Scarlet Letter #6

1. Summarize what just happened in Chapter 23.
2.  As we've almost finished reading The Scarlet Letter, whose side are you on?  Do you side with the people who think that Hester must pay and wear the Scarlet letter?  Or do you side with Hester? 

Scarlet Letter Post #5

"I do forgive you, Hester," replied the minister, at length, with a deep utterance, out of an abyss of sadness, but no anger.  "I freely forgive you now. May God forgive us both!  We are not Hester, the worst sinners in the world.  There is one worse than even the most polluted priest! That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin.  He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of human heart.  Thou and I, Hester, never did so. 

For today's post explain what this excerpt means.  Who is speaking and who is he speaking about.  What does it have to do with our story in The Scarlet Letter? 

Scarlet Letter, Post #4

Pg. 153

In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was striking evidence of a man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil’s office.

Based on Chapter 14's reading, explain what the above excerpt means.  First, you will need to explain who Roger Chillingworth was when we met him and who he is now in the story.  Lastly, explain this excerpt.

Salem Witch Trials, Friday, May 20

Click here to be directed to the site to help you for today's assignment. 

Click here for information about the people involved in the Salem witch trials.

Thursday, May 19

Things to Do:
Warm Up
Finish Blog Post
Finish Review Questions

Scarlett Letter #3

Based on what you've read, explain the scaffold scene in Chapter 12 and what significance it has to the rest of the book.
Paragraph One--describe the scene and what happens.
Paragraph Two-- explain the significance to the storyline. 

Scarlet Letter, Blog Post #2

Your post today needs to explain what you think Roger Chillingworth saw at the end of Chapter 10, page 126.  Explain what he saw while the Reverend was a sleep and what you think it means.

Post #1 Scarlet Letter, Monday, May 9

MOST important among the Puritan values were a strong work ethic and devotion to God and family.  In today's blog post, argue for or against:
 Do these values (a strong work ethic, devotion to God and family) still exist in our society today?  State examples to support your point for or against.  


You might want to consider the statement below when commenting on work ethic.

United States Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate in the United States was last reported at 9.60 percent in August of 2010. From 1948 until 2010 the United States' Unemployment Rate averaged 5.70 percent reaching an historical high of 10.80 percent in November of 1982 and a record low of 2.50 percent in May of 1953. The labour force is defined as the number of people employed plus the number unemployed but seeking work. The nonlabour force includes those who are not looking for work, those who are institutionalised and those serving in the military.

Creationism

Some teachers don't feel comfortable with the Genesis story, but I use it for three reasons:
1. It's an example of a creation story, which leads into "When Grizzlies Walked Upright"
2. It focuses around Christianity which influenced a majority of early American writers
3. We use it for a little humorous discussion about what ultimately happens between Adam and Eve (even though we don't read about this), furthering our discussion of the class theme ("The Battle of the Sexes").

Genesis

To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet

To My Dear and Loving Husband

Analysis of the Love Poem by Anne Bradstreet
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence.

Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
Notes
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" was written by America’s first female poet, the Puritan, Anne Bradstreet. In fact, Anne Bradstreet is one of only a handful of female American poets during the first 200 years of America’s history. After Bradstreet, one can list only Phillis Wheatley, the 18th century black female poet, Emma Lazarus, the 19th century poet whose famous words appear on the Statue of Liberty, and the 19th century Emily Dickinson, America’s most famous female poet.
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" has several standard poetic features. One is the two line rhyme scheme. Another is the anaphora, the repetition of a phrase, in the first three lines. A third is the popular iambic pentameter, and a fourth is the use of metaphors in the middle quatrain.
Iambic pentameter is characterized by an unrhymed line with five feet or accents. Each foot contains an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable, as in "da Dah, da Dah, da Dah, da Dah, da Dah."
The first stanza presents her heartfelt feelings within a logical argument, the repeated use of if/then statements. The second stanza releases the logical argument and becomes truly heartfelt with its metaphors and religious imagery. The last stanza returns to the reasoned nature of the first stanza and concludes with a unique logical element, a paradox. Their love is so enduring that even in death it will survive, a paradox consistent with puritan theology and with great love poems.
The subject of Anne Bradstreet’s love poem is her professed love for her husband. She praises him and asks the heavens to reward him for his love. The poem is a touching display of love and affection, extraordinarily uncommon for the Puritan era of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in which Anne Bradstreet lived.
Puritan women were expected to be reserved, domestic, and subservient to their husbands. They were not expected or allowed to exhibit their wit, charm, intelligence, or passion. John Winthrop, the Massachusetts governor, once remarked that women who exercised wit or intelligence were apt to go insane.
Anne Bradstreet was born Anne Dudley in 1612 in England. She married Simon Bradstreet when she was 16 and they both sailed with her family to America in 1630. The difficult, cold voyage to America took 3 months to complete. John Winthrop was also a passenger on the trip. The voyage landed in Boston and the passengers joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The men in Anne Bradstreet’s family were managers and politicians. Both her father and her husband became Massachusetts governors. Her husband, Simon, often traveled for weeks throughout the colony as its administrator.
Anne Bradstreet’s poem, "To My Dear and Loving Husband," was written as a response to her husband’s absence.
Very little is known about Anne Bradstreet’s life in Massachusetts. There are no portraits of her, and she does not even have a grave marker. She and her family moved several times, each time further away from Boston into the frontier. Anne and Simon had 8 children during a 10 year period, and all of the children survived healthy and safe, a remarkable accomplishment considering the health risks and the security hazards of the period.
Anne Bradstreet was highly intelligent and largely self-educated. She took herself seriously as an intellectual and a poet, reading widely in history, science, art, and literature. Her library, before the house burned in 1666, numbered about 800 volumes. However, as a good Puritan woman, Bradstreet did not make her accomplishments public.
Bradstreet wrote poetry for herself, family, and friends, never meaning to publish them. Consider that her friend, Anne Hutchinson was intellectual, educated and led women’s prayer meetings where alternative religious beliefs were discussed. She was labeled a heretic and banished from the colony. Hutchinson eventually died in an Indian attack. Is it any wonder that Anne Bradstreet was hesitant to publish her poetry and call attention to herself?
Anne Bradstreet’s early poems were secretly taken by her brother-in-law to England and published in a small volume when she was 38. The volume sold well in England, but the poems were not nearly as accomplished as her later works.
Bradstreet’s later works were not published during her lifetime. Her poems about her love for her husband were private and personal, meant to be shared only with her family and friends.
Though her health was frequently a concern, especially during childbirth, Anne Bradstreet lived until 60 years of age.
The descendants of Anne and Simon Bradstreet are a remarkable list. Among them are:
Dr. William Ellery Channing - Unitarian Theologian
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. - Writer and Poet
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. - Supreme Court Justice
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. - Author
Herbert Clark Hoover - 31st President
John Forbes Kerry - U.S. Senator, Massachusetts
David Hackett Souter - Supreme Court Justice
Enjoy "To My Dear and Loving Husband," a remarkable accomplishment.

Puritan Research Project, Thursday, May 5

Puritan Research
Your Assignment is to research the following topics and answer the questions about them.  Your Research must be complied into a Power Point Presentation that can be used as notes for class.  Each student will need to have these notes for this project in his/her binder “notes” section for Friday's binder collection. 

1.  Slide One   Puritan history

1.      What was Puritanism like in England?

2.      Why did the Puritans come to the "New World"?

3.      What is the difference between a Puritan and a Pilgrim?

4.      How would Puritans view those of other faiths?

RESEARCH LINKS:

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4

2. Slide Two Puritan life

1.  What was Colonial life like?

2.  What types of clothing did the Puritans wear? How did it support their   religious views?

3.  Describe the family hierarchy and parenting.

4.  Explain the Puritan Work Ethic.

Helpful Links:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

3. Slide 3: Puritan religious beliefs
The Puritans believed that The Bible was God's True Law, and they had a harsh interpretation of the scriptures.   
1.  How did this affect their lives?

