Weeks 5/6 Blog

The work:

The past two weeks we started off revising our college essays. We looked at a few chosen examples of good body paragraphs and opening lines from fellow students’ essays (ME). We have been discussing Shakespeare’s life, terms, and his play Henry IV (BG). We got farther into Henry IV, we saw the story change as the rebellion against Henry begins to take swing (PC). We have been given a couple reading comprehension quizzes and a bunch of new vocabulary words having to do with drama (MM). Throughout the course of the two weeks many scenes from the play were acted out in class, making the lines more understandable (AJ).

The workers:

Anthony: “Who knew a smile could cause so much sadness?” (JB)

Todd: “If a word did not fit then Shakespeare would make up his own words.” (MM)

Connor: “The sun and son revolve.” (MM)

Patrick: “Falstaff provides comedy throughout the play.” (AJ)

Manny: “…so much to keep the reader going.” (AD)

Kevin: “His birthdate is unknown, the only record is his baptism.”

David: “…release the prisoner.”

Nicholson: “…they will go against the king.”

Words to live by:

-Never use a long word where a short word will do. ~George Orwell

-My reformation, glitt’ring over my fault, shall show more goodly and attract more eyes. ~Prince Hal

-If manhood be not forgot upon the face of the earth, than am I a shotten herring. ~Falstaff

-They come like sacrifices in their trim. ~Hotspur

Weeks 3/4 Blog

The work:

The past couple weeks, we have been working on our college application essays. This is obviously extremely important for the future of all members of English 12 Honors. We have been reading, writing, and revising essays (TT). The class has received handouts of numerous essays and we were asked to read them to find the good and the bad (AJ). We were given the top ten tips for writing a college essay so there would be less error in our own. Baez faced off against the class in a vocabulary battle using words from Colby Kennedy's essay (FT). We read non-CM and CM students' essays for college and that gave us a feel for how our essay had to be written for college (EO). The class favorite for essays written by previous Knights was Steve Walsh '08's, who wrote about Mr. Buckley (BG). We wrote solid first drafts to set a frame up for our essays (PC). We went up to the library to look up quotes (KW).

The workers:
"The mirrors show symbolism in Emilia C's essay." ~Manny M. (AJ)
"First impressions, stereotypes, relationships built." ~Francis T. (MG)
"He has taught me to never give up until the job is done." ~Kevin W. (CS)
"...dividing it up so it is not boring." ~Anthony J. (KW)
"Mom, can I borrow twenty bucks?" ~Anthony J. (KW)
Matin pointed out to the class the importance of a thematic structure through the paragraph setup. (PC)
"Everything was good about her essay until she started listing her own accomplishments and bragging about herself." ~Kevin W. (ME)
Andrew talked about his two older brothers and how he wanted to be like them [as a kid]. (BG)
"It was just a big joke, but very unique." ~Brian G. (AD)

Words to live by:
"I do not promise you ease. I do not promise you comfrot. But I do promise you these hardships: weariness and suffering. And with them, I promise you victory." ~Giuseppi Garibaldi
"Inaction is acceptance; always question." ~Austin Stewart
"There is a way through pain. And that way is through each other." ~Tony Dungy
"The moment of change is the only poem." ~Adrienne Rich
"But I have not yet gone to college." ~Hugh Gallagher

Library Visit 10/2

Here are some things I want you to accomplish in the library today:

Get a good quote for your essay. Visit Bartlett's Quotations and the Columbia Book or Oxford Quotations. If you're writing, for example, about the day you learned to tie your shoe, you might search for quotations with these terms: shoes, success, trying, childhood, failure, learning, education, school, innocence, breakthrough, discovery. If you're writing about everything your sister has taught you, try these terms: sister, siblings, sisterhood, family, lessons, rivalry, education, childhood, adolescence, growth, maturity, etc.

Find some data for your essay. Writing about the Home Run Derby? Find out record holders and dates of the first one. Writing about Iraq? Get the current death toll. Writing about frialators? Find out how hot they get in Celsius. Writing about Franklin Park Golf Course? Find out the age of the golf course and yardage for the hardest hole there. Search the New York Times and the Internet Public Library. Try EBSCO and JStor and InfoTrac. (The librarian has the passwords.) Don't forget to interview primary sources and quote them. Also consider making a phone call.

Today you might also type your college application essay. Go to Gmail and get an account if you don't have one yet. Email it to yourself at home if you want to work on revising it there.

Final drafts due: Monday. Weight: test grade.

[Note on your second drafts: you have a "promise of a grade" on it. e.g. -->a. This arrow w/a grade indicates that if you do nothing to this draft by Monday, the grade will remain an A. If you want an A+, you need to do some of the above things or whatever else I recommended on your second draft.]