William Ernest Henley

The link below will take you to a small collection of William Ernest Henley poems. Henley, best known for his poem, "Invictus," famously writes, "I am the captain of my fate: / I am the master of my soul."

William Ernest Henley Poems

Think about the main message of the poem "Invictus," and its connection to the film we are analyzing in class. Think about what it means to be "the captain" of YOUR fate, and how these words can help guide your future actions and outlook.

ESPN: The 16th Man

View the following short film from ESPN which showcases the South African "Springbok" National Rugby Team and its impact on South Africa's transition from segregation to integration. Students must take notes on the main ideas and be prepared for a quiz on the material.

ESPN Film: The 16th Man

Canterbury Tales Student Sample

Canterbury Tales Project Student Sample

WATCH THIS!

Clash of the Gods: Beowulf

ENG 12: Periods 1, 2, 4, and 8 should view this episode from the History Channel series, "Clash of the Gods" and answer the following questions based on the film.

“Clash of the Gods: Beowulf”

Take notes on the following topics as you view the History Channel’s Beowulf episode of “Clash of the Gods.” Once you have finished viewing the film, use your notes to answer the following questions on loose-leaf paper. Re-state the question in each of your responses. *NOTE: some of these questions require multiple answers.

1. When and where do scholars believe the Beowulf text was written? What are some clues they have used to explain why they believe it was written during this time periodI
2. In this program, the narrator discusses the decline of “paganism” and the rise of Christianity. What did this shift mean, and why was it significant?
3. Why did King Hrothgar call upon Beowulf to help him slay Grendel? Why was Beowulf was willing to accept this challenge?
4. During Beowulf’s era, what were some of the funeral procedures for warriors?
5. This documentary explores the discovery of artifacts at Sutton Hoo. How do these artifacts possibly shed light on the Beowulf epic? What makes these findings important?
6.  Archaeologists have uncovered a structure that seems very similar to the hall known as Herot in Beowulf. What was the importance of these halls? How do these artifacts shed light on ancient Anglo-Saxon society?
7.  How did Grendel’s mother attempt to seek revenge for the loss of her son? What is the importance of this section of the epic in comparison with the first section?
8.  This program discusses the importance of dragons in mythology. What have dragons traditionally represented in literature?
9.  How did the rise of Christianity influence the Beowulf epic, according to the scholars in this program?
10. Why do you think Beowulf is still considered a classic of English literature?

ENGLISH 12 SUPPLIES REMINDER!

REMINDER: You MUST have your marble notebook in class by this Friday, September 27, 2013.

All English 12 students are required to have either a spiral notebook or a binder with looseleaf paper for in-class notes (college-ruled), one marble notebook to be left in the classroom and used as a "concept dictionary," one folder for handouts, and multiple blue or black pens.

If you are having difficulty obtaining any of these materials, please let me know ASAP and I will try to get them for you!

IN PRAISE OF THE “F” WORD

Written by Mary Sherry

The following selection first appeared as a 1991 “My turn” column in Newsweek

Tens of thousands of 18-year-olds will graduate this year and be handed meaningless diplomas. These diplomas won’t look any different from those awarded their luckier classmates. Their validity will be questioned only when their employers discover that these graduates are semiliterate.

Eventually a fortunate few will find their way into educational repair shops-adult literacy programs, such as the one where I teach basic grammar and writing. These, high- school graduates and high-school dropouts pursing graduate-equivalency certificates will learn the skills they should have learned in high school. They will also discover they have been cheated by our educational system.

As I teach, I learn a lot about our schools. Early in each session I ask my students to write about an unpleasant experience they had in school. No writers’ block here! “I wish someone would have had made me stop doing drugs and made me study.” “I liked to party and no one seemed to care.” “I was a good kid and didn’t have any trouble, so they just passed me along even though I didn’t read well and couldn’t write. “ And so on.

I am your basic do-gooder, and prior to teaching this class I blamed the poor academic skills our kids have today on drugs, divorce and other impediments to concentration necessary for doing well in school. But, as I rediscover each time I walk into classroom, before a teacher can expect students to concentrate, he has to get their attention, no matter what distractions may be at hand. There are many ways to do this, and they have much to do with teaching style. However, if style alone won’t do it, there is another way to show who holds the winning hand in the classroom. That is to reveal the trump card of failure.

I will never forget a teacher who played that card to get the attention of one of my children. Our youngest, a world-class charmer, did little to develop his intellectual talents but always got by. Until Mrs. Stifter.

Our son was a high-school senior when he had her for English. “He sits in the back of the room talking to his friends,” she told me. “Why don’t you move him to the front row?” I urged believing the embarrassment would get him to settle down. Mrs. Stifter looked at me steely-eyed over her glasses. “I don’t move seniors,” she said. “I flunk them.” Our son’s academic life flashed before my eyes. No teacher had ever threatened him with that before. I gained my composure and managed to say that I thought she was right. By the time I got home I was feeling pretty good about this. It was a radical approach for these times, but well, why not? “She‘s going to flunk you,” I told my son. I did not discuss it any further. Suddenly English became a priority in his life. He finished out the semester with an A.

I know one example doesn’t make a case, but at night I see a parade of students who are angry and resentful for having been passed along until they could no longer even pretend to keep up. Of average intelligence or better, they eventually quit school, concluding they were too dumb to finish. “I should have been held back,” is a comment I hear frequently. Even sadder are those students who are high-school graduates who say to me after a few weeks if class, “I don’t know how I ever got a high-school diploma.”

Passing students who have not mastered the work cheats them and the employers who expect graduates to have basic skills. We excuse this dishonest behavior by saying kids can’t learn if they come from terrible environments they come from-most kids don’t put school on their list of priorities unless they perceive something is at stake. They’d rather be sailing.

