Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Easy A

I don't remember which of you recommended this, but thank you!  It's a great match to our books for this year.  All it's missing is a reference to Gatsby :)  I know you're probably all cool enough to have seen it already, but if not, it's out on video now. 

The LAST independent reading assignment

What are we reading?
For your final independent reading assignment, read a book by an award winning author.  The book you read doesn't have to be the one that won the award.

How do I find a book?
Try one of these links:
Powell's City of books award list
wikipedia's list of winners (yes, I know I'm not supposed to use wikipedia, but it has EVERYTHING!)
info about different awards
amazon's award winner list
Harbor High Library list of award winners
You can also ask Ms. Smith. And if there's a book you really want to read, do some research to find out if the author has won an award.  Being an Oprah Book club book or a New York Times best seller is NOT the same as winning a literary award.

How long does it need to be?
You must read 250 pages or a complete book, which ever is MORE.  So you can read plays or poems, but you'll need to read several and they should all be by the same award winning author.  You can read a 600 page book, but you will need to finish it.

When do I need it?
Get it as soon as you can... why not?  Let's say Monday by the latest.

What are we doing with it?
Writing poetry.  No, I'm not kidding.  After Woman Warrior, we'll be studying poetry and it'll fit in with that unit.  More about that later.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

AP CONTRACTS DUE 4/15!

Don't forget to turn in your AP English Contracts before you go on spring break!  You don't need my signature, just your and your parents.

In general, anyone with an A or B in this class is is completely capable of taking AP English, but if you're concerned or worried, come see me and we can talk about it.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Hove Blog Posts Emailed to You

I'm trying something new... I think if you use the feature on the right, you can have new posts emailed to you, that way if you don't regularly check the blog, the info will come to you :)

I can't figure out how to unsubscribe though... any ideas?

How to use google docs and google presentation

Gatsby Paper Thoughts

There are lots of ways to generate ideas, such as discussing the book with friends, meandering through the posts on this blog, rereading favorite passages, etc.
You can continue to work on your papers during STAR testing... you can comment on them via google docs, or simply help each other during break. My room is open if you need a place to meet with a friend to discuss your paper.

Literary Magazine- Call for Submissions

Ms. Rummens sent this out, and so I'm sharing it with you.  Please consider submitting.

Harbor High School Literary Magazine

The Publications Class has a very, very short period of time in which to design, produce and print a Literary Magazine that will be published in color by the end of the school year.

We are seeking student work including poems, photographs, art work, digital media,
short stories and other pieces to be considered for this publication.

All files must be submitted in digital format. Acceptable files are jpg, gif, tiff, and pdf. Digital files should be high resolution, 150-300 dpi, cmyk

Written work can be submitted in Word, InDesign, or Google Docs.

Pieces must be submitted by: Friday, May 1 (but the sooner, the better).

Space is limited.

Submit digitally as an attachment to: missrummens@gmail.com

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Joy Luck Club Resouces

Thank you to Rylee for putting this together. (So far she's the only one to take me up on the extra credit offer which will expire in a week, when we finish our books)

1) The Joy Luck Club Summary and Study Guide: This website will give you a brief summary about what Joy Luck is based around.

2) Knowing more about the Japanese Invasion will give the reader an idea of why women in China created the Joy Luck Club. This historical website will tell you in depth how devastating the attack was on Chinese civilians.

3) Understanding the high context and low context cultures between Chinese and Americans is very essential in this book. This website explains the distinction between the two clashing cultures and helps the reader comprehend why the daughters have a hard time with their mother’s cultural values.

4) Having an idea of what the authors’ point of view of the book is extremely crucial. This websites goes in depth about Amy Tan's life.

5) Here are some quotes that emphasize the topic of language and communication throughout Joy Luck. These will help you understand the main theme of the book.


6) A clip from an important part in the book: Waverly Jongs’) mother goes around bragging about her daughters’ gift of playing chess. This displays one of the many points Tan makes about mother daughter relationships- frustration. This makes me want to watch the whole movie!

7) Here is another clip by 4 girls and their mothers imitating the Joy Luck Club but revised into a reality show where they display the real relationships between mothers and daughters.


8) Reading Anna Blights paper could help you extend your thinking about the book. Is there more than one theme? A mother and daughter relationship; or cultural values?

Monday, April 4, 2011

Shcolarships and Contests

Penguin Publishing Group has an annual essay contest... read a book, write an essay, win some cash!
Yes! offers a chance for you to read an article, write a response, and possibly get published!  If you want to enter this one, you need me to read over what you've done, so let me know.
Thank Ms. Kipps for telling us about these :)

Friday, April 1, 2011

Concordance

A concordance is a source that lists all the references to a specific word within a text.. and thanks to the internet, we now have hyper concordances.  So, if you're reading along and you get the feeling that something might be important, and wonder when else it's referenced in the book, but don't want to reread the book, you use a concordance.

To use the one linked here, go to Authors and scroll down until you get to American Authors, then select Fitzgerald, Scott (you might want to notice all the other authors listed here-- super useful for future studies or for those of you who might want to compare an aspect of Gatsby to an aspect of another text).  Select the title.  Type in the word under "query"...enter.

Did you know he used the word "phone" 6 times? "red" six?  "money" six?  This is a great tool for looking for patterns.