Monday, English 10

We discussed genre and expectations. Notes on Romance, Fantasy, Drama, and Science Fiction to follow:

Romance

1. A "romance" must, by definition end happily.

2. Most romance novels have a girl as the main character.

3. Romance books are often formulaic which means they follow a pattern and are predictable.

4. There must be an ordeal or a problem and the right couple must end up together.

5. The book often ends with a wedding and the ultimate connection: a baby/child.

Fantasy Novels

1. There must be a quest (adventure) with a grand purpose.

2. There's a hero who's usually young and untrained in the beginning.

3. The purpose of the quest is to right a wrong or save the world.

4. There must be a battle of good vs. evil and good must win (If evil wins it's an anti-hero).

5. There's always a side-kick and his/her job is to help the hero.

6. There's usually a wise old man or guide (often a female oracle)

7. The hero must save the world but he or she may die in the process.

Science Fiction: http://www.underdown.org/sffantasy.htm

Science fiction must stick to natural laws. (Gravity, sound in space, etc. Time travel and faster-than-light are often ignored entirely, however.)

Laws must be clear and defined.

Most writers of science fiction are male.

Characters voyage in space. They must save the universe.

Science fiction is more action than science.

It always takes place in the future.

However, the problems are always current.

The target audience for science fiction is male, ages 15+

Science fiction sometimes combines with fantasy.

2 kinds of this are utopian and dystopian. Utopian means a perfect world. Dystopian means a messed-up world.

A movie with a utopia in it: Star Trek

A movie with a dystopia in it: City of Ember, The Matrix, Corraline

My Genre Notes

What is genre? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_genre

Why does genre matter? There are a specific set of rules for each type of fiction. Readers know what the rules are, based on their previous experience with that genre.

What is an "industry standard" in books? This is the book "every" book in the genre (target market/age/genre) wants to be. Ex: Twilight, Harry Potter, Eragon. Mary Higgins Clark.

When is a book a "best seller"? When it sells enough copies to make it to a list somewhere. Books can be regional "best sellers," too, but the preeminent list is the New York Times Bestseller List published every Sunday. HERE

How do I tell the "intended audience" for a book? "Read" the cover of the book. Look for color, shape, image/symbol, and the interior print of the book.

What does the Library of Congress do? See this link

What is the ISBN number for a book? These are very specific numbers for every book published internationally. They are different for different editions.

How do I figure out which copyright date to use? Always use the earliest copyright date for the text. It will say "text copyright (c) year"--and there are rules for how long the copyright is valid.

What is the symbol for copyright? See here

Where is the name of the publisher located? On the bottom of the title page, the Library of Congress page, and somewhere on the dust jacket (spine or back of book).

Why should I care who published my book? It determines paper, quality, length, and style of the book.

Why does it matter where the book was published? Location determines spelling, grammar, and punctuation. New York? US spelling & punctuation. Toronto? Canadian. London? British. Sydney? Australian. All different.

Friday, Honors English 10

Today in class, you got into groups of 4 or 5 and discussed individual pages of Allegory of the Cave. Each group got a separate page with questions. To complete the learning experience, each group will discuss the answers to their questions, and then teach their page to the class next time. Posters, answering the questions, will be hung in the hallway.

See last class period's blog entry for "Allegory of the Cave" study links.

Thursday, English 10

Homework DUE: Turn in your "Book Jacket Discovery" (25 points) assigned last time. Your www.Amazon.com reviews (10 points) should have been stapled to it.

We discussed the Twitter feed and that if you wanted to sign up for Twitter, you can set your own profile to PRIVATE. You will get "tweets" from people you are following, but no one can follow you without your permission.

My user ID for English 10 is: TimpPhippEng10

The Twitter feed also runs down the R side of the blog. You do NOT need to sign up for it.

We did talked about "Genre Rules" and finished the white page of the Genre Flip Book. Come see me in room 611 if you have lost yours.

I posted due dates for your home reading book: You should finish reading your book by 10/9/2009 (A Day), 10/12/2009 (B Day). That gives you 10 class periods to finish your book. Oral book reports will be on 10/13. If you will be gone for Fall Break, please make arrangements in advance of your holiday. Extra credit presentations will be on 10/9/2009 for A Day and 10/12/2009 for B Day.

Homework: Using Post-it Sticky Notes, mark references in your book that describe the characters in your book. You will keep track of these most of the way through the book. I'll let you know what to do with them next week (on Friday).

Vocabulary discussed today:

Pagination (rules: Left side always even; Right side always odd.)

Copyright, Trademark, Registered Trademark

In most of the world, the default length of copyright is the life of the author plus either 50 or 70 years. In the United States, the term for most existing works is a fixed number of years after the date of creation or publication. In some countries (for example, the United States and the United Kingdom), copyrights expire at the end of the calendar year in question. Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 - extended terms to 95/120 years or life plus 70 years.

Anachronisms

Continuity

Wednesday, Honors English 10

Half-way through the week! YAY!

Homework for NEXT TIME: Finish reading Allegory of the Cave.

1. Today, you handed in your Learning Experience prompt (see prompt from last Friday). You were NOT given specifics (did it need to be typed, did you need to write a 5 paragraph essay). In class, we do a lot of pre-testing. This was a "test" (assessment) of what you write when you are simply told to "write."

