Reading for break...

Please read through page 224 of Cuckoo's Nest.   Answer all appropriate study guide questions as well.

See you in two weeks!

For 12/18

Please finish reading Section 3: pages 91-145, and study guide questions.  Be prepared to discuss the reading in class on Wednesday.

For 12/16

Read through page 90 and finish any study guide questions.  See you Monday.

12/10

For homework: please read through page 75 and answer all applicable study guide questions (at minimum: #1,2, 6,7).

Be prepared to discuss your reading next class.

Weekend Homework

Complete the reading we didn't get to (through page 40), and answer all accompanying study guide questions.  Remember the Close Reading Task #2.  Be prepared to discuss all reading/study guide questions in class on Tuesday.

Cuckoo's Nest

For homework,  make sure you have read up through the end of the section (pg. 14) and you have completed the 1950s mental health handout.

We will continue our reading tomorrow.

For 12/4

Your only homework is to revise your argumentative essays for more credit.  This will be due at the start of class on Wednesday.

Save Your Ticket Stub!

...After you go see the play!

For 11/25

We will be writing an in-class, timed (40 minutes) argumentative essay on Monday.  Today in class you received the essay prompt (below) and this weekend you should be outlining/brainstorming in preparation for Monday's essay.
Remember, an argumentative essay asks you to explore the validity of an assertion using examples from your reading, observation, studies, or experience.  Each body paragraph in your essay should explore a different example (current event, history, literature, whatever you've learned in your independent reading -- or your group's books).

Below is a PDF of sample essays with their scores explained, based on the following prompt:

For 11/21

Read more of your non-fiction book-- remember, these need to be completed when you walk into class next Monday (11/25).
Also:  find an outside source related to one of your group member's books and be prepared to discuss it in your groups on Thursday.

For 11/15

Please have Section 3 of your independent reading book read for Friday, 11/15.  Bring your book to class with you-- as you'll need it to complete an in-class assignment.

Over the long weekend...

Please finish reading section 2 of your independent reading books.  You are required to bring in some related outside source to share and discuss with your groups.  This outside source could be a youtube video, a song inspired by the book, a criticism, a piece of artwork, etc.  Print or copy the link, etc. and bring it with you to class to share with your group (and with me!).

Have a good weekend.

For Friday, 11/8

Please read half of section two of your independent reading books-- there is no written assignment attached to this reading.  Come prepared to discuss your mini-section with your groups!

For Wednesday, 11/6

Remember section 1/5 of your independent reading books (and assignment) are due in class.

We will be doing another short practice multiple choice section, and then splitting into reading groups to discuss our non-fiction texts.  You'll have time to read in class as well.

Don't Forget...

You need an independent reading book (non-fiction) with you in class on Monday!
Also: finish correcting your AP multiple choice.  Be honest with yourself, work hard, look up terms you don't know.  This work DOES pay off!

You Need to Know These...

I suggest you print this, read it, study it.

10.29

Today in class we took our first AP multiple choice timed diagnostic test.  Thursday, we'll take a look at the results, and the kinds of questions the AP exam is likely to ask...

For homework: please study your literary terms, as there will be a quiz on A-J Thursday.  Also, begin thinking about your independent reading text-- it must be non-fiction, and the title must be approved by me.  We'll begin our ind. reading unit next week.

Some titles to get you started...

You are not limited to this list. 

Psychoanalytic (Freud/Jung/Psychoanalysis of Holden’s character)

·      “Kings in the Back Row: Meaning through Structure.  A Reading of Salinger’s Catcher” by Carl F. Strauch (symbolism, imagery, structure)

·      “Holden and Psychoanalysis” by Dennis Vail (1976)

·      “Love and Death in Catcher” by Peter Shaw (1991)

·      “The Psychological Structure of Catcher” by James Bryan (1974)

·      “Holden Caufield: ‘Don’t Ever Tell Anybody Anything’” by Duane Edwards

·      “Mentor Mori; or, Sibling Society and Cathcer” by Robert Miltner (lack of male role models, society of 50s and 60s, relationship with Phoebe)

·      “The Psychoanalyst and the Fetishist: Wilhelm Stekel and Mr. Antolini in Catcher” by Lydia Rogers

·      “Salinger Then and Now” by Terry Teachout (1987)

·      “J.D. Salinger’s Holden and Seymour and the Spiritual Activist Hero” by Helen Weinberg (1987)

·      “Salinger’s Oasis of Innocence” by Anne Marple (1961)

Marxist

·      “Memories of Holden Caufield—and of Miss Greenwood” by Carl Freedman (2003)

