MLA Citations

To practice writing correct citations, watch me model one, then let's do one together, and last, you will do two on your own.  Use NoodleTools to help you.

For English A, cite the following:

"Meet a Warrior." Mission. 2013. Wounded Warrior Project. 22 Apr. 2013 

<http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/mission/meet-a-warrior.aspx>.

 "The Things They Carried." The Big Read. National Endowment for the Arts. 22 Apr. 2013 <http://www.neabigread.org/books/thethingstheycarried/>.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/veterans

http://www.va.gov/landing2_vetsrv.htm
Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried

For English B, cite the following:

"Genocide Studies Program." 2010. Yale University. 22 Apr. 2013 <http://www.yale.edu/gsp/index.html>.

 "Genocide Watch." . 19 Apr. 2013. International Alliance to End Genocide. 22 Apr. 2013 <http://www.genocidewatch.org/>.

Peace Pledge Union.  <http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/>

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  <http://www.ushmm.org/>

Night by Elie Wiesel

Allusion

An allusion is a reference within literature to another piece of literature or writer or historical event or person either directly or implied.

In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury makes allusions to the famous writers and thinkers named below.  Match the description of the following writers and thinkers to the description.  Consider who these people are, what they wrote about, and why a society would want to censor their writings.  Then, give an overview of the texts below that Bradbury references.

• Aeschylus
• Aristophanes
• Marcus Aurelius
• Sir Francis Bacon
• Gautama Buddha
• Lord Byron
• Confucius
• Charles Darwin
• Albert Einstein
• Thomas Hardy
• Thomas Jefferson
• Samuel Johnson (Dr. Johnson)
• Abraham Lincoln  
• Niccolo Machiavelli
• Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
• John Milton
• Eugene O’Neill
• Thomas Paine
• Luigi Pirandello
• Plato
• Alexander Pope
• Bertrand Russell
• Albert Schweitzer
• William Shakespeare
• George Bernard Shaw
• Arthur Shopenhauer
• Sophocles
• Jonathan Swift
• Henry David Thoreau
• Paul Valery

Week 11: Draft Realistic Short Story

Read and react to one of the following autobiographical short stories (the one that you did not read previously): "Hair" by Malcolm X OR "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros.  Your reaction should be about a paragraph long and should briefly summarize the story as well as discuss what you notice about Malcolm X’s or Cisneros’s writing style that you liked and that could help you in your own writing.

Then, choose one of your story ideas (one of the ones that you wrote a descriptive paragraph).  Write a full first draft for that story.  It should contain the following elements:

·        A conflict (person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. society, and/or person vs. self)

·        Beginning (exposition), middle (rising action & climax), and end (falling action & resolution)

·        Sensory descriptions (imagery) of setting and at least one character

·        Dialogue

What do you look for in a principal?

Fill out the survey to help the search committee in charge of finding our next principal: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WP2JHM6

Week 10: Descriptive Writing & Realistic Short Story Drafting

1.     Read the following imagery-rich passage, paying attention to details that make you see, hear, smell, taste, and/or feel that which is being described:

“The hot July sun beat relentlessly down, casting an orange glare over the farm buildings, the fields, the pond. Even the usually cool green willows bordering the pond hung wilted and dry. The low buzzing of mosquitoes hung about us.  Our sun-baked backs ached for relief. We quickly pulled off our sweaty clothes and plunged into the pond, but the tepid water only stifled us, and we soon climbed onto the brown, dusty bank. Our parched throats longed for something cool—a tart strawberry ice, a tall frosted glass of sweetly sour lemonade.

“We pulled our clothes out of the crackling underbrush, the sharp briars pulling at our heavy, wet clothes.  We wriggled into our damp jeans and ambled toward the watermelon patch. As we began to cut open the nearest melon, we could smell the pungent skin mingling with the dusty odor of the dry earth. Suddenly, the melon gave way with a crack, revealing the deep, pink sweetness inside.”

