Exit Card

Fill out your EXIT CARD:
What was the most important thing you learned today?
What do you wish we had done differently?
What did you like about what we did today?

Starry Night Review

What do you remember about Anne Sexton and "The Starry Night"?
What surprised you?
What benefit did "death of the author" give you?
What was the DETRIMENT?
What is SOAPstone?

Anne Sexton's Friend

Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wintgs on, 
testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade, 
and think of that first flawless moment over the lawn 
of the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made! 
There below are the trees, as awkward as camels; 
and here are the shocked starlings pumping past 
and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well: 
larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast 
of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings! 
Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually 
he glances up and is caught, wondrously tunneling 
into that hot eye. Who cares that feel back to the sea? 
See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging down 
while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.

The Starry Night

That does not keep me from having a terrible need of—shall I say the word—religion. Then I go out at night to paint the stars.Vincent Van Gogh in a letter to his brother

The town does not exist

except where one black-haired tree slips

up like a drowned woman into the hot sky.

The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars.   

Oh starry starry night! This is how

I want to die.

It moves. They are all alive.

Even the moon bulges in its orange irons   

to push children, like a god, from its eye.

The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars.   

Oh starry starry night! This is how   

I want to die:

into that rushing beast of the night,   

sucked up by that great dragon, to split   

from my life with no flag,

no belly,

no cry.

Chapter 2 Activity

You have JUST taken over the school. You have ousted the the administration and *all* the teachers.
What are the rules that will BEST serve ALL the students. You must look at the needs of ALL the students and recognize that ALL students are EQUAL.

Come up with the best commandments.
What are they??
Make a list of 5-7...

Biography Write #2

Tell me what you know about your inspirational person *from reading your book.*
Using your book, write about your person. Use details, and show me that you have actually read.
Write 3 good paragraphs.
Childhood details?
Important events that have happened to your person?
Have a beginning, a middle, and an end... Why does your person matter? What have you learned so far?

TELL ME ANYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT YOUR PERSON!

When you are finished, turn this into the basket! Turn this in with your READING GUIDE for Animal Farm Chapter 1.
Next you read Chapter 2 in groups of 5 & filled out reading guide 2.

Upcoming FLEX! :)

Next week we'll be having the following 4 flex sessions:
11/29 Tuesday: "Haven't Met You Yet" -- We'll be looking at the phrases "All's fair in love & war" and poetic devices (carpe diem!)

11/30 Wednesday: "What I've Done" by Linkin' Park (This is AWESOME eye candy propaganda! If you haven't seen this amazing piece of propaganda, do come watch!)


12/1 Thursday: 1,000 Years LYRIC video for SYMBOLISM (Remember *everything* I've said ALL. YEAR. LONG. about Twilight? We are so going THERE.


12/2 Friday: "Imagine" by John Lennon. Does it get *any* more "I Have a Dream" than this in music? I didn't think so.

Dare You to Move

Questions for flex...


Compare the 2 versions of the video...
Why does it say "welcome to the planet?" Who is he welcoming?
Why is the man running in the first video?
What is he running to or from?
Look at the second version of the video...
What's going on? Describe it:

HOMEWORK

READ!! You need to be about 1/2 way through your book! ACK!
It will be MIDTERM when you get back! *holy cow*!!!
Read on your way over the river and through the woods! :-)

Quiz on Characters in Animal Farm

Who is Old Major, and why do the other characters respect him?


Who are Boxer and Clover? Why do they matter?


Give a list of several other character in the book...

Honors Writing Assignment

Revise your Thought Exercise.
It should be in PERFECT MLA format.
It should have 2 GOOD 8 sentence Schaffer paragraphs.
Avoid BE verbs.
Revise sentences that say "This matters because..."
Revise "you" sentences. You don't mean Mrs. Phippen.
Revise "we." Do you mean The Reader, The Author, etc.? Who do you mean?
Be specific.
Avoid generalities. Choose specific words. Don't use "great, awesome, wonderful." 