2.  What is a theocracy?

3.  What is predestination?

RESEARCH LINKS:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link4

Slide 4: Puritan punishments
1. What types of punishments were given for particular "crimes?"

2.  How were many punishments humiliating? 

3.  What was the pillory? 

RESEARCH LINKS:

Link 1

Link 2

Slide 5: Puritan Beliefs on Marriage
1. What did the Puritans believe about marriage?
2. What did the Puritans believe the purpose of Marriage was?
3. What were the Puritan rules for setting up a marriage?
4. What did the Puritans believe about divorce?
5. What is Adultery?
6. What did the Puritans believe about Adultery?

Research Links:

Puritan beliefs on Marriage

About the Puritan Belief on Adultery

The Purpose of Marriage

Slide 6: The Scarlett Letter
1. Who Wrote the Scarlett Letter and in what year?
2. What is significant about the Scarlett Letter?
3. What is the setting of the Scarlett Letter?
4. What are the major themes of the book?

Wednesday, May 4

Edward Taylor

From Prentice Hall Literature

Edward Taylor (1642-1729)

Puritanism was a religious reform movement that began in England in the sixteenth century.  The Puritans sought to reform the Church of England and to reshape English Society according to their beliefs.  These efforts led to both civil strife and government persecution of the Puritans.  In response, many Puritans, including Edward Taylor, fled to American colonies. 

            Before his emigration to America, Edward Taylor worked as a teacher in England.  Upon arriving in Boston in 1668, Taylor entered Harvard College as a sophomore graduating in 1671.  After graduation, he accepted the position of minister and physician in the small frontier farming community of Westfield, Massachusetts, and then walked more than one hundred miles, much of it through snow, to his new home. 

Harsh Life in a New World

Life in the village of Westfield was filled with hardships.  Fierce battles between Native Americans and the colonists left the community in constant fear.  In addition, Taylor experienced many personal tragedies.  Five of his eight children died in infancy; then his wife died while she was still a young woman.  He remarried and had five or six more children. 

            Edward Taylor is now regarded as the best of the North American colonial poets.  Yet, because Taylor thought of his poetry as a form of worship, he allowed only two stanzas to be published during his lifetime.  Most of Taylor’s poetry, including  “Huswifery,” uses extravagant comparisons, intellectual wit, and subtle argument to explore religious faith and affection. 

The Puritan Plain Style

The Puritans’ writing style reflected the plain style of their lives—spare, simple and straightforward.  The Puritan Plain Style is characterized by short words, direct statements, and references to ordinary, everyday objects.  Puritans believed that poetry should serve God by clearly expressing only useful or religious ideas.  Poetry appealing to the senses or emotions was viewed as dangerous.

Click Here to read "Huswifery"

 Complete the questions below on the handout given to you.

Critical Reading

1.  Respond: Huswifery means “housekeeping.” Given the title, were you surprised by the content of this poem?  Explain. 

2. Recall: To what household objects and activities is the speaker compared in the first two stanzas?  Analyze:  How do the images in the first two stanzas contribute to the idea of being “clothed in holy robes for glory,” stated in the third stanza?

 3.  Interpret:  What images in the poem may have contradicted the Puritan requirement that clothing be dark and undecorated?

Deduce: What do these images suggest about the speaker’s feelings about God?

4.  Interpret:  What details in the final two lines convey Taylor’s belief that religious grace comes as a gift from God?

Analyze:  What seems to be the poem’s overall purpose?

