Bonus Point Opportunity

If you are concerned about your grade or simply want something different to do, here goes:

Watch a film with Academy Award nominations.  If the film is rated "R," you must have parental approval sent to me.  In any case, you need to approve the film through me. 

As you watch the film, keep a journal in which you reflect on the use of symbolism, lighting, and specific means of developing characters.  You may include reactions to specific scenes. 

After viewing the film, consider the ideas explored.  Use the Kentucky Virtual Library to locate two academic articles related to your film. For example, the film A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly explores John Nash's battle with schizophrenia as he developed mathematical formulas, some of which became part of our economic theory. You would look up articles concerning the varied symptoms of Nash's illness, and determine how those were featured in the film.  Basically, you will look up two articles with full-text available, print and read them, then  explain their connection to the film in about 250-300 words each.  You must cite them as well, in MLA format.

Value: 15--20 points

Titanic: poetic analysis

The Convergence of the Twain

Thomas Hardy (1912)

---

 (Lines on the loss of the "Titanic")

          I

     In a solitude of the sea
     Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

          II

     Steel chambers, late the pyres
     Of her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.

          III

     Over the mirrors meant
     To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls -- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

          IV

     Jewels in joy designed
     To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.

          V

     Dim moon-eyed fishes near
     Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?". . .

      

    VI

     Well: while was fashioning
     This creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything

      

    VII

     Prepared a sinister mate
     For her -- so gaily great --
A Shape of Ice, for the time fat and dissociate.

  

        VIII

     And as the smart ship grew
     In stature, grace, and hue
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

  

        IX

     Alien they seemed to be:
     No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history.

   

       X

     Or sign that they were bent
     By paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one August event,

       

   XI

     Till the Spinner of the Years
     Said "Now!" And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.

 

 

 

Titanic

 

Who does not love the Titanic?

If they sold passage tomorrow for that same crossing,

who would not buy?

 

To go down...We all go down, mostly

alone. But with crowds of people, friends, servants,

well fed, with music, with lights!Ah!

 

And the world, shocked, mourns, as it ought to do

and almost never does. There will be the books and movies

to remind our grandchildren who we were

and how we died, and give them a good cry.

 

Not so bad, after all. The cold

water is anesthetic and very quick.

The cries on all sides must be a comfort.

 

We all go: only a few, first class.  

 

Understanding Poetry

"Titanic" by David Slavitt   

a)      What diction in the poem particularly build’s the speaker’s tone?

b)      The poem seems to have a deliberate absence of sound devices and figurative language? How does this help contribute to the speaker’s message?

"Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy   

a)      Look up meanings for these: pyre, salamandrine, third, opulent, cleaving wing, consummation.  

b)      What diction in the poem particularly build’s the speaker’s tone?

c)      What is that tone?

d)      What sound devices are used? Have you detected a pattern in how they are used?  Describe that pattern.  

e)      The poem does not feature onomatopoeia.  Why do you think the poet passed on this particular sound device?

f)       How many times is the idea of vanity mentioned? Fate?  Are those connected?

g)      In the sixth stanza, the poem says, “Well, while was fashioning this creature,” intentionally leaving out the creator of the creature.  Yet, in the next stanza, the “Spinner of the Years” is identified as the creator of the ice berg.  Why is this exception made?

h)      Write a statement of theme for each poem. 

 

 

 

 

Rewriting to solid proficiency and beyond

Revision and Refinement Guide Sheet:

Review your work for the following issues.  Underline and label them on your work.  Create corrections in the margins of your on-demand.  You will return your original draft, rubric, and redraft. Your redraft should be remarkably different from your first draft. Your score will be determined as follows:

 

30 points—Original writing score

(18/30 for Novice, 22/30 for Apprentice, 26/30 Proficient, 30/30 Distinguished)  

20 points—Return of original draft and significant changes from the original draft. Changes are highlighted on

second draft.

Total points: 50

 

Indicators of lapses in awareness of audience/purpose/focus

·                    Informal word choice (ain’t, gonna, sorta)

·                    Lack of identification of audience

·                    Addressing audience as though he or she is a peer, when he or she is not

·                    Forgetting to interact with audience (You may ask, you have no doubt considered, imagine this, when was the last time you considered) 

·                    Background situation does not answer “Who?”, “What?”, “Why?”, or “How?”.

·                    Thesis and supports are not clear

 

Indicators of lapses in Idea Development: 

·                    The connection between the support and SMARTIES is not clear

·                    There are not at least two SMARTIES per support

·                    There are not two opposing viewpoints and counterclaims (one can be more developed than the other)

·                    There is an opposing view with no counterclaim  

·                    The prompt has been mis-read or information is incorrectly used

·                    Your supporting ideas are obviously weak and easily argued against

 

Issues with Structure:

·                    Transitions are simple or non-existent

·                    Sentences are simplistic with little variety

·                    No use of colon, semi-colon, ellipses, parentheses or dashes

 

Issues with Language and Conventions

·                    Random capitalization or lack of capitalization at the beginning of new sentences  

·                    Proper nouns are not given capital letters

·                    Little use of commas or periods

·                    Word choice is very simple or informal

 

 

Moving in to Distinguished Territory

·                    Consider where you can elevate your language, multiple times in each paragraph.  In this case, you are looking at an opportunity to use environmental/scientific vocabulary, when appropriate.  Don’t be afraid to use that information.

·                    Parallelism is important—watch out for sentences that have two or more verb phrases, but don’t have the same length or structure. The preview of support should be parallel.

·                   * The semicolon, colon, ellipses, parenthesis and quotation marks are signs of exceptional writing.

·                    * Find places to use two of the following:  antithesis, analogy, quotations, allusions.  These strategies indicate purposeful writing style. 

