Monday, December 7, 2020

Blog #4: Happiness and the American Dream

Due: Wednesday, December 16

Minimum Words: 550
Minimum Quotations or Paraphrases from works we've read in class: 2
Minimum Links or direct references to outside sources: 2

Your evidence from texts needs to be cited properly. Please refer to Purdue's Online Writing Lab for the way to do this correctly.




We all want to be happy, right? But, what happens once we get there?

Happiness is a huge topic. It's the subject of movies, books, music, and countless conversations. You think about it when you pick your friends, your hobbies, and how you relate to others.

Writing this blog prompt is difficult for me, because my friends came up with over 100 important questions about happiness,  and as we explored the ideas related to happiness, we came up with countless more questions and observations. 

So, here's what I'd like for you to do this week. Consider what we've done in class; the stories we've read, the conversations you've had, and the activities we've done. After that, come to a conclusion about the pursuit of happiness and share it here. Connect multiple sources in your writing to use as evidence to support your points.

Here are some possible themes to consider:

  • The pursuit of free, easy happiness with minimal effort.
  • The relationship between happiness and perfection.
  • The dynamic between beauty, nature, science, and technology.
  • The transcendental philosophy of the Happiness of the Journey; Happiness in Imperfection; Happiness in Location; and Happiness in Nature. 
  • The American Dream and the Pursuit of Happiness. 
  • The way we can truly achieve lasting happiness. 
  • Other conclusions you've made about the idea of attaining happiness. 

Reference what we've done, your own thinking and experiences, and outside sources that connect to what you're thinking about.

I'll try not to ruin this one by asking too many questions.

Good luck.

 Things you can and should reference in your blog:

Monday, October 12, 2020

Blog #3: The Stranger

 Due: Sunday, October 25 by midnight


Your blog post this week will be based on a creative response to The Stranger by Camus. You can pick from the following options or pitch a different idea to Mr. McCallum before writing. These prompts will evolve over time, so make suggestions, corrections, etc.

Your response should be at least 500 words long.

Do not do more than one of these prompts.

1. Write an important piece of an alternate ending for The Stranger considering one of these two paths:

  • Meursault does not shoot the Arab.
  • Meursault is found not guilty of murder.
    • Note: If you think there is another pivotal moment in the book that could create an excellent alternative storyline, feel free to explore that in your writing. Some examples that were suggested were Meursault's interaction with the Magistrate, his decisions surrounding his friendship with Raymond, or his choices made about his career and love life.
  • It could be an actual passage from the “novel” or a detailed plot outline of key events.
  • Keep an absurdist slant to the resolution you create. Your writing should reflect an understanding of The Absurd or Absurdist philosophy.

2. Meursault is intriguing, puzzling, and infuriating to those around him, but many people tend to give him the benefit of the doubt and even make excuses for his behavior. Write a detailed character description of Meursault from the perspective of Marie, Raymond, or The Magistrate. It could be from any point on the timeline in the novel or set after the events of the novel have taken place.


  • Your writing can include dialogue and actual events in the novel.
  • Your writing should reveal something about both the characters who are narrating and Meursault.
  • Your character is free to ask questions, speculate, make assumptions, and be wrong.
  • Try to stay “in character” during this writing.

3. Imagine Meursault attended BCMS or was a teacher at BCMS in the year 2018. Describe something unique to this place or this time from the perspective of Meursault that stays true to the style and the internal monologue of The Stranger.


  • How would an absurdist teenager or teacher react to the world around him? How would an absurdist react to technology, school, assignments, Wal-Mart, or other things?
  • Your Meursault could be male or female.
  • Your writing should be in line with the ideas and philosophy presented in The Stranger.
  • How would his family, bosses, girlfriend/boyfriend, and friends react to him?
  • Note: You should NOT make comparisons between Meursault and any real students or teachers at BCMS. You can, however, compare his reactions with yours.

4. Which modern heroes or villains could Meursault best be compared to? You could compare him to characters in plays, movies, comic books, video games, and other novels.

  • The Stranger is an incredibly influential work of literature and many modern directors and authors have studied it. It wouldn’t be surprising if many characters, both heroes and villains are modeled after Meursault.
  • Have any modern heroes or villains personified absurdist philosophy?
  • Back up your assertions with evidence and details.
  • Remember that your audience may be unfamiliar with the work you are referencing, so provide some sort of explanation or context for the work or characters in your writing.
    • For example, if I were to compare Meursault with The Misfit from Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," I would want to make sure to explain exactly who The Misfit is and what about his character reminds me of Meursault.
    • Hey, Look! Somebody did it.
Here's one interesting example of a comparison to a modern villain. Don't look at it if you don't want to be influenced.

