California Dreamin'

How did your family come to California? Have they always been here? Do you go back generations here? Compare your family to the Trasks and the Hamiltons. What kinds of people come to California?

MLA Tips

Go to this link.

Answer these questions:

1. Under the section "When to Cite" it makes reference to "common knowledge." What do you think would be an example of "common knowledge?"

2. How do you cite something without an author?

3. What do you do for an online source that doesn't have a page number?

Annotated Bibliography

Write an Annotated Bibliography for five of your sources. See this link for how to make one.

Due by the end of the period. 50 points.

Starting Research

If you have a San Jose Public Library card, go to this site.

If you don't have a library account, use Google Advanced Search with .edu and .gov

Play around with the sites. You have the next two days to do research on your interview subject.

You may also find this site helpful for MLA rules

Citation Machine is good too.

Save your articles in a folder. Make sure to save all of the citation information as well. Start to read the articles and take notes on some information you can use.

American Exceptionalism

Are Americans unique? Or is it just propaganda we're fed all our lives? If you were to line up people from many different countries, could you pick out an American? What does East of Eden tell us about the experience of being an American?

John Steinbeck

Answer these questions as you watch the film about Steinbeck. Information about these questions is throughout the film.

1. What is his relationship to where he grew up?

2. Why was he controversial?

3. What is his relationship to the natural world?

4. What kind of people did he like writing about?

5. How did events in America and the world affect his writing?

Timshel

Read the end of Section 2 in Chapter 24 about the concept of Timshel or "Thou Mayest." How does this connect to the topic of Cain and Abel that runs throughout East of Eden? How does the idea of Timshel affect Adam and the other characters?

Free-Thinkers Are a Government's Worst Enemy

In Inherit the Wind, Drummond argues that he is defending Cates' right to think for himself. What other books have we read this year that deal with the right to think freely? Compare and contrast these books with the play.

Reflection on Envelope Prediction

Open your envelope from a few weeks ago. Was your prediction about the story and the characters correct? What surprises did the book have in store for you?

William Carlos Williams- The Imagists

Find three poems by William Carlos Williams: "The Red Wheelbarrow," "This is Just to Say," and "The Great Figure."

Copy and paste them into your blog. What do you notice about these poems? Is this poetry? Why or why not?

Reflection on Teaching Experience

What did you learn from teaching the class? What went well? What could you improve on?

Relationship of Huck and Jim

What are the important moments of Huck and Jim's friendship mentioned in the video? How does their relationship evolve?

Savoring Powerful Language

Excerpt from Jerry Spinelli's Maniac McGee:

"They say Maniac McGee was born in a dump. They say his stomach was a cereal box and his heart a sofa spring. They say he kept an eight-inch cockroach on a leash and that rats stood guard over him while he slept. They say if he was coming and you sprinkled salt on the ground and he ran over it, within two or three blocks he would be as slow as everybody else. They say. What's true? What's myth? It's hard to know .... But that's OK. Because the history of a kid is one part fact, two parts legend and three parts snowball. And if you want to know what it was like back when Maniac McGee roamed these parts, well, just run your hand under your movie seat and be very, very careful not to let the facts get mixed up with the truth."

How did the language strike you?

Start your meeting today by looking for some passages of great language in your book. Each member find one section and read it aloud to the group. Talk a little bit about each section. What makes the language special, beautiful, or powerful? When you're done, pick one passage to record in Photo Booth. Put the video of the passage in the drop box.

Year Long Project- Next Step

Meet with your group. Brainstorm some ideas on who you could bring in as a public speaker about your topic. Secondly, brainstorm about where we could go on a field trip related to your topic.

You have two weeks to set up a date for the public speaker and write a proposal for a field trip. The class will vote on the best field trip, and we will go on it. Give me a few options on the public speaker dates, so I can organize everyone.

New Version of Huck Finn

Read this article about a new version of Huck Finn. Do you agree or disagree with the writer's point of view?

Watch Born into Trouble. Have the ideas of the movie influenced you at all?

Great Student Writing

Go to this link

Click on Short Story Samples. These are some examples of great writing from your classmates for the short story assignment. Read each sample. What makes the writing skillful?

Reflect on your own writing a little. What are some of the writing assignments we did first semester? What assignment was your favorite? Is your writing improving? How can you improve it?