and medium. What guided your vision? What lead to the artistic (and practical) choices you made? Defend your work of...

You have each proposed your Macbeth project, and hopefully have gotten started. Remember that the due date is one week from today (April 4th). Your next assignment is to compose a memo including the following information: A statement of purpose (i.e. "The purpose of this memo is to...") A paragraph detailing your progress so far (what have you done?) A paragraph detailing your plan of action for the next week (what are you planning to do?) Contact info Remember too that the heading for the memo is double-spaced; everything else is single-spaced. The memo should be around 250 words. Only one is needed per group, and everyone will receive the same grade. You should initial, rather than sign, by your name in the heading. The memo is due MONDAY, March 31st

The first step in the research process is to pick a TOPIC. I’ve provided a sheet of several suggestions, which you can amend or use intact, or you can create your own topic. Your assignment is to write a business letter addressed to me proposing the topic for your research paper. You must include at least the following: A statement that states the purpose for the letter A statement including your general topic Your topic phrased as a question Your initial answer to the question (preliminary thesis) A statement explaining why you chose your topic – try to connect it to your interests in some way Contact information Signature The letter should be around 250 words typed, formatted like your “DEAR” letters (full block). Use Times New Roman only. DUE: Monday, March 31 st

After reading Macbeth , you will each have a choice of three 100-point assignments: First, you can choose to write a critical paper of at least three pages, which examines a central theme to the play (100 points). I’ll be happy to provide you with a topic. Your paper must include evidence (direct quotes, summary and paraphrase) from one critical source, as well as evidence from the play. Everything will be documented according to MLA, and you must include your source with the final draft. Your second option is to create a video of a scene from Macbeth and to write a short paper “defending” your video. You can work alone or form a group of up to four students. Each group will pick a scene that is central to the plot of the play and create a video (80 points). Finally, each student is required to write 250 words explaining WHY he/she chose the scene – i.e. placing the scene in the context of the play (20 points). Your third option is to create an original work of art rela...