Friday, December 14, 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Sunday, December 9, 2012

MEDEA! Euripides must have been foreshadowing Maury!

Audio Book of Euripides Medea 

Introduction to Greek Drama Power Point

Guided Notes for Power Point

Study Guide (due at the end of the play) 

Readers Guide with Textual Evidence Requirements 

5 Section Assignment



After we read Jason and the Golden Fleece, choose one of these writing assignments to complete with a partner. Pay close attention to the format and context of the writing assignment. 



1.Your favorite mythological character has just retired. Zeus, the father of the gods, is now accepting applications for a replacement. Write a formal letter of application and a brief resume with biographical information.


2.In the role of either Jason or Medea, you will need to create a list of supplies you need to complete your dangerous journey to steal the Golden Fleece and escape. Letters can be addressed to Heroic Discount Supplies, 744 Olympian Way, Athens, Greece.


3.What could be easier than stealing the Golden Fleece from a fire-breathing dragon? Write a “How To” article that will be published in Greeks and Geeks

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Survival!




Sage Francis - "The Best of Times"





It's been a long and lonely trip but I'm glad that I took it because it was well worth it.
I got to read a couple books and do some research before I reached my verdict.
Never thought that I was perfect. Always thought that I had a purpose.
Used to wonder if I'd live to see my first kiss.

The most difficult thing I ever did was recite my own words at a service
Realizing the person I was addressing probably wasn't looking down from heaven.
Or cooking up something in hell's kitchen, trying to listen in or eaves drop from some another dimension.
It was self-serving just like this is.

Conveniently religious on Easter Sunday and on Christmas.
The television went from being a babysitter to a mistress.
Technology made it easy for us to stay in touch while keeping a distance,
'til we just stayed distant and never touched. Now all we do is text too much.

I don't remember much from my youth. Maybe my memory is repressed.
Or I just spent too much time wondering if I'd live to have .
Fell in love for the first time in 4th grade but I didn't have the courage to talk to her.
In 8th grade I wrote her the note but I slipped it in someone else's locker.

Considered killing myself 'cause of that.
It was a big deal. It was a blown cover.
It was over for me. My goose was cooked.
Stick a fork in me. The jig is up.
I blew my chances, the rest is history, our future was torn asunder.
It became abundantly clear that I was only brought here to suffer.

At least I didn't include my name.
Thankfully I wrote the whole note in code
And it had 10 layers of scotch tape safety seal making it impossible to open.
Plus, it was set to self destruct.
Whoever read it probably died…laughing.
I wonder if they lived long enough to realize what happened.

A year later, I came to understand that wasn't love that I was feeling for her.
I had someone else to obsess over.
I was older. I was very mature.
I forged my time signature while practicing my parents autograph 'cause I was failing math.
Disconnected the phone when I thought the teacher would call my home.

I checked the mailbox twice a day at the end of a long dirt road.
Steamed open a couple envelopes like I was in private detective mode.
If you snoop around long enough for something in particular you're guaranteed to find it.
For better or worse that's how I learned that it's best to just keep some things private.

It was the best of times. It was the end of times.

It was the best of times. It was the end of times.
I was always on deck, I was next in line.
An only child with a pen and pad writing a list of things that I could never have.
The walls in my house were paper thin.
Every squabble seemed to get deafening.
If my memory serves me correctly I made it a point to void and forget some things.
Probably to keep from being embarrassed.
Never meant to upset or give grief to my parents.
Kept my secrets…hid my talents…
In my head, never under the mattress.

Therapy couldn't break me.
Never learned a word that would insure safety.
So I spoke softly and I tip toed often.
The door to my room was like a big old coffin.
The way that it creeked when I closed it shut.
Anxieties peaked when it opened up.
As if everything that I was thinking would be exposed.
I still sleep fully clothed.

It was the best of times.

It was beautiful.
It was brutal.
It was cruel.
It was business as usual.

Heaven. It was hell.
Used to wonder if I'd live to see 12.

