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Welcome! 
 
It is my goal this year to provide you with a paperless classroom.  My hope is that all information and materials necessary for study in my class be available to you at all times via the web. 
 
Please check this site first as your primary source for current assignments and make-up work. 
 
The Daily Calvin and Hobbes has migrated to the bottom of this page.
 

College Prep

Welcome. Read, Discuss, and Write. Our goal this year is to improve the skills that will enable you to be a successful college student. In that pursuit, we will strive to make the reading and writing relevant to you own life. Active participation is required!

  

 
  
 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey
1962
 
April 14   A Block  Read Chapters one and two of Cuckoo.  Finish fourth body paragraph and introduction for next class.  If you do not have this done, you will lose the five class points available for this check point.
 
April 14 B Block : If you haven't finished all four body paragraphs, please do so. You should finish a draft of your introduction.  Please read Chapter one of Cuckoo for tomorrow.  For Friday, you should have read through chapter 3. and you should have written a conclusion  for your paper..
 
 
Monday, April 6, 2009

My whole family, including me, is sick today.  My sincere apologies for missing you guys two days in a row.

A Block:  You guys should appropriately collect all your research on your chosen topic for the Bless Me, Ultima, paper.  In your groups you should transfer all the information to your shared research Google Doc. You should then discuss and write an appropriate thesis.  After you've generated a thesis, organize your research in the order you all feel would provide the best organization for the paper. Make sure this BEAUTIFULLY annotated and organized document is shared with me. 
 

Bless Me, Ultima

by

 

Rudolfo Anaya

 

Bless Me, Ultima Essay Topics
 
Essay topics adapted from WebEnglishTeacher
 
For Friday: B Block   Five pieces of individual research that supports your chosen topic.  This information should be written as a google doc.  Each group should choose a secretary who will create a group google docs named :   Secretary's name  BMU Group (1 or 2) Research B Block.
 
This document should be shared with each member of the group. Coordinate that in class Thursday.
 
Part A:  Break up into groups of four or five and begin by chosing one essay topic as a group. The goal for this assignment is to research, plan and write a thesis as if this were a group essay. You will then be responsible for writing the three to five paragraph essay on your own.  You need to be sure that you have a solid title, that you write a good introduction and that you write 4-7 body paragraphs that each contain the five important parts of any analytical paragraph.
 
                1.  Topic Sentence
                2.   Set up your evidence. Itroduce it. Contextualize it
                3.  Evidence (Quotation)  Proper MLA documentation.  Quote it exactly.  Make sure you
                        punctuate your quotation properly.
                4.    Analysis (Not commentary. Commentary is for little kids. Think about court
                            cases, or CSI, Sherlock Homles)
                                    4A:  repeat steps 2,3 and 4 as necessary.
                5.  Finish your though and provide for a transition to the next topic.
 
Part B:  After choosing your topic, Each member of the group should find five quotations that they believe speak to the topic.
 
Part C:  Choosing the evidence:  In the group you will have a literary discussion to decide which pieces of evidence best support your thesis. You will then Outline the basic structure of t he paper.
 
The Questions:
1. Both Ultima and Narciso are called “magic” by various characters in the book. Compare and contrast the characters of Ultima and Narciso. How does Ultima's brand of magic differ from Narciso's? How are they alike? In what sense might each character be called “magic”?
 2. What does Antonio learn from his conversation with Gabriel during the trip to El Puerto after Florence's death? How does this lesson help to prepare him for the challenges that lie ahead?
 3. What is the significance of the conflict between English-speakers and Spanish-speakers that Antonio encounters at school? Why is language so important in the novel? In what sense does this conflict give Antonio perspective on the conflict within his family?
 4. In María's view, how are sexuality, adulthood, and sin related? Why is childhood preferable to adulthood? How do these factors influence her desire for Antonio to become a priest? And how does María's own childhood influence her current beliefs?
 
5. What does Antonio learn from watching Gabriel cope with the rebellion of Antonio's brothers?

 

Pan's Labyrinth and Magical Realism

 

We've paired BMU with  other texts that deal with genre known as Magical Realism. To help us understand this literary school we've also been watching the 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth.  As the final primary text of this unit, I'd like you to read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings."  The school does not own this text, but you can find it free online at the following link:

 

http://salvoblue.homestead.com/wings.html

 

 

BMU Chapter 14: (3.6 A Block and 3.9.09 B Block)

 

Through our discussion of BMU and Pan's Labyrinth we have talked about the link between violent acts and the supernatural reaction to it.  When overwhelmingly bad things happen in the real world that characters inhabit, there seems to be a supernatural response which seems to help the characters, or the narrative itself, deal with these ruptures.

