Writing/Reading Fridays
Kim Sprecher
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Occasionally Fridays during Semester One will be designated as a Writing/Reading Friday.  Students will be given a topic/style of writing and they have the entire hour to complete the assignment.  Should a student finish early, they are to be reading quietly until the hour is complete.  The writing is graded as follows:

2 Pages: 25/25 points ( A page is considered one side of a sheet of paper)
1 1/2 Pages: 20/25 points
1 Page: 15/25 points
1/2 Page: 5/25 points

Students will be supplied with wide-lined notebook paper to do their writing.

September 10: ENGLISH 10

What two central themes emerge from the movie Wall-E?  How are these themes demonstrated?
Do you think this is a realistic picture of our future?  Why or Why not?  What kinds of trends do you see in the film that we are using today?  Give specific examples.

September 24:

        Wisconsin needs a superhero.  Create a Wisconsin state superhero and choose a super power for him or her.  Give your character a task.  Develop a sidekick or nemesis for your hero.  Focus on being descriptive.  Make sure that your character has some depth or personality.  Is there something special that he/she does or says?  Create a situation where your superhero needs to take action.  How does he/she solve the problem?

October 22:
   
 A Halloween Story to Share
            In the spirit of Halloween, write a ghost story to read
            to the class.  Use your newly found narrative skills to
            show the story, not tell.  Be creative.  Write your own
            story, or combine bits and pieces from well known ghost
            stories.  You will be reading these to the class come
            Halloween!

November 5

English 9 Classes

        Medical facilities, cosmetic companies, and other corporations perform experiments on animals.  Through these experiments, many human lives have been ultimately saved.  Some people feel that animal experiments are unnecessary while others feel that if done correctly, the results can better improve and save the lives of humans.  What are your feelings on this topic?  Should animals be used as research subjects (the alternative would be humans), or should be abandon research altogether?  Explain your position clearly and give examples.

 

English 10 Classes

Reflect on the Nature Observation Journal assignment.  What was the point of the assignment?  Do you think you succeeded?  What did you like about the journal?  What did you dislike about the journal?
How does watching and observing nature help us to be more understanding and compassionate
when it comes to plants and animals?  Do you think that you have a better understanding of nature?  Aldo Leopold states that to help nature, we need to understand it.  How did this
journal help you to accomplish this, or do you feel that the assignment did not help you to accomplish this?

 

November 20:

   Most of us are familiar with a fairy tale or two.  Take Cinderella.  She was the young beautiful girl with the ugly stepsisters and cruel stepmother.  Her fairy godmother got her to the ball; however, and she danced so well that the prince fell in love with her.  She left the ball in a hurry, though.  In the process, she lost her glass slipper.  No worries!  The prince went through all the land and had every young maiden try on the slipper.  Luckily, Cinderella tried on the shoe before anyone else of her same shoe size did.  She and the Prince married and lived happily ever after....or did they?  What really happened after the wedding?  Did the stepsisters really give up that easily?  Were there any children involved?  Any affairs?  Hmmm.  Take any fairy tale that you remember, write a brief synopsis of what happens, and then write an extension to this story where we find out how true love really ends. You many choose any fairy tale that you would like.

December 3

Occasionally, students in elementary school are allowed to advance to the next grade even though they have not successfully completed the lower grade. Advocates of " social promotion" think that keeping a child in a grade for longer than a year hurts his or her development and self-esteem. Others believe that if a child is advanced to the next grade without satisfactory knowledge, then they will fail in the following grades, leading to poor academic development and self-esteem.  Write an essay stating your opinion on this issue, making sure to support your opinion with convincing reasons.

SOPHOMORE ENGLISH December 20

If you look it up in a dictionary the word revenge means to do something to get satisfaction for an injury or an insult. Revenge is a very common feeling. It originates with hate or envy. Revenge can make us do things that hurt other people. 

 In the movie The Count of Monte Cristo, we see that Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo) has sustained this feeling of revenge for 16 years.  Recall a time where you felt like getting revenge on someone for something he/she said or did.  What was the situation?  How did it make you feel?  Was there any other solution to the problem, or did you eventually lose the feeling of revenge.

March 4: Sophomore English

Looking at the relationships of Brutus/Portia and Caesar/Calpurnia, find two similarities and two contrasts.  Discuss how these comparisons affect their relationships.  Compare and contrast the roles of the women in the play?  How do these characters enhance the play?  What does their presence and actions tell us about their husbands?

 

March 18: Sophomore English

One of the recurring motifs in the play Julius Caesar is the attention to omens and superstition.  Discuss the attention paid (or not paid) to omens, nightmares, and other supernatural events in Julius Caesar. What do the various responses to these phenomena show about the struggle between fate and free will in Julius Caesar? In Act I how does Cassius perceive the omens?  How does Casca react to them? Can the play’s tragedies be attributed to the characters’ failure to read the omens properly, or do the omens merely presage the inevitable? Omens and superstitions ran throughout the play. How do these omens demonstrate fate versus free will?  How does misinterpretation of signs come into play?  Here's some omens to consider: the storm in Act I and all the things happening during it, the soothsayer's warning, the augerers not finding a heart in the sacrifice, Calpurnia's dream, Caesar's ghost, eagles at Sardis versus scavenger birds at Phillippi.

April 15

The author, William Golding,  uses many symbols throughout the novel Lord of the Flies. Choose several symbols and explain what each one represents. Then provide an evaluation of their usefulness in the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we study the life of Julius Caesar and his relationship with Brutus, we understand that they were very close friends.  Julius Caesar was also a mentor to Brutus; however, when it came to a decision, Brutus decided to kill his best friend to "save" Rome.  Try to put yourself in Brutus' shoes.  Your best friend has told you a deep dark secret, one that may cost the lives of many people.  You aren't sure if they will actually do it; however, if they do, how do you think that might make you feel if you didn't do anything to stop it?   If you turn your friend in, and they weren't going to do anything, could you live with losing that friendship forever?  What would guide your decision on this: your logic (thoughts) or your emotions (feelings)? When making decisions, should we follow our heads or our hearts?  Now, think about how you would feel making a decision...how do you think Brutus was feeling when making and then finally deciding to kill Julius Caesar.

 

May 21

John Steinbeck addresses several themes in his novel Of Mice and Men.  These include, but are not limited to, the ideas of loneliness, friendship, loyalty, the impossibility of the American Dream, and prejudices.  In your writing for today, discuss how each of the above themes are illustrated in Of Mice and Men.

 

 


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Last Updated: 01/28/2012 07:55 AM