·      “Universals and the Historically Particular” by Carol and Richard Ohmann (1977) (anything you can find by the Ohmann’s will be a good starting point for a Marxist reading of Catcher)

·      “Reviewers, Critics, and The Catcher in the Rye” by Carol and Richard Ohmann

·      “The Catcher in the Rye:  In A Reader’s Guide to J.D. Salinger” by Eberhard Aslen (2002)

Postmodern

·      “Reconsidering the Concept of Therapeutic Landscapes in Salinger’s Catcher” by Leonard Baer (2004)

·      “Reading Salinger’s Silence” by Myles Weber (2005)

·      “The Personal Narrative and Salinger’s Catcher” by Danielle Roemer (1992)

New Historicism

·      “J.D. Salinger: The Development of the Misfit Hero” by Paul Levine (1958)

·      “The Fallen Idol: The Immature World of Holden Caufield” by Peter J. Seng (1961)

·      “Cherished and Cursed: Toward a Social History in Catcher in the Rye” by Stephen Whitfield (1997)

·      “In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye Censorship, Controversies, and Postwar American Character” by Pamela Hunt Steinle (review by John Arther Maynard, 2002)

·      “Protecting Holden Caufield and His Friends from the Censors” by Edward B. Jenkinson (1985)

Queer Theory

·      “The Catcher Controversies as Cultural Debate” by Pamela Hunt Steinle (2000)

·       

Homework, 10/17

Remember to study your Literary Terms Glossary.  On Monday you'll have a quiz on words A-H.

EXCELLENT job to those of you who took part in our Socratic Seminar today.  Your participation is worth 40% of your Catcher unit test grade.  The other 60% will be based on an essay you'll write through the scope of your chosen school of literary theory.

Below is the assignment for the weekend in case you missed it, and CLICK HERE for a link to the OWL Purdue website you'll need to complete the assignment.

Looking forward to reading your work next week.

Finishing Catcher

Today in class we finished reading The Catcher in the Rye.  In preparation for the Socratic Seminar next class (part of your unit test grade), please create at least four open-ended questions regarding some aspect of the book-- thematic, symbolic, references within text, the text in popular culture, J.D. Salinger-- and answer your four questions using textual evidence (that is, quotes/page numbers from the book).
You will use your questions/answers as a starting point for the class conversation, and I will be collecting your work at the end of the seminar.

For 10/1

Please make sure you've read up through Chapter 15 and answered the study guide questions.  We'll continue reading and analyzing Salinger's use of symbol/motif this week, as well as refining our rhetorical analysis skills.

For 9/27

Have Chapters 10-12 read and study guide questions completed for Friday's class.

For 9/25

Have chapters 7-9 read for tomorrow's class, as well as the study guide questions.

Catcher

For homework: read Chapters 2-3 and answer the study guide questions.

College Essays

One final draft is due Thursday.  Please include word count.

Next class we will begin our first novel-- J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

Revision Process

In class we peer edited our personal statements, and for homework  you will be taking into considers your peers' suggestions and revising your essay.  As we did today, for Tuesday's class, please bring three copies of your essay to be peer edited.  This will be the last time we work with peers and workshop our papers.  The final draft will be due Thursday, September 12th (just one copy to me).

If you'd like to get your edited essay from me before Tuesday's class, please stop in and see me Monday.  As always, if you have any questions or need anything, email me or set up a time to work together.

For Friday, 9/13...

Please bring 3 copies of your completed draft to class for peer editing.

9/9

Today in class we looked at different methods of writing introductions for our personal statements.  We drafted, workshopped with peers, edited and revised during the block.  Hopefully you left class today with some confidence in the direction you are moving within your topic/essay.

Remember:  next class (9/11) we will be taking the pre-assessment.  Therefore, your homework will be due Friday, 9/13.

Homework:  Bring at least 3 printed copies of a completed draft to class to be workshopped.  These must be printed prior to walking through the door!

Any questions, don't hesitate to email me or stop in prior to Friday's peer editing.

9/5/13

Today in class we imagined we were college admissions officers reading a variety of personal statements and deciding whether each student was admitted, rejected, or wait-listed.  Though there was much debate, I think we all walked away with at least a few new ideas about writing our own college essays!

For homework: 
Take another look at the Common Application essay questions, and come to class with a list of at least 3 topics you feel comfortable writing about on your essays.
**If you've already written your essay, bring it to class with you.

Next class we'll explore how to hook your reader with an introduction.
For more perspective on the college application process, read this piece from the NYT.

Welcome Back!

Students and parents, please bookmark this page and refer to it frequently for class updates, assignments, and more.

Seniors, for homework please have your syllabus signed.

A copy is here for your convenience: