Week 14 Slavery and The Civil War

Test Friday 12/21! Leaked Test Questions!
1. Once they have retreated to Prince Prospero's abbey, the general attitude of the courtiers toward the Red Death is one of
a. guilt.
b. terror.
c. mild fear.
d. carefree disregard.

2. The narrator's first glimpse of the House of Usher gives him a feeling of
a. excitement.
b. numbness.
c. depression.
d. anticipation.

3. When the smell developed around Miss Emily's home, the older aldermen were reluctant to ask her about it because they
a. were afraid of her temper.
b. were afraid of what they might discover.
c. didn't want to embarrass or humiliate her.
d. knew she would be too ill to do anything about it.

There are 22 more questions like these on your test on Friday. Bring your book and your notes.


Essay #3 Was Due Thursday 12/20 Did you turn your's in?

Test Friday 12/21. This will be a comprehension check on all of the stories we have read since Thanksgiving break. (Weeks 11-14 on this blog.) If you have been here and paying attention it should not be a problem for you. You can use your textbook and your notes, but you will need to be familiar with the following already:

Poe: The Raven, The Oval Portrait, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death

Faulkner: A Rose for Emily

O'Connor: The Life You Save May Be Your Own.

Douglass: The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass. (Chapter X covers the portion we read in class. Chapter XI talks about his escape from slavery if you are interested.)

Bierce: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Week 13 Writing Writing Writing

Sorry this blog post is a little late. This week has been all about Essay #3 (or The Poe Project as I like to call it.) Here's a brief run down on our activities.

Monday we enjoyed the bloopers from your news reports. Highlights included large chunks of plagiarism, cars that run on cars, toys assimilated in China, confusion about there, there and there, and really inadequate citations. All mistakes I am confident we will not see again.

Tuesday we worked with a chart for organizing Essay #3, (option 2) and then had time for drafting.

Wednesday was a short day and we spent more class time on the drafting.

Thursday you turned in your drafts and read The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Flannery O'Connor.

Friday we have writing groups. If you failed to turn in your draft on Thursday bring your own copies for your group on Friday.

Next week bring your textbook.

Week 12

Monday we finished reading The Fall of The House of Usher.
Tuesday we brainstormed things that most Poe stories have in common and then read The Oval Portrait to search for more examples of those features.
Wednesday we talked about Essay #3 and then began reading the Faulkner story A Rose for Emily. This site has some interesting questions and answers about the story. I recommend visiting it if you were not here to read the story with us in class.
Thursday we will see an model of a section of one of the essay choices and work on our drafts.
Friday will be a short day. We will probably look at another Faulkner story.

Note: Draft of Essay #3 is due Thursday 12/13. Assignment sheets are available now in your weblocker.

Extra credit: As we approach the end of the semester a lot of people are asking me about extra credit.
1. You CAN NOT get extra credit unless you have turned in ALL of your major assignments. For example you can not do extra credit if you are missing Essay #2 or your News Report. Do the assigned work first.
2. Each of the essays I've assigned this year came with three or four choices. If you are looking for an extra credit assignment simply do one of the essay options that you did not chose before.
3. Because of the way the computer calculates grade averages extra credit points have a slightly different effect for each student. If you have a very low grade extra credit will help you more than if you already have a high grade.
4. See me first if you are considering doing an extra credit essay.

Go Pointers!