Q4 Endgame

With Easter just behind us, we have a bit of solid time in front before our Spring semester is concluded. Many of us are looking forward to summer, and thanks to those students who posted excellent pics and ideas for my brother and me to use this summer in Taiwan!

Now, we've been into this Quarter for a bit, but from this list of readings, students need to submit five homework assignments within three days of the due date. If you are later than three days, pass on the late penalty and just do the next one! I'd strongly prefer not to accept them late and for us to keep moving at a good pace. I've said if you get an abysmally low score, I can offer you an additional homework assignment by arrangement to raise your average. But most of you don't need the help.

Q4 Collection 6: Contemporary Literature: 1939-Present     

HW43 Game p. 980: 2,3,8,9                                                              

HW46 Rules of the Game p. 1025: 5,8,9,11                  

HW45 Daughter of Invention p. 1005: 2,4,5,8                                           

HW54 Poems E. Bishop p. 1144: Fish: 7,8; Art: 2,3      

HW56 Poems A. Sexton p. 1155: Bells: 6,7; Young: 3,5

HW55 Poems S. Plath p. 1150: Mirror: 1,4; Mushrooms: 1,4            

HW50 The Way to Rainy Mountain p. 1100: 10,11,12,13

HW51 Straw into Gold p. 1126: 5,7,8                                            

HW59 Man Listening to Disk p. 1196: 1,3,4,5                                          

HW58 Medusa p. 1191: 1,2,4,6                              

HW57 Visions and Interpretations p. 1187: 3,4,5

HW52 Night Journey p. 1133: 1,2,3,4

The final exam is not "cumulative," or based on these stories. The Q4 final is a self-contained test with its own readings and questions based on those readings. 

Besides the literature assignments and tests, there will be Informative Speaking & Writing, Narrative Speaking & Writing, and an author Prezi - see list of topics below.

Writing 1 - Informative - Final draft by 4/20.

Writing 2 - Narrative - 1st draft by 5/1, final draft for 5/6.

Speaking 1 - Informative - also related to the other post - here you talk about the article & share pic

Speaking 2 - Narrative speaking - give a speech related to the topic you wrote about in writing 2

Prezi  - individual presentation - student speaks for 5 mins./20+ slides on favorite author from this year. Include author bio, writing sample & style comments, and inspiring clues to genius. PowerPoint is accepted; bonus given for Prezi; slides must include works cited area. Prezis start 5/15.

Q4 blog reflection:  (due by Thursday, 5/21)
A) write about something interesting you learned this year during a club or class activity or while volunteering or working at a job 

B) advice to other students - if you are a senior tell students how to choose & apply for college and have a smooth senior year; non-seniors advise underclassmen on how to be better student or language learners
C) write something about your home country or culture that others from outside your country don't know, or write about plans for the future, such as college or summer.

Q4 classroom notebook - due by Friday 5/15.

Later, we may watch a movie in class & after school, such as The Crucible. We also have The Great Debaters as another movie possibility, but after school. The Great Gatsby has also been mentioned.

List of Author Prezis - Students will be individually scheduled, with Honors students going first:
Arielle     Tennessee Williams            Claire       Sandra Cisneros
Michelle   Sylvia Plath                         Yumi      F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sharah      Ray Bradbury                      Joanna    Virginia Woolf
Karen       E.E. Cummings                   Alvyn      Douglas Adams
Coleen     John Steinbeck                     Allen      Robert Frost

Paul        Elizabeth Bishop                   Ken         Nathaniel Hawthorne
Kevin      Edgar Allan Poe                   Kate        Washington Irving
Josh        Ernest Hemingway               Jill           Langston Hughes
Calvin     Maxine Hong Kingston       Molly        George Orwell
George    William Carlos Williams    Gordon      Leo Tolstoy
Oscar       Li Bo 李白                          Book        George Bernard Shaw

Here are some of the Presentations we have seen:
Jill  Langston Hughes
Karen  E.E. Cummings
Coleen John Steinbeck
Yumi F.Scott Fitzgerald
Claire Sandra Cisneros
Arielle Tennessee Williams
Michelle Sylvia Plath
Sharah Ray Bradbury
Joanna Virginia Woolf
Book George Bernard Shaw
Oscar Li Bai
Allen  Robert Frost

I will update this area with more details as they become needed. Enjoy your rest, you have earned it.

Extra Credit: Ars Poetica – Claribel Alegria – p. 1172: 1,2,3,4,5 (Nicaraguan writer)

HW49 The Girl Who Wouldn’t Talk – M. Kingston – p. 1090: 4-8

HW53 The Beautiful Changes – R. Wilbur – p. 1137: 5-8

HW60 The Crucible Act One– A. Miller – p. 1235: 4,7,8,10

HW61The Crucible Act Two – A. Miller – p. 1248: 7-11

HW62The Crucible Act Three – A. Miller – p. 1263: 3,4,6,7

HW63The Crucible Act Four – A. Miller – p. 1274: 5, 9-11

Arthur Miller has been described as the "Shakespeare" among American dramatists, and is best known for Death of a Salesman. The Crucible is set in the Salem witch trials in early America, and takes on the feeling of a psychological courtroom drama, as the beautiful young "witch" wraps everyone around her little finger, so to speak. 

And as long as you got time left to enjoy a bit of break, keep smiling and get rest before school starts!