MEET OUR NEW MASCOT!!!

Thanks to Gina, we have an honorary class mascot. Meet our fine-finned-friend, Hrothgar!

Read and Respond (Week Three)

Hi folks!

Here are the links for Week Three's R & R. Please read ALL of the articles linked below, and then summarize/analyze AT LEAST ONE of the articles on LOOSE-LEAF PAPER. As always, you are required to write in blue or black ink.

Banned Books Week (Should public schools and public libraries ban books?)http://www.huffingtonpost.com/molly-raphael/banned-books-week-censorship_b_977058.html

Harmless Words, or Hate Speech?http://www.nbcbayarea.com/blogs/press-here/Young-People-Love-to-Use-Racial-Slurs-130204403.html

The Death of Cursive Writing?http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-cursive-schools-0925-20110925,0,7415839.story

BEOWULF

Here is a link to the translation found in our textbooks. Use it for studying or catching up!

http://www.nexuslearning.net/books/elements_of_lit_course6/anglo_saxon_period/The%20Monster%20Grendel.htm

READ and RESPOND (WEEK TWO)

You will find this week's Read and Respond articles posted below. Please read ALL of the articles, and respond to AT LEAST 2 of them on loose leaf paper, to be handed in on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2011.

SLIPPING SCORES http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/education/15sat.html?ref=education

BOYS and READING http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/books/review/boys-and-reading-is-there-any-hope.html?_r=1&ref=education

KIDS and GUNS http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2093725,00.html

IS AN INNOCENT MAN FACING EXECUTION? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/us/troy-davis-is-denied-clemency-in-georgia.html

There's a reason Willy Wonka was so creepy...

Have you ever read a Roald Dahl book? If not, then you're severely missing out! At the very least you've probably seen some of the film adaptations.

Dahl's JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH was first published 50 years ago today, and the article linked below tells of Dahl's interesting and difficult life.

Check it out!

"Roald Dahl and the Darkness Within"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14880441

Read and Respond (Week One)

Welcome to the first week of READ and RESPOND!

Each week you will be required to read and respond to a series of links. The topics might be serious, ridiculous, controversial, or even outrageous.

Read the following links and respond to at least TWO of the articles in your marble notebook.

Your response should be a clear commentary on the topics read. Include a short summary (at least one paragraph) and then take a side on the issue in at least another paragraph. Include details/points/quotes from the text, and be clear about your thoughts. Your response should be articulate, supported by text-based information, and clearly defined-- you MUST take a side. Be a lawyer. Prove your case. Make a point. Fire up your fellow classmates...

Quiz on Monday (on all four articles)!!!

"The Master's as the New Bachelor's"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/education/edlife/edl-24masters-t.html?_r=1&ref=edlife

"Why We Can't Wear White After Labor Day"http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1920684,00.html

"Are Your Jeans Sagging? Go Directly to Jail"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/fashion/30baggy.html

"School's New Math: the Four-Day Week"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704869304575104124088312524.html

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

In-class assignment:

Compose a letter to yourself identifying how you feel about being a senior, and what you hope to accomplish over the course of this year. Include any fears, challenges, and/or aspirations. Your goals can be academic, social, personal, professional, etc...

You are the ONLY person who will see this letter. Once complete, you will seal your letter in an envelope and return it to me. It will then be locked up until the end of 3rd quarter when it will be returned to you. Hopefully when you read these letters again you will have accomplished many of your goals. And if not, you'll still have another quarter left to have a go at them!

ENGLISH 12 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 2011-2012 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: 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
“The Canterbury Tales” 2003 BBC television series (excerpts)
“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”
  

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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.

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As I’ve stated before, 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.

BOOK REPORTS will be required, but the format will (for the most part) be left up to you.

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