BLIZZARD BAG ASSIGNMENT #1

For D-Block Public Speaking: please visit our Google Classroom https://classroom.google.com/c/MjYyOTE0NzYxMDVa

For English 12 AP:

Your Blizzard Bag assignment should take about an hour.  It starts here, then goes to a doc with questions, and from there connects to links and clips from various places.  Feel free to email me if you have questions along the way.  Good luck!  —Mr. G. :)

So, let’s begin with a little background.  As we are about to start down the path of reading Hamlet, I thought we might want to consider taking a look at a little History of the English Language.  The short version is this:

     1. Once upon a time, the island we now know as England was invaded by seafaring people called Angles and Saxons.  England is derived from Ang-land, and English (the language) is derived from Ang-lish (or Old Saxon).

     2. At first, the Anglo-Saxon language was limited.  It featured short, single-syllable words, and not many of them compared to modern languages (about 30% of today's total).  It was a functional language, and not a particularly poetic or sophisticated one.

     3. Then one day, in 1066, William the Conqueror (the Norman King of France) defeated Harold (the Saxon King of England) -- bringing the French language (and its Latin roots) to the island. This event sparked a dramatic change in the English language, which soaked up French-and-Latin words like a sponge.

     4. For three hundred years, the English language expanded to become more and more sophisticated -- leading to the late 1300's and the first "great" literature written in English: Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.  The language of this period is sometimes referred to as Middle English.

     6. Over time, the language continued to evolve and embrace new words and subtleties of meaning, and by 1600, the English language had reached advanced degree of sophistication needed to produce Hamlet.

     7. Today, there are over 150,000 words in the English language, and it is the dominant global language of commerce, the internet, and literature.

Your BLIZZARD BAG #1 assignment is available as a google doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TvDEtn09tSd0frSJiZRqWYDn7fnTDoMt7Mv0abS2zOA/edit

Please follow the link above and complete your BLIZZARD BAG #1 assignment by 11/29.

HW 11/26 Dashes Signal Tone Shifts

Complete #1-6 (your own dash examples) based on the handout.  Also, please add the example you found for HW 11/15 at the bottom of the page.  I don't have an electronic copy of the grammar-rules handout, so if you were absent, you'll need to see me for a physical copy when you return. 

HW 11/15: Dashing Through the Snow Day

Assignment: Please bring in (show-and-tell!) a great example of a DASH -- ideally one which signals a tone shift.

Here's one from the opening chapter of Their Eyes Were Watching God:

     They sat there in the fresh young darkness close together. Phoebe eager to feel and do through Janie, but hating to show her zest for fear it might be thought mere curiosity. Janie full of that oldest human longing--self revelation.  Phoebe held her tongue for a long time, but she couldn't help moving her feet.  So Janie spoke.

This paragraph sets up the narrative that follows -- Janie's story -- establishing the motivations of both speaker and listener alike.  In a sense, this paragraph contains the archetypal makings of all stories told to all listeners.  Along with Phoebe, we as readers are a form of vicarious audience "eager to feel and do" through listening -- eager to share in the experiences of the speaker.  The speaker reveals insights collected from her experiences, and the dash here underscores the significance of "self revelation" in Janie's story.  It is bold to declare anything to be the "oldest human longing," but from a philosophical standpoint, it is difficult to argue against Hurston's choice.  It works well for Janie's story; it also works well for describing the essence of human storytelling.  

Now, imagine what this paragraph loses if the dash were merely a colon: "Janie full of that oldest human longing: self revelation [sic]."  (EDITOR's NOTE: self revelation should probably have a hyphen).  For starters, visually, the term "self revelation" becomes much less distinct.  This is the first dash used in the novel, except for a series of them used during a dialogue mash-up.  It stands out in a nicely subtle way, marking an important theme: through reflection, Janie has found her voice, her identity -- and a sense of meaning in her life.

Furthermore, the dash establishes an interesting tone shift from an omniscient narrative voice simply creating suspense to a profound statement full of wisdom and insight.   Reading the passage with this tone shift in mind helps to underscore the universal thematic quality of Janie's story -- as Janie has been to the "horizon" and returned full of wisdom, so we all venture forth and return with deeper understanding.  "Self revelation" is the ticket home -- which characters in literature discover again and again, from Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.  

Shout out to our Dorothy, Tin Man, and Auntie Em -- great job, Becca, Kaitlin, and Kelly!!!  

