Policy for Blog Posts.

An upsurge in late and mishandled blog posts has necessitated a clarification of the blog post policy.  Please read below:

Here is the protocol for what to do if your blog will not post, which is a rare occurrence:

1)      Email a copy of your blog post to me as a place-holder.  (Remember to always type your post on a word document first, and then paste it to the blog, just in case).

2)      Bring a hard copy of your blog to me on the due date. 

I typically give blog posts three days in advance, so my advice is to try to get them done early to avoid any last-minute mishaps.  If you claim that your computer appears to put your post on the site but then it disappears (which is highly unlikely), then double check to see if your post registered by using another computer.  I can not accept hand-written blog posts after the beginning of the class period on its due-date, and I can not accept posts that appear on line after the due-date, which will be clearly marked on the blog.

Irony Writing Assignment Directions.

Directions for the Irony Writing Assignment:

Write a 2 + page ironic paper in which you focus on a social problem that you have clear opinions about.  However, you will need to write about this social problem from the perspective of someone with the opposite viewpoint as yourself in order to create an ironic effect.  Your paper should 1) open by briefly describing the social problem you are focusing on, 2) provide a ridiculous or over-the-top solution to the problem or simply expand upon your ironic opinions about the problem, and 3) leave the reader with some final thoughts on the problem.  You will be pretending to be someone else and pushing their ideas to the point of absurdity, but your reader will understand that your real feelings are the opposite (as long as you strike a clearly ironic tone).

The two keys to success with this paper are:

1) imitating the voice of your opponent.  You should try to use as faithfully as possible the vocabulary and writing / speaking style of the character-type you are presenting.

2)  Structuring your argument so that it builds from what seems normal and acceptable to something irrational and outrageous.

Keep in mind, irony always depends upon opposite forces coming into contact.  In this paper, the voice of your character will express a message that is opposite of your true, covert message.

Irony Paper Proposal

Hi Everyone:

In the comment section below, let me know what your ideas are for the irony paper.  You'll want to mention what social problem you are discussing, what your real opinion of the problem is, and what type of voice you will be adopting to ironically mock the opposing position's view point.  You may also want to address how you will structure your argument: will it be a mock letter to the editor, an opinion piece, or a speech?  How will your argument begin and how will it end?  Remember that irony works best when it builds: in other words, it helps to begin by sounding vaguely reasonable and become more and more extreme as it goes.

Comments due by Class Time Friday.

Goodbye, Mr. Putnam . . .

Hi Everyone:

For our final post on the Crucible, you can either a) share your thoughts on the play as a whole and how the ending affected your experience of the play, or b) share your impressions of the film.  Were scenes dramatized well? Did some scenes deviate from the play or were they faithful to the play? And what did you think of the scenes that were not in the play but were in the film?  How did these scenes change your understanding of the play?  This will be due the evening of Wednesday, October 30th.  Thanks, Mr. Telles.

Final Reading Goal for The Crucible.

Hi Everyone:

Our final reading goal for The Crucible is to be finished with Act IV on Tuesday of next week.  It should read quickly, so you can do it while waiting for someone to roll out a one-ton pumpkin at the Topsfield Fair, or watching the Norwegian knitting competition.  Thanks, Mr. Telles.

In-Class Discussion Notes.

In the comment box below, please respond to a classmate's ideas from our in-class discussion of The Crucible Acts 1&2.  You can extend the idea, offer an alternative idea, reshape it, appreciate it, etc.  Since two of the honors blocks were not able to complete their discussion, and we have a half-day tomorrow which will further complicates things, let's set the due date for this post on Wednesday night.  Thanks, Mr. Telles.

Assertions and Evidence.

In class on Thursday, we discussed the importance of thesis statements as bold assertions that are insightful, meaningful, and essential.  In pairs, you developed provisional statements -- or assertions -- in which you attempted to diagnose the deep social sickness that grips Salem, and the assertions you came up with were very shrewd and well-phrased.  On Friday, we selected quotes that support your ideas.

In the comment box below, share your quote from Act I and explain how it supports your assertion and why you think it is unique or significant.  Please have your post in the post box by the end of the day on Monday. Thanks, Mr. Telles.

Dracula Writing Assignment. Due Tuesday, Sept. 17th.

English 10

Mr. Telles

Dracula Writing Assignment

Our next few units will be exploring the ways in which people respond to threat and what we imagine “evil” to be.  In Dracula, Bram Stoker creates a creature and a world that plays upon our deepest fears and desires, and the story he created has stuck with us as one of the most vivid and unforgettable horror tales ever told.

What does Stoker’s novel reveal to us about our deepest fears and desires?  Why is the story so disturbing and fascinating to people?  Make a bold, insightful assertion about what you think the novel reveals about our fears and desires (individually or culturally) and choose two or three important scenes which illustrate what you mean.  Close-read the scenes as we have practiced in class and explain how the scenes back up your main assertion.

Format:

500 word minimum.

Double Spaced.

1” Margins.

Quotations need only a page number in parentheses.  I.e. Dracula said “hi” (128).

Grading: See rubric for “Expository / Explanatory Essays” on the blog, side tab.

Other notes: The scenes you choose should come from different parts of the novel.  Two or three scenes from the beginning of the novel will not demonstrate that you have read the novel.  If you refer to other parts of the novel while discussing the scene you are close reading will help demonstrate that you have read the novel.

Terror and Tragedy

Over the next week we will be exploring how Bram Stoker carefully arranges Dracula to play upon our deepest fears and desires, and we will also consider what Stoker's novel reveals to us about deep human conflicts and preoccupations that we all share (see notes on "The Human Condition" to be given on Monday).  After a short unit on Dracula, we will be moving on to The Crucible, which is a tragedy.

Given the material we will be reading, it's worth asking ourselves a simple question: why are people so attracted to stories designed to terrify us or make us sob in despair?  What brings hoards of people to the theater to watch The Conjuring or watch Titanic on repeat?  What does this say about us?

Please respond with a standard open response, due on Tuesday.  Thanks, and don't forget to hang some garlic in your room before bed.

First Post.

Hi Everyone: In the comment section below, please write an open response in which you describe a) what you think a "great essay" is like and what its elements are, according to what you think and what you have been taught, and b) how you cope with difficult-to-read texts, addressing both what you have been taught to do as well as what you actually do.  See the "Procedures" sheet for format and grading information.  Thanks, Mr. Telles.