Class work for 3/12/10

TGIF. Welcome to the library.

Now that you've done some reading into The Glass Menagerie, you're ready to start thinking about some of its themes: reality, escape, the past, abandonment, failure, race, identity. To do that, conduct a simple word search today into a searchable edition of the text.

1. Click on this link. It should open a full searchable text of TGM in a new window.

2. Using your browser's search function, search for the actual theme as listed above, or words related to it (instead of "escape" try "travel" or simply "go." Instead of "blindness" try "see" or "sight.")

3. On your handout, make note of what you find to be the most beautiful, poetic, or well-written line from the play concerning each theme.

4. Based on the simple word-search you did, circle the theme that appears, at least in terms of quantity, to be the most dominant in the play.

5. Finish early? Grab a book off the shelf and enjoy--you're in the library after all!



Note: you are being watched.

Class work for 3/11/10

Welcome to the library. (Note the books on the walls. Read them.)

In class today, your task is simple: follow the trail of Cormac McCarthy as he tries to escape from you on the World Wide Web. Take notes on the handout the substitute has provided as you go.

Your tasks:

1. Go to his official Random House publisher's page and figure out what three books form the Border Trilogy of his. Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=19680

2. Go to the interview he did for the Wall St. Journal and figure out what he says when people say they have a signed copy of The Road. Also what he thinks about being Irish Catholic. Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574529703577274572.html

3.Go to the IMDB site for the movie. Find out how Brad Pitt is involved. Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149624/

4. Read the NYT review of ATPH and identify how someone is compared to Job. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/17/books/the-man-who-understood-horses.html

5. Go to the WIRED website and figure out how much McCarthy's spent for his typewriters over the years. Link: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/cormac-mccarthys-typewriter-dies-after-50-years-and-five-million-words/

6. Watch the previews for the McCarthy movies I asked you to watch way back when. Link: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cormac+mccarthy&search_type=&aq=f


Note: You, too, are being watched.

Thank Mrs. Magyar and your substitute on the way out.

Here/There/Elsewhere: Welcome, Class of 2010 Bloggers

This is the Honors English 12 Blog for McG.'s section of English 12H bloggers of the class of 2010.

Welcome.

I thought it'd be nice to continue blogging in this old space, despite it being formerly occupied by previous bloggers from the Class of '09. It's like we've moved into your old apartment and there's still a bunch of your stuff here that we might actually use. '09'ers: f you're still with us, great! Read on!

As for the current crop of bloggites, this is where you'll contribute your biweekly musings. A-muse us.

"In my beginning is my end. In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.

...Dawn points, and another day
Prepares for heat and silence. Out at sea the dawn wind
Wrinkles and slides. I am here
Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning."

T.S. Eliot

Weeks 9+10 Blog

The work:
Even as the time at CM winds down, we refuse to give up on our studies. We paid good money so we are getting the most of our education! (MC) In weeks 9+10 we talked about a hero's journey (in The Red Badge of Courage) and how no matter howm nay die in a battlefield, life goes on. we talked about the flag and how it got a life of its own (FT). We analyzed Crane's poetic form in the story. We discussed the religious themes within the writing as well as the significant themes that relate to identity (PC). We were also assigned a research paper in which we had to compare a youth involved in a conflict to Henry in the book. We researched the information and related it to the book (CS).

The workers:
Manny: I don't understand why he keeps going back home when he tries to forget it (ND).
James: The Glass Menagerie is about finding a man for a woman.(ND)
Pat: It's about changes in society.(ND)
Andrew: The play is about maturity.(ND)
Julio: The Red Badge has a religious theme to it. (ND)
Pat: Crane is not writing a history text about the Civil War, but about war in general. (MM)
Frank: In Crane's poem, I think the desert represents the battlefield. (MM)
Brian: Henry looked at his fellow soldiers as inferiors. (MM)
AJ: Henry has to choose whether or not to stop or fight. (MM)
Pat: Crane bases this chapter on Holy Thursday. (MM)

Words to live by:
"The dead man and the living man exchanged a long look." ~SC
"He had done a good part in saving himself." ~SC
"There is nothing in the world so painful as feeling that one is not liked."
"It is futile!" I said. "You lie," he cried. And ran on. ~SC

Library Visit, 4/6

Here's your assignment for The Red Badge of Courage (why did I italicize that?).