Many students I see at night school give expert testimony on unemployment, chemical dependency, and abusive relationships. In spite these difficulties, they have decided to make education a priority. They are motivated by the desire for a better job or the need to hang on to the one they got. They have a healthy fear of failure.

People of all ages can rise above their problems, but they need to have a reason to do so. Young people generally don’t have the maturity to value education in the same way my adult students value it. But fear of failure, whether economic or academic, can motivate both.

Flunking as a regular policy has just as much merit today as it did two generations ago. We must review the threat of flunking and see it as it really is-a positive teaching tool. It is an expression of confidence by both teachers and parents that the students have the ability to learn the material presented to them. However, making it work again would take a dedicated, caring conspiracy between teachers and parents. It would mean facing the tough reality that passing kids who haven’t learned the material-while it might save them grief for the short-term-dooms them to long–term illiteracy. It would mean that teachers would have to follow through on their threats, and parents would have to stand behind them, knowing their children’s best interests are indeed at stake. This means no more doing Scott’s assignments for him because he might fail. No more passing Jodi because she’s a nice kid.

This is a policy that worked in the past and can work today. A wise teacher, with the support of his parents, gave our son the opportunity to succeed-or fail. It’s time we return this choice to all students.

Welcome to English 12, British Literature!

The English 12 curriculum is focused on British Literature from the Old English and Medieval Periods, leading up to the Modern and Post-Modern periods of today. We will read, analyze, and respond to examples from each literary period.

Selected readings for the 2013-2014 school year include, but are not limited to:

“Beowulf”

Geoffrey Chaucer: “The Canterbury Tales”

Christopher Marlowe: “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love”

Jonathan Swift: “A Modest Proposal”

William Blake: “The Lamb”, “The Tyger”

Mary Shelley: Frankenstein

John Keats: “Ode on a Grecian Urn”

Robert Browning: “My Last Duchess”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “Sonnet 43”

A.E. Houseman: "To An Athlete Dying Young"

W.B. Yeats:  “A Drinking Song”, “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”

T.S. Eliot: “The Waste Land”

Seamus Heaney: “Digging”,

Eavan Boland: “Outside History”

Virginia Woolf: from Mrs. Dalloway

James Joyce: “Araby”

Dylan Thomas: “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”

Ted Hughes: “View of a Pig”

Supplemental materials include, but are not limited to:

John Gardner, “Grendel”

 “Beowulf” 2007 film

“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (excerpts)

“Le Morte De Arthur” vs. “Harry Potter”

William Shakespeare “Hamlet”

Additional texts may include:

Arthur Miller, “Death of a Salesman”

Edward Albee, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”

SENIORITIS 
(according to Urban Dictionary)

noun.   
A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as GRADUATION.

Please report all known (or suspected) cases of this deadly disease as soon as symptoms become apparent.

*******

I treat ALL of my classes as if they were AP or pre-AP level courses. As such, your attendance is CRUCIAL to your success. Lateness will NOT be tolerated. Missing assignments will receive a ZERO, and extra credit is NOT an option.

An EXTENSIVE RESEARCH PAPER is required for this course, as well as a MAJOR project in the form of a Senior Memory Book. Weekly Read and Respond Articles will also count towards your quarterly average.

Your PARTICIPATION grade consists of your interaction in class AND on the class website: www.keenan12.blogspot.com

If it looks like a lot of work, it is! But RELAX. It’s the last little bit of HS English you’ll ever face. Embrace it. Enjoy it!

"A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”    

-Franz Kafka

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

 -Groucho Marx

Welcome to African American Literature and Creative Writing!

The 2013-2014 Amityville Memorial High School English 12 Elective Curriculum consists of 2 quarters of African American Literature, followed by 2 quarters of Creative Writing. We will read, analyze, and respond to examples from multiple genres, authors, and texts in both sections of the course and students must be prepared to discuss published work as well as peer-created material.

AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE

This course concentrates on the values and strengths evident in the works of African Americans. Specific focus will be on themes of self and identity, national identity, and gender issues. Students will write critical essays as a form of analysis. This course is a survey of writings by African American authors of the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. We will study a range of genres, including fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography, and nonfiction, from the earliest published work by African Americans through to the present day. This course will help students to elevate their abilities in critical reading and writing, and to make better arguments both orally and on the page.

CREATIVE WRITING

This is an introductory course for students with an interest in creative writing. No previous experience is required but interest in the subject matter is CRUCIAL! If you are not interested in the art and craft of writing, then this is NOT the course for you! Learning to critically analyze a piece of writing is a key component of the course. Genres of focus will include creative nonfiction, the personal essay, memoir, humor, poetry, fiction, and children’s literature.

SENIORITIS (according to Urban Dictionary) noun.

A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as GRADUATION.

Please report all known (or suspected) cases of this deadly disease as soon as symptoms become apparent.

*******

I treat ALL of my classes as if they were AP or pre-AP level courses. As such, your attendance is CRUCIAL to your success. Lateness will NOT be tolerated. Missing assignments will receive a ZERO, and extra credit is NOT an option.

An EXTENSIVE RESEARCH PAPER is required for this course, as well as a MAJOR project in the form of a Senior Memory Book. Weekly Read and Respond Articles will also count towards your quarterly average.

Your PARTICIPATION grade consists of your interaction in class AND on the class website: www.keenan12.blogspot.com

If it looks like a lot of work, it is! But RELAX. It’s the last little bit of HS English you’ll ever face. 
Embrace it. Enjoy it!

"A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
-Franz Kafka

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
-Groucho Marx