Tuesday, 9/30

* Open
  • agere--act
  • amphi, ambi--around, both sides
  • ante--before
*Turn in your short stories
  • Did you submit them to turnitin.com?
* PSAT Section 3

* Take notes in your composition book: What evidence from The Hobbit would you use to answer the Beautiful, Good, and True questions?

HW: Review Tolkien for your Group Work

Tue.--Thurs. Schedule

Themes

Homecoming Dress-up days:
Monday: Theme Dress up Day
Tuesday: Country vs. Rock
Wednesday: PJ Day
Thursday: Would you be my friend if I wore this?
Friday: Blue and White Day

Monday, 9/29/14

* Open
  • Prefixes:
  • a, an                          not                            amoral, anachronism (not Anabaptist)
  • ab, abs, a
  • ad 
* PSAT

* Short Story

HW: Print and Submit your Short Story

Block Day, 9/25-9/26

* Open
  • Prefixes
    • mittere, mitto -- send
    • mono -- one, single
    • mortis -- death
  • Grammar
    • Compose and fix two examples of a fused sentence and two examples of a comma splice (four sentences total).  This time, each sentence needs to include a word that features one of today's prefixes. 
 * Peer Edit
  • Please answer these questions for two or more stories today
    • Does this story open in an interesting way?  What makes it interesting?  What might be improved?
    • Can you identify with the protagonist?  Do you find the main character interesting?
    • Who or what is the antagonist? 
    • Where is the climax in this story?
    • What suggestions can you give this writer to improve this story?
    • What do you like the most about this story?

* PSAT

HW: Finish reading The Hobbit

Tuesday and Wednesday, 9/23--9/24

* Open
  • Prefixes
    • Mania—obsession
    • Meter—measure
    • Micro—small
  • Terms
    • Protagonist: the main character in a narrative (originally, the main character in a Greek tragedy)
    • Antagonist: character, force (such as nature), or other obstacle opposing the goal of the main character
* Review dynamic and static characters.

* Journal Review

* Working on Your Short Story
  • Identify a protagonist; think of people you actually know.  Change them up a wee bit. 
  • Identify an antagonist (character, internal conflict, natural force, or other combination). 
  • How will you generate tension between the protagonist and the antagonist? 
  • Share ideas. 
  • Work in class. 
 More on Formatting:
HW: Work on your story.  You will need to upload it into turnitin.com by tomorrow, midnight (that means you will have some to work in class tomorrow).  Then we will peer edit on block day. 

Monday, 9/20/14

* Open
  • Prefixes
    • Locus--place
    • Macro--large
  • Terms (Two kinds of characters)
    • Dynamic characters change.
      •  Something fundamental has shifted.  Think of Bilbo Baggins. 
    • Static characters stay the same.
      • They may grow older; they may lose an arm, but they should not fundamentally change. 
* (Schwager's Classes Only: Manilla Folders)

* The Creative Writing Quarterly Assignment

* "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan; Journal 6: Characterization (each answer in two or more complete sentences)
  • What are the two kinds of daughters referred to in the text? 
  • Identify and explain two dynamic characters and two static characters in this short story. 
  • Find a passage showing rather than simply telling the reading something significant about a character.  How does showing rather than telling (in this passage) produce a richer effect in the narrative? 
  • What is the thematic significance behind the musical pieces on the piano?

 HW: Work on your short story

Extra Dragons for Schwager's Students to Slay!

The incredible bat eared toad
This Toad is Attempting to Swallow a Bat.

  • Quiz
  • Then please read the following and copy the first sentence into your terms:
    • (From Dr. Wheller) Epithet: A short, poetic nickname--often in the form of an adjective or adjectival phrase--attached to the normal name. Frequently, this technique allows a poet to extend a line by a few syllables in a poetic manner that characterizes an individual or a setting within an epic poem. (1) The Homeric epithet in classical literature often includes compounds of two words such as, "fleet-footed Achilles," "Cow-eyed Hera," "Grey-eyed Athena," or "the wine-dark sea." In other cases, it appears as a phrase, such as "Odysseus the man-of-many-wiles," or whatnot. Click here for more examples. (2) The historical epithet is a descriptive phrase attached to a ruler's name. For instance, King Alfred the Great, Duke Lorenzo the Magnificent, Robert the Devil, Richard the Lionheart, and so on. (3) The generally descriptive epithet would appear in Old Norse and Germanic cultures to help distinguish individuals, thus giving us (in Njal's Saga) colorful names such as Hallbjorn Half-Troll, Ulf the Squinter, Hjorleif the Womanizer, and Ketil Flat-Nose. Do not confuse the epithet with the epitaph or epigram.

