For those of you who didn't get enough of Lord of the Flies, or just want to test your knowledge of the book now that we're done with it, take the colorful quiz on it, provided free by Nobelprize.org.

Just click here to go to the site.

Friday, February 05, 2010

A list of figures of speech

Here's a list of the top 20 figures of speech. There are many more. Please consult this list or some other one when writing figurative sentences for your Word Quest. The list is from about.com.

The Top 20 Figures
1. Alliteration
Repetition of an initial consonant sound.

2. Anaphora
Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.

3. Antithesis
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.

4. Apostrophe
Breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or a nonexistent character.

5. Assonance
Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Animal Farm Chrestomathy Materials

This is the third of four chrestomathies each student will be required to complete this year in The World's Greatest English Class. The three links below are the guide for the materials that are needed for completion of the unit:

The first is the Table of Contents for the unit. This will be the first page of the completed chrestomathy. It shows what pages will be needed and in what order the materials will be presented.

The second is the Unit Specifics sheet for the unit. This sheet will not ultimately be included in the chrestomathy but is essential for knowing which options are available on each assignment. For example, included are the words available for the Word Quest and the topics available for all the types of writing in the unit, Narrative, Persuasive, and Response to Literature. The student will be refering to the sheet often.

The final sheet is the rubric that The World's Greatest English Teachers will be using when grading the chrestomathy. The student should print out a copy of this rubric so they will have a good idea how they will be graded, but it will not be included in the chrestomathy.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

The Symbolism of the Conch

From Wikipedia:

Religion

A Shankha shell (the shell of a Turbinella pyrum, a species in the gastrpod family Turbinellidae) is often referred to in the West as a conch shell, or a chank shell. This shell is used as an important ritual object in Hinduism. The shell is used as a ceremonial trumpet, as part of religious practices, for example puja. The chank trumpet is sounded during worship at specific points, accompanied by ceremonial bells and singing.

In the story of Dhruva the divine conch plays a special part. The warriors of ancient India blew conch shells to announce battle, as is described in the beginning of the war of Kurukshetra, in the Mahabharata, the famous Hindu epic.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Lord of the Flies Chrestomathy Materials

This is the second of four chrestomathies each student will be required to complete this year in The World's Greatest English Class. The three links below are the guide for the materials that are needed for completion of the unit:

The first is the Table of Contents for the unit. This will be the first page of the completed chrestomathy. It shows what pages will be needed and in what order the materials will be presented.

The second is the Unit Specifics sheet for the unit. This sheet will not ultimately be included in the chrestomathy but is essential for knowing which options are available on each assignment. For example, included are the words available for the Word Quest and the topics available for all the types of writing in the unit, Narrative, Persuasive, and Response to Literature. The student will be refering to the sheet often.

The final sheet is the rubric that The World's Greatest English Teachers will be using when grading the chrestomathy. The student should print out a copy of this rubric so they will have a good idea how they will be graded, but it will not be included in the chrestomathy.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

The Honors English Two Cyrano/Aristotle Essay Prompt and Materials

Aristotle (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote books on many subjects, including physics, poetry, zoology, logic, rhetoric, government, and biology, none of which survive in their entirety. Aristotle, along with Plato and Socrates, is generally considered one of the most influential of ancient Greek philosophers. They transformed Presocratic Greek philosophy into the foundations of Western philosophy as we know it. The writings of Plato and Aristotle founded two of the most important schools of Ancient philosophy.

Read more about Aristotle at wikipedia.org.

Read the excerpt from Aristotle's The Nicomachean Ethics, and from that reading and your knowledge of Cyrano de Bergerac, write a persuasive essay of at least five paragraphs arguing that Cyrano does or does not conform to Aristotle's idea of High-Mindedness.

For Mr. Hannigan's classes, this essay prompt replaces those listed in the Cyrano Specific Sheet. For Mr. Campbell's classes, it is in addition to the three on the Cyrano Specific Sheet.

For some ideas, you may want to read Mr. Campbell's excellent essay comparing Barry Bonds to Aristotle's criteria.


