May 9-25

GOOD LUCK SENIORS 2011!


WE LOVE YOU!



SENIOR ENGLISH

WELL, THIS IS IT. TURN IN YOUR RESEARCH PAPERS IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO. TURN IN YOUR FINAL EXAM OVER MARY SHELLEY'S NOVEL FRANKENSTEIN.ONCE YOU COMPLETE YOUR EXAM THEN YOU SHOULD PREPARE FOR YOUR EXAMS IN OTHER CLASSES. I WILL MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!  LET ME JUST SAY-------------SQUIRREL!



AP LANGUAGE AND COMP
VOCABULARY WORDS ON SEMESTER EXAM:  INTIMATED, PRECARIOUS, ENCUMBRANCE, LUCID, AVARICE, LUDICROUS, RIGOROUS, PLAINTIVE, TEMERITY, RENDEZVOUS
VIEW PBS' REGENCY HOUSE PARTY BEFORE YOUR AP TESTING. THIS DOCUMENTARY SHEDS MUCH LIGHT ON ENGLAND'S SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL AGENDAS AT THE TURN OF THE 19TH CENTURY. THESE ARE THE UNDERLYING HUMAN CONSTRUCTS THAT LITERATURE ADDRESSES AND MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THIS ART FORM ATTEMPTS TO PROVOKE THE READER TO ADDRESS THE QUESTION--"HOW SHALL WE LIVE WELL TOGETHER?" AS YOU MOVE TOWARD BRITISH LITERATURE IN YOUR SENIOR STUDIES, I THINK IT IS APPROPRIATE TO BECOME AWARE OF THE DRAMATIC AND OFTEN CONFUSING SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF BRITISH LIFE. THESE ARE REFLECTED IN THE LITERATURE AND ESPECIALLY IN THIS PERIOD OF INDUSTRIALIZATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE WITH AUSTEN'S NOVELS OF MANNERS GIVING WAY TO MARXIST TREATISES ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE MASSES. THESE WORKS OF ART SIGNAL THE COMPLEXITIES OF MODERN LIFE. THE VOICES OF JANE AUSTEN, MARY SHELLEY, AND THE ROMANTICS REVEAL THE TENSIONS THAT ARE ARISING AGAINST A STRICT CLASS SYSTEM IN THE LATE 1700S AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 1800S. REGENCY HOUSE PARTY NOT ONLY EXAMINES THE EFFECTS UPON MINORITIES UNDER THE HIERARCHICAL CLASS SYSTEM, BUT ALSO THE TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS OF THE PERIOD (LOGOS TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER MYTHOS AND THE WESTERN WORLD BEGINS TRANSFORMATION INTO THE MODERN WORLD WE KNOW TODAY), THE HISTORICAL TURMOIL OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE NAPOLEONIC WARS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS UPON THE ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF BRITAIN. IT IS A FASCINATING LOOK INTO THE EMPIRE, A WORLD VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY ESTABLISHED IN AMERICA. CLEARLY, ONE CAN SEE WHY THE LITERATURE OF BRITAIN DIFFERS DRAMATICALLY FROM THE WRITINGS OF AMERICAN TRANSCENDENTALIST, ROMANTICS AND NATIONALISTS. AT THIS TIME, AMERICA IS STILL A NEW COUNTRY TRANSITIONING FROM THE COLONIAL PERIOD. FENIMORE COOPER'S WRITING IS DECIDEDLY DIFFERENT FROM LORD BYRON'S OR SHELLEY'S IN TERMS OF SUBJECT MATTER AND STYLE. Reiterated themes in British literature include the discourse on natural rights, which surfaces in campaigns for political reform and the abolition of slavery, as well as in primitivist accounts contrasting the lives of noble savages with those of 'civilized' man, and the gradual introduction of institutional support for writers, artists, and scientists, who previously had been dependent economically on aristocratic patronage.THIS VISUAL SELECTION CAPTURES THE ZEITGEIST OF THE PERIOD AND IS INTENDED AS A TYPE OF SEGUE FROM AMERICAN TO BRITISH LITERATURE. SEE WHAT YOU HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN YOUR SENIOR STUDIES!!

