August 29-Septmeber 2

To my wonderful students: Thank you for your continued desire to be the best you can be. I appreciate the hard work that you put forth daily. I am so fortunate to have you as students. I love your all!

English 11

This week we will work on constructing your essays. This is a long and tedious process for you I know, but you will benefit so much from you struggle to express your thoughts through the written word. Learning takes place when we are in disequilibrium. In other words, when we are uncomfortable and uncertain about our ability to complete our tasks we are learning. This struggle and the effort we put forth to accomplish a task work together to establish proficiency. It is kind of like riding a bike, once you learn how you never forget.

AP Language and Comp
This week we will take your second multiple choice test and debrief the test in groups. You may use the handouts that I gave to complete the test. Also, you should have a dictionary to help you with this process. You will also write your first timed essay this week. You will be given a prompt that you will respond to in a well organized essay. Review the information that I gave you concerning thesis statements for without a strong thesis you have no road map to guide your through the process of constructing your paper.

Myth and Legend
This week you will read from the World Literature books about  Greeks and Roman mythology. You will read the excerpts from the Iliad. We will be working in this book until all students have their Edith Hamilton's Mythology book. On Thursday we will begin our work in Edith Hamilton's text so make sure you have your book. The first section you should read is chp. 1 The Gods. The second chapter concerns the creation story and we will examine this as well. I will show you a history channel documentary about the revolt of the Olympians against the Titans.


French I/II
I have 3 days with you this week. Yeah!
This week we will complete chapter I parts 1/2 in the text book you will have a vocab test over chp. 1 part 2 in both classes. This is the link for French I
http://quizlet.com/1095649/bien-dit-level-1-ch-1-vocab-2-flash-cards/
This is the link for French II vocabulary:
http://quizlet.com/1086696/bien-dit-level-2-ch-1-voc-2-flash-cards/
French I chapter test Friday
French II chapter test Friday

go to this website and read about Bastille Day which equals our 4th of July
http://www.mflresources.org.uk/french/Fr_culture/14%20juillet.ppt#272,17,How is la Fête Nationale celebrated?


English 9 Honors
We will examine plot structure -time and sequence in terms of chronological order, flashbacks, flash-forward, foreshadowing. We will study plot structure and its purpose in Sylvia Plath's "Initiation," "The Most Dangerous Game," "Can Animals Think?" Looking for literary devices used to construct the narrative, probing how conflict works to create suspense and tension within the work and move the plot along. On Friday you will write an autobiographical narrative using these elements.

August 21-26

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS:

EXAMPLE OF PARALLEL STRUCTURE

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way -

Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities

AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION

Tuesday: Test over rhetorical terms

Discussion of Huck Finn:

Questions to consider--Why does Mark Twain locate his serious commentary on American society within the voice of a fourteen year old uneducated boy living in a village in the 1840s?

How does Twain set up the association of Christianity and slavery.

How is slavery introduced in the novel? Is the novel an attack on the institution of slavery or Twain's reading of the public's practice of religion?

How do the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons play into this debate?

What does Twain have to say about the notion of the "Romantic South?"

Silas Phelps is a Christian preacher. How does Twain use this to underscore his point?

What role does the river play in the work? Some critics say it plays such a significant role that it is a character in novel.

What commentary does Twain have upon parenting?

Friday: You will complete your rhetorical analysis worksheet that you were given on Friday last.

REMEMBER: IF IT'S AP IT AIN'T EASY AND AP STUDENTS KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT SOMETHING: SO.....

*Continue to listen to NPR 89.3

*Read this each day:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/world/

English 11
Test Monday over SAT/ACT vocab A-B
This week we will be again looking at types of sentences.
We will complete Huck Finn and you will take a reading quiz over chps. 20-29
 Thursday you will write an essay over Huck Finn
Here is a list of prompts to choose from:

