klein\'s divine nines

essay question

klein — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:41:13 +0000

Write a well-organized, well-developed essay about one of the stories. You may NOT write about the same story you used for your long essay.
In your essay, answer ONE of the following questions:

1) How does the mani character’s (or narrator’s) attitude change in the course of the story. SHOW using specific examples (not quotations) what the attitude is, originally, and what causes it to change.

2) How does the story express a specific THEME? You must explain what the theme is and also SHOW with specific examples (not quotations) throughout the story, how the author helps you to underatand what the theme is, and why it is important. REMEMBER THAT THEME IS AN IDEA, NOT PLOT. It’s waht all the other elements of a story lead you to (character, setting, tone, plot, style, imagery, etc.)

Literary Terms you will need to know for the exam

klein — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:07:18 +0000

1. Allusion

2. Ambiguity

3. Diction

4. Imagery

5. Irony

6. Context

7. Symbol

8. Syntax

9. Rhetoric

10. Tone

DON’T FORGET A STICK!!!! WE WILL REVIEW ON MONDAY; IF YOU FEEL FINE ABOUT THE TEST, WE CAN DO COUNCIL STICKS ON TUESDAY. That will give you another day to REMEMBER a stick.

A question: is anyone interested in being on Yearbook who did nto previously apply? We are looking for two more goode people. “Good” means willing to learn, dedicated, msot of all, curious and want to be a part of creating history. Please email me if you think you might be just the person we need! You would all be great!

Exam thoughts

klein — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:13:44 +0000

All of the stories, and ONLY the stories (no Holden, no Ody, no Othelly…etc) will be fair game for the exam questions. You will NOT be able to write your exam essay on the same story you have written your paper on, nor will you be able to write the long essay on the exam on one of the stories you choose to write paragraph response about. There will be 8 passages among which you will need to write about 5 (10 points each). You do not need to study the story you wrote your essay on; so, how many stories will you NEED to study!

The literary terms will be matching and you will nto have any problems with any of them, I promise. 10 points

There will one long essay (40 points); you will know the question before the exam, but you may not bring in any written notes, thesis statements, or outlines. So, you will have to think carefully about how you will answer. Since you will not know ahead of time which stories the paragraph responses will be about, you will have to study/know well at least 9 stories, right?

DON’T FORGET YOUR STICK! IF YOU HAVE EASY ACCESS TO STICKS OF APPROXIMATELY THE “RIGHT” CIAMETER, IF YOU COULD BRING 1 OR 2 EXTRAS, IT WOULD BE GREAT.

15 vocabulary words

klein — Thu, 15 May 2008 01:44:44 +0000

There will be 10 on the exam, you will need to use 5 correctly in your writing on the exam. If you want the low down on how many words you have to learn, talk with Ryanne!

1 decorum 9 impertinent

2 insipid 10 prevaricate

3 equanimity 11 complacency

4 restive 12 malleable

5 arbiter 13 remonstrate

6 pique 14 langour

7 banality 15 intrepid

8 induce

reverse order!

klein — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:00:00 +0000

There are 3 stories. Number 3 is first, but should be last!

Please print and bring to class. “A Christmas Memory”

#3 of 3

klein — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:58:02 +0000

The last one! If you DON’T like this…I will be really sad.

“A Telephone Call” by Dorothy Parker

Another #2 of 3

klein — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:49:19 +0000

This is an excerpt from a Sandra Cisneros novel, Woman Hollering Creek:

“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros

Short Story

klein — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:44:30 +0000

Attached, please find, and read Truman Capote’s short story “A Christmas Memory.” It’s a wonderful story; I think you will like it.

“A Christmas Memory” Truman Capote

Please post one or two thesis statements

klein — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:03:58 +0000

Remember: good writing is simple, direct and CLEAR, focusing on your IDEA; your idea should not be obfuscated by “thick” or ambiguous language.

USE PRESENT TENSE

Revise by highlighting all TO BE verbs; prepositional phrases; who, which, that clauses. Look carefully to see whether you need those groups of words, or are they cluttering your sentences?

NO Fluff!

NO plot summary

Write a POSITIVE thesis (don’t use a negative in your thesis).

Even though statistics indicate that 8 hours of sleep are important for young people, Marlborough girls, in their frenzy to earn high grades in order to get into ivy league colleges when they are seniors, drink coffee and take “pep” pills in order to “enhance” their performance.

REVISION:

Frantic and grade conscious, Marlborough girls stay up too late, compromising their health for an insignificant mark on a piece of paper.
PLEASE POST ONE or Maximum 2 thesis statements.

Revise it/them before you post.

Make sure you have a “what” and a “so what?”

Ask yourself “What am I really trying to say?”

Try to read the subtext as well as the text. Example:CHOOSE ONLY ONE: Is “Say Yes” about marriage, communication, race, relationship challenges, the ridiculousness of hypothetical questions?

And, as Henry David Thoreau implores : Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.”

MORE information

klein — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:23:49 +0000

Monday: we will finish discussion on “The Foghorn” and will discuss “Harrison Bergeron.”

There will be no homework this week other than working on the essays.

On Friday, THE NEXT Tuesday (5/13), Wednesday and Thursday we will look at some other short stories.

5/19 and 5/20 we will review for the Exam which will be on Thursday 5/22 at 8:45 in the gym.

HARD TO BELIEVE THE YEAR IS ALMOST OVER. I AM HAPPY AND REALLY SAD THAT OUR TIME TOGETHER IS COMING TO AN END. I KNOW I WILL MISS YOU OVER THE SUMMER.