Monday, June 17, 2019

Monday, June 17



Your ELA Regents Exam is this Wednesday at 7:30 in the morning.  

Bring two pens with you. You are not allowed to write in pencil

Final tips:

Task 1: multiple choice; three reading passages (one fiction, one non fiction and one poem)

            Read the questions and responses first
           Take your time. "They" are looking for inferences.

Task 2: Argumentative essay. 6 points
        
            This is a four / five paragraph essay.
            Begin with your hook
            Take a clear position and write a thesis statement
            Start with your counter argument, if you wish to get it out of the way Weave in text and cite.
            Use a minimum of 3 Texts
            You might have graph / chart
            Weave in your evidence and cite.
            Don't forget a concluding analysis statement


Task 3:Controlling idea essay
             Read the directions
             As you read the fiction or non fiction piece, start taking notes as to what type 
of literary elements or rhetorical devices are used.
             You need only 2 or 3 well-written paragraphs
             Make sure you include the following:

In the excerpt ___________________________ by ______________________________, the controlling idea is _____________________________. This is developed through__________________________________________.

At this point you will support your choice with evidence woven in to your own sentences. 
Remember to explain WHY and or HOW this supports the development of the controlling idea. This is important, as it demonstrates your analysis skills.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Tuesday, June 11 end of the year summary information


Tuesday, June 11 and Wednesday, June 12 (if necessary): Spoon River presentations
See rubric below.

There is no more class time for the gravestones. If you do not have yours, you will use a text to read. 

Wednesday (if we have finished all the presentations), Thursday and Friday. Task 3 Regents Exam practice. This is your last writing grade of the year. All work is due by Friday. I will not accept any material on Monday.



name______________________________  “Spoon River” presentation
                                                                                                                                      points possible    /                received  
                                                                                   
Prepared and on time and had prop                                         10/
Speaker maintains good eye contact with the audience and is
appropriately animated (e.g., gestures, moving around, etc.).
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                15    /

Speaker uses a clear, audible voice.                                          15  /

Delivery is poised, controlled, and smooth.                                                                                    15 /

Good language skills and pronunciation are used.                                                                                       15  /

Poetic punctuation is followed                                              15   /

Character is maintained throughout the presentation                                                                         15    /
           
Final score                                                                                                 
                                                                                         100       /

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Tuesday, June 4- through Friday, June 14 Spoon River Anthology

All the daily work from June 4 through Friday, June 14 is listed below.


If you are missing assignments, please see me outside of class. I am available periods 1, 2, 4, and 8. For make-up work, you may come in any class, but your own to work in the back of the room. Often times in Journalism I am able to work with you individually.
I am also available after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 
Period 3 will begin Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters: reading The Hill and beginning character analyses.Periods 6 and 9 will finish up Guernica and then continue with Spoon River. All Guernica material is due today.

What everyone needs to turn in:

Guernica: handout from last Friday. This is due today. Please use a chromebook to review the material. Go to the blog: Parkerenglish3.blogspot.com

Spoon River materials: You will complete 5 character analyses. (Copy below of class handout). These are due on Thursday, June 6.
Friday/ Monday, June 7/ 10: Selecting your personal performance poem and creating your character's gravestones. (class handout) This is due at the close of class on Monday, June 10. (class participation grade) 

Tuesday: tidying up and practicing your performance.
Wednesday/ Thursday, June 12 and 13 performances. Directions/ rubric below
Friday, June 14. Task 3 essay (final writing grade). You may finish it up over the weekend, if necessary.
Last day of classes. No late material will be accepted after this time.

               Introducing: Spoon River Anthology. class handout; this is a substantial collection of poems. You may access the work on line at : Spoon River Anthology

Spoon River Anthology is a series of poems in free verse (poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter). In most of the poems, a deceased native of the fictional town of Spoon River delivers a monologue about his or her life or a specific incident in his or her life. These monologues are, in effect, epitaphs. 

Background

.......Dead men tell no tales. So says an ancient proverb. But 

in Spoon River Anthology dead men—and women—do tell 

tales. Speaking from the grave, more than two hundred forty

 deceased residents of a fictional Midwestern town, Spoon 

River, each present short monologues about their lives. They 

reveal their heartaches, disappointments, failures, and 

unfulfilled dreams. Sometimes they tell of the moral 

trespasses of themselves or of others. Occasionally, they tell 

of an incident that reveals the good or bad qualities of 

another person. 