1. Compare and contrast the Shepherson/Grangerford Feud with either a) the Montague/Capulet feud or b) the Hatfield/McCoy feud.
2. Discuss the place of morality in Huckleberry Finn. In the world of the novel, where do moral values come from? The community? The family? The church? One’s experiences? Which of these potential sources does Twain privilege over the others? Which does he mock, or describe disapprovingly?
3. Discuss the role of superstition in the novel. Explain how Twain criticizes superstitious beliefs and give specific examples.
4. How is Huck’s trip down the river actually a passage into manhood?
5. Huckleberry Finn has been called the “Great American Novel.” However, it is the sixth most frequently banned book in the United States. Discuss why this masterpiece is banned mostly in Christian academies and in all black institutions.
6. Explain how the American Dream is or is not achieved by three characters in this novel. Begin by explaining what each character holds as his or her American Dream.
7. Discuss how Huck displays several textbook characteristics of the child of an alcoholic.
8. Analyze and trace the moral maturation of Huck Finn. Discuss the events that disgusted and depressed him, the coping skills that he learned, and his actions and the circumstances for such.
9. Explain how Huck’s loss of innocence as a boy is symbolic of the loss of a nation as America moves toward the Civil War.
10. What do you think makes this novel an important record of American culture?
11. Discuss Jim as a Christ figure.
12. The overall American critical reaction to the publishing of The Adventures of Huck Finn in 1855 was summed up in one word: “trash.” Louisa May Alcott (author of Little Women and Little Men) said, “If Mr. Clemens cannot think of anything better to tell our pure-minded lads and lassies, he had better stop writing for them.” The Public Library Committee of Concord, Massachusetts excluded the book as “a dangerous moral influence on the young.” Defend or refute the position that the novel is indeed “trash” with evidence from the text to support your claim.
13. Although Mark Twain, in his introductory “notice” to the novel, denies that there is a moral or motive in the story, the work itself contradicts its author. How?
14. What is “civilization” in the mind of Huck?
15. Critics often agree that the most disappointing part of the novel is the ending, when Tom Sawyer returns with his pranks, ignoring Huck’s growth and maturity that he has gained during the course of the novel. With an essay, attack or defend the appropriateness of the ending for the novel and be sure to use evidence from the book to support your argument.
We will examine each of these in class to prepare for your essay.
Reading: Additionally, we will read an excerpt from Richard Wright's 1940 Novel Native Son. The excerpt is "Big Boy Leaves Home". This work examines the marginalization of African Americans in the deep South in the modern period.

New link to essay about Richard Wright and his writing of Black Boy. You should definetely read this: http://literatureandbelief.byu.edu/publications/seeking_salvation.pdf


Myth and Legends
From the World Literature Textbook:
Complete Gilgamesh
Read the Hebrew Bible's account of creation
Read a Native American account of creation
Now we must consider what ties these myths together. This requires synthesis of the materials we have examined. What are the universal elements that we find in myths of various cultures? How can we account for this across diverse cultures? How do we account for the similarities between the creation account in Genesis and the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh? Is the Gilgamesh Epic used to deny the authority of the Bible because of its predating? These are questions we will explore in class.
Test on Thursday over elements of creation myths

READING ASSIGNMENT: Begin reading Edith Hamilton's Mythology. I will assign your reading in class.

ENGLISH 9 HONORS
Tuesday:  Test over SAT/ACT A-B

This week you will write an essay discussing the following element of To Kill A Mockingbird. You will be given two blocks to construct your essay. You have a handout from my lecture on thesis statements. This will be indispensable to you in constructing your essay. This will count as an essay grade (30%). You may want to begin an outline for your essay at home.
Essay Prompt: One of the most inspiring characters in 20^th century American literature is Atticus Finch. A morally upright lawyer, a committed and loving father, and an overall good citizen, Finch is regarded highly by most citizens with a sense of justice. Write an essay in which you analyze Atticus Finch’s character. You may wish to focus the content of your essay by selecting a single quote or passage (consider a portion of the courtroom speech, for instance) and explain how it reflects Finch’s character strengths. Address whether Finch has any flaws, and explain how he conveys his beliefs to his children and his community.

French I
Chapter 1
vocab test Tuesday on Vocabulary 1 of Chp. 1
Review Days of the week and counting to 20.
Review Subject Pronouns
Introduction of indefinite articles Un, Une, Des and gender of nouns
The verb Avoir
Tele Roman Pages 28-29  We will view the video episode Au lycee, le jour dela rentree

French II
Quiz over Vocab 1 Chp. 1
Continue to read and complete exercises from Le Monstre dans Le Metro
Oral reading practice/Reading comprehension practice

August 15-19

English 9 Honors

Test--Friday over SAT vocabulary
http://quizlet.com/1618346/sat-a-b-flash-cards/
This is a link to To Kill A Mockingbird Student Survival guide. It defines words chapter by chapter and clarifies the Allusions made in each chapter.
http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/tkm/
This week we will continue to discuss literary elements in TKM. On Friday last I asked you to find the structural elements in TKM. Elements like flat and round characters, point of view, metaphors, similes, foreshadowing, personification, imagery, irony, theme, and conflict. We will discuss your findings in class on Tuesday. We will discuss symbols and symbolism in TKM. You will have discussion questions to work with a partner on and present to the class.