When I did I figured that I was immortal.
Loved to dance but couldn't make it to the formal.
Couldn't bear watching my imaginary girlfriend
Bust a move with any other dudes.

Tone Loc was talking bout a "Wild Thang"
But I was still caught up in some child thangs.
Scared of a God who couldn't spare the rod.
It was clearly a brimstone and fire thang.

Pyromaniac. Kleptomaniac.
Couldn't explain my desire to steal that fire.
Now I add it to my rider.
Like "Please oh please don't throw me in that patch of brier!"

It was the best of times. It was the end of times.

The school counselor was clueless 'cause I never skipped classes.
Perfect attendance. Imperfect accent.
Speech impediment they could never really fix
And I faked bad eyesight so I could wear glasses.

Considered doing something that would cripple me.
I wanted a wheelchair. I wanted the sympathy.
I wanted straight teeth so then came braces.
4 years of head gear helped me change faces.

It was the best of times. It was the end of times.

Now I wonder if I'll live to see marriage.
Wonder if I'll live long enough to have kids.
Wonder if I'll live to see my kids have kids.
If I do I'm gonna tell 'em how it is.

"Don't listen when they tell you that these are your best years.
Don't let anybody protect your ears.
It's best that you hear what they don't want you to hear.
It's better to have pressure from peers than not have peers.
Beer won't give you chest hair. Spicy food won't make it curl.
When you think you've got it all figured out and then everything collapses…
Trust me, kid…it's not the end of the world."

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Do you think it's too hard to memorize your poem?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Thinking About You



Does the repetition in this poem help deliver the message? Did you fi nd it effective?


This poem is more lighthearted than the others we have watched. What are some things in the poem that you can relate to?

Spoken Word Poetry



Poetry Evaluation Form

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Monday, October 8, 2012

War Child

Past Genocides


Past Genocides and Mass Atrocities

credit: Johan van Elk (c)
In the past 150 years, tens of millions of men, women and children have lost their lives in genocide or mass atrocities. Millions have been tortured, raped or forced from their homes.
The mass atrocities described below represent just some of the historic examples that serve to remind us what’s at stake if we let genocide happen again. We must learn, remember and take action to end genocide once and for all.

Armenia

Beginning in 1915, ethnic Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were rounded up, deported and executed on orders of the government. The combination of massacres, forced deportation marches and deaths due to disease in concentration camps is estimated to have killed more than 1 million ethnic Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks between 1915 and 1923.

The Holocaust

After coming to power in 1933, the Nazi Party implemented a highly organized strategy of persecution and murder. Their targets were the so-called “undesirables”: Jews, Slavs, Roma, the disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals, as well as political and religious dissidents.
The Nazis began with stripping citizenship from German Jews on the basis of their religious identity. Shortly thereafter, in November 1938, the organized pogrom of Kristallnacht marked the beginning of mass deportations of German Jews to concentration camps. As the Nazis conquered large areas of Europe, Jews and others in Nazi-controlled areas were also deported to camps. When the German Army invaded the Soviet Union, it soon gave rise to mobile killing squads operating throughout Eastern Europe and Russia, which killed more than one million Jews and tens of thousands of other civilians. The construction of extermination camps at Auschwitz-Birkanau, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno and Sobibor led to the Nazis’ killing of 2.7 million Jews and others through the use of cyanide gas, summary executions and medical experimentation. Poor living conditions in non-extermination camps led to the deaths of millions more. It is estimated that six million Jews, two out of every three living in Europe, and another 5 million people had been killed by 1945.

Cambodia

When the Khmer Rouge took control of the Cambodian government in 1975, they declared the beginning of a new age dedicated to a peasant-oriented society. Instead, after outlawing education, religion, healthcare and technology, the Khmer Rouge ordered the evacuation of Cambodia’s cities and forced these residents to labor without adequate food or rest. Those who were unable to keep up were often summarily executed. At the same time, the Khmer Rouge began to target suspected political dissidents. These citizens, including doctors, teachers and those suspected of being educated were singled out for torture at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison. In four years, between 1.7 and 2 million Cambodians died in the Khmer Rouge’s ‘Killing Fields.’