Block Day 9/18-19: Slay the Blocky Dragons!

*Open
  • Prefix
    • legis (lex) - law
    • lexis - word
    • liber - free, book
  • Grammar
    • Click here to practice identifying types of run-on sentences.
    • Choose any two of these exercise questions to correct and record in the Grammar section of your journal.  Otherwise...you're playing twenty questions.  Make sure you click for explanation now and then, especially when you find you're incorrect. 
  • Esther
  • The Creative Writing Quarterly Assignment
  • The Hobbit
    • A few discussion questions:
        • How is Tolkien using light and dark imagery as a motif?
        • How does Tolkien use the relationship with nature to show good and evil?
        • How has Bilbo grown into more of a heroic character?
        • The use of epithets is a characteristic of epic poetry. Explain what Tolkien may be trying to convey by Bilbo’s use of epithets to “name” himself. In what other ways does Bilbo remind you of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey?
      • We are passing the halfway point this week.  Let's check in on the text:
        • Chapters 6-9 briefly discussed together
        • Chapters 10 (or so) and following through the group assignment below: 
      • Groups
        • We will group ourselves according to our progress in the text.  
        • In your composition books, answer the Beautiful, Good, and True element assigned to you.  You will report back to the class.  Begin by reviewing your chapter (and perhaps chapters immediately surrounding it) in the guide provided (Google Drive). 
        • Composition: Copy down your favorite line or lines from the chapter (copy the complete sentence(s).  Describe the grammar, syntax, and compositional structure employed by the author in this work. Describe any repeating linguistic patterns you've noticed (repeated phrases or words, rhythm, rhyme, sounds).
        • Distinction: How does this author communicate specific images and abstract ideas in ways that other authors do not? Explain.  What are the key images in this chapter?  Which one is the most memorable? Why?
HW: Read through ch. 15 (one more week!)

Wednesday, 9/17: Slay the Blocky Dragons!

 * Open
  • Grammar
    • Bedford Online
      •  Go to grammatical sentences
      •  Go to part 20 (run-ons)
      •  Define the difference between a fused sentence and a comma splice
      •  Produce one example of each, and fix your two sentences.
  • Prayer and poetry
* Finish reading the book of Esther.

* Journal 5 (one page or more): Write an overview of the plot of Esther* using the key elements you learned (Exposition, Complication, Rising action, Climax, Falling action, Conclusion.)  You may list each part, insert a colon, and then discuss what part of the story you chose to fit that part and why. 
  • * Usually, book titles are underlined when handwritten or in italics when typed, but Bible books do not receive this as they are so well-known...even if they're not so well-known, actually.
 
HW: Finish Journal 5; (Schwager's class also studies for the memorization quiz)

Extended Lunch Schedule

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Tuesday, 9/16

* Open
  •  Prefix correction!
    • Please go to your note on "homo" and delete homo sapiens and hominid from the list.  Those treat homo from its homograph (wink, wink) for "man" and not for "same." You will an etymology of homo sapiens here
  • Schwager: STAR question
    • Repeat questions?
* Esther

  • Our Stories and Essays
    • Begin with the opening thoughts on setting and plot.  Take notes.  Have you ever considered a book of the Bible this way? 
    • We have three major interpretive grids to think about as we read:
      • plot
      • hero's quest
      • creation, fall, and redemption
  HW: Novel -- ch. 12

Monday, 9/15

* Open
  • Prefix
    • inter
  • Fix the punctuation, please:
    • Queen Vashti angered King Ahasuerus, now she's gone.

* The Hero's Quest (review)

* Esther
  • Our Stories and Essays
    • Begin with the opening thoughts on setting and plot.  Take notes.  Have you ever considered a book of the Bible this way? 
    • We have three major interpretive grids to think about as we read:
      • plot
      • hero's quest
      • creation, fall, and redemption
  HW: Novel -- ch. 11

Block Day: The Hero's Quest

Full Size Image
* Open
  • Grammar (please correct this in your composition book):
    • Gandalf too was liing down after doing his part in seting the fire going since Oin and Gloin had lost there tinder-boxes. (Dwarves have never taken too matches even yet.) 
 * Contests
  • You must submit one work to a contest, newspaper (local paper, Trotter included), or other literary magazine each quarter. 
  • Your offering must be something you wrote this quarter.
  • Quarter 1 Deadline: Oct. 2
* The Hero's Quest

