5.03.2010

Close annotation for Day 2.

Choose one of the following passages on which to conduct a close reading/annotation:
  • Nick's house: "I lived at West Egg . . . all for eighty dollars a month" (5).
  • Tom & Daisy Buchanan's house: "And so it happened" . . . "with his legs apart on the front porch" (6) and "We walked through a high hallway" . . . "as wind does on the sea" (7-8).
  • valley of ashes and the Wilson's garage: "About half way between West Egg and New York" . . . "I first met Tom Buchanan's mistress" (23-24).
See you "close annotations" handout for a refresher on the steps you must execute. The steps are also listed here: "A refresher on annotations."

Find your passage from the online text of the novel here. Copy and paste it into a Word document. Change the page format to "landscape" (horizontal justification). Fit the passage to no more than one page and be sure that you have enough space in between each line to adequately mark up the passage.

Once you've done your close annotation, address the following questions:
  • In what ways does the setting (place, specifically) of your passage reflect the character(s) who occupy it?
  • Is it significant that the place is described by Nick and not someone else? Yes. Why? (Consider that narrative point of view is, essentially, a filter through which the reader understands the events of the novel. Consider, too, the way in which Nick is characterized.)

5.02.2010

Q4, week 5 skedj.

Monday
In Class: More on characterization.
Homework: Close annotation on setting. (See post above.)

Day 2
In Class: Ch. 1 & 2 close annotations.
Homework: Gatsby ch. 3, pp. 39-59 (21).

Day 3
In Class: Gatsby's party.
Homework: Gatsby ch. 4, pp. 61-80 (20).

Friday
In Class: Back story revealed.
Homework:
  • Write a solid paragraph synthesizing the following lines from chapter four:
    • “‘I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life’” (66).
    • “‘Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge’ . . . Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder” (69).
    • “Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor” (78).
  • Gatsby ch. 5, pp. 81-96 (16).

4.29.2010

Gatsby Historical Context.



This one's decent, too, but won't allow me to embed: The Roaring 20s

4.25.2010

Q4, week 4 skedj.

Note: Their Eyes Were Watching God essay due before class this Wednesday via Turn It In.

Monday.

In Class: Block 5: English Dept. candidate lesson. Block 6: Comma splices.
Homework: Their Eyes essay.

Day 2.
In Class: Their Eyes wrap up.
Homework: Their Eyes essay polishing. Proof for:
  • agreement of thesis, supporting evidence, and title
  • organization of ideas at both sentence and paragraph levels
  • wordiness, redundancies, wordiness, word and sentence variety
  • quotations integration and citation
  • spelling, grammar, and mechanics
  • MLA formatting
Day 3.
In Class: Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Great Gatsby, blues, and jazz
Homework: Gatsby ch. 1.

Friday.
In Class: Close passage analysis.
Homework: Ch. 2.

4.22.2010

Summer Opp.

ThreeSixty Journalism brings new voices into journalism through intense instruction of civic literacy, writing skills and college-readiness of Minnesota teens. Read more about their summer camp opportunities here. Application deadline is May 3.

4.20.2010

Reading Tim 'O Brien in Hanoi.

In the Times recently:

Reading Tim O’Brien in Hanoi
Published: April 4, 2010
The Vietnamese seem largely uninterested in foreign accounts of what they call the “American War.”

4.18.2010

Q4, week 3 skedj.

Note: Course evals are the first 20 minutes of class this week Wednesday. Report to the computer lab before coming to class.

Monday.

In Class: Vergible Woods, part two; essay introduction.
Homework: Ch. 16-18, pp. 138-167 (30).

Day 2.
In Class: Mrs. Turner, Motor Boat, et al.
Homework: Ch. 19 & 20, pp. 168-193 (26). Also, generate a final discussion question for student-led discussion. Question must be cumulative in nature and must address the resolution of a particular aspect of the novel, for example, with respect to character, theme, symbol, extended metaphor, etc.

Day 3.
In Class: Open topic graded discussion.
Homework: Afterword, pp. 195-205 (11) and essay thesis and supporting evidence.

Friday.
In Class: Writing day.
Homework: Their Eyes Were Watching God essay. Due next Wednesday via Turn It In.