2. We discussed 5 paragraph essays and how they are organized. (Triangle at the top, 3 squares, triangle at the bottom). We discussed that each essay would routinely be *about* 30 sentences. We looked at 2 ways of outlining the essay (one in graphic form, one in traditional outline form). This English department teaches the "Schaffer Model" and 5 paragraph essays as they build to clear writing. However, no teacher assumes that the "Schaffer Model" is the only way to write papers. It's just a basic framework.

I. Introduction

A. Grabber

B. Thesis

C. Transition

II. Topic Sentence

A. Concrete Detail

1. Commentary

2. Commentary

B. Concrete Detail

1. Commentary

2. Commentary

C. Transition

3. We discussed words that are syonyms of Concrete Detail:

Quote, specific , example, support, description, illustration, evidence, plot reference

4. We discussed words that are synonyms of Commentary:

Opinion, insight, analysis, personal response, relevance, application, explication, reflection

5. We started to read "Allegory of the Cave" and read all of page 1 and 1/2 of page 2 as a class. Your homework is to finish reading it on your own. Next time, you'll be in groups discussing "Allegory of the Cave."

Links:

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/greek/philosopher/myth_allegory_cave_plato.html

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html

http://platosallegory.com/

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080328161144AA2GfjJ

Tuesday, English 10

In A2, we had the opportunity to watch President Obama speak to the children of the nation about the importance of education. Full text and video of the speech is located here. In English, specifically, we discussed the importance of word choice and audience.

The other items we covered today:

1. How to read a book by its cover. What goes on a book jacket? Here's an article that might interest you. We did NOT use it in class.

2. Here's a great article aboutdust jackets.

We did a journal write called "Book Jacket Discovery." Stop by to get your copy!! (I do not have a digital copy online).

I want to see your book and I want to see your www.amazon.com reviews of the books. Both are entered into the computer.

Happy reading! Write your journal write for next time.

TIGF, English 10 Honors

1. Mrs. Sloat discussed the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship. Sign-ups END on September 24, 2009. Cost is $15, and fee-waivers are available. (See Taunia Sloat in the counseling office: sloat786@alpine.k12.ut.us).

2. Discussed Outside Reading. Turned in 3x5 card with this information:

Your name, class period

Title of the book you chose.

Author of the book you chose.

What list/how did you choose this book?

What do you expect to gain/learn/get from reading this book? How will you use it?

3. Looked at website and blog.

Discussed Twitter feed.

4. Looked at writing prompt:

Learning Experiences and Resistances

Please use all of the time to write ¾ of a page or more about the topic. Choose one or more of the prompts below.

1. Try to think of a time when you learned something that was difficult for you to accept, but that eventually changed your perspective in a major way—a time when you felt like a veil had suddenly been lifted from your eyes and you now saw things clearly. Describe it. What did you think before, and what did you think after? How

did you acquire your new knowledge? How and why was it difficult for you to accept it? How would you feel about returning to your old way of thinking? Would remaining ignorant have been more blissful? After you learned it, did you feel any obligation to share your knowledge with others?

2. Why do people, generally, resist learning and accepting new ideas? How can we overcome our innate resistance to new ideas?

3. What obligations, if any, do we have for sharing our learning? Should we share our knowledge with others or should others share their knowledge with us? Or do we live in a competitive dog-eat-dog world where people should look out for themselves and we should let the ignorant waste away or work in wage-slavery? Is there a middle ground between those binary poles (entirely obligated/no obligation whatsoever)?

Homwork: Look at the blog. Click for the information and reading. Write your journal prompt. Read in your outside reading book.

Mrs. Phippen's Labor Day Weekend Goals: Grade everything; clean up the classroom clutter.

English 10, Thursday

1. First item discussed, the PSAT (a practice test for the ACT/SAT). Prepares you for taking the SAT.

2. Homework: Choose a reading book, at least 300 pages, on a high school reading level. Bring in with you next time the book and the reviews from Amazon.com.

3. Your journal writes about what you enjoy reading were handed back to you. Whenever possible, I tried to suggest books you might try reading. I tried to suggest them in levels: easy, "best selling," and harder reading.

Honors English, Wednesday

1. Listening QUIZ: "Galileo" by the Indigo Girls.

Focused on Critical vs. Casual Reading

Vocabulary word: Allusion allusion (a-LOO-zhuhn): a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well-known characters or events http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/glossary/g/allusion.htm

Reviewed Death of the Author concepts

Discussed Theme as subject + opinion

2. We went over the requirements for choosing a book for outside reading: it should be something that they can use on the AP English exam OR something they will use again in college. See Mr. Nagro's list here. You may also choose to google a list. Try this search: AP English recommended reading list

3. We read "Did I Miss Anything" and discussed binary opposition. Another reference here: http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=122 or http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1O56-binaryopposition.html

Homework: Pick your outside reading book.

English 10, Tuesday

What we did in class:

1. Writing Prompt: Evaluate your personal reading habits. Where do you usually read? What do you need when you read? (When, where, how, why) Paragraph #2: What do you read in an average week. List everything you can think of and evaluate what you read the most. Paragraph #3: What is your favorite book? What is your favorite movie? What is your favorite TV show?

2. Take notes for Genre Flip Book. We covered

What is genre?

Why does genre matter?

What is an "industry standard" in books?

When is a book a best-seller?

What does the Library of Congress do?

What is the ISBN# on the back of every book?

3. We went to the library for a library orientation activity.