* Discuss the Novel

HW: Finish ch. 10

Wednesday, 9/10/14

* Open
  • Grammar Opening: 
    • "I am nearly dead of [hunger] said Bilbo in a week little voice that nobody heard. That can perhaps be mended said the Lord the Eagls (122).
Term: Plot: The structure and relationship of actions and events in a literary work (Wheeler).  Some break a plot into three parts, some five (complication is part of the exposition), some six. 
  • Beginning
    • 1. Exposition
    • 2. Complication or inciting incident (the antagonist presents an obstacle to the protagonist)
    • Middle
      • 3. Rising action which features 
        • Crisis points
      • 4. Climax or ultimate crisis 
        • there may be a black moment (darkest point of the climax)
        • the protagonist may experience an epiphany, sudden realization, clarification, or anagnorisis
    •  End
      • 5. Falling action, denouement
        • resolution
      • 6. Conclusion 
        • open ending or
        • closed ending
    * Let's apply plot to The Hobbit so far.

    * Review journals together.

    * Read in class.

    HW: Read through ch. 7 (or beyond)
    (Schwager's students: Olympians and Fragments Quiz on Block Day)

    Tuesday, 9/9/14: Beautiful, Good, and True

    * Open
    • Grammar
      • Please compose a fragment...then fix it. 
    • Prefixes
      • In
      • In, Im
    • Prayer and Poem
    * Vocabulary Plan
    * BGT (Beautiful, Good, and True)

    * Journal 4: The Hobbit Beautiful, Good, and True Reading Questions
      • Today, in your journal, consider the context of The Hobbit, both of the book and its author. 
      • Using Encyclopedia Britannica, please list ten important contextual notes for the novel and author (five or more notes for each).  
        • The Hobbit 
        • Incorporate 10 vocabulary points into your journal work today
      HW: Read

      Monday, 9/8/14

      * Open
      • (Schwager: Josh and Garrett share...somehow I skipped you on block day; my apologies!)
      • Prefixes
        • Idem
        • Ideo
        • Idios
      • Please copy you memorization poem into your journal
      * Review turnitin.com.

      * Ruminate on this wonderful snippet from C. S. Lewis' Times Literary Supplement review (2 October 1937) of The Hobbit: 

      "For it must be understood that this is a children's book only in the sense that the first of many readings can be undertaken in the nursery. Alice [in Wonderland] is read gravely by children and with laughter by grown-ups; The Hobbit, on the other hand, will be funniest to its youngest readers, and only years later, at a tenth or a twentieth reading, will they begin to realise what deft scholarship and profound reflection have gone to make everything in it so ripe, so friendly, and in its own way so true. Prediction is dangerous: but The Hobbit may well prove a classic."

      * Review chapters 

      HW: Rewrites; (Schwager: Journal)

      Block Day: Tolkien, Quiz, MLA

      *Open
      • Grammar:
        • Write a corrected version of the sentence below into your notes:
        • "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit not a nastee dirty wet hole filled with the ends of worms and an ozy smell nor yet a dray bare sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat it was a hobbit-hole and that means comfort" (Tolkien 3). 
      * Quiz
      • When you finish the quiz, please begin reading from the links below on MLA and Parenthetical Citation:
      * Schwager: Fragments

      * Essay Rubric

      * Journal 3: Opening Chapters of the The Hobbit (italicized when typed and underlined when handwritten: The Hobbit)
      • How do Bilbo Baggins' shire surroundings mirror his personality in the opening chapters of the novel? 
        • Include at least one parenthetical citation. 
        • Length: One paragraph of at least five sentences
      • What do you learn about the dwarves from their treasure song?  
        • Include at least one parenthetical citation. 
        • Length: One paragraph of at least five sentences

      HW: Finish Journal 3, Continue Reading through Ch. 5

      Wednesday, 9/3/14: Fragmentation

      * Open
      • Review prefixes: dominus to homo
        • You will have a quiz on block day
      * Tolkien Assignment

      * Grammar
      • Review fragments
        • Grammatical Sentences: 19-1
          • Do a-d in groups
            • Review
          • 19-1, 1-5
      HW:Study for the prefix quiz

      Tuesday, 9/2/14: Essays

      * Open
      • Prefixes
        • Geo
        • Graph
        • Hetero
        • Homo
      • Prefix quiz on Block Day
      * Essays
      • Common Errors
      • Group Work
      • 1 Week for Rewrite
        • Typed
        • MLA Format
        • Submitted to Turnitin.com (reviewed later this week)
       HW: Work on Your Rewrite; Get Your Novel