Endless Stops

Video by Kevin T 5, Quan T 6, Simon M 6.

In case you are interested in Ed Sanders

Thursday, December 13

9 pm

Ed Sanders

Squawk Coffeehouse

1555 Mass. Ave.

(at Harvard/Epworth Church)

Cambridge

$5.00 + donation for feature

Winter Break Assignment

due: Friday, January 4th, 2008

Choose one of the following three books to read:

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. This is a wonderful read and great for winter break, especially living here in New England. There are moments that I actually laughed out loud when reading this book. It is long, but goes quickly. I can provide you with a copy of this book before you leave for break if this is what you choose.

Charlie Wilson's War, by George Crile. One of the most amazing books I've ever read. A non-fiction book (though it's hard to believe at times since the story is so captivating, intense, literally unbelievable at times, and well written), I was blown away to see that it is coming out as a movie over break. Anyway, if you have any interest in journalistic books, history (especially of the Middle East or American politics), the CIA, the 1980s, or just love reading a great story--you'll want to get yourself a copy. I will not be able to provide you with one.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. Yes, it is as good as The Kite Runner, (enough said) though much different. It is only out in hardback, but is worth it. You will need to find your own copy.

You will have an in-class writing assignment on January 4th. You will need to know the book inside-an-out to complete assignment effectively. I will have a separate writing prompt, probably based on an important passage in the last third of the book, that asks you to write about the passage's significance to the rest of the work. You will be able to use your book and any notes or post-its the day of the writing assignment.

If anyone wants to, you have the option to replace the fourth vocab quiz with reading two of the three choices. I will just ask that you have a conversation with me about the extra book to make sure you read it. (No writing assignment needed.)

Please post your choice in the comment stream before break so I know what to prepare for. Thank you.

Passage Explication Assignment—James Joyce Period 6

For this Essay on James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, you need to combine two passage explications to create an original thesis.

• Your paper should be about your strand. This should be the title of the paper.
• One passage needs to be from chapter 1 and one passage needs to be from chapter 2.
• One passage needs to be something we have not covered in class.
• This should be 4-6 pages, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman.
• Please post on the blog on Monday. Leave spaces between paragraphs for formatting.

Reminder to read the handout on passage explications and go through this process.

A passage explication is an essay that takes apart the pieces of a prose passage to demonstrate how it creates meaning – its main question can be reduced to the simple idea of “What does the passage mean? What is its purpose? How does it create that meaning and achieve its purpose? How does it fit in with the rest of the text (if available)?

Due Monday, December 10th, between 7a.m. and 7p.m.
Period 6 Post here. Period 6 Post here. Period 6 Post here.

Passage Explication Assignment—James Joyce Period 5

For this Essay on James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, you need to combine two passage explications to create an original thesis.

• Your paper should be about your strand. This should be the title of the paper.


• One passage needs to be from chapter 1 and one passage needs to be from chapter 2.


• One passage needs to be something we have not covered in class.


• This should be 4-6 pages, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman.


• Please post on the blog on Monday. Leave spaces between paragraphs for formatting.
  

Reminder to read the handout on passage explications and go through this process.

A passage explication is an essay that takes apart the pieces of a prose passage to demonstrate how it creates meaning – its main question can be reduced to the simple idea of “What does the passage mean? What is its purpose? How does it create that meaning and achieve its purpose? How does it fit in with the rest of the text (if available)?”

Due Monday, December 10th, between 7a.m. and 7p.m.

Period 5 Post here. Period 5 Post here. Period 5 Post here.