Freshmen Final Exam Review Part 2 - A Raisin in the Sun

Final Exam Review Project - Period Schedule

Please follow the following schedule
when completing each final exam review activity.

Tuesday, 5/31 - Period 3 - A Raisin in the Sun
Tuesday, 5/31 - Period 6 - Of Mice and Men

Thursday, 6/2 - Period 3 - Of Mice and Men
Thursday, 6/2 - Period 6 - A Raisin in the Sun

In the comments section, record an entry the contains the following components:

1. one significant quotation from A Raisin in the Sun
2. the speaker of the quotation
3. to whom the quotation is being spoken
4. a brief context of what is happening in the scene
5. the page number
6. your name (to receive credit)

There are a few stipulations. First, no repeats. Second, first come, first served. Third, the more significant and important your quotation, the more helpful this study guide will become.

Freshmen Final Exam Review Part 1 - Of Mice and Men

Final Exam Review Project - Period Schedule

Please follow the following schedule
when completing each final exam review activity.

Tuesday, 5/31 - Period 3 - A Raisin in the Sun
Tuesday, 5/31 - Period 6 - Of Mice and Men

Thursday, 6/2 - Period 3 - Of Mice and Men
Thursday, 6/2 - Period 6 - A Raisin in the Sun

In the comments section, record an entry the contains the following components:

1. one significant quotation from Of Mice and Men
2. the speaker of the quotation
3. to whom the quotation is being spoken
4. a brief context of what is happening in the scene
5. the page number
6. your name (to receive credit)

There are a few stipulations. First, no repeats. Second, first come, first served. Third, the more significant and important your quotation, the more helpful this study guide will become.

Independent Book Report - 2nd half

This post is for JUNIORS only.

Once you have read the second half of your book, answer the following four questions in four thoughful, thorough paragraphs. Each paragraph should be a minimum of 150 words. Use at least three cited quotations throughout the report. (Introductions and conclusions are not necessary. The report should take the form of a four paragraph essay.)

1. Summarize in detail the events of the second half of the book.
2. Describe how each of the major characters has changed/grown throughout the course of the book. For each, explain whether or not achieved their goal - is each character satisfied at the end with regards to what motivated him or her?
3. Relate a significant incident from the scond half of the book that truly interested you or impressed you, and explain why you liked it.
4. Evaluate the book, indicating in specific terms what you liked and/or disliked about it.  Do not use words like “good” or “bad” – which are vague and useless.  Give concrete reasons for your evaluation.

Extra Credit Book Report Format

This post is for JUNIORS only.

Once you have finished your required two-part book reports, you may read a second (or third) book for extra credit. When you finish that book, you may write an extra credit book report and receive extra credit. The amount of credit will depend on (1) the length and dificulty of the book and (2) the length and quality of the book report. Include a minimum of three correctly cited quotations throughout the report. Use the following format:

1. Provide the following information: your name, the book title (underlined) the author, and the total number of pages
2. Provide a detailed summary of the events of the book. Include characters, settings, and plot details. (Remember, the point of this paragraph is to prove you read the book, so the more the better.)
3. Provide a thoughtful review of the book. Would you recommend the book to a friend? Why or why not? (The point of this paragraph is to prove you thought about the book, so the more thoughtful the better.)

Please note that you must get the book cleared with the teacher prior to reading it in order to receive credit. Also, YOU MUST HAVE A COPY OF THE BOOK ON HAND WHEN YOU TURN IN YOUR EXTRA CREDIT BOOK REPORT. If you do not have a copy of it on hand at that time, you may not receive credit. The due date for all extra credit book report is June 1.

Robinson Case Closing Arguments

Closing Arguments

 

Before we begin, here are your groups. Sit together in the lab and plan out your division of labor before you begin.

PERIOD 3 GROUPS

Group 1 - DEFENSE

Bendewald, Jaime

Berns, Michael

Blair, Erica

Carlson, Kajsa

Group 2 - DEFENSE

Carroll, Molly

Casey, Sean

Dubofsky, Zachary (Zach)

Ekonomiuk, Natalie

Group 3 - DEFENSE

Erber, Kekoa

Garden, Shannon

George, Lindsey

Gingrich, William

Group 4 - PROSECUTION

Ha, Jae Sung

Hagan, Quinn

Hennigan, Neil

Ho, Jeong Soo (Kevin)

Group 5 - PROSECUTION

Hoogland, Samuel

Karatasios, Yianni

Karnig, Erin

Kelly, Devin

Group 6 - PROSECUTION

Kim, Alex

McPhilliamy, Griffin

Sideris, Zoey

Watkins, Aaron

PERIOD 7 GROUPS

Group 1 - DEFENSE
Abrahamson, Theresa (Zoe)

Abrams, Quinn

Avila-Luevanos, Jose De Jesus

Balabanos, Peter

Group 2 - DEFENSE
Brkovic, Konstantin

Ciobotaru, Delia

Clatch, David

Dahiya, Riley

Group 3 - DEFENSE
Flores, Iridiana

Fogarty, Eleanor

Goldenberg, Jacob

Hamilton, Cole

Group 4 - PROSECUTION
Hawkes, Susan

Heneghan, Seamus

Jaszewski, Alexandra

Just, Joshua

Group 5 - PROSECUTION
Kim, Yeo Min (Jessica)

Krug, Madison

Philip, Steve

Phillips, Tyler

Group 6 - PROSECUTION
Romero, Andres

Thompson, David

Wytrzymalski, Natalie

Directions: 
You and a small group are a team of lawyers on the Tom Robinson case.  You are either on Atticus’ team (the defense) or on Mr. Gilmer’s team (the prosecution).  You and your fellow lawyers will compose closing arguments to the Tom Robinson case.  The purpose of the closing argument is to convince the jury to either convict (find guilty) or acquit (find innocent) Tom Robinson. Each closing argument should have five sections:

Part One, the opening: (short)

Begin by thanking the jury for its participation in the legal process, and stress how much you appreciate its patience and complete attention throughout the trial. Then begin with an attention-getting hook that incorporates the major issue or theme of the case.  Remind the jury of the prosecution's burden of proving quilt beyond a reasonable doubt and the defendant's legal right to the presumption of innocence.

Part Two, summary of the case: (short)

Summarize the entire case briefly in your closing arguments. Organize your summary of the case as if you were telling a story, pointing out each of the key people and relevant events as if they were characters in a novel's plot. This should be easy, since it is a novel. This approach may help the jury to envision and accept your argument as the truth.

Part Three, Laying Out Your Best Evidence: (longer)

Choose strong examples of specific evidence to refer to during your closing arguments. Most jurors will remember evidence that they can see or hear, so prepare to use it during your presentation to highlight the key statements of the witnesses to the case.

Part Four, Countering the Opponent: (longer)

Refer to arguments you think your opponent is likely to make in her closing arguments. Present a line of reasoning that challenges each of the main points you anticipate your opponent will try to make. Being prepared to address these arguments may help you undercut the effectiveness of your opponent's closing arguments. Exploit what you feel are weaknesses in your opponent’s case. Attack the credibility of the other side's witnesses. Underscore the absence of evidence if you are the defense attorney.  Emphasize the strength of the evidence if you are the prosecution. Challenge the other side's weakest claims.

Part Five, the Final Appeal: (short)

Conclude your message with strength, restating your theme and asking for a verdict of acquittal or conviction.

Elements of an effective argument:

Is your closing statement written to appeal to the core values and entrenched views of jurors in your case?  In Maycomb, this is a big, big deal.  Look at who is on the jury, and what their beliefs and prejudices are.  Think about their attitudes about race, social class, gender and education before you compose a speech to them.

Does your speech have a clear beginning, middle, and conclusion? Does the body of your argument build to a climax at the end?  Do you build to a major point? An emotional appeal?

Criteria:

This project is worth 50 points.  One polished draft should be submitted on behalf of the whole team; however, each section should include the name of lead student who spearheaded the section. (Divide the labor, and explain just how you did so.) The closing argument, in it's entirey, is due Friday, May 27.

Independent Book Report - 1st Half

This post is for JUNIORS only.

Once you have read the first half of your book, complete the following book report.

In the upper right hand corner, enter the following information:

1. student name
2. book title (underlined)
3. author
4. total number of pages
5. the pages numbers that the first book report will be covering

Here's an example of the header:

          John Perkins
          Carter Beats the Devil
          Glen David Gold
          339 total pages
          pages 1-172

Then answer the following four questions in four thoughful, thorough paragraphs. Each paragraph should be a minimum of 150 words. Use at least three cited quotations throughout the report. (Introductions and conclusions are not necessary. The report should take the form of a four paragraph essay.)