Aristotle

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Aristotle's High Minded Man

Aristotle on High-mindedness from Nicomachean Ethics IV.3

From http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~mwilson/Highmindedness.html

The very name "high-mindedness" (lit. "great-souled-ness") suggests that it is concerned with great things. Let us first determine what sort of things these are. Now it makes no difference whether we consider the state of the soul itself or the man who is in this state. The high-minded man seems to be the one who thinks he deserves greats things and does deserve them. The man who does this without deserving them is foolish, but the one who does this because of his excellence is not foolish or senseless. Such is the high-minded man. For the man who deserves small things and thinks he deserves these is temperate, but not high-minded. For high-mindedness is concerned with great things, just as beauty resides in a body of great stature, and small people are cute and well-proportioned, but cannot be beautiful.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Questions

Plato: The Allegory of the Cave, from The Republic

Plato, the most creative and influential of Socrates' disciples, wrote dialogues, in which he frequently used the figure of Socrates to espouse his own (Plato's) full-fledged philosophy. In "The Republic," Plato sums up his views in an image of ignorant humanity, trapped in the depths and not even aware of its own limited perspective. The rare individual escapes the limitations of that cave and, through a long, tortuous intellectual journey, discovers a higher realm, a true reality, with a final, almost mystical awareness of Goodness as the origin of everything that exists.

Friday, October 09, 2009

ROSTAND, GREAT FRENCH POET, DEAD

An obituary

This obituary was originally published in Theatre Magazine, Vol. 29, No. 1. Willis Steell. New York: Theatre Magazine Company, 1919. p. 12.

WHEN Edmond Rostand, the distinguished dramatic poet who died of pneumonia on December 2nd (1918), quitted Paris after his first world-renowned success, Cyrano de Bergerac, he gave out not the true reason for his exile to a magnificant estate in the Pyrenees, conditions of his health, but said explicitly that he was leaving the Capital of Art in order to get out of the reach of important interviewers, lionizers, et al.


Edmond Rostand

Thursday, October 08, 2009

French Nobility -- Their titles explained

In order to better understand the opening scenes of Cyrano de Bergerac, it is helpful to know how the "hierarchy" of the French nobility, the ruling class, is organized. Click "read more" to read the article and find other important information

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Epic of Gilgamesh Assignment

The summary of the Epic of Gilgamesh which we read in class today can be found by clicking here.

Here are the questions.

Gilgamesh Questions
1. What good points and bad points of Gilgamesh’s character are stated at the beginning?

2. What is the bond between Gilgamesh and Enkidu?

3. What does each character symbolize?

4. Why does Enkidu proclaim Gilgamesh the true king after their battle?

5. What does Gilgamesh learn about being human?

6. Why does Utanapishtim weep after the flood ends?

7. Why does Ishtar weep?

8. Why does Gilgamesh week after the snake steals the plant?

9 and 10. What other stories have you seen, read or heard about that have an extraordinary man with supernatural helpers and enemies on a quest that changes him? List two, and explain how they apply.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Artist Project:Humanities

DUE October 26, 2009

Your assignment is to research the life of a prominent artist, chosen from the list I provide. The list is first-come, first-served, one-student-per-artist. From your research, prepare a five minute oral presentation which tells the story of the artist’s life and career. You must have visual aids to support your presentation, in the form of an electronic slideshow I’ll show you how to make. You must also prepare a multi-page written report on the artist, which includes a bibliography prepared in according to the guidelines taught in social science classes. Links to formatting and citation conventions are available on the main page in the links section.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

English Two and Honors English Two Booklist

In an endeavor to alleviate pressure from stifling book rotations and to increase our students’ enthusiasm and value for books, we recommend to every student that he or she purchase the school years’ books for themselves for use in the classroom.

This serves two main functions:

• First, the student may keep their book past the time it is due back to the book room, facilitating studying for exams, referring to past knowledge and other educational needs.


• Second, as a bonus, I allow any student who has purchased a book and written their name on the inside cover to use that book during the final exam.