Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Essay Help1

If you are having trouble revising your essay, you may:
1) Come in during SGI or Lunch (I have a Friday lunch mtg, so don't wait until the last minute)
2) Post questions here. 

If you see a question that you can help answer, and you give a solid reply, there might just be a reward for you....

Monday, September 27, 2010

New Historicism: Power Point Outline

New Historicism: As applied to The Scarlet Letter

New Historicism is...
A response to Historicism (must consider when the text was written)
Assumes that history is not linear.  Things are not improving. (ex: forms of punishment)
Assumes changes in history have multiple and interrelated causes. (ex: civil war)
Assumes history and literature impact each other
Assumes all literature is somewhat historical and all history is somewhat fictional.
Assumes that historians are subject to their own biases.

New Historian must know about:
The period in which the text is set
The period in which it is written
The period in which it is read
Their own biases.

Journal: When it was set
Based on your reading thus far, any other knowledge you may have about the events of 1637 (when the book is set), and your research on the Puritans, how accurately does Hawthorne portray the time period in which the novel is set?

American Renaissance
Also known as American Romantics
Sought cultural separation from England, by addressing uniquely American topics.

Influence #1: Urbanization
disillusioned with modern society- 150+ utopian communities
Technical advancements (cotton gin, rail road, telegraph) caused feeling of experimentation but also industrialization
Immigration- mixing of new people

Influence #2: Wilderness
Manifest Destiny
Nature is something to conquer, but
Also see it as a source of primitive knowledge and refuge from urbanization.

Influence #3: Independence Movements
US and French revolutions
Fraternity, equality, liberty
Value each individual regardless of class (but not race/ gender)

Influence #4: Social and Political Change
1st president not from an original colony
North / South polarization
Abolitionist movement
Women’s movement
Increased public literacy and public education

Characteristics of Romantic’s Style
Appeal to imagination (willing suspension of disbelief)- unlikely plots and characters
Form rises from content rather than being dictated by tradition (experimentation)
Setting is often remote in time or place- interest in past (esp. US)
Escapism from social problems/ changes
Quest for purity (response to urbanization)

Transcendentalism
Reaction to Age of Reason (mind= blank slate, knowledge comes from outside through senses, all men can reason so all are equal).  > didn’t account for intuition or imagination.
Transcendentalists say intuition is God in us.
Oversoul= God in nature and all things (vs. watchmaker God who sits back and watches).  God is involved in all things..so…
Nothing is insignificant> should follow intuition (personal piece of oversoul) > self-reliance.
Nature should be valued because provides insight into God and humanity.
All living things are innately good (even if go against the norm) because God is in them > Hawthorne disagreed because he thinks it doesn’t account for the presence of evil in the world > his writing focuses on pride as cause of sin, consequences are often self-inflicted, love offers atonement.

Journal: when it was written
How does the time period in which the novel was written influence it?  (It was published in 1850).

Journal: When it is read
How is your experience of reading the Scarlet Letter influenced by the historical time period in which you live.  (You might consider major social and political events shape our current historical moment or cultural values dominate it.)
If anyone finds interesting sites related to the American Romantics or Transcendentalism, they should post them as comments to this blog.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Scarlet Letter Day-- Here we come!

Don't forget to wear your letter ALL day tomorrow!  If anyone takes pictures, let me know and I'll see if I can post them :)

Friday, September 17, 2010

Book Suggestions for People Whose Hearts are in the Math or Sciences

Because I understand that some of you identify as "math people" or "science people" I thought we might start a list of books that make for good reading in those areas.... I'll start it out.

Books for Math People:
Proofiness: the Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception by Charles Sheife is about statistics and how they can be manipulated.  He also wrote Zero: The Biography of A Dangerous Idea
The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Loose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse by Jennifer Ouellette.. I think the title says it all.

Books for Science People:
Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin is a very readable book about evolution and human organs and other interesting things.
Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier is about, well, how women's bodies work... way more science than you got in health class.

I'll add more to this list as I think of them.  Please feel free to do the same by commenting to this post.
And for those of you who are asking, I'll have the SSR assignment for you next class :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Caleb and Aron- Extra Credit Opportunity

As I'm reading your essays, I realize that not many of you looked into the Biblical roots of the boys actual names.  Frankly, I didn't really consider it either.  We were so focused on Cain and Abel, that we didn't pause to consider if there was any significance to Caleb or Aaron, so...