HW 11/14: Colons Introduce Things

HW: Compose your own examples for each of the following four colon rules.  You may write them on the handout worksheet or somewhere in your notebook if you were not in class on 11/14.

COLON RULES
Colons are used to introduce a formal letter:

          Dear Governor Sununu:

Colons are also used to introduce a single word or phrase (functioning a bit like a grammatical "equals"sign):

          If you need to improve your vehicle's snow traction, then there is one tire upgrade that you might want to consider: studded snow tires.  

Colons can be used to introduce a whole list as well:

          All of my pets' names begin with the letter "B": Barney the beagle, Boris the bunny, and Beyonce the basset hound.  

Colons can even be used to introduce a quotation (especially with block quotes):

          Martin Luther King challenges us not to point the finger when it comes to social justice issues: "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people."

HW 11/13: Semicolons Combine Sentences

For HW, please compose three example sentences showing these three GOOD ways to combine sentences (this was on a handout worksheet in class, but you can just write them in your notebook if you don't have the worksheet).  

Here are three GOOD ways to combine two sentences:

     I am a semicolon; I link sentences nicely.   :)

     I am a semicolon and a transitional word or phrase; therefore, I am even fancier than just a semicolon. 

     I am a FANBOYS comma, and I can link sentences too.  

Here' the one BAD way:

     I am a comma splice, nobody likes me.  :(


Or, to show it without all the clutter:

               ;   

               ; however,   

               , and     

Need evidence that these ideas will improve your writing?  Recent research suggests that the most effective approach to improving your writing skills might be to focus on combining sentences.

HW 11/5: What? How? So What? Handout

TRY IT! 

Write an introduction for an essay on Jose Rivera’s ten-minute play “Tape.”  Include all three parts: What, How, So What.  Make it awesome :)

"What? How? So What?" Three Questions Essential to Analysis

1. WHAT?: USING the WORD “Explores”

Great literature isn’t just about a subject, it explores a subject.  One useful way to think about literature thematically is to work backwards and consider: “What question is this writer exploring?”  Here is a simple pattern for this kind of thinking:

In [insert title here], [writer’s name] explores the [type of] question of ____________________.

Examples:

In A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles explores the existential question of what it takes to rediscover a sense of purpose in life.   

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston explores the philosophical question of how, despite obstacles and misfortunes, deep satisfaction can be achieved through reflecting on the experiences and lessons accumulated along life’s journey.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman explores the psychological question of the effects of isolation on an unstable mind. 

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen explores the thematic question of what it takes to overcome the titular subjects. 

In the poem “Ithaka,” C.P. Cavafy explores the essential question of why it’s the journey itself that matters. 

In her poem “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party,” Sharon Olds explores the coming-of-age question of how awakening to the possibility of romantic love takes shape in the mind of a young person.

In the short play "Beauty," Jane Martin explores the fundamental question of what dissatisfied people really want the most.  

2. HOW?: IDENTIFYING the MECHANISM

Ok, so once we’ve identified what a writer is exploring, it is time to consider how it is done.  In this case, we need to consider the mechanism involved – the literary techniques(s), plot devices, tropes, etc. that the writer uses to explore the subject.  This can work very nicely as a follow-up to the “explores” statement:

Example:

In A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles explores the existential question of what it takes to rediscover a sense of purpose in life.  In the novel’s opening courtroom scene, Towles reveals his central plot device: an aristocratic character is confined to live within the limits of a single building, unable to live the carefree life he once knew. 

3. SO WHAT?: WHAT's the POINT?

The sequencing to remember is: what, how, so what?  Those are three distinct components that, when combined, demonstrate analysis.  They imply that the artist explores a certain subject, using identifiable techniques, to create art with a definable meaning or purpose. 

So, let’s try this with a line building on our previous example:

In A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles explores the existential question of what it takes to rediscover a sense of purpose in life.  In the novel’s opening courtroom scene, Towles reveals his central plot device: an aristocratic character is confined to live within the limits of a single building, unable to live the carefree life he once knew.  Ironically, it is this confinement, and the unexpectedly close relationships that he forms within the walls of the hotel, that lead to the central character’s discovery of the dual role of family and sense of place in creating a sense of meaning and purpose in his life. 

There it is.  What? How? and So What? in three sentences. These are the building blocks of demonstrating analysis.