Book Notes for the SRP

This is a link to a PDF of the information that you need in your book notes. I will be looking for well organized, thoughtful notes about your SRP book for each notes check (50% and 100%). As you read, you should be paying attention to these things. Remember that you are not reading this book for pleasure; You are reading this book to Analyze it or Critique it.

I am also linking to a Google Doc which you can save a copy of if you wish to keep your notes in your Google Docs.

Deadlines for Book Notes are:

• 50% due on Monday, November 28th (100 points)
• 100% due on Monday, December 12th (1/4 of your Semester 1 exam grade)

Pleasant reading!
-Mr. Becksfort

Second Quarter Blog Assignment

Welcome, bloggers!

For the remainder of this quarter, you will be blogging regularly. The goal of this assignment is that you will, once a week, go outside of class assignment and read a news article (of your choosing) and write a brief review of it.

Click here for the full assignment.

This is an example of what that might look like.

Also, use of the appropriate unit's vocabulary is nearly always an added bonus (hint, hint).

Please see me if you have any questions.

SRP Book List Assignment

Frankenstein Blog #4: The final blog-down.

Victor never did get a final showdown with his monster. That has always bummed me out a little. What I would like to see on the final blog post for Frankenstein (which I keep typing 'ie' instead of 'ei') is your impression, desire, or whim constructed into a storyline of a rewrite for the last chapter.

Please don't get me wrong; I am not asking you to write a chapter. I am asking you to give me a storyline for a chapter (also called a plot).

I really like dictionary.com :)

Just the high points of how you would have ended the story is all you need. How's that for a fun excercise to prepare for the test Friday?

Good Luck, and Good Writing!

Frankenstein Blog Post #3 Assignment

Hey there, everyone!

The blog post assignment for the third section of the book is, as I discussed in class today, due on Tuesday, November 1, 2011. Here is the assignment description:

Victor Frankenstein did some pretty amazing things using science. However, he didn't seem to have much regard for the potential outcome of his work. Do you think, considering either all of the things that happened to him in the story or just the end, that he received his comeuppance?

From dictionary.com

Or rather, do you think that his pain and suffering was beyond the reasonable consequences you would give him (if you were the author)?

That's it, but heads up: there will be one more blog post after this about Frankenstein.

Frankenstein Blog Post #2

In a similar vein to the last post, this one will look at the second section of the book (chapters 9-17) and you will be finding three connections (just like last time).

Identify three connections between nature and a character in this second section of the text. Use those connections to help identify some philosophical belief the author may have held toward nature and the natural world.

Be sure you make that philosophical connection, as that is the point of discussing these types of detailed interactions in the story.

Blog Assignment 1 for Frankenstein

The first section of the book (the letters through chapter eight) is riddled with connections between the mood and the setting. Find three examples of how Mary Shelley's use of setting affects the mood of a particular portion of the story and describe how the mood is established. Use only what you read up through chapter eight.
Note: this type of view of the literary elements of the story could closely be associated with a Literary Critique of the novel, and will be a skill that is beneficial when we begin working on the SRP.

Lit. Crit. Day Two

AFTER reading the other blogs of people who shared your criticism type, you should comment on their blog with some insight about their definition (keep all comments constructive).

THEN:
In the interests of getting things together, we will need to share what we now know of our individual types of literary criticism with each other. Your assignment for this is Right Here.
Please work on this collectively with the people who also have the same topic as you. I have made you each an editor of a file in your Google Docs as a starting point. Check your Google Docs for a file named the same as the type of criticism you were assigned.

What is Literary Criticism?

For today's lesson, we will be learning a little about Literary Criticism. Instead of me doing all the work, you will be doing some if it yourself...

Look into the writing... really look!

Click Here for the in-class activity for today. We will discuss this in class prior to working on it. Please pay attention to who is assigned the same criticism as you, as they will become important to you.

Good Luck, and have fun!

Blog Post Assignment #2

For those of you who prefer to be able to refer to your assignment, I am putting it here:

Click here for the assignment

It is a retelling of the tale of Beowulf using our vocab words.

Speaking of Word Origins...

Really, how well timed is this? We just finished our first vocabulary unit which dealt with word origins as part of the learning and assessment. Then, this morning, as I was driving into work, NPR had this great song on about how some famous people's names became nouns...




Check out the full story for more, but I love the video.

Setting up your Blog, 2011-2012 Edition

The documents which I have linked to here are what you need in order to set up your blog for the school year 2011-12. With Blogger, you will use your school Google account to set up your class blog. If you wish to set up a blog for non-school purposes, please use a separate account.

• Blog Instructions

Once your blog is set up, please email Mr. Becksfort with the address for your blog and then proceed to answer the question on the following document:

• First Blog Assignment

Thanks for completing your blog setup and your initial blog post.
Keep writing!

Aldous Huxley Interview

Here is the Mike Wallace Interview of Aldous Huxley. We watched this in class on Wednesday, 9/22.

Disclose.tv - Mike Wallace Interviews Aldous Huxley Video

Also, Here is the comic that we viewed in class which demonstrates the comparison between 1984 and Brave New World.

Be familiar with both.

The Timeline of British Literature

Timeline of British Literature on Prezi

Summer Reading Survey

John Keats Presentation

This presentation contains most of the information that we need... Please pay attention!

John Keats

View more presentations from salongo

The test is coming soon! Check out more slideshows from that site and get some good review!

This is the new English4 blog.

This blog will serve as a major point of interest for English4 for my classes in 2011-12.
I hope you enjoy!