2.     Then, list ten examples of phrases from the passage that show imagery & classify them by the sense that they appeal to (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch).
3.  Descriptive writing is often facilitated by strong word choices.  For each of the following words, find at least five more precise synonyms.  For the last two words*, please find *ten more precise synonyms:

• scared
• happy
• sad
• big
• small
• strong
• tired
• angry
• want
• fight
• many
• said*
• went*

4.     Choose your top THREE story ideas from last week.  For each of those three story ideas, write a descriptive paragraph that focuses in on a character or a setting within that story idea, using imagery and descriptive word choices. 

Chapter 4: Videos about YOUR Rights

“Why We Need theACLU” 

1.      The ACLU is the American Civil Liberties Union.  What is its purpose/mission?

2.      What is the ACLU’s argument for defending hate groups’ right to free speech?

3.      Besides protecting freedom of speech, which of the ACLU’s projects do you find most interesting?  Why?

“The First Amendment” 

1.      Why was Versey arrested?

2.      Can protests lead to violence?

3.      Is a “free speech zone” a good solution to this?  Why (not)?

“The Bill of Rights”

1.      What is Gordon Johnston’s job?

2.      What did he get the Supreme Court to decide?  Why?

3.      What do you think of “pat downs” at large sporting events or concerts?  Why?

“Extending the Bill of Rights”

1.      Give an example of a President before Bush who suspended civil liberties and rights during a time of war.

2.      What did the Bush administration do that some people think was illegal?

“The Civil Rights Struggle”

1.      Where did Williams grow up?

2.      Why did she believe that she needed to go away to college?

3.      What did the University of Chicago start doing in the 1960s?

4.      How many of the 500 graduated?

5.      Why does Williams argue in favor of affirmative action?

“Stop & Frisk”

1.      In 2011, NYC police stopped people _____________________________ times.

2.      How often does/has Tyquan been stopped and frisked?

3.      What makes Tyquan “suspicious”?

4.      Why has he been detained in a police precinct?

5.      _________________% of those stopped in 2011 were not arrested or ticketed.

6.      What are at least two items of Drew’s mental checklist when he sees a police officer?

7.      What is broken window theory?

8.      ________________% of those stopped were black or Latino.

9.      Stops are __________________________ without reasonable suspicion of a crime.

10.   What do you think constitutes “reasonable suspicion of a crime”?

Veterans Affairs Project

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: Follow up Activity

Persuasive letter: Veterans Affairs

Go tohttp://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/mission/meet-a-warrior.aspx.  Read and summarize at least three of the stories.  Record the name of the soldier and any other identifying information and summarize his/her story in at least a paragraph each.  Use your own words or put quotations around phrases or sentences that you copied.

Then, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/ and click on “Issues.”  Click on “Veterans,” and read about what the government has been doing for vets recently.  You may also want to find more information about veteran services on other reliable websites, like http://www.va.gov/   Write paragraph summaries about at least two different programs.

Find a quotation in The Things They Carried that stands out to you about veterans and/or soldiers.  Copy and cite it correctly.  Then, explain its context to the book and what this means to you in a complete paragraph.

Use this information to write a letter to President Obama about caring for wounded vets.  This letter should include information from the soldiers’ testimonies that you read, information that you learned from the White House website, and reference The Things They Carried in a clear way.  This letter should be a minimum of 250 words, and should contain facts as well as your opinion about what the president should be doing for veterans.  Once you have edited your letter so that it is formatted correctly and free of errors, please send it to President Obama by clicking on the “Contact us” button on the upper right hand corner of the White House website.

Checklist:

• Summaries of vet stories
• Notes about veteran programs from White House website and/or va.gov
• Quote and response from The Things They Carried
• Letter that includes:
• Facts from vet stories & from government websites (at least three facts stated and cited correctly
• Your opinion(s) (well-expressed & make sense)
• Clear and relevant reference to O’Brien (cited correctly)
• Facts and opinions correspond and transition in a way that makes sense
• Correct letter format and editing: spelling, capitalization, grammar, etc.
• Persuasiveness and relevance
• Sent to the President