Pre-AP English II: Thematic Links between Lord of the Flies and ???

Compare one of the themes in Lord of the Flies to that of another work we’ve studied this year (see below). Summarize evidence that supports your asserted theme from both texts.

• Fahrenheit 451
• The Pearl
• A Christmas Carol
• Anthem
• Othello
• Julius Caesar

Pre-AP English II: Stave Five Essay Prompt

In a well-developed essay*, explain how dramatic irony contributes to the reader’s experience in Stave Five of Dickens’ Christmas Carol. (If you were absent from class, please spend no more than 45 minutes working on your essay and don't write more than 26 lines on your page.)

[Be sure to identify what it is the reader knows that a character doesn't (dramatic irony); “reader's experience” = “enjoyment”)

*paragraphs, embedded text evidence, thesis, etc.

Pre-AP English II: Pearl/Christmas Carol Socratic Seminar Questions

Be prepared to discuss these questions in class on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. Remember to support your answers -- even the World Connection questions -- with evidence from the book.

If you missed the seminar, submit well-thought out written responses to two questions (100%; one question=80%). You may NOT answer a close-ended question.

If you were in class and did not respond twice, use the back of your remaining half-sheets ("buns") to respond to the questions. If you respond to a question discussed in class, your response must refer to the text and add to the conversation we had. (+20 points for the first, +10 points for the second)

WORLD CONNECTION QUESTIONS
How can "differences of opinion" about employment effect a relatinship?

Do you believe in supernatural visions and/or ghosts? Explain?

What effect does a song/Christmas Carol have on a person?

What effect does being cheated have on a person?


CLOSE-ENDED QUESTIONS
How does Coyotito die?

What is Marley bound by?


OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
Why does Juana want to get rid of the pearl?

What differnces are there between what Kino loves most and what Bob Cratchit loves most?

Why is Scrooge so bitter?


UNIVERSAL THEME / CORE QUESTIONS
Why is the death of a child so troubling?

How does one keep money/materialism in perspective?


LITERARY ANALYSIS QUESTIONS
How do the descriptions of what Kino sees in the pearl/the ghosts Scrooge encounters effect the mood of the chapter/stave?

If Kino had learned the Scrooge's lesson, how would The Pearl have been different?

How does the personification of "destroying [something] before it destroys [you] relate to the themes of The Pearl and A Christmas Carol?

Pre-AP English Students: Reading Assignments

English I: You need to have read through Chapter 19 of Percy Jackson: Lightning Thief. Better yet, finish the novel!

English II: You need to have finished all five staves (chapters) of A Christmas Carol. (You also have an IWA deadline and a Socratic Seminar to prepare for.)

You've got one week left of break. Plenty of time to enjoy yourself and complete your assignments.

Pre-AP English II: IWA #2 (Better Late Than Never)

[Wasn't aware I hadn't posted this....]

Write a response to the following prompt:

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Money often costs too much.” Both The Pearl and A Christmas Carol explore the paradox that wealth can carry a great cost to an individual, a family, and/or a community. In a well-developed essay explore the literary strategies Steinbeck or Dickens uses throughout his novella to communicate this idea to the reader.

Tips to success:

Focus on only one of the novellas. Focusing on both The Pearl and A Christmas Carol will immediately result in a REDO grade (no points). If you want to use A Christmas Carol, you must complete reading it in time to proceed through the IWA process.

Do not simply recount the plot or attributes of the characters. Extensive lack of focus on literary devices/technique will result in a REDO grade (no points), not a REWRITE (70 points).

The earlier you turn in a draft that you expect to earn an 85 (only revision is needed) the more likely you are to eventually receive an 85 (your idea of what is revision-only and my idea of what is revision-only may differ) or 100 (because you’ve made the necessary revision, or you refined your essay on your own before you turned it in).

This will be the last time a 70-point grade will be given on an IWA. Last year many students who had never bothered to rewrite an essay during the first semester had a very difficult time during the second semester when an 85 was required to avoid P.A. and/or IWA n.1.

This is also the last time IWAs may be turned in handwritten. Please see the note on the bonus in the next paragraph.

Paper should be about two-pages long, handwritten, or one-page long, typed, double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman (or Garamond, if you’re fancy). Five bonus points will be awarded to properly typed essays.


Daily P.A. for submitters not having achieved a 70 begins Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Drop-Dead (“For Reals”) Deadline: Tuesday, January 8, 2013.

IWA 2.1 and Daily P.A. will be assigned on to students who do not successfully complete this assignment begins Wednesday, January 9, 2013.

Pre-AP English II: Free Christmas Carol e-book

If you have the Kindle app on your computer or smart device, you may download a copy of A Christmas Carol from the Amazon store for free. (You must download the book from your computer or web browser on your smart device; the book will by synced to the app the next time you run it.)