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I have two classes: Advanced Placement Literature and English IV

This week we completed introductory “Welcome to West Jefferson High” activities and an autobiographical assignment.

self portrait assignment

• select an image that represents you and then analyze the image.
• explain how the image is representative of you

I will provide the students with a selection of images and they must select an image that they feel represents them.

We are looking at poetic devices within poems.

The students will create foldables for 2 of the poems that we have read in class. The foldable will have 8 flaps on it with the definition and example from the poem of your choice of poetic devices.

Alliteration – the repetition of initial consonant sounds of several words in a group.  It is often used in poetry to emphasize and to link words as well as to create pleasing, musical sounds. (“Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty/ Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred, Grendel came.” Beowulf)

Allusion – a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work or work of art.  Allusions often come from the Bible, classical Greek and Roman myths, plays by Shakespeare, historical or political events and other materials authors expect their readers to know.

Imagery – is the descriptive language used in literature to recreate sensory experiences relating to sight, taste, touch, hearing and smell. Imagery enriches writing by making it more vivid, setting a tone, suggesting emotions and guiding the reader’s reaction.

Metaphor – is a comparison between two unlike things without using “like” or “as.”  “Time’s winged chariot” is a metaphor in which the swift passage of time is compared to a speeding chariot.  An extended metaphor is one that is developed at length and involves several points of comparison.  A mixed metaphor occurs when two are jumbled together (thorns and rain as in “the thorns of life rained down on him.”  A dead metaphor is one that is overused.

Mood – or atmosphere, is the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage. The mood is YOUR reaction and feeling to a work; the tone is the WRITER’s attitude.  Writers create mood through the following: connotation, details, dialogue, imagery, figurative language, foreshadowing, setting and rhythm.

Onomatopoeia – use of words whose sounds echo their meanings, such as buzz, whisper, gargle and murmur.

Oxymoron – a combination of contradictory terms or ideas (“loving hate” in Romeo and Juliet.)

Paraphrase – is a restatement in different words.  One is not to alter the meaning of the words, merely translate what the writer has said into equivalent words of one’s own.

Repetition – is a technique in which a sound, word, phrase or line is repeated for emphasis or unity.

Rhyme – Words rhyme when the sounds of their accented vowels and all succeeding sounds are identical, as in amuse and confuse.

Simile – a figure of speech that compares two things that are basically unlike yet have something in common with the use of “like” or “as.”

Symbol – is a person, place, object or activity that stands for something beyond itself.  Night to represent death is a common symbol.

Theme – is a central idea or message in a work of literature.  Theme should not be confused with subject or what the work is about.  Rather, theme is a perception about life or human nature shared with the reader.

Tone – is an expression of a writer’s attitude toward a subject.  Unlike mood, which is intended to shape the reader’s emotional response, tone reflects the feelings of the writer. The writer’s choice of words and details helps establish the tone, which might be serious, humorous, sarcastic, playful, ironic, bitter or objective.

This week we read The Purpose of Education and they composed a response indicating their views.  The assignment required the students to read and complete comprehension questions based on the article.  Once we finished the article, the homework was to create a blog post (to be posted to their ePortfolio next week) that indicates personal views on the topic.

Literary elements/Reading skills

• Identifying Main Idea
• Summarizing
• Identifying author’s purpose

We also read The Initiation by Sylvia Plath from the textbook.  The students answered comprehension questions and took a short quiz.

Literary elements/Reading skills

• Flashbacks
• Identifying plot elements, conflicts, theme and character traits
• Summarizing

The final assignment for the story was to create a poster that displayed literary elements

We are working on our graphic essay as the final part of our Romeo and Juliet Projects

They created posters for our study of Romeo and Juliet.  I provided them with Post-it paper and their posters will be graded for accuracy and appearance.

Here are some examples of past graphic essays: 1  2   3   4

Their posters were to include:

• 2 quotes from Romeo and Juliet (you must rewrite quote AND paraphrase it)
• 10 examples of literary devices from Romeo and Juliet (oxymorons, similes, metaphors, rhymes, asides, soliloquies, paradoxes, foreshadowing, puns, personification, etc.)
• 3 symbols that represent the themes from play (ie. Heart for ___, etc.)
• Storyline with at least 10 events from play

Click here to see their insults

We used this site to help create  Shakespeare Insults 

We are working in groups to read and create presentations for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey.

 Groups for Habit Project and the 7 habits and the lesson objectives

In their groups they are to put together a 20 minute presentation for their assigned chapter from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. The purpose of this assignment is to not only inform the class about the information provided in the assigned chapter, but to also show that the students their audience (teenagers) and can use tones, formats, styles and activities that accurately meet the needs of that audience.

Each 20 minute presentation will include the following:

1. A PowerPoint presentation covering the information in the chapter (50 pts)
2. A cartoon based on your habit using http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/ (50 pts)
3. An Animoto PhotoMovie http://animoto.com/
4. A handout (50 pts)
5. Ten question quiz (a blank quiz and an answer key) that accurately assesses how well your classmates learned the information from your chapter (50 pts)
6. A poster

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