District Final Exam, Part II: Reading

Read each selection and answer the multiple choice questions associated with it.

The Final Exam is worth 10% of your overall course grade (5% Writing/5% Reading).

District Final Exam, Part I: Writing

The writing prompt is opinion-based and persuasive in nature. Include all three types of persuasive appeals in your answer.

Realism/Naturalism Quiz

It's a tiny quiz, really. A quizlet.

Given one short story and one poem from this time period, identify whether each work is Realist or Naturalist and how you know. Support your answer with quotations from the work.

Final Persuasive Speeches/Twain, cont.

Finish final persuasive speeches.

• Allocate $20,000 Johnson Dollars to the organizations of your peers.
• Hand in notes on speeches.

Mark Twain, "The Lowest Animal" (534)

1.      What is Twain’s overall purpose in this essay?

2.      What changes in human nature does Twain hope his satire will encourage?

3.      Find at least two examples of exaggeration in the essay.

4.      In your opinion, are Twain’s generalizations about people and their behavior valid, partly valid, or invalid? Why?

5.      "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and "The Lowest Animal": One of these two Twain stories is Realist, the other is Naturalist. Which is which? How do you know?

Persuasive Speeches/Twain

View five persuasive speeches.

• Fill out peer feedback form
• Take notes on persuasiveness of speech.

Mark Twain, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (525)

• Read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog..."
• Twain is well known as a writer of Regionalism. Write a short story using Simon Wheeler's final sentence as your opening: "Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail, only jest a short stump like a bannanner, and--" Try to mimic Twain's style in this story, particularly with the dialect and naming of characters (the dog was Andrew Jackson, the frog was Daniel Webster).

Persuasive speeches, Crane, cont.

Continue with five persuasive speeches.

• take notes
• fill out peer feedback form

Stephen Crane, "A Mystery of Heroism" (501) and "War Is Kind" (509).

• Review the story and poem.
• Answer the following questions:
• What do you think is Collins's motive for his daring act? In what sense might the "mystery" in the title of the story refer to Collins's motivation?
• Find two or three examples in this story showing that Crane believes war personifies machines and dehumanizes people. What do you think of this interpretation of war?
• How would you characterize the overall tone of the poem?
• Compare the political views of the Civil War in "A Mystery of War" and "War Is Kind." Which place do you think provides a stronger argument against war? How does it do so?
• Review the characteristics of Realism and Naturalism in your notes (also in the book on 457 and 459). Based on these two works, is Crane a Realist or a Naturalist? What makes you say that?

Persuasive Speeches, Crane

Five persuasive speeches

• Take notes
• Peer feedback

Stephen Crane, "A Mystery of Heroism" (501) and "War Is Kind" (509).

Read the story and poem. Will revisit tomorrow.

Persuasive Speeches/Bierce

Continue with five persuasive speeches.

Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

From the movie outline you wrote yesterday, create a poster advertising the film. Include:

• The title you decided upon for the film.
• A captivating visual, paying particular attention to the mood of the colors chosen.
• A catchy tagline to encourage people to see the film.
• Optional:
• Actors
• Director
• Reviewer(s) comment(s) including quotation, stars, or thumbs up.

See the original 1962 film here (as an episode of The Twilight Zone).

Persuasive Speeches/Bierce, cont.

Continue with next five speeches.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

• Finish reading the story.
• Find at least three examples in Part III where Bierce hinted to the audience that the events weren't really happening.
• Writing: Imagine that you're going to direct a film version of "Owl Creek Bridge." Write a memorandum to the film's producer specifying where you might use the following techniques:
• close-up shot
• moving-camera shot
• quick cut to new scene
• fast motion
• slow motion 
• fuzzy image
• sound effects
• What will your film be titled?
• "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has already been taken
• Don't spoil the ending.

Persuasive Speeches/Ambrose Bierce

Continue with the next five speeches.

Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (489)

• Begin reading "Owl Creek Bridge."
• Briefly summarize Parts I & II.

Speeches/Douglass, cont.

While listening to speeches, students have two jobs.

1. Fill out Peer Feedback form for one speech (assigned).
2. Investor Role:

1. You will get $20,000 in Johnson Dollars, dispersible in $1,000 increments. You may choose to give it all to one company, or to distribute it in smaller amounts. 

2. As you are watching the presentations (speeches), take notes. You will disperse your money after ALL the presentations have been made, so keep track of what speeches moved you and why.

3. Distribute your money. You will take your physical bills and drop them in each person’s corresponding manila envelope. 

Realism: Frederick Douglass

• Review "The Battle with Mr. Covey"
• Answer the following questions with a partner:
• Based on the information in this selection, how would you characterize young Frederick Douglass?
• Explain the metaphor implied in this line: "[The battle with Covey] rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom." How is the metaphor related to the idea of rebirth?
• At the end of the selection, Douglass distinguishes between being "a slave in form" and "a slave in fact." How does this distinction support the theme of this selection?
• Think about Douglass's purpose in writing this narrative. Consider Douglass's style, including his objectivity and restraint in describing painful incidents. How does Douglass win over an audience that might be uneasy at the idea of a black man's fighting a white man?
• Read "My Bondage and My Freedom" on p. 479. Compare the forms of resistance to slavery that each of these readings describes. Which form of resistance do you think was the most effective? Explain your opinion.

