Welcome Class of 2013!

I hope you had a WONDERFUL summer and are ready to buckle down and prepare for what will be a very exciting and important year of your life. We definitely have a lot of work to do: writing college letters, taking college placement tests, and for some of us choosing where we want to go and what we want to do. Our main goal, is to get you on track to the destination of your choice: college, work, military.

First, let's read through the course outline:

Please finish the following two tasks by Friday:

1. Open a Google Docs Account

Directions for setting up a Google Account for: Blogger and Google Docs, etc.
*Go to Google
*sign in if you have an account
*If you "Don't have a Google Account?" Create an account now
*type in your primary email address (if you don't have one, see me)
*create a password for yourself (something easy to remember)
*accept terms
*Your account is not active until you go into the email account you provided and open the email from Google verifying your address

*this cannot be done at school because of email restrictions---if you have no access to the internet outside of school, see me.


I need you to have an active Google Account by Friday or the beginning of next week at the latest. This is how I prefer to get your work.

2. Post a message to me on the blog page

Directions for posting a message:

*At the bottom of my post it says "Comments"
*Click on it and type your message in the box (Hi Mrs. C!, Nice to meet you etc.)
*Please identify yourself in the post with your initials and class period
*If you are not signed in, sign into your Google Account and click "Publish your comment"

***Note: for responses, it is best to type in Microsoft Word and copy and paste into the post, because there is not a spelling/grammar check available.

What we have read in the unit so far...

Items read in And Justice for All so far... 1. "justice" poem 2. "Innocent...Must I Die" letter 3. "This Isn't Kiddy Court" article 4. "Words" short story 5. "The Quality of Mercy" folk-tale 6. "Someone Who Saw" short story 7. "Crossing the Line" article ***all are available in the online version of the textbook linked in the previous post

And Justice For All.....Full-text online!!!

Here is a link to the entire textbook And Justice for All.... that we have been using for our justice unit.

How to Make an Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. * Summarize: What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? Include min. 2 quotes. * Assess: Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source? * Reflect: How does it fit into your research? Was it helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

How to Self-Edit Your Research Paper....

When you are finished writing your rough draft, please do the following things to check your work: 1. Underline the thesis statement 2. Star the main ideas 3. Highlight in one color the textual evidence/support from the articles that you used 4. Highlight in another color your analysis and explanation (your brain) *If you are typing and emailing, you can change the colors of the fonts like I did in class

How to write a literary response to poetry--Copy the outline please!!!!!!!!!

(Note: These do not have to be in this specific order, just criteria that must be present somewhere)
1. Title and author of the poem (titles of poems go in quotes)
2. Summarize the poem in a few sentences. Attempt to give a brief analysis of the: subject, occasion, audience(s), purpose(s), speaker, tone, and major theme(S).
3. Make an attempt to analyze the poem's structure and type as well as rhyme, meter, etc.
4. Identify, give examples, and analyze any literary elements and techniques that you can find and the author's purpose in using them
5. Your personal response to the poem (how it affected you or how you reacted to it)
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MAKE SURE YOU ARE USING SPECIFIC TEXTUAL EVIDENCE--WORDS/LINES IN QUOTATION MARKS AND LINE NUMBERS IN YOUR ANSWER!!! USE THEM IN A SENTENCE---DO NOT CITE THEM AS INDEPENDENT SENTENCES!!!!
EX: This can be seen from the line, "shoulder-high, we bring you home" (6) because in a funeral, it is custom for the deceased's closest friends to carry the casket. The speaker plays an ironic part in this poem, seeing life ended early as a great and lucky thing. The speaker views an early death as an escape from seeing his accomplishments forgotten and faded. The line "And early though the laurel grows/ It withers quicker than the rose."(

Assignments for "To An Athlete Dying Young" by A.E. Housman

(An online version of this poem is available as a link on the left)
"To an Athlete Dying Young", by A. E. Housman, allows the reader to view an early death as an escape from seeing your life's glory slowly fade away and become forgotten, instead of something that is to be mourned.

*Answer and post these questions with a partner. Since there will be 2 of you, I expect you to talk it out and produce quality answers. Remember, identify yourself using your initials and class period. Also, make sure you type in Word and spell/grammar check before you post please.

Interpret and explain the significance of the following lines:
1."shoulder-high, we bring you home" (6) (see the 2 photos above)
2."And early though the laurel grows/ It withers quicker than the rose."(11-12)
3."Now you will not swell the rout/ Of lads that wore their honors out,/ Runners whom renown outran/ And the name died before the man." (17-20)

What literary element is being used in the following lines and what is its purpose?:
4."Eyes the shady night has shut" (13) and "After earth as stopped the ears" (16).

Answer the questions below as thoroughly as you can using evidence from the poem to support your answers whenever possible:
5. In the lines:"The time you won your town the race/ We chaired you through the market-place;/ Man and boy stood cheering by,/ And home we brought you shoulder-high" the speaker talks about the athlete as if he is still alive? (this is called apostrophe) Why do you think this is?

6. In your opinion, when Housman calls him a "smart man" (9), does he mean that the young athlete killed himself? Or does he simply mean that he died of an illness, an accident, a crime, or war?

7. Is Housman right? Are those who accomplish a great deal and die at a young age remembered? Or is it those who live a long life of accomplishment that remain in our/the public's memories?
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If you finish, read the article link to left "Remembering Len Bias" and complete the following response based on his life and early death:
1. Who was he and what happened to him?
2. How can his life and death be related to the Houseman poem, "To An Athlete Dying Young"? Do you think this is the type of person the author was writing about?