5.  Synthesize: What household task or process might Taylor describe if he were writing this poem today?

Blog Post #8

First Paragraph:
What is your religous background?  Does your family go to church currently?  Did they at one time? Does your family feel strongly one way or the other about The Bible?    Have you read the story of Creation in Genesis?  If it's not the first time you've read it, when have you read it before?   Do you believe the story of Genesis to be possible?
Second Paragraph:
Have you read a  myth like When Grizzlies Walked Upright?  Do you know the difference between a myth and story?  Have you heard of this story before and if so, where?  Do you think that this story is true? 

FYI: Your answers to these questions will help me know how much background information you will need regarding The Bible, myths etc.

When Grizzlies Walked Upright

When the Grizzlies Walked Upright
  Before there were people on the earth, the Chief of the Sky Spirits grew tired of his home in the Above World, because the air was always brittle with the icy cold. So he carved a hole in the sky with a stone and pushed all the snow and ice down below until he made a great mound that reached from the earth almost to the sky. Today it is known as Mount Shasta.
Then the Sky Spirit took his walking stick, stepped from a cloud to the peak, and walked down to the mountain. When he was about halfway to the valley below, he began to put his finger to the ground here and there, here and there. Wherever his finger touched, a tree grew. The snow melted in his footsteps, and the water ran down in rivers.
The Sky Spirit broke off the small end of his giant stick and threw the pieces into the rivers. The longer pieces turned into beaver and otter; the smaller pieces became fish. When the leaves dropped from the trees, he picked them up, blew upon them, and so made the birds. Then he took the big end of his giant stick and made all the animals that walked on the earth, the  biggest of which were the grizzly bears.
Now when they were first made, the bears were covered with hair and had sharp claws, just as they do today, but they walked on two feet and could talk like people. They looked so fierce that the Sky Spirit sent them away from him to live in the forest at the base of the mountain.
Pleased with what he'd done, the Chief of the Sky Spirits decided to bring his family down and live on the earth himself. The mountains of snow and ice became their lodge. He made a big fire in the center of the mountain and a hole in the top so that the smoke and sparks would fly up and the earth would tremble.
Late one spring while the Sky Spirit and his family were sitting round the fire, the Wind Spirit sent a great storm that shook the top of the mountain. It blew and blew and roared and roared. Smoke blown back into the lodge hurt their eyes, and finally the Sky Spirit said to his youngest daughter, "Climb up to the smoke hole and ask the Wind Spirit to blow more gently. Tell him I'm afraid he will blow the mountain over."
As his daughter started up, her father said, "But be careful not to stick your head out at the top. If you do, the wind may catch you by the hair and blow you away."
The girl hurried to the top of the mountain and stayed well inside the smoke hole as she spoke to the Wind Spirit. As she was about to climb back down, she remembered that her father had once said you could see the ocean from the top of their lodge. His daughter wondered what the ocean looked like, and her curiosity got the better of her. She poked her head out of the hole and turned toward the west, but before she could see anything, the Wind Spirit caught her long hair, pulled her out of the mountain, and blew her down over the snow and ice. She landed among the scrubby fir trees at the edge of the timber and snow line, her long red hair trailing over the snow.
There a grizzly bear found the little girl when he was out hunting food for his family. He carried her home with him, and his wife brought her up with their family of cubs. The little red-haired girl and the cubs ate together, played together, and grew up together.
When she became a young woman, she and the eldest son of the grizzly bears were married. In the years that followed they had many children, who were not as hairy as the grizzlies, yet did not look exactly like their spirit mother, either.
All the grizzly bears throughout the forests were so proud of these new creatures that they made a lodge for the red-haired mother and her children. They placed the lodge near Mount Shasta -- it is called Little Mount Shasta today.
After many years had passed, the mother grizzly bear knew that she would soon die. Fearing that she should ask the Chief of the Sky Spirits to forgive her for keeping his daughter, she gathered all the grizzlies at the lodge they had built. Then she sent her oldest grandson in a cloud to the top of Mount Shasta, to tell the Spirit Chief where he could find his long-lost daughter.
When the father got this news he was so glad that he came down the mountainside in great strides, melting the snow and tearing up the land under his feet. Even today his tracks can be seen in the rocky path on the south side of Mount Shasta.
As he neared the lodge, he called out, "Is this where my little daughter lives?"
He expected his child to look exactly as she had when he saw her last. When he found a grown woman instead, and learned that the strange creatures she was taking care of were his grandchildren, he became very angry. A new race had been created that was not of his making! He frowned on the old grandmother so sternly that she promptly fell down dead. Then he cursed all the grizzlies:
"Get down on your hands and knees. You have wronged me, and from this moment all of you will walk on four feet and never talk again."
He drove his grandchildren out of the lodge, put his daughter over his shoulder, and climbed back up the mountain. Never again did he come to the forest. Some say that he put out the fire in the center of his lodge and took his daughter back up to the sky to live.
Those strange creatures, his grandchildren, scattered and wandered over the earth. They were the first Indians, the ancestors of all the Indian tribes.
That's why the Indians living around Mount Shasta would never kill a grizzly bear. Whenever a grizzly killed an Indian, his body was burned on the spot. And for many years all who passed that way cast a stone there until a great pile of stones marked the place of his death.