I'm offering extra credit to the first student who can articulately answer the following questions (please only answer one of the three questions, so that someone else may tackle the others):

1)  Who was the Biblical Caleb and why might Steinbeck have chosen this name out of all the "C" names possible? 
2) Who was the Biblical Aaron and why might Steinbeck have chosen this name out of all the "A" names possible?
3) What significance is there to the transition from Aaron to Aron?  Why might Steinbeck have done this?

Happy thinking.  I look forward to your ideas.

Puritan Research

If you find any good websites for learning about Puritans, please post them as a comment here. 

Thursday, September 9, 2010

East of Eden Essay Questions

Your essay will be on one of these four topics.  You must write about East of Eden (duh).

Choose a work of literature written before 1953 (East of Eden was published in '52). Write an essay in which you present arguments for and against the work's relevance for a person in 2010. Your own position should emerge in the course of your essay. You may refer to works of literature written after 1953 for the purpose of contrast or comparison.

In some novels and plays certain parallel or recurring events prove to be significant. In an essay, describe the major similarities and differences in a sequence of parallel or recurring events in a novel or play and discuss the significance of such events. Do not merely summarize the plot.
 
The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work's meaning.

Morally ambiguous characters -- characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

Happy planning! (And thank Dylan for the idea if you appreciated having the topics posted here) 

East of Eden Essay

Reminder:  You are writing an in-class essay on Monday.  You will have one hour.  You should bring:
  • Your book (feel free to mark key quotations with sticky notes or book marks)
  • One page with simple outlines for each essay topic (thesis and TS)
  • Plenty of paper for writing.
  • A positive attitude.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Help With Reoccuring Questions

If you read a post that includes many questions, you do not have to answer all of them in your comments.  In fact, if you don't then you leave somehting for the next person to think about.

If you've read through the entire blog (make sure you look at posts all the way back to May. You can do this by clicking on "older posts" at the bottom of the page, or by selecting a month from the menu on the bottom right) and everyone's comments and can't think of anything new to add, you may post a question as a comment to this post.  Others can then respond to your question or ask their own.

If you are on the blog and your friend is having trouble, it may be because I don't have their email address.  Ask them to email me and then I will "invite"

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Sign Posts

If your email address doesn't make it obvious who you are, then you must sign your posts.  Failure to do so will mean:
1) you can't get credit for your work
2) I will delete the comments because I don't knwo if you are a class member or a spammer.

Thanks for a great first day!

First Night's Homework

In addition to getting your independent reading book and materials, you need to:

-Register as a follower of the blog, by clicking on the "follow" button.  I'm not sure, but you may need a gmail account to do this.  If you have any trouble, please email me or post your concerns as a comment to this post.  Once everyone has registered as a follower, I will close the blog so that only members of this class can see it.  This will protect your privacy.  Only those of you who have been invited to read the blog (we did this when you typed in your email address) will be able to access it.  If for some reason, you did not receive an invitation to view the blog, please send me an email so that I can invite you.

-If you have a home computer that you use for school work, I suggest that you bookmark the blog for easy access.

-Respond to the "Book Every American Should Read" post.  This will give us a resource to refer back to when looking for books to read.

-Read through the blog and choose two posts that interest you, then write a THOUGHTFUL comment in response to each post.  ("That's interesting." is NOT a thoughtful comment.)  You may not say the same thing that someone else has already said in your comment, so the sooner you do your homework, the easier it will be.  Please use your google account when posting, so that I know who to credit with the comment (when you post, it will ask how you'd like to identify yourself.)  If you previously posted this summer, and you identified yourself, then you only need to post one comment.  We will be using this work in our next class meeting, so the more thought you put into it now, the easier it will be then.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Book that Every American Should Read

Please post the title of the book that you think every educated American should read in their lifetime.  The book should be appropriate for high school aged readers (yes, Dr. Seuss is a classic, but no, Cat in a Hat doesn't work for this.)  The book should be something that you would NOT have already read if you attended Harbor High (as tempting as it is, you can't say 1984 or To Kill A Mockingbird, because you're teachers have already made you read those books.)  I encourage you to share why we should read it, but you don't have to.

You may choose your independent reading book for the next six weeks from this list or from the list of books  recommended by the college board.  Please hav eyour book by next class :)