MLA Tidbits

Question: What if my book, article, or other source has no printed author?  How do I include it in the Works Cited?

Answer: you begin the entry at the next available part of the citation information.  See here. 

College Things

How much does this school actually cost?

• Check out this new college cost tracker: tuitiontracker.org

• Listen to Make Me Smart:  Why is the Price of College such a Mystery? 

PSAT Test

Freshmen, here is the PSAT info. for you.

Juniors, here is the PSAT info. for you. 

What does your score mean?  Check the benchmark page here.

More Practice?

• Review Tests from the CollegeBoard here. 

• 2016 PSAT

• 2015 PSAT

Week 8

Tuesday's Homework:

1. Get Two Sources for Your Junior Research Project  (you don't need to annotate them for Thursday, just locate them and write down with information and notes you can).  You will be reading over your sources in the coming nights for homework, so you begin reading as soon as you find something interesting.
2. Finish the Gawain Video by the end of the week. 

While I'm Away

Hi students,

Remember, you have three tasks:

1. Submit your story to the contest by this Sunday.  
• Carefully follow the instructions for Young Writers Contest you will find at that link.  Obviously, if you are mailing it, you would need to send it by Friday. 
•  Otherwise, submit electronically or hand deliver it with the contest form filled out. 
• Delete the heading info. from your story (like my name and the class). 
• Make sure you have a cool title. 
2. Finish Reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 
3. Answer all questions I gave you (reading journal).  If you lose it, you can see/reprint it here.   These are due next Tuesday. 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

 Due Tuesday, Oct 2 (some will have to be done at home as you need to follow links). 

1.  Read and annotate Sir Gawain the Green Knight by Friday evening. 

2.  Answer These Questions as a 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Reading Response Journal

1. Why does Gawain wish to take on the Green Knight, initially?
2. What is important about the number five in this poem?
3. What do you think the hunting scenes may symbolize?
4. How does he show himself a good knight? 
5. How does Gawain sin?  What is his punishment?  How do other knights and ladies react to his punishment?
6. In the end, who do we learn is behind all this drama?  What was the original intent of this person? 
7. Why do you think the wild knight is green; why might that color be fitting or symbolic? 
8. Find the most beautiful line or set of lines you notice, copy them out, and explain what makes them rich. 

Week 5

Hi everyone,

Your lesson plans are now in one link on the left side of the blog under "The Course."

Some students had a hard time distinguishing the weeks with all the posts on the main page and then had trouble finding things if they were no longer showing up on the main page.  This way, there is a full page break between weeks and one document goes all the way back to the first day of class, which should be easier to follow.

Thank you,

Mr. S

Promptings

Please write a personal journal entry as if the date were Sept. 20, 2030. (St. Mary’s College, MD.)

What is your favorite word, and why? (University of Virginia)

Other College Prompts

 

 

Humanities V, Week 4

Tuesday, Sept. 4

• Fix Grammar
• Recite
• Session 1: Review Beowulf
• Continue Beowulf

• Session 2:
• Writing: Young Writers Contest
• Rough Draft Hand Written (five to ten pages; due Sept. 11)
• Final Draft Typed (four to eight pages; due Sept. 18)
• 2,100 Word Limit (roughly eight pages if typed and double-spaced) 
• Many of my students have won writing awards; I hope you triumph, and I can add you to our roll of writers! 
• Submit your story to Bookshop Santa Cruz by Sept. 30 (online or mailed in).  
• If you place or get honorable mention, you will earn extra class credit.  

• Session 3: 
• Writing: Begin Your Story
• Reading: Continue Beowulf

HW: Finish Reading and Annotating Beowulf


_____________

Thursday, Sept. 6

• Creative Writing:
• The Basics of Plot 
• Work on Thy Story

• Beowulf 

HW: Journal 5: Beowulf's Concluding Scenes

_____________

Friday, Sept. 7

• Session 1: Review Beowulf.  Work on your Story.