5. Illustrate Meursault's reaction to (or relationship with) nature at crucial points in the novel.

  • In your blog post, Include the passage or moment you are illustrating and explain the significance of your illustration. This is the part of your blog that demonstrates the critical thinking work behind your work of art.
  • Your illustration could show positive feelings and relationships, negative feelings and relationships, or both.
  • All the following criteria can be ignored if you have a better idea:
    • Pick a medium you'll work well with. Your options include, but are not limited to; painting, photography, drawing, online art tools, etc.
    • Your illustration does not have to be literal or realistic. You can be abstract. You should take risks.
    • Your illustration can represent feelings and emotions.
    • You could include a series of illustrations rather than a single work.

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Blog #2: Your life as a reader

 Due: Tuesday, October 6, by the end of the day.

Word Count: 300
Required: Include a link to your autobiography or, if you are able, embed it in your post using HTML.

Here's a video about how to embed a Google Slideshow into a blog post.

Introduction


Over the past two weeks, you've thought a lot about your development as a reader, not just as a young adult, but also as a small child. You've considered your parents' involvement in your reading life as well as some of the most positive and negative experiences you've had with literature. Just as importantly, you've come to see something about the reading lives of the people around you - your teachers, your parents, and your peers.

Questions to Consider


You may answer any, all, or none of the following questions and prompts. Do not treat these questions as a quiz. If you're answering more than one question, focus on blending multiple prompts into a seamless response.

The best responses will bring in links to outside sources, including videos, cartoons, photographs, and articles.

  • What conclusions can you come to about yourself as a reader?

  • What role did reading or story play in your life as a young child and what effect (if any) do you think it had on your development as a reader?

  • What do your positive and negative experiences with reading have in common?

  • If you were to create a program that would encourage people to read for enjoyment and personal growth for their entire lives, what would you do?

  • Why do you think people stop reading or fall "out of love" with reading as they get older?

  • What did you learn about your classmates' reading journeys? Can you come to any tentative conclusions based on your observations?

  • What do you think you'll discover in your research on reading?

  • How can reading be social?

  • What have you noticed about the books you dislike? What have you noticed about the books you really like?

  • What single book or story can you attribute with the key moment in your development as a reader?
Samples of Student Work:
Remember, these examples are of work done last year and represent only one possible way of completing the assignment. This is not the only way to do it. In fact, these are products of the first time this assignment was done and your project can be different and better than these models. 

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Blog #1 - What is Truth?

 “Fiction is the lie that helps us understand the truth.”

Rough Due date: Friday, September 18
Rough Draft Minimum Words: 375
Final Due date: Friday, September 25
Rough Draft Minimum Words: 475
Remember to cite evidence from sources outside of your own opinion.  Use Tim O'Brien and other sources (both fiction and nonfiction) to help you illustrate and support your reasoning.
Use your writing from class on "How to Tell a True War Story" and your responses either in discussion or in the FlipGrid from this week to get you started.

Monday, May 4, 2020

Blog #8: To Kill a Mockingbird

This entry should use specific quotations or references through the end of the book
Due Date:
 Friday, May 8
Minimum Words: 650 of your own words, not counting quotations.
Note: Be sure you are using a lens and continually returning to the text. Feel free to refer to class discussions.

Helpful links: Sample Reader's Notebook from CIS Literature* | Critical Lens notecards |  Reading Schedule | Reader's Notebook Instructions Spark Notes


This blog entry is supposed to be 100% dictated by your own analysis and relationship to the text. If you can, try to do this without looking at the suggested questions below. However, for those of you who need a little push to begin this voyage, please feel free to consider the following questions or statements:

For this blog, try to move beyond just the reader response lens - just your reactions to the text. Instead, try to connect your reactions to something else, make observations and predictions, comparisons and contrasts, or use a different lens to shape your entry.

The most important thing to remember is that you should constantly refer to the text. Quote passages and paraphrase scenes.

Here are some questions or ideas you can look at tho get started if you are stuck:

  • How has this book connected to your exploration of other personal narratives (fiction or nonfiction) and your own experience analyzing your development through writing a narrative? What do all of these things combine to teach us? 
  • How is this book about the development of an identity and the role of community, parenting, our own choices, and chance in that development? 
  • Try to apply a critical lens to your reading, the characters, or Harper Lee.
  • Why is the book even called "To Kill a Mockingbird"? 
  • How is this book about innocence and growing up? Is innocence worth preserving at all costs? What is the balance between letting a child grow into their own person and directing their growth in a specific, desired way? When do we want our children to be better than ourselves? When do we want to limit their options?
  • Many schools and districts have had to ban the novel due to parent and community protests, do you agree that this is a dangerous book? What value is there in reading this book today? 
  • Analyze Boo Radley's role in the novel.
  • What makes Atticus the way he is. What is his role in Maycomb?
  • How do characters change throughout the novel? How do they remain the same?
  • What's the role of "family" and identity in the novel? Pay attention to Ms. Alexandra.
  • Here are some pictures of America during the time frame in which the novel is set. What connections can you make to the text?
  • Take a look at some of the actual artifacts from the Jim Crow era in America. How does this affect your reading or your perceptions of the novel?
  • Take a look at these Book Club questions if you're really stuck.