Tuesday, April 26

The test has been postponed by one day to give you more time to finish your work on the computer.  Your Test will be tomorrow and you will not have computer time. 
Work To Do:
1.  Your Character Glogs.   Please finish working on them and post them to your blog.  Make sure your post title is called Raisin in the Sun Character Collage Glog. 
2.  You also need to finish typing your 5 paragraph essay on your American dream.  Once you have finished typing, print your essay and turn it into the 5th hour tray.
3.  Your Raisin in the Sun test over the book will be tomorrow.  Your review questions over the book need to be done.   

We will be in Mrs Baker's class without computer access.
If you are behind on your computer work, please plan to stay after to get caught up. 

Monday, April 25

Your Character Glogs are due today.  Please finish working on them and post them to your blog.  Make sure your post title is called Raisin in the Sun Character Collage Glog. 
You also need to finish typing your 5 paragraph essay on your American dream.  Once you have finished typing, print your essay and turn it into the 5th hour tray.
Your Raisin in the Sun test over the book will be tomorrow.  We will be in Mrs Baker's class without computer access.
If you are behind on your computer work, please plan to stay after tomorrow to get caught up. 

How to add a link

So to add a link, you need to push the link button and copy your glog url into the link address area.  You also need to have an area to click on. Use "Click Here" by typing it in your post, highlighting it and clicking on the word link. 


Click Here. 

The Younger family and Diamante Poems

On Tuesday, we worked with glogster.com to create glogs for our Diamante Poems.  When you are done with the poem, post it to your blog.

Warm Up, Blog Post #7

Warm Up,

Dreams

By Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Based on what you know about the Younger family, write a well written two paragraph post  that explains how this poem “Dreams” by Langston Hughes relates to each of the characters in A Raisin in the Sun.  State examples from your reading.  Who would you consider the broken-winged bird?  Who has had a dream "go" ?  How have they held fast to their dreams as a family and as individuals?

Thursday, April 14

Today's Line Up:
1.  Warm Up
2.  Read Scene 3 and take notes
3.  Blog Post

Wednesday, April 13

Today's Activities:
1.  Organize Folders
2.  Plan Test Results, Mrs Baker's Room
3.  Reading Quiz Act 2, Scene 1 and 2
4.  Reading Act 2, Scene 3

Act 2, Scene 3

At this point your essay rough draft should be complete with all 5 paragraphs written.  Tomorrow we will have your first folder collection and your rough draft will be part of it.  You will also need to have your review questions done through Act 2, Scene 2 and all other warm up and participation work completed. 


Blog Post #6
Paragraph #1
Write about a time in your life when you trusted a friend and they let you down.  How did it make you feel to be betrayed?  How has this event changed your friendship and or life? 
Paragraph #2
Do you think that our characters in A Raisin in the Sun have good friends and or relationships?  Do you think that Walter has good friends?  Explain your answer and why you think this.
Tomorrow we will be reading Act. 2, Scene 3. Reading quiz tomorrow over scene 1 and 2!

