river oaks [english]

Your honors essay exam assignment is posted below. DO NOT plagiarize your answers, or you risk earning a grade of ZERO on your exam. English II - Honors Exam

Seniors This week, we are preparing for the midterm/final and working on a revision: Monday-Wednesday Choose one of three essays to revise: Analysis 2, Analysis 3, or Synthesis 2 Print and share with at least two fellow students Due (shared) by end of class Thursday  Thursday-Friday Study rhetorical terms from three quizzes Annotate three analysis prompts in class ONE of these three will be your essay on the midterm/final  Sophomores We are finishing up discussion of Macbeth this week. Through quizzes and homework, I will give you a preview of questions to consider on the midterm, but there will be no exam on the play. Your summary of Engel's chapter on Shakespeare is due on Tuesday. It should follow the suggestions for summary discussed in class, and it should be around 250 words, formatted according to MLA. This is optional for non-honors students. Your midterm review is now posted, as well.

Sophomores Read Act One of Macbeth and answer questions at the end of the section (p346): Comp Check and #2-6. Quiz on Thursday over Act One and introductory notes. Seniors Annotate your handout (new copies by my door) and print ad. We will organize and plan your essays in class. 

Seniors You are writing a synthesis paper this week on advertising. Packets are by my door if you didn't get one. Read the packet for Tuesday, and we will discuss. The paper will be written in class on Friday. A secondary assignment involving advertising will be due for homework on Wednesday : Bring an effective print ad to class - can be printed from the internet or copied from a magazine Sophomores We are discussing Macbeth this week and next. Instruction will be on contextual notes primarily, and you should expect reading quizzes throughout. The first quiz (on Shakespeare's biography and the Elizabethan theater) is Wednesday, Dec 2nd . First, however, we must get everyone's sonnets. If you do not bring (or recite) your sonnet on Monday, please be prepared to do so Tuesday or Wednesday at the beginning of class.

Seniors Your profile essays are due by end of classes Thursday. Remember that the focus of this essay is a "profile" of your parent, not a biography. Focus on specific, sensory details of the interview (including body language and tone), and include a description of them then and now . Please see the following for specific guidelines and questions: Profile Essay Assignment Parent Interview Questions   Sophomores Your exam on lyric poetry in the renaissance is Tuesday . Please study your notes, and re-read the selections in your handouts. We will review in class, but the following will be included: lyric poetry - pastoral poetry, sonnets, and scansion (analyzing meter) poems by Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe poems by Sir Thomas Wyatt, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare Petrarchan, Spenserian, and Shakespearean sonnet forms The Faerie Queen , Amoretti, and Sonnets  For Thursday , you have TWO choices - to recite (or write down) one of Sh...

Seniors Read and annotate the piece from John M. Barry for tomorrow: from The Great Influenza . We will write an analysis essay this week. Also, now that you have a list of questions, you need to conduct your interview. If you need a copy of those questions, please see me. We will write those essays in class next Monday and Tuesday. Sophomores Please read the introduction to the Renaissance (p274-81) and be prepared to take a quiz tomorrow based on the reading and the notes. Honors students, don't forget about your second quarter books! Again, here is your English II-Honors Reading List.

Seniors On Friday, you will write your "This I Believe" essays in class. See the prompt here . Also, look ahead to next week when we will write the Profile Essays - based on the interview with a parent/guardian - depending on the schedule. Also, at some point soon, we will work on another Analysis Essay - this one from an AP prompt, as well. Sophomores Tomorrow is the day of your quiz on Margery Kempe (251-7), medieval theater (258-9), and ballads (192-8). Your homework is to answer the questions on p198 (CC and #2-5).

Seniors This week, you are revising the "This I Believe" synthesis from August. Make sure you keep the original file by copying into a new document named "lastname-believe2" and sharing that with me. You will have time to revise in class, and the final revisions are due by the end of classes on Thursday. Revisions should be 600-750 words. For homework Friday, please PRINT or write a short (150-200 words) narrative explaining your revisions. Don't forget the 2nd vocabulary quiz on Thursday (euphemism - oxymoron). And on Friday, you will all write your own " This I Believe " essays. Sophomores Answer the questions on p256: comprehension check, #2-6. Quiz FRIDAY on "Book of Margery Kempe," medieval theater, and ballads.

Seniors Read the Best Non-Required Reading intro Guillermo Del Toro. Along with Sherman Alexie's "Superman and Me," these short essays will provide the basis for your analysis essay this week. On Friday, you will choose one of the two and write a 500-word critical analysis, focusing on the rhetorical strategies used by the author to achieve his purpose. Sophomores Answer questions following "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (CC and #2-5) for Wednesday. Read "Death of Arthur" and answer the questions (CC and #2-5) for Thursday. We will review on Friday and the exam is on Monday. The exam will cover the notes, both stories, and the vocabulary for each. Below is the video referenced in class:

Seniors Read Sherman Alexie's " Superman and Me ," and answer the questions following the essay (110-13). Vocabulary test this Thursday on A-D. Sophomores Vocabulary quiz on Monday, and then begin the lecture on King Arthur. Please read "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight" tonight (209-222).

