Short Answer Responses & Sophocles' Antigone (Theme, Day One)

Below is today's presentation. Homework on the last slide. Enjoy!

Connecting to Conflict/Contrast to Theme

Today's presentation on connecting contrast/conflict in a novel/story to thematic subjects is below. Check it out!

Direct/Indirect Characterization

Relive the two-day presentation on Direct and Indirect Characterization. Good times.

Meet Maggie Stiefvater

Over the summer I posted links to free audiobooks, one of which was Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys

This post is primarily for students who I had last year (since they'd have known about the blog), but even if you're new, please keep reading. Author, Maggie Stiefvater will be at the Northwest Highway Half Price Books (5803 E. Northwest Hwy., just past Central) on Wednesday, Sept. 25. at 7pm. If you'd like to meet her, you'll need a HPB receipt for one of Stiefvater's books; but, hey, they're half price!

Details for this and other events at the NW Hwy. location can be found here. Check it out!

Summarization (Powerpoint)

Below is today's assignment on summarization. Enjoy!

Homework: Topic Sentences

Go through the Chabon "Keynote" and underline/highlight the topic sentence of each paragraph. (Every other sentence in the paragraph should relate back to/support the topic sentence.) If a paragraph has one sentence, finding the topic sentence is very easy. (Hint: the topic sentence is often (not always, but often) the first sentence in the paragraph.)

Here's and example:

By the wide world, for at least the first forty years of their existence, comics were universally branded as juvenile. They were the ultimate greasy kids’ stuff. They were viewed as the literary equivalent of bubblegum cards, meant to be poked into the spokes of a young mind where they would produce a satisfying—but entirely bogus—rumble of pleasure.

The second two sentences support the idea of the first; they explain what he means by juvenile.

Due: 12 Sept 2013

No Powerpoint Today

Due to unacceptable behavior of one of my classes, I cannot provide today's presentation online. If you were absent, please email me and I'll send you a copy.

Thank you for your understanding.

—Mr. Mikesell

Prosody, Rhyme and Other Poetry Details

Below is today's presentation. Get notes on Iambic Pentameter, Blank Verse and Free Verse from a friend.

"Boundless Writing" eBook for Kindle

Amazon is offering free downloads of a Kindle version of Boundless Writing. This is a college-level textbook that covers much more about successful essay writing than I'll have time to teach you for a while. Some of it may be over your head right now, but that's how you grow.

You'll need a Kindle app for your portable device or computer in order to download/read the text, but those are free, too.

Text and Graphics (Powerpoint)

It doesn't have everything we talked about in class, but it has a bit. Enjoy! Here are links to some of the things mentioned in the PowerPoint:

• Video of "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone"
• Video of "Kiss Me"
• Full text of Tennyson's "Ulysses"

Character Development/Literary Analysis (Powerpoint)

The presentation below contains the class notes and examples from our discussion about character development and how to analyze the connotations of literary devices to reveal character growth.

Summer Assignment Thesis Paragraph Generator

Consider using the following as a thesis paragraph for your Summer Assignment essay.

If you are going to defend or challenge Mr. Hickey's assertion, use this template:

Mr. Hickey, author of "Why I Hate Ender's Game," is choose a thesiscorrectincorrect when he claims that "[n]obody ever grows or changes during the course of [the novel]." This becomes clear when you look at Card's use of choose a literary devicemetaphorallusiontonesimileanaphoraparadox when considering choose a characterEnderValentinePeterGraffBernardAlai .

If you are going to qualify Mr. Hickey's assertion, use this template:

Mr. Hickey, author of "Why I Hate Ender's Game," is partially correct when he claims that "[n]obody ever grows or changes during the course of [the novel]." This becomes clear when you look at how Card's use of choose a literary devicemetaphorallusiontonesimileanaphoraparadox when considering choose a characterEnderValentinePeterGraffBernardAlai shows a lack of character development, but on the other hand, how his use of choose same literary devicemetaphorallusiontonesimileanaphoraparadox does show some development of choose a secondary characterGraffBernardAlaiRackhamPetraBonzo .

Feel free to use the exact wording, punctuation, spelling, grammar, etc., above. You may choose other characters or other literary devices if you prefer.

Embedding Evidence (Powerpoint)

Took me a while to figure out Google's changes to their publishing system, so we're a day behind. If you missed Wednesday in class, here's what we did. (Don't skip the bellringer.)

Ender’s Game: Vocabulary 1

If you missed class on Sept. 5th, use a dictionary to identify the proper definition for each word. The sentences from Chapter 10 where the vocabulary words appear is provided at the bottom of the page. Use context clues from the text to help you arrive at the proper definition. Do not use part of the vocabulary word in its definition (e.g., “In an adroit manner” is not an acceptable definition for “Adroitly.” Look up the definition of “Adroit” and incorporate it into the definition.)

Adroitly (adv):

Celebrated (adj):

Concession (n):

Deft (adj):

Elimination (n):

Equivalent (n):

Impression (n):

Milling (part):

Prestigious (adj):

Quarters (n):

Shored (v):

…and his evening practices had become the most prestigious group in the school. (p. 155)

Anderson took him first to his new quarters. (p. 155)

Now that he’d got quite deft at maneuvering without [a hook], here he was. (p. 156)

We’ve assembled an army by advancing the equivalent of an entire launch course early…. (p. 156)

It was how commanders always shored up their weak points…. (p. 157)

They were there already, milling around near the entrance. (p. 157)

Some he didn’t even recognize, they had made so little impression. (p. 158)

They recognized Ender, … the most celebrated soldier in the school. (p. 158)

Ender tried to decide whether to like the little kid for refusing to take a concession or to be annoyed at his insubordinate attitude. (p. 159)

The only process you’ve mastered is the process of elimination. (p. 160)

The littlest kid … was the first to arrive at the correct wall, and he caught himself adroitly. (p. 160)

Allusion analysis: Ender's Game, Chapter 7

Read the following excerpt from Chapter 7 of Ender's Game (it's the opening dialogue scene), then answer the question below:

"Isn't it nice to know that Ender can do the impossible?"

"The player's deaths have always been sickening. I've always thought the Giant's Drink was the most perverted part of the whole mind game, but going for the eye like that--this is the one we want to put in command of our fleets?"

"What matters is that he won the game that couldn't be won."

"I suppose you'll move him now."

"We were waiting to see how he handled the thing with Bernard. He handled it perfectly."

"So as soon as he can cope with a situation, you move him to one he can't cope with. Doesn't he get any rest?"

"He'll have a month or two, maybe three, with his launch group. That's really quite a long time in a child's life."

"Does it ever seem to you that these boys aren't children? I look at what they do, the way they talk, and they don't seem like little kids."

"They're the most brilliant children in the world, each in his own way."

"But shouldn't they still act like children? They aren't normal. They act like--history. Napoleon and Wellington. Caesar and Brutus." [emphasis added]

"We're trying to save the world, not heal the wounded heart. You're too compassionate."

"General Levy has no pity for anyone. All the videos say so. But don't hurt this boy."

"Are you joking?"

"I mean, don't hurt him more than you have to."

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After Researching/Googling/Bing-ing "The Battle of Waterloo" and "Marcus Junius Brutus," hypothesize what the allusions might foreshadow in the novel.