1. Give an overview of the book so far: list the major characters, describe the setting (time and place), and describe the central conflict.
2. Describe each major character and explain what motivates them.  Ask yourself what these characters are like as people.  Also, ask yourself that causes them to behave as they do.
3. Relate a significant incident from the first half of the book that truly interested you or impressed you, and explain why you liked it.
4. Predict what will likely happen in the rest of the novel. Are you looking forward to finishing it? Why or why not?

If you have any questions, please ask your instructor.

Southern Gothic

This post if for freshmen only.

Southern Gothic

Literary Tradition

Gothic literature is fiction in which strange, gloomy settings and mysterious, violent, often supernatural events create suspense and terror. Southern gothic literature uses gothic motifs to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South.

Following are a few characteristics of gothic and southern gothic literature:

1. The gothic novel tries to evoke chilling terror and gloom by exploiting mystery and horror. Gothic is about haunting and possession.  We are supposed to feel a chill at some point in the story, and this emotional response is in part the point of the gothic experience. Paradoxically, this fear is a source of pleasure.  "Tis so appalling--it exhilarates," Emily Dickinson says in a poem.
2. In a Gothic work, there is usually confusion about good and evil. What does ‘good’ actually mean? What about ‘evil’? And how can we tell the difference?
3. Gothic reveals a fear of institutions, such as religion, education, or marriage.
4. Gothic shows the dark and hidden side of things. It rips open the lies and shows a world of cruelty, lust, perversion, and crime hidden beneath society’s rules and customs.
5. Gothic tears through censorship and explodes hypocrisies. It exposes the world as a corrupt, reeking place.
6. Gothic is a reaction to the conventional, common sense, and enlightened world. If society is supposed to be orderly and sensible, gothic shows how it really isn’t.
7. Southern gothic tips stereotypes on their side and kicks them in the gut. Sweet Southern belles are crafty and greedy, chivalrous gentlemen are sneaky and perverse, and righteous preachers are manipulative and evil.

Your task: We've tackled four short stories that can be considered southern gothic - "The Lottery," "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge," "Good Country People" and "A Rose for Emily." We also viewed Night of the Hunter - again, classic Southern Gothic. Select one of the stories, and in a paragraph explain how one aspect of the story/film meets one of the criteria listed above.  Be sure that your response is thoughtful and thorough and includes a cited quotation. Keep in mind all of the elements of a good paragraph: topic sentence, set-up, cited quotation, explanation (claim - evidence - warrant).

Mockingbird Reading Schedule

This entry is for FRESHMEN.

Attention freshmen - here it is. The Mockingbird reading/quiz schedule.  Learn it. Live it. Love it. Please note: if you are absent, you are responsible for keeping up with your reading. To help you keep from getting too far behind in your reading due to missing school days, you are expected to take quizzes on the assigned days regardless if you have missed the previous day. Therefore - always bring your book home!

5/9  Chap 1, 2
5/10  Chap 3, 4   Quiz 1-4
5/11  Chap 5, 6
5/12  Chap 7, 8   Quiz 5-8
5/13  Chap 9, 10

5/16  Chap 11   Quiz 9-11
5/17  Chap 12, 13
5/18  Chap 14, 15   Quiz 12-15
5/19  Chap 16, 17
5/20  Chap 18, 19   Quiz 16-19

5/23  Chap 20-22
5/24  Chap 23, 24   Quiz 20-24
5/25  Chap 25-27
5/26  Chap 28, 29
5/27  Chap 30, 31   Quiz 25-31

A Story to Tell

This post of for JUNIORS only.

For this unit, instead of a typical 5 paragraph analytical essay, you'll be writing a short narrative. Here are the criteria:

• the story must concern you or a member of your family
• the story must be 500 words minimum (no maximum)
• the story must be written in 3rd person
• the story must be interesting
• the story must follow all rules of grammar and mechanics (refer to your notes on writing dialogue)
• the story must include dialogue, action, and description
• the story must be appropriate for class

Here's a hint: the big stories don't always make the best stories. Think about the small moments, the quiet moments. And don't be afraid to exaggerate and craft a story that is not all together true.

As always, ask for help or guidance when you get stuck or have questions.

How to Write Dialogue

Dialogue is when two or more people talk to one another.

Here are some notes that will help you with writing dialogue. You should have received a copy in class.

Dialogue Notes

This key can be used in conjunction with the dialogue handout you received in class. (See above.)