To clarify, please be prepared for the following: Seniors Revisions due by the end of classes Friday Submit via Google Docs with the file name "lastname-revision1" Sophomores  Quiz Friday on "Wife of Bath's Tale" and "Federigo's Falcon" Quiz Monday on the vocabulary ("words to know") on all THREE stories Homework due Monday from pages 153, 170, and 178

Sophomores Read "Federigo's Falcon" (172-76) for Wednesday, and answer the following for Thursday: Comprehension Check and #2-5 (177). You will have a quiz on Friday. Seniors We are discussing revision this week, and on Wednesday we'll talk about appositives. Exercises 2 and 3 (170-72) are due on Thursday. Please type if you are able. (Yes, you are required to write the whole sentence.) You may also begin working on your revision; you will have time in class Thursday and Friday to finish, as well.

Seniors This week, you will be revising one of the three essays we've written: Argument (various prompts) Analysis of "The Real New York Giants" Argument (fixing high school) We will focus in class on revision, in general, and one aspect of revision in particular--sentence combining. On Wednesday during class, we'll work on an exercise, and Thursday and Friday will be spent working on your essays--due at the end of class, with the filename "lastname-revision1." Sophomores Your homework for Tuesday is to finish reading "Wife of Bath's Tale" and to answer #2-5 and the Comprehension Check on p167. Tuesday and Wednesday will be spent discussing "Frederigo's Falcon" by Boccaccio. Plan on a quiz on Friday over the two stories.

Seniors For homework, please answer the following -- in complete sentences, citing specifics from the the text: Read pages 150-155 Answer questions on p153 and 155 Also consider the following for your (possible) in-class essay: How do we fix the obvious problems facing high school education? Consider the original goals of public education (as stated by Mann) and the suggestions from Botstein, as well. In addition, think of this as a way to propose solutions to the problem presented by the videos and statistics viewed in class. Pick ONE problem and propose a solution or multiple solutions, including appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos. Remember the classical model. Possibilities include (but are not limited to) the following: Poor teacher pay/shortage/qualifications/education Lack of incentives for schools to compete, for students to graduate Curricula - lack of college readiness, technical training Environment - institutional, bullying, rules, etc. Focus on athletics ...

Sophomores Tomorrow, we will begin discussing " The Pardoner's Tale ." We will read and discuss the poem in class, and you will have a quiz on Friday.  Seniors We are starting a unit on the educational system in America. Tonight, please read the handout I gave you, titled " Rethinking High School " -- an overview of some of the key elements of the debate -- and come to class ready to discuss. While the article focuses on the big picture, we can look at our own community in Monroe, and specifically at River Oaks. How do you believe we fare when compared to other schools, in terms of college-readiness? Is that in fact the goal of the American high school? And should it be? Look at the following for more overview of the problem: XQ: The Super School Project   Interactive statistics: ( college readiness ) and ( education funding ) ACT: College Readiness U.S. Department of Education: College and Career Readiness

Seniors are writing an in-class Friday on " The Real New York Giants " by Rick Reilly. This is an analysis essay , in that your task is to analyze Reilly's use of various rhetorical strategies to reach his audience and achieve his intended purpose. In this case, he has written an essay that strikes a chord with many Americans post-9/11, stemming from their desire to pick up the pieces and to move forward after a senseless tragedy. How does he achieve this? We talked about several ways his essay appeals to pathos, or emotion; it also makes a logical argument. Reilly uses the parallel images of "the pile" to balance the passages about football and recovery efforts. He also uses colloquial expressions, and the players' own voices, to humanize those lost and left behind. The anecdotes peppered throughout serve a clear purpose; his use of concrete description and figurative language is also important, as are the rhetorical questions posed at the beginning of ...

Seniors For homework, answer the questions on p37 in your text. Apply them to the excerpt from Berne, and use complete sentences. Sophomores Your exam on "The General Prologue" is on Wednesday. Here are the notes (it's a PowerPoint file). Remember to turn in your annotations tomorrow for homework credit, and continue to prepare for the recitation assignment. To help you with pronunciation, refer to your handout and the following: First 18 lines in Middle English (from Harvard) Prologue Rap (a la 80's Beastie Boys)

Seniors Today in class, Seniors are writing an argument essay on one of four possible prompts. This is an initial draft, and students will have the opportunity to revise later. On Tuesday, we will discuss Chapter Two on analysis and look at some sample texts. On Friday, we will write an in-class essay analyzing a specific text. Sophomores Notes continue on Monday and Tuesday, with an exam Wednesday on "The General Prologue." Recitations of the first 18 lines (in Middle English) are due Friday, and Honors students will take the essay test for their assigned texts on Thursday.

Seniors Tomorrow is a planning and discussion day in preparation for writing an argument essay. I will ask for a thesis and a general outline by the end of class. Topic to be announced. Your essays MUST follow the "Classical Model" (pp 13-14) outlined in class. Sophomores Please continue to annotate your text up through the Guildsmen and Cook. The current plan is to have an exam next Wednesday on the "General Prologue." Your recitations are Thursday, and Honors essay tests are on Friday, October 9th.

Seniors For Thursday, find one logical fallacy, define it, and provide your own example. Examples can come from your experience, the news, or a website. However, if you use a source, you must also cite it properly according to MLA. Type this up and bring it to class. Use the following site for your definitions: thou shalt not commit logical fallacies . Sophomores Annotate the first twelve pages of " The General Prologue " handout. Create a two-color key on the front cover for (1) physical description and (2) personality characteristics. Highlight passages that correspond to each, and be ready to share yours with the class. The characters you are responsible for tonight are from the nobility and the church (Knight to Friar).