Bonus Point Opportunity--3rd Nine Weeks

You have three options: 

1) The film Selma features some 29 actual civil rights figures.  Watch the film.  Choose four characters from the film.  Describe, in detail, their roles in the film, then research their actual roles in the civil rights movement.  Post on the blog. 

2) Investigate the history of the Standing Rock protests.  Describe the range of these protests.  Do you think this campaign is a good example of Dr. King's nonviolent direct-action campaign?  Describe how this campaign meets (or doesn't) the criteria of Dr. King's nonviolent direct action campaign.  Focus, as well, on the objective of the campaign which is to create a nonviolent tension. 

3) Watch Mississippi Burning (1988), or Freedom on My Mind (1994) or The Butler (2013).  Identify the key points and characters in the film, as well as what understanding it sheds upon the injustice that sparked the civil rights movement. Compare the film to the actual events that inspired the film. What did you learn from watching the film?  Post on the blog. 

Dr. King Analysis

English II:  Analysis of “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

10 points

In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King uses strong rhetorical appeals, or appeals to logic, emotion, and ethics.

 

1)   One page one, identify five details Dr. King provides that make him seem “credible” or trustworthy.

 

 

2)   On page two, Dr. King describes his four steps to the running a non-violent campaign.

What is the first step?  Paraphrase four details from that step.

 

 

3)   What is the second step?  Paraphrase two details from the text for that step.

 

 

 

4)    What is the third step?  Paraphrase two details from the text for that step.

 

 

5)   What is the fourth step?  Paraphrase two details from the text for that step. 

 

6)   On page three, the author identifies ten experiences that the southern African-American population experienced.  Identify four of them.

 

7)   Think about our use of SMARTIES.  Using the passage we have read, use a chart and identify as many of King’s use of these strategies. 

 

 

Part 2

For your section: 

a)    Just versus unjust laws: Page 3, last paragraph , “You express a great deal of anxiety. . ., ” to the end of page 4.

b)    The white moderate:  page 5 (64) “I must make two honest confessions. . . ,” to “quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.”  

c)     Extremists: page 5, last paragraph “You speak of our activity. . . ,” to page 7 (66), “dire need of creative extremists.” 

1)     Identify examples of the author’s use of persuasive style, check your portion of the text for each of the following, and briefly record an abbreviated example: 

·         Allusion

·         Metaphor

·         Repetition

·         Antithesis (contrast)

 

2)     Consider the author’s use of SMARTIES.  Find two examples, and describe how they are used.

3)     Visit this link: http://writerswrite.co.za/155-words-to-describe-an-authors-tone. Which tone words (3) would match King’s tone in your section of the text? Why? 

4)     How would you describe King’s syntax, or deliberate use of sentence structure?  Does he have complex compound sentences?  Sophisticated use of punctuation?  Describe his overall writing style.

 

 

 

Creative Writing

Last project: children's literature.  

While we have ventured into several different writing areas, we have not ventured into children's lit.  Considering the direction of some of our writing, that is no small surprise.  However, for this last project, I'd like you to research the following, sample the texts, and form some ideas you are willing to try for children's literature.  

* Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss--what inspired them? 

* Judy Blume--what did she write? How has her work been used throughout the years? 

* Peggy Bacon--how does she capture the culture of her era?  How much does her book, The Ghost of Opalina, sell for on Ebay?  

* Research children's books by celebrity authors--Madonna, TV hosts, etc.  What do they write about?  

* If you were to write a children's book, what need would it serve?  What approach would you use to send that message/address the need? 

Manifesto
30 Points As you refine your manifesto for possible publication, consider the following: 

a) Is your objection/objective clear?  If applicable, are the conditions to which you object clear?
b) Are your values clear?  Are there actual examples of behaviors that might reflect those values? 
c) Is there a clear prescription for how one should live or think according to the objective you have chosen?
d) Poetic elements!  How have you made use of the following?
--arrangement
--figurative language
--symbolism
--other poetic devices

This assignment is particularly challenging, since you are creating a document that should read like a poem.  Feel free to re-examine the samples from yesterday's website, and consider Jessica's sample as well. 

Acrostic Writing

https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/types-acrostic

Creative Writing--Manifesto Material

Today you will begin the draft work for your own manifesto.  You will visit the link below, and work your way through steps 1- 6.  For each step, you should have several items, between 5 and 10.  Also, there are two beautiful samples that I want you to consider, as they make this experiment seem like a far less intimidating feat. 

 

 https://quinncreative.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/write-your-own-manifesto/


Besides the two students samples online, I have another sample from one of your fellow writers.

The Value of You

Endure the painful discrimination. Apply the laws of segregation.

Judge them by their genetics. Don't accept diversity.

And you will have burrowed yourself deep in the ground, abandoning your social senses.

The world will sweep by you, and you will be left in the dust.

 

Embrace the ever-present evolution. Support the minorities.

Love the individual differences.  Marry a different race. Befriend

the handicapped. Ignore the comments. Praise oddities. All men are created

equal. And love is what makes us whole.

 

Don't ask for opinions. Just be yourself. Encourage diversity. Be the moral

shoulder to lean on. Say the best kind of person is all that live. Find

beauty in the defected. Call a disability a beauty mark. Join hands and

be the strength for others to stand. Love everyone as if the day is their last.

Negative words are a short-term fix. Positive words are imprinted within us. Think of their

mother and how she feels about the pain and seclusion of her child.

 

Breathe the air and be as it is: free to touch all and reserved for none. Let no

one coerce you with their values. Take advice and do the opposite

of the expected. Blow their minds and souls with unconditioned emotion.

Respect and uniformity are separate. The sun shines on all of us, no matter who we are.