1. surround dialogue with quotation marks
2. dialogue - comma - quotation mark - tag
3. always a period at the end of the sentence
4. indent a new paragraph every time a different character speaks
5. place the tag as early as possible in the paragraph
6. question marks at the end of questions
7. use a comma after the tag when the tag is placed in the middle of a sentence
8. when the tag is placed in the middle of a sentence, use a lower case letter to continue
9. include action in the story
10. sometimes include action in the tag
11. use an elipses (three periods) when a character trails off or is cut off
12. after a pattern is established (three or four back-and-forths), you may omit tag
13. description can be included in tags
14. only omit tags when the pattern is obvious
15. rule: each paragraph can only be about one person; if character A speaks in a paragraph, character B cannot have action in that paragraph - only character A
16. swtich up dialogue regularly - include descrpiton and action throughout

Cinematic Continium - Realism to Formalism

Follow Up: Film Style

In our session I briefly covered the idea of a cinematic 'stylistic continuum', with one end indicating that films can be very realistic, and the other end suggesting that films can become an excercise in aesthetic style (formalism). Classicism exists somewhere in the middle - films that use the basic conventions of filmmaking to tell a story. Since you might not have been familiar with the examples I gave in class, here are a few trailers to give you a better idea of what I was talking about:

Realism

If it wasn't for the aliens, you might almost think District 9 is a South Aftrican documentary. Meanwhile, The Hurt Locker has gained fame as a hyper-realistic view of war in Iraq. For both these films, the lighting seems to come from natural and in-frame sources, the camera movement is generally hand-held, and neither the costumes nor acting draw attention to themselves. Both stories look like they could happen in real life.

Classicism

Don't make the mistake of thinking that 'classicism' means 'classic movies' - even though most movie 'classics' do fit under this style. All it means is that the filmmakers use the classic or traditional methods of filmmaking: sweeping crane shots, dramatic lighting, familiar pacing, background music. Most movies are examples of this style. The Star Wars and Star Trek series, anything with John Wayne, James Bond movies, etc.

Formalism

This style draws attention to itself. The film is, in part, about the style. The style itself tells the story. The purpose of formalism is not to mimic real life, but rather to re-create it.

Avant-Garde

On the far end of formalism we have 'avant-garde' - A.K.A. art-house crazy-town.




Final Note: Don't make the mistake of thinking that one style of cinema is inherently better than the others. The Hurt Locker and District 9 (realism), The Blind Side and Avatar (classicism), and Inglorious Basterds and A Serious Man (formalism) were all nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture last year.

The Weight of Darkness in Night of the Hunter

This entry if for freshmen only.

Here's an idea I'd like you to play with. It has to do with the balance of light and dark - about the balance of positive and negative shapes (positive being the dark spaces, the spaces where somethig IS; negative being the light spaces, the spaces where something ISN'T). There's something about them in this movie.

In this shot, the dark is the positive space - a bird, a cage, a window pane.  The light is the negative space - nothing. Okay. Negative and positive space. That's idea number one.

Idea number two: balance.  Balance is when the right side is given roughly the same 'wieght' as the left side, or the top and bottom. There are two kinds of aesthetic balance. First, there's symmetrical. That's when one side looks like the other - they are, to a large degree - mirror images of one another. Like this...

 

Then there's asymmetrical balance. This is when two sides are balanced, but by different sized shapes. Like this...

Idea three: contrast - the difference between the dark and the light. The lower the contrast, the more shades of gray there is. Like this shot from The Abominable Snowman...

The higher the contrast, the fewer shades of gray there are, and the more of sharp diference there is between the light and the dark. Like this shot from Bride of Frankenstein...

So there you have it. Three ideas:

1. negative and positive space
2. balance
3. contrast

So here's what I would like you to do. Just look at the following images. Take your time.

Now look at the following pairs of images. Most come one right after the other in the film. Again, take your time.

  

Now go back and look at them again, this time considering negative and positive space, balance, and contrast.

 

Finally, here's the question you need to answer. How do the filmmakers use negative and positive space, balance, and contrast to create meaning? In other words, what ideas are communicated in these frames using negative and positive space, balance, and contrast? Pick one example and explain. Post your response in the comments secion below. The rules of grammar, mechanics, and spelling apply. Be thoughtful and thorough in your response.

And good luck.

As always, feel free to go above and beyond by responding to your peers' comments. (Extra credit is available for thoughtful and insightful extra comments in which you discuss your peers' comments. Please post all of your additional comments under separate posts.)