The Introductory Poem
The Hill
Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley,
The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter?
All, all are sleeping on the hill.

One passed in a fever,
One was burned in a mine,
One was killed in a brawl,
One died in a jail,
One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife-
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.

Where are Ella, Kate, Mag, Lizzie and Edith,
The tender heart, the simple soul, the loud, the proud, the happy one?--
All, all are sleeping on the hill.

One died in shameful child-birth,
One of a thwarted love,
One at the hands of a brute in a brothel,
One of a broken pride, in the search for heart's desire;
One after life in far-away London and Paris
Was brought to her little space by Ella and Kate and Mag--
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.

Where are Uncle Isaac and Aunt Emily,
And old Towny Kincaid and Sevigne Houghton,
And Major Walker who had talked With venerable men of the revolution?--
All, all are sleeping on the hill.

They brought them dead sons from the war,
And daughters whom life had crushed,
And their children fatherless, crying--
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Where is Old Fiddler Jones
Who played with life all his ninety years,
Braving the sleet with bared breast,
Drinking, rioting, thinking neither of wife nor kin,
Nor gold, nor love, nor heaven?
Lo! he babbles of the fish-frys of long ago,
Of the horse-races of long ago at Clary's Grove,
Of what Abe Lincoln said
One time at Springfield.

 Format: Free Verse.......Besides introducing characters in Spoon River Anthology, "The Hill" introduces the format, free verse. Free verse is poetry that ignores standard rules of meter in favor of the rhythms of ordinary conversation. In effect, free verse liberates poetry from conformity to rigid metrical rules that dictate stress patterns and the number of syllables per line.

Conversational Language
.......Except for a poem entitled "The Spooniad," the language in Spoon River Anthology is simple, conversational, and realistic, with plenty of local color and regional references—like the reference in "The Hill" to "the horse races long ago at Clary's Hill" (line 32). Many of the poems contain a figure of speech called anaphora. Anaphora is the repetition of a word or group of words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or sentences. 
***********************************************************************************************************************
Character analysis
Name_______________________________________

Choose five of the poems that appeal to you and complete a CHARACTER ANALYSIS worksheet for each.


Character Analysis for Spoon River Anthology
You will need to complete five character analysis forms.  Keep in mind that these people lived close to one hundred and fifty years ago. Remember to justify all your answers with text.

Character’s name______________________________________ page number________________

Once you read poem, list any words with which you are unfamiliar and define.
Unfamiliar words:
1. _________________________________________ 4. __________________________________ 2. _________________________________________ 5. _________________________________  3._________________________________________  6.__________________________________

                      
1.       In a minimum of thirty words, summarize the life of the character on the epitaph. From the text include any physical descriptors, relationships and other themes, such as revenge, injustice or justice, religion and jealousy.  Were they disillusioned, disappointed? Were their secrets taken to the grave?
2.       In a couple of well-written sentences reflect on how this individual is reflective on someone from a small town at the beginning of the 20th century? (Draw on your own knowledge: historical, social (gender, economics and political.)
There are lots of poems, so skip around and browse. I know how everyone likes to work with a neighbor, but in this case, you may not have any of the same ones as the person sitting next to you.  Note that language conventions- capitalization, punctuation and spelling count. No “I think”, no “wanna / gonna”. Weave in bits of text; just put them in quotations.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
****************************************************************************

Spoon River directions.  Please read carefully and check off
________ Check for your assigned poem. Ideally you will have one of the five from your graphic organizer; otherwise I chose for you. Everyone has someone different.

________Collect a tombstone
________ On the front of the tombstone, legibly print your poem, following the correct poetic format. This is what you will read from!

________ On the back: write your name and a short well-written, grammatically correct   analysis explaining your poem, weaving in specific text. This should be about 50 words.

________ Finally, if you so choose decorate your tombstone. There are colored pencils.

Grading….. 25 points for correctly copying out your poem onto the tombstone
              …… 50 points (up to) for your paraphrasing / summary of your selected poem
             ……. 25 points for effectively decorating your tombstone.

These are due at the close of class. I will be in at the end of the day to collect them.

********************************************************************************

name______________________________  “Spoon River” presentation
                                                                                                                                      points possible    /                received  
                                                                                   
Prepared and on time and had prop                                         10/
Speaker maintains good eye contact with the audience and is
appropriately animated (e.g., gestures, moving around, etc.).
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                15    /

Speaker uses a clear, audible voice.                                          15  /

Delivery is poised, controlled, and smooth.                                                                                    15 /

Good language skills and pronunciation are used.                                                                                       15  /

Poetic punctuation is followed                                              15   /

Character is maintained throughout the presentation                                                                         15    /
           
Final score                                                                                                 
                                                                                         100       /

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Friday/ Monday May31/ June 3 Guernica


Coming up: on Tuesday we are beginning a new unit. If you are absent, make sure to check the blog.