The GothicThe powerful forces of good and evil in To Kill a Mockingbird seem larger than the small Southern town in which the story takes place. One of the ways in which Lee adds drama and atmosphere to her story is by including a number of Gothic details in the setting and the plot. In literature, Gothic refers to a style of fiction first popularized in eighteenth-century England and featuring supernatural occurrences, gloomy and haunted settings, full moons, etc. Among the Gothic elements in the story are the unnatural snowfall, the fire that destroys Miss Maudie's house, the children's superstitions about Boo Radley, the mad dog that Atticus shoots, and the ominous night of the Halloween party on which Bob Ewell attacks the children. These elements, out of place in the normally quiet, predictable Maycomb create tension in the novel and serve to foreshadow the troublesome events of the trial and its aftermath.

 English 11
Monday quiz over chapters 6-15
We will  discuss the ELEMENTS OF FICTION in Huck Finn. This is a link to the information:
http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/hhecht/the%20elements%20of%20fiction.htm
We will look at the different types of sentences and practice writing thesis statements.
Your reading will be assigned in class.

Test Monday August 22  VOCABULARY: this is a link to College Board's top SAT/ACT vocabulary A-B
http://quizlet.com/1618346/sat-a-b-flash-cards/

Assigned reading: Chapters16-24



 
AP Language and Composition
The handouts I give you will be used by you during class to help you with writing essays and multiple choice tests. THESE ARE PRECIOUS DON'T LOSE THEM!
This week we will complete group discussions on the AP multiple choice test. We will go over the answers and then each group will debrief.
We will cover the following this week: (handouts)

• HOW TO WRITE: AP Rhetorical Analysis Paragraphs and Essays  
• Introduction to AP vocabulary, Rhetorical devices and syntactical structures.
• The rhetorical situation and Karios
• We will examine AP prompts by using SOAPS--  an acronym for speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject--handout
• 4 modes of discourse

Link to vocabulary words for test on Monday August 22 http://quizlet.com/262591/ap-english-language-vocabulary-flash-cards/

***FRIDAY: TEST OVER CHAPTERS
     1-15 IN HUCKLEBERRY FINN*** 


FRENCH I and II
REVIEW ALPHABET PRONUNCIATION, LEARN TO COUNT IN FRENCH, GREETINGS, AND SUBJECT PRONOUNS
EACH SECTION WILL BEING WORKING IN CHAPTER 1 OF THEIR BOOK. I WILL ASSIGN HOMEWORK IN CLASS.
French 1 link to vocabulary practice on quizlet for chapter 1
http://quizlet.com/2585638/bien-dit-1-ch-11-flash-cards/
French 2 link to vocabulary practice on quizlet for chapter 1
http://quizlet.com/1103220/bien-dit-2-chapter-11-flash-cards/

Myth and Legend
Creation Stories
You will present your creation stories on Monday
We will read excerpts from world myths Gilgamesh, Genesis, Native American creation stories
Creation myths are amongst mankind's earliest attempts to explain some of the most profound questions about the nature and origin of the universe. These are questions that we are still attempting to answer today.  READ THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY--http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/creation_myths.html

August 8-12

"Writing is a process of self-discipline you must learn before you can call yourself a writer. There are people who write, but I think they're quite different from people who must write."

—Harper Lee  
from a 1964 interview

English 9 Honors

Welcome to New Century
NOVEL: We will begin our course with Harper's Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird.
This is a link that will take you to THE BIG READ'S (The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The National Education Association presents The Big Read in partnership with Arts Midwest) section about the author Harper Lee. http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/mockingbird04.php
Please read all information on this page carefully, better yet...PRINT IT OUT AND BRING TO CLASS.
WRITING: Your first week in class you will  be given a prompt to which you will respond in an essay. This will allow me to have a base line by which I can measure your progress in writing. The competency objective for the writing element of the course will be to achieve mastery in constructing a solid 5 paragraph essay that responds to a prompt.
GRAMMAR: types of rhetorical sentences (loose, periodic, cumulative)

VOCABULARY: this is a link to College Board's top  SAT/ACT A-B vocabulary words
http://quizlet.com/1618346/sat-a-b-flash-cards/
you will have a vocab quiz each FRIDAY over 20 words