 

In chapter 14 of BMU, the Christmas Pageant chapter, something extraordinarily funny happens.  How does humor operate in the text?  Does it work like violence? How does it influence the supernatural?  How does a text that has so much violence deal with humor?

 

As a Google Doc. write a three paragraph essay complete with proper quotations for the text that answers this question.   The Doc should be named:  (Name) Humor in BMU ( Block).  This will be due Monday before class.

 

Reading homework: This weekend read 176-202.  

 

 

Bless Me, Ultima, Chapters 12 and 13
Paired Response Exercise:  3.2.2009
 
Part I: For each chapter, locate the most "important" quotation you can find.  Write these quotations out fully on the computer as a google document.  These quotations should be as long as necessary, and should be quoted fully enough to give proper context for another reader.
 
Part II.  Write a formal, one paragraph analysis of each quotation. Please be careful to use not only your best critical thinking, but also your best writing skills.  It is hard for someone to take your thoughts seriously when the writing obscures the meaning you are trying to convey.
 
Part III.  Choose a partner and share your quotations and analyses with them (and me). The subject line/title of the assignment should be (Name) Paired Response BMU 12 and 13 (Block).  Your partner should read your quotations and your analyses and then comment/critique/question your response to the two quotations you've chosen. This should also be a formal writing in the form of a paragraph.
 
Part IV.  You should then either A) rewrite your paragraph to incorporate/answer your partner's critique of this information, or B) write another paragraph as a response to their reading of your work.
 
Each portion of the the assignment should be labeled appropriately (Part I, Part II, etc.)
 
Homework:  Read pp. 150-176.

 

2/27 Please check college prep calendar for homework and classwork information.

 

Today we are discussing the importance of the "supernatural" as a literary motif. The foremost scholar in the field is a scholar named Tsvetan Todorov. Below you'll find a link to a set of notes on his work about the fantastic. 

 

http://www.unc.edu/~bardsley/ghosts/todorov.html

 

After reading these notes, see if you can define and use the following terms:

                Fantastic:

                Uncanny:

                Marvellous:

 

How might these terms apply to the chapter 10 of Bless Me, Ultima?

How do they apply or help you to understand the first supernatural event in Pan's Labyrinth?

 

 

 

     In keeping with our goal of making our reading and writing relevant to your own world, we are going to write a large volume of fiction as we read this novel. The goal is to help you understand and analyze the literature through the lens of your own life experience and through your own efforts to capture your own stories in semi-fictional forms. 

 

January 29 or 30: Day one

 

Please write this assignment as a Google doc and entitle it according to the following formula.  This project is due by the end of class today:   

Name Important childhood memory Block.

 

Part 1: To begin this project, you are going to need a story to tell.  Think back to the period of your childhood that was the most memorable, the most important, the most frightening, the most ________, and write a paragraph that briefly outlines the events that made this time memorable.

 

Part 2: Although these stories are going to be loosely based on fact and on your own experience, they are nevertheless fictionalized. That means the main character of this first person story, you, can be any 'you' you choose.  Write a second paragraph that fully thinks through who the main character is and describe them fully. Points to consider:

                                

                                What do you look like?  How old are you?  Where do you live?  What is the make up of your family? Etc. 

 

January 30  or February 2: Day 2

 

This assignment should be in your Blog and you should title it: Chapter 1

 

Chapter one of Bless Me, Ultima starts with a summary of important events in the first couple of paragraphs, a dream vision, and then the introduction of an important character.  

 

Re-read these portions of this chapter and write a fictional dream full of mysterious symbols or signs that will help to establish the idea that fate and magic are mixed up in the story you are about to tell--after all, childhood is a magical time.  Notice that Antonio dreams not only about himself but about his parents and the place of his birth.  Try to work your own "origin myth" into this kind of dream.

 

Please type this assignment as a google doc first, and then copy and paste it to your blog. That way you have a back up.  

 

For homework:  Read chapters 2 and 3. If you finish this writing assignment early, then you may read quietly until the end of class. As you read be careful to this about how you are going to work these elements into your writing. If you do not finish this assignment early, then it will be due prior to class on Monday. Points will be subtracted for late work.  

 

 

A couple of writing links for you:
 
Jack Lynch on Getting an A on English Papers : A good all-around resource.
OWL MLA Help at Purdue University  : Helpful in formatting papers.
Elements of Style, Professor Strunk : The best guide to mechanics. It is a classic.
University of North Carolina Writing Center : The differences between High School and College Writing.
Harvard University Writing Center Resources  :  This is how they tutor writing at Harvard. It might work for us.
How to write Analytical Paragraphs :  Even Community Colleges have much to teach.
Subpages (2): Brave New World: "Savage Reservation" Dystopia in F 451, Brave New World, and I Robot 12.14.08

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