Please cite page numbers and specific passages from the novel to support your inferences and conclusions. We will be using these questions and your conclusions, questions, and insights to spark classroom discussion on Wednesday.

Example citation:
Scout says that " Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it" (4). She seems to be trying to emphasize not just the age of the town, but also the slowness of the town, the values of the people, and the way that summer heat made everything drag on.

or
This isn’t the first time we see one of the Price women choosing materialism over God, despite Nathan’s harsh beatings and warnings. On page 363, Rachel reaches for her mirror instead of for her Bible, explaining “[ . . . ] it didn’t seem worth saving at that moment, so help me God. It had to be my mirror.” Whether this shows rebellion or just the simplistic mindset of a 15-year-old teenage girl, I’m not sure. Perhaps she was, in her own, small way, rebelling from Nathan. But maybe she just wanted to make sure that no matter where she went in Africa, she would always know the state of her appearance. That seems pretty likely.

* The sample reader's notebook above is done by a senior in high school with a lot of experience writing these notebooks. It is also over 600 words longer than the entry you are expected to create. No pressure.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Blog #7: Good people, good Leaders and Hamartia. Empathy, Power and the lessons of Julius Caesar

Due Date: Friday, February 28
Minimum Words: 600
Outside links required: one
Correctly cited text references required: 2

For the complete text of Julius Caesar, with both the original text and the modern translation, check out No Fear Shakespeare: Julius Caesar.

Consider the story of Julius Caesar and reference it as you respond to the text. Your response should focus on the ideas of Power and Leadership.


Make sure your writing has a clear claim near the beginning and that you introduce your topic fully. You need to give context to your audience at the start of your writing so they know what you are writing about what you may be trying to prove.


Here are a few questions if you need an idea to get you started. You can go in-depth about any of these or combine them into your own questions. Don't treat this as a quiz and answer every question.

  • What modern connections can you make between Julius Caesar and the idea of leadership today?
  • Antony, another member of that ruling class, is also one of the more sympathetic characters of the play. But is he a good ruler?
  • Does this play portray an ideal leader? Does it give any clues about what an ideal leader could be?
  • What is the difference between a good person and a good leader? Are those two things mutually exclusive in certain ways? Are there ways that good people cannot be good leaders and good leaders cannot fully be good people? What implications does this have on your views of leadership?
  • What kind of leader is Julius Caesar? The conspirators say he's a tyrant headed for absolute power. Is there evidence in the play to support this? Is Caesar really a threat to the Roman Republic? Why or why not?
  • Were the conspirators justified in removing a leader who has the potential to be a tyrant?
  • What relationship is there between leaders and those who are led (or, perhaps, followers)? What does this play suggest about the people's ability to choose leaders and the choices they make for themselves? What do the Plebeians suggest in this play?
  • What connections can you make between "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and Julius Caesar?
  • What connections can you make between "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" and Julius Caesar? 
  • Are there advantages to ambition? Do we need to be more accepting of the character flaws of our leaders?
  • If, as neuroscience is proving, leaders suffer from reduced empathy responses, what can leaders do to stay compassionate? Whose job should compassion be? What is the role of a follower or a person who is content to be led? 



Here's how you cite examples and lines from the play:

You will receive extra credit points for attempting to quote a passage from the play in the correct format.

25. Verse play or poem For verse plays, give act, scene, and line numbers that can be located in any edition of the work. Use arabic numerals and separate the numbers with periods.
In Shakespeare’s King Lear, Gloucester, blinded for suspected treason, learns a profound lesson from his tragic experience: “A man may see how this world goes / with no eyes” (4.6.148-49).


Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Blog #6: Creating Satire

Due Date: Monday, January 6 at the start of class.
Minimum Words: If you satire is written, 400 or more - However, other formats besides writing may be used
Links to outside sources: Optional

What is the biggest rock? This is the most important question.



Start here for an excellent video that defines what satire is and gets you a head start on how to make your own.

Here's an example of satire, outlining the tortures of Teenage Affluenza.


Jon Stewart, who is a modern master of Satire, explains about his relationship with it here.



Your assignment is to create an original piece of satire on a topic of your choice.

It can be written as an essay, an article, a poem, or a song. It could be performed as a piece of music or speech, it could be a video done alone or with partners. It could take the form of anything you please.

Feel free to label your post as Satire if you are worried about your audience forming the wrong impression about you. However, if you truly want to do this well and have your intended effect, you may want to avoid the label.