Bosnia

Beginning in 1991, Yugoslavia began to break up along ethnic lines as political leaders such as Slobodan Milosevic began to use nationalist sentiment as a political tool. While Slovenian independence was relatively bloodless, Croatia’s declaration sparked a civil war between the province and the Yugoslav government. Troops from the mostly Serb Yugoslav army entered Croatian territory and committed widespread human rights abuses, including the siege of Vukovar and the shelling of Dubrovnik.
In 1992, the republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) also declared independence and the region quickly became the central theater of fighting between Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims). During the wars in the former Yugoslavia, all belligerents committed abuses against the civilians.  Soldiers and paramilitaries used rape, torture, forcible displacement, and summary executions to “ethnically cleanse” areas under their control. The actions of Serbian units, including the Bosnian Serb army and paramilitaries, were particularly notorious for committing atrocities, including the massacres at Foca, Tuzla, Visegrad, and Srebrenica. At Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb forces under General Radko Mladic overran a U.N. safe-area and executed at least 7,500 Bosniak men and boys who were sheltering with Dutch peacekeeping troops.
Due to the nature of the attacks on civilians during the Bosnian and Croatian wars, the United Nations created the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in 1993. This tribunal is tasked with prosecuting offenders who contributed to the deaths of at least 96,000 people.

Rwanda

Civil war broke out in Rwanda in 1990, further exacerbating tensions between the Tutsi minority and Hutu majority. Although a peace agreement was reached in 1992, political negotiations continued. In 1994, as he returned from the latest round of talks in neighboring Tanzania, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down outside of the country’s capital, Kigali. Habyarimana’s death provided the spark for an organized campaign of violence against Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians across the country. Despite the efforts of United Nations peacekeepers, extremist Hutu groups killed between 800,000 and 1 million people across the country in only 100 days. In 1994, the United Nations created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), dedicated to bringing those responsible for the genocide to justice. While slow-moving, the ICTR has determined that the widespread rapes committed during the Rwandan genocide may also be considered an act of torture and genocide on their own.




 

Darfur

Since 2003, an estimated 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur and as many as 2.7 million people have been displaced within Darfur, with several hundred thousand more fleeing into neighboring countries such as Chad, the Central African Republic and Egypt. In September 2004, President George W. Bush declared the crisis in Darfur “genocide” — the first time a sitting American president had made such a declaration regarding an ongoing conflict. Despite the world’s growing outcry, the violence continued in Darfur and the number of dead and displaced increased considerably.
The conflict in Darfur began in the spring of 2003 when two Darfuri rebel movements — the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) — launched attacks against government military installations as part of a campaign to fight against the historic political and economic marginalization of Darfur.
The Sudanese government, engaged in tense negotiations with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to end a two decade long civil war between North and South Sudan, responded swiftly and viciously to extinguish the insurgency. Through coordinated military raids with government-armed militia (collectively known as the janjaweed), the Sudanese military specifically targeted ethnic groups from which the rebels received much of their support, systematically destroying the livelihoods of Darfuris by bombing and burning villages, looting economic resources, and murdering, raping and torturing non-combatant civilians.
In March 2009, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for two counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity. The following summer, the ICC added genocide to the charges against al-Bashir. The ICC has also issued arrest warrants for Ali Kushayb and Ahmad Haroun for a combined 92 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against civilians in Darfur. In March 2012, the ICC added Sudan’s current Minister of Defense Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein to the list issuing an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
The United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) in Darfur replaced an underfunded and underequipped African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur in January 2008. UNAMID to this day remains without the necessary resources to protect the 1.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) who live in large camps across Darfur. The government has increasingly obstructed UNAMID and humanitarian organizations by restricting access, often leaving the most vulnerable civilians cut off from outside aid. There are also an estimated 263,000 Darfuri refugees living across the Sudanese border in neighboring Chad. Overall, the UN estimates that more than 4.7 million people in Darfur (out of a total population of roughly 7.5 million) are still affected by the conflict.
Women living in IDP camps risk rape or harassment if they leave the camp to access water, collect firewood, or plant crops; however, due to the limited access of aid, they often do not have a choice. Gender based violence (GBV) has been used as a tool to oppress women throughout the crisis and those who target women do so with impunity. Due to cultural and religious taboos, GBV often goes unreported and perpetrators are rarely held accountable for their crimes.