Animal Farm: Background

Quiz on the Background to Animal Farm (Guess the Dictators)
1. What is an ALLEGORY?
2. What is PROPAGANDA?
3. What is a PARABLE?
4. Tell me about SYMBOLS.
5. Why does Vladimir LENIN matter?
6. Who was Leon TROTSKY?
7. Who was Joseph STALIN?
8. How was Adolf HITLER different than the COMMUNISTS?
9. Why are we talking about POLITICS in English? What does this have to do with *anything*??
10. What does it mean to be "left" or to be "right" of an idea? Does it make a difference? Why? (infer) 2 bonus points --this one is hard!

Flex this week...

Tuesday is orientation...
Wednesday we'll be discussing propaganda (When We Stand Together) by Nickelback
Thursday will be Welcome to the Future by Brad Paisley
Friday will be Here Comes Goodbye
You can read THIS QR code if you have a smart phone or a QR reader...

Death of the Author... Review

Death of the Author is where you read something cold and you determine meaning before you let what you know about the author color the meaning of the poem. Once you apply what you know about the author, then there are 2 (or more) ways to read the poem.
         Death of the Author is about a time when you have done something or said something that you mean in one way but is interpreted another. It is contextually interpreted instead of literally interpreted. 

Quick Write

Write about a time when this has happened to you. Write about a time when what you said or did was interpreted the wrong way. What was it? You may be called upon to share...

Homework DUE: You should have written a 2 paragraph Schaffer model paper. (Need directions?)

We will SHARE these in class.

Then we will talk about Vincent VanGogh.

     I have music, background, and a video to show you about the artist... and then we'll talk about the poetry that has been inspired by the artist. It all gets from classic to classic. Your classic works the same way. 
What is the BIG IDEA of this unit. Do you remember?

Drood--Extra Credit

There is an all school musical production this week. If you attend you have one week to write and turn in the extra credit CRITIQUE which is a 1 page PAPER (not a summary See here for the directions.) for the production. That means the extra credit is due no later than November 22, BEFORE THANKSGIVING BREAK. Drood is one of my FAVORITE musicals and I HIGHLY recommend it!! 

Honors English, Veteran's Day

Today we discussed "In Flanders Fields" by John McCree.

We looked at poppies, and discussed the background of Flanders, allusions, and references to lowlands and Belgium, and how that affected Armistice, the written word in the poem.
We discussed the shifts, etc. of the poem, and then looked at different printed versions of the poem.
We also looked at the "i before e" rule (see this grammar lesson).

Book Write #1 Term 2

What book did you choose for Term 2? (title)
Who is it about?
Who wrote it?
How do you know it is AUTHORIZED?
When was it written?
What is the bias?
What do you hope to learn?

Bell-ringer activity

As you come in today, work with your group to get your poster completely finished. You have 15 minutes to finish gluing everything on. 

• You will have an "apologia" of your poster.
• Decide who will say what.
• Each symbol needs to be explained.
• You should have writing on your poster.
• Make sure you have answered "What was Plato's/Socrate's point?" What is the message of "Allegory of the Cave"?

NOTES:

Today while you are watching the presentation you will need to write down what people are

1. saying about the symbols
2. what surprises you when they are presenting (what you didn't know)
3. what symbols you got in common (what you know you got RIGHT)
4. what the groups could have improved
5. what you wished you could improve
6. what was the message (what did Plato and Socrates MEAN)

After you will write about your GROUP

• Who contributed to the poster?
• Who did NOT contribute to the poster?
• What do you wish you had done differently?

Death of the Author

Compare "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift to "When I was 1 and 20" by A.E. Housman
Discussion on Death of the Author
Cold Reading
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

Honors English 10 Calendar for November/Devember

Carpe Diem

Write about carpe diem. What does it mean?


What did the poems mean that we read in class last time?


What was the point of the lesson?


Summarize for me what happened in the poems and why people write poetry like this...


Next, we talked about AE Houseman's poem "When I was 1 & 20." See this link.

Write about your new book for term 2

What book did you choose for this term?
Who is the author?
What is the literary merit of this book?
How many times has it been on the AP test?
How do you know it is a good choice?