Wednesday you will take your AP Exam GOOD LUCK

Friday and next Tuesday you will write free response essays. Your final exam is scheduled for next week as well.



ENGLISH 11

*Turn in homework p.1044 questions 1-10

THIS WEEK WE WILL BE COMPLETING OUR FINAL SHORT NARRATIVES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE. YOUR FINAL EXAM WILL COVER WORKS DEALING WITH THE EMERGING MULTICULTURAL VOICE IN AMERICAN LITERATURE. THE WORKS ARE THE RULES OF THE GAME, MR.PIRZADA CAME TO DINE, THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, AND BLACK BOY. THESE PARTICULAR WORKS FOCUS ON LITERARY ELEMENTS USED TO CONSTRUCT NARRATIVES, PARTICULARLY THEME, MOTIVATION, IRONY, DIALOGUE AND NONFICTION. WE WILL COVER THESE ELEMENTS IN CLASS. THE PAGES COVERED ON THE EXAM WILL BE PP.1015-1078.

THIS TYPE OF LITERATURE REFLECTS WHAT IS KNOWN AS VOICES FROM THE GAPS. THE INTRODUCTION OF THIS LITERATURE INTO MODERN ANTHOLOGIES SEEKS TO REACH BACKWARD AND FORWARD TO PLACE READERS ON A BRIDGE THAT CONNECTS THE GAPS EXISTING IN LITERATURE, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE. SIGNIFICANTLY, THIS LITERATURE GIVES EXPRESSION TO WRITERS OF COLOR AND VARYING GENDER AND ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS.

AS BOTH POSTMODERNISTS AND WESTERN FEMINISTS HAVE NOTED, THESE BELIEFS HAVE RESULTED IN THE PRIVILEGING OF THE VOICES AND IDEOLOGY OF THE DOMINANT AND POWERFUL AND THE NEGLECT OF GROUPS WHO ARE MARGINALIZED, SUPPRESSED, OR CLASSIFIED AS "MINORITY."

POSTMODERNISTS SEEK TO UNCOVER MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES AND REALITIES SO THAT ALL VOICES MAY BE HEARD. ANOTHER ASPECT OF POSTMODERNIST LITERATURE IS THE ELIMINATION OF OPPRESSION AND IS CONSISTENT WITH THE GOALS OF FEMINISM AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENTS OPPOSED TO THE VARIOUS "ISMS," SUCH AS SEXISM, RACISM, AND CLASSISMS. SOURCE:http://www.english.txstate.edu

Jacque Derrida argues in Margins of Philosophy: "It is the domination of beings that difference everywhere comes to solicit...to shake...it is the determination of being as presence that is interrogated by the thought of difference."



FOOD FOR THOUGHT AS WE WIND UP THE SCHOOL YEAR!



SHAKESPEARE

WHAT WILL WE DO WITHOUT OUR SENIORS???? WE WILL COMPLETE THE MERCHANT OF VENICE AND DISCUSS THE THEMES OF REVENGE, BIGOTRY, AND LOYALTY. YOUR FINAL EXAM, AS YOU KNOW, WILL BE OVER THIS PLAY.



FRENCH I/II



THIS WEEK WE WILL COMPLETE AND REVIEW CHAPTER SIX YOUR FINAL EXAM WILL COVER ONLY CHAPTER 6. GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTIONS USING THE COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE, PAST TENSE DETERMINATIONS BETWEEN THE PASSE COMPOSE AND THE IMPERFECT AND VOCABULARY WILL CONTINUE TO BE OUR FOCUS. WE WILL UTILIZE THE EXERCISES FOUND IN PREPARE-TOI POUR L'EXAMEN TO PRACTICE THESE CONSTRUCTIONS. AS ALWAYS, PLEASE STUDY.