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       /

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...