ENGLISH 11
Novel: Huckleberry Finn
We will begin our course with Mark Twain's landmark work Huckleberry Finn. This is a link to an excellent website on Huckleberry Finn. This is the homepage for the links below and much information about the narrative. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/huchompg.html
I would like you to go to these links and read the Atlanta Constitution Journal's positive reaction to the book http://etext.virginia.edu/twain/atlanta.html and The Boston Evening Traveler's negative reaction http://etext.virginia.edu/twain/bosttrav.html. Clemens  critiques society often contrasting self-diluted characters as successes within society with individual characters as outsiders or failures of society.
Link to folkbeliefs and lecture in class (you need to look over the entire website on Huck Finn)
http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/projects/riedy/list1.html



The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been labeled as a PICARESQUE NOVEL. A picaresque novel is an adventure story that involves an anti-hero or picaro who wanders around with no actual destination in mind. The picaresque novel has many key elements. It must contain an anti-hero who is usually described as an underling with no place in society, it is usually told in autobiographical form, and it is potentially endless, meaning that it has no tight plot, but could go on and on. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has molded itself perfectly to all these essential elements of a picaresque novel.
THIS NOTION OF THE ANTI-HERO IS THE FIRST IN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND THE REASON THAT THE MODERNIST WRITER ERNEST HEMINGWAY said "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since."

Unlike The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn deals with controversial issues. Perhaps the most important and scandalous theme is Clemens strong view against slavery. Although Clemens wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn after the civil war, many people were not only racist but contained a great deal of resentment against African-Americans. Clemens used Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a catalyst for his stance against slavery. One way in which Clemens demonstrates his views against slavery was the intimate relationship he created between Huck, a white boy, and Jim, a runaway slave. Throughout the novel Clemens humanizes Jim, as oppose to describing him as property or less than human, the belief of many Southerners at the time. In many ways Clemens describes Jim as a better, more decent human being than most white people. Jim acts like a proper father figure to Huck, disciplining in a civilized manner, contrasting Pap who beats him and the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson who guilt Huck into thinking he his damned to Hell. In actuality Jim could be labeled the only suitable adult in the narrative, and the single positive, respectable example for Huck to follow. Jim is not only the best role model for Huck, but he is also the only character in the novel to demonstrate the concept of an ideal family.

GRAMMAR: types of rhetorical sentences (loose, periodic, cumulative)


WRITING: Your first week  in class you will  be given a prompt to which you will respond in an essay. This will allow me to have a base line by which I can measure your progress in communicating through the written word.

READING ASSIGNMENTS: read through chapter 5
reading quiz on Wednesday

VOCABULARY: this is a link to College Board's top SAT/ACT
vocabulary A-B
http://quizlet.com/1618346/sat-a-b-flash-cards/



AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
Vocabulary: go to this link to practice the AP rhetorical terms: http://quizlet.com/262591/ap-english-language-vocabulary-flash-cards/  You will have a test over these on Monday August 22(A Day)

Novel: we will begin with Huckleberry Finn. Please go to the notes posted under English 11and read the comments that I posted about the novel. Read through chapter 5
Reading quiz on Wednesday
Grammar: types of rhetorical sentences (loose, periodic, cumulative)
AP multiple choice test --60 minutes
Timed Essay-40 minutes

Myth and Legend
Introduction to Comparative Mythology
This week we will define mythology, look back to the Paleolithic period (Old Stone Age) to man's need to create gods and stories to explain his world. We will consider ways of interpreting myths. Are myths meant to be interpreted symbolically or literally?

As G. S. Kirk puts it, "a myth may have different emphases or levels of meaning."  Since it often serves more than one purpose, "a tale about human actions [can] contain more than a single aspect and implication

Additionally we will define and examine  Joseph Campbell's  MONOMYTH.

Vocabulary: Mythical Archetypes --handout

DEFINING MYTH

From the Greek mythos, myth means story or word. Mythology is the study of myth. As stories (or narratives), myths articulate how characters undergo or enact an ordered sequence of events. The term myth has come to refer to a certain genre (or category) of stories that share characteristics that make this genre distinctly different from other genres of oral narratives, such as legends and folktales. Many definitions of myth repeat similar general aspects of the genre and may be summarized thus: Myths are symbolic tales of the distant past (often primordial times) that concern cosmogony and cosmology (the origin and nature of the universe), may be connected to belief systems or rituals, and may serve to direct social action and values.

FRENCH 1 2 3
SEE YOU IN CLASS!