Apply your understanding of The Red Badge of Courage to a current conflict in the world. Find a “youth” involved in the conflict and compare and contrast Henry’s perspective of war by the end of RBC with this youth’s story/perspective.

Worth: test grade. Note: test grade will be lowered by one letter grade if you fail to return the book. Due: 1st draft due 4/17, second draft TBD.

Today in the library, determine which conflict you will cover. Note: you won't cover a conflict that another classmate is covering!

• Visit the Global Security "World at War" website. Read about a few conflicts before narrowing down your choices.
• See Mr. McG. after ten minutes of reading have elapsed to "lock in" your conflict. Come to him with a backup choice.
• Sign up for a gmail account if you don't already have one.
• Visit the Google News homepage and do a preliminary search for your conflict in recent news.
• Set a Google News alert for each term you've searched for so you can be alerted each day to new news about your topic.
• Use the word "children" or "youth" or "families" or "kids" or "child" along with your conflict's name to start searching for how children are affected by your conflict.
• Find a specific child's story associated with your conflict. If you find stories of unnamed children, youths, kids, or families, it will be acceptable to tell their stories but just as much citation will be required.
• Check the Internet Public Library for more information on your conflict.
  
• Keep track of your sources as you research. Take good notes.

What do you do when you're done?

• Read the Catholic Memorial Blog.
• Visit the Catholic Memorial website and read recent news.
• Read the other blog entries in the English 12H Blog.
  

Guest blogger: Matthew Connolly '09, Weeks 7/8

The work: It has been a quick two weeks with multiple interruptions, whether it was St. Patrick's Day or Senior Service days. However, that did not stop us from reading Tennessee Williams' play The Glass Menagerie. Julio, Martin, Michael, Pat, and Nicholson were kind enough to lend the voices to our reading and analysis of the classic play. Tomorrow we end the text by reciting Tom's final speech.

The workers: While analyzing the play, Connor predicted that Laura's first gentleman caller will be her 'high school crush.' Andrew notices that Amanda 'forces her dreams onto her children.' Kevin made an impressive comparison to The Grapes of Wrath when he noticed that both Connie and Jim from The Glass Menagerie were both going to school for radio engineering.

Words to live by:
"Time is the longest distance between two places." ~Tom
"Just go, go, go..." ~Amanda
"It always came upon me unawares." ~Tom

Term II, Weeks 5+6

The work:
Over the past two weeks we have based our classes around Jhumpa Lahiri's 2003 novel The Namesake (MM). We have been crafting essay introductions on different themes of the book, preparing for a test (TT). We wrote these on different themes like education and character development (DP). We focused on other themes like identity, education, marriage, culture clash, and the past. We determined the significance of a namesake and how it affected Gogol's decisions as a first generation immigrant (ME). We talked about our senior service projects and what our first day was like and what we expect to do at our sites over the next eight weeks (FT). Finally, we were tested on "The Namesake" in an in-class essay (MM).

The workers:
Connor: Their marriage is one of mutual respect but also devotion. (MM)
Andrew: Through the death of his father, Gogol realizes how detached he has come to his family. (FT)
Pat: Gogol matured at college...began to think on his own. (ME)
Brian: Between before and after independence...(KW)
Anthony: The author is stereotyping...(DP)
Frank: There must be a complex transformation to get something out of the book...(TT)
John: Lahiri shows the theme of nature. (MM)
Kevin: Education means experiences in [Twain's quote]. (BG)
Julio: agreed with Gogol's culture being an obstacle...(PC)


Words to live by:
"He remembered his father's footprints in the sand." ~Lahiri
"He's a telephone man who fell in love with long distance." ~Williams
"Don't let your schooling interfere with your education." Twain
"In America, anything is possible. Do as you wish." ~Lahiri
"The name...was the first thing his father had given him." ~Lahiri