What are we watching for?

Prolonged international peace talks resulted in a Doha Peace Agreement that left out the major rebel groups and failed to gain acceptance by a large part of the Darfuri population. Further progress will depend heavily on the ability and willingness of the Government of Sudan to establish an “enabling environment” for Darfuri participation.
Today, fighting between the rebel movements and the government continues and since 2010, the UN has reported over 200 attacks in Darfur. The Government of Sudan has manipulated ethnic tensions leading to inter-ethnic fighting between Arab tribes that has also added to instability in Darfur. Despite the presence of the UNAMID peacekeeping force, Darfuris remain vulnerable to attacks and human rights violations from both sides, including sexual violence which continues both outside and inside IDP camps across Darfur.
Despite this chaotic environment, the Sudanese government remains the most responsible for the violence in Darfur. President al-Bashir and others in his government created the anarchic conditions presiding in Darfur today through their violent counterinsurgency campaign targeting innocent men, women and children. Furthermore, the Sudanese government has obstructed the UNAMID peacekeeping force, refused to prosecute any individuals responsible for crimes against humanity committed in Darfur, and has intimidated and expelled numerous international humanitarian aid groups. These actions continue to leave many civilians in Darfur unprotected and dispossessed of their basic human rights.


What Would You Do?

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Graphic Novel Prezi


Sonnet 116

Compound Sentences

Justin Bieber's "Baby" 

Compound Sentence Worksheet 1

Compound Sentence Worksheet 2






Iris by Goo-Goo Dolls



ANNOTATION - a way to actively read using note taking to help comprehension. The old VH1 pop-up  style of videos is a very simplistic way of looking at annotation.

As you watch write down:

Any words that are defined
Background information about the song, the band or the movie
Facts or information presented


How To Do A Close Reading

Prezi for Night Discussion

Friday, October 5, 2012

Night Introduction

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in the camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever…Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never." — "Night "

Night By Elie Wiesel


Friday, July 20, 2012

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Beginning of School Survey

Monday, May 28, 2012

Are you done with your work? Check out these cool sites

Random Facts! 

Free Rice 

Quia  - this website is great for review for ANY subject. Just scroll to the bottom right and choose your subject!

Schmoop is an amazing site, almost like Quia, which has some great review games and awesome resources!

Review Game

EOC REVIEW GAME! 

Thursday, May 3, 2012

'When I Became a Man"

Sestina - Wasps


Wasps In Fact

I know the facts of the story.
I was there as witness, of course
and more than that, one of the saved
during the slaying of the wasps.
My father played the hero role
armed with a spray can and ladder.

Not sturdy, it shook, the ladder
as he climbed to the top story.
I never questioned my dad’s role,
the labor of knocking off course
any homesteading plans of wasps,
nor doubted if I would be saved.

The nest was enormous; he saved
it, carried it down the ladder,
proof that the multitudes of wasps
matched the large claims of his story.
The stings he received in the course
of battle also served this role.

He insisted they played no role
in making him sick, the stings, saved
that blame for the flu cutting course
through the city. That the ladder
needed fixing fit the story
well, too, but not illness from wasps.

Now it falls to me, fighting wasps.
My children have filled my old role.
I saw right through my dad’s story
long ago. The spin he used saved
his ego I thought. The ladder
held steady later on, of course.

Raising children has been a course
in hindsight relating to wasps
and the sturdiness of ladders.
Less a character trait than role
requirement, dad’s bravado saved
us from fear; that’s now my story.

