Poe's Horror Stories

Poe is notorious for his "scary" stories and creepy tales. We will spend the rest of this week looking into Poe's creative arts and compare his writing to writing of his time.

Together, we will read:
"The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Seven Ages of Man" by William Shakespeare

Be sure to complete the assignments on the Week Assignment Sheet and the Halloween Independent Reading to finish up all the Poe unit work!

If you are still interested in more texts related to Edgar Allan Poe, consider reading:

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe

"My Favorite Murder" by Ambrose Bierce

"The Blind Men and the Elephant" by John Godfrey Saxe

If you'd like to watch a twist on the "scary mood" of Edgar Allan Poe, check out "The Raven" Cartoon-Style.

Here is a copy of all assignments:
Masque of the Red Death Chart: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByVKpn2OdpFARDJJMkpjMWRnYWs/edit?usp=sharing
Masque of the Red Death Project https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByVKpn2OdpFARDJJMkpjMWRnYWs/edit
Unreliable Narrators https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByVKpn2OdpFAQjhVMFlZNXFCUmM/edit

English IV Midterm

On Thursday, third period will take a general literary device midterm. These are elements we have looked into through all our units and should be a giant review from all the years of English/Language Arts you have had in school. Be sure you CAN succeed on this midterm--I have tried to make a test you can excel on to help pull up all those poor grades of yours. You can review with these handy websites, games, and English tools! Review to DO YOUR BEST ON THE TEST!

• Practice with the flashcards we reviewed in class!
• Use this Comprehensive List of Lit Terms and Definitions.
• Take this mini-quiz as another "refresher" of literary terms!
• Sift through PowerPoints and "Hint" Pages for how to take standardized tests!
• Check out the Basics of Literary Elements. There are several review games near the bottom of the page.
• Practice with Scholastic Worksheets.
• Or, find your own resources with this Library Reference List that will direct you to books and other resources!

Halloween Independent Reading

It’s time for our favorite spooky, creepy, and imaginative time of year: HALLOWEEN! To celebrate, our Independent Reading will be chosen from two magnificently scary authors, Edgar Allan Poe (Eng III) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Eng IV).

Once you choose a short story by your course’s author, you may choose to EITHER (1) complete the assignment below OR (2) complete a typical Reading Log with Creative Role, Research, and Log. Both choices will STILL REQUIRE you to complete a Vocab Mini Project, as found on the blog.

Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories:

http://poestories.com/stories.php

http://www.americanliterature.com/author/edgar-allen-poe/bio-books-stories

http://www.online-literature.com/poe/

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Short Stories:

http://www.online-literature.com/doyle/

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgi-bin/read_db.pl?search_field=author_id&search_for=ArthurConanDoyle&order_by=author_id,title&page=1

Create a visual representation of the plot using the plot diagram that you have known since elementary school. I want you to take this basic literature analysis tool and expound upon it to create a high-school-level interpretation and presentation of your short story. This means that I will be looking for AT LEAST the following elements to be added to your plot diagram storyboard:

• 30 points: Each of the categories found in adjacent picture in legible and detailed accuracy

• 25 points: Identify AT LEAST FIVE literary devices used in the short story by creating a flipbook to go along with your plot storyboard. Each device should have a definition, an example from the text, AND one to three sentences explaining the device’s use in the story.

• 20 points: Images, film clips, sound recordings, or drawings to represent the plot for each moment of action on the chart

• 15 points: Five-question quiz for your classmates to complete. Must be typed. Put two quizzes on one page, please.

• 10 points: Presentation to the class over Halloween Week

Reminder to All Seniors!

Bring your Rough Draft and any other steps of the research process as we peer edit and use computers tomorrow in class!

MB Act I: Setting Mood

The first Act of Macbeth introduces some interesting characters and scenes. Notice already the motifs of darkness, strange omens, and epic foreshadowing that you can connect throughout the rest of the play. We will track these connections through analysis and summary of quotes by characters throughout the play. The first Character Quotes sheet is due at the end of the unit on test day.

We have begun to track paradoxes in the first scene. Think about how these establish a theme and particular motif in the play.

We will watch these three versions of Act I.i and compare director's choices for how to present Shakespeare's words in a real-life enactment.


The following handouts will be completed by the end of Act I and are due on Wednesday.

• Act I.iii
• Act I.vi

Translating Shakespeare's Language

The Three Little Pigs: Shakespearean Style (Branyan)

Today in 3rd Period, we looked into decoding Shakespeare's language into our everyday words. Shakespeare really had over 5,400+ words in his vocabulary because he was one of the elite educated. Now that everyone is educated and uses written words in everyday life (think facebook and twitter), we are down to 3,000+ words.

However, some of Shakespeare's words have made it in tact to our modern era. These phrases are used in our daily life without many of us ever knowing! Check out this massive list for a few! Definitely fun to see how many YOU use!

We used the following chart to look at translations of Shakespeare into modern language and phrases.

How to Create a Killer Hook and Thesis

Your introduction paragraph sets the stage for the rest of your paper. This first look needs to be EXCITING and INTRIGUING so your readers will want to continue reading all the rest of your hard-work-sweat-and-tears-on-paper. So here are some protips that can help.

From Mrs. Dawn Curle, think of your thesis as a first kiss with someone. You aren't just going to run up to someone and place a smooch on his or her lips! You've got to woo him, to charm her, to engage his or her interest first! So, think this way:

• Hook: This is your chance to charm, woo, and excite. This should be some hinting at great things to come in your paper through fascinating details that don't fit into any other paragraph, a brief anecdote, or otherwise envisioning the awesomeness to come.
• Thesis: This is where you seal the deal. The thesis is your main idea with indicators of where you are going to stop along the way. Follow the format on this handout to make writing your thesis easier than stealing a kiss from a baby.

If this doesn't illustrate what you should achieve with your introduction paragraph, check out some of these great sites and resources:

• Writing Main Idea, Thesis Statement, and Topic Sentences
• What is a Thesis Statement?
• How do I write a Thesis Statement?

Eng IV: TEST TOMORROW!!!!

Study all of the handouts you have received for this unit. These are the following handouts you should study:

• Seven Deadly Sins
• The Pardoner's Tale
• Canterbury Tales Character Chart Introduction
• Work analyzing political cartoons for SOCIAL COMMENTARY (not a handout)
• what is the issue?
• what is the author's opinion?
• how do you know?

If you check through the Canterbury Tales tag on the blog, you can review and watch videos to help your studying!

Social Commentary

In order to look at the social commentary of the Canterbury Tales' medieval era, we first looked at political cartoons of our modern era for social commentary. Here are the cartoons we looked at today with a few bonus slides for practice in case you see these questions again. We will continue to share and analyze our own creations in class tomorrow! Enjoy!