Poster for Allegory of the Cave

Your group will create a poster for Allegory of the Cave. It will hang in the hallway. You will make an APOLOGIA.
In their groups have them:
Ì Decide together on what Plato may have been trying to depict
Ì Choose 8 significant symbols and interpret them. Create a poster containing both writing and visuals to explain your interpretation of the allegory.
Ì Prepare to share with the class.

Friday, English 10

Today we went to the library and chose an autobiography, biography, or memoir. You may get this book from any library or bookstore. The person you choose must be someone positive. The question you answer when you do the book report will be "How has this person influenced the world? How have they 'changed the world' in a positive way? How does this compare to Animal Farm (which we are reading as a class)?"
        You may not choose someone who is infamous or best remembered for drugs, alcohol, illegal actions/crimes, etc. No members of the "27 Club" will be allowed.

Your homework: read the Allegory of the Cave. Make sure you can answer the following questions:
1. What is an allegory?
2. What difference does translation make?
3. What was Plato's bias?
4. Who is Socrates?
5. Who is Glaucon? Why is he in the story?
6. What makes an apology different than apologia?
7. Know what the cave looks like.
8. How is the blue copy different than the yellow copy?
You can download another copy HERE.

Allegory of the Cave Day 2

Your quiz was to correct your cave from the original. We discussed "apology" vs "apologia" and the importance of translation.


We reviewed the BIG IDEAS:
1. What is an allegory?
2. What difference does translation make?
3. What is bias? (What is Plato's bias? What is Socrates bias?)


You made apology for your cave drawings.

We read new, yellow translations of "Apology of the Cave." We finished it.
Your HOMEWORK is to re-read the BLUE translation of "Allegory of the Cave" and be able to answer what the difference is. There is a substantial quiz NEXT TIME.

Carpe Diem--Seize the Day (TP-CASTT)

Today we studied "To the Virgins" by Robert Herrick and used TP-CASTT as a poetry examination method. We then watched a 5 minute clip from Dead Poet's Society  and compared it to "Carpe Diem" from Disney's Phineas and Ferb as our introduction to the Pop Culture unit.
Pop culture as defined at Wikipedia
We then talked about how Dylan Thomas was affected by his father's aging. His poem "Do Not Go Gentle" is both about dying and "carpe diem."


I reminded students that they needed to choose their book from the AP List by Monday.

Choosing a great non-fiction book...

A presentation from Prezi.com (and Mrs. Phippen)

Allegory of the Cave homework

Investigate what Plato's cave looked like.
You were asked to draw the cave based on the description in The Republic. Use google.com and search out other peoples' drawings. You will have time with your group to correct your drawing at the beginning of class next time.

Language & Content Objectives Allegory of the Cave

You should know what an allegory is:
Defined at dictionary.com

ALLEGORY

---

Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are oftenpersonifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.
Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

Example:
I have found the Ekphrasis poetry very useful in treaching allegory.

Other examples: Fairie Queen Spenser; Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan; Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

WikiPedia will have lots of good stuff on Allegory or go to More Resources

This page is referenced HERE : http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/allegory.html

You should understand that translation makes a difference.

Literary Translation at Wikipedia.

The Chosen-- After Thoughts

Now that we have finished reading The Chosen and watched the movie, I want to know:

• What did you like most about the book? What did you like LEAST? Be specific :)
• What did you like most about the way we discussed the book? What would you have changed and why?
• What did you enjoy about the movie? What did you dislike and why?

HOMEWORK: Choose your next book off of the AP List. However, do NOT choose Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest or Huckleberry Finn. Book is due MONDAY.

Tuesday in REGULAR English

We reviewed Joseph Wright of Derby's painting here and then we took a binary opposition quiz here. If you missed this you will need to make the points up at flex when it starts November 15th. Then we started Plato's Allegory of the Cave. We discussed bias of the author and drew pictures of the interior of the cave.

YOUR HOMEWORK: Google pictures of Plato's cave. :) Your quiz will be to check the accuracy of your picture!

Binary Opposition Quiz

IN ONE PARAGRAPH, explain binary opposition.

• Tell me how binary opposition works.
• What is it for?
• Why do people use it?
• What does it teach people?
• What is the POINT of binary opposition?