Over the course of time, the role
of wasps did not change; also saved:
the ladder’s part in the story. 
***
I’ve seen variations on the form, but they all involved using 39 lines and repeating the same six end words. I took my guidance from The Book of Forms by Lewis Turco. 
You can read more about the sestina here:

Not Just Another Math Problem

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe as performed by The Simpsons

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Sestina

Sestina Form

History.
Historically, the Sestina is a French form. It appeared in France in the twelfth century, initially in the work of Arnaut Daniel. He was one of the troubadours or court poets and singers in the service of French nobles.
Troubadours were lyric poets. They began in Provence in the eleventh century. For the next two centuries, they flourished in South France, East Spain, and North Italy, creating many songs of romantic flirtation and desire. Their name is from the French trobar, to "invent or make verse".
The Sestina was one of several forms in the complex, elaborate, and difficult closed style called trobar clus (as opposed to the easier more open trobar leu).
Form
In a traditional Sestina:

  • The lines are grouped into six sestets and a concluding tercet. Thus a Sestina has 39 lines.
  • Lines may be of any length. Their length is usually consistent in a single poem.
  • The six words that end each of the lines of the first stanza are repeated in a different order at the end of lines in each of the subsequent five stanzas. The particular pattern is given below. (This kind of recurrent pattern is "lexical repetition".)
  • The repeated words are unrhymed.
  • The first line of each sestet after the first ends with the same word as the one that ended the last line of the sestet before it.
  • In the closing tercet, each of the six words are used, with one in the middle of each line and one at the end.
  • The pattern of word-repetition is as follows, where the words that end the lines of the first sestet are represented by the numbers "1 2 3 4 5 6":


  1 2 3 4 5 6         - End words of lines in first sestet.
  6 1 5 2 4 3         - End words of lines in second sestet.
  3 6 4 1 2 5         - End words of lines in third sestet.
  5 3 2 6 1 4         - End words of lines in fourth sestet.
  4 5 1 3 6 2         - End words of lines in fifth sestet.
  2 4 6 5 3 1         - End words of lines in sixth sestet.
  (6 2) (1 4) (5 3)   - Middle and end words of lines in tercet.

English 2 - Note Cards and Research Paper Rubric

Research Paper Rubric

Note cards and Source Cards Instructions

English 2 - Research Paper Part 3

How does this work for your project?

Thesis:

I. Introduction
    A. Explanation of purpose and background information
    B. Thesis

II. Argument 1
      A. support
      B. support
    C. support

III. Counter-argument/or Argument 2    (if you do not have a counter-argument)
    A. support              
    B. support
    C. support

IV. Argument 3
    A. support
      B. support
    C. support

V. Conclusion
      A. Mention the opposing side of the argument
      B. Re-emphasize your own argument by summarizing the    
           main points that you made
    C. Restate your thesis

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

English 2 Research Part 1

You will choose an invention and idea or something that was created as a solution to a problem. This will be the focus of your research paper which will count as your final exam grade. To begin, brainstorm problems that have occurred in the world and what the solutions were to these. Your research paper will be argumentative and must include the cause and effects of the item/idea of your choosing. You paper MUST convince the reader that the idea/invention is the best ever created and why. 

Here are some useful links! 



English 2 Research Part 2


English 2 - Argumentative Research 4/25



*Now that you have chosen your topic (and it has been approved), you will begin to gather your sources (reliable websites - not wikipedia, ask.com, askyahoo or about.com) to use to support your argument. Before you can begin your writing, you must read up on your topic. 


*Today you need to gather 3 sources. Using easybib.com you will create a page (sources copied into a word document) with the proper formatting (follow the directions under the tab "bibliography" on easybib.) for what will be your works cited page (also known as a bibliography). Every source you use (no matter if it is 3 or 19) needs it's own entry.

The information you find on your websites must be copied and pasted into a word document. DO NOT PRINT THE WEBSITES!

Your next step is to create a THESIS STATEMENT which will be ONE SENTENCE that explains to the reader what they will be reading about. THIS NEEDS TO BE IN AN ARGUMENTATIVE FORMAT...What is it you're trying to "prove?" Use the Persuasive Thesis Builder to help you write your thesis. 

At the end of class today, you must print out your three sources in the proper format and your thesis. Please save ALL of your word documents!