Persuasive Speeches

Persuasive Speeches begin tomorrow! Five students will speak per day--see the order posted on the classroom door.

Today's goals:

• Upload completed Works Cited and Outline (with in-text citations and logical, emotional, and ethical appeals labeled) to turnitin.com.
• Make notecards for giving speech (preferably in outline form).
• Practice speeches in small groups.
  

Realism Introduction

Read the introduction to Realism beginning on p. 446. Take notes on the features of Realist and Naturalist writing.

Frederick Douglass, "The Battle with Mr. Covey" from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

• Read "The Battle with Mr. Covey"
• Discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Romanticism Quiz

The quiz will ask you to identify the Romantic traits present in various works of literature and give quotations where you see them. You will have access to copies of the texts mentioned during the quiz.

Romanticism Review

Given the following list of works and traits of Romanticism, label each as Romantic, Dark Romantic, or Transcendentalism.

·         “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”

·         “The Cross of Snow”

·         “The Raven”

·         Walden

·         Nature

·         “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”

·         “The Devil and Tom Walker”

·         Song of Myself

·         “Death of an Innocent”, Outside magazine

·         “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”

·         “A Noiseless Patient Spider”

·         “My life closed twice before its close”

·         “This is my letter to the World”

·         “I tasted a liquor never brewed”

·       Places faith in inner experience and the power of the imagination

·       Self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and blind conformity to custom and tradition

·       Shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature

·       The physical facts of the natural world are a doorway to the spiritual or ideal world.

·       Prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication

·       Champions individual freedom and the worth of the individual

·       View of existence developed from the mystical and melancholy aspects of Puritan thought.

·       Reflects on nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development

·       Explores the conflict between good and evil, the effects of guilt and sin, and the destructive underside of appearances.

·       Values feeling and intuition over reason

·       Finds beauty and truth in exotic locales, the supernatural realm, and the inner world of the imagination

·       Finds inspiration in myth, legend, and folklore

·       Primarily an optimistic view of human nature.

·       Everything in the world, including human beings, is a reflection of the Divine Soul.

·       Sees poetry as the highest expression of the imagination

·       Looks backward to the wisdom of the past and distrusts progress

·       People can use their intuition to behold God’s spirit revealed in nature or in their own souls

·       Spontaneous feelings and intuition are superior to deliberate intellectualism and rationality.

·        Primarily a pessimistic view of human nature.

Whitman and Dickinson

Finish Poe poetry poster from Friday (Aah! Awesome alliterations!).

Answer the following questions after reading the poetry selections on page 415-422.

Walt Whitman

            from Song of Myself, 6

            “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer”

            “A Noiseless Patient Spider”

·         Through his poems, Whitman emphasizes a connection not only to other people but also to nature. In what ways do Whitman’s poems portray a connection between the poet and society as a whole? Between the poet and different aspects of nature? Reference specific aspects of each of the three poems in your answer with line numbers (which should be at least one paragraph of 8-10 sentences).

Emily Dickinson

            “My life closed twice before its close”

            “This is my letter to the World”

            “I taste a liquor never brewed”

·         What private triumphs fears and disappointments might Dickinson’s poems address? How might they also relate to broader themes experienced by people everywhere? How does she reflect the concerns of the Romantics? Reference specific aspects of each of the three poems in your answer with line numbers (which should be at least one paragraph of 8-10 sentences).

Persuasive Speeches

Outlines: 

• label each persuasive appeal in your outline as logical, emotional, or ethical.
• Add in-text citations for each paraphrased or quoted source in your outline.

Update Works Cited page to reflect final set of sources for speech.

Submit both the revised outline and works cited page to turnitin.com by 11:30 am on Tuesday, Nov 12. 

• Speeches will begin Tues, Nov 12; five speeches will be given per day through Thursday, Nov 21. 
• This speech (with completed outline and works cited) is a mandatory component of passing English 11. Any speeches not given by Nov 21 will receive a zero.

Poe poetry

Poe Poetry Group Assignment

Read your assigned Poe Poem.  Next, you will analyze the poem for its structure, poetic techniques, and theme.  You will then share your insights with the class.

In preparation for your presentation, each group will

·         Read Poem.

·         Write Poem on Butcher Paper.

·         Annotate structure, use of poetic devices as discussed in class. Consider any of the following:

o    Rhyme scheme

o    Internal rhyme

o    Onomatopoeia

o    Alliteration

o    Assonance

o    Metaphor

o    Simile

o    Meter (pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables)

o    Personification

·         Decide the theme of the poem.

·         Write an explanation of how the theme is demonstrated in the poem using specific quotations and reference to the poem.  Make sure you make a connection between the citations and the theme.

·         Explain how the poem demonstrates the principles of the dark romantics.

·         Make an illustration for the poem on the butcher paper.

Your group will be assigned one of the following poems:

"Annabel Lee"

"The Sleeper"

"To Helen"

"Fairy Land"

"The Haunted Palace"

"Lenore"

"Bridal Ballad"

"Stanzas"

"The City in the Sea"