Blog Post #5, Friday, April 1

Today's blog post has to do with our Raisin in the Sun characters. In a well thought out response (minimum of two paragraphs), tell me what you think.


Was Mama's decision to buy a house outside the ghetto, the right decision? Do you agree with her? Do you think it was a good idea? Do you think it will be a good move for the family or will it be too dangerous?


You must have a topic sentence, atleast 4 supporting sentences and a clincher sentence for each paragraph. Also, don't forget to use your transition words!

Today's To Do List:
Warm Up
Finish Essay Rough Draft
Blog Post #5
Organize Binder
** On Thursday, we read Act 2, Scene 1.

Dreams Essay

On Tuesday and Wednesday we worked on the dreams essay.  You need to write an essay on your American Dream and how you plan to achieve it. 
We also finished reading, Act 1, Scene 2.

Blog Post #4--What is your American Dream?

What is your American dream?  Based on your research today, write two well written paragraphs that explains:
1.  What is the American Dream?  Is it the same today as it was when your parents were in school?
2.  What is Your American Dream?
3.  What are you doing today to achieve your American Dream?
4.  What will be your back up plan if you don't achieve your dream?

Tuesday--The American Dream

Today you will be researching the American Dream.  You will use this information when you start your first OINC essay. Please use the links below to get started.

American Dream Research

American Dream Research 2

Monday, March 21

For class on Monday, we did a warm up activity called "Segregation City" and then finished reading scene 1.  After completing scene 1, we worked on review questions and finishing up work from last week. 

Friday

During class on Monday, we did a warm up on relationships in A Raisin in the Sun and then finished reading Act I. We also worked on character notes, review questions and did class binder organization. Students were given 25 points for having their binder in class on time. If you didn't have yours, make sure to get it here ASAP. 5 points is deducted from the 25 for each day. All handouts are available if you were absent.

A Dream Deferred, Blog Post #3

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?


Copy this poem to your blog and answer these questions as a well written paragraph. 

Find three synonyms for the word deferred. 

According to the speaker in the poem, what are the possible consequences for an unfulfilled dream?

Predict what you think will happen to the Younger family's dreams based on the title.

A Raisin in the Sun

After the title analysis warm up today, we will begin reading the play A Raisin in the Sun.  We will also work on character notes. 
We will end the hour with blog post number 3. 

Day Three, The Harlem Renaissance

Today you are going to jump into the American Literature curriculum by researching the Harlem Renaissance era. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, social and political movement of African Americans based in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem during the first half of the twentieth century. This time period greatly influenced, Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun. We will begin reading A Raisin in the Sun on Thursday!
Today's research starts with the Timeline located at the link below. Click on the link and complete the timeline worksheet.
TIMELINE


When you are done with the timeline, do a Google Image search for Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington and Zora Neale Hurston. Save one image of each person in your account by doing a right click, save as, and selecting your student account.  Go to your own blog and do BLOG POST #2.  For blog post #2, post a brief explanation explaining what the Harlem Renaissance was and post your 3 images you found with an explanation of who they are. 


For further research on Harlem Renaissance, click here!

Also, Don't forget to bring in your 3 ring binder for class on Friday. 

Day 2

Welcome back for day two. Hopefully, you had a great first day and are well on your way to a great new trimester. Today, we are going to create your blogs. Please make sure to follow the directions I have given you.
When you are finished with your blog creation, you will need to work on your first post. Directions for this are listed on your blog creation handout.  You may edit your profile also. 

First Day!

The first day of the trimester is officially over. In class today we worked on "Getting to Know" each other by completing a survey.  We also went over the class syllabus. A letter to parents was sent home and should be signed and brought back tomorrow or ASAP. Wednesday we will start with out blog creation.
Great first day, everyone!