HW: RD of Your Creative Writing Story is Due On Tuesday (five to ten pages, handwritten)

Humanities V, Quiz 1

Humanities V, Quiz 1

Please answer in complete sentences; some answers will require more than one sentence.

1.  Who was the first English poet, and what famous poem did he compose/recite?

2.  What conflict is in the heart of the seafarer?  

3.  What is wyrd and what concept is placed in tension with wyrd in Beowulf?

4.  About what time was Beowulf composed, and what genre do we place it under?

5.  How do you know if you have composed a good thesis for an essay (you may give me the definition of a 
good thesis or explain the three words we used to define a good thesis)?

6.  One paragraph: Describe the key elements of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

7.  One paragraph: Explain two key concepts that a prince should have learned from Beowulf thus far.

Week 3

Tuesday, 8/28

• Beowulf
• Review Answers
• Begin

HW: 

• Due Thursday
• Read and Annotate Through Line 1250
• Journal 4: Beowulf and Grendel
1. What advantage does Beowulf have over other combatants against Grendel?   Why could no other man prevail against Grendel? 
2. What does Grendel leave behind when he flees? 
3. What four treasures does Beowulf receive?  What were the eight added to this? 
4. What should the prince have learned so far in the tale (lines 1057 ff).
5. What purposes could the minstrel's songs about Sigemund and the dragon serve? 

• Thesis Class
• Due Fri: Three thesis statements of varying qualities for your junior project. 

 ------------------------------------------

Thursday, 8/30

• Continue Beowulf 
• More background notes
• Read and Annotate Next Handout Section

 HW: Study for the Quiz

 ------------------------------------------

Friday, 8/31

• Quiz 1
• Readings
• "Caedomon's Hymn" (not yet memorized, though)
• "The Seafarer"
• Beowulf
• Terms and Notes
• Thesis Review
•  Reading
• Note: we didn't get to the creative writing yet, so we're just reading and annotating for homework. No written work beside annotation will be due on Tuesday.

HW:  Read and Annotate Beowulf through line 2,164

• A review of what you're reading in case you feel lost: After the battle with Grendel's mother, Hrothgar presents more gifts to the mighty warrior; Beowulf and his men return to Hygelac, their king and king of the Geats, in southern Sweden; there Beowulf presents gifts to king Hygelac and rehearses the story of their adventures. 

Week 2

 Tuesday

• More Riddles!
• Journal 2: Compose your own riddle (you may compose more than one). 
• "Cædmon's Hymn"
• The story of our first English poet. 
• Notes on Anglo-Saxon Poetry
• Alliteration
• Kenning
• Stich, hemistich, caesura

 HW:

• Finish Journal 2 (Riddles)
• Hand copy "Cædmon's Hymn".  Put it in the quiz/test section of our binder.

Thursday

• Fix Grammar
• Recite
• Announce blog and grades
• Tell us your Riddle
• "The Seafarer"

• Bewoulf's Background
• Basic History of England
• Terms 
• Begin Reading/Hearing
• Return Thesis Papers

HW: Thesis Research


Friday 

• Fix Grammar
• Recite
• Beowulf begins!
• If extra time:
• Forming a Thesis
• Thesis Project Work

HW Due Tue of Week 3 (next time week meet):

• Read and annotate all the Beowulf pages handed out in class. 

• Journal 3: Opening 600 Lines of Beowulf.
• What was wrong at Heorot? What caused this problem?
• Why was Grendel so angry? 
• Where is Beowulf's strength greatest? 
• Does Beowulf boast?  Is this wrong?
• How does Unferth reply to Beowulf's self-assessment?

Junior Humanities: Week 1

St. George - Patron Saint of Angle-land

* Opening

• Welcome!

* Pray


Thursday

• Junior Humanities Syllabus
• "Marginalia: How Should We Read?"

Friday

• Literary History in Boxes
• Old English to Modern English Reviewed
• English Rulers 

• Anglo-Saxon Riddles 

HW: 

• Get a binder and set it up according to the syllabus.
• Have your parents sign the syllabus and put the syllabus first in your binder. 
• Fill out the Thesis Questionnaire