In class: today and tomorrow we are exploring the symbolism, imagery and metaphors through Pablo Picasso's paining Guernica.
1) background information
2) TED TALK FILM (link below, if you are absent)
3) transcript of film below
4) accompanying analysis and response sheet (class handout / copy below)


Probably Picasso's most famous work, Guernica is certainly the his most powerful political statement, painted as an immediate reaction to the Nazi's devastating casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during Spanish Civil War.
Dates: Jul 17, 1936 – Apr 1, 1939
Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. On completion Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world's attention.
This work is seen as an amalgmation of pastoral and epic styles. The discarding of color intensifis the drama, producing a reportage quality as in a photographic record. Guernica is blue, black and white, 3.5 metre (11 ft) tall and 7.8 metre (25.6 ft) wide, a mural-size canvas painted in oil. This painting can be seen in the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.


Historical Context of the Masterpiece


Guernica is a town in the province of Biscay in Basque Country. During the Spanish Civil War, it was regarded as the northern bastion of the Republican resistance movement and the epicenter of Basque culture, adding to its significance as a target.
The Republican forces were made up of assorted factions (Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, to name a few) with wildly differing approaches to government and eventual aims, but a common opposition to the Nationalists. The Nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco, were also factionalized but to a lesser extent. They sought a return to the golden days of Spain, based on law, order, and traditional Catholic family values.
At about 16:30 on Monday, 26 April 1937, warplanes of the German Condor Legion, commanded by Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, bombed Guernica for about two hours. Germany, at this time led by Hitler, had lent material support to the Nationalists and were using the war as an opportunity to test out new weapons and tactics. Later, intense aerial bombardment became a crucial preliminary step in the Blitzkrieg tactic.
After the bombing, Picasso was made aware of what had gone on in his country of origin. At the time, he was working on a mural for the Paris Exhibition to be held in the summer of 1937, commissioned by the Spanish Republican government. He deserted his original idea and on 1 May 1937, began on Guernica. This captivated his imagination unlike his previous idea, on which he had been working somewhat dispassionately, for a couple of months. It is interesting to note, however, that at its unveiling at the Paris Exhibition that summer, it garnered little attention. It would later attain its power as such a potent symbol of the destruction of war on innocent lives.
Guernica, Picasso's most important political painting, has remained relevant as a work of art and as a symbol of protest, and it kept the memory of the Basque town's nightmare alive. While Picasso was living in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, one German officer allegedly asked him, upon seeing a photo of Guernica in his apartment, "Did you do that?" Picasso responded, "No, you did."
“Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso.” Henri Matisse, www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp.














Transcript
**********************************************************************************
Guernica-  by Pablo Picasso   accompanying work
contingent- a group of people united by a common feature        to grapple-to struggle
 devastation- great destruction                                                           acute-(adjective)- sharp, poignant
 atrocities- wicked, cruel, destructive acts                                       claustrophobia- extreme fear of enclosed spaces                
to illuminate- make visible, to bring clarity
matador- bull fighter
                                   
Name________________________________
  After reading the background material on Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica and watching the short film, please respond to the following questions.

1.       What forces bombed the northern Spanish city of Guernica in 1937?  __________________________
2.       Who were the two groups fighting during the Spanish Civil War?
__________________________________               ____________________________________________
3.       How does the disoriented perspective of the canvas contribute to the anti-war message?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4.       List some of the images within the painting and explain their symbolism
a.       ______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
b.       _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
c.       _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
d.       ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
5.       In your own words, explain the metaphor of the ghostly woman holding the lamp. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6.       What three animals can be found within the mural?     a.                                                     b.       .                                              c .
7.       Select one of the above animals and discuss historically and or culturally what it has come to mean; then looking over the painting carefully how and why you interpret the image within the mural. This must be a minimum of five well-composed, grammatically correct sentences.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8.       Using details from the painting, explain why the work is a “powerful work of historical documentation and political protest.”  (Minimum 5 sentences.) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, June 17

Your ELA Regents Exam is this Wednesday at 7:30 in the morning.   Bring two pens with you. You are not allowed to write in pencil Fi...